Intro
It's pretty obvious this weekend that you either play magic or get farmed by it. Card draw decks have mostly the same cards, but there are some slight differences worth exploring. Mainly, I'm writing this post to help me organize my own thoughts and come up with what I hope is an optimal build. As such, I'll list several of the top-performing decks and discuss their differences.
Deck 1: Urbanboyfriend
Current top of the weekend event with 24 wins. For many of these decks, the overall win percentage is a lot less. On the other hand, there are so many magic decks with 90%+ win rates, that I'm assuming we have new players trying to pilot the decks without knowing how it works. Anyway, let's take a look.
Porphyon
A big difference in this deck. Seemingly chosen for the inevitable mirror match. Not only is it warded, but it's ability makes the ping God Power cost 4 mana. He will still get pinged, but he is expensive to clear. Against non-mages, the assumption is you have kept their board clear with other spells so he can't be taken out by creatures.
Other differences
- 2x familiars
- 2x Vow of Learning (several decks are only running 1)
- No shadow scryers
The vows are really nice with Oni, but Leyhoard also makes a great target. Especially when you play a cheap Hatchling and Vow on the same turn. A versatile spell. Maybe worth the 2x.
Deck 2: ?
Also 24/25 wins. Also outperforming the overall field (which played 745 games already! Damn that's a lot of magic!).
Differences
- 1x Vow
- 2x Flying Carpet
- 2x Pyramid Warden
- 2x Shadow Scryers
- No tracking bolts
- No familiars
The Pyramid Wardens help stabilize non-magic aggro builds. Even though magic is dominating the meta, it isn't over 50%. (42% as of writing this article). I think I'd rather take the Pyramid Wardens over Porphyon. 2x the chance of drawing them and helpful for for all gods. Porphyon can also be helpful for multiple gods, though, so it's close. This deck also has so much removal that giving back creatures isn't the end of the world. Particularly if the trade was protecting Oni for a turn and letting him get out of control.
I also think I agree with no familiars. We have lots of draw already and random spells are often terrible.
Finally, I don't think Flying Carpet is the right call over tracking bolt. Flying Carpet is easily cleared with Faeflame, cheap blitzers, etc. Tracking Bolt will just consistently work for you. It also combines with your Street Conjuror to give you an extra 2 damage board wipe.
Deck 3: Nackarub
Differences
- Porphyon
- Dragonkin Caller
- 1x timebomb and 1x tracking bolt
- 1x defend the ramparts
- 2x familiars
- 1x Oni
- Pallas but not Pallas' Wand
- 2x Vows
- 1x crystal rain (instead of 2)
Dragonkin Caller has obvious appeal, but I think it's a bad include. With so much draw, just trust that a Hatchling or two is going to show up.
Timebomb is interesting. I think it's a better card than Flying Carpet, and unlike Tracking Bolt, it can help you go face if it sticks. If it doesn't stick, it helps you control board. Maybe 1x is worth it?
Defend the Ramparts is a no-go for me. Just go with 2x Crystal Rain. The other choices in this deck also seem suboptimal (even more amazing how well it did). We definitely want 2x Oni's. I don't have Pallas' Wand (maybe they don't either), but if you have it, you run it over Pallas.
Deck 4: Mages1098
Differences
- 1x PW
- 2x Dimension Door
- 1x Tracking Bolt and 1x Blizzard Bolt
- 1x Oni
- Scepter of Artistry
- 1x Crystal Rain
1x Pyramid Warden gives you a nice advantage if you find it in the mulligan but also prevents you from winding up with 2 dead cards late game. Maybe 1x is the way to go.
Dimension door is effectively free card draw assuming you've unlocked 3+ mana. This is nice to dig for important cards like Hatchling. It's also nice for pumping Oni. Since I don't have Pallas' Wand, I may give these a shot.
I assume if they had 2x Blizzard Bolts they'd run them. More face damage.
My Deck
So this is the deck I'm going to try out. I'm currently 4/0 on a card draw magic deck running epiphanies, but I'm convinced by the my review above that they are likely too expensive.
Key Features (robbed from others)
- 1x Time-Bomb and 1x Tracking bolt
A balance of removal and face pressure. I'm relaxing my usual rules about wanting 2x of (nearly) all cards because of the large amount of draw we have.
- 1x Pyramid Warden
In the end, I think Warden brings more to this deck than Porphy on a mana-cost-adjusted basis. The cheaper mana cost means you can fit him into multi-card turns, which this deck is all about. He can also help protect key pieces like Rune Moth or Oni.
- 1x Vow of Learning
Too good of a potential combo not to include. Oni, Hatchling, and Runemoth all make excellent targets for protect and/or ward. It can also pop ward and deal two damage do the creature underneath.
- No Ancient Texts / Pallas' Wand
This isn't a feature. I just don't have those cards.
- Dimension Door
Obviously not as good as Pallas' Wand, but trying. The deck now effectively only has 28 cards in it, which makes it slightly more likely to get to the key pieces. Combos well with Oni and Monolith.
Conclusion
I started off my weekend 0/2 playing nature. I swapped over to card draw and went 4/0 (also helped that I deranked to Diamond lol). I see no reason to get mad for a weekend at Magic if you have the cards to join in. Magic will hopefully get nerfed before next weekend, so what the hell. I'm not even sure if I'll play all my games this weekend, but a fast magic deck makes it more likely!
I had no mage so far last night in 17 games but I had a hard time to win anyways. 4/17 is nearly the worse I ever had.
It truly is Mage Unchained this weekend, I just finished my matches and the nerf hammer should hit ASAP with how things are going. Card Draw decks were already strong before and this series of buffs just sent it over to tier 0 lol.
After sleeping on it, I've decided to leave out the Dimension Doors in favor of Epiphanies. An extra 12 damage is a big deal and they draw a card. When I'm running these, I'm perfectly fine taking out Guild Enforcers / Moose / etc. I don't need it to go face to finish the game. When you draw them early it's a bummer, but pretty much every game of mine has reached 5-6 mana. If you look at the match history of the top mage decks, many of them are running to 6-7 mana.
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Door is mostly there to be a deck thinner and combo with your spell matters card. A bit of a nombo with hatchlings in deck.