The good news is that I keep playing in Mythic, the bad news is that Control Nature has stolen a leggy from me - 9/18 on WR. 😤
It sounds like a bitter loss after such successful weekdays:
≈65% win rate. I loved to see how my favorite Team Up was getting nice win rate in Meta exclusively due to my efforts:
It seemed how could I not win a legendary pack?
I started well but my ≈60% win rate was corrected with this:
Popularity of Control Nature was 1.7% on this WR while I played against it 17% of my WR matches... One of these opponents was even not from Mythic but from Ethereal Diamond as if Lady Bad Luck (or Bad Matchup Algorithm?) couldn't find Control Nature in Mythic and grabbed one from a lower rank to spoil my day.
Look like winning? No, it's losing - everything gets ruined with endless spells. If you find the narrowest path to victory, your hopes will be buried by Winter Bounty
I hated the game after the WR matches 😡
There are so many awful MJ leggies that probably it's better to win 5 rare/epic packs. But the thing isn't about packs or raising a couple of extra dollars. It's about making a win on WR. And a win means you get at least one leggy pack. 😤
Back to Mythic on Sunday
After my first two losses in Mythic, I was sent to Ethereal Diamond although I kept playing against players with ranking 1300-1400 (except when "bad luck" "needed" extra Control Nature and took one from Ethereal).
It would be sad to start the week in Ethereal Diamond but luckily I returned to Mythic on Sunday after finishing 18 matches.
This was my consolation prize.
The Current Deck
Deck code: GU_1_2_CCmCCmCDnCDnCCQCCQIAlIAlCDDCDDIClIClCEPCEPCFMCFMKCZKCZICyIAkIAkKCpKCpCEcCEcCAbKCuKDXKDLKDL
Gama or the second Sneaky Bruiser?
In the WR matches, I played the same deck but with Gama and only 1 Sneaky Bruiser (here is this deck). Then, I switched to 2 Sneaky Bruisers without Gama.
Gama is great mostly because it has 5 health which useful against Mages and works better with Team Up. However, this doesn't guarantee a win. While having Sneaky Bruiser with extra 2 damage is a serious bid for victory. Normally, a 5-mana hiddens hit the face at least twice. So Sneaky Bruiser give extra 4 face damage. That's often what you need to win.
Gama's magic is fun but he usually steals cards that aren't as good as ones from your own deck. Stolen cards can help or even win the game but very, very rarely.
Gama's magic is fun but I can't win anyway
2 Makeshift Shivs?
That's what improved my deck much. With two shivs, you become stronger against Mages and, in general, control decks but you aren't weaker against aggro. 2 shivs help against aggro Light, it's not bad against zombies. I would choose something else against aggro War but 2 shivs aren't awful choice for this matchup either.
And yeah, I have two gold shivs and the shiny bonus of my deck has exceeded 30%. 😎
Shadows of Lethenon or Felid Assassin?
Felid Assassins are better if you have 2 Team Up and Pietro in the deck ( i.e. 3 ways to hide without god power's damage). You can trade one for almost any other 1- 2-mana creature except Marsh Walker, Warmonger Smith, and few other (which easy to fix with 2 shivs).
Constant hidden of Felid Assassins allows to keep them untouched until a proper victim appears on the board.
1-damage spells aren't often these days (except in case of Mages). I often collect 3 three-strength creatures on the board to hit the face and hide all of them with Team Up (i.e. 9 damage + 9 damage next turn); Felid Assassins with constant hidden help much in this.
Good to steal a martyr but the deck's win rate against aggro Light is 75% even without Gama's fun
Blade Borrower in aggro deck?
They make the deck less aggro, and that's a serious challenge since reaching mana 7 for an aggro player is especially deadly these days. However, they are irreplaceable against aggro archetypes. They work well with Felid Assassins and Switch Duelists - so I often muligan them with Blade Borrower against aggro decks, and that's how you can steal the first mover advantage.
Stealing strength is additionally helpful when your creatures can get twin strike with Team Up.
Felid Assassin is flank and this is what opponents don't keep in mind; sometimes, it helps to win.
I tried to play Onyx Nightblade, Munosian Infiltrator, Bound by Her Will, Beguiling Blade to synergize with Blade Borrowers but it always meant a loss of too much aggro-ness.
No Relic Remover?
That's a con of the deck. If I decide to have one in the deck, I would include it instead of Lokian Desciple. I didn't do it because, if you have just 1 relic remover, you draw it at wrong moments too often. But when you have 2 relic removers, these 2 tech cards make your deck too weak.
Expensive cards?
I think I don't need them except Pyramid Wardens (but too expensive). They could improve the performance.
Conclusion
Honestly, I was just smashed by 9/18 on WR. The worst part was the last match. I saw it was Nature and muliganed cards to play against Control one. I wanted to try new tactics. But these were Amazons... If I muliganed a set of cards against aggro, I could win the game considering I was the first one to play in this match...
After that, I wanted to stop playing for several days to have rest, and I was thinking to sell out the cards I still have to never play the game again. But then I just said to myself I was taking things too emotionally. The main opportunity in today's GU, I think, is actually winning daily crypto, and I do well with this as I think:
Thanks for stopping by, hope your WR was nice. Comments will be appreciated. 😎
My respects. In times like the present, where most of the active players are experienced, what you did has a lot of extra merit.
Gracias. There is sense in your words 🙂
This is a really great write-up! I feel like I have a good insight on how the deck works and some of info here sounds new to me. I'm goin gto give the deck a try!
Thank you! If you try it one day, please share how it was. 🙂
well done. how much tho since its like gold/diamond quality O.O. Well played tho getting and competing in mythic with this fairly budget deck. Feels like aggro is strong good counter for the super late control meta at the moment
Thank you! And a lot of aggro too; aggro War archetypes are the most popular. But almost nobody plays the worst matchups - Control Nature, Control Light, Wild Nature - so HRD is a good choice.
Yes Your deck is great I think it shows since you reached mythic :3. you play this same deck every weekend ranked?
I play HRD daily. But I change the deck from time to time. Now I play the described deck but with 1 Moonlighter and 1 Heroic Brawler.
I see~. do you still enjoy playing HRD daily . You didn't get bored of it ever? :?
Somehow, HRD has become a synonym of Gods Unchained to me. When I am tired of HRD, I am even more tired of other archetypes. I have the only one alternative, Magic Atlanteans; they are fun and can beat strong decks but its performance is not enough high.
Control Deception can be a good alternative if HRD is in decline. But it's not in decline so... let's see :)
O.O wow synonym of GU to you that's taking it all the way. Actually for me im tired of the game cause not much changing. the games not balanced and we only get patch updates like every 2 months or so lol and then now the cards are locked so not much can be done except release newer more annoying cards in next set :') to cash grab. would like to see something different.
Hi, I like your "Deception" deck, I'm missing "Pietro" and "Lady Marcella", nice post.👍👍👍
Thank you, @elcholitosanto!
Great write up and explanation of card choices. Super bummed to have control nature steal the 10th win from you. That matchup is next to impossible.
One thing about Gama is you can play him 2 turns earlier and he can be hidden one more time even after a shaped blast. But you're the pro with this deck, so I'll defer to you!
Thank you!
If many Mages, Gama is a must. But there were only 2 Mages out of 18 matches on the last WR (although gudecks claimed almost 20% played Magic). After WR matches, I encounter mostly aggro War and again aggro War + aggro Light and Deception.
So, Gama isn't fired, he is just on the bench, and can be called any moment. His 5 health is nice either when you cast twin strike on him. A great card.
(I decided you wanted to say that Gama is 2 turns earlier than empowered Unbound Flames.)
oh wait what am I saying! Bruiser is only 5 mana, too. doh!
Indeed, as for me, I rarely see gama on Deception decks that I encounter.