by hsdecktech - 6 years ago     show comments

I didn’t start last season with the goal of hitting Legend. In fact, I expected to fall short of even Rank 5, as I had for the seasons before it. I had hit Legend twice before, but that was a while back and with work, content creation, and other games, I hadn’t found the time recently. I didn’t really play before KnC launched, because I don’t enjoy the ladder as much during the cutthroat early portion of each month. Even after KnC, I did not hit the ground running because I was sidetracked by dungeon runs, meme decks, and IRL holiday parties.

However, a couple days into the expansion, Satellite_HS started posting some success with Spiteful Summoner and Grand Archivist in dragon priest. I had opened some Grand Archivists, so I was immediately on-board. I made my own version on December 11th, before the Satellite Priest hype, which is important to note because I’m a hipster. That deck, which was pretty similar to what Satellite himself was running, rushed me up to rank 5 within a week of sporadic play between Dungeon Runs and yet more holiday parties. It took me approximately one more week, and one more major decklist shakeup when the meta shifted on me, to take it to Legend. This is a bit of a report on that climb, but more importantly, on what was arguably the most surprising break-out archetype to come from Kobolds and Catacombs.

I. How the Deck Developed

The Original List (a.k.a. “Satellite Priest”)

Satellite is credited as the father of the archetype because he was the first one to have a lot of success with the deck and generated most of the original hype with his Rank 3 Legend (then, a few days later, Rank 2 Legend) concoction:

[wcp_deck id=”23767″]

The earlier Rank 3 Legend version ran 2 Shadow Ascendant  and another Curious Glimmeroot in place of the Faerie Dragons and Spellbreaker. One of those two versions is the deck that got the most traction in the early development of the archetype. I, too, quickly ditched the Shadow Ascendants, because they were usually pretty bad on 2 and not impactful enough on later turns, but I still see them in a lot of lists, so they are something to consider. Faerie Dragons are really nice if you can get a buff onto them and are annoying for some decks to deal with regardless, but turn two definitely felt like the weakest turn for the deck in those early days.

Firebat and Zalae Get Involved

A few days after the deck’s break-out performance, Firebat and Zalae got involved. After a few games with the deck, they decided that the only thing the deck needed to take it overboard was Prince Keleseth and the Pirate package, cutting the 2-drops (of course) to make room for it. Their build ended up looking like this:

[wcp_deck id=”23896″]

Like everyone else trying out the deck archetype at the time, I gave it a shot as well. Personally, I missed the Netherspite Historians. The was also the problem on playing a deck with no two drops. Unlike other Keleseth decks, this deck only has one 1-drop, so you can’t easily make up for a missed two drop with two ones. Similarly, unlike Warlock and Rogue, Priest does not usually want to hero power on two if it can’t find a two-drop (especially if it didn’t have a 1-drop on turn 1). So I decided not to go the Keleseth route. Still, you can’t go wrong with Patches, so that packet made the cut. I quickly road that build of the deck to Rank 5.

The First Meta Reports Go Live, Aggro Takes Over, and We Get to Legend

A couple days later, about two weeks into the new metagame, the first meta reports started coming out. Many of those meta reports, including our own Ladder Optimizer, suggested Aggro and/or Murloc Paladin as one good option for laddering. So my Rank 3 metagame at the time shifted from mostly Razakus Priest and Cubelock to mostly Aggro Paladin and Tempo Rogue, and the Fearie Dragons matched up pretty poorly. So I made one last major shift to the deck (at Rank 2, 1 star), to counter all the aggro and tempo decks I was seeing, and road that to Legend without dropping a game. Here was what I came up with:

[wcp_deck id=”23893″]

There are a few pretty big tweaks here, so let me go through them quickly:

Doomsayer was one of the biggest changes I made for the aggro matchups. I realized that the deck was strongest on turns 3-7, so I should probably just skip to turn 3 if I could. It ended up working very well in that meta because it was at worst, it is essentially a 0/7 taunt and at best a perfect set up for my big turns. In addition to allowing me to skip to a turn 3 Captain or, often, Creeper, I could combine Doomsayer with Tar Creeper to clear the way for a Spiteful Summoner on 6.

Dragonfire Potion over Free from Amber, and no Grand Archivist, kind of went hand-in-hand.  Cutting Free From Amber was tough because it is the best target for Spiteful Summoner (8-drops are better than 10-drops). However, Free from Amber was often a dead card when drawn against all the aggro and tempo. Often time, even if it hit, they would just Spellbreaker or Vilespine whatever big taunt I got from it and go for lethal. Dragonfire gives me another clear against those other aggro and midrange decks (even their Creepers or double-Keleseth’d dudes), the turn before they want to Bonemare, and it leaves half your guys untouched so you can plan and trade to maximize the lopsided-ness. I had actually cut the Grand Archivists earlier, because I felt it underperformed and made my Spiteful Summoners worse, but that decision was confirmed when I switched over to Dragonfire Potion, because that would be a terrible pull. Finally, although Mind Control is worse than Amber in those aggro/midrange matchups, and as a Spiteful hit, Mind Control is key for beating Cubelock, which still made up a notable portion of the meta, so it had to stay.

So, now that we’ve taken a look at how the deck came to be, let’s take a quick recap on the deck’s structure.

II. How the Deck is Made Up

Looking at the builds above, and with my play experience with the deck in mind, we can start to paint a picture of the deck’s structure that can help inform our play (with and against the deck) and can help us out with substitutions for budget constraints and.or shifting metagames.

The Core

The following cards are in all the builds above, and in others I’ve seen, and therefore can pretty confidently be called the “core” of the deck, especially the dragons and spiteful (of course):
2 Northshire Cleric
2 Kabal Talonpriest
2 Duskbreaker
2 Cobalt Scalebane
2 Drakonid Operative
2 Spiteful Summoner
2 Bonemare
1-2 Corridoor Creeper (Satellite cut his down to 1 because he was seeing more control than aggro)
(15 or 16 slots)

Keleseth and/or The Pirate Package

As we saw above, Firebat and Zalae found a way to fit Keleseth and Patches into the deck:
1 Patches the Pirate
1 Prince Keleseth
2 Southsea Captain
(3 or 4 slots)

I have seen and been a part of several debates regarding whether Patches requires Keleseth, or is worth it without the Prince, but I found that when the only pirate calling out Patches is the Captain, that basically turns the Captain into a 3-mana 5/5, which is still very good.

The Top End

We are also seeing some disagreement as to how the top-end of the deck should look. Free from Amber is, unarguably, the best Spiteful Summoner hit, but Mind Control is amazing versus Voidlord decks. Then there is the question of which is better with Grand Summoner, and even if Grand Summoner deserves a slot in the deck! We’re seeing:
0-2 Grand Archivist
0-2 Free From Amber
2 Mind Control (but, before Cubelock’s breakout, this was sometimes cut)
0-1 The Lich King (I think this is mostly just me at this point, but it fits well and could take off)
(2-7 slots, 2-4 of which are your big spells)

Remember, Grand Archivist takes the spells out of your deck when you cast them, so that generally means you can play fewer spells (2-3) without Archivist and should play a few more (3-4) if you do choose to run him.

Tech and Flex Spots

The rest of the deck has seen a lot of flux. The two-mana slot is one area that shifts a lot, depending on if the build plays Keleseth and, if not, how the rest of the deck is built. Shadow Ascendant, Faerie Dragon, Golakka Crawler, Netherspite Historian, Acidic Swamp Ooze, and my tech of Doomsayer are also decent considerations, depending on the meta. Most decks these days also have at least one silence (Spellbreaker is most common, but I have also seen Kabal Songstealer). Finally, you can fill-in your curve with other solid and/or tech cards, like Tar Creeper, Curious Glimmerroot, Twilight Drake, and/or The Lich King. You can even mess with the spells a little bit without ruining the necessary Spiteful Summoner structure, like I did by adding in Dragonfire Potion. I personally prefer to not shove too much more into turn 5-7, as we have a very well-defined gameplan for those turns: best beefy dragon, Spiteful Summoner, and Bonemare.

III. How the Deck Plays

Finally, now that we have talked ad nauseum about how the deck is made up, both historically and strategically, we can talk a little bit about how to play it and how to play against it.

Mulligans

As a tempo deck, the mulligans tend to be fairly simple. You like to keep things that cost 1-2 and mulligan things that cost a lot. Of course, you also always mulligan Patches and the big spells, because you want those in your deck. The slightly tricky parts are when you have a hand of 3-4 drops, or a Netherspite and an expensive dragon. I always keep Netherspite and either keep a dragon or hope for one. I feel better about keeping a dragon if I can pitch 2 cards to fish for a faster start, or if I’m also already keeping some good early cards like Northshire Cleric. I always keep Duskbreaker against Paladin, and often keep it against Rogue and Hunter, as the card tends to be key in those matchups. Corridoor Creeper tends to be good in the same matchups as Duskbreaker and is also usually a keep. As with any other deck, make your mulligans with key meta decks of your opponent’s class in mind.

Matchups

In order of recent frequency:

Priest (all of them)

Priest is hard to mulligan against because there are so many different viable archetypes. This is, of course, also to our advantage. I’ve found the best strategy against all priests is to plan to play our gameplan without worrying too much about what they are, and then adapt on the fly. You can usually tell within a couple turns who they are, so that is usually feasible. This strategy also works because your game plan against Razakus and Big Priest is to beat them down–without overextending–before they can get to the late game. Against Razakus, you should assume they have Anduin on 8, because they play a lot of draw and because then tend to keep combo pieces against other priest decks, so do not play Bonemare on 7. Against Big Priest, make sure you hold on to you silence(s) and Mind Control(s), to use them as “removal” to try to get by Obsidian Statues for that final push. However, against both Big Priest and Razakus, if you can coin out a Spiteful Summoner on 5, you might just win on the spot. In the mirror, you are fighting for the board and the key is Spiteful Summoner, Bonemare, and Corridoor Creeper. Most of your removal is minion-based, so it’s all about effective trading and setting up for swing turns. Your deck is naturally resistant to some of your opponents’ removal options, so I think you are slightly favored against most priest matchups (and, of course, 50/50 in the mirror).

Control/Cube Warlock

Your deck relies mostly on minion pressure, so the key to this game is Voidlord(s). If they can get out a Skull of Man’ari and/or a Lackey and get a Voidlord or two to stick early, you are in real trouble. However, if the Voidlords come down late, you can often deal with them with Bonemare’d Dragons, Spellbreaker, and, my favorite, Mind Control. If you can steal a Voidlord, you are almost guaranteed to win. Still, you don’t keep Mind Control and probably don’t keep your silences either, so you mulligan like normal and try to keep the pressure up so that they don’t feel safe spending a full turn doing nothing (Skull) or playing a 2/2 (Lackey). Keeping up the pressure also means fewer life taps, and less efficient removal. It’s often nice to hold on to a Duskbreaker, as it clears all the Voidwalkers that come out of the Voidlord and might otherwise stop you from swinging in for lethal.

Aggro and/or Murloc Paladin

This matchup is all about the boardwipes and secondarily about Corridoor Creepers. Usually, if you get zero board clears, it is impossible to win; if you get one board clear, it is tough to win; and if you get two or more board clears, you are favored. The only thing that can sometimes mess that up is if you clear a board and then plop down more Corridoor Creepers afterwards than you do. In the more traditional versions of the deck, your only boardwipes are Duskbreakers, so you have to mulligan pretty hard for them and/or pray your Historians hit them. The pirate package adds a little bit more early game value for trading and Doomsayers help out a ton. Don’t worry too much about efficiently playing your other guys, as a Northshire Cleric that soaks up 3 damage and maybe a guy or two was massively successful in your early game plan of just surviving (and in taking away their Divine Favor value). Once you get a few clears in, you can play your bigger guys (especially taunts and Bonemares) to safely get yourself out of range. At that point, the only thing you need to worry about is Sunkeeper Tarim. Stated in the inverse, the gameplan for Aggro Paladin trying to beat big spell priest is to set up a lot of pressure without playing Call to Arms (so you can play it to refill after a Duskbreaker), to keep your guys resistant to Duskbreaker through bigger butts or divine shield, and to save Sunkeeper Tarim, if you can, to break through a wall of taunts once the priest starts trying to stabilize.  The success rate in this matchup depends massively on which build of the deck you are using.

Tempo Rogue

In tempo-based matchups, the key is controlling the board and making the most out of your swing turns (Dustbreaker, Corridor Creeper, and Spiteful Summoner). Corridoor Creeper is particularly good in this matchup because they tend to be mostly minions, too. Don’t be afraid to go wide because they have no punish for it. Don’t preemptively or defensively Bonemare because they can get you with a Vilespine Slayer. Do try to clear their board in each of the middle turns so they can’t make the best use of a Bonemare. Use your hero power more on your guys than on your face. This matchup is pretty even, because the decks do similar things, but seems generally favored. As with many Keleseth decks, their deck is much better when they get Keleseth early, and/or multiple Keleseths, as it makes your Dustbreakers significantly worse.

Secret Mage

Secret mage is still fairly common on the ladder but, it seems, not that well positioned in the meta. The matchup walks a slim line, but seems very favored for the priest player. In my climb, I don’t believe I lost to any Secret Mage players, but many of the games were nerve-wracking, with the Secret Mage being just a topdeck or two away from closing it out. Like other tempo decks, you fight for the board early and then just try to stay out of burst range. We have much better minions, so the first part is usually not very tough, unless they get the nuts. We are also helped by the fact that Counterspell is usually basically dead against us. They don’t have a lot of good ways to deal with a turn 6 Spiteful Summoner and they ways they usually have require them to use up most of their burst damage, which is fine by us. You like to see your opponent is a mage.

Jade Druid

After a few weeks away, Jade Druid has made a bit of a comeback on the ladder, especially as a Razakus Priest counter. Although the deck got a few new tools in KnC, it is basically the same as it was in the last meta. Accordingly, it is week to the same stuff: play a few beefy guys and pressure them down before they can get the jades rolling. A couple big, beefy guys is better than lots of little ones because their answers to threats are Spreading Plague, taunts, and medium-damage-dealing spells. So trade in your Patches and Cleric when they get up to the 6 mana range and lean on your Scalebanes, Operatives, Summoners, Creepers, and Bonemares. Your deck naturally lines up pretty well against them, just make sure you play the right amount of pressure to make sure they don’t have enough time to get set up. If they happen to be an Aggro Druid instead of a Jade Druid (for a while, aggro was the more prevalent archetype, but they are not any more), then you basically play it the same as you do the aggro Paladin decks. Aggro Druid has a bit more heft to it than aggro Paladin, but has a lot less refill, so you can use your Duskbreakers earlier to avoid their guys getting too big and without fear of “blinking first” into a Call to Arms.

Aggro Hunter

Finally, Aggro Hunter has taken over as the main hunter deck and Spell Hunter has all but disappeared from the meta. Aggro Hunter plays similarly to the other aggro decks, but generally less refill/heft than the other two and more inevitability/burst in the form of the hero power, charging beasts, and Kill Command. The gameplan is basically the same as the other aggro decks: clear their dudes and then stabilize with big taunted guys. Where it is different is that you need to clear their board every turn starting at their 4 mana, so as to avoid easy Houndmaster plays and, if you see an early secret, you should try to hold Duskbreaker for until after they play their Spellstone. They don’t have good ways to break through your taunts, so once you establish board control, start hero powering your face every turn to try to stay out of burn range.

That’s all I have for you today, but that’s probably more than you wanted to read anyway, so I expect you’re okay with me leaving it at that. Let me know what you think, about either the write-up or which version(s) of the deck you like best, in the comments below. Thanks for reading and good luck climbing!