Hey GU fam! As balance updates have continued to bring new changes to gameplay, war decks have fallen a bit out of preference in favor of nature and magic decks instead, which currently show higher win rates at 51.5% and 51.1% respectively (a huge thank you to gudecks.com for the statistics).
However, while I do have a nature deck that I love to use, I still prefer my war deck, and I believe it is still a very effective choice to get wins, especially during the crucial weekend ranked events (so you can get those sweet, sweet Divine Order pack rewards)!
Here's the deck, and it's been compiled using cards only earned through play-to-earn, nothing purchased. So everyone can get a deck like this together!
I’d love to show y’all what I'm talking about, rather than just tell y’all, which is why I screenshotted gameplay of an entire battle I had during the weekend ranked event to share for this post.
The cool part about this game was that I went up against another war deck, and as the game continued, I realized that my opponent’s deck was very similar to my own, so it would come down to our decision making, and how and when we used our cards to determine who would walk away with the win.
Let’s get started!
We kicked things off with the opening draw shown above, and I led with Deuteria, so that I could get here higher attack/defense version added to my deck ASAP for future potential use. I decided to save my small bag of tricks instead of using the Trial Spirit to give her an extra health point, which did leave her vulnerable, but I wanted to save that for the next turn so that I could potentially put my Battle Aurochs into play on my second turn.
My opponent followed with a blitz from the Vanguard Axewoman, which is exactly what I would've done as well, and wiped out my Deuteria. However, whereas I would've tried to use an extra mana gem and get another creature out there to attack the next turn, my opponent decided to end their turn, which I think was a crucial turning point for me for the entire match, believe it or not! This allowed me to continue to lead and be the aggressive player, with an empty board to play towards. Thus, sticking with my planning ahead, I used my small bag of tricks to put my Battle Aurochs with frontline into play.
My opponent countered with a 3 mana character as well, the Raid Reveller. The protected on this character was troubling because I knew my opponent could potentially wipe out my Battle Aurochs the next turn without taking any damage at all, so I launched my Trial Spirit to give my Aurochs an extra health point to survive the initial attack. I already also planned to use my Blade of Styx the next turn to wipe out the Raid Reveller as soon as it lost its protected. Then I attacked with the Aurochs and used my Slayer god power to take 5 health points from my opponent's God.
My opponent countered with an attack from the Raid Reveller (as expected), and then use of their own Blade of Styx to take out my Battle Aurochs. This worked out perfect, because it left their side of the board empty and still left me with an attacking creature in my Trial Spirit. I then launched my own Blade of Styx, along with the Tartessian Improviser, and used the relic's blitz to take out the Raid Reveller.
My opponent followed by wiping out all my creatures with a combo of their final relic attack and blitz creatures, followed by launching a Boil-Blood Outlaw before ending their turn. Given what I had in my hand, I decided to deploy my Viking Longship so that I could make the most of it's blitz and take out the Boil-Blood Outlaw. I considered using my final mana gem to put my Nokkvi Warrior out there as well, but I figured I'd save her for when I was frenzied and could use her blitz. Saving this card for later ended up being a very good choice, as we'll see, which is why I wanted to keep her in my back pocket.
Now this turn was where my positive momentum in this match really picked up, and it's thanks to my opponent deciding to play passive with a relic for future use rather than aggressive with a creature for the here and now. That's why I emphasize being aggressive with these war decks, for I really think it makes all the difference. My opponent deployed his Enduring Shield and used his Slayer god power for his whole turn. Since there was no frontline character and I was getting a free shot at his God, I decided to inject some Redfume Serum (a card literally built for aggressive gameplay, which is why I love it) into my Viking Longship, and attack with 8 damage points.
BOOOOOOM. That's what the end of the turn looked like, and now I was feeling better, especially with a frontline character in my hand and also the Nokkvi still in my back pocket.
My opponent made use of savvy gameplay to actually take out my Viking Longship on the next turn, which was impressive, so I decided to get some frontline volume out there and launched two frontline characters (one to attack and one to protect) on my next turn.
My opponent sacrificed some God health to launch get some heavy hitters on the board the next turn, and give one of their characters protected. However, by the end of my next turn, I was able to get them down to only 5 God health, and with only one creature left, the protected Trial Spirit. I did this by using my Favor points to purchase the 2 mana Vow of Champions, which was perfect to deal two damage and wipe out my opponent's 3/2 Traveling Bard. And then I used my Slayer god power, and launched my Onyx Nightblade, just to get another attack eligible character out there for the next turn.
My opponent had an epic turn, wiping out both my frontline creatures and retaining his Trial Spirit, which only lost its protected. But this left the door open for me because of one key detail...I had been saving, and saving, and saving...my Nokkvi Warrior for the right time. And that time had finally come! I also forgot to mention that I had gotten 2 extra attack points on my Nokkvi Warrior from the roar of deploying my Tartessian Improviser earlier, so I knew I could use the Nokkvi to take out a heavy hitter. Now that my opponent's Trial Spirit was vulnerable, with it's four health, it was the perfect time to use my ace in the hole. So I launched my God power, the Boil-Blood Outlaw, and the Nokkvi, which since frenzied had its blitz activated, and was able to take out my opponent's Trial Spirit, as well as deplete their God's health to only 2.
This left the above board remaining at the end of my turn, and I knew with one more Slayer god power deployment I could end the game, unless if my opponent deployed an Auric Mage with leech to heal their god.
However, it looks like our attacks and aggressive gameplay did it's job, and our opponent conceded the match on the next turn! Victory feels goooood!
Boom. And that's all she wrote folks! This game was played at Midnight Shadow level, which is definitely a move down from playing Mythic for Ranked Constructed last week, but it allows me to test out new strategies and still be effective in gameplay, which is what I was hoping for.
I've been wanting to give a full strategy walkthrough of a game for new players and also players who are unsure if they should continue using their war decks with the growing preference for Nature and Magic decks. Hope y'all dig the walkthrough and the thoughts behind the moves, and thank you so much for reading! This game definitely went completely to plan, which absolutely does not happen every time, but it was cool to see the aggressive strategy work out as intended with this deck! Let me know what y'all think and also if you use a similar deck! War God for the winnnnn!
- Jumpmaster