With the Core Set refresh coming out soon, I thought it'd be fun to do a little theorycrafting before it lands. Since I play War decks often, I wanted to check out what new deck archetypes might be possible, or if current decks could be made even stronger. I ended up doing a little theorycrafting on an Aggro Viking War deck, which seems to be even more aggressive than the existing War decks today. Interested to find out more? Let's dive right in!
Do note that cards affected by the Core Set refresh may still change before release. Data of the Core Set Refresh changes can be viewed on Reddit here and here.
Images of all the refresh cards are taken from this post by @voidbattler . Thanks!
At a Glance - Aggro Viking War
Aggro Viking War is one of the archetypes that the GU team is seemingly trying to push. Buffs were introduced to a few overlooked cards, like Battlebard, Viking Warmaiden, and Bloodguard and the Viking tribe was added to a few other cards. Although it's possible to form a deck that only consists of Viking creatures, certain creatures without the Viking tribe like the Warmonger Smith and Archangel Bruiser are still way too strong to be excluded.
The overarching theme of the deck is pretty much to hit the face fast and only trade if required. With a lot more board pressure, the opponent has to deal with them or face a face-melting finish by turn 5 or 6.
Card Choices
One of the new cards from the Core Set refresh, Defiant Farmer promises to deal at least 3 damage to the opponent's face. If played on turn 1, it can force a God Power ping from the opponent while still dealing 3 damage and giving you time to set up a strong turn 2. Its low cost also synergizes with some of the other cards in the deck, like...
Valknir Flamecaller, a 2-drop that should be feared. Its 2/2 body isn't impressive, but it breaks even with the vanilla 6-stats with just 1 buff. Together with the new Bloodguard and Ulfgaar, this can give a huge boost in damage for just 2 mana. If you thought Wildfire in Nature was good, this gets pretty close to it and you get a 2/2 body as well, all for just 2 mana.
The buffed Battlebard no longer dies to a 1 damage ping and gives a pretty nice attack buff. It should work pretty well with all the extra summoned creatures from Bloodguard and Ulfgaar.
Viking Warmaiden similarly got a 1 health boost which makes it playable. Actually, it became a little over-statted since it now has a total of 4/3 of stats for 2 mana. Playing a Viking Warmaiden followed by a Valknir Flamecaller gives you a board of a 4/3, 2/2, and 2/2 for just 4 mana.
As a weak card that had always been overlooked previously, I think Bloodguard has a good chance of making a comeback with its +1 attack buff. Requiring 3 attacks/pings from the opponent to clear, Bloodguard is very sticky and can be a serious threat with the number of buffs in this deck.
Oh boy, Ulfgaar seems to be a pretty dangerous creature. With a bag of tricks on turn 4, you could play Ulfgaar and any two 1-cost Vikings to get a board of 5 creatures, ripe for a Sound of Drums or Valknir Flamecaller to finish the game off. It can also be played on turn 2/3, using the other creatures on the board to clear the opponent's side of the field, since Ward prevents the opponent from easily dealing with it.
It's a finisher for 3 mana. If you thought Another Round was good, Sounds of Drums will blow that right out of the water in this deck. This spell not only deals massive amounts of damage to the opponent's face, but it also helps deal with pesky Frontline units like Guild Enforcer. I'm not sure whether the GU team should make the game go in this direction though 😂
I decided to include Deathsworn Raider even though it isn't commonly included in decks today - 5/3 of stats for 3 mana doesn't sound that strong. My conjecture is that with the increased number of 1/1 Vikings on the board, Deathsworn Raider is very likely to have a target and this buff can help 1/1s trade up and get out of the 1-damage ping zone.
The rest of the cards that have not been changed are staples of an Aggro War deck. I won't go into much detail for them since most people already know how they work and why they are included.
Why not X?
In this section, I'll explain why I chose not to include some cards. These cards will either be cards in the Core Set Refresh that seem strong, or cards that are conventionally included in Aggro War decks.
Tavern Brawler got a very slight buff with the Viking tribe added to it in the Core Set refresh. Even though it looks like it would fit right inside this deck, I think that its additional mana cost over the Viking Axewoman is too costly for just +1 health especially when this deck requires a wide board presence for the buffs to be effective.
Singerstone Axe looks pretty strong - a potential 3/2 weapon for 2 mana. With this deck, its ability should be easy to trigger but I think it might just be a little too slow. IMO, The Blade of Styx is much better since it is an unconditional 3/2 with Godblitz for just 1 more mana. I don't think Singerstone Axe will outshine the Blade of Styx, but this remains to be seen when it releases.
Another Round and Redfume Serum are great buffs that are included in many Aggro War decks today, but I think Sounds of Drums is much better in this deck. It costs only 3 mana and can be used to expend 1/1 Vikings as trading fodder while dealing an additional 3 - 9 damage to the opponent's god. These cards aren't bad by any stretch, but this deck's theme heavily favors Sounds of Drums.
It's almost like a worse Archangel Bruiser except that it has Ward. I do think Valk'nir Battledancer has its place in other War decks, but a 4-damage Blitz on turn 5 just isn't cutting it for this deck.
Simulated Play
Just to show what I think can happen with this deck, I thought of a scenario vs a Nature deck. T1 means our turn 1, and OT1 means the opponent's turn 1. At the end of each player's turn, I'll include each god's remaining health in the order (our god's health, opponent's god's health).
vs Nature
War goes first.
T1: Play Defiant Farmer and Leviathan Hunter (with Bag of Tricks) (30, 30)
OT1: Bag of Tricks into Selena's Mark GP. Hits Defiant Farmer which deals 3 damage to his face. (30, 27)
T2: Play Warmonger Smith and attack with relic and Leviathan Hunter. (30, 22)
OT2: Play Canopy Barrage, hitting Warmonger Smith. Use Bag of Tricks to play Marsh Walker. (30, 22)
T3: Play Battlebard, buffing Leviathan Hunter. Then, play Valknir Flamecaller. My board now has a 5/2 Leviathan Hunter, a 3/3 Battlebard, and a 2/2 Valknir Flamecaller. Attack face with the Leviathan Hunter only. (30, 17)
OT3: Play two Low-Hanging Fruit, both hitting the Leviathan Hunter and summoning two Vibrant Fruits. Use Bag of Tricks to play another Canopy Barrage, which hits the Battlebard. Use Marsh Walker to hit the Valknir Flamecaller. (30, 17)
T4: Attack face with the remaining Valknir Flamecaller. Summon an Archangel Bruiser and clear his two Vibrant Fruits, dealing overkill damage of 1 damage to the Marsh Walker and 2 damage to the face. The opponent's Marsh Walker is now a 3/4 after the buffs from the dead Vibrant Fruits. (30, 13)
OT4: Play a Lightning Strike that hits the Archangel Bruiser. Attack my Valknir Flamecaller with the Marsh Walker. The Marsh Walker is now a 3/3. (30, 13)
T5: Play an Ulfgaar, followed by a Viking Warmaiden. My board now has a 3/3, 3/2, 1/1, and another 1/1. (30, 13)
OT5: Play a Guild Enforcer. Attack my Ulfgaar with the Marsh Walker. (30, 13)
T6: Play a Sounds of Drums, giving +3 attack to each of my 3 creatures. Using the 6/2 to clear the Guild Enforcer, I use the other two 4/1s to hit the face. I follow up with an attack from my 1/1 relic and use the last 2 mana for a Slayer GP. (30, 2)
OT6: Opponent resigns, because he knows he can't stop the incoming damage.
The new and buffed cards seem to help maintain board pressure even when the opponent draws a lot of removal. In the early game where board removal isn't that prevalent, all the 1/1s that are summoned can really be a real threat. I'm really looking forward to being able to try this deck out when it releases, especially since other decks will receive changes and buffs.
What do you think of this theorycrafted deck? Do you think that it'll work when the core set refresh finally drops? Let me know in the comments below!
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Dividers are taken from @freeztag 's list of GU Dividers.
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I'm honestly convinced that War is going to get a knee-jerk nerf into the ground after Viking storms the gates with cards like Battlebard and Valknir Flamecaller. The former is a 1-cost 2/2 that'll render the Enrage God Power pointless when paired with Viking Axewoman, and Valknir Flamecaller is an AoE Felid Janissary with better stats.
While I'm certainly quite excited for the CSR, I'm nervous there will be backlash that leads to overnerfing. Fingers crossed for a more tempered response!
Yeah, I could definitely see that happening, even the comments on Reddit are warning against the prevalence of pure face decks which are not very fun to play against. Maybe they'll balance things out before the release, they seem to be adjusting the balance of DO cards so that could change things a little as well.
Here's hopin' they figure out how to slow matches down just enough to leave room for more deck diversity. If they're not careful, we could see archetypes become further entrenched making the next set harder to balance.
I really do hope this gets nerfed before it gets out like others said lmao, im a straight up war hater cause i get pounded so hard mostly by war decks, not looking forward to getting pounded even harder 🤣
Hahaha nothing's finalized yet so they may still make a few changes before official release. That being said, other factions are most likely receiving buffs also so maybe War might not be so strong 😂
First off, this is a well-written article, and loved reading your war core refresh insight as I know you're more or less a war one-trick; although Kephy, you didn't think you could sneak in a nature beatdown and for me to keep quiet? Let me explain a few problems here.
In a vacuum, you have got the best possible card draws apparently and top-decking like a monster.
Why would a nature player start with Salena's mark on turn one and not drop at least a two-cost unit? Black Jaguar/ Skeleton heavy, if not double 1 Mana units?
Especially against war, why is this player not going wide on the board but throwing removals? He ain't a magic player. Hypothetically if he did start pulling all the removals, no creatures, he either mulliganned like a mad man knowing it's war going first, or RNGesus set him up to get wrecked (Yes, I have felt his wrath, and it's not fun).
I really am looking forward to the core set refresh; the meta will get a much-needed shake-up. Although Kephy, one thing will remain constant; you braindead war players will always stay free for nature. 😁
Hahaha, to be fair I've been playing Nature a lot more these days and was just trying to recollect what seemed to be reasonable draws for both players. I haven't taken too close of a look at the possible combos that Nature is getting just yet but I know Nature does get stronger with the refresh.
You're right that this may leaning on a "better-for-War" scenario (of course, I'm trying to sell the idea of this deck) and real play may differ greatly. Either way, I'm always welcome for a challenge! You can post a theorycrafted Nature deck with a simulated battle with a War deck and we'll see how it unfolds 😄
Really nicely written article! Am a total GU noob so stuff like this really helps :)
Great write up! Although I have trouble seeing a less powerful - one turn - buff card kicking another round and redfume out of the meta
Yeah that's possible, Redfume is more often used as a multi turn buff in my experience and isn't often just a +5 damage to the face, but this deck may just be about the face. Either way, we'll figure out when it releases!
Seems to me that even though they added these cards the overall aggro war decks or style will not change that much. It might have a bot more variations though
In a way, this particular variation may not see too big of a change in playstyle over the current one, but I think there may be a case to be made for control/Olympian War becoming more viable as well.
Yeah that makes sense hopefully more and more viable and effective playstyles will come into play!
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Amazons vs Vikings. Would love to see who gets nerfed first! lol
😂 Maybe they'll end up buffing the rest of the gods more as a "stealth nerf" to these two