Last time I wrote about Olympian Light with BotW cards, this time I tried a Hidden/Aggro Nether Deception deck. The card steal cards added to Deception in this set seem quite strong, and it can help keep fueling an Aggro deck. They would work in Midrange or Control decks as well, but I was toying with a Hidden Deception deck already.
This deck was a lot of fun! I imagine it wasn’t for my opponents though when I start stealing their cards haha. Look at this neat lethal with an opponent’s Neferu:
Deck Link I basically took out the top end of that deck and replaced it with the card steal cards plus a few more low cost Nethers to trigger the effects. I did keep a couple of cards on the 1-2 mana range that weren’t Nethers though: Pyramid Warden because that on turn 1 with Assassin’s Aim next turn can win games by itself, and Armor Lurker because it’s just a great card. The goal of the deck is the same as Hidden Deception, hide your creatures and do face damage. The addition of the card steal cards allows you to refill your hand and maybe disrupt your opponent’s plans by taking their key cards.
I started off with a great day going 7-3 with this deck, but then tapered off the next 2 days to a 56.7% winrate. Note all games were played in Mythic. It’s not too bad of a result, and like I said earlier, it’s quite fun especially when you start stealing a bunch of your opponent’s cards, either through Moonlighter or Gama (if you have Shadows of Lethenon out, it’s wild!). I don’t think it’s as effective as a pure Hidden Deception deck due to the randomness of the stolen cards though.
Because it didn't perform as well as my Olympian Light deck from last week, I decided to play with that deck instead for Weekend Ranked especially as it's important to do well during this period to win BotW packs!
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I would say that best card from this set for Deception is Shrike Moonlighter; it’s versatile in that you can play it in a Hidden Aggro deck or Mid/Control, and those decks usually play Nethers anyways. Gama is good but seems to want a more wide board (with Shadows of Lethenon) plus the Hide God power to really maximize his potential, which fits in Aggro but not as much for the other decks.
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Dark Deliverance and Spore-Light Lantern are definitely more for the slower decks, and they could be decent as they saw some play, but I don’t think they’re strong enough to take away from other better cards. Time will tell though.
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Finally, we have Vulpine Shadowshifter, which I think is the weakest card for Deception out of this set. The effect plus its low strength doesn’t pan out too well. I do want to mention a neutral card though: Ember Oni. This is a great budget alterative to Demogorgon for Control decks, and the fact that it’s a Nether synergizes with quite a few cards in the Deception arsenal.
That's a pretty tight list! I don't understand why no one is playing Phase Crawlers. Some of us Hivers were playing crawlers even before BOTW. 3/2 + hidden is overstated in just the way Deception wants it. 2 HP means it's a target for Assassin's Aim. If you're running Shrike, it seems like an auto include.
While deck steal HRD can pull off insane things, I'm not sure it's too great overall. HRD needs to be as fast as possible, and classic HRD decks use every card to accomplish that. Instead, deck steal is about value and card advantage. Control deception makes great use of it, but I'm not sold (yet) on aggro.
It does feel terrible when they steal all your cards though 😄. I've seen some successful lists with just Gama + Cats and the 3/1. The thinking is the Shrike is too slow. Here's one from FakeMews:
https://tinyurl.com/bdzadrj8
Although he is also testing one with Shrike:
https://tinyurl.com/53yc5wa8
Yea true but it just works out that the deck steal cards are also hidden so it kinda fit easily haha. And the low cost activators just make it more "zoo". HRD is definitely better with Shade Walkers though
But! I don't have walkers, so your list is nice for me 😃
So true.
Moonlighter helped a lot against Order Light and Sleep Death and gave some chance against Control Nature. But what is more important, playing HRD with Moonlighters and Gama was a new joyful experience.
So... R.I.P. Moonlighter and the whole Nether Stealing Archetype.
Thanks god we still have Gama.
My last version:
Alas, only in Solar.
How is Brawler working out for you? Usually I see Lethal Prowler in its place instead.
And yes, RIP :( Glad I did the deck before they nerfed it haha
I play Lethal Prowler from time to time. It wins the game sometimes but sometimes you lose because you have this piece of wood in the hand + Dark Knives and Assassin's Aims and can do nothing. Sometimes, better to have another 4-mana hidden than Lethal Prowler.
Why Heroic Brawler this time... Firstly, my HB is diamond :D Secondly, it can be helpful as well.
Quite often they can't kill it and it starts buffing other creatures - Shadow of Lethenon becomes 2/2 at the end of turn and, thus, becomes safe from many spells. If Switch Duelist gets extra health, you can buff it with AA or hide with god power. Lurker with +1/+1 become something much more powerful.
When under order or sleep, it keeps buffing creatures or itself so this is also annoying for the opponent.
Finishing HB with a relic - which War likes to do to creatures - is painful - if HB is alone, it buffs itself at the end of the turn to 6/6.
It has an anti-Mage specialty - I drop it onto the empty board on turn 6.5 + pip, and hide it with god power. At the end of turn, it becomes 6/5 and nor Shaped Blast neither Unbound Flames can reach it.
Cons - it's 5-mana creature which isn't fantastic for HRD by itself and it has no hidden. Sometimes, better to have another 4-mana hidden, like Lokian or a Shade Walker. Or Lethal Prawler.
Maybe for this reason I am stuck in Solar with visiting Auric from time to time?
Right now I am too tired with this RNG-game and quit aggro Deception with all its rickety minions and switched to Amazons just to learn how it is to play with Divya and Fae Thornblades.
Yea when I tried regular HRD it just seemed very dependent on draws, like sometimes you have a bunch of spells but no creatures, etc. However I don't think Amazons are that great still, BUT I'll do probably try it out! I wonder if it's better than Wild now
Indeed, since the release of BotW, it is almost every day that I get to battle a deception deck with Ember Oni in it, which most of the time I struggle to contain.
https://reddit.com/r/GodsUnchained/comments/12qaw7l/band_of_the_wolf_showcase_nether_deception/
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