A weekly recap of my Mythic Weekend Ranked experience, attempting to do a Free-To-Play (F2P) Gauntlet with all the Gods to show that they can all compete and get Legendary packs. Previously I’ve done Nature , War, Magic, Death, and Light; this week is my first weekend with Deception.
This is my first weekend with Deception and woooooooo I did it on the first try again, just like Death! And with 19 wins too, which is the second highest I've gotten! AND this means that I’m all done with the gauntlet!!!
| Weekend | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | Nature | Nature | Nature | War | War | Magic | Magic | Magic | Death | Light | Light | Light | Deception |
| Wins | 20 | 19 | 17 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 14 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 19 |
| Prize (USD) | $50 | $34.5 | $27.5 | $19 | $27.5 | $19 | $21.5 | $50 | $34.5 | $21.5 | $21.5 | $34.5 | $37 |
Here’s the deck that I used, costing 0.0218 ETH or ~$66. More than half of that cost is just the one Witherfingers ($37), which is currently overvalued because it’s part of the Core Refresh. I just happened to open 2 of them from my packs, but if you wanted to replace it, I would suggest Professor of Murder for end-game ($0.05), The Hollow for more value ($33), Lady Marcella for aggro/mid-game and setting up a big Rapture Dance ($10), or Cutthroat Insight ($0.30) for disruption/value.
Everyone knows that it’s been a Light meta since the Core Refresh, but this deck did surprisingly well against them. I believe this is the first time that I started playing where the most played God was Light and not War or Nature. This deck felt really versatile as I was able to go more control against Aggro War but be more aggressive against Light where you need to push them hard to kill them quickly after they play Zealous March. Against Nature you can go both ways. I didn’t play any Magic in the first 25 games but I actually matched up with a Dralamar deck on my 26th game and I was able to be aggressive enough to kill them before turn 7. But yea it feels really good to have over 50% winrates against all Gods!
In terms of mulligan, most of the time you just want 1 mana cards to start the game with. Patient Pickpockets give value and Switch Duelist can trade well or can be very aggressive when combined with Selfless Guildmate. Stoneskin Poison is cheap removal that stalls your opponent. If you’re playing against War or Light and you have a couple of 1 or 2 drops already, Counterfeit might be good in hand too, as stealing an early Mace of Calling or Enduring Shield could win you the game. For 2-drops, Armor Lurker can usually 2-for-1, and Shackled Acolyte is good but delayed value; it’s pretty decent against War as they usually have no way to get rid of an ordered creature.
.png)
As stated before, this deck felt pretty versatile as you can be Aggro or more Control depending on the matchup (and your draw). I initially tried to make a Hidden Aggro deck but couldn’t get it to be more consistent than this one. Overall it’s a fun deck that seems pretty strong in this meta, and stealing/copying and using your opponents cards and relics is always a good time.
Deck Pros
-Stealing your opponents relic and copying their cards can be very powerful
-Good early board control with Stoneskin Poison and great late control with Rapture Dance and Witherfingers
-Witherfingers can single-handedly win you the game if your opponent cannot deal with hidden creatures
-Powerful God Power that can be used offensively and defensively
-Good value from Patient Pickpocket but even more from Ludia’s Dedicant, especially since you can keep hiding it
-Might be meme-y but using an Uncanny Rogue on a Dark Maniac is wild haha
-Good burst damage and reach potential with hidden creatures and Selfless Guildmate. Very strong aggro opening if you have Switch Duelist and Selfless Guildmate
Deck Cons
-No card draw and the value provided by the aforementioned cards are random
-Makeshift Shiv will block your own Counterfeit, I made this mistake a couple of times haha
-Selfless Guildmate’s buff depends on you having a Guild creature so sometimes it’s a bad play or gets stuck in your hand
-People sometimes know to play against Rapture Dance so you don’t get max value
There are some upgrade options for this deck, and you can choose more value or control, or even aggro if you wanted.
.png)
Lady Marcella 0.0034 ETH ($10) – Good aggro/midrange option that can provide more ammo for a Rapture Dance
The Hollow 0.0111 ETH ($33) – Great value generator especially when combined with your other Order creatures
Lantern-Bound Fae 0.0040 ETH ($12) – Good board control and reach that can be re-used for more value
Avatar of Deception 0.0607 ETH ($183) – Great for aggro and its roar provides control and stalling
Orfeo, Champion of Deception 0.0173 ETH ($52) – You might want to combine this with a more value generating cards as this will empty your hand quicker, but it’s decent for aggro and board control
ALL GODS ARE DONE! Woooo this has been a journey and a really fun one. I was a little worried about the last two (Light and Deception) initially but Core Refresh really helped Light, and Deception was strong all along.
So where to go from here? The new expansion is coming but it’ll take awhile for me to get the new cards. I think it’s a good time now to do another challenge. I call it the WelCore challenge and I’m sure you can figure out what that means haha. I’m going to make a wrap-up post for this F2P Gauntlet challenge this week and I’ll talk a bit more about it there!
Got an Eva for my Legendary which is pretty cool as I don’t have her yet, though I’m not sure if I’d use her in my Zombie Death deck. From Core packs I got a Militant Theist which is still overvalued right now.
Congratulations!
Glad to see budget Deception is able to make such a great win rate. Maybe I'll play it next WR.
Thank you! It definitely surpassed my expectations
Congrats, man! I tried to play with Deception for a week, but I don't know, I just don't feel comfortable.
I think the only card I don't have is Porphyrion. With your consent, I'll try that combination and see how it goes.
Haha you don't need my consent, Porphyrion is just a great neutral that can fit in a lot of decks. Lots of other options to replace it with! Good luck!
I've been seeing Dart Maniac and Uncanny Rogue a lot, looks interesting but it's hard to find room for them in my hidden rush deck.
Yea Dart Maniac probably doesn't fit into a Hidden Rush deck, and probably the first things I take out if I had Hollow or something else
Great write-up, and congrats on finishing all the gods!
I need to unpack another Witherfingers. I unpacked two and immediately sold them. Mercantile Marine is a great option against a Light meta. I don't play deception much, but I did play a bit with the new Dart Maniacs. Never thought to give them deadly, though. Neat idea (you can always cheat the maniac 2x, so that could work.
I love going first with Shackled Acolyte against Light. They have zero tools to deal with it. By the time they can Levy, it's 4/4. You can also play it going second if they bagged into a Mace or other 2-mana card.
I will say I'm loving my Shadow Cats right now against light. I'll try and figure out how to fit them in this deck. The Maniacs do have the advantage that they help you control board, but the cats are basically invincible against Light. But of course, cats mean I need to find room for dark knives, too. Then I'm afraid I'll run into the hidden rush problem you mentioned: consistency.
Thank you!
Yea Maniacs are actually pretty nice after the rework, it's a constant ping if it's not dealt with. You're right about Shackled Acolyte against Light as well, I didn't think of that.
When I was playing Light I hated those Shadow Cats; but I think if you're going to play with them you need to go Aggro or else they're just doing 1-2 damage here and there and not doing anything for the board. There are some good aggro lists with the Cats plus Screams in the Night which could make it more consistent.
Congrats, this is a real neat achievement! Although I'm not too sure how WelCore will actually fare during the weekend ranked (especially since 90% of Welcome cards have strictly better versions in the expansions/Core), I'm curious to see how it does! I might take some "inspiration" from your deck to play some Deception sometime, I've always had trouble with piloting Deception decks and yours seem quite achievable to build.
Thank you! It's actually more fun than I expected, I thought it would be an RNG fest but I guess you're stealing cards from their hand/deck and they would be using good cards anyways haha. Sometimes you do get useless ones like that Obliterate a Creature With Order card but a lot of times you get something great like a Zealous March.
But yea the WelCore ones probably won't do that well, but it'll interesting to try anyways. Definitely not expecting 15+ or maybe even 10+ wins with those haha
Congratulations @phoenixskye! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s):
Your next target is to reach 200 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!