Now that I got the deckbuilding introduction out of the way, it’s time to delve into each of the six Gods and discuss how to build and evolve effective beginner decks for them. I’m starting with Nature because it’s probably the most starter-friendly God, with pretty good Core cards and the first God-specific Core packs you’ll receive from the Tutorial.
Here are some strengths and weaknesses of the Nature God:
Strengths
-Nicely stat-ed creatures for their cost
-Plenty of creatures and spells have/gave Regen to keep them alive
-Good amount of healing options for your God
-Card generation to give you card advantage
-Two main tribes for Nature (Wild and Amazon) have good tribal synergies
-Decent reactive options (Blitz relics and creatures, low cost removal spells that can also hit Hidden)
Weaknesses
-Some of the well-stat-ed creatures are Confused, which can cause misplays or bad trades/missed lethals
-Some effects like spells and card generation are random
-Not much card draw options
-Reach (the ability to finish off an opponent with low health) is limited
In terms of deck types, the most common are Aggro and Midrange, although you can run Control as well though it’s not as effective especially at a beginner level. Nature has 2 main tribes that support it, which are Wild and Amazon, with the latter being skewed towards the Aggro side. I’ll be talking about Wild for this article since it’s the easiest to build for a newcomer, with Amazon requiring some older expansion cards which are usually more expensive. A reminder here from my last post, Aggro and Midrange decks try to beat Control and Combo before it sets up its defenses/win-cons, whereas Midrange tries to out-value Aggro with its cards and either win through having a bigger board or running Aggro out of cards/threats. I’m not going to go over gameplay much since this is a deckbuilding series but I wanted to mention this so you have an idea when looking at the decks how this is accomplished.
Although this is a deckbuilding guide, I figured I might as well discuss the God Powers for the newbies. The most popular God Powers are Animal Bond and Selena’s Mark; personally I like Selena’s Mark better especially for a Midrange deck, although I’d still choose Animal Bond against Magic. Animal Bond also has Wild synergy which is useful when you have cards which utilizes that synergy, and against Magic it’s just good to summon more creatures to have board presence against their many spells. Flourish is the least used; it just doesn’t do enough, and does absolutely nothing if you have no creatures. People have tried it for Regen synergy decks but ultimately the other two are just better.
As you finish the tutorial and level up, you’ll start collecting Core cards; Nature has pretty good Core cards that you’ll absolutely want to put into your starting decks.
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Marsh Walker and Pyreshell Beetle are 1-drops that see play all the way to Mythic; they’re probably the best 1-drops compared to all the other Gods’ offerings for Core. Put them in with your Vanguard Axewoman and Wild Hog and you have a solid set of 1-drops that you won’t need to change for awhile. Black Jaguar is another that will accompany you all the way to the top, very nice 2-drop with Regen. Valewarden Minotaur is one of my favorite cards from the Core set; it does a lot! Not only does it give you a little heal, it also gives you card advantage in the form of a 7-mana Wild creature which are all mostly decent, plus with Wild synergy. I’d definitely still use this in Midrange decks in Mythic, but some people might take this out for a more aggressive card if they’re building an Aggro deck.
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On to spells, Canopy Barrage, Lightning Strike, and The Hunt are amazing for your deck; the first 2 are used in most Mythic decks whereas the latter may be substituted for something more aggressive, but that depends on the meta. Nature also has great Core relics in Faeflame Blade and Staff of Roots, although I wouldn’t run more than 2 relics total in a deck. All the creatures, spells, and relics I mentioned above are automatic includes in your deck when you open them!
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There are some more cards which are good but I wouldn’t say they’re auto-includes. Wildfire is actually a very common card used in Mythic, more so in Aggro than Midrange, but I didn’t put it as an auto-include because it requires you to have mostly Wild creatures in your deck before you can use it to its full potential. Bladefly helps with that as it gives you 3 targets to buff in one card. Nefarious Briar is a decent tech card against relics although Svart Basilisk which is a Neutral card is a good option as well, with both having Wild synergy. Green Giant is pretty good in my opinion but it has seen less and less play over time in Mythic; in lower ranks though this is a pretty good top end along with The Hunt. Grove Summon is decent card generation if you need more fuel although it’s pretty random. Angry Angry Hippo is a decent frontline with good health that can be a pain for your opponents to deal with in lower ranks, but will probably be replaced.
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If you luck into one of the Core Legendaries, they’re all decent to good. Out of all 3 I think Managarmr would be the easiest to include for its vanilla stat-line and positive effect. Hevner can end the game sometimes after you play it with enough Wild creatures in your void, although 8-mana is pretty high for most Nature decks.
I’ll go over some of the cheaper expansion cards which are good value for your deck first, then some more expensive options if you decide to invest in it.
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Celestial Stag (~3 GODS) is my pick out of all the budget cards, as it plays well with your lower mana drops to give you a card the turn it’s played, and can continue giving more if it’s not dealt with. Blessed is a minor bonus as well. Rabid Bear, Starving Sabertooth, and Brazen Moose are fractions of a GOD and are decent vanilla+ creatures. Penumbra Howler and Beast Liberator can provide value as well and they’re a fraction of a GOD too. Moonlight Charm (2.3 GODS) is a relic that can buff up your creatures for better trades and survivability against spells, and Vicious Manticore (4.4) and Sudden Bloom (7.5) can give you the reach to finish a game when you’re playing Aggro.
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On the higher end of cost, you have two Legendaries that can give you a snowball effect if not dealt with right away, with Finnian Fruitbearer (55 GODS) and Dagan (86). Underbrush Boar from the Genesis set is one of the best two drops of the whole game, but will set you back around 200 GODS. All of these can fit into most types of Nature decks, even Amazon ones, so if you really like Nature they would be worthwhile investments. Finally, Trial of the Hydra (60 GODS) is a good wild buff with regen synergy and can be played instead of Sudden Bloom.
I’ve provided some example decks here for Wild Nature, from a Welcome and Core deck as you’re first starting out to build towards, then budget Midrange and Aggro decks with some expansion cards, then finally a more expensive Aggro deck. These aren’t set in stone; feel free to experiment and check out GUDecks.com for more! There are a lot of cards that can do well which aren’t mentioned here.
I agree, and this is also one of my problems regarding my Nature deck.