Leaving the Mire of Low Ranks. My New Deck with Merrick and Whisper Barons

in Gods On Chain2 years ago (edited)

I sank with my Heroic Brawlers+Mugging aggro deck from Mythic to lower ranks two WR ago and was traveling between Auric and Solar with dives into Midnight Shadow. The previous WR, I started in Solar and did nice 12/18 (with visiting Auric). I made 10/18 in Solar this WR, again with a dive into Auric. So I had MJ packs + extra one for 30 wins. However, downgrading so much didn't make me happy. I radically changed the deck and quickly climbed from Auric to Diamond this weekend. This one:

Deck code: GU_1_2_CCmCCmCCQCCQIAoIAoCFRCFRCFVCFVCDDCDDIClIClKDSCCJKCdCEwKCZKCZCFUCFTCFTGBnGBnKCnBEoKDLKDLCAJ

I recenty got Merrick from a level-up Rare pack, that's why 🙂

A nice thing about this deck is that you can play it in many ways. If you get an early access to Merrick and Whisper Baron - play this combo:

The last hit: actually Merrick wasn't needed: Whisper Baron finished the opp's god. 😁

If you have a buffed Switch Duelist, it will work well with Merrick too:


Buffed Switch Duelist + Merrick = one 12-damage hit into the face

If you have Whisper Baron and plenty of 1-mana minions, you can quickly buff Whisper Baron:


The opp's god was killed mostly with 1 buffed Whisper Baron

If you have a Sneaky Bruiser and Dark Knives or Ludian Thespian - you can forget about Merrick and Whisper Barons:

The opponent needed to make 1 more damage to avoid the loss. This is how this usually works: you should really feel when you should forget about defense and start hitting the face

Fresh Sneaky Bruiser with 14 strength...

If someone is interested in shiny decks building

Think about Shakedown. This card can work well and cost as cheap as 0.03$ for a meteorite.

It doesn't look like they will nerf (or buff) this kind of card but who knows...

I was buying for 0.02$ from time to time and have already collected enough for fusing a diamond one. 🤠

I will fuse later.... Now I have a gold one only.

Playing an aggro Deception deck, you almost always have the strongest creatures on your side so Shakedown is just 2-mana "draw two cards" which, for example, is very helpful when you have many buffing cards in the deck and you need one of them to make the decisive hit with your hidden creature which is already on the board.

It could be that playing Encumbered Looter is better but getting a diamond version of Encumbered Looter isn't cheap - a meteorite Looter costs 50+ times more than Shakedown. So having 1 Shakedown for a farming Deception deck can be a good choice. Probably. DYOR.

An alternative for Bound by Her Will

Another card to comment. Onyx Nightblade costs 1 mana less than Bound by Her Will and, as a Guild creature, works with Frumentaii Instigators and Whisper Barons. But having two in the deck is redundant in my experience.

Marsh Walker is a perfect target for Onyx

So my shiny collection widened recently 😀:

Shiny Deck I Am Working on

The drama is that buying enough meteorite Whisper Barons and Merricks for fusing shadow versions is too costly (I don't even mention Reflection Elementalist). So I need an alternative deck for earning more $GODS. My tests in Solar weren't that great - I was slowly sinking without Merrick + Whisper Barons.

This is an upgraded deck I am going to test when I have a chance:

Deck code: GU_1_2_CCQCCQCCmCCmCDDCDDCFVCFVBDtCCJCCJCCMCEwIClIClKCiKCiICtKCZKCZKCbKCgGBnGBnKCnKCsKCsKDLKDLCAJ

All shadows + 3 golds. Except for 1 Meteorite Encumbered Looter. But when I am sure I need one, I can afford to buy 1 shadow version.

I can't compensate Whisper Barons and Merrick's aggro-ness... So I included less aggro but still useful cards:

  • Blessing of Deception. Hiding even 1 buffed Switch Duelist alone is a lot. 8 favor can actually change the game too. But having 2 Blessing of Deception is always too much from my experience. Team Up is an interesting alternative.
  • Heroic Brawler is a bit late card for an aggro deck but it is very powerful. And I have a gold version 🤠
  • Lethargy Mage can curb minions of Nature and Light and give space for aggro mates. And it's Guild.

More shiny alternatives I have:

image(45).png

I don't even mean I want to play my "farming deck" in Mythic - sitting firmly in Solar / Diamond can be fine too. Last 2 weeks, I practiced a new style I call eat2earn - when you are having breakfast or dinner and playing GU relaxed in the meantime on the laptop. This is my preparation for the daily earning scheme. 🙂

Thank you for stopping by! Comments are welcome! 😎

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This post gave me a ton to think about. Very nice! Firstly, I decided to get my shakedown to diamond from gold. It's really cheap and 1x fits so well in guild decks. Second, I'm now torn on Bound vs Onyx. I'd rather steal most creatures than destroy them, but another guild body is nice and it costs less mana. For bound, I will say it has saved my bacon so many times against City Planner. Taking one of the frontlines is WAY better than destroying it.

My biggest fear now is they are going to nerf the strength steal cards. The general archetype is really strong. So I tried not to blow too much money shining up this deck. A lot of the cards are cheap, so I figured the risk was worth it. Also, I'm hoping guild deception can remain decent even if they do nerf it a bit.

against City Planner --

I think in the following way: Bound is for a deck that can beat an opp with City Planner. Onyx is for a deck that can beat the opp before City Planner can be played.

Onyx saves 1 mana and gives you 1/2 creature. If you play Bound against 1/2 Badger (which is not the best idea but it happens), the result is the same except you save 1 mana with Onyx and you get 1/2 GUILD creature, not a Wild one. Bound can bring you a powerful Marsh Walker while Onyx kills it and gives you a pitiful 1/2 non-regen GUILD creature and, again, it saves 1 mana.

Probably, the final decision on what to choose must be done after an analysis of the current meta. Say, if Mages are plentiful and all play Oni Spellsword, Bound by Her Will is a must-have even for a super aggro deck. Zombies - the same.

Onyx has 2 disadvantages:

  1. it can't kill creatures with ward while Bound doesn't care
  2. you can't drop Onyx without destroying a suitable creature even the only suitable creature to destroy on the board is yours. But if there are no creatures with strength 1 and less, you can drop Onyx without destroying anything.

My biggest fear now is they are going to nerf the strength steal cards -

They can... I also feel uncertain about how long they are going to print MJ cards, how many. If like DO, 100.000 copies of a common card, then this is one story. If there will be 300.000 copies, this is another story, and 2-4 cents for a card isn't the bottom in this case, perhaps.

About bottom prices... I couldn't resist the temptation to collect cards for fusing a Death diamond card, Desecrated Shrine. Gold ones cost 0.8$, still available. 0.8$ / 25 = 0.03$ for a meteorite. There were meteorites for 0.02$ as well.

Great points. Re: desecrated shrine: yea I picked up enough for 1 gold and 1 shadow a while back. It's a fun card. Couldn't justify to myself springing for a diamond, but good on you!

I never liked Merrick, too situational needing another creature to live and buffs to play on it.

I never liked him too. But I changed my point of view. Because its disadvantages are compensated by the fact that Merrick can make just a huge damage.

My post 4 months ago 🙂:

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Teşekkür ederim. )

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