So what is a deck-warping card and why should you consider this when analyzing a deck? I consider a deck-warping card any card you can build a strategy around - or a card that drastically changes how you play a deck. A concept came up in the Sanctumonious Discord about deck-warping cards vs card-warping decks. Card-warping decks we considered as decks that completely change the way you play a card or decks that offer up unique lines of play around that card. The example given was a deck with The Sting and any card to forge a key outside of the "Forge a Key Step". Being able to reuse The Sting's benefit of gaining your opponent's spent Aember while forging a key with these "Key Cheat" cards changes how The Sting is normally played - and may influence future strategies around the card for you moving forward after you play it. Deck-warping cards on the other hand impact the deck. They can influence your plays and strategies for a deck towards the card; however, it boils down to perspective, since the deck-warping card can just as easily be discarded. One thing I like to think about is the question, "How would this deck and its strategy be different if that card was removed?". With many Epic Quest decks I enjoy playing, they would feel very different without it there - while others it's nonessential.

Deck-warping cards can be a point of focus, to help understand a deck or to develop a strategy on the fly. It may help you find lines of play others may not on first glance. A good example of these cards is that of Annihilation Ritual, which reads: When a creature would enter a discard pile from play, it is purged instead. This card can completely disrupt a game and change your playstyle - but only if you let it. Are you ready to Gateway to Dis your entire board away? Do you really want to Pawn Sacrifice that creature? Is this a part of your strategy to thin your own deck for efficiency? Or are you ready to destroy it as soon as you clear your opponent's board of important creatures?