Welcome to the first Raiders Unchained issue of my metagame series, a collection of current competitive decklists.

If you think you deserve a mention or have a neat deck idea yourself – you can reply here or PM me on the SolForge forums (konanTheBarbar).

What are the biggest changes?

The biggest noticeable change is that Ironmind Acolyte and Energy Surge have been nerfed, which basically puts an end to competitive infinite combo decks.

You can’t cycle Energy Surge anymore, since it has Overload at L3 and Ironmind Acolyte got better stats, but doesn’t draw a card anymore (which is why people played him).

What’s popular? What’s seeing play?

Control decks have changed from drawing cards to leveling lots of threats that are hard to deal with. Games against (or with) control decks are now more exciting because the game is not automatically over once you reach PL3. Control decks might level lots of cards, but they’re no longer immune to getting a really bad hand. Another note is that even the huge L3 and L4 threats can be taken down by Nekrium cards like Death Current and Spiritcleave, which can lead to some really interesting and long games.

Tempys also got Fit of Rage – a somewhat overlooked addition from Set 7. With the help of this card you can take down huge threats (that have equal attack and health) with small tokens. With Mobility cards like Blitzmane, the Destroyer it can also be used in an offensively, which I really like.

New are so called Raid decks, that are using the Raid mechanic introduced with Set 7. If three different creatures attack on your turn, the Raid trigger will activate at the end of your turn (the creature with the Raid ability must survive). The most prominent example is Lorus, the Unrivaled.

There are a few flavors Raid decks, one that is mono Tempys with Lorus as a splash card and a UT version that focuses on creatures with high health that are likely to survive (Yetis and WWP). They are pretty good against slower and burn decks (since they can race them), but struggle against midrange decks like mono-Nekrium with Ignir.

Set 7 also introduced another keyword, Formation. This ability activates if you play a Formation card from your hand in a lane between two of your other creatures. While I haven’t seen any decks that I would call Formation decks, some Formation cards are definitely seeing play. Automaton Prime is really strong in robot/armor decks and also the common Ordnance Captain is seeing some play (not only, but especially in Draft). I personally like Voltaic Prophet in control decks, but I would say that he is not vital for them to function.

Some previous meta decks — mono-N (Ignir), mono-U and AT burn — are still very strong. They chase each other in a rock paper scissors format where mono-N > mono-U > AT Burn > mono-N. Sadly I don’t really see a lot of mono-U in the higher ranks anymore, since mono-N is so hugely popular.

Enough talk! Where are the decklists?

AT Control

3 Brimstone Tyrant

3 Ignir, Khan of Ashur

3 Killion, Infinity Warden

3 Scorchmane Dragon

3 Relic Hunter (Relic Scout)

2 Frostmane Dragon

2 Nexus Aeronaut

2 Oreian Justicar

2 Voltaic Prophet

1 Korok, Khan of Kadras

1 Steeleye Seer

3 Oratek Battlebrand

2 Wipe Clean

I’m a huge Oratek (AT) fan and love to play this list. It’s one of the few control decks that doesn’t have to run Ambriel’s Edict, because it can stay ahead on the board with the Scout + Tyrant combo and solid cards like Frostmane and Aeronaut. This list also utilizes Steeleye Seer much better than other control decks, because of the Frostmane eggs/mobility and the Scout tokens. I added a single Korok, since this deck can lack the reach to finish your opponent in the late-game (Ignir is more or less your only reach). Justicar and Wipe Clean both help against burn decks, since you won’t be able to race those decks. I would consider this deck Tier 1, since it was good enough to take me from Platinum to Titanium.

The toughest challenge for this deck is Indomitable Fiend because multiple 14/14s in PL2 is really hard to deal with. Second worst match-up is probably AU Control.

AT Burn (Zrandles)

3 Steelscale Dragon

2 Ambriel Archangel

3 Ambriel’s Edict

3 Burnout

3 Dragonwake

3 Ice Grasp

3 Static Shock

2 Chaos Twister

2 Firestorm

2 Flame Lance

2 Nanoswarm

2 Oratek Battlebrand

Because mono-N remains very popular, burn decks are still very competitive. I would recommend that Alloyin decks should therefore include at least one Wipe Clean.

Play your Ice Grasps early, level at least one Steelscale Dragon in PL1 and burn down whatever your opponent plays while dealing damage to him with your Grasps and Dragonwakes. I personally hate this deck, since I find it problematic that such a linear and non-interactive deck is so competitive, but it might be good for the meta that burn keeps some archetypes like mono-N in check. Zrandles grinded to Titanium on the second day of the season with exactly this list and was the first player to ever reach Titanium (he was smart since no-one had 100% tuned decks that early and only a few good players were at the top with him so he got queued against all kinds of opponents).

AU Control Wegu

3 Chrogias

3 Esperian Sage

3 Glowstride Stag

3 Killion, Infinity Warden

3 Malice Hermit

3 Oros, Deepwood’s Chosen

3 Wegu, The Ancient

2 Othra, Apex Predator

3 Ambriel’s Edict

2 Dendrify

2 Lysian Shard / Druid’s Chant

Try to set up good turns for your Wegu with Oros and level Chrogias (+Wegu) with your leveling package of Sage and Killion. Stag and Chrogias help you survive and also serve as great enablers for Wegu. Aside from the Wegu plan you can still wreck your opponent with Chrogias L3 when the game goes long enough. I tried Voltaic Prophet in this list, but in my opinion it wasn’t worth it.

AU GrowWide (yiannisph)



3 Automaton Prime

3 Esperian Scarab

3 Lifeblood Dryad

3 Nexus Aeronaut / Ordnance Captain

3 Nova, Grove Queen

3 Relic Hunter

3 Weirwood Patriarch

2 Forgewatch Sentry

2 Lorus, the Unrivaled / Hive Empress

2 Marty McGear

3 Ferocious Roar

This is one of the most explosive lists explosive lists out there, since you can build a huge, hard to deal with board very quickly. Nearly every turn you can buff your board by either playing Weirwood Patriarch, Lifeblood Dryad or Ferocious roar. All other cards focus on flooding the board. A good start with this deck will force your opponent to deal with a menacing and unrelenting wall of destruction. Every. Single. Turn.

AN Armorbots (Turkis)



3 Automaton Prime

3 Forgewatch Sentry

3 Ironbeard, Ascendant

3 Voltaic Prophet

2 Aegis Knight

2 Marty McGear

2 Varna, Immortal King

2 Vyric Ebonskull

3 Spiritcleave

2 Gauntlets of Sulgrim

2 Immortal Echoes

2 Wipe Clean

1 Death Current

This brew comes from Turkis and utilizes Ironbeard in a great and fun way. I love the inclusion of Vyric Ebonskull which has a neat synergy with the Anvilbreaker and is awesome against Fiend decks. The second axis of this deck is the Armor package consisting of Forgewatch Sentry, Automaton Prime + Gauntlets of Sulgrim and of course Aegis Knight is not missing (it’s basically in every Turkis brew). Turkis told me he climbed from Gold to Platinum with it, but later switched decks, when he faced too much mono-N. So if you are looking for a fun to play deck that is still competitive, this is your list.

AN Control / Hate



3 Killion, Infinity Warden

3 Leyline Demon

3 Leyline Sentry

3 Oreian Justicar

2 Varna, Immortal King

2 Zimus, the Undying

1 Cercee, Hand of Varna

1 Spiritstone Sentry

3 Death Current

3 Spiritcleave

2 Ambriel’s Edict

2 Epidemic

2 Wipe Clean

This deck can be surprisingly annoying to play against since it tries to counter what most decks are doing. You are either winning in the very late game with Cercee 4, Varna 4 or Zimus 3, or you are slowly grinding out an advantage and win that way. The full package of Justicar, Leyline Demon and Leyline Sentry hates on lots of decks and can win some match-ups on their own. Hate directly counters burn, so it’s good to have handy whenever that’s popular in the queue.

N (A/U/T) Fiend

Indomitable Fiend Core:

3 Indomitable Fiend

3 Death Current

3 Immortal Echoes

3 Undying Legacy

2 Remembrance

Tempys Burn:

3 Burnout

3 Firestorm

3 Ice Grasp

3 Static Shock

2 Chaos Twister

2 Flame Lance

There are many different versions of Fiend. This list is quite nasty since you combine the burn package (Ice Grasp, Static Shock, etc) with the Fiend package. Indomitable Fiend gets revived as an 8/8 in PL1, a 14/14 in PL2 and 20/20 in PL3. The goal is to get some insane value with Immortal Echoes – the L1 played on 1.4 will give you two 14/14 creatures! The biggest downside to this deck is that it’s very dependent on Immortal Echoes and can be inconsistent at times. But if you are able to chain them you will get some incredibly easy wins (even if you used auto-complete for the rest of the deck).

The perfect counter to the Fiend deck is Phytobomb + Malice Hermit or very aggressive decks. Apart from that it often feels like a bunch of coin flips playing against the deck – when is the first Fiend in the graveyard, how many Echoes do you hit and in which lanes do the Fiends spawn. I hate both playing with and against this deck 🙁

For the completeness sake here are the other Fiend versions (combine them with the core above for a complete decklist):

Uterra Behemoth:

3 Shardplate Behemoth

3 Epidemic

3 Shallow Grave

3 Vyric’s Embrace

2 Dreadbolt

2 Explosive Demise

Alloyin Control:

3 Ambriel’s Edict

3 Epidemic

3 Lucid Echoes

3 Spiritcleave

2 Perilous Insight

2 Explosive Demise

NT Move (Pion)

3 Blitzmane, the Destroyer

3 Borean Windweaver

3 Frostfang Maiden

3 Frostmane Dragon

3 Storm Bringer

2 Windborn Hellion

1 Byzerak Frostmaiden

1 Emberwind Evoker

2 Death Current

2 Fit of Rage

2 Immortal Echoes

2 Rage of Kadras

1 Call the Lightning

1 Nethershriek

1 Undying Legacy

Besides Pion I haven’t seen anyone else on this list, but when I played against him, he wrecked me. I completely underestimated this list. If you love complex board states and fun mobility shenanigans, you will love this list. In the ideal case you can move two creatures during your turn and maybe have a Storm Bringer running wild on your opponent’s turn. This can easily create a huge Windborn Hellion while clearing the board with your Frostfang Maiden and Rage of Kadras.

Uterra Wegu



3 Bramblewood Tracker

3 Glowstride Stag

3 Lifeblood Dryad

3 Lightbringer Council

3 Oros, Deepwood’s Chosen

3 Patron of Deepwood

3 Wegu, the Ancient

2 Scatterspore Eidolon

3 Enduring Vitality

2 Ferocious Roar

2 Lysian Shard

This is a brew I came up with and played from Gold to Platinum. Play this list like a normal mono-U deck, but whenever your opponent leaves your creatures unblocked you can build a huge Wegu with Lightbringer Council and Oros. I rarely played Wegu in PL1, and would rather use him to snowball once I’m already ahead on the board. Early on it is way more important to get your Trackers and Enduring Vitality played than Wegu or Glowstride Stag. I would even consider Stag to be a flex card that can be replaced by a card you would like to splash (e.g. Spiritcleave / Death Current/ Call the Lightning / Esperian Sage).

Nekrium Ignir



3 Ebonskull Knight

3 Ignir, Khan of Ashur

3 Leyline Demon

3 Patron of Tarsus

3 Varna, Immortal King

3 Xerxes, the Executioner

2 Spiritstone Sentry

2 Zimus, the Undying

3 Death Current

3 Spiritcleave

2 Immortal Echoes

This deck has only slightly changed from the last meta. The only new inclusions are old cards – Zimus and Spiritstone Sentry are needed for the mirror and against Fiend and burn decks. Otherwise the deck is mostly the same and still very powerful. Even L1 Ignir can be easily played in your first four turns with this list. Your opponent often doesn’t want to block him, because of Varna, Immortal King bringing him back so you will regularly get two triggers with him. This deck wrecks Raid and grow-wide decks, but is weak against burn.

UT Raid

3 Ator, Thunder Titan

3 Blitzmane, the Destroyer

3 Cauldron Mystic

3 Korok, Khan of Kadras

3 Lorus, the Unrivaled

3 Umbruk Lasher

3 Uranti Warlord

3 Warhound Raider

3 Weirwood Patriarch

2 Firefist Uranti

1 Rageborn Hellion

This is probably the most popular of the Raid decks. It utilizes a Yeti package with high health, but only 3 attack Yetis that can all get buffed by Weirwood Patriarch. They are quite likely to survive and blocking the Yetis can be awkward, because of Uranti Warlord. You basically build a board and then set up your Raids for Lorus and Blitzmane. This list also plays Cauldron Mystic, a new Yeti that is especially nasty, if you have two of them on the board.

Tempys Raid



3 Blitzmane, the Destroyer

3 Borean Windweaver

3 Brimstone Tyrant

3 Frostmane Dragon

3 Korok, Khan of Kadras

3 Lorus, the Unrivaled

3 Patron of Kadras

3 Warhound Raider

2 Ator, Thunder Titan

1 Rageborn Hellion

3 Rage of Kadras

This is an even more aggressive version of the UT Raid deck, which is a little harder to play, since you have to set up your creatures for Rage of Kadras (while quite a few of them are aggressive). I used it to get undefeated to Silver Rank 2. Try to get one big Rage or Tyrant turn and snowball from there. This deck usually wrecks control and burn decks (Korok is key in those match-ups) and can push huge amounts of damage with Patron of Kadras.