Hey everyone, TinMan here with a guide for one of the most fun decks in Artifact right now, Black Green Payday! If you like completing the “Student of Revtel” achievement, buying your entire item deck in one turn, and/or hitting your opponent for 80+ damage with a single creep, then this deck is for you!

The overall gameplan for the deck goes something like this:

Get gold, either through hero kills or Goldmine Double your gold with Payday If you are a good player, and draw multiple Paydays, double it some more Use Revtel Convoy to one shot their heroes and/or towers Once they kill the Convoy, or if you don’t draw it, spend your gold on massive items ???? Profit (or wait was that step 1?)

While I don’t think this deck is quite a tier 1 deck, I do think it is surprisingly competitive for a tier 2 deck. This is in stark contrast to the popular opinion that Green Black is an unplayable color combination. Look for my updated tierlist soon!

First, lets hop into the list I have been running, then talk about some optional cards, and finally, some gameplay and matchup notes.

DECKLIST LINK

This is the list I settled on after quite a bit of testing and tinkering with different options (including Tinker!). It is very streamlined, with all 3-of cards, with a 2-2 split between Hip Fire and Pick Off. It also keeps the curve very low, with the 31 out of 40 cards playable in the first two turns of the game.

HEROES

The only mandatory heroes are Bounty Hunter and Phantom Assassin. Bounty Hunter’s signature card, Track, is a key gold generation card, and sets up your best possible opening plays. Phantom Assassin kills heroes really well, and since killing heroes gets you lots of gold, I don’t think she needs much more explanation.

I like going for a third black hero, since so many key cards for the hero killing/gold generation strategy are in black. I have tried Sniper, Tinker, and Lich, as those three seemed to be most at home in this type of strategy. Lich was definitely the front runner though, since his signature card just wrecks and deck without armor (like Mono Blue), and gaining initiative is massively important for Coup de Grace.

Sniper is often played in these kind of “hero killer” strategies since Assassinate is a super powered Pick Off/Gank. But for 7 mana, I almost always found myself wanting a Chain Frost over an Assassinate since we have no other way to clear out a board that has gone wide against us. Speaking of which, Tinker was also considered, since his signature helps us to play defense against wide boards, but was overall lackluster in the core gameplan of “killing heroes”

For the two green heroes, I started with Omniknight and never switched him out. Since our item deck has to have lots of big items as payoffs, and we often want to save gold for Payday, we do not get many early Health items like other decks. Omniknight’s signature card, high starting health total, and healing active, helps to mitigate that somewhat, and keep our heroes and creeps in the fight.

The second green hero was the one I struggled the most with, I tried Lycan, Treant Protector, Drow Ranger, Magnus, and Dark Seer, settling eventually on Dark Seer. His active is critical to maintaining pressure where you need it. It is like a Blink Dagger for creeps, and since creeps are your win condition through Horn of the Alpha/Thunderhide Pack and Revtel Convoy, have the mobility options for them is highly impactful.

Magnus was the other top consideration. His signature card is much better than Dark Seer’s and the +3 attack on turn two can really help to secure a hero kill. The cleave was also nice as a counter to the “go wide” strategy that we are naturally weak to.

Lycan, Treant Protector, and Drow Ranger were the “meta” options, in that they are very popular in other decks, but don’t quite fit what we need here. The mana ramp from Treant is not very helpful since the curve is very low, and using Coup de Grace is more impactful later in the game anyway. The attack buffs from Lycan and Drow are nice to help secure kills, but Lycan’s was inconsistent, and we didn’t have enough creeps to really take advantage of Drow Ranger’s passive.

Key Cards

Iron Fog Goldmine, Payday, Track

These three are the core of your gold generation engine. Always play three of each, no exception. I would play like six Paydays if I could, because games where you draw multiple Paydays get really silly really quickly!

Gank, Pick Off, Hip Fire

These cards are often your best turn two plays. They allow you to finish off hero kills before that hero gets to heal up or cast a card of their own. Gank is often the best of the bunch, as it does the most damage, and trading a hero to cash in a Track bounty is definitely worth it. The split between Hip Fire and Pick Off is up to you, and if you choose another Black hero other than Lich, you may want a third Hip Fire for the Initiative since you lose Chain Frost.

Revtel Convoy

The whole reason we are playing Green in the first place is this AMAZING creep. The Convoy is essentially a 5 mana super charged Marrowfell Brawler under normal circumstances. If you get a Payday, it goes into berserker mode, and can threaten to one shot towers and ancients! This card is tricky to play with, since you have to hold off on spending your all your gold, but it is often a win-win situation for you. If your opponent deals with it, it will kill their towers, and if they do deal with it, now you can spend all your gold for those awesome items.

Optional Cards

Relentless Pursuit

This card is nice to help avoid unpleasant flops. If your Phantom Assassin lands in front of a Bristleback, he gets to say “You’re about to have a REAL BAD DAY” and he would be right! If Bounty Hunter lands in front of a Legion Commander and doesn’t get the Jinada proc, you will be crying yourself to sleep at night. Relentless Pursuit helps to mitigate some of these circumstances and provide mid to late game mobility since we have only 2 Blink Daggers, and even then often want to save gold for bigger items.

Rebel Decoy

A nice creep to also help in the early game. He can position your heroes to get kills, or get your guys out of harm’s way. Also, it provides key positioning for your Revtel Convoys and Thunderhide Packs to allow them to hit the tower directly.

Unearthed Secrets

I like this improvement because so many of our cards are net negative on card advantage. You can run out of cards in hand quickly using Paydays, Goldmines, Ion Shells, etc. that don’t actually trade with an opposing card. Unearthed Secrets helps to keep your hand full, especially since we don’t go very wide on the board, making it easier to trigger.

Mist of Avernus

I tried this one out, since in theory it helps secure kills early (think Bounty Hunter into Legion Commander without Jinada, or into Bristleback with Jinada), but in practice it was too inconsistent. We don’t have many creeps to buff with it so it’s impact is often minimal in the mid game. If you choose to run a more creep heavy version, with Lycan for instance, I could see adding more of these back in.

Assassin’s Apprentice

Similar idea to Mist and Relentless Pursuit in that they help your secure turn one kills or trades, but too weak in my experience. She dies to a melee creep, and Legion Commander’s Retaliate, and Hounds of War, and pretty much everything else.

Tyler Estate Censor

I played him for a while in the deck, and he was great against Mono Blue to keep them off Annihilation for a turn. Against other decks though, he was lackluster. He doesn’t contribute to our core gameplan of getting kills and gold and he doesn’t help our creeps connect like Decoy does. If you are seeing lots of Mono Blue, consider adding him back in, but if you are up against a lot of Red decks, don’t bother.

Slay

Good for clearing the way for your big creeps to hit the tower, but generally underwhelming since there are not too many super high value creeps in the meta right now. Emissary of the Quorum stands out as a prime target, but outside of that, most of the top decks play much cheaper creeps that Slay isn’t as efficient against.

Item Deck

Horn of the Alpha, Vesture of the Tyrant

These are our two main gold payoffs. Horn is better in a normal game, since it plays defense by adding a huge blocker, and offense by adding a huge attacker/siege damage. Vesture is the better defensive option and allows you to control the bleeding vs decks that go wide with Kanna and Dimensional Portal, but also against decks that use Time of Triumph since it cancels out most of the siege damage. I like 3 Horns, 1 Vesture, but if you play against lots of Mono Blue, consider adding a second Vesture since the Rapid Deployment is also amazing vs their removal.

Blink Dagger

We are only running two of these since you have lots of mobility options in Dark Seer and Relentless Pursuit. Prioritize putting these on Green heroes, since your Black heroes have Relentless Pursuit and Gank to affect other lanes, and Dark Seer cannot Surge himself.

Jasper Daggers

After their recent buff, these are required to be in every item deck. The Purge effect is so powerful to get rid of Tidehunter’s Stun, Tinker’s Disarm, Drow Ranger’s Silence, etc. Also just useful to pierce through armor to get kills on resilient Red heroes.

Revtel Signet Ring

This could be Traveler’s Cloak or Stonehall Cloak, as we just need some cheap Health item. I prefer Signet Ring because our Black heroes often die with Ganks, so spending one extra gold to deny them three seems worth it. Since they are often dead, spending the extra gold for a Stonehall Cloak seems wasted since they will not build it up.

Gameplay Tips and Tricks

Buy early Heath and healing items if you have the chance. Your heroes are relatively fragile and saving three or four gold for a Revtel Convoy or Payday is not worth losing a hero that your could have saved.

Don’t buy Blink Daggers early. They spend a lot more gold than health items and you generally don’t need that mobility on the first few turns of the game anyway. Save the gold for Payday or Convoy.

You can play Track on turn one even if you will not kill their hero just yet. You have lots of options like Gank, Pick Off, and Hip Fire to get the kill. Just be wary of healing and health items, and particularly Jasper Daggers and Town Portal Scroll as they will remove the Track bounty.

Prioritize lane one over the other lanes, since your mobility options and Gank are best used from lane one as opposing to lane three since you can still fight or deny the opponent the chance to act in that round. In particular, we want Phantom Assassin, Bounty Hunter, and Dark Seer in the earlier lanes and Omniknight and Lich in later lanes.

Prioritize putting Convoy and Horn of the Alpha in Dark Seer’s lane, since he can spread them out with Surge once you win that lane.

Ion Shell can go on creeps! Don’t be afraid to use it on a creep to secure a hero kill.

When you have Revtel Convoy hand or on board, you generally do not want to spend your gold. Make them deal with the huge creep, then once they do, you can buy your big items and get the best of both worlds. Plus it lets you draw into another Payday for maximum gold craziness. The two exceptions to this are 1) when the opposing tower is low and the Convoy will still destroy it even with lower attack and 2) when buying a Horn of the Alpha, since a 14 attack Thunderhide Pack only reduces the Convoy’s attack by 12 or 13, resulting in a net increase in damage.

You can VERY EASILY pressure the ancient with this deck. Opponent’s cannot simply abandon a lane you are winning on. If they do, a Convoy plus Payday can easily do 80+ in one swing. Putting Dark Seer on a winning lane means you can punish them if they over commit to defense by Surging out your huge creeps.

Putting Vesture of the Tyrant into Lich’s lane lets you sacrifice the hero to draw cards, plus use Rapid Deployment to come right back into a more ideal lane. Lich’s active in general should be used on Melee Creeps who aren’t doing much to keep your hand full of action.

Matchup Guides

Mono Red

When I wrote MY GUIDE for Mono Red, it wasn’t really a meta deck and I didn’t think to include mirror match notes. Well it caught on and became a popular tier 1 deck, so I guess this is a bit of a humble brag…

Unfortunately, the Mono Red matchup is not ideal for Black Green Payday. Since we are predicated on hero kills, and all Red heroes are hard to kill, you can see the problem here. If you can get a turn one Track onto Legion Commander and turn it into a kill, or a Track into Pick Off on Bristleback, then you can definitely win the matchup. But if you stumble and don’t get gold or kills early, you won’t be able to put much pressure on them before they get Health items and healing online, then you will succumb their powerful late game with Time of Triumph.

Additionally, Chain Frost, and Lich in general is pretty weak in this matchup, so if you run into a lot of Mono Red, consider swapping him out for someone like Sniper who can Pierce through armor with Assassinate.

Mono Blue

A much better mono colored matchup, Mono Blue is easier because their heroes die so easily that you can rack up gold and buy your items more consistently. That being said it is not a walk in the park matchup. They can go wide with Dimensional Portal and Prey on the Weak, which block out Revtel Convoys and Thunderhide Packs all day plus pressure our tower.

Buy Vesture of the Tyrant asap, and hold one in the Secret Shop if you see one. It shuts down their Kanna lane and provides rapid deployment from their removal.

Chain Frost is the other MVP of the matchup, wiping out their board and giving initiative so that you can do it again on the next lane.

Try to kill their heroes in waves of two or three in a single turn, rather than one per turn. This will leave them with a turn of no hero deployments so you can take advantage, knowing they cannot contest a lane with a big spell.

Pressure all three lanes, if you too easily give one up, they can focus all their removal on the remaining two and you will likely get overrun.

Prioritize actually destroying a tower, using Ganks, Coup de Grace, etc to push the last few points. If you leave a tower at low health, your lane may be Annihilated and you will be hard pressed to finish it off.

Red Green Ramp

This matchup can be inconsistent. If they get the early ramp into Time of Triumph, you need to race the other lanes and hope for the best. If they do not get a crazy fast start, and you get a good flop, you can power out a Horn of the Alpha that they cannot deal with.

Put your Black heroes into lanes with their Green heroes since they are easier to kill than the Red heroes, and you may be able to deny mana ramp.

They struggle to deal with a huge Revtel Convoy, and it can even fight an win against a Time of Triumphed hero with enough gold.

Vesture of the Tyrant is nice to play defense against Time of Triumph, but it is just stalling the inevitable, and is weak vs the constantly growing board of Emissary of the Quorum. Prioritize Horn of the Alpha over Vesture and try to out race their powerful late game.

Red Black Aggro

In contrast to the Ramp and Mono Blue matchup, you have to play defense here, not offense. Focus on keeping towers and creeps alive using Allseeing One’s Favor, and don’t worry too much about getting early kills and gold.

Be wary of their turn two play where they put Sorla into a later lane, then Gank with Phantom Assassin from an earlier lane to create a 2 vs. 0 in that late lane. Avoid deploying your turn two hero into a lane where they may Gank out of it.

If you can get early trades and gold generation, both Horn of the Alpha and Vesture are great buys. Both play defense well, and Horn helps turn the corner and put the pressure back on them, plus kills off their heroes/creep in the process.

If you can get to the late game, Chain Frost will often clean up the critical lane, and leave you in a winning position. This whole matchup is a delicate balance of countering their early aggression then turning it back around quickly and Chain Frost is a huge turning point.

Final Thoughts

This deck is a ton of fun to play, especially with multiple Paydays, gold flowing everywhere, buying your entire item deck, and hitting the opponent for massive Convoys. It is susceptible to bad flops, where you don’t get any hero kills early, or when you just don’t draw Payday or Convoy.

I think that inconsistent nature holds it back from being a tier one deck, instead falling into tier two. It can be competitive and win games vs the top tier though, so I encourage you to try it out if you want a change of pace from the current meta.

Please check out my VIDEO SERIES where I run this deck through a constructed gauntlet and give in depth commentary to my plays and strategies. I think those will help a lot with learning the hardest part of this deck, proper gold management. You can also watch the video guide of this article HERE.

Thanks for reading/watching, I hope you enjoyed it and learned a thing or two!