Building on a Theme: Redoran Onslaught

Theme Decks are a great way to get into The Elder Scrolls: Legends quickly and start playing against other people. As a convenient starting point, these decks can’t be beat - but they can still be improved upon!

To do just that, today we’ll be looking at the lightning-fast Redoran Onslaught Theme Deck and making some adjustments to increase its potency as a competitive deck.

Since today’s article is geared towards those of you just getting into the game and building your first few decks, we’ll be adding only Commons and Rares to this Redoran Onslaught deck. Remember, Arena is your best friend when you’re looking for more cards and Soul Gems to build your Collection!

Redoran Onslaught 1.0 3 Ashlander Zealot 1 Iliac Sorcerer 3 Sarethi Scion 2 Ald Velothi Assassin 3 Ambitious Hireling 3 Enchanted Plate 2 Fifth Legion Trainer 1 Fighters Guild Hall 2 Gavel of the Ordinator 3 Quarra Clan Bloodkin 1 Redoran Forerunner 1 Rift Thane 3 Warclaw Mercenary 2 Wind Keep Spellsword 3 Battlerage Orc 1 Bolvyn Venim 1 Cast Out 2 Daedric Crescent 1 Feasting Hunger 1 Frostbite Spider 1 Haunting Spirit 2 Khuul Lawkeeper 1 Knight of Gnisis 1 Morthal Executioner 1 Mummify 2 Raiding Party 3 Redoran Battlespear 2 Ald-ruhn Arms Master 1 Hive Defender 1 Inspiring Kinsman 1 Midnight Sweep 1 Orcish Warhammer 1 Rampaging Minotaur 3 Redoran Oathman 3 Bal Isra Warrider 3 Dren Bodyguard 1 Fetcherfly Golem 1 Lurking Mummy 1 Pillaging Tribune 1 Black Worm Necromancer 3 Cliff Hunter 2 Triumphant Jarl 1 Bloodline Outcast

How does it win?

The first thing to look at when editing a deck is its game plan; obviously we want to reduce our opponent’s life total to 0, but how does this deck want to do that? In Redoran Onslaught’s case, that answer is “quickly.”

This Theme Deck has a very low Magicka curve, utilizing powerful and quick early-game creatures to rush the opponent down in the first few turns. In other words: this an Aggro deck.

It also takes advantage of Rally, a new keyword from Houses of Morrowind that adds +1/+1 to a random creature in your hand whenever a creature with Rally attacks - an aggressive keyword for an aggressive deck.

With that in mind, we’ll be looking to make this deck’s early turns more consistent so it can get off the ground fast. We’ll add some more efficient aggressive creatures and remove a couple cards that may be a bit too slow or unreliable for some people’s taste.

Card Substitutions

In our one-cost department, we’ll start by removing Ashlander Zealot for an Aggro deck’s best friend, Nord Firebrand. The Zealot isn’t likely to get enough stats to battle anything effectively, but the Nord is extra damage we can always weave into a turn thanks to its cost of 0 Magicka. It’s also another Charge creature, and nothing is more satisfying than buffing a Charge creature with your Rallies!

Let’s move on to our two-cost creatures - we’ve got a lot of good, aggressive options here but can alter some of the numbers for consistency. The Enchanted Plates are decent card draw, but there are options better suited for an Aggro deck. Fighters Guild Hall is a bit slow, so we’ll cut that one-of as well, and Ambitious Hireling is, similar to the Zealot, a little unreliable without enough buffs.

For the additions, let’s start with a third copy each of Fifth Legion Trainer, Ald Velothi Assassin, and Wind Keep Spellsword! Each of these cards is extremely annoying for our opponents in its own way. We can also add three copies of Bruma Profiteer, whose three power makes him a valuable attacker while letting us heal against other aggressive decks.

Beyond that, we probably want to switch Quarra Clan Bloodkin for Barrow Stalker, a similar card but with Guard and that always-valuable extra power. Speaking of Drain, let’s max out the Redoran Forerunner - we’ll make more space later.

As far as three-cost creatures go, Morthal Executioner and Haunting Spirit are definitely a couple we want more of. Playing max copies of Battlerage Orc and Khuul Lawkeeper is also probably for the best, for consistency’s sake.

Despite already having a lot of three-cost creatures, Young Mammoth is definitely something we’d want to include as it has a ton of stats for its low Magicka cost. Feasting Hunger and Frostbite Spider don’t really fit the bill here, and we can cut Raiding Party with actual Nord Firebrands in our deck.

Mummify can also be left behind in favor of more copies of Cast Out, which is likely better removal for an Aggro deck as it leaves nothing on our opponent’s board for them to contest our creatures with. While Daedric Crescent isn’t too bad, I think there’s a better option to complement our Redoran Battlespears as additional Items: three copies of Steel Scimitar.

The Later Turns

With all of our additions, we need to make some space. We’ll do so by cutting some of the slower cards in the list; they may be good, but we’re an Aggro deck after all!

Bloodline Outcast and Cliff Hunter immediately stick out as cards that don’t really fit in this type of deck and the same can be said for the pair of five-cost Guards, Dren Bodyguard and Lurking Mummy. If we accomplish our game plan, we shouldn’t need them.

We can then clean up our later turns a bit by removing some of the one-ofs in the list (Midnight Sweep, Orcish Warhammer and Rampaging Minotaur) for two more copies of Hive Defender and a third copy of Triumphant Jarl. Hive Defender can protect our early game attackers and allow them to deal damage turn after turn, and Triumphant Jarl is our best way to refill our hand after we’ve played a bunch of creatures - assuming we haven’t beaten our opponent yet!

Redoran Onslaught 2.0 3 Nord Firebrand 1 Iliac Sorcerer 3 Sarethi Scion 3 Steel Scimitar 3 Ald Velothi Assassin 3 Barrow Stalker 3 Bruma Profiteer 3 Fifth Legion Trainer 2 Gavel of the Ordinator 3 Redoran Forerunner 1 Rift Thane 3 Warclaw Mercenary 3 Wind Keep Spellsword 3 Battlerage Orc 1 Bolvyn Venim 3 Cast Out 3 Haunting Spirit 3 Khuul Lawkeeper 1 Knight of Gnisis 3 Morthal Executioner 3 Redoran Battlespear 3 Young Mammoth 2 Ald-ruhn Arms Master 3 Hive Defender 1 Inspiring Kinsman 3 Redoran Oathman 3 Bal Isra Warrider 1 Fetcherfly Golem 1 Pillaging Tribune 1 Black Worm Necromancer 3 Triumphant Jarl

Final Thoughts and Future Additions

That about does it for the edits! The final list looks much more streamlined and capable of consistent fast starts. That said, there are a lot of cards out there that can work in this style of deck, so I encourage you to get out there and experiment!

Some Epics to consider would be additional copies of Inspiring Kinsman and the two monthly reward cards Sower of Revenge and Ulfric’s Housecarl. Should your Soul Gem budget allow for Legendaries, a few good options are Dawnbreaker, Garnag, Dark Adherent, and Reive, Blademaster. Should you have Garnag (and, therefore, the Dark Brotherhood expansion), try out some copies of Underworld Vigilante, too!

Hopefully this guide helped you with some ways to take one of our great Theme Decks to the next level. Through testing, you’ll undoubtedly find ways to make the deck even more your own. Best of luck on the ladder!