Hello folks.

It took me a good twenty minutes to think of this title, you guys better like it.

Right. To avoid a general lack of tangible information around this place and to avoid adding to more theorytalk in the first week, I think it is a good time to throw in some medium to strong Economy decks. One minimum for each faction, and all under 1900 spirit with some comments. There’s also a rating out of 10, which is a mix of factors such as ease of playing as a newcomer/intermediate experience player on a budget and how easy the matches will be in a typical ladder match against similar skilled opposition. Let’s jump right in.

Lyonar – 8/10

Probably the easiest faction to pilot at the moment. Argeon decks are high-value minions with great trade and tempo-grabbing potential. Roar is excellent in the early and mid-game to create winning opportunities and the healthy number of Provoke minions makes fighting aggro decks a lot less frustrating.

Argeon has a faster style owing to his Bloodborn spell and as such it is better to go for early pressure and a mid-game win. A single Decimate and Grandmaster Z’ir can be used. Arclyte Regalia is a strong artifact and a couple of copies are worth prioritising over every other card in this paragraph. Upgrades involve looking at the third Holy Immolation, Sunrisers and Elyx Stormblade if you prefer going Zir’an in the future. Beware Magmar.

Songhai – 7/10

A high-risk high-reward deck is my choice for this faction. Combo decks were proclaimed all but dead when Patch .61 dropped. I was unexpectedly taken aback by my own liking of the combo archetype leading to playing Songweaver-Sunsteel with every faction that patch, realising that it was probably too strong to survive in its current iteration. It did not, but Blink brought a whole new dimension to the Miracle-Hai deck type.

The key in many ways with a deck like this, is to take your time. Despite what it looks like, this is not a deck you play aggro with. You can, and you can win doing that, but the win condition of this deck is often best achieved on the 6 mana turn. There’s good card draw and the 5 drops are the primary finishers, while Chakri and Gore Horn can snatch games from losing positions. Upgrading this play style involves Spelljammers, the third Hamon (dropping the Kiris) and actually is one of the styles that still utilise Tusk Boar. I will talk about Reva decks at a later time.

Vetruvian – 7/10

A rising star or a returning villain – it is difficult to say which one the players think Zirix is. Which ever be the case, Vetruvian aggro decks are at least decently infuriating to face, if not approaching consistent win rates. Wind Shroud shouts for dervish synergy and attack buffs and the dervish can act on the turn it is summoned, thus making a faster deck a strong choice.

The major thing to get used to is the lack of dispel. This deck can be run with Siphon or Lightbender as well, but both those cards will clog your hand up when finding damage. The rest is elementary to understand, but perhaps not so easy to practice. Repulse only major threats, focusing on establishing just enough board control to continue your onslaught on the enemy general. Aymaras, Scion’s Third Wish and Spelljammers can assist in playing this with a more consistent manner, while Alcuin Loremaster is a niche versatile playmaker here. Sajj for another day.

Abyssian – 7/10

Cassyva brought out a lot of aspiring deck builders old and new in the Klondike Gold Mines of shadow creep. A few came out with strong builds, and Cassyva continues to be popular at all levels of the ladder. Her win rates and spectator mode games though, reflect a level of difficulty in stabilising against faster decks.

At first glance this looks very different to what you would expect. The way this plays is like a typical tempo deck with Bloodtear, Daemonic Lure, Fists, Dancing Blades, Tigers, Lightbenders and Repulsors, the plan being to interfere and disrupt the opponent’s win conditions until you find yours. The difference of course, is that your average tempo deck does not also have Abyssal Scar, adding more tempo while assisting a late game overkill condition. Fun to play if perhaps a little reactionary, and can struggle against miracle burst builds. As for Lilithe, I have nothing to say, simply that there are proficient Abyssian streamers who claim to be better that can help you with Miss Blightchaser.

Magmar – 6/10

Our friendly neighbourhood greenies are in a phase of dormancy this patch. Hyper aggro facemelt builds, solo Vaath builds, Starhorn mech decks, Drezbo Control builds – everything is just that little bit underwhelming this month so far – I feel we are not there yet, but that doesn’t stop us from getting to Diamond, of course. Overload is a nice midgame one-time skill that allows you to take out the standard 3hp minions, and scales quickly in the late game, but with an economy deck you want to win with about 2 charges of Overload.

This is about as poster-child of a mid-range deck for Duelyst as it gets. Try not to play this like an aggro rush deck, it will work but some times there are better decisions that can be made without going Elucidator on their face, ideally use it as emergency removal or finisher. Vindicator is your best friend for crafting targets, and high priority is put on getting the third Makantor. Let me assure you though, seeing a Shieldmaster becoming a pretend-Makantor is quite satisfying. As for Starhorn, I have a somewhat funny deck for him ready at a later date.

Vanar – 7/10

The Bloodborn spells make Vanar an interesting faction to make decks for, as Faie works well with both pure aggression as well as slow methodical burn, while Kara can make a mid-range deck progressively controlling and pilot mech decks quite proficiently. This is the first faction where I provide decks for both generals, since I strongly believe Kara will perform better on the ladder.

Interfering with the opponent with delaying and tempo-grabbing plays while chipping away with Warbird is my recommendation here. This style will also help you to learn tempo play and setting up a win condition. If all else fails, craft 2 or 3x Jax Truesight and take 3x Razorback with you. That story is still alive and well.

Kara is the god of small things. Good stuff decks work exceptionally well with her, and all you need to do is have a bridge from the first two turns into the mid game where you can tap Kinetic Surge and play for overwhelming value wins. Aggro can be an issue, and that’s where you bring in provokes. A particularly nasty form of Kara ‘Control’ involves delaying the enemy with Gravity Well turn 1 and progressively increasing provoke bodies to allow for safe expansion of the Kara forces. Probably the least expensive deck to build even with preferred upgrades.

A word about universal choices – these minions are choices you make when you add them to your deck that are individual decisions and you should try to change up depending on what you find more troublesome. For example, I find Mechaz0r!, ranged minions with Mark of Solitude and Killing Edged Heartseekers far more detrimental to my playstyle than other things so I run Crossbones in near-enough everything. Does not mean you have to.

The reverse is true of Flameblood Warlock. I rarely add it to anything because years of playing healers and paladin classes in a variety of games makes me a little… disagreeable to taking damage from a wanton mercenary. There are many aggro decks where you can and should use Flameblood effectively. It’s just not for me.

That wraps up for today. I already have plans for an update in the coming week so do look out for that. Hope this was a useful read, as always.