Last time I wrote about Nether Deception with BotW cards, and ironically just after that post they decided to nerf one of the best cards from that deck/set. Well luckily the nerfs didn’t hit this deck that I tried this week too hard.
I was initially going to make a Zombie deck for the Death showcase but as luck would have it, Jazus who is the founder of our team Play2Win (https://play2wingu.com/) was trying out a Corpse Explosion deck and wanted to build more for our scholars. These kind of combo-ish decks were around for awhile but a couple of BoTW cards fit in really well, and since I’ve never played it before, decided to give it a try.
It can do some pretty cool things, like get rid of your opponent’s entire board (at the expense of some health) while putting out a bunch of Zombies, and of course taking down your opponent in one turn when they’re at 20 or more health. See below!
Deck Link here. This deck was designed and provided in shiny Diamond form by Jazus, and I did not make any changes to it. The idea of the deck depends on your opponent: against Aggro, you want to control and win board with your Nethers and Zombies. Chira really helps with this as a Chira + Outnumber or Wicked Fae can decimate their board. Against Control, you want to find your combo pieces with all the draw in the deck, while weakening their God for the final combo strike of Outnumber/Impfestation + Necronomics + Corpse Explosion (add in Skull Scepter for maximal damage).
It was tough even after discussing a bunch with Jazus on how to pilot this deck, as this is way different than what I had played before. The first day was ok at 4-6, and then the next day I thought I had it figured out with a 7-3 but only to be humbled on the last day with a 3-7 haha. Overall I ended up a bit under 50%, but as I stated this deck and play style was new to me. I think if I gave it more time I could get it up there. If you look at the overall deck win rate it’s sitting at around 56% with close to 300 games; though not all of them are in Mythic like mine were. I was really missing Curse of Greed for early control, and if I were to change the deck I’d put that in instead of Dangerous Ritual and maybe an Encumbered Looter or something.
There are quite some cards that can really mess with this deck though; massive healing like Winter’s Bounty or Compost Charm, or Aegis of the Innocent can ruin your day. Hidden Deception is already hard to play against, but Surprise Delivery really screws up your plan. Matches against regular Zombies or even Heirloom are hard too since they have healing. Aggro Decks are tough if you don’t draw your Control cards and Control Decks are tough if you don’t draw your combo (I once drew 24 of my cards and didn’t hit one Corpse Explosion which would’ve won me the game!). But if you’re not that unlucky, Control decks are usually a good match-up for you (unless they’re Nature and just keep healing and bringing their life past 30…)
Chira is definitely a good card that can turn the tide of battle, especially when played with Perseverance. You basically get to wipe out a whole board with those 2 cards! Speaking of Perseverance, even after the nerf (can’t target face anymore) it’s a great tool for Death, and it fits into all sorts of decks including Zombies.
Bitter Endings is a combo card and even after the nerf to 4 mana from 3, the Over the Line decks that use it are still strong. Being able to choose the exact card you need is very strong, and it enables the kill very consistently considering that Death deck can stall and draw very well.
Raneko Revenant is another good card; it has vanilla stats with an upside which fits well in Zombie decks: it helps you proc Frenzy, grow your Fickle Cambion, and tick down your opponent. Finally, Spiritspeaker Chime got a buff but I haven’t really seen it in action. Can’t really fit in Zombie decks because you want Necroscepter, and too slow for Over the Line decks. Maybe another kind of that deck will pop up? Overall, I feel like Death probably is the winner of this new set.