It’s been a while since I posted! Life has gotten a little more busy in a good way and I was running out of ideas on what to write about, but with the new mini-expansion there are some interesting decks popping up!
I’ve been playing Aggro Light on the weekends now for a long time, but I was unlucky with it two weekends ago and fell all the way to Solar Gold which I haven’t been since I was doing the WelCore challenge back in the day. I decided to try an Olympian Light deck with some new BotW cards that I lost against, and not only did it get me back into Mythic before the weekend, but did well during it too! It can also lead to some crazy openings, like this on Turn 4!!
Deck Link I took what I thought were the best BotW cards, threw in some Olympians, and added the great neutral cards from Whiteplain and the pyramids while rounding it out with some Aggro Light staples. There were definitely some cuts from the regular Aggro Light deck that I was unsure about (not having Radiant Dawn screwed me over a few times against Sleep) but in the end it worked out. I borrowed a Phalanx Champion from my team (https://play2wingu.com/), though unfortunately they didn’t have another one. There are budget versions as well, for example using Olympian Guard instead of Pyramid Warden, Master of the Mill and/or Merry Kadmos for the Blades, and a whole slew of other Olympians to choose from for the Martyrs. Also, if I had Argus, The White Wall, he’d probably fit in there too.
Note that for God Powers, I’d normally choose Heal, but if I were against Magic or a Control deck, I’d choose the Summon.
This deck helped me climb straight back to Mythic from Solar Gold, and it felt pretty solid so I decided to use it for Weekend Ranked as well, since my normal Aggro Light failed me the weekend before. Fortunately it was able to secure me an 11-win weekend for some more BotW booster packs! Overall, I have a 65% winrate with it which I’m pretty happy about; I think I will be using this for next weekend as well.
The decks that gave me trouble were mostly Death, especially since I left out Radiant Dawn to deal with sleep. Their unconditional removals were painful, and the lack of ward of Olympians did not help. I did better against Hidden Deception than my normal Aggro Light deck because there are more Frontlines here. I also don't have relic removal in this deck; Eiko could be ok here though it doesn't fit with the synergies much.
The star of the show is definitely Raneko Hearthmother, and why you want to have lots of Olympians to trigger the Ally effect as well as high health minions. Not only can you use the effect on your own minions to buff them up, you can also use them on your opponents low health creatures for a debuff! A close second for me is Blood Oath Binder; this one drop is an amazing opening paired with Blind Martyr or Humble Benefactor. The bodies in the void also add to your Phalanx Champion, and along with Hearthmother is how I got that insane turn 4 screenshot. I didn’t think much of Aegis of the Innocent at first, but after playing with it, it’s definitely good. I didn’t realize your God will heal too from its effect, which means it can really dampen damage from Schoolteacher or Heirloom decks and God Powers. Of course it helps a lot with the survivability of your creatures as well.
I didn’t get a chance to play with Argus, but I think he fits in well here; his 4 Strength means he won’t die to a Blade, but his 1 health with 1 armor is quite weak if played by himself. Note that if your enemy buffs their creatures max health, Argus will get buffed too. If I had to choose between him and Thestor, I’d choose Thestor the Molester though (sorry that’s just make nickname for him haha). Master of the Mill is not bad, but there was already lots of contention for space in my deck; if I didn’t have Blades of Whiteplain this is definitely worth consideration; if left alone it can really make your creatures tough.
Finally, the last Light card from the set is Camaraderie; while I thought it was neat when I first saw it, I realized that a lot of Olympians have good Roars (and Echoes) that wouldn’t be activated from this, and are much better played from hand.