Last time I wrote about the Legendary Card Forged In The Light from the Light’s Verdict mini-set, and now I want to talk about one of the most interesting cards from the set (of which there are many). The Marytr of Whitesplain is one of the chase Epics in the set, and it’s Neutral which means you can put it in any God’s deck! At first glance, it’s a 3-mana 2/2 with Frontline. Pretty meh. But its effect, wow its effect. Let me just let you read it in its entirety before discussing it:
So basically, first you pay 3-mana for a 2/2 Frontline. Your opponent most likely has to kill it before attacking past it, which means, sad noises, it has gone to the Void. But it is while there that the magic happens. Once your next minion dies, that minion comes back to your hand (with Buffs!), and the Martyr (Martyr zombie?) resurrects to your board as a soulless 2/2 Frontline! Talk about VALUE! There are quite a few deck archetypes that can take advantage of this; for example, you can play them in a deck which has high value minions with impactful Roars, or play them where you have big buffed creatures to get double the value of the buffs, or where you want constant board presence (Aggro) plus provide more targets for future buffs, etc. The deck I’m about to present to you utilizes both the last 2 of those points because you know I like Value on Value… who doesn’t??
Link to Deck List. Aggro Light is making a comeback! Not only does it like having 2/2 minions on board, but it has the buffs as well. It’s a win-win for the Martyr of Whiteplain. You will notice that my list is a little more Midrange-y with less 2 drops and more 3 and 5 mana creatures than other similar decks, but I’ll break it down for you here.
These are the big buffs in the deck, and landing them can quickly change the tides of battle in your favor. Lysander’s Spear is ridiculous value, considering how many 1-drops plus Echos we have to fuel it for a long time; of course, it’s susceptible to relic removal. Canonize is amazing if you have a target to land it on, not only does it grow big but it gets protected as well! Perfect for trading up and leaving a threat on the board. It’s fine to just play it against an empty board as well, especially against Magic, as now they’ll usually have to take a couple of steps to remove it, not to mention the face damage. Asterius has been around for a long time and you know how devastating it can be. Even if you only land the buff on one creature it’s still good, but multiples? Phew that’s tough to recover from.
Something that Aggro decks are desperate for is card draw. Since you have a bunch of low mana creatures your hand can be depleted real quick. This is where these two cards come in. If you’ve played this game for awhile you’d know how powerful Sern is. I’m pretty sure there’s no other card for any God that sees as much play as this guy, as he fits into every Light deck you can imagine, from Aggro to Mid to Control. Not only does he provide good card draw (even on your opponent’s heals/regen), he gives you and your creatures a heal and Orders an enemy creature as well. Then there’s the other newcomer from Light’s Verdict, the sister or cousin or frenemy (sorry lore writers, I’ll read it all some time I promise!) of the Martyr: Blade of Whiteplain. A Neutral card that can also fit into many decks, this provides a great removal option against Guild Enforcers and other Midrange Frontliners that Aggros hate. Not only that, you also get to draw a card from it! And wait, there’s more, you can keep drawing a card per turn after as long as a weaker opponent creature dies! There’s plenty to love and discuss about this card, and I plan on doing another article about them next.
Your mulligan should generally be the same as any Aggro Light deck; a couple of 1-drops and a Felid Janissary for buffing them if possible. Of course, depending on the matchup you may opt to search for some options like a Vesper of Concession against Zombie Death, Vanguard Axewoman if you’re going second in a mirror match, or Warded creatures against Magic.
Like other Aggro Light decks, the gameplay revolves around keeping creatures on the board and buffing them for damage and/or good trading. As I stated before this deck has less 1- and 2-drops than other Aggro lists but it makes up for it in great value and card draw.
Drawing and dropping a Martyr is awesome; not only are you putting up a frontline, you’re also setting yourself up for value. Let’s say it dies and you play a Highborn Knight, and buff it with Lysander’s Spear. If she ever dies, you get her back in hand with the buffs PLUS you get a 2/2 Frontline back on the board for more buffing and board presence. Remember that if it’s your turn and you have a Martyr in the void itching to come back from the grave, you can make a unfavorable trade just to get a high value creature back, like a Sern or Thestor. You get another Echo of Thestor as well after you play it again, amazing right??
Another tip for playing with Martyr is placement on the board. When creatures die to an Area of Effect spell or Roar, they go to the void from left to right. That means if you want a particular creature back in your hand, you should place it to the right of the Martyr. If you want to save her effect because you have a board full of rats or something, place her on the right.
The Martyr isn’t invincible, however. Void removal like Gleamweaver can remove her from your void and thus you won’t get any value and you just played a 2/2 for 3-mana. Light’s Levy or similar transform effects will not place her in your void. And if you’re playing against Deception, it can even be used against you if it was Umber Arrowed or Bound By Her Will after a strength reduction. Thus it’s a good idea to try to increase her strength so that these spells cannot target her if possible.
I used a very similar deck to the one I posted above in the Aqua Tournament this weekend (unfortunately the majority of my opponents banned it for the round haha) as well as Weekend Ranked, but since I only had one snobby Highborn Knight, I put in a second Canonize. I can say that it’s certainly pretty powerful, and the value of Martyr of Whiteplain cannot be understated. It even gave me my best Weekend Ranked result yet! 16 Wins and currently in the Top 10!
Light’s Verdict has brought a bunch of interesting cards and this chase Epic is pretty sweet; the fact that it’s Neutral makes it that much better as a card to own. It’s a unique effect that provides a lot of value and can turn the tides of battle. It can easily placed in a lot of different decks and be good, but I like its use in this Aggro Light deck because it provides a body to buff after it comes back to the board, the creature it brings back to your hand keeps its buffs (of which there are many in this deck), and not to mention a lot of good Roars or Echos that can re-used. Go forth and defend the Whiteplain (or something)! (Seriously I will read the lore soon once I find a break from playing and writing about these Light’s Verdict cards haha)
I told you there was something about Martyr