Finally we’ve reached the final God for this series, which is Death. A good fitting end right? The reason why I left this for last is because it’s probably the least beginner friendly God; sure there are some good cards the Core set for them (unfortunately their Welcome cards are not so hot…) but you won’t really make a good coherent deck until you get to the expansions. With the expansion cards there are actually quite a few different Death decks you can build but a lot of them are only good with expensive Genesis cards.
Here are some strengths and weaknesses of the Death God:
Strengths
-Good card draw options -Plenty of hard removal, single target and Area of Effect (AOE)
-A variety of sustain options to heal your God -Has good reach with burn/direct damage to your opponent’s God
-Creatures are decently stated, with some being overstated but has a downside like hurting your own God or discard
-Good token generators to swarm your opponent with many creatures
Weaknesses
-Burn damage is mostly bilateral so you put pressure on your own God as well
-Token creatures are weak and could give up a lot of Favor
-Warded creatures may be hard to deal with without a reliable ping
In terms of deck types, just like Magic, Death can do a variety of decks from Aggro to Midrange to Control to Combo; the most common would probably be Midrange (Zombies to me are Midrange and not Aggro) but the most (in)famous is Control. You may have heard of Board Wipe Death which contains a lot of high powered Genesis cards and it once dominated the game (and in a lot of people’s opinions, the most annoying deck to play against), but it doesn’t do quite as well anymore.
The most popular God Power for Death is Blood Ritual; it provides a heal and also hard removal for a creature that has 1 health (left). You can also use it on your own creatures as well which is pretty useful for some types of Death deck. Soul Burn is usually used for Zombie decks (though I still prefer Blood Ritual) to trigger the Frenzy needed for quite a few cards in that deck, though it can be used for a burn type Aggro deck as well. Finally, Neferu’s Sacrifice is a draw engine but it’s only really used for one type of combo deck that is synergistic with the health lost (Rockdrake/Over The Line Death) due to its high mana cost.
As you finish the tutorial and level up, you’ll start collecting Core cards; Death’s Core cards are a definite upgrade to the Welcome set so you’d want to replace though as soon as possible!
Let’s start with some of the hard removal discussed earlier: Blight Bomb is a very good spell that is cheap mana-wise and can remove early creatures or even late creatures with some damage done to it; it’s a staple in almost all Death decks. Ray of Disintegration is a hard removal without conditions with bilateral God damage. End Times is a bilateral board wipe that gives you tempo by summoning a decent sized creature after clearing the board.
For generally useful creatures, Void Banshee is a over-statted 2-drop that deals damage to your own God, but since you’re either being Aggro or have healing through your God Power or other cards, it’s rarely an issue. Wicked Fae is another 2-drop that puts out stats that are better than Vanilla across 2 creatures but also had a beneficial Roar, acting like your GP. Tomb Carver is a Vanilla stated minion but has a healing Afterlife. Vampiric Skull provides good value by providing a decent body along with bringing back a 3 or less mana creature from the void.
Death also has a bunch of other creatures that work well in specific decks. For example, Petulant Firespreader and Fickle Cambion are good in an Aggro burn or Zombie decks, and Raving Necromancer is a foundation for Heirloom decks. Runed Asp is useful for Control decks that want mana ramping, while Vrock gives bilateral card draw which can help you find your answers/finishers while clogging your opponent’s hand (but can also help them out instead as well).
With this section I’ll go over the Expansion cards mostly with two specific decks in mind, as they’re the most popular Death decks that can be budget and effective. These two decks are Zombies and Anubians/Heirloom, which are far more effective than what you can put together with just Welcome and Core cards.
The foundation for Zombie decks are Necroscepter (18 GODS) and Cursed Obelisks (~2.3); they generate 1/1 Zombie tokens with Leech at the end of your turn, and the effect is buffed if you are Frenzied. They provide tremendous value if not removed and the Leech keeps you healthy. With the relic, your opponent loses a bit of favor when a Zombie goes to the Void, which is great at keeping them from buying relic removals from the Sanctum if there are any.
Voracious Field (0.3 GODS) is a sticky creature that summons a Zombie on death, and can help trigger Frenzy. Undead Chimera (1.2) also helps trigger Frenzy, while Decaying Rhino (0.3) is a big threat for 4 mana. Netherswarm Lord (9.2) gives all your Nethers (which includes Zombies) a buff and provides card draw as well at the end of every turn, which really anchors this deck. Finally, Overseer of Vitality (0.7) provides a decent body, pseudo board clear, plus attack boost for your other creatures, and is a good closer or comeback card.
For Heirloom decks, the other foundation alongside Raving Necromancer is Priestess of Takhat (7.7 GODS); these 2 cards provides the face damage and healing when your Anubians die. Hand of the Abyss (0.86), Reach into the Black (1.4), and Land of the Dead (0.39) are the main ways to pull your dead Anubians back from the void to continue the onslaught.
Pharaoh’s Heirloom (0.24 GODS) is your main source of more Anubians, while Curse of Greed (0.48) provides another cheap removal plus generate another Heirloom for you when Empowered. Dangerous Ritual (5.2) provides card draw and (bilateral) face damage.
For more expensive cards, Untold Greed (60 GODS) draws 2 cards for 1 mana and you can trigger an Anubian death with it; also, it’s a good idea to kill off your main damage dealers (Priestess and Necromancer) against Gods who can steal or transform them, like Deception or Light. Ragnarok (75.5) does more bilateral face damage but more importantly it provides a bit of control against Aggro decks with the burn damage. Frost Queen Neferu (200) is good direct damage to your opponent, and if they can’t deal with it on the first turn it can really add up. Lastly, Neferu Champion of Death (300) is a board clear that also damages face, and can go back into your hand and do it again for cheaper if you’re also low on health.
I’ve provided some example decks here for Death, from an Aggro Welcome and Core deck (which honestly isn’t that good) to a Zombie deck and Heirloom deck, both of which uses expansion cards but are quite budget and can work in the highest ranks. Lastly, I present a more expensive Heirloom deck. These cards and decks aren’t set in stone; feel free to experiment and check out GUDecks.com for more! There are a lot of cards that can do well which aren’t mentioned here.
This is the 7th and final part of the series! Here’s an index of all the other parts: Deception Light Magic War Nature Introduction