𝔹𝕚𝕥𝕔𝕠𝕚𝕟𝔹𝕒𝕓𝕪 𝕎𝕖𝕟𝕥 ℙ𝟚𝔼

Oh My GODS!

Time flies, and last time we met I was not even having fun-
At least not as much fun as I used to have, I was down, and everything was down in Downtober.

𝔹𝕚𝕥𝕔𝕠𝕚𝕟𝔹𝕒𝕓𝕪 𝕎𝕖𝕟𝕥 ℙ𝟚𝔼 - Deeply Dippy Bout Downtober

I shared my story, and what I did to change that downward spiral.

Then out of nowhere this entity shows up in the comment section, telling me I am doing it all wrong.

Not Motivated

Yes, I think I kinda asked for help but this was tough love let me five you a recap of what was said, what I thought, and what I did:

Hey I want to help you regain your motivation in GU and make those earnings go up again.

So I'm going to give you my opinion about this deck, having played the archetype for a while some months ago. You're free to make changes or not, of course. As long as you're having fun, everything else is fine.

You started with a solid, proven template for Guild Deception you got from GU Decks, right?

I have no clue I got this deck as a cheap suggestion based on my previous Guild-based deck that did not work so well anymore. That was a deck built purely on intuition no template.

So the suggested deck might have been a template....but I am kinda strong-headed so I made some changes.

But I don't think the changes you made created a better deck that will make you win more games. Guild Deception plays like a toolbox and you need to take advantage of the Guild synergies.

I thought I was doing that but hey, you got my ear!

On top of that, it's not an easy deck to pilot - you need to know what to mulligan very well and you need to know the matchups very well, too.

I think after 18 months I have a bit of an idea when it comes to those two topics, and I like not easy to pilot so let´s stick with this deck...for now.

Here are some key points that could help you tweak your card choices:

Crooked Quartermaster is a keystone card in the deck. I don't understand why you took it out.

Mainly because he is an expensive mofo and I did it at the start when I tried to keep everything on Shadow level at least. So I replaced him with Stoneskin Poison which works.

But after playing for a couple of days, I do get this point. After a week I am even considering adding the second one.

Frumentarii Instigator is a great card to refill your hand and make sure you don't run out of answers.

Yes, agree I added that one back in before I even started playing this deck (or receiving these great tips). So I took out one Ember Onie and the Patient Pickpocket because I don t like that card anyway

All the neutral cards you added are perfectly replaceable for other cards in the original deck which gives you more value in that slot.

This is where I start to wonder because I need at least one card with frontline. That has proven to be extremely useful and this is a 1 mana Guild card with frontline.

Furementarii we discussed.

Sneaky Bruiser is another Guild card, that is hidden and has a big punch for at a 5 Mana cost.

And Ember Oni has been a lifesaver in the past but I do notice I hardly used him during the first week. So I built a V2 of this deck replacing Ember with the Crooked Quartermaster.

Changing locks is not a strong card.

I get that people think that, but removing order has proven to be a winning move.

Merrick is a questionable choice. It works better in Hidden Rush decks.

Merrick needs to be played like a chess game indeed, but with the two Selfless Guildmates and two Dark Knives... Merrick can stay hidden and get an 8-12 attack power in the next round making it a killer in this deck.

Although I think I would need even more to become a slayer.

The Hollow is also a questionable choice. Do yourself a favor and actually count how many games you play it and how many games you get value out of it (and it doesn't slow you down and you lose because the opponent builds a board while you play it).

The Hollow at 2 Mana does not slow me down, it adds mighty interesting cards to my hand and often triggers the opponent to kill it taking a lot of heat away from my God.

A few weeks into the V2 I still see the value, I don't think replacing it by the second Crooked Quartermaster will improve my situation.

You removed Umber Arrow which makes a killer combo with the Blade Borrower. Even on its own Umber Arrow is super useful and you see it in almost every Deception deck.

I used Umber Arrow in the past but it is a card that does very little at a 2 mana cost. I have better ways of neutralizing 2 strength cards such as Armor Lurker or indeed setting it to 0 with Blade Borrower.

But I am considering replacing Changing Locks with one in the V2 Deck and see if I am wrong. Although just saying that makes me doubt if I should not swap it for another card.

It's absolutely fine to take a well-performing deck from GU Decks and make a few tweaks. Sometimes you don't have all the cards, other times you want to see the difference with a few substitutions. But those decks work as they are for a reason. Making big changes without a deep understanding of the game and the current meta more often than not will just create a weaker deck.

Mate I have been playing for almost two years, headstrong as I am I have been building out my deck based on nothing. I liked Deception and thought that Guild offered some great combos...that was the basis for my initial deck.

It worked, at times it even seemed to work well, till the upgrade.

It was already hard to take someone's advice and start a new deck and tweak it a bit to suit my style. But now after all this time, you are asking me to face the facts and tell me that I do not know better than the OGs?

The best strategy is usually to grab one of those top decks and understand how they are supposed to work instead of trying to change them to your liking and hoping that results in an improvement.

There was a strategy behind my changes.....but.....