Sons of Arugal
- Last updated Aug 10, 2018 (Boomsday)
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Wild
- 25 Minions
- 4 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Hand Mage
- Crafting Cost: 12480
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/7/2018 (Patches Nerf)
- user-10109854
- Registered User
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Battle Tag:
Pillowise#2103
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
386
Sons of Arugal (video from Witchwood day 2)
The Game Plan - Tribe-based, Mid-range Tempo Hand Mage.
Step 1. Establish board control, with strong minions, and start putting on pressure:
Fire Fly, Pyros, Faerie Dragon, Nightmare Amalgam, and Tar Creeper.
Step 2. Back up early game board control with strong synergies and bodies:
Scaleworm, Twilight Drake, Leyline Manipulator, and Servant of Kalimos.
Step 3. Continue board domination while retaining a full/ large hand size:
- The Archmage Arugal draw synergy. He combos perfectly with Book of Specters, Research Project, and Stargazer Luna.
- Elemental Card Value. Elementals make more cards, such as Fire Fly, Pyros, and Servant of Kalimos.
Step 4. Take advantage of internal synergies for tempo swings (smallest to biggest):
- Twilight Drake, a 4/10 for (4) mana allows for some great control and consistent threat.
- Scaleworm, a Rush 5/4 for (4) mana, is crazy powerful, it's nearly a fireball but can also often remain a body on the board afterwards.
- Leyline Manipulator, discounts a large portion of the hand, allowing for crazy turns.
- Astromancer, large swing from hand synergy.
- Mountain Giant, having a large hand means you can normally play Giant for 3-4 mana.
- Luna's Pocket Galaxy, in order to overwhelm the opponent (when draw is considered).
Wombo Combo
Playing Mountain Giant turn 3 as 'Player 2' (with The Coin):
- Standard: turn 1 Fire Fly, turn 2 Book of Specters, turn 3 Mountain Giant. - 9/10 worth of stats and a 9 card hand by end of turn 3 (2 cards are The Coin and Flame Elemental).
- Stronger: turn 1 The Coin + Archmage Arugal, turn 2 Book of Specters, turn 3 Mountain Giant. 10/10 worth of stats played, and a fantastic hand for Leyline Manipulator but you discard a card.
- No Discard: turn 1 The Coin + Archmage Arugal, turn 2 Research Project, turn 3 Mountain Giant. Same as above, however you only have ten cards in hand if your opponent doesn't kill Archmage Arugal on their turn 2 (unlikely).
There are lots of variations, but the earliest 'Player 1' can play Mountain Giant is turn 4.
Mulligan Guide
- Always Keep: Fire Fly and Book of Specters.
- Against Aggro: keep Tar Creeper.
- Against Control: keep Research Project, Faerie Dragon and Pyros.
Guide for specific cards:
- Archmage Arugal, if you go turn 2, keep, just for the chance you can play turn 1 uncontested. If you go turn 1 only keep if you are against control and really only if have Fire Fly in hand.
- Mountain Giant, only keep if you have are going second and have Fire Fly and Book of Specters (and/or Archmage Arugal).
Ongoing Refinements
The Witchwood:
Day One (refining mid-range):
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- -Twilight Drake x2 - As people have rightly pointed out, it disrupts elemental synergy, not worth it
- -Blazecaller x2 - The tempo of this card is great, but not enough
- -Cauldron Elemental x1 - The few times I got this to work it was amazing... but I was wrong after all.
- +Glacial Shard x2 - Such a useful minion, especially for protecting high value minions, not for turn 1.
- +Questing Adventurer x2 - Yes, really! All credit to: 'dyonthegrey1', who showed me the way.
- +Servant of Kalimos x1 - Turns out that this is more valuable than Bonfire Elemental (Just!)
Day Three (going aggro):
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- -Arcane Intellect x2 - Intellect was a bad play without Archmage Arugal.
- -Nightmare Amalgam x2 - Amalgam was underwhelming a good turn 3, but otherwise unplayable.
- -Bonfire Elemental x2 - Servant was better than Bonfire and Bonfire was only good on turn 5,
- +Shimmering Tempest x2 - Now that there is a lower cost focus, this is good as it adds a card to the hand.
- +Knife Juggler x2 - As there are now so many 1 drops, brought in so that the deck performed better against paladin.
- +Igneous Elemental x1 - Igneous brings two (worse) cards to hand but these can be discounted and has a 2/3 body, had the same effect on giant as Arcane Intellect.
- +Cult Master x1 - Master draws like crazy, replacing Bonfire.
Day Four (back to mid-range):
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- -Glacial Shard x2 - I found a better minion for the current dynamic.
- -Shimmering Tempest x2 - Arlght turn 2 elemental, underwhelming for the rest of the game.
- -Knife Juggler x2 - really good against paladin but not against anything else, taunt works just as well.
- -Igneous Elemental x1 - Only really good if your going for an aggro, small minion build.
- -Cult Master x1 - Only really good if your going for an aggro, small minion build.
- +Mana Wyrm x2 - great one drop, works with: The Coin, Book of Specters, Primordial Glyph, and Flame Geyser... Also doubles the chance of having good early game against paladin.
- +Vicious Scalehide x2 - Great at hampering aggressive decks, and otherwise is a ping with a body and 1 life-steal.
- +Stonehill Defender x2 Decent taunt, that messes up aggro and discovers, want to keep on mulligan against Aggro.
- +Voodoo Doll x1 Decided to tech in one, to help a little bit more vs contol.
- +Bonfire Elemental x1 - Bringing mid-range draw back and a big body.
- +Countess Ashmore x1 - Draws Vicious Scalehide x2 and Pyros or Voodoo Doll, all things that you want out of the deck and in the hand in the late game.
- +The Lich King x1 - To shore up the late game, to play Jaina. Also generates cards.
Day Six (multi-tribe, is much more powerful, but may require tweaks):
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- -Mana Wyrm x2 – Good 1 Drop but now with only 1 spell in deck, has no place.
- -Vicious Scalehide x2 – Lack of synergy.
- -Primordial Glyph x2 – Space in deck has decreased.
- -Voodoo Doll x1 – Better slots filler in either Polymorph or Spellbreaker.
- -Zola the Gorgon x1 – This was really hard to do, but have to make cuts somewhere.
- -Steam Surger x2 – Didn’t quite make the cut, but I may change my mind, it is fantastic.
- -Countess Ashmore x1 – An experiment that didn’t pan out. I hope you guys appreciate the fact that I crafted this card just to try this for you.
- -The Lich King x1 – Too high cost, for too low impact.
- +Faerie Dragon x2 – Really nice, well stated and strong effect Dragon.
- +Nightmare Amalgam x2 – Welcome back Amalgam! I missed you and now we have duel tribe, you are amazing.
- +Scaleworm x2 – Does not grant dragon synergy, but is a fantastic card, and grants removal.
- +Spellbreaker x1 – Really not sure about this or Polymorph, also not sure if I should make the sacrifice to have two of them…
- +Twilight Drake x2 – Welcome back Drake! Now that you have Dragon and Hand synergy you are really strong.
- +Bonfire Elemental x1 – Second one back into the deck, now that more draw is needed.
- +Cobalt Scalebane x1 – would love to have 2 in, but 4 and 5 drops are contested slots.
- +Wyrmguard x1 – Only need 1, but it can be the death stroke to aggressive decks, basically ensuring you can get to Frost Lich Jaina.
Day Seven (tweaks):
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- -Spellbreaker x1 – Only helps against big decks, most are playing aggro.
- -Cobalt Scalebane x1 – winmore card (in retrospect).
- -Bonfire Elemental x1 - Improving the curve.
- -Wyrmguard x1 – need to get to turn 7 against aggro.
- +Arcane Intellect x2 - The decks needs that extra draw.
- +Steam Surger x2 - The deck needs this card for optimal curve.
Day Ten (counter-meta tweak):
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- -Arcane Intellect x1 - Only actually need 1 for reliable draw (it appears).
- +Tinkmaster Overspark x1 - Essentially because this is a 3 mana polymorph that isn't a spell and has a body (so not game loosing against paladin), essentially the purpose of this inclusion is to Transform a Voidlord, or any minion for a druid, into either a Squirrel or a Devilsaur (which because it is a beast, messes up druid).
Boomsday Project:
Day Two (acquainting myself):
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- -Arcane Intellect x1 - Making room for Research Project.
- -Tinkmaster Overspark x1 - This card is no longer needed.
- -Servant of Kalimos x1 with Mecha'thun, Bonfire Elemental becomes the stronger card.
- -Steam Surger x1 - Needed to make a slot, this may be changed later.
- +Research Project x1 - Stronger then Arcane Intellect because of 1 mana cheaper (Giant combo) and mill potential.
- +Stargazer Luna x1 - Obviously...
- +Bonfire Elemental x1 - As above, this is better with Mecha'thun.
- +Mecha'thun x1 - Allows the deck to be unworried about fatigue, thus allowing for greater focus and a win condition.
Day Three (some realism and optimisation):
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- -Mecha-Thun – no way to kill it myself.
- -Stonehill Defender x2 – need more tempo and reliability.
- -Bonfire Elemental x2 – With removing [cardMecha’Thun[/card], the worry off fatigue returns, additionally Servant of Kalimos is stronger due to the Leyline Manipulator synergy.
- +Steam Surger x1 – One of the core synergy cards.
- +Servant of Kalimos x1 – Reason above, replacing Bonfire Elemental.
- +Astromancer x2 – May limit this to one at some point, however this brings a strong swing.
- +Luna’s Pocket Galaxy x1 – I don’t know yet if this deck can afford to skip a turn, but there is enough draw to take advantage of this card.
Thank you for reading!
Just getting crazy here, do you think a Genn variation of this deck would ever be feasible? I know you miss out on some important 3- and 5- drops, but the meat of it is there (thinking Argul, Specter, Drake, Giant, 4-drop elementals, scaleworm.) My concern would be playing enough cards out and the overall play-style, but you've got a faaaar better grasp of this deck's mechanics.
Thank you VERY much for creatively, intelligently, and boldly approaching a new archetype. It's so easy to forget how fun this game can be when it's seen as open-ended.
Just loaded this deck up, I'm so excited to try it! I opened Argul on Sunday and knew I needed to try him out. I busted out some dust to fill the rest out, but I think it's worth it.
Having fun so far, but it's been only a few games! Thank you greatly for sharing Thijs' deck, he's one of my favorite players so I'm excited to run both variations. I think the Primordial Drake + the hero power could make a big difference in controlling the board. I also included Sindragosa in my run up (don't have Jaina) and it works very well, especially with a Leyline.
Did you playtest the spellstone at all? Seems to have a big potential, but I could also see it being inconsistent.
I see the futility of Cobalt Scalebane now, but Scaleworm is such a champ.
This really is the most fun I've had a deck so far in this meta. It's the first deck since Un'Goro where the skill/strategy revolves around keeping in mind things like hand-count, draw, value vs tempo, and things I consider resource mechanics that go beyond the common K&C approach of, "How do I draw a lot of cards until I get to my cheat-mana crux?"
There are lots of players in this deck and it feels like they all put in their part. The 3-drop taunts are pretty staple in the meta, same with Twilight Drake and Mountain Giant, but the tribe-orientations keeps this feeling original.
I'm running Sindragosa and Questing Adventurer, which work well with the other cards (I'm looking at you Leyline)
Baku/Genn create a lot of cool potential, but unfortunately all I've really seen so far is Cubelock and new version of dude pally and face hunter.
Should i craft pyros? or just stick with zola?
I REALLY appreciate the edits. I've been following this deck and the comments since you first made it. It's taught me a lot about the game in general. Keep it up, and thank you.
Anything that can replace Pyros?
Thank you!
Hey ! I would like you to try my "Sons of Arugal" deck, inspired by yours. Here's the decklist :
My english is not very good but I will do the best I can.
I initially copied your deck and replaced some cards, but what I love in this deck is that every game are epic, here are 2 examples:
- https://hsreplay.net/replay/zWgZzwoSEQpgqX6krxHoVS - Won in turn 6 - https://hsreplay.net/replay/oisq9V9rFsmcWcPwbsdCGJ#turn=17a - Won with 18 dmg + 5 fatigue
http://zupimages.net/viewer.php?id=18/16/zkcu.jpg
You already know but I kept Mana Wyrm because it synergies with Book of Specters and Primordial Glyph , and it's very good against paladin.
Shimmering Tempest for finishers or board control(maybe sheep for Hadronox or Cube) cards. And Glacial Shard is good to protect our Archmage Arugal(/or other minion) or our face.
Primordial Glyph same as Shimmering Tempest (but we have choice)
Blazecaller is a very strong 6/6 for a board clear or to finish the game I often take a copy of it with Zola the Gorgon because it makes great value.
I think only one Mountain Giant is sufficient as I don't want to have 2 Mountain Giant after mulligan.
Stonehill Defender: I don't find it very useful, but not bad against aggro. - I will se in the future if I replace it or not
According to me, Pyros is a must-have because it's a good card over the long term and a good early minion.
Voodoo Doll: only one is sufficient to me to kill a minion that is too strong, we can also use Zola the Gorgon if needed. (And of course Archmage Arugal + Book of Specters = 2* Voodoo Doll
Bonfire Elemental : Don't think it's very needed as I'm never out of cards, plus, I played it only one time in 13 games. - I replaced it with Fire Plume Phoenix that is very useful, especially against aggros.
Win/Loose for now is : 13-3.
I will edit again, when I have more games.
I like the premise of this deck, been running it like this and it's winning (at least initially, only a few games in but I've won each (at rank 8)).
Will update when I've played more than a handful of games so I have an actual basis to the winning claim.
I feel like Scaleworm would be a looot better than Keysmith.
Best deck of WitchWood so far!\
I love it
Hey, just want to let you know that I like the process of creating the deck and trying different stuff. Good work :)
funny deck, but not good at curent meta
all decks shreds this, agro pallys, agro hunters, wcubelocks, priests
lack of removal and stuff, thr giant combo is too hard to get
all my wins was only because game too long and jaina lifesteal its op
but as i said its a funny deck
Okay, i leave my little feedback. I'm a fresh player so making cheaper deck.
My Deck:
Need:
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Tried:
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Thinking:
I think this deck looks like it's going to be really fun to play and I can't wait to try it out... but I'm gonna give it a few more days so you can decide (or at least get closer to) a revision which you feel is worthy of being the final deck. I look forward to giving it a try, Thanks for working so intently and keeping this deck updated on a day-to-day basis, I wish everyone put as much effort into what they do. Cheers!
Neat deck. I like it. And i'm going to steal that epic sax guy gif. Thanks
Was wondering why run Countess Ashmoore when you can only pull 3 cards from you deck with her?
That doesn't feel like enough value for it to be worth it. I suspect it's to help Mountain Giant and keeping the hand big...but are there better options that optimize her ability?
Having a lot of success with this awesome deck. I dropped Pyros for Spellbreaker as its kinda slow and pretty weak
Did you try a mode dragonny version ? I feel like Scaleworm could be a good card in the deck with no real removal option.