Hearthpwn

Hello everyone!

We're already around a week since the "School Year" started and the students of the Scholomance Academy are getting a bit bored of the normal classes. Everybody knows how to summon their 5-cost Beasts or how to buff yourself with the wisdom from Librams. I started seeking different sources of power and here it is - my take on the latest Tortollan Pilgrim combo.

Ok, let's be serious now. I have found a very cool list here yesterday and started tinkering with it to find an even better list. Since then some Youtubers also tried different variations of this combo, so you may already be accustomed with it. I made a few small changes, but also changed the wincondition. Instead of going infinite with your freeze like the original deck did, I made it into a combo deck with Desert Obelisk. It works surprisingly well on the ladder, but remember that it's a difficult deck, so don't be discouraged if you lose a few first games with it. I will try to write all you need in the guide, so read carefully!

Mulligan

Always keep: Tortollan Pilgrim, Desert Obelisk, Sphere of Sapience, Doomsayer, Depth Charge

Never keep: Potion of Illusion, Frost Nova, Blizzard

Obviously Tortollan Pilgrim is the card you're aiming to get in your hand by turn 7-8, since it's the main fombo piece in your deck. The same goes for Desert Obelisk. Sphere of Sapience is something that will help you with the biggest threat of your own deck - drawing spells. You generally don't want to draw any of the spells, especially Potion of Illusion. If you draw both copies of it - concede. The reason for that is the fact that Pilgrim can only play spell that are in your deck, not in hand.

Gameplan

Untill turn 7-8, when you will be able to play Tortollan Pilgrim, all you wanna do is clear the board. Don't let your opponent get too much of an advantage on board, you have a lot of tool to do that and disrupt your opponents gameplan. Cult Neophyte is really cool against Druids, as they want to play a lot of cheap spells, so if you use it correctly, you may be able to get a significant tempo advantage. Also, be careful with cards like Depth Charge. Think of what deck your opponent may be playing and try to find the best moment to play it.

Ideally by turn 8 you will have both Tortollan Pilgrim and Desert Obelisk in hand and at least 3 free card slots. On turn 8 you should only play a pilgrim and use it with Potion of Illusion. That way you will have a 1 mana pilgrim for the next turn. Then you have two options on turn 9. If your opponent played a lot of minions, play the 1 mana Pilgrim and choose potion, so you will have two 1 mana pilgrims in your hand. Then you can play Desert Obelisk, the next 1 mana Pilgrim with Blizzard and the last with Potion of Illusion. That way you will have your opponents board frozen or cleared and a nice setup for the next turns' combo. If your opponent doesn't have a scary board, you can start going crazy with Obelisks immediately. (We're back to turn 9) Start with Desert Obelisk and Pilgrim + Potion then play another Obelisk and another Pilgrim + Potion. Generally from that moment onwards all your turns will look the same, you can go infinite with board clears, Obelsiks or whatever you want. Ideally you will have Sphere of Sapience equiped to avoid that, but the worst thing that can happen is that you draw both copies of Potion of Illusion.

A single Nightblade is also in the deck as an alternative win-condition in case you don't draw your Desert Obelisk.

Also, be careful, if you want to make any changes to the list, because the mana cost is divided specifically for Lorekeeper Polkelt. The number of spells has to be 3, because you don't want any randomness with your Pilgrims.

Here are some SS from one of my games.