I participated in the Scion’s League September Invitational tournament this past weekend and came away the winner! I want to discuss the deck I played and some points about the specific match-ups I faced.
The deck I played was Smuggler’s Stash Stonescar (SSS). This deck originated from a post from Ravenite on the Eternal beta forums, see this link for the initial post.
The basic idea of the deck is to play out units, equip them with weapons, and remove opposing units. Along the way you can draw a ton of cards with Oni Quartermaster or generate lots of weapons with Statuary Maiden. If your units/weapons die, you can bring a lot of them back with Smuggler’s Stash.
I never played with or against it until my friend Nathan “PizzaOfDeath” Wallace picked it up, tuned it, and shot up to 7th in Ranked with the deck a few weeks ago. This caught my attention, and I put the deck together to see how it felt for myself. It is a solid and fun deck, but it can have some trouble with the hyper aggressive Ranked decks and it doesn’t win particularly quickly a lot of the time, so it might not be the optimal deck to use to climb the ladder. However, I noticed it did quite well against any sort of Harsh Rule based control deck due to the number of cards you can draw with Quartermaster and Smuggler’s Stash.
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The Scion’s League Invitational tournament is a very different animal than Ranked play. One huge difference is that the rounds are played best two of three games and side decks are allowed. This change in format suppresses a lot of the all in aggressive decks like Jito Queen as players will be packing lots of Plagues and Lightning Storms in their side decks. Also, there is no incentive to win quickly in a tournament, unlike Ranked, where the quicker you win, the faster you can climb.
Given that, I expected plenty of Combrei/Elysian mid-range decks and possibly even more Harsh Rule control decks that are often favored against these mid-range decks. I expected strong representation of Champion of Cunning decks, as their natural predator is the hyper aggressive decks, that would likely not show up in large numbers.
I knew I didn’t want to play a mid-range deck, because I felt like it was such an uphill battle against the Harsh Rule decks. I could have played a Harsh Rule deck, but I don’t like their match-up with Champion of Cunning and I prefer playing something more proactive to have a better chance against whatever random decks might show up.
I settled on playing SSS because I felt I would have a great Harsh Rule match-up, and a reasonably close match-up with the other decks at least after side decking. The expected lack of aggressive decks also was a big selling point as the deck’s worst match-ups should not be overly present.
Here was the list I played: Chapman (Stonescar Midrange)
2 Charchain Flail(Set1 #3)
4 Pyroknight (Set1 #16)
4 Sparring Partner (Set1 #7)
4 Torch (Set1 #8)
4 Obsidian Golem (Set1 #398)
4 Ornate Katana (Set1 #23)
2 Rakano Outlaw (Set1 #20)
4 Champion of Chaos (Set1 #402)
4 Oni Quartermaster (Set1 #32)
4 Shogun’s Scepter (Set1 #26)
2 Deathstrike (Set1 #290)
2 Lethrai Falchion (Set1 #285)
4 Statuary Maiden (Set1 #387)
4 Smuggler’s Stash (Set1 #396)
8 Fire Sigil (Set1 #1)
5 Shadow Sigil (Set1 #249)
2 Amethyst Monument (Set1 #426)
4 Diplomatic Seal (Set1 #425)
4 Seat of Chaos (Set0 #60)
4 Stonescar Banner (Set1 #419)
—————————————-
1 Annihilate (Set1 #269)
4 Treachery (Set1 #394)
4 Plague (Set1 #274)
2 Deathstrike (Set1 #290)
2 Lethrai Falchion (Set1 #285)
1 Oblivion Spike (Set1 #294)
1 Azindel’s Gift (Set1 #306)
A powerful aspect of this deck is that it can have a very aggressive start with the right draw. A turn one Sparring Partner into an Ornate Katana is a 5/3 attacking on turn two. You can also quickly make a very threatening Champion of Chaos, a unit that usually doesn’t need much help to be great. Shogun’s Scepter puts on a huge amount of pressure in the early game and provides another body to carry weapons later. Pyroknight is a fine early play, but the ability to ultimate it and force a removal spell or a unit trade in combat followed by returning it with Stash allows you to Ultimate again making a 10/9 Overwhelm! This interaction is key to winning grindy games. The deck very often goes off if you can stick an Oni Quartermaster. It isn’t the easiest thing to accomplish, but with Champion of Chaos and Statuary Maiden as lightning rods for removal and silence effects, it is possible.
A frequent play pattern is to play Champion on turn 3, Maiden on turn 4, and then Oni Quartermaster and an Ornate Katana or an Armor from an Obsidian Golem to draw some cards on turn 5. If the opponent can’t kill or silence the Quartermaster right away, you will often draw a lot of cards on the following turn. If they do kill it, you might be able to Smuggler’s Stash to force them to deal with everything a second time. If you ever get to start generating Cudgels with Maiden, the game snowballs quite quickly. The sheer value you can accumulate with this deck is what makes it very powerful and tough to overcome in a long game. Few decks can go over the top value-wise.
I believe my list here is actually constructed improperly in a fundamental way. It really needs 1-2 more power sources. I found 27 to not quite be enough as I lost a number of games due to not hitting power drops in time. I would recommend cutting the Rakano Outlaws for either Vara’s Favors or just a few more sigils depending how good Vara’s Favor is in the metagame.
Strangely, in tournament play I would also consider moving Torch to the Side Deck. It actually does not have great targets in the more popular matchups – Combrei, Elysian, Justice Control decks, or Feln/Stonescar. You only really want it against the aggressive decks, which as we have discussed, are often suppressed in the best of three environment. The Torches are necessary if you want to take the deck to Ranked play.
Other flexible slots are: Charchain Flail, Sparring Partner (Oni Ronin might be better), Deathstrike and Lethrai Falchion. You can adjust these numbers depending on what you think the metagame will be. The Flail doesn’t look like much, but it is recurrable with Stash and will get bigger and bigger each time you play it. It can be a very efficient removal spell in this combination and you draw cards with Quartermaster when you play it. Sparring Partner is more resilient than Oni Ronin, but less consistent offensively in the current build. There are plenty of times where you don’t have a weapon to put on it and it looks quite bad. However, surviving Lightning Storm and Vara’s Favor is a big deal. I really like Deathstrike but there is a cap to how many non-weapon, non-units, non-powers that you can play and have the deck function. Lethrai Falchion is great against aggressive decks and can help punch through board stalls but is pretty miserable against control decks.
I also believe it was a mistake to include Oblivion Spike and Azindel’s Gift in my side deck. The main deck beats up on control enough that those slots may have been better used on additional Annihilates to shore up aggressive and midrange matchups.
Here is who/what I ended up playing against:
Swiss:
SirRhino Felnscar Midrange (2-0)
SecretCaveman Vodakhan Combrei (2-1)
Rargonaut Party Hour (0-2)
Jester Felnscar Midrange (1-2)
Top 8:
Rourke Stonescar Midrange (3-1)
Rargonaut Party Hour (3-1)
SecretCavemanVodakhan Combrei (4-2)
Not one Harsh Rule control deck! The Vodakhan Combrei deck did side in Harsh Rule, which I believe worked in my favor. Rather than give a play by play of how these matches went down, I want to say a few words about my plan for each match-up. I have also included the deck lists my opponents used in the tournament. You can find all of the deck lists from the tournament here:
SirRhino (Felnscar Midrange)
2 Permafrost (Set1 #193)
4 Sabotage (Set1 #252)
4 Seek Power (Set1 #408)
2 Suffocate (Set1 #251)
4 Torch (Set1 #8)
2 Annihilate (Set1 #269)
4 Feln Stranger (Set1 #409)
3 Treachery (Set1 #394)
4 Vara’s Favor (Set0 #35)
4 Champion of Chaos (Set1 #402)
4 Midnight Gale (Set1 #378)
4 Statuary Maiden (Set1 #387)
4 Champion of Cunning (Set1 #371)
3 Scouting Party (Set1 #488)
2 Black-Sky Harbinger (Set1 #385)
1 Fire Sigil (Set1 #1)
5 Primal Sigil (Set1 #187)
3 Shadow Sigil (Set1 #249)
4 Feln Banner (Set1 #417)
4 Seat of Chaos (Set0 #60)
4 Seat of Cunning (Set0 #62)
4 Stonescar Banner (Set1 #419)
—————————————-
3 Backlash (Set1 #200)
3 Lightning Storm (Set1 #206)
4 Feln Bloodcaster (Set1 #386)
2 Deathstrike (Set1 #290)
2 Impending Doom (Set1 #286)
1 Steward of the Past (Set1 #287)
Plan A here is to hopefully get off to an aggressive start with Sparring Partner, but most of the time the opponent has enough removal to force things to the mid and late game. Ideally you can out-grind them with Smuggler’s Stash but the opposing Statuary Maidens can make that problematic. Champion of Cunning is another card you cannot let the opponent get to as you will die quickly to it. If you can control their Maidens and Champions of Cunnings, you should be able to do your thing, but if you don’t it is very tough to win indeed.
SecretCaveman (Combrei Midrange)
4 Seek Power (Set1 #408)
4 Desert Marshal (Set1 #332)
4 Secret Pages (Set1 #81)
4 Vanquish (Set1 #143)
4 Amber Acolyte (Set1 #93)
4 Knight-Chancellor Siraf (Formerly Siraf, Crownwatch Hero) (Set1 #335)
3 Valkyrie Enforcer(Set1 #151)
4 Sandstorm Titan (Set1 #99)
4 The Great Parliament (Set1 #338)
4 Marshal Ironthorn (Set1 #174)
4 Mystic Ascendant(Set1 #116)
2 Predatory Carnosaur (Set1 #118)
3 Vodakhan, Temple Speaker (Set1 #347)
9 Justice Sigil (Set1 #126)
10 Time Sigil (Set1 #63)
4 Combrei Banner (Set1 #424)
4 Seat of Progress (Set0 #58)
—————————————-
3 Combrei Healer (Set1 #333)
4 Scorpion Wasp (Set1 #96)
2 Stand Together (Set1 #334)
4 Harsh Rule (Set1 #172)
1 Striking Snake Formation (Set1 #112)
1 Vodakhan, Temple Speaker (Set1 #347)
This is another deck that can be susceptible to a quick draw with cheap units and weapons before it gets the chance to set up. However, if they can land enough large units and assemble their powerful end game of Siraf, Crownwatch Hero, The Great Parliament, Marshal Ironthorn, Mystic Ascendant, and/or Vodakhan, Temple Speaker you likely will not be able to keep up. The 8 silence effects in Desert Marshal and Valkyrie Enforcer are troublesome as well, but just about every unit in SSS is an important thing for them to silence, so eventually something will stick. Also, in a game where you cast a few Stashes, it often doesn’t necessarily matter that the bodies are silent.
I believe the Combrei deck does a lot better in the matchup when they get aggressive themselves, trying to land some units and protect them with Stand Together. SSS can have trouble a quick Great Parliament, or a number of owls later in the game. SSS wins when it is able to trade off units, deadly units are key here, and eventually draw tons of cards with Oni Quartermaster or rebuy everything with Stash.
Rargonaut (Party Hour)
4 Levitate (Set1 #190)
4 Seek Power (Set1 #408)
1 Annihilate (Set1 #269)
4 Feln Stranger (Set1 #409)
4 Lightning Storm (Set1 #206)
3 Vara’s Favor (Set0 #35)
4 Feln Bloodcaster (Set1 #386)
2 Midnight Gale (Set1 #378)
4 Wisdom of the Elders (Set1 #218)
4 Deathstrike (Set1 #290)
2 Feeding Time (Set1 #381)
4 Champion of Cunning (Set1 #371)
4 Scouting Party (Set1 #488)
3 Celestial Omen (Set1 #241)
2 The Witching Hour (Set1 #310)
8 Primal Sigil (Set1 #187)
10 Shadow Sigil (Set1 #249)
4 Feln Banner (Set1 #417)
4 Seat of Cunning (Set0 #62)
—————————————-
4 Suffocate (Set1 #251)
2 Annihilate (Set1 #269)
2 Plague (Set1 #274)
1 Recurring Nightmare (Set1 #382)
2 Rain of Frogs (Set1 #221)
1 Whispers in the Void (Set1 #303)
1 Azindel’s Gift (Set1 #306)
1 The Last Word (Formerly The Deathstroke) (Set1 #309)
1 Scourge of Frosthome (Set1 #248)
This can be a tough matchup due to how good Champion of Cunning is. Luckily this build didn’t have Steward of the Past which makes a decent Statuary Maiden impression and makes your Stashes worse. The amount of removal means it will be hard to get off to a fast start, but in turn your Stashes will be quite good later in the game. The issue is dying to Champion of Cunning before you get to redeploy all of your cards. Given this, the board plan of bringing in 4 Treachery and 2 Deathstrike for Torches and Flail is critical to deal with the Champion. Post-board, I recommend holding your Treacheries as long as possible, preferably only casting one just before they will be able to land a powered up Champion. You should also save your Deathstrikes and be ready to cast them when they seem ready to cast their Champion.
Rourke (Stonescar Midrange)
3 Suffocate (Set1 #251)
4 Torch (Set1 #8)
3 Annihilate (Set1 #269)
4 Argenport Instigator (Set1 #268)
4 Treachery (Set1 #394)
3 Vara’s Favor (Set0 #35)
4 Champion of Chaos (Set1 #402)
4 Deathstrike (Set1 #290)
4 Statuary Maiden (Set1 #387)
4 Steward of the Past (Set1 #287)
3 Obliterate (Set1 #48)
1 Scraptank (Formerly Autofurnace)(Set1 #391)
4 Umbren Reaper (Set1 #299)
2 Infernal Tyrant (Set1 #390)
10 Fire Sigil (Set1 #1)
10 Shadow Sigil (Set1 #249)
4 Seat of Chaos (Set0 #60)
4 Stonescar Banner (Set1 #419)
—————————————-
4 Sabotage (Set1 #252)
1 Suffocate (Set1 #251)
1 Annihilate (Set1 #269)
4 Lethrai Ranger (Set1 #270)
1 Plague (Set1 #274)
3 Black Iron Manacles (Set1 #388)
1 Furnace Mage (Set1 #40)
Since I knew this would be my quarterfinal opponent, I played about 10 main deck games to get a feel for the match-up. It did not feel good! Statuary Maiden, Steward of the Past, and Umbren Reaper were all quite difficult to beat. The amount of removal the deck played meant they would often have plenty of time to get those cards online. My hope was that my opponent would side in too many Sabotages or maybe even Black Iron Manacles.
My opponent did bring in the Sabotages, and they were not very effective. A few times they bricked entirely. They are clearly good against the card Smuggler’s Stash, but very poor if they hit a weapon that I can just bring back later. In general, Steward of the Past and Statuary Maiden do a much better job combatting Smuggler’s Stash while also just being annoying to deal with themselves.
My general plan was to try and keep my life total high, so I wouldn’t die to Umbren Reapers or Obliterates, while saving removal for opposing Maidens and Stewards of the Past. This is another matchup where Torch doesn’t do enough, so I sided it out in favor of Treachery and Deathstrike that could deal with the important units. Eventually I should be able to out card my opponent with Stash and/or Quartermaster.
I left the swiss portion of the event 2-2 and only made top 8 by virtue of having the best tie breakers of the other 2-2 players. I was a little frustrated with the deck as the last few losses were fairly brutal. My expectations were even lower after getting crushed in practice games against my Quarterfinal opponent’s deck. However, I did not realize the format of the top 8 playoff would be best of five with side decking starting after game one. This gave me a lot more hope as my post-side decking games felt a lot better. It turns out I won game one anyway with a solid draw and things went smoothly and to plan for the rest of the event. Big thanks to Nathan “PizzaOfDeath” Wallace for turning me on to SSS and for helping me test for the event!
I will be recording a video set with the deck so you can see it in action. Check back at Numot Gaming later this week for the videos.
Thanks for reading,
Ben
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