Kalis Party
I have been toying with Kalis decks over the last few days and aside from just being super fun to play, the card Torrent of Spiders has jumped out as being great. This got me thinking, how can I generate more spiders? Enter West-Wind Herald! Once I decided to splash Primal, Scouting Party felt like a perfect fit. In fact, West-Wind into Scouting Party is just a great combo on its own as you play the Party on turn 6 and replay it with West-Wind with the Infiltrate trigger.
4 Combust (Set1 #392)
4 Grenadin Drone (Set1 #5)
4 Seek Power (Set1 #408)
4 Slumbering Stone (Set1 #255)
4 Dark Wisp (Set1 #264)
4 Devour (Set1 #261)
4 Quarry (Set1001 #15)
4 Assembly Line (Set1 #29)
4 Bloodrite Kalis (Set1 #397)
2 Madness (Set1 #267)
4 Torrent of Spiders (Set1 #272)
4 West-Wind Herald (Set1 #231)
4 Scouting Party (Set1 #488)
3 Fire Sigil (Set1 #1)
2 Primal Sigil (Set1 #187)
4 Shadow Sigil (Set1 #249)
4 Seat of Chaos (Set0 #60)
4 Seat of Cunning (Set0 #62)
4 Seat of Fury (Set0 #53)
4 Stonescar Banner (Set1 #419)
One of the reasons this deck works is the super light influence requirements of the Stonescar cards. That is something I noticed playing the traditional Kalis decks, you only ever needed double shadow for Oblivion Spike. This build cuts the Spike and given that we are just splashing for West-Wind and Party, the requirements are quite easy to meet. Just be careful to Seek Power knowing you need double Primal for West-Wind. Quarry is great in this deck to find the pieces you might need or just to make a West-Wind or Party cheaper. There is a conspicuous lack of Torch, but this deck is so combo/synergy oriented that I don’t think you need it. Madness/Combust/Spiders buy enough time for you to go off with the various combos. This is a deck that wishes there were more space for units on the board! It is not uncommon to have full boards of Spiders/Yetis. This allows for some preposterously sized Kalis’.
This is a super grindy deck. There is not much point to making aggressive plays early. Often you are just chump blocking until you can start generating multiple spiders with Torrent. You might get a few quick wins if you can curve some combination of Grenadin Drone, Slumbering Stone, or Dark Wisp into a fast Kalis, but more often you will save Kalis until it can be 10/10 or bigger. The more patient you can be with setting up Madness with Combust/Devour/Kalis, the better. Try only to go after targets that can legitimately kill you before you can go off.
This isn’t a deck that I can recommend as top tier ladder climber, but I can certainly recommend it as a fun diversion that should have a positive win-rate. The deck just takes a long time to win, and lose, in most circumstances which is the main reason it might not be the best choice for climbing. This is also a strong Gauntlet deck if you are looking to complete quests there.
SPJ Warden Control
1 Permafrost (Set1 #193)
4 Seek Power (Set1 #408)
2 Suffocate (Set1 #251)
1 Annihilate (Set1 #269)
2 Lightning Storm (Set1 #206)
2 Lightning Strike (Set1 #197)
4 Feln Bloodcaster (Set1 #386)
4 Scheme (Set1 #213)
4 Valkyrie Enforcer (Set1 #151)
4 Wisdom of the Elders (Set1 #218)
1 Deathstrike (Set1 #290)
2 Steward of the Past (Set1 #287)
4 Harsh Rule (Set1 #172)
2 Staff of Stories (Set1 #234)
4 Throne Warden (Set1 #514)
2 Black-Sky Harbinger (Set1 #385)
2 Celestial Omen (Set1 #241)
1 Azindel’s Gift (Set1 #306)
1 Shadowlands Feaster (Set1001 #10)
5 Justice Sigil (Set1 #126)
2 Primal Sigil (Set1 #187)
3 Shadow Sigil (Set1 #249)
2 Cobalt Monument (Set1 #418)
4 Feln Banner (Set1 #417)
4 Seat of Cunning (Set0 #62)
4 Seat of Order (Set0 #51)
4 Seat of Vengeance (Set0 #55)
I have always been intrigued by Shadow/Justice/Primal control decks in Eternal. Justice for Harsh Rule, Primal for card advantage, and Shadow for spot removal and utility units. The previous incarnations have had a lot of trouble gaining life and surviving against aggressive decks. Enter Throne Warden! Throne Warden has been shooting up the ranks of my favorite Ranked cards. He shines brightly here to give your Staff of Stories a much need boost in armor and to provide a nice life buffer.
Shadowlands Feaster also is quite good in this deck to combat Relic Weapons and is just a generally strong finisher. The deck sports several one-ofs that get more value with the two Celestial Omens. Make sure you have the deck list handy when you play as one of the keys to winning with this deck is being precise with Celestial Omen. The influence requirements are fierce in this deck, but I believe the power-base is up to the challenge. You will need to use Scheme to find the appropriate influence from time to time, and Wisdom of the Elders plays an important role in hitting your power drops. You need to be very careful in what you find with Seek Power. You need to balance what the demands of your hand might be with what the requirements of important cards you might draw. One of the keys will be hitting double Justice for Harsh Rule/Warden. Luckily the deck doesn’t need double shadow until turn 4, and only 3 cards need it that early, so you can safely aim to land double Primal or Justice early on. I am running Feln Banner over Hooru banner despite this because of how important the Shadow cards like Feln Bloodcaster and Scheme are early in the game.
The game plan with this deck is straight forward. Do whatever you can to survive the early/mid game while fixing your influence and hitting power drops. Have a defensive presence on the board with some combination of Feln Bloodcaster, Steward of the Past, and/or Throne Warden, and/or set up a nice Harsh Rule. Drop a Staff of Stories or cast Wisdom of the Elders/Scheme and start gaining card advantage/selection. Eventually cast Celestial Omen for whatever you might need at the time. Against other control decks, Azindel’s Gift is your trump card. If you need to end the game, Shadowlands Feaster will do the trick. If you need another sweeper, you can always find a Harsh Rule. If you have control of the board, Staff of Stories is a great choice if you don’t already have it.
As far as control decks go, I feel this is a solid choice. However, similarly to the Kalis deck, it ultimately is not the optimal choice as a deck to climb the ladder with. Again, I believe it will have a positive win-rate but it wins and loses so slowly that choosing a faster deck is probably better if your only goal is to climb the ladder the fastest. Though, if your goal is to climb in style, I highly recommend either of these decks.
Thanks for reading,
Ben Chapman
@bchap55
