This was such a good watch. It is exactly the type of analysis that will help me become a better player. What are your general strategies on the play and on the draw versus Steel decks that you know will sing AWNW?
I just used your Purple Steel aggro in to my local win a box and came 3rd. Took it cos I saw lots of red blue pre as j was going to play red blue myself. My only loss was too green steel.
Hi Zach, I hope you see this! How do you feel about this deck and Emerald/Steel decks heading into shop championships? I'd love to play something similar to this but most of the decks I see topping with this color combination seem to be running Prince John
Hey! Really appreciate you watching and commenting. With the way that the meta has shifted since I won this tournament, I'd lean more towards the Prince John version for Set Championships. You need the early game aggression in Merfolk and Flynn Rider for the Ruby/Sapphire matchups and not relying as heavily on 3 drop ursula is good now that a lot of Ruby/Amethyst lists are playing 2 cost exert Pinocchio
What would you cut Beast - Relentless for? I was thinking either 2x Smash, 2x Mothers Knows Best, 2x Rise of the Titans or Benja, 2x Cinderella - Stouthearted, or just like another swords and a 4th morph or Kit.
I don’t think it can be anything uninkable. I added a couple rise of the titans. Also think this deck wants 7 cost Cinderella moving forwards, as the other steel decks are really playing any good answers for her
I played this deck in our recent tournament and in our weekly constructed league. Bucky is definitely the MVP specially against Ruby Amethyst. They have nothing to remove that card. If you play 2 Bucky on board, game is pretty much over. Ruby Sapphire is unfavored. I cut the Cloudkickers for Rise of the Titans to help with the matchup.
Totally agree that Ruby/Sapphire is the worst matchup. Cutting Kit is fine for sure. He's no where near as good in this deck as he is in the Emerald/Amethyst deck. They thrive off of his tempo swing
I don’t think either color are over the top broken or anything. Emerald certainly needed the power boost, as it was rarely seen at the top tables in sets 1 or 2. Set 3 has shown more diversity in viable decks so far!
Why not play the 1 cost Flynn and the Floodborn Flynn? Floodborn Flynn finishes games off so much faster in the discard deck, plus evasive, and a cheap bucky trigger shifting or playing straight up. Plus 1 cost Flynn is another target for turn one to get down and it doesn’t die to teeth. I just took down a 1K this past week with a similar list but with the Flynn package.
With this build, I’m not fully focused on the discard strategy, so that I can remain flexible in my game plans. Because of that, and Flynn being uninkable, I chose not to play him. Drawing uninkables at the wrong time was costly in game 3 of the finals, and I have Jafar for the 4 cost Floodborn slot. I do think the Floodborn Flynn is a something to keep in mind, but I wouldn’t use deck space on the 1 cost either way personally. Congrats on the 1k!!
Hey man I hade another question. Where do you think emerald steel is at in terms of the meta what are the positive and negative matchups? And do you think it’s a good meta call for the official challenge in Atlanta next month?
The meta has shifted quite a bit and id likely try to make the deck much more aggressive in response. The Sapphire matchups have historically been tough for Emerald/Steel. Too early to say if it’s a good call for Atlanta. Need to see tournament results leading up to that
Where would you fit the big Cinderella, and what count? I mean, i would love to play 2-3 Rise of Titans and Cinderellas...but that means cutting probably Cloukicker and Beast Relentless?
Toss the Beast Relentless for sure imo. Kit is one of the cards that could be on the chopping block. While an insane card, it isnt as good in here as it is in something like Emerald/Amethyst that thrives on tempo swings like Kit brings to the table. The other possible cuts would be: Trimming down on Floodborns such as -1 or 2 Jafar and -1 Tinker Bell Potentially 1 Zeus Or Strike a good match, which can be cut for the Big Cinderella, or for the 2 cost cinderella to fill a similar role and act as a shift target for big condy
How do you feel about AWNW? Most of the time it feels like a dead card to me but I'm unsure if it's just because I have bucky starving them already vs wanting to play it. I took your list and dropped 1x AWNW, 1x ATACS, and 1x LTSRO for 3x Rise of the Titans. It works for me a bit but obviously unsure if I should be cutting AWNW...
I agree that it's dead a lot of times but the times that it matters, it REALLY matters. I wouldn't have won the tournament without it in the deck. You can discard it with Strike a Good Match, or even 2 cost Cinderella if you took the list down the Big Cindy route to improve the matchup against other steel decks. I feel like AWNW is a necessary evil in this list to maintain a flexible game plan and to bail us out of tight spots
awesome breakdown! I have been struggling with this deck against R/A on ladder and this made a lot of sense! mega prioritizing bucky (even mulliganing all but him) makes this all make a lot more sense now! so strong! would running bogo not also be very strong? there is a version someone placed 2nd with with 3 bogo and 4 helga instead of relentless beast and along came zeus, what do you think of that? I consistently get ran over by the queen's castle, so I would love some tips on how to play into that better? I def need 4 along came zeus I am realizing, I only have 2, but I am running 3 rise of the titans as fill cards, would you say they work too? maybe instead of relentless beast? so would you swap out the relentless beast for something else? if so, what would it be? helga or bogo a possibility? my beast and Robin hoods keep getting banished by medusa, and helga does not and also often takes out stuff in combination with tink or so and is rushing AWNW when on the play against ruby/amethyst always the best play?
Thank you! Zeus is way too important to cut imo. I've replaced the Beast Relentless with a couple Rise of the Titians. I wouldn't include Bogo or Helga in this version of the deck, being uninkable is a tough sell.
Sapphire is the most difficult matchup by far. Aurora is easy, just zeus it, since she herself doesnt have ward. Cogsworth on the other hand is a terror
not to be a downer but after looking at the decklists of the other competators, no one was running the top meta red/purp... at my locals almost everyone is running the most optimized red purp, the second place here looks to be the only one running it and isnt even running rafiki. any thoughts? and please tell me if im incorrect
This tournament was the first weekend of Set 3 being released. No one has optimized deck lists then. Deck lists aren’t optimized now either. Set 3 is still young
@@LorcanaCastleAnnoyingly i don't have any legendary robin hoods so I'm doing 1 drop Hook into 5 drop happy hook (same shift) but the uninkable and not as good ability makes me sad :(
Be Prepared needs to be dropped to 2 at the least, such an insanely stupid card, especially with locations now. I'm running Ruby/Sapphire and my late game I just win with my Manors while using all my removal on whatever they play while the locations win for me.
Hey, thanks for watching! I agree about Beast Relentless. I don’t personally want the 4th Kit. And mother knows best is tough to include in this because it’s an uninkable and there’s already plenty of removal
Great question! While important at times, there's actually a ton of games that I don't play A Whole New World at all, as I've successfully set up the discard strategy. In game 3 I had no plans to actually play it, but when I drew a 5th uninkable on turn 5, I was forced into it. Having 2 in hand there was really bad. There were a lot of instances that it sat dead in my hand until I was able to find strike a good match to filter it out
