This will be the first of what I hope to be many theme deck building articles. As I said in my previous article, I will only be using cards that are within the current block and are themed around one of the four elements. I’ve decided to start of this series with a theme deck that I’ve been working on for some time now based around the card [Aileen the Thunderblessed]. This deck focuses on exploiting her unique ability and the abilities of other [Nature] cards to quickly generate allies and deal damage.
Aileen is a rare card in the Worldbreaker set and with the ability “Pay 1, exhaust a [Nature] card you control => This ally deals nature damage to target hero or ally equal to that [Nature] card’s ATK.” [Nature] cards are any card with the “leaf” symbol under their damage number, which right now includes allies and weapons. Aileen costs 4 to play, deals 1 [Nature] damage herself, and has 6 health (she’s pretty tough!).
Why is this card interesting? Well, mainly because of cards like [Bound Vortex], which are 3/1 [Untargetable] neutral allies that spawn a 2/1 [Air Elemental] each time the card exhausts. With Aileen on board, I can pay 3 to play the [Bound Vortex], then pay 1 touse her ability and exhaust the [Bound Vortex]. Aileen would deal 3 [Nature] damage (3 because the [Bound Vortex] has an ATK of 3) to a target hero or ally of my choice and since the [Bound Vortex] exhausts as part of the cost of Aileen’s ability, I get to place a 2/1 [Air Elemental] token into play. If I have more untapped resources I could also pay another 1 to exhaust the new token and ping (deal direct damage) something else for 2. Starting to see the idea?
Questions: First let’s cover the [Untargetable] question you might have. [Bound Vortex] cards have the [Untargetable] keyword on them, however, Aileen’s text does not say “Pay 1, exhaust target [Nature] card you control => …,” it says “a.” This means that, as long as there is a [Nature] symbol in the bottom left of the card, it’s a legal card to use with her ability. Even with [Untargetable] keyword I can still exhaust the [Bound Vortex] because the word “target” is not part of the ability’s cost requirement. It’s almost as if, all of a sudden, all my nature cards have [Ferocity] and [Long Range] as long as I can pay 1 to use Aileen’s ability. Another thing to note is that Alieen’s ability doesn’t require her to exhaust, so it can be used the instant she hits the table and even on herself.
Taking a step back for a moment, though, we have to look at how the deck operates. Since Alieen is a 4 cost card, it’s important to know that this is not a rush deck. You’ll need some creative playing to eventually overwhelm your opponent. This is why I prefer to call this a “swarm” deck. You’ll need to survive long enough to get Aileen working for you. This brings me to the next aspect of what else goes in the deck.
Right now our deck list looks like this:
4x [Aileen the Thunderblessed]
56x [Bound Vortex]
I’m just kidding about the 56x [Bound Vortex] cards. Technically you could do this because the [Bound Vortex] card is [Unlimited] but that’s no fun. We want to mix it up and give you some extra things like draw, equipment and ability destruction, interrupts, etc. Let’s start with other allies that work with Aileen. Since she is an Alliance character we can narrow our focus on other Alliance and neutral allies. Worldbreaker gives us a good selection of neutral Green Dragonkin allies, who for the most part, all do [Nature] damage. Since we are going for a theme here, let’s only focus on cards that deal [Nature] damage to maximize Aileen’s potential.
Some great additions to the deck would be:
- [Emerald Captain] – when a resource you control is turned faced down, deal target hero 1 [Nature] damage
- [Emerald Tree Warder] – when a resource you control is turned face down, draw a card
Also:
- [Windspeaker Nuvu] - readies after his first attack this turn. He can either attack the same target twice or two separate targets
- [Bella Wilder] – this card has Ferocity if you control another [Nature] card
- [Varandas Silverleaf] – when this card enters play you can turn a resource face down, if you do, deal 3 [Nature] damage to target ally. Works great to combo this card off the Green Dragonkin.
Finally let’s throw in a heavy hitter:
- [Al'Akir the Windlord] – not only is he annoying as hell because generates a 2/1 [Air Elemental] per turn but also allows you to exhaust an [Air Elemental] you control to exhaust an opposing ally. Both Al’Akir and the tokens he generates also work with Aileen’s ability.
Some Extra Allies to round it all out:
- [Gully Rustinax] – Doesn’t do [Nature] damage but is a 2 cost 2/2 [Protector] who is also [Elusive].
The core mechanic of the deck is pretty much fixed at this point. You are going to do your best to keep Aileen healthy and on the table, all the while pounding your opponent with [Nature] damage. But, are we a Paladin? Druid? Shaman? That hasn’t been defined yet. We know we have to be Alliance and we also want to keep with the theme of [Nature] damage. Ultimately, I decided that the Shaman was the best fit for this deck, mainly due to the combination of abilities and equipment available and how they relate to the core mechanic.
Shaman Abilities:
- [Primal Strike] – I can use this ability as an instant to pump up an allies ATK for that turn. This also works with Aileen because she deals damage equal to the exhausting ally’s current ATK value. If I pump it, it will do 3 more damage than normal. Also there is some nice synergy with Windspeaker Nuvu!
- [Earthen Blast] – I generally only use this card for it’s STASH ability. I do a quick 2 damage to the opposing hero and because it flips, it triggers any Green Dragonkin I have on the table
- [Earthen Embrace] – This card can be used in a few ways. Primarily it’s a way to heal Aileen. She has 6 health and if your opponent can’t kill her outright, it will heal her to full, keeping her on the table and buff her damage. Otherwise you can add it to another ally on the table for the added damage.
- [Cleansing Spirit] – Threw this in here as ability destruction. Plus it heals 3 when you play it to remove an ability.
Now this works pretty well, but allies like the [Bound Vortex] and Green Dragonkin are still kind of weak (some of which only have 1 health) and we want to keep them on the table for a long as possible so we can work the deck’s magic. The following equipment both allow for that to happen and give the allies a nice damage increase when you need to go after other threats on the table.
Equipment:
- [Prized Beastmaster's Mantle] – Neutral Allies have +3 health which works with the Elementals and Dragonkin. You can also [Stash] this card to heal a neutral ally you control.
- [Crul'korak, the Lightning's Arc] – Will give each of your [Nature] allies +X [Assault] where X is equal to the ATK of the weapon. It starts at 1 but when combo’ed with [Primal Strike], it will give each [Nature] ally you control +4 [Assault]!! Plus it swings for free!! Imagine this with Windspeaker Nuvu attacking twice (that’s 14 damage just from those 3 cards alone kids!!!).
Finally, let’s round this off with some quests and locations. [Skywall] easily fits into this deck. When you deal [Nature] damage, which pretty much going to be every time you do damage, you can pay 2 and exhaust the location to add another [Air Elemental] token to your swarm. It also allows you to exhaust an opposing ally when you put an [Air Elemental] into play (this, by the way, includes Al’Akir). If you are facing an opponent with a lot of protectors, this could come in handy if you don’t have Aileen to snipe at them. Also, since 98% of the damage you are dealing is [Nature] based, I also threw in 4x Corrosion Prevention quests, giving the deck a little more draw.
Final Deck List (60):
Hero:
Deragor the Earthsworn
Allies (30):
4x Aileen the Thunderblessed
2x Al’Akir the Windlord
4x Bound Vortex
4x Bella Wilder
3x Emerald Captain
4x Emerald Tree Warder
3x Gully Rustinax
2x Varandas Silverleaf
4x Windspeaker Nuvu
Equipment (8):
4x Prized Beastmaster’s Mantle
4x Crul’korak, the Lightning’s Arc
Abilities (14):
4x Earthen Blast
3x Earthen Embrace
4x Primal Strike
3x Cleanse Spirit
Resources (8):
4x Skywall
4x Corrosion Prevention
Let me know what you think! Post a question, comment, or critique below.