After some changes, nerfs and buffs to certain archetypes, the meta has changed a lot this season. As always Team Viper brings a selection of the best decks for this season, so you can rank and raise your mmr. Enjoy.
Northern Kingdoms Decks
Northern Kingdoms, the engine faction. This variant is currently considered to be the strongest of the faction.
Its point control and its ability to make points are its strengths. If the opponent does not have excessive control, or does not control your students correctly, your victory is practically assured.
How to play?
In round 1:
The basis of your game is usually the same in almost every start. We must try to accumulate as much patience with the students of Ban Ard and Aretuza. So as to subsequently gain fervor with the alumni.
Leticia is one of the key cards to exploit the “patience” mechanics to the maximum. We play it in turn one or two, depending on the match.
If we have Raffard in hand, we use it in round one in order to have a good tempo. Since round one of this deck, without Raffard is quite poor in points.
In round 2:
In this round we can press if round one we win with a high amount of patience and we have ways to generate points with our alumni. If the hand is not favorable it is best to pass.
“Chapter of Wizards” is a key card for pushing, because if we do not achieve our goal of 2-0 we can use its order for the next round.
In round 3:
In this round is when we must exploit to the maximum the alumni and our units that have accumulated patience. We have tools to replay them and also revive them with “Shani”.
Combos/Main Cards
Students, Raffard and Gerhart are our main cards.
Seltkirk + Leader or + boosts:
With this combo we can eliminate units that have a really high amount of points.
Pros/Cons
Favorable matchups
MO Vampires, SK Druids,SK self-damage, NG Scenario
Unfavorable matchups
SY current, NG blocks, SK control
Difficulty: Medium
Author: TeaAddict
Nilfgaard Decks
The classic assimilation that has been following us for quite some time, but with the inclusion of Jan Calveit. It remains one of the best decks in the Nilfgaard faction thanks to the incredible amount of points it can make.
How to play?
In round 1:
We try to win by using Blightmaker, some Mage Assassin to get assimilation points and the bronze “create” cards. If you are far ahead in points you can use Jan Calveit to secure all your draws in round 2 and 3.
In round 2:
In most cases it is better to go for as long a round as possible, since besides having the advantage of your engines to get value, you can bricked the opponent in different ways with disloyal units.
If you used Jan Calveit in round 1 you can try to go for 2-0 due to the possible difference of gold in both players’ hands.
In round 3:
Here we will start with our bronze engines, then we will increase our plays with Artorius or Joachim, to finally finish off with Braathens and Terranova as finishers for this deck.
Combos/Main Cards
Terranova:
The best finisher this deck has, it can create a base copy of any non-disloyal opponent card you gave the spy tag to during the game. Besides activating assimilation, you can do a lot of tempo and get a very useful card for you to use.
Joachim and Coup de Grace:
Joachim gives us an amazing tempo play, a card that helps keep the engines we take out of our deck alive longer and gives us chances to get forgotten units in our deck. If we double this effect with coup de grace and also activate assimilation, we will achieve an incredible amount of points.
Pros/Cons
Favorable matchups:
NG hyperthin – MO deathwish – SK druids
Unfavorable matchups
SY Jackpot – ST Milva
Difficulty: Medium
Author: MCM5392
After a complete rework done to Philippe, Masquerade has returned to be a viable deck in competitive theme, keeping its incredible amount of points in long round and great amount of control by poisons.
How to play?
In round 1:
we try to win using Blightmaker, and some bronze. If your hand is not very good you can use Philippe to secure the round.
In round 2:
If you won round 1 it is advisable to go round 3 long as our deck benefits a lot.
If you lost round 1 possibly the opponent is going to try to take out his scenario, the important thing is that if you are forced to use your scenario, at the time you use it you have to be above in points.
In round 3:
In this round you simply have to position the engines, the scenario and finally the golden aristocrat cards in your hand.
Combos/Main Cards:
Masquerade Ball:
It is the main card of the deck, it gives us 1 quite powerful engine on the field and 2 poisons to control the opponent.
Joaquim and Coup de Grace:
Joaquim gives us an incredible tempo play, a card that helps keep the engines we draw from our deck alive longer and gives us chances to get forgotten units in our deck. With Golpe de Gracia this effect is doubled, making us get a lot of points.
Pros/Contras
Favorable matchups
RN Siege – RN Alumni – MO vampires
Unfavorable matchups:
SY Jackpot – NG Assimilation
Difficulty: Medium
Author: MCM5392
Syndicate Decks
Despite the Nerf suffered by King of Beggars, it was not enough to knock Syndicate off the top of the list.
The deck is already known and was used in past seasons. This list has Devotion and only had to make a small adjustment in one card due to the leader’s move to 12 provisions, which was usually to cut a 5-provision card and replace it with a 4-provision card.
How to play?
Round 1:
he game plan is basically in Round 1 to play our bronze engines, our control tools such as poisons and try to quickly get 9 coins to thinn our Redanian to avoid a brick in later rounds.
Round 2:
The deck has a good long round thanks to the control and pointslam tools, so pushing in round 2 depending on the match is a good option.
Round 3:
Depending on the length of this round you can start with bronze engines, use control puntual for annoying opponent’s cards and finally use the big combo for the final turn.
Combos/Main Cards
Savolla + King of Beggars:
The moment we pay the tribute of “Savolla” (Tribute 9) the counter of our “King of the Beggars” will be reduced to 0, making him return the 9 coins invested, in addition to summoning himself to the field. This is a combo that generates 31 points in one turn.
Pros/Cons
Favorable matchups
ST no units – SK Pirates – Mo vampires – RN shields
Unfavorable matchups
SK druids – NG assimilation
Difficulty: Medium
Author: Dawzerk
E
The Buff given to the Off the books leader makes him an interesting option for the lone Bote that dominated the past seasons the Syndicate faction.
The leader ability allows us to obtain tributes at a lower cost, specifically the tributes cost 1 coin less.
The deck we present is a non-devotion version, which was taken by the player Kams134 to the Open recently, and we found it to be an excellent alternative against the traditional Jackpot in Syndicate.
How to play?
Round 1:
The game plan is very similar to what we did with Jackpot, play our bronze engines and our poisons to quickly get our pocket full of coins and thus thinnear our Redanian. One of the additions in this deck that can help us take the round or put pressure on the opponent is Saul de Navarrete which is a good option to take the round or win in equals.
Round 2:
Despite having a good long round, depending on the match we will want to bleed our opponent in round 2, where the truffle is a great tool. So hand in hand with our Royal Decree stay with a short round 3 where we will deploy Savolla and King of Beggars as finisher
Round 3:
Hand in hand with our Royal Decree stay with a short round 3 where we will deploy Savolla and King of Beggars as finisher.
Combos/Main Cards
Savolla + Rey de los Mendigos:
The moment we pay the tribute of “Savolla” (Tribute 9) the counter of our “King of the Beggars” will be reduced to 0, making him return the 9 coins invested, in addition to summoning himself to the field. This is a combo that generates 31 points in one turn.
Pros/Contras
Favorable matchups
ST no units – SK Pirates – Mo vampires – RN shields
Unfavorable matchups
SK druids – NG assimilation
Difficulty: Hard
Author: Dawzerk
Skellige Decks
This deck has become much more stable than it was previously, it has become one of Skellige’s best carry options for this season thanks to the large amount of control we carry.
How to play?
Round 1
We will look to use our Crach an Craite, get armor using ships and bronze pirates while, another option is to use the discard pack.
Round 2:
It suits us a long round so it is better to pass, no need to worry about decks with a lot of engine as Crach can be taken care of quickly if handled well.
Round 3:
In this round we use Fucusya to revive Crach, Holger and our remaining bronze cards to finally use Terror of the Seas on the opponent’s highest unit and destroy it completely.
Combos/Cartas principalesCombos/Main CardsCombos/Cartas principales
Crach an Craite:
EIt is used to kill the opponent’s lowest units, without our units taking damage due to the armor provided.
Fucusya + any card:
Fucusya is such a good card that it can combo with almost any card in our graveyard. Ideally we want to use it to revive Crach to reuse his passive ability.
Pros/Contras
Favorable matchups
SK alchemy – RN duels – MO vampires
Unfavorable matchups
NG assimilation – SY jackpot
Difficulty: Medium
Author: Mcm5392
After changes to various tools in the self-harm archetype, this deck has become quite popular in recent times, basing much of its power on Melusine and Sigvald.
How to play?
In round 1:
We will look to use our Melusine and discards pack to get round one and gain carryover.
In round 2:
It suits us a long round if we have all the cards of our combo, as you can create quite large and unstoppable chains of points if we have the defender.
In round 3:
In this round we will use the main card (Sigvald) together with Knut, to generate an unstoppable chain and many points, controlling each unit that the opponent plays.
Combos/Main Cards
Sigvald + Knut:
It is the best combo of the deck, since when Knut inflicts damage to Sigvald this one does not receive it, managing to make you get a great amount of control.
Melusine: Melusine increases its base power by two every turn, achieving that it is considered as carryover when it revives from the graveyard.
Melusine:
Melusine increases its base power by two each turn, making it a carryover when revived from the graveyard.
Pros/Contras
Favorable matchups
SK alquimia – RN duelos – MO vampirosSK alchemy – RN duels – MO vampires
Unfavorable matchups
NG assimilation – SY Jackpot
Difficulty: Hard
Author: Mcm5392
Although this deck did not get any improvements in the last expansion, it still holds strong. We have a lot of engines and a lot of tempo thanks to our scenario. Cards like The Mushy Truffle and Crowmother help us generate large amounts of points as well as create carry over.
How to play?
In round 1:
The primordial thing in round 1 is to have the discard pack in hand in order to slim down and manage to take the round. Also keep in mind to establish the graveyard, Crowmother is a good option.
In round 2:
It is not good to push in round 2. Your long round is destructive to the opponent but if you need to draw important things you can do it and even try to go for the 2-0.
In round 3:
If everything goes well, in round 3 with the thine deck you are sure to steal almost everything. You can score a lot of points with your scenario, the truffle helps you generate engines and keep them alive while your leader’s passive ability heals damaged units.
Combos/Main Cards
Gedyneith:
This scenario, besides being the cheapest in the game, helps you generate a large amount of puts, in combination with your leader and other Raven Clan there is no deck that can reach you in points.
Fucusya + any card
Fucusya is such a good card that you can combo it with any other card. Depending on the situation, you can revive Coral, Raven Clan, Havfrue, etc.
Pros/Contras
Favorable matchups
MO vampires – ST Alzur – NG assimilation – RN shields
Unfavorable matchups
SK pirates – SY Jackpot
Difficulty: Medium
Author: MCM5392
Monsters Decks
Vampires remains stable as the target deck for this season, but with its improved version without devotion to increase the chances of victory.
How to Play?
In round 1:
What we are looking for is to use strong cards in round 1, we will use Operator to create Fleders, defender, She Who Knows and even Unseen Elder. All this to revive them in later rounds.
In round 2:
Here we are going for 2-0, we will use Witches’ Sabbath to return our previously played engines to the field and we will push to the maximum. You can save Regis for round 3.
In round 3:
We will play our engines that we have left, to finally use our Regis and finish off the opponent.
Combos/Main Cards:
Regis:
Obviously this card is important as it is the finisher of our deck, it can turn the game around.
Witches’ Sabbath:
This card is one of the main cards of the deck, as it makes it possible for us to revive our strongest engines in the round we want.
Pros/Contras
Favorable matches
SK pirates
Unfavorable matches
SY Jackpot – NG assimilation – RN Siege – NG scenario
Difficulty: Medium
Author: MCM5392
Scoia’tael Decks
In spite of not having received large buffs, ST simbiosis manages to keep up with slight changes that guarantee great consistency and good pointslam.
How to play?
In round 1:
In first round we want if or if Saskia: Commander to secure the round and thin the deck. You can try to keep it if you have to play first because with the help of the tactical advantage you can win the round, but if you see that the opponent starts to play strong you can use it. The other card to secure the round is Simlas which allows you to use 2 nature cards from the deck.
In round 2:
In this round you must push the opponent having won on equal cards the previous round, or having saved Saskia or Simlas for the push.
In round 3:
In this round having already bled the opponent you should be able to win using Eithne, a few symbiosis cards and the Great Oak to finish it off.
Combos/Main Cards
Saskia: Commander:
This card summons a different categories bronze card from your deck, so be careful not to keep too many bronze cards in your hand since you want to draw mostly with it. After the third bronze card that comes out you can consider stopping Saskia: Commander so you don’t overthin the deck.
Simlas:
It is best to use it with Bountiful Harvest to get a great pointslam capacity but don’t ruin your hand trying to get this. Using it with Dryad’s Caress or Tempering is not bad either and helps to thin the deck as well.
Pros/Contras
Favorable matchups
NG assimilation – MO vampires
Unfavorable matchups
SK pirates – NG hyperthin – SK druids
Difficulty: Medium
Author: Dawzerk
