Underrated Decks

From EMpires On The Rise

Written By - Thomas NeilsonFebruary 5th, 2023

With the upcoming Battle For Glory event, we'll be seeing a tournament with every EOR Campaign promo fully released and available. Whilst we can see hints of what decks are likely to perform and place well from the previous two Siege Series, there are a few other Warlords which haven't seen the most attention recently with the potential to be breakout all-stars in tournament play. But what are these underappreciated gems, how do they play, and how can you play against them?

Old Favourites

Out of the original 8 Warlords, both Sh'Lara and Prometheus have historically demanded placement in the upper echelon of the roster alongside Onoskelis and Sharn. Prometheus specifically was one of the strongest decks in the early sets, threatening blisteringly fast kills before the release of Welcome To Alburdunn and Mists From The Fata Morgana. Since the release of EOR however, both decks have started to see less tournament play, despite being powered up in notable ways from the EOR card releases. Sh'lara has received cards like Jolkure, The Mystic Fire Alpha and Mystic Fire Dragon Clash for an even stronger ability to rip a board state to shreds, whilst Prometheus has proven that you can teach an old dog new tricks, picking up a selection of control tools that take the "glass" out of glass cannon.

Sh'Lara, The Mystic Fire Phoenix - Mystic Fire Midrange

An incredibly promising deck going into EOR, Mystic Fire Midrange is a value oriented strategy, with the ability to pump out card advantage turn after turn, whilst turning your entire board-state into a victim of collateral damage. A significant chunk of the power of Sh'Lara comes in the combo of Mystic Fire Awakening, Mystic Fire Arena, and Phoenix Flames Conflagration.

Mystic Fire Awakening is a value engine, pumping out a Phoenix Hatchling every turn, and being able to trade two Phoenixes for two cards in hand. In addition, a selection of your cards require Mystic Fire Awakening to be in play to be activated at full power.
Mystic Fire Arena loots on entry, helpful for filtering cards and setting up some in-discard abilities, but more importantly buffs your Mystic Fire Warriors by +1 for each Phoenix Hatchling on the board. This board buff becomes brutal in combination with Phoenix Flames Conflagration.
Phoenix Flames Conflagration turns your Phoenix Hatchlings into Mystic Fire warriors, and lets you discard a Phoenix Flames card once per turn to buff your board by 1. With both of these cards in play, a full board of Phoenixes is buffed to 7-8 ATK each, threatening 35-40 damage straight to your opponent.

As you might be able to see however, Mystic Fire can be heavily reliant on it's board-state to make pushes, with Mystic Fire Arena and Mystic Fire Awakening even destroying themselves at the end of a turn without other Mystic Fire cards in play. When setup however, Mystic Fire can produce terrifying card advantage and damage.

As mentioned, the deck can also refill full grips of cards, and no card better shows this off than Feathers In The Wind. Feathers lets you draw a card for each Mythical Beast Warrior destroyed in a turn, and this card draw can quickly get out of hand. With a full board of warriors, your opponent attempting to punch through for damage will net you 5 cards in hand. Throw a Niboosh into that line of Warriors, or any Fortified that lets you create more Phoenix Hatchlings, and you'll be drawing even more. With many other options available to Mystic Fire such as Abraxis, The Mystic Fire Sphinx, Sh'lara can easily turn one card in hand into a fresh new grip in a single turn cycle.

Prometheus, The Eternal Spirit - Eternal/Arion Tempo

Once the premier aggro deck in the game, Prometheus has fallen by the wayside, despite still packing the same punch it once did. A significant boon to the deck now is that the deck is bolstered by new control tools, letting the deck threaten the same early kills that it always has, but with a stronger and safer backup plan. Treasures Of Arion has provided an insane amount of DCM recovery, giving Prometheus a nearly full heal in combination with Primordial Treasury Of Arion.

Another control tool added by the Arion package is the addition of a new synergy: Lovaria, City At The Edge Of Arion. Replacing the other more aggressive Synergy options, Lovaria is a great midrange option for clearing the board and buffing up a board.

These control pieces have allowed the deck to take on a more flexible gameplan that isn't entirely reliant on early kills and aggressive starts, but the deck can still quickly threaten lethal board states.

Another recent tool that's found it's way into Prometheus lists is Galterius, The Wayfaring Knight as a Guardian. Galterius allows for a greater influx of card advantage right off the start of the game, and balances out the early play/draw disparity. Serenasada is still a popular choice for more aggressive builds of Prometheus, but Galterius has firmly cemented his position as Prometheus's right hand man.

Although the list hasn't found it's way into top placements in recent Siege Series, the list has found BFG success post EOR and has the potential to show up in explosive fashion to future competitive events.

Mists From The Fata Morgana, and Welcome To Alburdunn remain key tools for surviving the early turns against a titan onslaught, but beware of how recent tools have given Prometheus the ability to fight better in the late game.

New Challengers

Ethelhime and Merrisod are two of the strongest warlords to come out of Empires On The Rise, and outside of the EOR release event haven't seen significant top 8 placements. These two decks do however have the power to rip through a board-state and find early kills, while also having an immense selection of card selection and filtering.

Ethelhime, The Strongarm Alewife - Alehouse Tempo

An appealing archetype released in EOR, Alehouse Tempo is an explosive tempo list, with some incredible disruption similarly to Frost Tempo. Ethelhime is one of the flashiest warlords in the game, able to produce some insane board states, and deal absurd amounts of damage. The archetype's value generation engine allows it to fire on all cylinders, and explosive enough turns can result in the Alehouse player holding most of their deck in their hand, with every reveal effect providing a waterfall of drinks and abilities.

The Grand Alehouse at first glance is a way to produce extra Ale counters and to tuck away problematic warriors, but that last line of text is far more than just a method of discouraging your opponent's removal. With Alehouse Molotov's reveal effect or play effect you can consistently destroy your own Grand Alehouse alongside it's Ale counters, netting a huge selection of cards, frequently including another Grand Alehouse to keep the Ale (counters) flowing.

Any aspiring pilots can find a deck tech for Ethelhime right here (!) on Snapshot, but it is important to note that the lists have some variety, including different Guardian options, such as Serenasada. Still, the deck tech is a great way to get started with piloting the list and learning some key play lines.

Mist effects are of course great for delaying her early kill potential, but hand disruption can also be uniquely powerful at interrupting her value generation and accumulation.

Overall, the explosive potential for Ethelhime isn't necessarily as consistent as it could be, and although the control tools available to the archetype can be backbreaking, it doesn't quite yet have the highest density of fortified support pieces. Even without a complete back line however, Ethelhime can easily roll out the barrels before you have the chance to stop her.

Merrisod, The Master Of Dragonic Spirits - Dragons Midrange

Similarly to Sh'lara, Merrisod also hasn't found her way to top 8 placements yet, but has plenty of capability to make it to the top. Merrisod shares many of the same strengths as Sh'lara, with the ability to wipe board states clean at a moments notice. Compared to Sh'Lara, Merrisod lacks the same degree of kill power provided by Mystic Fire Arena and Mystic Fire Beast Power, but she can still blast your board away and finish the job with a barrage of Physical Attacks.

One strength that Merrisod enjoys is one of the stronger Left sides in the game, with Nyx, The Indigo Dragon Lancer's abilities providing an incredibly strong start of game setup, and fantastic late game power to kickstart your eradication engine. Pandesha, The Lost Island provides a similar amount of value with triggering a selection of eradication effects from your deck, and clearing the board whilst doing so.

Whilst Merrisod is generally reliant on powerful unified cards to setup lines and turns such as Leylines Of Liquid Crystal and Bind The Dragon Soul, she isn't quite as reliant on board control as Sh'lara. Due to this, she can be better at popping off from an emptier boardstate, especially with Nyx's incredible special ability, allowing you to tutor out 5 different Eradication effects.

Whilst Merrisod doesn't have quite as many tools as Sh'lara yet, she still has incredible explosive power and the ability to fight against the top decks in the metagame. Regardless of warlord, Mystic Fire lists have an incredibly amount of mid-game power in grinding out value and smashing up boards with the help of Mystic Fire Dragon Clash and a plethora of destructive effects. Merrisod's reliance on Eradication synergies does open her up to weakness against hate pieces such as Close The Gateway. Majik Void Hollow is a fantastic card in any matchup, but triggering a Hollow in response to the activation of Nyx's special ability can be especially backbreaking.

Ultimately the February 18th Battle For Glory may end up with similar trends to recent tournaments, but these four decks all have the potential to be break out successes. For any player looking for a new option to take on the metagame, all four of these decks have the potential for high placements in tournament play, with solid match up spreads, relatively high degrees of consistency, and a ton of flexibility and options in deck-building and tuning. Regardless, when preparing your list, sideboard, and game-plan, you should be prepared for what these decks can do, if they do show up to throw down.

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