That Cultist Life: A guide to building and playing everyone's favorite Expedition deck!
teamrankstar.com/article/that-cultist-life/
teamrankstar.comPosted Nov 27, 2019, 10:56 AM UTC
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teamrankstar.comDo you think this deck will be still playable after the nerfs?
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I think so! I'll be trying it out later to see how it goes, but I anticipate that while the nerfs will make it not quite as dominating, it will still be playable.
The Slumbering Stone nerf was the least expected, and definitely the heaviest hit. But while a card in hand isn't as good a value as a unit on the field, it is still giving you value. You lose out on certain advantages, such as sacrificing the Slumbering Stone prior to the block phase, then using the gargoyle to block, then sacrificing the gargoyle to Worthy Cause another enemy unit; or sacrificing the Stone at the end of the enemy turn so you can attack with it on your turn. But it's rare that that tempo hit will matter in the long run, and there are times there's an advantage to keeping that unit back in your hand to play at a more strategic moment.
Overall, those extra cards plus the change to Worthy Cause will demand much more careful power management in the early game; typically by the late game, I have so much power I'll be happy for a few extra things to spend it on.
The nerf to Incarnus will make the smallest difference, I think; her biggest value by far comes from her card generation, and while she'll die more easily to things like Char or tokens with Predator's Instinct, she'll retain that value with void recursion. EDIT: One other place where the nerf to Incarnus hurts is in relying on it as a blocker against aggro mastery units such as Varret or Teething Whelp; now it will trade instead of straight up blocking them. Again, not terrible since you've already got its value with the card it generated, and void recursion is an option for later, but definitely worth noting.
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Slumbering Stone needs to be replaced, then the deck is playable.
Source: just lost a game pretty badly due to the SS nerf after I drew it twice and resurrected it once, couldn't get the other card out of my hand efficiently each time.
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Yeah, fair enough, I imagine that would be the risk. What are you thinking of replacing it with?
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Bloodseeker or Zhen-Zhu perhaps?
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The nerf to incarnus also makes her die to parry, which is a much bigger deal than you think it is
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You have a good point, that is definitely noteworthy.
That said though, she was already a magnet for removal; I've played and won many games where I never had an Incarnus last longer than a turn or so. With the option still there to sac her to Worthy Cause or Devour, you can still come out on top--it doesn't feel nearly as good as spending them on less valuable units, but it's better than losing her for nothing.
But honestly I'm going to have to spend some time playing and see what happens to my win rate before I can draw any definite conclusions.
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She still has great value for the extra card draw and the chance at some great cards.
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Good article, bad luck on the timing, though I do expect the deck to remain relevant, and the article will still be useful.
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Hi Ninjela,
Please provide a link to the decklist in your description here, as per our Self-promotion Rules. Thanks in advance!
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Whoops! Was linked in the article, but I've added it to my comment as well.
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Great writeup! Hope to see more content from you in the future, this piece is a really strong reflection of your writing ability
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Outside of Vara, I have none of these legendary cards. Nahid is my finisher.
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After the event Expedition ECQ, I mentioned that I was considering doing a write-up of the Cultists deck I played that carried me to much greater success than I ever imagined. Team Rankstar invited me to write it up as a guest article for their website, and it was my great honor to do so!
Of course I meant to have it done in time for last weekend's QCP event and didn't quiiiite manage it, and now it's going up the same day balance changes are going live. Still, I believe the deck will continue to be viable despite the changes, and the advice here should largely hold strong.
I'd love to hear any thoughts and considerations you might have based on your own experience with this archetype!