Top 10 Decks of the Untap Era
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mark evans ‘leveled!’
Ranking things is fun, which is something the sports world figured out a long time ago. So, what I present to you today, is my first ever Warlord Rankings Article. Below I have ranked my Top 10 favorite decks I’ve seen during the Untap era. I warn you; this list is completely subjective. Additionally, I acknowledge there are many decks I could not fit on here and there are many more decks I probably never played or saw played, so unfortunately, they did not make the list. If you’re upset your deck did not make the list, please channel that anger as fuel for the next event! Prove me wrong! I also left out all of my own decks, because nobody (except for myself) wants to read a ranking where Vakeros gets ranked as the best deck played in any Untap event. So, without further adieu, I present to you my pick for the TOP 10 DECKS OF THE UNTAP ERA.
10th
Deck: Lord Kestrel
Pilot: Temperance
Event: Good, Bad, Ugly (5/2020)
Record: 4-0-1; Eliminated first round of the cut
Lord Kestrel is one of my favorite Warlords of all time. His flavor is incomparable. Unfortunately, he usually cannot compete in Ancients format. The lack of power from his supporting Deverenian crew leaves him a little behind other Wizard spell slingers (like Taoth who has both weenie support and big bruisers) and the lack of an instantly powerful ability leaves him behind wizards such as the Nemesis (kill and heal?). However, this is why Temperance’s Kestrel is in my top 10. Despite playing an underpowered warlord in an underpowered faction (I will get hate-mail for both of those statements), this deck was great! It blitzed hard with Inquisitor Tamas (a highly underplayed card) and then never let up. There were also some slick combos in the deck, such as Teleport and/or Heaven’s Wrath with Spawn of Ellil. All of this helped Temperance take Kestrel to number one in the standings prior to the cut! Overall, Temperance took one of my favorite Warlords and did something I’ve never been able to do with him, make him competitive.
9th
Deck: Cairbre Netheryn
Pilot: JamesFaheyWarlord
Event: Anceints (6/20)
Record: 3-2; Eliminated first round of the cut
Most decks in Ancients do not survive in the front rank, just ask the millions of Jodins we’ve had die there. If they do survive, they’re most likely Xod or some other uber fighter deck. This is why I loved James’ Cairbre deck. He was able to bring a rogue to the front and survive for quite some time. His exploitation of Potion of Blurring was one of the only cards I’ve ever seen effectively shut down Medusan Lord’s Gambit (Seriously that card had me cursing at my computer in the middle of a Sunday afternoon). Furthermore, his use of the Ma’rifi Set items to both bring Warlords forward and increase his saves was quite clever. My one critique of the deck was, much like other decks, it was dependent on decent hands and not facing extreme blitz. If you gave it time though, it was almost impossible to beat.
8th
Deck: Blade Dancer
Pilot: Kaura
Event: Jautya Syne Event (5/20)
Record: 4-1; Eliminated first round of the cut
For our Jautya Syne event we saw most people turn to fourth level archers, such as Rica O’shea, Peyton Latham, and Mormaenion. But not Kaura, he went a completely different route and attempted to win it all with a Reindeer (which I am sure would have been a Warlord first). This deck was incredibly powerful, relying on great rogue cards (such as Boomerang), strong Mercenary characters (such as Fylgia), and the Reindeer’s ability to kill stunned characters. Not only was it awesome that he constructed a Reindeer Syne deck, but he also took it to first place before the cut! Unfortunately, the deck saw a first-round loss in the cuts, to one of those previously mentioned fourth level archers. My only critique of this deck was it lacked a Karura-special alt art, which would have been hilarious for a Reindeer. Overall the deck was unique, clever, and effective, which is why it was one of my top 10 favorite Untap era decks.
7th
Deck: Atiratu
Pilot: Rollo
Event: Online Ancients Champ (8/20)
Record: 3-3; 19th
That’s right, there is a Chosen in the Top 10! This deck was some of my favorite F words: fantastic, fabulous, and fun! It was a solid big baddie drop deck, much like Allisara and Behlial, but with a twist. Rather than dropping your typical dragons, it dropped Eresh q’Shedim. Eresh was a fascinating pick, but also extremely mean. In addition to dropping Eresh, he was able to drop also drop Sal’Azar the Gilded because of Eresh only holding the Daemonlord trait. The real icing on the cake came from Sal’Azar’s ability to use Magic Missiles to discard up to 8 items! Talk about a Dwarf’s worst nightmare. Unfortunately, the deck was a bit finicky and did not manage to crack the top 8 of its event (which was the Online Ancients World Championship). However, given the creative choices of dropping Eresh and casting Magic Missiles with Sal’Azar, this was and still is my favorite Chosen deck I have seen thus far!
6th
Deck: Serolia Calix
Pilot: QTP
Event: Ancients (4/20)
Record: 3-1-1; Eliminated in semi-finals
This deck is bloody brilliant. A perfectly crafted Serolia deck. QTP perfected a deck that revolves around Serolia’s Daybreak ability. With a combination of Clerical Blessing and Lift Up Your Voices, QTP made Serolia’s Daybreak ability instantly useful. However, it got infinitely better once he got The Bastion of Bascaron into play. This deck also played a copious amount of card draw (something I always like) and a tricky yet nasty combination of Nildrach and Tzin’s Secret. The deck also consisted of minor pieces that increased its potency, such as Treyik, Bis, and Bescez. This deck was built with every piece having its place. Overall, you can tell that QTP put a lot of time and thought into crafting and testing this deck, which is probably why it fit so well together.
5th
Deck: Ar’tek
Pilot: Slugman
Event: CE (2/21)
Record: 5-0-1; Eliminated in semi-finals
This deck was all kinds of Awesome. In an event where Tavis and Freeks were the easy paths to victory, one stubborn Throg quickly became a fan favorite! The typical Ar’tek revolves around him coming forward and smashing. Slugman did this, but also surprised everybody by starting Darast and the running a plethora of higher level characters that would be chucked for egregiously high ranged strikes. Seriously, who puts Wyvern in a deck just to discard him?!?! This deck was brilliant, fun, and fast, everything I like in a deck! However, it was a bit of a glass cannon and was unfortunately defeated by a few exhaustions during its run through the cut. This deck was probably the biggest fan favorite I’ve seen in an event so far, with even the Germans cheering for it over their fellow Tavis’s.
4th
Deck: Kothka
Pilot: ChrisVac
Event: Saga (1/21)
Record: 3-1-2; 14th
In an event where Gravity Flux & Necromancers ruled the day, Chris Vac’s Kothka was there to resist. Although it did not resist hard enough to crack the Top 8, it was an incredibly aggressive and creative deck. I lost my first match of the event to this deck so I can personally attest for just how mean it was. The gist of the deck was to get biggies like Koratcghuk into play, equip them with things like The King’s Lady, and swing from anywhere with cards like Sar’ean & Votaurr Charm. In sum, he’d quickly get a biggie out that would smash you regardless of where you hid. Chris’ ability to reach anybody almost anywhere or to chop away at your ranks was incredibly impressive. Another aspect of this deck that I admired was its uniqueness. In the Saga event if you ran the Necromancer shenanigans with Gravity flux, you could easily do well. What Chris did was say, “No, I’ll take a challenge!” which is something he not only took, but succeeded at!
3rd
Deck: Uthanak
Pilot: Phandrix
Event: CE (2/21)
Record: 4-1-1; Eliminated first round of the cut
There is beauty in simplicity. In fact, the word to describe this deck may be elegant, which has probably never been used to describe Uthanak. Much like the Serolia Calix deck, this deck was crafted almost perfectly. It was simple, yet extremely good. The deck basically ran level four Throgs (such as Arra’Dann) with basic movement (such as Camel) and basic items (such as Monkey Paws) and then pushed these cards forward in order to destroy Phandrix’s enemies. Individually the cards were all decent, but together the deck was great! This was an extremely well oiled big green fighting machine, slaughtering its way to finishing 6th out of 52! Again, I cannot speak to just how elegant and effective this deck was. Overall it was one of my favorites because it proved that traditional warlord can still rule the day!
2nd
Deck: Ginerva of the Moon
Pilot: Iceman
Event: Ancients (4/20)
Record: 5-0; Eliminated in finals
While playing this deck, Iceman said something to me that has stuck with me until this day. I’ll butcher and paraphrase what he said, “People think Deverenians are about fighters and cavalry, but their true power lies in defensive manipulation and control.” Again, sorry for butchering your words Iceman, but this deck proved those words to be true. Iceman used Ginvera’s ability, Dev control (ie., Halo of Secrets & Acolyte Dorra) and cleric healing (Cauterize) to control the board long enough until he could then pull off a combo to draw roughly 8-12 cards at once (Troll’s Warren & Richard Key). He then used those cards to drop big baddies that also had an elements of control (Ghed Invictus) and then repeatedly readied them with multiple castings of Blood Beneath Your Wings. If you ever played MTG, this deck was as Blue as I’ve ever seen a Warlord Deck. Overall I loved this deck because it demonstrated an aspect of a great faction (control) that most people cannot replicate (seriously, I’ve tried copying this deck and just cannot get it to work). My only critique is that Ginvera is inherently powerful, especially when compared to my number 1.
1st
Deck: TRENCH
Pilot: Slugman
Event: Ancients (4/20)
Record: 3-2; Eliminated first round of the cut
Slugman took Trench to a Top 8 of an Ancients event. Need I say more? No. Will I? Yes. Again, these rankings are 100% subjective, but something I value is when you can take a non-power Warlord and turn it into a wrecking machine. This deck is the ABSOLUTE manifestation of that ethos. He took Trench (which we can all agree is a bottom-feeder Warlord) and made him good! This guy should be given a medal or something. How’d he do it? Basically he used Trench to stall and play Judgment Day, which allowed all of his characters to swing twice. He used all of this in combination with Bastion, which allowed his strikes to get quite high. He also implemented some sneaky tech, such as Stolen Destiny, which he definitely used for more than one kill shots. Overall, was this the best deck I’ve ever seen? No. Was it an incredibly well built deck that took a bottom-feeder Warlord to the Top 8 of an Ancients event filled with power-heavy Warlords? Yes! And that is why it is the Number 1 Untap Ancients Deck I have ever had the pleasure of seeing.
Closing Remarks
Remember, this list was completely subjective. Also, remember this was not “The Most Competitive Decks of the Untap Era.” These decks all stood out to me because they were creative, original, and destructive, which to me, are the greatest signs of a good deck and a great deck builder! Additionally, there were so many outstanding decks it was hard to choose from, so please forgive me if I forgot something. If you have strong feelings about something, please leave a comment! Arguing on the internet is always healthy and fun!
Hope you enjoyed,
Westley Y.