After Casino TF, the next archetype I wanted to showcase is Championless Undying as popularized by Mogwai. Honestly, I hesitated a little to share this one -- I have some specific concerns about how viable it will be after the release of Call of the Mountain which we'll get into later -- but that's not until Wednesday, right? So meanwhile, here's another fun, budget-friendly off-meta archetype that is unlike any other deck you've played. It also runs zero champions, which is great for if you're trying to hold on to all your champion wildcards until after the new expansion releases.
As mentioned, this archetype runs zero champions and instead doubles-down on two death-loving followers, The Undying and Cursed Keeper. With the exception of a few survival spells, every other card in these decks is dedicated to either maximizing value out of those two followers (usually by killing them) or drawing cards. Again, I'm going to provide two variants. The Bilgewater variant is my favorite - it uses the vulnerable mechanic to force your opponent to make horrible trades. The Demacia variant plays similarly, but it relies Single Combat and En Garde to force trades.
Strategy
In theory, you could summarize the strategy for this deck as
- Play 1-2 The Undying
- Have them die a lot, getting bigger each time
- Attack your opponent with a giant The Undying until they are dead
...Unfortunately, it will never be that simple in practice. To begin with, you often won't draw The Undying by turn 3. That's were Cursed Keeper comes in: he doesn't have the same infinite potential, but an Escaped Abomination will provide a huge tempo swing which should give you some options. Next, you need to be aware of how really easy to fall behind with this deck. Both our priority units, The Undying and Cursed Keeper, can't block. The good news is that if your attacks are threatening enough, your opponent will need to sacrifice units on defense, but building up that much momentum will take some careful early plays. This deck epitomizes the mantra "The best defense is a good offense".
However the biggest challenge of all is how vulnerable The Undying is to special effects like Detain, Will of Ionia, Devourer of the Depths, L2 Lee Sin, Purify, and soon, Whimsy! and Hush. Against some of those threats, you at least have the potential to play around thanks to Glimpse Beyond -- make sure to hold these judiciously against Demacia, Ionia, or Deep -- but the latter all play at burst speed. If you can avoid committing too hard on any single The Undying and instead focus on Cursed Keepers and your other units this will mitigate some of the risks. Still, in general, it will be an unfavored matchup. This was the root of my concerns voiced at the start of the article: if Whimsy!, Sunburst, and Hush become extremely popular after Wednesday, they will severely hamper this deck's livelihood, so beware.
One final note on strategy: be aware that you have multiple options for Chronicler of Ruin. Most of the time, you'll want to target either The Undying (this will create a 2nd) or Cursed Keeper (effectively a free 4/3). However you can also target anything with a summoning perk -- Sheriff Lariette Rose/Hired Gun (give enemies vulnerable), Vanguard Redeemer (free card draw), or Radiant Guardian (full HP plus guaranteed activation) or just anything you want to heal back to full health.
Mulligan Guide
- I usually mulligan hard for The Undying. The exceptions are if I drew a Cursed Keeper or if I expect silence effects will be a problem.
- Warden's Prey is a great 1-drop in this deck and worth digging for if you're concerned about aggro or want to stall Sejuani and/or Gangplank. Sometimes his Last Whisper will generate a The Undying or Cursed Keeper, which can save an unsuccessful mulligan.
- Vile Feast and Grasp of the Undying are some of the aforementioned survival spells that can be vital for sniping early champions before they get out of hand.
Bilgewater Variant
Demacia Variant
Decklist Substitutions
- The Undying: unfortunately, this is another case of "3x or play another deck". It is just too likely to stall out if you can't draw a single The Undying, and there will be games where you need that extra longevity that Cursed Keeper lacks.
- Sheriff Lariette Rose: in the Bilgewater variant, I think you want a minimum of 1 to give some late-game gas -- giving everything vulnerable can be a total game-changer. Look to extra copies of The Ruination and Ye Been Warned if you cut down.
- The Ruination: both these decks currently run a single copy, and I honestly wonder if they need more, not less. If you don't have even the one, though, I would recommend Vengeance.
What do you guys think about this archetype? Are there other decks you'd like us to showcase? Let us know below!
Comments
Interesting read - I just started a week ago and had the same Idea in regard of the Undying.
So far it works well for me through different stages - but there is room for some changes because I am lacking some cards like Ruination
which I have to collect yet. But in generall it is fun to play if the mulligan and the pressure of this deck works for you.
Greatest opponent so far are all the Freljord decks with massive freeze abuse
Have a look - and thanks for the content.
I maybe have a try with the Bilgewater cards.
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Your decklist brings back fond memories of when I was starting out and looking for clever ways to fill holes in my collection. :-)
If you're running SI + Ionia ephemerals, you definitely want to try to incorporate 3x Death Mark -- that's such a strong tempo play, especially if you combo with a Darkwater Scourge. ...Honestly, for this particular decklist you might want to try just dropping The Undying to just focus on ephemeral synergies; combo decks get inconsistent if they are trying to incorporate too many different elements. For reference, here's a very similar deck from user Checkct--he uses Kalista for her L2 ability to spawn scourges and The Rekindler, but Zed should be a fine alternative.
Yes you are right mate.
I am getting attached even more to Ephmerals.
It's a super cool mechanic and very rewarding.
But I havent found a final deck list yet and I am still trying.
Death Mark never worked for me - it was too inconsistend but maybe I give it another try ;-)
I never had much luck with The Undying, it is RNG to draw them early enough and then it takes time for them to become big enough that your opponent needs to start blocking them. Vulnerable does help with this tho. It is definitely an interesting archetype, but not as straightforward as it might seem at first glance :)