Purgatory Tyrant: Deck Guide

Game-AI / February 22, 2017

This article is originally from Game-AI. It is provided here translated with permission.
View the original article here.

Wielding the most memey combo in the game, this is Purgatory Tyrant.

It's taken long, but a refined version of this archetype able to compete in Ranked has finally appeared. These refinements were spearheaded by the creator of today's deck, Shoubi-chan (@muisiki23).

Playstyle

1. Accumulating Shadows

Purgatory Tyrant is a "dream deck" that utilizes the two difficult-to-trigger win conditions Path to Purgatory and Deathly Tyrant.
The ideal play is to clear the board and whittle down the opponent's health with Path to Purgatory, then finish them in one hit with Deathly Tyrant. It's a flashy combo, but does it work?

Both cards require a great number of shadows in the graveyard to activate their effects. This is where Midnight Haunt comes into play.

Midnight Haunt

Midnight Haunt is an unusual card which instantly gives you thirteen shadows. However, it has a significant downside in that it erases your shadows after two turns.

As such, you need to activate Path to Purgatory on the same turn you play this card in order to not let its effect go to waste. In order to do this, play Path to Purgatory beforehand to maximize its effect. This will clear the enemy's board of any wards, leaving your Midnight Haunt with one countdown.

At this point, you should have 30+ shadows, so finish the game with Deathly Tyrant!

2. Buying Time

It will take several turns before you are able to activate Path to Purgatory and Deathly Tyrant. As such, you will need some mechanisms to protect your face.

These two cards create a powerful combo that allow you to remove two enemy followers at once. By utilizing this around the evolution turns, you can quickly reclaim the board.

A potential weakness of this combo is Lurching Corpse's inability to attack non-Ward followers. As a result, you run the risk of being unable to trade properly until Necroassassin comes out, but on the other hand, Lurching Corpse is more likely to survive until those turns.

Interview with the Creator, Shoubi-chan

What are the strengths and weaknesses of this deck?

Strengths:

First, Midnight Haunt and its associated burst damage are unexpected in the meta. This gives Shadow a leg up against Dirt Rune and Guardian Sun Haven, and you can get a neutral matchup in what would normally be an unfavored one.

Weaknesses:

This build utlitizes a combination of several cards in order to hit its combo, so if you are unable to draw the combo, you will gradually lose the game. Notably, there's no way to search for Deathly Tyrant, this deck's key finisher.

What is the purpose of this deck?

I tried to make this deck as realistic as possible. Midnight Haunt-Deathly Tyrant has always been viewed as a meme deck, and I wanted to ensure that it wouldn't stay a meme deck.

What are these deck's matchups?

Against aggro decks as well as any other decks that utilize primarily lateral development, this deck suffers due to lack of AoE.

Against comparatively slow decks like Control Blood and Guardian Sun Haven, this deck is at an advantage due to its combo coming out earlier.

However, keep in mind that if your Haunt-Purgatory combo comes out too late, your opponent might simply drop Bahamut-- and you'll lose.

How does this deck mulligan?

The highest priority for the mulligan is to have a turn 2 play. If you have a turn 2 and a turn 3 play, then you might also want to hold Uriel.

What are this deck's key cards?

Midnight Haunt

Originally, I tried to build this deck with Altered Fate instead of Midnight Haunt. However, it leaves greater gaps in play and doesn't really mesh that well with Shadow's playstyle, since they don't have much hand inflation.

Goblin Mage, Fortunehunter Feena

Originally, I tried using Gourmet Emperor Khaiza to fill the graveyard with Ultimate Carrots. However, I found that it served little purpose given the presence of Midnight Haunt. As such, I chose to add Fortunehunter Feena and Goblin Mage, which can thin the deck and help lateral development.

Any last comments?

I wasn't the only person to make this deck; it was made with the help of Momiji, Kuro/Zone, and several other top players. This deck is incredibly fun to play, so give it a whirl!

This concludes the interview.
Shoubi-chan, thank you for your deck as well as the interview!

This article is originally from Game-AI. It is provided here translated with permission.
View the original article here.