Swim’s LoR Deck Doctor: Dawnspeaker Idols (Episode #4)

Deck Doctor Episode #4: Mitrøx’s Dawnspeaker Idols

We’re back with the fourth episode of Swim’s Deck Doctor series. In this episode, Kuvira joins to select and improve a submitted deck. In this article, I (dpmlicious), highlight the deck-building skills they use in the video and summarize their points.

You can submit one of your decks for the next episode by leaving your deck code or Mobalytics deck link as a comment to his video:

Objective

This series goes beyond fixing a deck, but helping people improve their overall deck-building skills to apply to other decks. This week, we look at:

1. Win conditions
2. Number of copies to include
3. Mana curve and flexibility

The Method

We changed it up this week so please let us know which method you preferred compared to Episode 3. For this episode of the Deck Doctor, Swim used the following steps:

1. Look at the deck and give first impressions.
2. Play a ranked Masters game.
3. Edit the deck and play another ranked Masters game.
4. Last edit and play the last ranked Masters game.

This Weeks’ Deck

We’re looking at a Dawnspeakers Idols deck, a Demacia-Bilgewater deck with Lucian and Miss Fortune, submitted by @mitr_x from Twitter.

It is an old concept that uses Monkey Idol to activate death triggers (Lucian, Redeemer, Radiant, and Dawnspeakers).

This is the originally submitted deck:

Deck code: CEBQOAIAB4LBUHJHGM3AEAQGCYRACAQABEBQEAIABUPQCAYGBEBAEBQPCEAA

[See Original Dawnspeaker Idols deck details]

First Impressions

Swim and Kuvira were interested in the potential of Shakedown in helping control the board and potentially triggering some kills to accelerate combos.

They had initial ideas to remove Syren for being too slow for the deck. They felt they might need to remove Lucian in favor of Quinn, as they thought it might be better and they weren’t sure if they could make space for Senna, which is a good combo to go with Lucian.

This was a particular concern, as Senna is a 3-cost card and the original deck had many 3-cost cards. They weren’t a huge fan of Citrus Courier because it didn’t fit with the deck objectives and there were too many power 6-cost cards.

The Changes

Here is the original deck.

Yellow box = Cards that were removed

Green box = Number of cards were changed

This is the improved version.

Yellow box = Cards that were added

Green box = Number of cards were changed

Deck code: CIBAKAIACYOR6JRHAUBAMBIWEI5D4BABAIAAEAIDAYEQCAYABYBACABFGMAA

[See Improved Dawnspeaker Idols deck details]

1. Win conditions

The Dawnspeakers Idols deck is about going wide (having more units on your board) and putting pressure on the board earlier in the game.

It also needs some units that can die easily for the combo. It is a mid-range deck that is flexible, which allows you to survive vs aggro or plays to rush vs control decks.

Like other decks, it is important for this deck to be viable even if the Dawnspeakers-Idol combo is not achieved.

To achieve the goal of the deck, the following cards were removed:

Vanguard Redeemer x 3

• Doesn’t fit the strategy and there are too many 3-cost cards already.

Grizzled Ranger x 3

• Replaced by Island Navigator as a better scout unit for going wide.

Radiant Guardian x 3

• Slows down the game because it’s too clunky.

Citrus Courier x 2

• Too slow and too many 6-cost cards with Cithria.

Cithria the Bold x 1

• Reduced the number to two from three.

The Syren x 2

• Too slow and expensive.

Chain Vest x 2

• You don’t want Monkey Idol to stay alive as long as possible. You want it to die in three turns.

Single Combat x 3

• Hired Gun was a better option that had a similar effect to Sing Combat, but added a unit to the board, which could be buffed by Dawnspeakers.

The following units were added:

Jagged Butcher x 3

• Another 1-cost card, better than Cithria of Cloudfield, which is already in the deck.

Hired Gun x 3

• Survivable unit, it functions similarly to Single Combat, while adding a unit on board.

Senna, Sentinel of Light x 3

• Always a good combo card for Lucian.

Island Navigator x 3

• Replaced Grizzled Ranger because it summons a unit upon being played, which helps the board go wide.

Dawnspeakers x 1

• Want a higher chance to draw the card.

Blinding Assault x 2

• Summoning a Valor helps Miss Fortune level up faster. Valor can also drag away blockers from Lucian or Senna, which may have Double Attack. It also works well with Riposte to kill units.

Sharpsight x 2

• Helps with survivability for the deck to go wide instead of units getting picked off.

Riposte x 2

• Good protective spell that can also kill opponent’s units.

2. Number of copies to include

Consider how important the cards are to your deck and whether you want a higher chance to get that card.

Since the deck is a Dawnspeakers deck and the point is to go wide and buff that board with the Dawnspeakers, they increased the number of copies from two to three.

Factor in how good you feel when you have (1) a single copy, (2) two copies or (3) zero copies in your hand.

Cithria is nice to have when you need it, but can be clunky in the early game and feels bad if you have two but can’t play either yet.

Feel free to have one or two copies of a card, instead of three. You do not need to stick to multiples of three.

3. Mana curve and flexibility

The original deck had many expensive cards that did not fit its style, which was to go wide with many cheap units. Then, buff those units up with Dawnspeakers.

It had ten cards that cost 5+ mana. The improved version reduced that to two and increased the flexibility by having cheaper cards.

Cheaper cards allow us to adapt to the situation by having a range of combinations to play or react during the game.

Conclusion

After the changes and testing out the deck, Swim and Kuvira rate the new deck as a lower tier 2 or a high tier 3 deck. They might consider reducing the number of Shakedowns to two.

The takeaway deck-building tips are:

1. Consider your win conditions and objective of the deck and select cards around it.
2. Review how many of each card you need, as sometimes it’s better to have fewer than three.
3. Check whether your mana curve reflects the purpose of your deck.

Be sure to revisit the accompanying YouTube video, where Swim and Kuvira go through the entire thought process and play three games with the deck.

To have a chance to be selected for future Deck Doctor episodes, be sure to reply to Swim’s weekly tweet or leave a comment below. 

Watch Swim live at twitch.tv/swimstrim everyday 10AM-6PM PDT