Duelyst Forums

Artifact Sajj deck

#1

Disclaimer: This is not a viable deck for climbing in its current state.

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First off, I admit that this deck is unbalanced in its current state and would recommend against using it unless you really hate Magmar and Lyonar (the only factions who have problems dealing with this deck). I am a humble diamond player who welcomes constructive criticism, just please try to keep it, you know, constructive.

The original idea for this deck was to win by using the wild fire Ankh to blast your opponents from afar, although that only works against Magmar and Lyonar, so against other factions different strategies are required.

Manaforger is here because He has synergy with first and second wish. Do not use him as tiger bait I.E. use first wish on him when possible.

Mechanyst: I know he usually sucks, but his body is good when buffed with scions wishes and more importantly he helps us make our favorable matches favorable in the first place.

Things I would change;
I would add blood of air for Autarchs gifts and 1 shroud if I had it. Possibly replace manaforger with something better. Possibly remove scions second wish.

[details=Against Lyonar] Win rate: 80-85% (Favorable matchup)
When against Lyonar you want to get the Ankh out as soon as possible, preferably with Thunderclap although the Staff will also do. Mechanyst is useful in this matchup because both Argeon and Zir’an have trouble removing your artifacts. Falcius helps deal with provokers.[/details]

[details=Against Magmar] Win rate: 90% (Very favorable)
In theory, only Decimus Starhorn would pose a threat to this deck, and I haven’t seen any of those recently. Vaath wants to be in your face, your job is to stay away from him while equipping artifacts before he gets to close. Generally you will end up with Staff+Ankh+Thunderclap equipped. This combo prevents Vaath from using Elucidator on you (unless of course he wants to spend 4 mana and health to do 5 damage to you and give you a free 5/4). Since Magmar relies on rush Minions to remove your artifacts, Mechanyst proves his worth here too.[/details]

[details=Against Songhai] Win rate: 30% (Unfavourable)
Strategy: Stay in their face.
This Matchup is unfavorable currently, but I am sure that with some tweaking it is doable (such as adding Blood of Air). Most of your artifacts are useless here due to the amount of pings they can produce, so replace them as soon as possible. Incinera really shines here since she has a fantastic body and her ability helps deal with heartseekers. [/details]

[details=Against Abbyssian] Win rate: Cassyva 60% Lilithe 20%
Creapy Cassyva is favorable, Arcanyst abbyssian is less favorable but doable, Swarm lilthe is unfavorable. Lilithe is hard to deal with do to the sheer amout of minions she summons at once. Creepy Cassyva is easier to deal with probably because she relies on Void pulse and shadow sphere to get rid of my artifacts which allows me to repair them with Mechanyst when needed.
[/details]

[details=Against Vetruvian] Win rate: 50% (Neutral)
Vetruvians have Rasha’s curse, which hurts this deck a lot. You can equip the Ankh to Blast something if you have nothing better to do, but you shouldn’t try too hard to preserve it. [/details]

[details=Against Vanar] Win rate: Faie <10% Kara 50% (worst possible)
Kara is much stronger than before the expansion, but with the right Artifacts she can be dealt with. Faie, on the other hand, won’t let you do anything period. Faie’s bloodborn prevents you from using artifacts, Frigid corona renders you helpless, and she has plenty of removal to prevent you from using your minions.[/details]

Expected questions
Q: This deck has no hard removal!
A: I would add Blood of Air if I had it, but so far this deck’s problems aren’t the lack of Hard removal.
Q: What do you do as P1?
A: Usually you either equip the Staff of Y’Kir or Use manaforger+first wish. Doing nothing is also an option because Zephyr/Ankh usually make up for loosing that turn.

My main problem with this deck is that it is so polarized that you can basicly tell if you will win or not as soon as you see your opponent.
Suggestions and questions are welcome.

3 Likes
Bloated stats and powercreep
#2

I’m no deck expert but it might help to have a few strong 4 drops. Dioltas? Sun steels? I’d work on getting some more solid four drop threats. You don’t really need 3 zephyr or incinera? Of course they’ll add a lot for you to get the most out of thunderclap but I’m not sure how well they’d serve you towards winning.

#3

It’s not a bad deck manaforger isn’t needed nor is the mechanics one, I go with Rasha’s curse and falcius. I’d go with 2 of ur bigger minions like incinera and Amara. Ditch the scion second wish and go for more cheaper minions.

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#4

Also are you trying to go for the OTK? Then I’d suggest adding atrauchs tears and possibly Rashas curse.

#5

Very detailed guide,
Thank you!

It actually resembles the deck i was thinking of, i guess tomorrow i will try to play it.

I do have some questions:

  1. how good is noshraak?
  2. why you want to replace autarch’s gifts? i though that getting 2 artefacts for 5 mana with mana forger would be pretty good, there is a slight RNG involved but you are very likely to get artifacts worth more than 5-6 mana.
#6

Nosh is really good. But you could probs do with him as a 1 of. I’d say replace an incinera and a 2nd wish for two atrauchs gifts. Also aura tears or whatever that one mana spell is called may be worth considering

#7

Those only work for an OTK deck (ok, Gifts has some other uses), this deck seems closer to control. I’d replace a zephyr and all mechanysts with Dioltas however, the 0/10 Tombstones are truly life-saving. I would also remove the Incineras, replace Fury with Blood of Air, add pax or mystics and replace the Forgers with Heralds. Maybe also remove Gifts and a third wish for 2x Rasha’s.

#8

The reason I lack four drops is because this deck usually forces both players to abandon the mana tiles and early game I give equipping artifacts a priority to deploying minions.

3 Zephyrs are a must have. Incinera can be cut to a 2 of, but she is very helpful in the unfavorable matchups (except against vanar but who can deal with vanar these days?)
Your opponents generally try to surround you when they get to you, and Zephyr helps in this situation.

Mechanyst is a bad card I agree, but he is very important against lyonar and magmar because eventually they will start damaging your artifacts and fully repairing them can have a huge impact on the tide of the game. I tried Rasha’s curse but I didn’t like it very much without dervish support (dunecaster, Fireblaze)

I added second wish recently and am still experimenting with it. This deck revolves around the general, all of the minions except manaforger have an immediate effect and are used more as a spell with a body than a minion.

I tried using Aurora’s tears before, It does give this deck more burst, but I find It to be a win more card that does absolutely nothing in the unfavorable matchups.

#9

Tbh Nosh-Rak isn’t absolutely necessary, but he is still nice to have. I usually use him to make incinera do ten damage to face (because for some reason every who isn’t abyssian or vanar don’t mind her sitting in their face). If you do manage to amass an army via thunderclap then he can make your army very formidable.

Congrats! You now know the true reason manaforger is here. the main problem with that combo is that it is a bit unreliable unless I add more Gifts. The RNG being frustrating at times is another reason I would cut it. But if you like it you can use it.

Please tell me any changes you make to this deck as well as your thoughts on it after you play with it.

#10

My thoughts on zephyr and rasha’s are in my earlier post. Blood of Air I would definitely add, but I don’t have it yet. Sajj can’t abuse Stars’ fury as much as zirix can, but it is the only AOE I have in unfavorable matchups. It can also be used to do 6-8 damage to a fleeing foe (once again this applies to unfavourable matchups, since the favorable matchups have no problem doing that much damage anyway), and I need a way to punish Songhai. I will consider your other suggestions.

#11

You’re right on Stars, it’s honestly a great card to include right now. I would suggest running at least 2 Rasha’s. Aurora’s Tears isn’t really necessary I agree, but as for Mana Forger, it’s frankly a pretty bad card for this type of Sajj deck. If you don’t have many 4 or 2 drops then you’re probably leaning towards a more control midrange style, and at that point your mana forgers will be long dead before you can make use of them in the late game. Pax would probably serve you well as a replacement?

Like you’re only running 9 spells. If your deck ran more spells I could maybe understand that, but I doubt you’d get much out of mana forger tbh.

#12

Could you elaborate on what exactly make Rasha’s so good in Sajj? I just can’t find a reason to run it without dervish support, I don’t have problems dealing with most artifacts (Dawns eye would be hard for me to remove, but I haven’t seen anyone use it). I may replace Manaforger with Herald or Pax, but I want to test the current build a bit more before I make the switch. You are right that late game manaforger is useless, although so is Pax. Perhaps herald would be the best replacement since late game I could at least heal myself a bit?

#13

Rasha is important because it provides necessary range, which vet doesn’t really have

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#14

Wouldn’t Blood of Air do that better? Most ranged threats have more than two health (Kelaino and others) and if it is only for heartseekers wouldn’t Boneswarm be a better choice?

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#15

Face a few Lyonar decks running arclyte and you’ll see instantly why it’s a must. Also it provides tons of ranged removal for a low cost. Blood of air is great, but it’s also 5 mana, which will more often then not eat up your whole turn. Rashas allows for removal while leaving at least 3-7 mana available to play threats depending on the turn.

#16

Rasha’s good against most of the ranged things, songhai are not in a good spot right now but take as example the 1/2 abyssian that gives +1/+1 to writhlings or kujata, or flashed makantor…
It’s a pretty good removal option with an anti-artifact effect added

BUT, it’s also true sajj can use wildfire ankh to deal with those threat,
and if artifact are not actually a problem, skip it may be a good idea.

It’s a tweak that will find it’s future in the incoming meta i guess :wink:

There aren’t a lot of good vet late game 2-drops btw.

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#17

How do you want your deck to perform? Do you want it to lean more towards a control, late game style or a more aggressive style? I only ask so that I can get a better sense of what could help your deck.

As others have stated, Rasha’s are really nice in a deck like this. However, I would prioritize Blood of Air first (if you don’t have Rasha’s, although I was still try to fit Blood of Air into your list), as the ability to destroy a minion without triggering death effects and dealing 2 damage to something else is really good in this meta.

Also, have you considered trying out Wind Striker? While it only has 1/4 stats, it can in some situations act as a Falcius, giving you an extra 2 damage with artifact synergy. Flying is helpful to deal with ranged threats and put minions in safer positions. You also run both 1st and 2nd wish, which can help resolve its weak attack.

#18

ok, so i played 8 games with sajj today(that’s my daily norm).
it wasn’t too bad actually.
i tryed your deck but fast enough i realized that thunderclap is plain bad, i got a 6 mana 2/9 with provoke from it, the artefact gives no extra stats so i had to combo it to get the kill. the artefact got removed immidiately on the next turn, the opponent was fae, and the 2/9 turned into a fox and got killed. ether way i don’t believe in this artefact anymore i got a very good minion and still it didn’t help me at all. it might work against magmar but not going to work against vanar, how many strong minions do they even have? paying 4 for a 2/1 isn’t nearly worth it. then i went for bonecleaver instead, it is a win condition that theoretically with ankh could turn the spam against vanar player. i added some stalling options to balance it a bit, you are going to stall to wait for the tetems to get the kill.

the resulting deck was this:

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this probably isn’t optimal but does did work reasonably enough. quite good against songhai, worked against magmar as well, vanar still seem to be hardest opponent, there just isn’t enough AoE removal.
i’m not sure about the manaforgers and autarth’s gift. those don’t seem to be relyable enough.

later on i wanted to develop more the concept of reducing cost of spells so this deck came to be:

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this deck for sure is not viable, but quite fun, playing autarth’s gifts for 4 mana is quite nice, the problem is without dervish sinergy star’s fury isn’t really worth the ramping and 2 artefacts even if you get them for 4 mana aren’t good enough to justify the combo. might be that i’m just bad with it or too tired to play it properly. i guess i will give it some more time tomorrow. too bad ancient bonds didn’t add any arcanyst support for vetruvian, i could imagine arcanyst sajj being quite good.

if you have any ideas on how to improve the decks you are welcome. i’d like to make the second one work but it seems like it needs to be played in a OTK deck to be worth it, unfortunately i don’t have cards or spirit to craft those cards for a OTK deck, i might not be able to craft it anytime soon.

while the first deck should be enough to climb, if you don’t get matched against vanar all the day.
i would like to see if there is a way to counter spam as vetruvians.

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#19

I’m still not sure on Rasha’s curse. I tried it before and it didn’t preform very well. I have fought a few Lyonars with regalia and it didn’t give me too much trouble. And furosa usually gets hit by Blast. I may try it again later however.

@akurane, This deck is more control oriented, although it is forced to play more aggressively against some opponents, most notably Faie and occasionally Reva. I haven’t tried windstriker yet as I find him a bit expensive at 4 mana (I know he would be broken at 3 mana but still), but I may consider him.

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#20

Thank you for your feedback! I Think the addition of spinecleaver would give me a better wincon than I currently have. I agree that manaforger+gifts isn’t that reliable.

I used to have a fun deck Pre-expansion that resembled your second deck, and I agree with all of your points on it. It is a fun deck for sure, but it isn’t good enough for climbing.