Duelyst Forums

Maev Xor'Knell, Control/Trial Abyssian

#1

Hello there fellow members,

So, some of you which have seen my introduction post can have most likely seen the fact that I’m relatively new to the game, and somehow made it to Diamond; I’ve been doing some research, and some theoretical experimenting, developing some sort of theorycrafts for the new meta, and I genuinely like the concept behind this deck.

Obviously, Maev Xor’Knell is a controlling trial deck that has a variety of win conditions, where of course, the main one is summoning Xor’xuul. The Arcanyst package ensures you have something for Knell that’ll provide you with an infinite amount of late game, as well as the spells necessary to get Xor’xuul out as soon as possible.

What’re your thoughts? Let me know.

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#2

Wow, you got diamond with arcanyst Underlord??? That’s a feat.

Looks very slow, honestly, and Variax is definitely out of place. But you got to diamond.

What are he harder matchups? What’s the winrate? How early are you usually able to get Xor out?

I like your approach, btw. Ramping, recycling spells with Alcuins seems fun. But is there enough removal?

I’m also kinda sceptical about NightShroud. Without arcanyst swarm its effect is miniscule.

#3

Oh, no. I didn’t get Diamond with this deck. This is a theorycraft. I’m trying to wrap my head around a few ideas that I have, and hopefully I can bring them to life sooner or later since I only have a complete Vetruvean collection after investing 50$ into the game.

What would you add/remove for more removal? Like I said, I’m relatively new, so I’m still trying to gather information on relevantly strong faction staples and whatnot.

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#4

OK then. The deck is bad. It’s not only your fault - Arcanyst Underlord is fun but completely unviable.
Here’s my decklist, if you’re interested.

#5

Arcanysts aren’t the way to go buddy, trust me. I’ve played more Xor than most anyone and it takes a very refined deck to be able to do anything at all.

Cut the Variax and the Arcanyst package asap unless you’re dead set on meming. No Maehv deck should ever go without Desolator, its her crutch. Could also use quite a bit more healing, if you use this deck you’ll find yourself dying before 7 mana pretty consistently.

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#6

I faced a similar deck without the Arcanyst package and it absolutely stomped me up in Diamond. I feel like the Arcanyst package could definitely pack a bigger punch.

#7

I always want it to, I’m an Arcanyst enthusiast. But everything I tried proved to be too slow and/or inconsistent.

I’m with you on your experiments, but I don’t believe it could be made Diamond worthy.

I even have a decklist, I may discuss my choices if you’d like to.

But this approach is definitely not the thing you may want to waste money on.

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#8

I believe this deck has a lot of potential, especially with the rise of Trial becoming popularized more and more as the meta develops.

I’m known in other games for coming up with the “odd-one out decks” and making them competitive. I’m one to experiment before I judge a deck; and I feel as though if this deck were to be tested under the right hands, it could make top of the meta.

Edit: For example, I’m running Gust and Nimbus in the C. Fault deck that got me to diamond.

#9

As I’ve already said I was pretty involved in testing this archetype. Not a top player by any means, but an experienced one. So, I have some thoughts.

This deck has almost nothing to prevent losing to tempo based fast decks. Sacrificing minions is losing tempo, so this weakness is natural for our gameplan.

The approach I’ve chosen is to finish trial as fast as possible. Adjudicator helps with that. Also low curve. Necrotic Sphere helps in a pinch, while also promoting trial if needed.

After the trial I want to win fast. Hence Illusionist and Night Shroud.

Your approach seems too slow to me. High curve, little removal. Why did you choose so many 6+ mana cards when you want to finish your trial at 6 mana? Or do you want to go slower? There’s not enough healing for that, imo.

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#10

There’s a difference between running good cards in a list that’s already good (running Nimbus/Gust, two very good cards, in Fault, possibly best deck in the game right now) and running bad cards (Nightshroud, The Scientist) in a deck that already isn’t strong (Maehv Xor).

I hope you do some trials though (pun intended) as Xor and Sarlac are my favorite cards in the game and the deck can be a ton of fun. I think Alcuin Fugitive has potential to really let you get that Trial out quick, the card can be the best card in a Xor deck sometimes.

#11

yeah, I like this thought. If ramped, he recycles ramp card played.

#12

Throw in Aphotic too. It’s way better at 1 mana and getting a 1 mana heal 5 that progresses your trial each turn is fantastic

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#13

The problem is unramped Alcuin costs 5, and you want to be doing other things at 5 mana. Like progressing your trial.

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#14

I don’t think xor is anything above a tier 2 deck so don’t be expecting even the most optemised versions played by the best players in the game to ever get much more than 60-70% win rate on ladder.

With that said you deck needs a lot to work on and if I were to improve you deck I’d go for something like this: firstly xor is enough lategame by itself, no need for variax or knell as they are both too slow and always have been, with that cut nightshroud as it is actually just a bad card and the only reason you should ever see it is if you get it out of grimes or blue conjurer. You should also cut the scientist as he is just not a great tool for drawing cards. secondly you absolutely need more healing, maehv’s biggest weakness is her hp total so you will want to add in 3x azure herald and 3x aphotic drain to shore up that weakness, possibly even adding in shadowdancer or kelaino too (lightbender would be the card I’d cut here). I would also try to fit in a 3rd gor and ritual banishing as they are both core cards to the concept.

that should be enough to muster up a decent win rate and I realise that I basically took out half of the deck to do that, but if you want to not lose every game you play then you have to accept that you can’t put everything you want in one deck. playing either arcanyst or xor is fine, but both together is just not a working plan.

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#15

5 mana isn’t an especially critical spot for Maehv or Xor decks except for 4 drop + bbs, which isn’t critical. Besides, he’s usually played on 6 mana (also an unimportant mana slot) with a 1 mana spell.

Besides, the purpose of Fugitive IS to help progress your trial, so I’m missing the point.

#16

The point is the trial should be finished by 6. My deck does that consistently.

#17

Maybe that’s where the misconception happens. Maybe you don’t NEED to have the deck finish its trial on 6 to be efficient; perhaps there’s a different play style that exists that could fulfil the purpose of the deck more efficiently by stalling further into the game.

#18

Please, consider it.

As for now I don’t see what may allow you to live long enough.

And also, as of now, I’m quite sure that the turbo approach is the way to go with Arcanysts. At least with NightShroud as a wincon.

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#19

if you want to go long then I think the correct way to do that would actually be to play cassyva and complete the trial by pinging your own sarlac/desolators after playing hard control all game. I do not think this is a viable strategy however as you will just get beaten down by the current meta decks, if you find a way to make it work though then congratulations :smiley:

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#20

Indeed. Finishing trial by 6 mana usually means you’re out of cards and out of hit points, and also means you essentially autolose to aggro.

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