I was playing around with my old deck (Buff Abyssian) and hit a brick wall so I began re-creating it following a different road, still building on the original idea of using The Scientist as a draw engine. Basically I changed the road because Abyssians cards that “Target” friendly minions generally work well with Dying wish deck, namely Darkfire sacrifice, Consuming rebirth and Ritual banishing.
Let’s talk about the cards.
The Scientist- the card this deck was built around and the carrier of your late game. Once he gets out you are well on your way to creating an insurmountable board pressure and maintain the card advantage. He is a bit situational but having 11 cards that can activate his ability almost assures you have at least one to begin the cycling.
Lurking fear- This card is used instead of a set of 2 drops, the idea being that the lost tempo can slowly be regained over time. It helps you get all your minions out sooner and for cheaper. The only downside this card has in this deck is that it doesn’t synergies (at all) with The Scientist.
Gor + 1 Sarlac- they serve the same purpose and Sarlac is simply here to increase the odds of playing an immortal minion. Their purpose should be obvious, A scapegoat for all your spells.
Ritual banishing- Hard removal which synergies with The Scientist, Gor/Sarlac and in dire situations your dying wish effects.
Dioltas/Gnasher- Both are important tools for delaying the game, so you may regain the tempo you lost at the beginning of the game.
Ironclad- A bit situational, however it’s sometimes worth sacrificing him for the dispel.
Reaper of the nine moons- The flying can give you much needed reach and flexibility, he summons a minion which can further be used as target for your spells or, if you get lucky, turn the game, just don’t count on it.
Vorpal Reaver- Your finisher in most games.
Void hunter- I know, a pretty bad card, however he helps you keep a decent hand before you get The Scientist out. With all the ramp in the deck he is almost essential.
Jaxi- Most people consider him bad, however during testing he had done some good. The deck could likely be better with Healing Mystic or Primus fist, however I keep him for thematic reasons.
Aphotic drain- I still have my doubts about the card, in most games I just replace it, however it helps a ton versus agro and mid-range deck and it saved me a few times.
Consuming rebirth- Counters dispel, refreshes your minion and can force a dying wish without sacrificing the minion, however it is situational so I consider it best at 2 off.
Shadow reflection- Helps close the games and sometimes with trading.
Darkfire sacrifice- Mostly useful after you have the scientist on board, however it can find it’s uses sooner, sometimes (In combination with Lurking fear) to summon 2 high cost minions in a turn and turn the tables, but it seems best to replace it early in the game.
The deck is not perfect and it does require some more testing but for now it has managed to get out of some pretty nasty situations. It’s funny how sometimes a sub-optimal turn, such as aphotic draining a freshly summoned Gnasher, can turn the game.
Matchups
Argeon- Not really a problem, both of you will likely play for the late game but you have the advantage of Dying wish when trading. He also doesn’t have any strong removal so with a bit of smart positioning you can create a strong board.
Zir,an- Same as Argeon, you just need to be slightly cautious of killing minions instead of simply damaging them.
Kara- Search for Ironclad and you should be ok. Kara is also ocused on trading and you just have to force favorable ones.
Faie- Fast Faie decks are a big problem for this deck, slow ones not so much.
Songhain in general- Preserve your health and do your best to survive the early and mid game, the longer the game goes the better chances of wining you have.
Vaath- survive the early and mid-game beating, keep the distance between generals and you can win, Sarlac and Gor are great to have on board as they prevent Natural selection from targeting something valuable.
Starhron- If its a battle pet deck you basically auto-win. Just force the pets to suicide into your Dying wishes. Replace the Void hunters but don’t refrain from playing the scientist.
Lilithe- Clear the wraithlings and you should do fine. Keep Ironclad in opening hand or search for it, just in case it’s Arcanyst.
Cassyva- I never once played against here, I imagine it would be a tough battle but you can use the shadow creeps to force Dying wish.
Zirix- A dangerous opponent, you really have no great ways of dealing with what he summons, and your dispell is pricy and conditional. Do not allow him to have a fireblaze obelysk on the field!
Sajj- Similar to Zirix when it comes to fighting her minions, however, if she were to use her BBS to clear your minions she would take a lot of damage, so her BBS doesn’t help her all that much.
Anyway, try the deck for yourself, you might enjoy it as much as I do, but do remember that it’s not meant to be extremely competitive. The main targets for tweaking would be Jaxi, Aphotic drain and Sarlac. I wouldn’t change other cards completely but their quantity could be optimized. Anyway, what do you think?