On the upside, this deck has a very real snowball potential and can also decently stall, furthermore an opponent can become quite confused, while trying to figure out what the hell you are doing.

Downsides are: No instant heavy hitters, very low prophecy potential and fairly low removal.

The cards and the “why on earth … wha … who plays this?”

1 – Marked Man
Yeah, didn’t see this one coming. No one does. A simple 1/1 for 1. Nothing to open up a bottle about. Yet, the 0-cost 0/2 guard it creates can be fairly versatile and can fullfill a couple of functions in this, as will the Marked Man himself.

2 – Scouting Patrol
This is actually a card played especially in token decks. Here it also serves as a cheap token creator for each lane. 1/1 in each lane for 1, fair enough.

3 – Blood Pact Messenger
I kid you not. We are running this little 1/1 for 2. Survival rate … don’t make me laugh. Yet, due to its pilfer draw 2 cards effect, your opponent will be scared of this boy. It is likely he will waste removal on it or put in guard in a lane he doesn’t want to put it. If he doesn’t deal with it well … 2 cards for you.

4 – Bruma Profiteer
A 2-cost 3/2 doesn’t sound bad at all. The +1 heal on any friendly creature summoned makes it so much sweeter. Thanks to cheap tokens (1 and 2) the Profiteer is able to take care of some wounds.

5 – Fifth Legion Trainer
Yes, she can be executed, but to hell with it. A 2-cost 1/3, that gives every friendly creature summoned +1/+0 works pretty well. Turning our small tokens into tokens with a little more punch. Our bigger creatures are also happy about the extra kick and even the Makeshift Defenses aren’t a totally free kill anymore.

6 – Dark Guardian
A very nice 2/5 Guard for 3 Magicka. With Fifth Legion Trainer on the board, also safe from executes. The extra card draw on an opponents prophecy can also be helpful. Overall, simply a solid 3-drop.

7 – Necromancer’s Amulet
Where the Profiteer heals on summon, the Amulet heals on death. Knowing that our tokens are not staying on the board forever, their demise can at least have some sort of upside. Overall, the Amulet is harder to remove than the Profiteer, and sometimes removing this support will not be the priority of your opponent.

8 – Penitus Oculatus Agent
2/3 for 3, with the main function to counter some of your enemies plays. You have a lethal guard? No, I have a lethal guard. Feel save behind that ward? Not anymore. Your breakthrough creature attacking my guard will win you the game? What breakthrough exactly are we talking about here? The Agent has to be used very wisely, as a well played Agent, can turn the board around, while a poorly played Agent is something we pretend never happened.

9 – Stalking Shadowscale
A 3/4 body for 3 is certainly solid. As the Shadowscale gets mostly favorable trades against other 3-drops, he gets a chance to contest slightly bigger creatures, due to his Slay mechanic, giving him the chance to trade 2 for one. If things are going really your way, the Shadowscale might become bigger than anticipated ,which would be bad for our opponent, because he will often have other cards to worry about.

10 – Tree Minder
Straight up, just a small ramp, which hopefully eats an attack.

11 – Edict of Asura
The 4 cost kill a creature or destroy a support card of Spellsword. Big card, big impact, saving the day quite often.

12 – Falkreath Defiler
Dear opponent, deal with it and deal with it now. If not, well, things can become ugly real fast. The 4-drop with a fairly weak 3/3 body, excels is bring old friends back, and your opponent won’t like to see some of them again.

13 – Grim Champion
Yes, the Grim Champion. With stuff dying left, right and center he is a high priority target for your opponent. Played at the right time and only hard removal or lethal will get rid of this guy.

14 – Lion Guard Strategist
Another of these card, you don’t see often, because he has a terrible 2/3 body for 4 Magicka. However, several small creatures and maybe some bigger creatures coming into play with ward? Like some dumb Makeshift Defenses … with ward? That can be super annoying … for your enemy … not you. Your best bet i to play him with an immediate follow up. You want at least 1 ward out of it.

15 – Lucien Lachance
When I was talking about Shadowscale becoming a bigger problem than anticipated, I thought of Lucian. Because … +3/+3 can be painful. It is a Hunting Spirit buff without sacrificing a unit. And it can happen more than once. Also Grim Champion and whatever is lucky enough to gain a favorable trade, including our 1/1 creatures, if they are blessed by the Lion Guard Strategist, can all of a sudden be … big … big and scary. Important: try to drop Lucien when you know you will get the effect of, because playing him, just to watch him being removed without doing a thing, is no fun at all.

16 – Disciple of Namira
Also a rather rare guest in decks. A 3/3 body for 5 is just sad. However, when you need some digging and you have a bunch of tokens you can dispose … go digging for some cards. Combine her also with the Blood Pact Messenger after he successfully pilfered, so his death gives you a third card.

17 – Piercing Javelin
Just added it to have at least one prophecy card in the deck. But wait! There’s more! It really is the only prophecy in the deck, so we do not rely on prophecies at all. Still if we get the Javelin as prophecy, good stuff! It’s function is super simple: Kill the biggest thread your enemy has on the board.

18 – Shadowfen Priest
With our limited removal, we might not really want to spend Edict on supports, so Shadowfen Priest enters our ranks. A far better way to remove supports, or simply silence an annoying creature. The Priest is rightfully one of the top Endurance cards in the game.

19 – General Tullius
The man, that throws a 2/2 guard in each lane and gains +1/+1 whenever a friendly creature dies. Putting him next to Shadowscale and Grim Champion, into the “Remove me now on beg for forgiveness later” list. Yet again, sacrificing tokens is actually quite helpful.

20 – Nahagliiv
To round it all up, we certainly need a big guard, which you can’t just throw a Javelin at. The job: Block attacks and stuff … oh and aim for the face when possible.

Well, that’s a wrap. Give it a try against AI and enjoy some casual fun time … or be a daredevil and try ranked, which will probably backfire horribly.