Introduction:

This deck was really satisfying to play. Most of my matches I won with the enemy at 26 HP, due to sheer board control. In general, the deck’s win condition is building a board state the enemy can’t possibly win against while keeping yourself alive. Your creatures can do extremely good trades due to wards and some of them have high snowball potential. The deck runs guards and boardclears, but as Endurance and Intelligence both are lacking in healing, you will often drop very low in HP versus aggro decks. However, it will be very hard for them to win once you stabilize. Breakthrough does no damage against wards and taunts like Nahagliiv and Preserver of the Root are very good at stopping small minions. Even more so if you give them wards.

Mulligan:

You are generally looking for your 2 – 3 Magicka drops. Iliac Sorcerer is good when going first. When going second, you can keep critical 4 drops like Breton Conjurer and Mundus Stone. Keeping Lesser Ward is usually not a good idea, as it makes you run out of playable cards faster.

Always keep: Wind Keep Spellsword and Daggerfall Mage
Never keep: Lesser Ward, big drops
Match-up dependent: : Shadowfen Priest : Cunning Ally

Card Write-up:

Lesser Ward is a pretty simple card. Good synergy with big taunts and cards that do something when they lose their ward.

Iliac Sorcerer sometimes catches people off-guard. If you buff it before it loses its ward, it has potential to grow really big really fast. It will double its power everytime it loses ward, so you can also cycle wards on it to make it grow. Most of the time it’s just a sticky 1 drop though ( kinda like a better Deathless Draug).

Evermore Steward is better than it initially seems. It will most of the time tank two hits regardless of enemy creature’s power. Efficient throughout the match.

Wardcrafter is another card for giving a ward. It can also give itself a ward, making it a bit worse Wind Keep Spellsword

Wind Keep Spellsword is one of the better 2 drops in the game. It can kill anything with 2 health while staying alive and trade 1 for 1 against creatures with 3 or 4 health.

Cunning Ally and I have a bittersweet relationship. When you do get a Firebolt it’s amazing and meh when you don’t. It does however pseudo “scry” the top of your deck. You will have a better guess what you will draw next if the top card is

Daggerfall Mage is the card that keeps you going. Even if you only proc the ability once, it still cycles card advantage wise.

When I first saw Haunting Spirit my initial reaction was “wow, that’s pretty broken”, but after playing for a while I realized it’s actually just really good. You can play around it, but as this deck has so many sticky minions it’s often just not possible. 3/3 + 3/3 is really good for the 3 magicka slot.

Breton Conjurer is one of the cards that sometimes just win you the match. Frost Antronach is probably the best taunt Intelligence has and this guy can sometimes spawn more than you need. Note that if you summon one on a full lane, it will spawn on the other lane instead.

Fire storm is the portable handheld version of Ice Storm. It only hits one lane and does 2 damage to all creatures. I prefer the Ice version as 2 damage is often not enough to kill non-aggro creatures, but it can come out of a prophecy and it can be cast earlier.

Lightning Bolt flexible removal with prophecy tag. A bit overcosted, but it can also hit face for extra reach.

Lucien Lachance fits the deck really well. Your gameplan is to make efficient trades and grow your board. Lucien rewards efficient trades with bigger minions. You should try to play him on the turn you are going to trade. Playing him alone can be a waste as he is vulnerable to attack debuffs and Execute.

Do you know what synergizes well with wards? Another keywords! Mundus Stone gives you just that. You can’t choose what it gives you, but most of them (guard, lethal, charge and sometimes regenerate) are really good. It’s a bit weaker when playing versus Endurance as they can get rid of it sometimes, but most of the times you can get great value out of it.

Preserver of the Root is a big taunt. It’s usually better to save it for turn 6 and beyond when it really gets to shine.

Elixir of Deflection means wards, wards for everyone! Well, not for everyone, just for one creature per turn. But it’s still really good as it lets you get most out of your ward minions.

Mentor’s Ring actually means wards for everyone. People often say that it’s a trash card, but it’s actually amazing in ward decks. If you use it Evermore Steward it will give it +3/+3 and ward + guard for all your other creatures.

Shadowfen Priest, the destroyer of Divine Fervor and revealer of covered creatures. I don’t know how I would play this game without the Priest. Now I will be forever stuck with Endurance.

Shornhelm Champion is another snowball creature. While the initial stats are not great for a 5 drop, it’s easy to keep it rolling after it turns 6/6 from losing the ward for the first time.

High King Emeric is just amazing. Immediate effect when played and often goes 1 for 3. The summon effect can also target face, but I mainly use it to remove something big from the cover lane. It also counts itself towards the damage, meaning that it will always do at least 2 damage

Ice Storm is a really swingy card. Destroy your opponent’s board while your ward creatures survive. Even better if you have Breton Conjurer or Daggerfall Mage on board. People sometime try to avoid triggering their effects by playing on the other lane, but with this you don’t have to worry about it.

Nahagliiv is really good in almost any mid-range deck that can run it. 7/7 guard for 7 Magicka and it can’t be targeted with spells. There are ways to remove it, but it’s certainly a pain in the butt.

Odahviing A really slow card, but you are likely to win when/if you get to play it. I mostly run it as it’s my personal favorite, but it has been working well so far. Can be replaced by other big drops such as Supreme Atromancer.