Changes
The last time I played this deck
An awkwardness I noticed with the previous iteration of the deck was that it was extremely 3-drop heavy, which made for some inefficient curves. This isn’t trivial to fix, since the deck’s premium common (Ordis Gatekeeper (C)), card draw (Baba Yaga (R)), and removal spells (Teamwork Training (R)/Sticky Note Seals (C)/Kelon Burst (F)) are all fighting for the same slot in the curve. What’s also deceptive is the fact that Ratatoskr (F) is a 3-drop from reserve.
One of the cuts I settled on was a Ordis Spy (R). I wasn’t thrilled to go lower on proactive sabotage, but I figured I can still attack my opponent’s resources with Monolith Legate (C) if needed.
The other cut was a Kelon Burst (F). Teamwork Training (R) is better against characters, and the only critical permanent that this can hit but Sticky Note Seals can’t is Haven, Bravos Bastion. Kelon Burst (F) already goes down on tempo against it, and fighting a single Haven with boosted tokens isn’t completely unwinnable.
In their place, I tried putting two Foundry Mechanic (F)s back in. They’re here mainly for the aggressive statline and ease of filling the holes in the curve, but I chose it over Ordis Trooper (R) because it’s meaningful if the support ability can open a safe window to drop an Ordis Carrier.
Uniques
Haven Warrior: 5/7
Atlas: 4/7
Amelia Earhart: 4/7
Needing three other characters on board means this is unlikely to trigger until you have at least 6 mana. For Gulrang, though, the reward of an additional 4/4/4 in stats in worthwhile; here, it’s comparable to a Charge! unique on a good but not great board.
I feel comfortable including it because it can be played in a pinch as an almost on-rate 3-drop that becomes a slightly above-rate 2-drop from reserve.
The games
Round 1 (L): Treyst & Rossum
While my Treyst opponent didn’t get their hero ability online until the mid-game, they were able to set up their second Haven, Bravos Bastion (F) at the start of T4, which put me on the back foot.
I sabotaged an Ada Lovelace (R) with an Ordis Spy (R) on T2. This gave them a free Treyst counter, but I still think it was important to stop the flow of cards into their reserve.
The overloaded 3-drop slot punished me on T3, when a hand of only 3-drops left me with two options. Either I gambled that a Baba Yaga (F) would draw into a 1 or 2-drop or I took the entire turn off to deploy an Ordis Carrier (C). When my opponent led with their first Haven and resupplied into a Dr. Frankenstein (C), I chose to play out the Carrier and fortunately only went 0-1.
Monolith Legate (C) looked great with the Carrier’s defender tokens as it limited my opponent’s reserve resources and knocked out an Athena (C).
I arrived at 8 mana with a major expedition deficit, but it looked for a moment like I was turning the corner. My Ozmas drew me several cards, and I was able to bait out a 5-boosted Anansi (U) and win the expedition with Amelia Earhart (U) after an Open the Gates (C).
My opponent appeared to be very low on resources, but their final card in hand was a Kraken’s Wrath (F) that swept up four characters and tokens to let them go 1-1 with me. Their Havens gave them more than enough power to lock down one side on the following turn and win the game. My opponent later revealed to me that they had been holding onto the Kraken’s Wrath since the first turn of the game.
Round 2 (L): Sigismar & Wingspan
Ordis Gatekeeper (C) helped me keep pace with Sigismar in the early game, but a lot of my mid-game turns were awkward due to my spells and permanents. Both copies of Sticky Note Seals (C) were dead draws in the mid-game and forced me into keeping the other drawn card, which often resulted in a less than ideal curve. This was aggravated by the fact that I didn’t see any of the deck’s card draw or any Open the Gates (C), which packs a lot of value into a single card.
I would have loved to have saved Amelia Earhart (U) for when defender was turned off, but I had to play her to block on 7 mana so as not to fall even further behind.
I clawed my way to 2/1 on expeditions by the end of the game, but here the downside of the permanents reared their head. On both of the final two turns when I was near empty-handed, I drew into an Ordis Carrier while my opponent played an Ordis Spy (C) each turn to choke me on resources and leave me without anything to do with my mana.
Round 3 (L): Lindiwe & Maw
An aggressive start of Ordis Recruit (C) and Monolith Legate (C) as the second player let me 1-0 and 1-1 on the first two days.
Unfortunately, keeping a Teamwork Training (R) from the opening hand for Maw ended up being an issue when I drew into another one along with a Sticky Note Seals (C), leaving me with no proactive play. In order to not pass and give my opponent a free 2-0, I had to play out a defensive Open the Gates (C). As expected, my opponent had no trouble playing to one side and going 1-0.
The issue now was that I was still low on resources, and my best play from hand would have been one of the Teamwork Training (R)s alongside an Ordis Cadets (C) for no progress. Instead, I opted to recast Open the Gates (C) to conserve my resources for a future turn.
My opponent responded by creating Maw, playing a 1-mana Moonlight Jellyfish (U) to self-sacrifice and return a card from reserve to hand, then playing another 1-mana Moonlight Jellyfish (U) that self-sacrificed to return the other Jellyfish to hand. As it turned out, they had a full playset of loopable Jellyfish, and they spent the rest of their mana to boost Maw to massive proportions while spending minimal resources.
This made me regret going down to two copies of Ordis Spy (R), since it’s the only card in the deck that can immediately stop the loop. I didn’t see one and just played my Haven Warrior (U) alongside a token generator to the hero expedition, conceding the companion side to the gigantic Maw.
A slow-rolled Teamwork Training (R) after letting them build up Maw allowed me to narrowly 2-0 on a later turn. Despite being able to remove Maw again on the following turn with another Teamwork Training (R), this time they had enough mana to win the single expedition they needed over an Open the Gates (C).
Takeaways
In each of today’s games, it felt like the deck was trying to do too many things, a classic jack of all trades but master of none:
- In R1, a hand with card draw and late-game permanents meant I couldn’t defend well-enough, and put me behind enough in the late-game that losing a single day to a Kraken’s Wrath (R) cost me the game.
- In R2, all of the situational spells prevented me from blocking on early turns, while my late-game permanents were dead-draws on the final turns.
- In R3, I had the tools for an aggressive start but didn’t see enough card draw or interaction to keep up with Lindiwe in the mid-game.
At the very least, I’d like to cut down the total number of situational spells. Charge! (C) is almost certain to go, as the upside in the late-game isn’t worth drawing a Mana Convergence in the early game.
In a broader sense, I wonder if it’s better to conceptualize Gulrang as a midrange deck that gets a boost of power to close out the game at 8 mana. I’m finding that Ordis’s current suite of card draw and removal isn’t equipped for a heavy control gameplan. With the tension between tokens, card draw, and removal, it might be more fruitful to cut the removal, deprioritize the late-game permanents, and focus on Open the Gates as a win condition.