Notes & Combos

Early M1 - Unchained Labrynth

Cleared the M1 climb for the season and was pretty satisfied with how it played out. Looking back at the games, I think an easy mistake that can be made right now is respect; respecting these grindy, value-based decks that are all over the ladder like Striker or Branded by going down the attrition route and banking on your own resource engines to try to out-scale them. When you do so, it often just ends up as an uphill battle on their home turf, trying to out-swindle the house at its own casino. I didn't want to give them this advantage, so my philosophy for this run was to completely reject their premise and avoid the grind when possible.

This is why I stuck with a higher-ceiling, combo-driven version of Labrynth. It can grind if ever needed, but it gives you the tools to overrun them as well and get notably ahead before they can even set up their comfortable value loops. Opponents sit down expecting a sluggish, passive trap deck that they can slowly pick apart, but instead, you are proactive enough to dictate the game right away. Furthermore, being on the Unchained cards completely flips the script on the popular removal tools flooding the ladder like F&V or MST, converting what should be the opponent's interactive disruptions into free gas for yourself.

Speaking of my card choices for the list, one notable exclusion that people might be surprised by is Solemn Accusation. While I think the card is strong in a vacuum, the reality is that you basically have to hard-draw it right away for it to be truly effective; seeing it later on or when the opponent is already established is significantly weaker. Relying on unsearchable luxury cards that require me to simply get lucky in my opening hand is fundamentally a pitfall. I would much rather play a high-impact normal trap that I can consistently tutor up and reliably access whenever I need an answer, keeping the game entirely under my own control.