Played in Unland Cup in Seattle, June 2025

Went 6-0 in Swiss, then lost in semifinals to Archimago in top 8.

I consider this a standard AoE deck. It goes for consistency, midrange minons, and attacking with the avatar asap with a few spells as finishers.

I played okay but not great, but did well mostly because I lucked out that AoE worked well in the meta and many players were unfamiliar with AoE. I played against 2 Archi decks in 5 games 3-2. If they drew Divine Healing I lost, if they didn't I won. Infiltrate on my large minions was a big problem both when it happened and in making me afraid to play them. Doing it again I would use more Hunter's Lodge and/or Watchtowers. Otherwise the deck worked pretty much like I hoped and was very consistent.

How I Play

Main goal is getting opponent to death's door asap, well before they get me there. Usually this happens by playing a few sites and minions then beating on enemy sites. Getting last hit can be a challenge but there are several cards that can do it and I'll do my best to save one of them for that purpose.

Mulligan

The deck needs 3 earth and 1 air threshold. The air usually isn't needed in the early turns but I do try to have exactly 1 threshold in my opening hand. Windmill is preferred but the extra mana from tower is also nice. Try to get at least one Land Surveyor or Kettletop.

Typical / preferred early game

Turn 1 - Earth site, prefer soldier token

Turn 2 - Earth site, Land Surveyor or Kettletop. Alternately Crusade.

Turn 3 - Third site, hopefully Earth because you had a Windmill or drew fourth site from a minion. Autumn Unicorn. I usually save Root Spider for a specific need.

Turn 4 or 5 - When you have the mana, play Atlas Wanderers and swap the middle 2 sites. Earthquake can also be used. Ideally you get one or two sites from minions or a Core and never need to tap to draw a site.

Later - Step forward and pound the enemy site that is now surrounded by your earth sites.

Sometimes it makes sense to Grapple Shot your Avatar across instead especially if they have earth sites.

Weaknesses

Mostly having lots of minions to defend and damage to get me to DD first.

Gnome Hollows is annoying especially when played in the site in front of their avatar.

A great use of Root Spider is to place under your avatar so enemy minions cannot defend the site.

Royal Bodyguard allows you to attack while on DD.

Cards

Vivien and Rhitta are not essential and could be swapped out. Biggest downside to Rhitta is the 6 cost and I don't want to play that many sites. Philo Stone is not a must either.

I used to have 4 Grapple Shots but kept finding myself not needing them as often. 4 might still be better.

There is no Whirling Blades because it needs 2 Air.

Unland Cup 2025 3rd place - AoE Earth-Air Midrange

@Aric