Hi Team,

Excited to share about the deck, but first would be remiss if I didn't give credit and thanks to my team, Chris @Ismarkthelesser and Nick @Astronomonov, as well as John @PorkchopSandwitches and Blake @Collision for the insight and countless games that provided the context into many of these choices. As much your win as mine!

Also, to Pascal, my finals opponent. Thank you for one of the hardest, funnest, and friendliest games I've ever played. Despite the stakes, I appreciate how we approached the game as though we had already felt like winners just being in the seat, and counter each other. You are a champion.

Hot Spring has been a work in progress for ~8 months, after countless iterations, this is where we have landed currently.

Original deck list of where it all started.

GenCon 2025 Finals Match

Deck spotlight with Chase and EC team.

Now, into the deck.

Weaknesses: Fire and Water offer NO aura hate (outside of Scorched Earth), which means impactful auras stick around. Generally, you can outpace a deck with aura strategies, but not always. This also means no Monument hate either. This wouldn't have been a problem pre-Archimago's rise to fame, but now we're seeing more and more Orbs. Luckily, you are able to capitalize on the orb as well, with double Shatter Strikes and Minor Explosions worst case. This has changed with the inclusion of Swap; however, these problems do persist. Ironically, I think the biggest nemesis to the deck is itself, as in the last 5 major tournaments, I lost in the top 16 or higher against the mirror match. It was my bane.

A quick breakdown of each section of the deck and logic behind the card:

Auras:

Jihad: Self-explanatory. One of the most powerful fire cards ever printed. This card allows 5 power Monstrous Lions on turn 3 with a pond.

Atlantean Fate: Look at that, also one of the best cards ever printed. This primary function is to allow you to disrupt the Archimago's and other greedy threshold decks. It also provides a path to clear out popular problematic sites, like Free City, Pebbled Paths, and even Perilous Bridges. Also kills root spiders if they are on a sight that can be affected.

Artifact:

Torshammar Trinket: Druid can abuse this by always having access to Tawny. Probably a 3 of in most decks at this point.

Ring of Morrigan: IMO the strongest card in a vacuum ever printed, but particularly abusable in this deck. In conjunction with Drums, the ability to IG-88 your way through your opponent's team while also gaining life is backbreaking to say the least.

Mask of Meyham: With the strike change, we felt this or GG were too valuable to run, but the questions were, which one, and how many copies? Assuming there would be a concentration of Archimagos, we felt 1 Mask and 1 drums was the right call, as drums can feel dead against the few creatures in most Archimago's lists. This has a synergy with Sir Agravaine (we will cover that on his bullet point) and with the concentration of smaller minions, we thought the mask was better than GG.

Drums of Doom: Can lock down the game in a (candidly) un-interactive way. In a minion-heavy meta, expect druids to have 2x of these in their deck. Ring + this. Deserts, Tawny, vile Imp, all kill spells now. Also, the only way to protect against Nymbus Djinn otk.

Minions:

Polar Explorers: This quickly became one of my favorite cards in the deck. It enables SO much and makes cards like Redcap Poweries and Monstrous Lion have less drawback by evading problematic sites.

Vile Imp: 2 damage on entry, Kill spell with Drums. Takes out knights holding lances often and is just one of the best 2 drops in the game.

Kobolds: With the 3 of trinkets, and the prominence of Gnome Hollows, these angy little dudes provided, in most cases, bare minimum, 3 extra copies of Vile Imp, but with an insane ceiling. Also combos with strike synergy, kills tough airborne minions like Plumed Pegasus if comboed with deserts or Trinket. Very easy to deal with their tempo play with one of these early.

Lugbog Cat: Amazing tempo play with Pond, can reach into opponents' site with Floodplain. Solid beast.

Morgana le Fay: Soooo much value with this card. Boneyard target at the very least for more cards. Helps in grindy games.

Redcap Powries: Cheapest charge minion for the stats. Almost no downside at this point with the immobilized nerf.

***MVP Sir Agravaine***: Self-protecting unit that buffs Tawny's attacks. Has proven to be a huge problem and is not answered with non-targeting damage. Enables one to turn deaths doors with only a few minions striking the avatar. With the recent attack trigger change, he will always strike the *original* target. Meaning, while adjacent to an enemy avatar being attacked, he will ALWAYS strike the avatar regardless of whether there are blockers around. This singlehandedly won me 2 of my games late in the bracket and is an absolute kill on site card.

Boudicca: Buffs Tawny and can just be a sudden death's door machine. Boneyard target for surprise extra damage due to getting value off her passive immediately. (if they aren't already dead by then).

Monstrous Lion: Has been one of the biggest standout cards. Combos with Pond, great target for Guyer to be used as a kill spell on a body. Great with all of the Battle Mages, as it gets value immediately, and also serves the 3 power.

Selfsame Simulacrum: After the recent revision of how multiple Bruins interact, this became too good not to run, though it never came up in my finals match. With multiple other targets, or your opponent's best minion, plenty of value to be had with this card.

Ruler of Thul: Similar role to Boudicca. Burst potential. Awesome surprise play with flipping Druid into Bruin, then following that up on the next turn with a Ruler for 8 in their back row with the free unit in Bruin. Also recursive with Lady of the Lake.

Sir Gaheris: Decent stats, and it does play well against many aggro decks, by being able to keep life parity and block, which is nice.

Panorama Manticore: Similar role to Phoenix, early bruiser that is hard to deal with. Untaps regularly and trades well.

Questing Beast: Also a Bruiser, awesome burst potential with attack from stealth and shatter strike. Mastering the art of the end-of-turn step turns this card from a great card to an absolute menace! With the ability to attack, then step back onto a watersite protects this to get you multiple strikes of 25% of their starting health.

Magics:

Geyser: Started out as a way to deal with Root Spider has quickly become one of my favorite cards. Providing airborne to these units increases their lethality dramatically, allowing them to avoid many problematic defensive sites. Also is a good combo with Blaze as it really extends the range with + movement and the ability to fly nearby.

Pollimorph: hard removal is pivotal right now with the abundance of 5+ power minions and vampires' abilities to Deaths Door you and heal for a billion while attacking sites. Also, the fact that it banishes the transformed card is actually a huge boon.

Minor Explosion: I started with 3 firebolts; however, the prevalence of Morgana Le Fey ultimately had me consider this instead. The indiscriminate 3 damage has a higher ceiling and, with the reach of Tawny, can easily be a 2 for 1.

Disintegrate: Similar to Pollimorph. Hard removal easily cast from Tawny.

Pact with the Devil: This has been one of my favorite cards. Combining with Tawny, Adept Illusionist, and Morgana (more niche) allows you to keep up with Sorcerer and Archimage in the mid-late game.

Swap (Placeholder in deck as Font of Life because they have the same mana and threshold): My friends and I had a feeling this card would be absolutely broken, and it sure felt good. This replaces Shatter Strike in the deck, and I have 0 regrets. Super flexible, and stealing Pstone and Rings while putting your guy directly on them feels AMAZING.

Key Sites:

Floodplain: Always been one of my favorites due to its ability to allow you to play more greedy with your threshold in Water, but also serves the purpose to kill root spiders and other burrowed minions and to extend reach on Lugbog cat.

Pond: MVP site: So many beasts in the deck make a dramatically increased impact by coming out a turn earlier. Tower for beasts, but better. Also amazing that with the prominence of earth still, being summoned onto a water site protects the beast you curved out from burry effects.

Desert: Are key to taking momentum. Also protects against enemies, Atlanian Fate turning off the critical threshold needed to cast key spells.

Boneyard: Though I never saw it at gencon, in my testing, this card has been an amazing addition to the atlas. With several of the hard removals banishing, and access to Funeral Pyre, you can construct a sided resurrection. Also, with the concentration of charge units, you are able to bring back a Redcap, for instance, and attack with it, and because the unit they brought back entered the same turn, it will have summoning sickness. It also lets you bring back your "Win button" unique for its powerful genesis or passive abilities. Lastly, in what I presumed to be a Archimago heavy meta, the lack of minions they generally have allow this to be onesided even more regularly. It was my favorite spice in the deck.

Kelp Cavern: I originally hated this card when it was first printed. I thought the lack of "may" made it unplayable. I was wrong. This lets you comfortably mulligan to get better gas early, then go back and find your spells later when needed. I have been very, very impressed with it.

You may notice a lake of Smokestacks. I found, with a number of key genesis, and the draw cadence of the deck, you end up having to play it earlier than you'd like. This turns off your important sites, like deserts and flood plains, which can be really detrimental. Also, with flooding being an ability, smokestacks removes your ability to flood and kill rootspider. So I found it more detrimental than helpful in many matchups.

1st Place GenCon HOT SPRINGS

@Duo