Why play Persecutor?

Saito Hajime's motto. Anime, Super herói, Herói, Saito Hajime Rurouni Kenshin, HD wallpaper | Peakpx

About this deck

This is a slow aggro deck.

There are almost zero Charge minions in this list.

Why play a slow aggro deck? Flexibility.

Wouldn't this characterize a midrange deck? I could see calling this deck midrange, but we lean a tid bit more to aggro than to control.

The main objective is to develop (3) to (5) mana curve (depending on what you have got from your opening hand and throughout the early turns), then use the "free" mobility from Persecutor to close the gap on the opponent's Avatar.

Although there are certain cases it might work, usually you do not want to advance before stablishing a reliable mana source, because there's a high chance you'll find yourself surrounded without the proper tools to close the game.

Assuming you have enough mana and minions/artifacts to back you up, once you get to the opponent you start applying pressure to delay their (6), (7) or (8) mana: the opponent's Avatar either move or keep getting hit.

We also run a dedicated removal package to answer any threats our minions can't handle on their own.

How to play

Opening hand

Sites

You want to reach (F)(F)(A)(A) as soon as possible. (F)(F)(F) is only needed for Morgana le Fay and Immolation.

If you are restrained, (F)(F)(A) is preferred over (F)(A)(A).

Mirror Realm and Valley of Delight are included to help fixing the early threshold.

If you know your opponent plays sites like [[Gnome Hollows]], [[Bottomless Pit]], [[Troll Bridge]], or [[Thin Ice]], try to get Fields of Phyxis or Smokestacks of Gnaak. If you suspect a [[Perilous Bridge]], Wuthering Heights helps.

Against (E) Earth decks, Hellmouth and Joyous Garde protect against [[Bury]] effects. This is almost never be relevant, but Hellmouth also helps against [[Root Spider]] or simply gives access to the underground to recover buried artifacts.

You can brand a minion Evil and then shrink it with Road to Perdition. This site also synergizes with Grapple Shot and Whirling Blades or with Daperyll Vampire and Renatus Trueblood.

Dark Tower, Gothic Tower, Lone Tower, and Den of Evil enable early plays of Daperyll Vampire, Renatus Trueblood, Balor of the Evil Eye, or Greater Blood Demon. These sites also protect them from [[Atlantean Fate]].

If you want to use the [[Hellhounds]] from Molten Maar as soon as possible and you're on the play, place your early sites like the bellow diagrams. 1 is first site, 2 is second, M is Molten Maar and E is an enemy site. It doesn't matter if you place 2 left or right.

Turn 1      |   Turn 2      |   Turn 3
□ □ □ □ □   |   □ □ E □ □   |   □ □ E □ □
□ □ □ □ □   |   □ □ □ □ □   |   □ □ E □ □
□ □ □ □ □   |   □ □ □ □ □   |   □ □ M □ □
□ □ 1 □ □   |   □ □ 1 2 □   |   □ □ 1 2 □

Vast Desert removes [[Foot Soldier]], [[Frog]], [[Skeleton]], or [[Ward]]. It also helps remove early 4+ Power minions - such as [[Lugbog Cat]], [[Autumn Unicorn]], [[Màzuj Ifrit]], or [[Headless Haunt]] - when paired with Firebolts or your many 3-Power early minions.

If there's a lot of decks using graveyards in your meta, [[Funeral Pyre]] is a good addition. I would remove Vast Desert to make room for it.

Spells

There are almost zero Charge minions in this list, but you still want to push towards your opponent.

Vile Imp can be played as a 2 drop in a empty realm against late game decks such as [[Archimago]] or [[Imposter]]. I wouldn't play it as a 2 drop against midrange or aggro decks - in these match ups, get value from its genesis ability. If needed, use Vast Desert or Road to Perdition to deal with 3-Power minions.

Against [[Archimago]], [[Imposter]], or [[Deathspeaker]] decks, I keep Redmane Hyena to use its graveyard hate and/or early pressure. Against other decks, I only keep it if I also have a Vile Imp, Gibbous Nightgaunts or Màzuj Ifrit in hand. You could keep it to Defend against (F) aggro decks, but it's a poor blocker aiming to trade with [[Wild Fanatic]], [[Vile Imp]], or [[War Horse]].

Sinterfee is a useful tool to delay your opponent and deal with sites such as [[Gnome Hollows]], [[Bottomless Pit]], or [[Perilous Bridge]]. Sinterfee also counters [[Thin Ice]] / [[Troll Bridge]] + [[Coy Nixie]] really well.

Cerberus in Chains removes the mobility from Persecutor. Therefore, play it only when you're around the 2 or 3 row of the realm. Althought being a 5-Power (3) minion, the lack of mobility makes Cerberus in Chains a poor blocker for more aggro decks.

Màzuj Ifrit, Barging Barghest, Gibbous Nightgaunts, and Sturmgeist are auto keeps in most games. Be sure you can attack with Màzuj Ifrit when you play it - taking 2 damage for free is no bueno.

Personal notes

Lava Flow + The Rack is cool. Whirling Blades and Grapple Shot too.

I don't play [[Char Omphalos]] because I don't want to play a non-threat at (4). I know it's inevitability through card advantage, but I like early pressure more. That's the same reason why I don't play [[Black Mass]]. I prefer to pay (4) and play a minion instead.

Clamor of Harpies is a card I like, but I could see removing it from the list. Anyway, you can pair Harpies with brand Evil + Road to Perdition to remove other threats, but stars need to align for that to happen. If you play [[Eclipse]], Harpies get better. Harpies is also useful against Lethal or Ward decks. For you to make your own judgement, here are the cards Harpies kills:

(A) Relevant targets are Clairvoyant, Fine Courser, and Pith Imp.

[[Skeleton]]

[[Clairvoyant]]

[[Cloud Spirit]]

[[Fine Courser]]

[[Highland Falconer]]

[[Vampire Bats]]

[[Palliburrie Bats]]

[[Highland Princess]]

[[Pith Imp]]

[[Skeleton Mage]]

(E) Relevant targets are Lady Iseult, Mover of Mountains, Sister Stefánia, Sisters of Silence, and Vivien the Enchantress. You will almost never have the opportunity to kill Root Spider, unless you pair Clamor of Harpies with Hellmouth.

[[Foot Soldier]]

[[Arjaro Exorcist]]

[[Kettletop Leprechaun]]

[[Lady Iseult]]

[[Land Surveyor]]

[[Mover of Mountains]]

[[Root Spider]]

[[Sister Stefánia]]

[[Sisters of Silence]]

[[Vivien the Enchantress]]

(W) All targets here are relevant. Be aware you will almost never have the opportunity to kill Coy Nixie.

[[Frog]]

[[Adept Illusionist]]

[[Coy Nixie]]

[[Polar Explorers]]

[[Nelly Longarms]]

(F) Relevant targets are Quarrelsome Kobolds, War Horse, Sinterfee, and Hemogoblin.

[[War Horse]]

[[Hemogoblin]]

[[Sinterfee]]

[[Vile Imp]]

[[Wild Fanatic]]

[[Quarrelsome Kobolds]]

[[Hotwheel]]

(E) Earth decks

If the opponent could be running [[Returned King]], try to spare Toolbox to fetch for a Minor Explosion or Lightning Bolt to kill it when played and prevent them from stealing Daperyll Vampire or Renatus Trueblood.

Archimago

Keeping on top of Archimago makes them avoid using [[Craterize]] or [[Major Explosion]], but makes you vulnerable to [[Arcane Barrage]] or [[Gigantism]].
This is a match up in which you want to keep cards like Peacemaker Arbalest, The Rack, Torshammar Trinket, Grapple Shot, Firebolts, and Lava Flow. Stay on top of them as soon as possible and keep hitting.
Minions help, but will probably be removed as soon as they enter the realm. If you draw minions instead of the cards listed above, deploy the minions anyway and keep the tempo fast. Evil minions help you get closer to Archimago sooner.
Spread your minions threats to play around cards like [[Earthquake]] and [[Major Explosion]].

Pathfinder

In (F) Pathfinder matches, if the opponent has a lot of cards in hand, has plenty threshold, and is not playing a lot of minions, suspect of some kind of interaction like [[Infiltrate]] or [[Betrayal]] and hold your main threats.

Cards I've experimented with previously

[[Eclipse]] is really good when it does its thing. It gives you direct access to your opponent's sites and makes your Evil minions incredibly difficult to deal with. What other minions can actually handle a 5-Power Daperyll Vampire? If you decide to run Clamor of Harpies, it even empowers its Genesis ability. However, Eclipse demands a much higher density of Evil minions during deck building. Every non-Evil minion you include dilutes Eclipse's impact. Given the current selection of Evil minions in Sorcery, I'm personally more inclined to run other options in Eclipse's place.

[[Hillock Basilisk]] is versitale: it can be removal, deny access to sites, or just be a 3-Power body. But it's vurnerable to cards like Swap, Displace, Infiltrate..., which can cost you the game.

[[Jack the Ripper]] is awesome. A Evil silencing removal for (3) with legs should be an auto include. The only problem is the condition os Mortals: although there are plenty of prime targets - such as [[Morgana le Fay]], [[The Green Knight]], [[Ruler of Thul]], all the Arthurian Legends Sirs, [[Boudicca]], [[Lady Iseult]], [[Order of the White Wing]], [[King of the Realm]], [[Sister Stefánia]], [[Sisters of Silence]], [[Saint of Redemption]], [[Grigori Rasputin]], [[Captain Baldassare]]... -, sometimes there won't be any Mortal on the realm. If your meta has a lot of the above mentioned cards, by all means try Jack. But, since I like my cards to work everytime, I didn't include Jack this time. Just keep in mind maybe I'm evaluating the 2-Power Evil Stealth for (3) wrong.

[[Cloud City]] is REALLY cool, but the (A)(A)(A) requirement is REALLY hard to reach sometimes, and might be too late by then. You frequently get to (5) mana and want to stop drawing sites.

[[Kor Crematory]] is really good against graveyard decks like Archimago, but (F)(F)(F)(F) is sometimes hard to reach and you don't really want to draw sites in this match up: you want to hunt them as soon as possible and tap to deal damage. Kor Crematory also is not great with Grigori Rasputin and Redmane Hyena in the deck.

Cards I'm currently experimenting with

[[Colicky Dragonettes]] seems like a good option with Grapple Shot and Whirling Blades in the list: you can strike for 3 and then strike for 1 more at the end of the turn. Its ability can also be used as a Door Knocker (killing opponent at Death's Door). [[Redcap Powries]] is more proactive, and can act as a removal with legs as soon as it enters the realm. Since I like to apply pressure, I'm running 3x Redcap Powries. It enhances the gameplay versus control decks and is a removal against aggro decks.

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    ) | .)(./ |  |  |
      |   \(   \_|_/
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  /jgs       (((-|'
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Aku Soku Zan (悪即斬)

@pelado