Beast Sense

by cj

Introduction

The premise of the deck is to position itself as a low to the ground aggressive midrange deck. It aims to do this in two primary ways. First it is designed to have most of the mana curve centered between costs of 2 and 4 in order to maintain consistency between games, while still having cards that are not dead draws later in the game. Secondly by playing efficient and relatively cheap minions that generate card advantage through their abilities or by just being large for their cost.

Minions

Speaking of the latter, the backbone of the deck is the combination of Beasts (mainly Autum Unicorn, Lugbog Cat) and the site Pond. Ideally you want to play one of the large beasts on turn 2 and gain board control from there. Gargantula is another beast with amazing synergy with Pond who also dominates the board in the early turns. Questing Beast, Sacred Stag and Aaj-kegon Ghost Crabs round out the beastiary being large for their cost and presenting different types of questions for the opponent to deal with, while Bosk Troll fills out the early curve as an efficient threat.

The deck also plays a significant Pudge Butcher package with 4 Riptide, 1 Blink, 1 Fine Courser and Maelström which all provide ways to manipulate the state of the board and gaining card advantage while doing so. Supplementing this is the ever-amazing Grapple Shot.

The rest of the cast is an assortment of highly efficient Unique Mortal Minions (and Lilith) who can all be returned to play with The Lady of the Lake.

Magic

The deck is tied together by it's tutors Common Sense, Assorted Animals and Toolbox. These acts as way to be flexible and consistent from game to game while also giving the deck ways to answer a wide range of threats. They also allow for spending mana more flexibly depending on what turn it is and what can be afforded, as well as avoiding drawing cards that are dead in certain situations like Dispel.

Finally there are some golden hits rounding out the rest of the slots while staying on theme. Pendragon Legacy is mostly a consistency spell by effectively reducing deck size, while also synergizing with the Uniques. Plague of Frogs (and Tadpole Pool) are there to fuel Pnakotic Manuscript (The primary late game tool) and Elder Ruins giving the deck more ways to generate pseudo card advantage without having to play draw spells and instead focusing on establishing board presence consistently in the early game every time.

Avatar

Now we come to the somewhat odd choice of Avatar in Imposter. While the deck could play Druid or Sorcerer for instance and do just fine, the Imposter gives the deck further flexibility and attack vectors making it hard to counter and unpredictable. In most games you are likely donning the mask of the Druid early on in order to summon Bruin while eventually turning into Sorcerer late game to keep the gas coming.

In between there are some other potential tricks though. Archimago can enter to re-use Bury or Drown (which we want few copies of as they are reactive in nature while the deck wants to be proactive), play another Common Sense to solve a specific problem or just keep taking trips to value town with Grapple Shot or Riptide. Drawing 14 with Pnakotic Manuscript after playing double Plague of Frogs is also nice.

Waveshaper is a strong utility tool both for locking down defenders in critical moments as well as creating water sites for Drown and Riptide when necessary.

Collection

What remains of the collection is the Shoggoth package that acts as late-game insurance if drawing too much of the low-end once in top-deck mode. Zap is a clean finisher when the opponent is at Death's Door. Dispel is a catch all for the specific type of cards it answers and so is Rain of Arrows. An extra copy of Bury is included as a general answer giving the deck a virtual 9 copies of the powerful removal spell, while only having one actual copy to draw in the main deck avoiding overloaded draws of reactive spells.

Sites

The mana base is designed to be able to play Bosk Trolls and Kettletops in the early turns while still having mostly Water sites. Since the deck does play quite heavily in two elements, with a decent splash into a third, while wanting the game to end at 5-6 sites at most generally speaking, there needs to be a lot of dual and triple affinity sites which does not leave room for many utility sites. This is a weakness of the deck for sure but I believe the current setup should handle all affinity needs with great consistency which is important in order for the deck to enact its gameplan. The two Sinkholes synergize excellently with the decks overall gameplan providing mana when it enters and then stunting the opponents development, allowing for the cheap efficient threats of the deck to continue wreaking havoc while being hard to answer.

Maybeboard

The maybes are constantly changing with some having been in the deck previously while others are speculative inclusions. The deck has the ability to play a wide variety of cards, many which are strong in a vacuum, but it is important to not stray too far from the premise of the deck when making changes. Mana curve and a focus on getting ahead quickly is paramount to the success of the deck.

Notes

As mentioned previously there is just one copy of Bury and the same is true for Drown for the same reasons. Grapple Shot is a lot more proactive and therefore can have more copies but I think two is enough and better than four but I could see going to three for sure. Mostly the deck needs to produce threats on turn 2, 3 and 4 every game and then take it from there with supportive spells like these.

Lilith is neither Beast nor Mortal but fits well as a top-end threat that either solidifies a strong position or catches up by summoning their minions. Also they way opponents stops the early onslaught that this decks aims to present is most likely through powerful spells so when Lilith bottoms one that can be a win in itself. For those reasons, and the fact that the deck plays so many Water sites, Lilith seems like a very strong inclusion.

If looking to make changes I think the most likely cuts are Aino (which might just be a little too expensive for her power level), The Lady of the Lake (for similar reasons as Aino) or perhaps Blink or Pendragon Legacy.

Dame Britomart does seem very synergistic with all the Mortals but she is quite weak for her cost on her own and she does require that something has already died. Perhaps worth playing some to see how she feels but on the bench for now.

Ribble Boggart is an interesting card that I see having a lot of potential and perhaps should be a mainstay of the deck. Their inconsistent nature does feel bad though but the upside is definitely there so probably worth exploring some.

Pith Imp could be a good choice if wanting to lower the curve further as both a decent early play but perhaps even better as a tutor target in the midgame when they are ready to play their best spell that is suppose to swing the game back.

Sir Bors and Sir Tom Thumb are two cards I would love to play but their heavy Air affinity probably alters the mana base too much if wanting to stay consistent.

Atlantean Fate does not really fit the theme of deck (similar to Mariner's Curse) but is just so powerful that it has to be played I believe.

Conclusion

If you are looking to play a unique deck with a lot of complexity, flexibility and choices while still maintaining a consistent game plan between matches then Beast Sense might just be for you.

Any constructive feedback is appreciated and I am always open to suggestions on how to improve the deck.

Thank you for reading.

With Love

cj

Beast Sense

@cj