Core FTW: A Guide on How to Make Good Decks for Weekend Ranked on a Budget (Death, Magic, and Light)

The free core cards you get from Weekend Ranked are nice. Thankfully, I was able to scrounge up a tier 4 reward after struggling a lot in gold, but hey, that's pretty nice still. Let me tell you something though: it wasn't easy. I don't have a lot of genesis cards myself, and I just had to make due with what I had, which just so happens to be core cards.

Since the core set is pretty strong, you don't really need genesis cards to make a viable deck for ladder. This is important, because you can't buy genesis cards from anywhere at the moment, and if you're new to the scene or if you're 100% free-to-play, you probably don't have any genesis cards. This is where this guide comes in: I'm going to chip in some decks that are only built out of common and rare core cards that are really good for their value. You don't have to follow them exactly; they're budget decks after all, and I doubt many of you have the complete core set of commons and rares. Also, they can still use genesis cards you might happen to have, so it's good to consider them if you have them!

A few disclaimers:

1. I haven't actually played the complete versions of all these decks, so I don't know *exactly* how they'll perform. However, I am confident that each of these decks are good enough to get to gold rank and tier 4 rewards; that's where I ended up after all, and I have faced a lot of these decks on ladder.

2. I would definitely consider this a work in progress. The decks that I made myself here are heavily inspired by high-ranked players and are essentially budget versions of those (Light inspired by BrotherBen; Magic inspired by both Vertolka -who actually posted here earlier about the same deck- and my personal pre-wipe deck; and Zoo inspired by Tondy), since I wouldn't necessarily call myself a master deck builder just yet. It would be amazing if I could get some personal notes from players who did better than I on weekend ranked, especially from people who brought these decks to the ladder and did well! It would be enlightening to me as well as the many people who will see read this guide. Edit: so far, I've had a good talk with Tondy, and I am definitely more confident in the Zoo Death and Light decks now with his help!

3. Not every single god has a good budget core deck, but if they don't, they usually have a good starter deck. These gods are War, Nature, and Deception. This is in descending order of what I personally think are the best ones (from experience, I wouldn't recommend Deception at all on a budget, especially when the starter is missing Umber Arrow). The other god's decks are okay, but their budget core variants are a lot better. If you don't have a lot of core cards yet, your best bet is to grind with the War or Nature starter until you think you have enough to make a good deck (which I'll help you determine that throughout the guide).

Now, before I get started, I would like to recommend those new to this game or card games in general to watch high-level players (those in ethereal diamond and above) stream, especially the vocal and informative streamers. This is honestly the best way to improve your play without years of experience, as this is one of the only ways to learn what that looks like. Personally, I became waaaaaay better at card games in general when I watched Kripp and Trump back in my Hearthstone days. It doesn't matter what deck list you have if you can't play at a mid-high level efficiently!

For each deck I post here, I will include a list of essential cards that basically make the deck's identity. This can be specific cards like Traveling Bard or more general things like good 1 and 2 drops. You're almost guaranteed to not have all the cards in these deck lists, so don't be sad when you don't even have half of them! Since we're in the early stages of the game, you can get away with a lot, and as long as you have a good win condition and skeleton (cards that form the basis of the deck), and as long as you're decent at the game, you can reach high ranks with enough grinding.

In case you have some genesis cards, I will list some that I think will boost the effectiveness of the deck greatly that are also common or rare. There are a few that are very, very good, and can actually boost your win-rate by quite a bit. If you have these cards by any chance, use them in place of other cards I recommend replacing.

Lastly, I will list some cards that I had trouble not putting into the list, and would like some assistance from higher-leveled players on whether or not I made the right choice. Feedback is very important here! Since I've had a bit of feedback since I first made this post, these sections are a bit smaller now.

Now, on with the decks!

Zoo Death:

The Deck:  https://gudecks.com/decks/1243 

18 Commons, 12 Rares

How to play it: swarm your opponents with monsters and overwhelm them with early high-tempo plays and damage to the face (god health). Usually, you want to make it as awkward as possible for your opponent to make trades so you can focus on hitting their face and killing them as fast as possible. Trades can be valuable, but only if you think it'll allow you to do more face within the next few turns. Early on, prioritize playing cards over using your god power, but because the nature of the deck is to dump a lot of resources at once, you may want to use your god power more often (starting turn 3 if you have a good 1-drop to play and don't have a better 2 or 3-drop). I'm not sure which god power is better, but I've had my personal best experiences with undying wish, as it makes your board very resilient. 

Now, I'd like to mention the name of the game completely changes when in a mirror with another zoo deck. At this point, it's about who runs out of resources first, so prioritize making better trades and better value playes so that your opponent runs out before you do.

Essential Cards:

• High-tempo 1 and 2-drops > This is the core of your deck, the soul of your damage. Should be build-able when you have at least ~75% of these (rough estimate to be safe, might be more like 50%)
• Singsong Saytr and Traveling Bard > These are the finishers of your deck, giving that extra burst that could seal up the game. Have at least a copy of each or both copies of one of them.
• That's it. It's a fairly simple deck really, probably the easiest to build here since it requires less specific cards.

Genesis Upgrades:

• Leviathan Hunter > Good 1-drop with removal you can wait to use. Replace Shieldbearer with this
• Bonded Warrior, Pyramid Warden, & Trojan Golem > Both very solid 2-drops, exchange the former with Wicked Fey and the other two with whatever feels right (Pyramid Warden is better vs. mirrors, bad vs. warrior and nature, while Trojan is generally the opposite).
• Dangerous Ritual > Very good for burst and cycling. Remove two of your 2-drops (probably Void Banshee) for a set of these.
• Greed Banestrider > Very Powerful 3-drop with a less-punishing drawback and Banshee. Replace a set of 3-drops or 1-drops for this.
• Anputian Magus > Incredibly strong second wind, can help easily close up games. Replace a 1-drop or two for this.

Alternative Additions:

• Portable Fortress & Rampart > Protects your more vulnerable creatures but applies no pressure on its own. Debatable includes, though I've had fun with them every now and then.

Control Mage:

The Deck:  https://gudecks.com/decks/1222 

22 commons, 8 rares

How to play: Just like any other control deck, make value plays and use less resources than your opponent to stall them out and ramp mana quickly, then overpower them with multiple large creatures. Do this by spamming your god power (Blastwave most of the time, but Magebolt works better against other control decks and Light better) so that you don't waste cards until you use your removal to take out big (or wide) threats. Don't ever go face unless you're finishing your opponent off with 7+ cost creatures or if you think your opponent wants to trade anyways. Wyrmbreath should be saved for finishing, though don't be afraid to use it to protect your self from bigger threats! This is probably the hardest of the three to play for newer players, as it takes a lot of knowledge to use your cards efficiently as possible (and to answer the iconic question "do I play a card or just god power?").

Essential Cards:

• High-cost, powerful creatures > This is your win condition; you can't not have one! 2 good 7-drops and at least 1 good 8-drop should do you well.
• Tracking Bolt & Starshard Bolt > Your main early removal. Have at least a collective 2 of these.
• Sip of Elixir & Mana Toad > It's nice to get to your win condition faster. A collective 2 of these should suffice.
• General high-tempo creatures (like Skeleton Heavy and Wetlands Ogre) > Efficient trading is another form of removal. Have at least half of what's on the list and replace with other generally good drops of the same cost.
• Magic's Signature Board Clears > This deck has two of them: Crystal Rain and Astric Implosion. Both help stop the game plans of Zoo decks fairly efficiently, so I'd have at least a collective two of these.

Genesis Upgrades:

• Ancient Texts > Pretty good card, though the slots on this decklist are kinda tight, so I wouldn't be able to tell you what to swap it out for.

Alternative Additions:

• Mammon's Stalwart & Helian Blademaster > Not sure which are the better 6-drops, these or Minotaur Phalanx
• Thebian Brawler & Carthaginian Marine > Not sure which are the better 4-drops, these or Wetlands Ogre
• Leyhoard Hatchling > Good burst and removal, much like Wyrmbreath, no idea where it'd fit.
• All of these can be replace what they're compared to safely and vise versa; it's budget after all, just use what you have.

Zoo Light:

The Deck:  https://gudecks.com/decks/1244 

18 commons, 12 rares

How to play it: I'm the least familiar with this deck, but BrotherBen's results don't lie. After playing against a few similar decks myself, I think I have a general understanding of how it works. Basically, you're a lot like Zoo Death (which shares a LOT of the same cards), where your goal is to swarm your opponent with creatures and constantly hit face. However, the approach is a little different here: instead of having access to direct damage, Light compensates for having a more resilient board from a few of his class cards and god powers. It has a huge advantage against other zoo decks because of this, which is really good because that's pretty much the meta right now. Now, you might notice something about this list: it only has 6 class cards. This is because Light honestly doesn't have too many fantastic cards, but the good ones it has are **good**. This deck probably makes the most use out of genesis cards, but it still does really well with core only, since its god powers and core Light cards are very strong.

The note about zoo mirrors from Zoo Death applies here as well.

Essential Cards:

• High-tempo 1 and 2-drops > Same as Zoo Death
• Singsong Saytr and Traveling Bard > Same as Zoo Death, although looking at BrotherBen's list makes it seem less important. Without genesis cards however, this is definitely the way to go.
• The Class Cards > All of these, as few core ones as there are, are *very* powerful and the reason you play this deck. At the very least a copy of each will probably do, but I'm not even sure if the deck is worth running without most of them since those are
• Overall, I'd like to note that the mid-game for this version of the deck is a lot different when compared to BrotherBen's list due to the lack of genesis cards. I'm still fairly confident they perform the similarly. Notice how BrotherBen's deck (you can look it up on gudecks, link is way too long) enhances the playstyle it comparatively has over Zoo Death: more resistant boards.

Genesis Upgrades:

• Again, overall very similar to Zoo Death, but there are a few key differences
• Leviathan Hunter > better than Athenian Archer
• Pyramid Warden, Trojan Golem, and Holy Writ > Enhances the resilient theme in the 2-drop range. Aside from Eager Nobleborn, I have no idea what to exchange. BrotherBen uses a lot of singles, which complicates it for me, so it's all probably up to taste.
• Cudgel of Attonement & Ritual Rod > Incredible early removal for the cost. Replace Viking Bloodguard with this, since they share similar roles in zoo mirrors.
• Master of Indulgences > Reinforces the resilience theme again, and is incredibly strong at that. Replace Singsong Satyr or Traveling Bard with this.
• Anputian Magus > Just a strong card. No idea what I'd exchange it for, but it's probably for the better to find some room, since Magus works incredibly well in zoo decks.

Alternative Additions:

• Serene Blade > Kinda win-more (just makes wins more explosive than helping you win in the first place), not many use it, but I do see others using it. Might be better over Singsong Satyr, since they serve similar roles.

That's all that I have for this guide! I hope you find a fun deck to make out of your collection from this; something just feels nice about using your own deck on ladder (that and they tend to perform better). I personally look forward to playing these once I get enough of the essential cards for the Light and Magic decks (I miss my pre-wipe Magic deck so much!), especially since the War starter and Zoo Death are getting old to me. Remember, if you have any suggestions, please let me know! Exact reasonings behind these would be deeply appreciated as well.