[Gods Unchained] Deck Review: Midrange Nature - Stampede!

Hey guys, today we'll take a look at a variation of a midrange list for Nature. In a classic midrange style, there are no specific win-condition, usually overwhelming your opponent with mid-sized creatures does the trick. Because of this, lists like that can easily swap out the tech choices that can give advantage depending on the meta. The list we have today is geared towards beating decks like Rune Magic, slower Light decks, and Onslaught War which seem to be popular lately, and it does a good job versus Enrage decks as well, okay let's see it:

Core Cards:

As I said, the list is very flexible but these cards work exceptionally well I all match-ups and I wouldn't recommend changing them.

Underbrush Boar is probably the best card to have in your starting hand. In the early game when your opponent just played one creature this is like a 2 mana 3/3 with blitz and a lot of the times makes it really easy to take early board control even versus aggro decks. Even when you play against slow opponents that don't run too many creatures, dropping it on an empty board feels just as okay because it contests a lot of 3-drops as well.

Revenant Lynx feels like cheating most of the time. Okay, sometimes because of it having only 2 health it doesn't do much but paying it basically only 1 mana is absurd. The high attack immediately creates pressure for the opponent and it gets removed quickly with some removal spell but that still gives you tempo. Being actually just a delayed 1-drop even if you don't have a follow-up play you will have enough to use God Power like Forage to even get a card in return thus giving you card advantage if your opponent isn't able to remove it without spending a card.

Agrodor Protector doesn't need too much introduction. It is the best 4-drop in Nature's arsenal if not in the whole game, with a nice combination of Frontline and Regen 1 making it a lot of the times hard to remove efficiently. She isn't only good for protecting your face and other creatures but it also trades really well. A card that is included in almost any Nature deck and rightfully so.

Avatar of Nature is just what a midrange list would want. She's a mid-sized creature that creates constant value which makes her a big target to remove for all value-oriented opponents and on top of that it heals you so that aggro players have to remove her as well or they slowly but surely lose any chances of finishing you off quickly. A pseudo-frontline with infinite potential, terrific!

Lightning Strike is the strongest removal for mid to late-game as it can destroy any creature below 8 mana and give you so much tempo it's insane. There is a drawback like with most Nature removals with the random target factor but it can be controlled easily if you have at least some kind of board presence to be able to clear smaller creatures first. Being 3 mana it can be used with low efficiency and still be worth playing.

Canopy Barrage, just like Lightning Strike a strong removal with the same drawback. It deals significantly less damage but it also provides sustain when needed. This is also something you just can't pass on because it improves your chances in any match-up. It isn't as tempo heavy but its flexibility gives so much value to this decklist.

Confusion and Mayhem

Playing a deck without a win condition can be a lot easier but Nature has a tendency to make it harder with all of its random targeting with removal and creatures with Confused mechanic. Many decisions are being made in between attacks so you need to be able to identify what is the result of attacks you would want to see and what can you do if the attack goes in any other potential target. Weighing these outcomes is a big part of this deck and this is the most important skill to work on. This is why getting board control as fast as you can in every game should be your goal because it gives you more opportunities to make these decisions without too much pressure from the opponent and when it doesn't go your way it won't be fatal.

Mulligan

As this deck isn't tied to a specific god power you should choose the one that gives you an advantage in the specific match-up. The best way to use this to your advantage is to look up your opponent on sites like unchainedstats or gudecks and see what type of deck are they using or most of the time seeing what god power they use will do the trick. Even though I hate this being available, I suggest you should use it if you want to go higher up in the ranks as others can use it against you as well.

Against aggressive decks, we should start with the god power. Taking Leech Life seems to work the best because getting a couple of extra health during the game can be enough so that the aggro player doesn't have enough to finish you off. Other than that you need something to fight against the early aggression like frontlines and removal and there are a lot of options for that.

Keep in hand: Underbrush Boar, Pyramid Warden, Canopy Barrage, Staff of Roots, Wiccan Warrior, Amazon Conscript, The Hunt, and Arrow of Rage is a good keep even if you don't have higher attack creatures because for 1 mana you can get away with clearing a creature with 2-3 damage because you are just trying to stay alive and take board control, after that you won't be losing so easily.

Against control decks, you just need to overwhelm your opponent with as many threats as possible and that means to play aggressively into their board clears. You can do this if you take Forage as you god power to get value any time you can and eventually they will run out of cards and your board will be uncontested.

Keep in hand: Underbrush Boar, Black Jaguar, Revenant Lynx, Overgrown Rhino, Managarmr, Moon Hound, Wiccan Warrior, Pyramid Warden isn't something you should be looking for but keeping him in hand is okay because drawing him later can be a bit too risky to play.

TL DR; Pros and Cons

Pros:

• strong early game
• flexible god power choice
• good versus most match-ups

Cons:

• confused creatures and random removal
• no "real" late game

Easier on the Budget

This list currently costs 0.2214 ETH (around $37) so it is a bit cheaper than most competitive decks. Also, the most expensive card on the list is Avatar of Nature, even though it is a core card for this list the replacement of this card can ease up 0.123 ETH. If you need to swap it out I would recommend you, Myrto's Daughter since the deck has already a lot of Amazons the effect won't be too hard to utilize and her ability to fight for the board fits well into the theme of the deck.

That's it for today's review. I think that Nature has a good spot in the current meta where Magic and War are being the most present. It's not the strongest god but has a huge potential and if we see a buff to Flourish, we can expect that Nature will find an even better place on the ladder.

Useful tools for Gods Unchained statistics, meta, deckbuilding, leaderboards, etc. :
https://unchainedstats.com/
https://gudecks.com/

Markets:
https://gu.cards/
https://tokentrove.io/GodsUnchainedCards
https://opensea.io/assets/gods-unchained

Custom cards generator tool:
https://www.gucustom.cards/

Gods Unchained discord channel:
https://discord.gg/G8YAWcX

Thank you for reading!

,z3ll