Well, I never intended to reach Champion on a second account this season, but a few games streaming on my alt led me to play some GP necro, a couple insane win streaks, a late audible, and 4:30am push later, and there I was. My reward? My daughter waking me up at 7:30am for breakfast Ugh.
The Playlist
Silver: 31-8 BRushy BRushy
Gold: 5-6* BRushy BRushy
4-1* Angel Loop
26-2 PG Necro
Mythril:31-5 PG Necro (pre-patch)
3-4 PG Necro (post-patch)
14-4 OP Midrange
*approximate
I had an 18 game win streak in Gold and a 19 game win streak in Mythril with the list below:
name: GP Necro
path: disk of circadia
power: smite
2 born-again
2 detained
3 k-nine handler
3 raid the tombs
1 bela, witch queen
4 hopeless necromantic
1 volkov heavy
1 traitorous murmur
1 chort stag
1 iku-turso
2 indrik beast
4 racer in shadow
2 simuzen
3 sword saint
2 hotel barkeep
1 nine-tailed vixen
1 jin-sook, dollmaster
1 merciless koxinga
2 spirit away
3 lantern colossus
The deck definitely requires some updates now though. The deck would often stabilize just in time against aggro and the cost increase to Biting Blade and Immolation Cloak make that more difficult. The racer change also had a huge impact on this deck as the
k-nine handler/nine-tailed vixen/racer package was responsible for a lot of wins.
Climbing the Ladder
I started at S01, so I had a long way to go. Thankfully, it was a very enjoyable experience. Queues were fast, there were lots of new and returning players, and there was a wide selection of decks. I think the most common was probably YP Aggro, but its share was probably only about 10%.
I was cruising until early Gold and then I ran into a wall. I couldn't win. I even lost two games in a row to the AI.
Getting Passed the Wall
While it is possible to break through a wall by repeatedly bashing into it, that is rarely the easiest choice. I found my way around by accident, I streamed some Angel Loop then played some GP Necro to close out the stream. It has always been one of my favourite decks, so I played it more off stream and just kept winning.
There are times when laddering when you just have to change things up. Sometimes there is a meta shift, either from a patch or organically, which negatively affects your matchups, Other times, you just need to take yourself out of auto-pilot. If you play the same deck for too long eventually you'll start making small mistakes, often without even noticing. Playing a different deck forces you to refocus and will often lead to better results.
The Stretch
From G02 to M08 is one of the best stretches I've ever had in Mythgard. I went 57-7 with two long streaks. Long streaks don't come without some luck in both draws and matchups (sorry RY and YP aggro players!). Even still, the deck was probably too strong, so I wasn't surprised some of the cards took a hit in the balance patch.
The Balance Patch
It was a whopper, including over one hundred card changes and three Pursuit changes. As with most balance patches, I liked the direction of most of the changes, but there were some things I disagreed with. That doesn't bother me as it is impossible to be perfect. I would prefer the Rhinos to be innovative and take chances, and if mistakes are made, acknowledge them, fix them, and move on. I feel like this will lead to the best version of the game.
What does bother me is resistance to change. The days after balance changes are often dominated of talk about unwarranted buffs/nerfs (sometimes both referencing the same card!). If people spent half as much time looking for solutions as they do complaining about problems, the world would be in a much better place. The same is true for card games, a lot of the "problem cards" are only such because people don't yet know the solution. This could be as simple as noting its existence, shifting your playstyle to account for it, or in some cases adjusting your deck to handle it.
I was once blasted in Discord for suggesting people should adjust their play to account for new/changed cards as it was paramount to telling people to "git gud". But quite simply, if you don't adapt or improve, you fall behind. This is true for all forms of competition. I'm always looking for ways to improve my play.
Struggling against a deck? Watch replays and see what the deck is losing to and try to employ a similar strategy when facing it. Or just ask for help! The community is full of strong and helpful players, but you have to reach out and be open to advice or criticism. If your first inclination is to say, "this is too good" or "I can't beat this" then you've already given up. Instead of assuming you can't, try asking how you can. /rant off
Post Patch Problems
The first game after the patch I lost my win streak to YP Aggro. I had a slow hand and they had the cards they needed to avoid my necro and close out the game, They also played very well. Ironically, I would have probably won the game easily going second. The take-away? Nothing. This was just a good game that I didn't win. It is important to accept those losses and move on. I won my next three games, but then lost the following three. There were a few contributing factors, but the biggest one was that I didn't know how to play my deck. That may sound weird, considering the success I described, but GP Necro is very reactive and as I touched on in my previous article, reactive decks are very difficult to play in a new meta.
The Audible
Proceed with caution. I was at M08 when I changed decks. You have to do something like this with a clear mind and be confident in your ability to build and/or pilot a new deck. If you are on tilt, or take a while to get comfortable with a new list, this is a very bad idea. I knew I needed something proactive and on the aggressive side as this was my last chance to play before reset. I put together a OP Midrange list that I knew would be solid and straightforward enough for me to play at a decent level. This is what I arrived at:
name: OP Midrange
path: journey of souls
power: infuse
4 eager recruit
1 dark passenger
1 spear of destiny
1 vengeful heirloom
2 wry trickster
2 xerxian recruiter
3 insurance broker
3 shadhavar beast
2 peri at the gates
1 scion of pride
2 seal of exile
4 triennial patrol
4 racer in shadow
4 axe man
2 sword saint
1 jin-sook, dollmaster
1 merciless koxinga
2 spirit away
This deck wasn't perfect, and I'd make some adjustments before taking it to ladder again, but it carried me the rest of the way to my goal. And the most exciting part? I was finally able to go to sleep.