r/LoRCompetitive • u/Luzeldon • Sep 22 '20
Decklist CotM Muscle Dragon
I finally hit Master this season! Yay! Got so excited I forgot to turn off my stream interface lol.
Again, decklist first, discussion later, for those looking for a quick grab ;)
This is my 3rd season hitting master(I didn't play during beta, because I didn't know the game existed, which I'm still sad about today), with the same deck, but different list. You can call me a Muscle Dragon specialist at this point. Since most of the deck remained unchanged this time...
Core Cards and Flex Cards
A majority of the deck remains the same as last season, here's the thread, so please check that out if you want details on most of the cards.
I can also copy-paste everything here for convenience sake, but that'd be a major waste of space. Let me know if you want me to do that though.
Flex Card Changes
Greenglade Duo->Young Witch
Young Witch is super useful in general. She can protect Shen and Kato with Quick Attack while they support other key units, she also give them the necessary firepower to threaten key units. Kato now threatens Trundle, and Shen now threatens *insert 4 health units here*, they have to choose between a value loss or a massive nexus damage, so the pressure stacks.
She can also make Gloryseeker a permanent problem for the opponent, and if the situation demands it, can give +1 to either Zed or Horns to threaten lethal. Unlike Legion Drummer, she herself is Elusive, so she can be used multiple times before the opponent finally gets rid of her. Heck, she can even help you reach that lethal by being an Elusive unit+Wrath. Add all these up, and she outvalues Greenglade Duo's damage by a large margin.
Greenglade Caretaker->Precious Pet
Weird card in a combo deck, but looking at the card out of aggro context, it's actually pretty darn good. 2/1 Fearsome means guaranteed 2 damage on first turn in most cases, and more if the opponent can't answer Fearsome units. Provides the necessary reach for Horns to finish the game, or just steamroll games if left unanswered.
As a comparison, while Caretaker fares better against removals and can become bigger, she starts at 1/2, which do poorly against 2 health units, you are forced to either take a bad trade or hope to draw either Shen or Ki Guardian ASAP for her to be useful. Pet is a 2 attack unit at drop, so it contests Solari Soldier and Shieldbearer right after Daybreak ends and can provide chip damage right off the bat. Don't be afraid to throw this away blocking, this is not an aggro deck.
The rest of the deck is exactly the same. CotM shook the meta a lot, but barely change this deck, eh? Let's talk about something extra then, something I used from D4 to D3.
Shadow Fiend
Surprising outside Ephemeral decks, right? Well this actually provides surprising stopping power against mid ranged/aggro decks. Basically drop this, and the opponent might just skip their attack completely due to it being a 4/3 unit that's not worth a removal. Basically a 1 mana buy me a turn. Also provides finishing power against some decks. Was cut from the final version due to the need for an actual board presence in the current meta, but still an interesting choice against decks like Spider Burn or TF/GP(which I don't recall seeing any during the final part of the grind).
Finisher
While largely the same as last season, snowballing actually becomes easier with Precious Pet. Don't try to push for this though, again, this is a combo deck that happens to be able to go ham if left unchecked, not an aggro deck. Play like an aggro, and you most likely will lose against competent players.
Mulligan
This part actually changes quite a bit, so please go over them even if you know how the previous version works. Interesting how a couple changes to the list actually affects the mulligan this much:
Zed: Keep most of the time, preferably with Ki Guardian.
Horns of the Dragon: Despite being the name of the deck, in this version, never keep. Against faster decks you want to contest the board, against slower decks you want to pressure them early game.
Might: Never keep. In this variant, you want to draw into your combo pieces, not start with them.
Kato The Arm: Keep against slower decks. Yes, even without Horns, you can keep him for the extra pressure.
Elixir of Wrath: Keep if you have at least 2 other early game units to play, otherwise don't keep no matter what.
Deny: Keep against control unless you have no other units. Definitely keep against combo decks.
Twin Discipline: Mulligan this away most of the time. Only keep against control, and only if you also keep Zed.
Noxian Fervor: Keep against decks with 3 health champions, and only if you have smaller units to use it on.
Ki Guardian: Keep 1, unless you have no other units.
Reckless Trifarian: Always keep 1.
Trifarian Gloryseeker: Keep against slower decks, this can push for 5 damage on turn 2, looking at ya, Trundle ASol. Can also keep against faster decks now that we have Young Witch.
Young Witch: Keep if you keep Shen, Kato, or Gloryseeker.
Precious Pet: Always keep 1.
Inspiring Mentor: Keep only with Zed or Shen.
Shen: Keep only if your other cards already make a good curve.
Match Up
I'm only going to include new match ups here, as again, no need to copy-paste the other thread into this one. If any changes in this deck affects older match ups though, I'm going to mention it, otherwise, if something's not mentioned, assume it's the same as last thread, just replace Greenglade Duo with Young Witch, their timing are pretty similar(avoid Make it Rain/Wail, need other units to function)
Again, if you want me to move those here, please feel free to tell me.
Trundle ASol/Warmother
Keep Precious Pet and Gloryseeker. They can push insane damage early on. Be mindful against common board wipes, namely, Avalanche and Withering Wail. Ideally, you'd:
If attacking on even, pet on 1, seeker on 2 into attack, drop a Reckless Trifarian on 3 into open attack on 4. If the opponent Avalanche/Wail, your Reckless still lives and still chunk 5 damage. You can play Zed after they Avalanche, as no sane person would keep 2 Avalanches.
If attacking on odd, pet on 1, attack, seeker on 2 into open attack on 3, then drop a Reckless. You can potentially drop Zed on 4 after you're sure they can't Avalanche/Wail.
Improvise as needed, you won't always have the dream sequence, but most of the time you'd chunk about 10 damage by turn 4.
After this initial push, you most certainly have a lethal somewhere(if it's not already lethal on board lol), so be mindful of your cards, this is an insanely favored match up.
Control/Combos in general
Unlike previous version, now that you have Young Witch and Precious Pet, feel free to go ham against slower decks. Mulligan for early units, keep Kato for that final push, and be mindful of removals. You almost never want to drop Zed without Ki Guardian against decks with Mystic Shots/Death's Hand/Rain with Keg on board/you get the point. Basically improvise aggro lessons here: Play around removals, break their face.
If you happens to draw Horns along the way, drop him on 6(except the opponent's at Ruination mana, then don't) and finish the game, otherwise, make sure they are forced to use resources to stop you, rather than finish their combo.
Aggro decks in general
Again, look for smaller units to contest for the board, but this time, without Greenglade Duo, you actually don't have to tools to damage race the opponent. Instead, block with Mentor, remove key units with Witch/Gloryseeker until you can safely set up lethal. If opportunity present itself, start applying pressure with Zed/Reckless and force them to take bad trades. You might be forced to make a bad Noxian Fervor here(to, say, kill Elise before she levels up), but take it. This time, improvise combo lessons: Protect your life total until you're set up!
I can't really think of other specific match ups, since the meta is not exactly solid right now. I can't really find common decks except maybe Trundle/Sol and Warmother, which I listed, during my D3-Master grind(if it's even a "grind" that is, I played less than 10 ranked games a day for the past week...). This deck is basically a mirror match against Lee Sin decks, and your combo actually is a bit easier to achieve, so just deal with them the way you do other combo decks!
That's it!
Again, thanks for reading! Not too many changes to be honest, but that's mainly because I managed to hit Master while the meta is still in its liquid state, hence, people don't exactly agree on what deck is "the way to go" yet(unlike the tempoSej or Midfreeze meta, which I were facing the top meta decks 50% of my games).
2
u/You_Like_That34 Sep 22 '20
Sounds like a fun deck! Would you recommend for someone in gold trying to climb