Argent Saga Deck Analysis
Jemial Kyte Tempo – August 4th, 2020
Today we will be looking at a Jemial, Cryptic Caster and Kyte, the Air Spirit deck. This tempo deck aims to apply pressure early while also having answers to your opponent’s threats. Once the deck has established control over the game, usually around turn 5 or 6, it can start using the higher cost units to secure and lock down a victory.
Both Jemial and Kyte are amazing on their own, but pairing them together will give your deck access to some of the most powerful spells and units, and offer a level of versatility that other decks do not have. One minute the deck is playing spells to protect your units and towers, and then the next it has swarmed the board with threatening attacks. Jemial offers a built in draw ability while Kyte’s unique ability lets you pick up and reuse your Air units! This deck is also the perfect element combination to use Nanatsu, Stormsurger Squire‘s activated ability.
Since the Champion is Jemial, Cryptic Caster, you want to fill your deck with as many good Water units as you can find. Of course no Water deck is complete without the signature spells like Ancient Serpent’s Breath and Phantasmal Storm.
Kyte, the Air Spirit allows you to play amazing Air cards like Sylphia, the Spirit of Air and Vabriel’s Final Gift.
The combination of Water’s balance of offense and defense paired with the consistency and versatility of Air makes this deck a contender heading into an upcoming tournament!
Jemial Kyte Tempo - August 2020
Champion: Jemial, Cryptic Caster
Spirit: Kyte, the Air Spirit
Towers:
Tower of Air
Tower of Light
Tower of Water
Tower of Fire
Tower of Darkness
Shard Deck:
6 Argent Shard
3 Zephyr Crystal
1 Corona, the Spirit Ruby
3 Animated Spellbook
3 Azure Seer
3 Bone Scavager
3 Mara, Mischievous Witch
1 Nanatsu, Stormsurger Squire
2 Eccentric Visitor
1 Sylphia, Spirit of Air
1 Lloyd, Traveler of Worlds
1 Iakuma Juggernaut
1 Garga, Keeper of Gales
1 Great Behemoth
1 Mei-Yu, Grand Sorceress
3 Phantasmal Guards
3 Ancient Serpent’s Breath
2 Guiding Winds
3 Phantasmal Storm
3 Omega Magic: Mizu
3 Vabriel’s Final Gift
2 Celestial Magic: Chronostasis
3 Cosmic Air Magic
2 Witch of the Future
1 Lloyd, Traveler of Worlds
2 Iakuma Juggernaut
1 Garga, Keeper of Gales
3 Shards of Winter
1 Celestial Magic: Chronostasis
1 Tidal Rush
Each of these cards will put a counter on your champion when they enter the field, which helps the deck dig for answers and threats using Jemial’s activated ability. Azure Seer is a very solid 1 cost unit with 1000 power that helps filter your draw for the upcoming turn. Mara, Mischievous Witch‘s Arrive ability can put an Animated Spellbook into play from your deck by revealing two different spells from your hand. Being played from the deck with Mara is not the only benefit that comes with Animated Spellbook. It servers as a great 500 power tower scout allowing you to easily close games out, and whenever it is destroyed or sacrificed you can add a 1 cost spell from your deck to your hand. Iakuma Juggernaut and Mei-Yu, Grand Sorceress are incredibly powerful units that will impact the board and your opponent’s decision making as soon as they enter the field. Iakuma Juggernaut is more susceptible now than he used to be, but is still a very good wall.
Nanatsu, Stormsuger Squire provides the deck with a very valuable Instacast unit, and can help the deck stabilize later in the game to push for a victory. Water decks can struggle to handle units that cannot be targeted by spells and abilities, making Sylphia, the Spirit of Air and Garga, Keeper of Gales two great additions to the deck. Both these units provide amazing non-target removal that can wipe entire boards! Kyte gives you the option of returning your Air unit to you hand to save for later as well! Overall, the Air units are really strong additions to the deck, and provide the deck with something it desperately needed.
This deck wants to play as few Argent units as it can to save space for other valuable cards, but still cannot get away from playing Bone Scavager and Eccentric Visitor. Both of these cards are auto inclusions in most decks, and offer incredible abilities that are good against just about every deck! Lloyd, Traveler of Worlds is a great inclusion in this deck because of how great the spell cards are. Getting additional Illusion tokens, reusing Ancient Serpent’s Breath, and being able to search for any card with Vabriel’s Final Gift again makes Lloyd worth including. The last Argent unit in the deck is a single Great Behemoth. Behemoth is not a central part of your strategy, but can be very useful and effective when played at the right time. It can make your Illusion tokens into 1500 power guardians, and turns Mara + Spellbook into a very powerful and effective combination!
Ancient Serpent’s Breath (ASB), Omega Magic: Mizu, and Phantasmal Storm can be expected in almost every Water deck, and are some of the strongest Water cards because of their versatility. Having Instacast means you can interrupt your opponent on their turn, or play them at anytime during your turn. Phantasmal Storm is able to replace itself after being discarded by using its Shard Drain 1 ability, and ASB and Mizu can both be used to protect your units and draw cards if necessary. Phantasmal Guards is also very commonly seen in Water decks, and is especially good for an early game defense and placing counters on your champion. Celestial Magic: Chronostasis is a great answer to certain units, such as an opponent’s Sylphia. The Water spells contribute immensely to the versatility and consistency of this deck, allowing it to be both offensive and defensive when it needs to be.
Vabriel’s Final Gift and Guiding Winds add even more consistency and versatility to the deck. Guiding Winds can help spare an ASB or return a higher cost unit, while Vabriel’s Final Gift ensures you have the answer you need for the threat(s) you are facing.
Both of these cards also help find and protect the single copies of units. This deck plays a single copy of some of its most powerful units. Vabriel’s Final Gift can quickly add those units to your hand, and Guiding Winds can help you protect and replay those units when you need to!
Cosmic Air Magic is a great sideboard card as it can be very effective against some match-ups you may expect to see, but can be terrible against some of the other decks. The 3 slots in the sideboard for this card are justified if you expect to see Metaial, the Silver King, and can be helpful against Hoenna decks too.
Outside of Nanatsu being played at the end of your opponent’s turn, this deck has no way to get one last attack in. Witch of the Future can be played on top of one or more of your Water units and can attack the turn it is played, makes Water spells cost less, and can search for Phantasmal and Witch cards instead of drawing. This gives the deck a quick attacker with some awesome additional benefits.
Tidal Rush can be substituted in if Chronostasis proves to cost to much in that match-up, and also pairs nicely with Witch of the Future and Mei-Yu, Grand Sorceress.
If your opponent is filling their board and overwhelming you with units, play Shards of Winter to stop all your opponent’s units from attacking rather than just one or two.
Enemy of my Enemy is a great and effective way to trade out some of the extra Water units you have in your hand for your more powerful Air units.
Omega Magic: Kaze has everything this deck wants, from stopping attacks to drawing cards, it just rivals with the other Air cards. If you play it, Kaze is a really good spell to use again with Lloyd, Traveler of Worlds!
Cryptic Secret and Reactive Runes are both cheap costing spells that will help keep your opponent’s units off the board, and Azure Guardian can be added to help with the more aggressive decks.
