Hello, Laezar here as guest writer to talk about the list I made champion with, Singing Serpents. You can find the deck list on Mythgard Hub: "Singing Serpents". I also made a "budget" version to help those without all the mythics to have a simple way to build the deck: "Budget Singing Serpents".
So what is this deck about?
1) Deck Overview
This deck is a control deck that focus on enchantment and artifact interactions to slowly create a board that generates too much value every turn to be stopped. The key cards are Serpent Den, Ollama Ring and Singing Stone.
However, unlike most control decks it is very proactive and can take a beatdown role if an opportunity present itself with cards such as Thane, Xelhua, Kara or Twins.
The deck has very little draw. The Rainbow path acts as the main source of draw but even including that, unless you are lucky you rarely will have a full hand to play with. You should however, rarely run out of threats once your setup phase is done, as Serpent Den and the Reconstruct power allow you to keep the pressure on even from an empty hand.
2) Game Plan
In every game with Singing Serpents your goal is to weave an enchantment board such that your opponent is forced to deal with your snakes every turn or run the risk of letting your snakes move to an empowering enchantment.
This means your enchantment placement should always take into count the final enchantment board you are trying to create. Sometimes sacrificing short term value for a long term more stable enchantment pattern is the right call, sometimes you can't afford it.
This also means your minions are preferably going to be placed in lanes where you can place down an enchantment without disrupting your current enchantment board.
The image below shows what you are building towards. Obviously you aren't going to get there in any reasonable game, but this is the shape your enchantment board should try to take.
Serpent Den on 2-4-6 to cover the whole board defensively.
Major enhancing enchantments between two dens to allow it to be occupied as often as possible.
Utility enchantments pushed to the sides of the board.
Now you should also recognize when short term value is more important that long term placement. This is especially true in aggro match ups in which you are very unlikely to get the game to a stable end game, in these kind of match ups survival is far more important than creating an elegant board.
Typical early turns :
Turn 1) Maze/Effigy is good in any match up. Singing Stone is a gamble against aggressive opponents especially if you're on the draw. Coin Thane is possible but rarely that powerful if you don't have another Thane as follow up.
Turn 2) Thane is always good. Setting up Beimeini Falls can work but in slower match up you'd rather play nothing and burn it to get extra draws. Coining den is possible but it means you aren't getting initiative back any time soon. You also have to be on YY to do that so you can't perform Singing Stone into coined den. If you played Maze on lane 1 then Thane on 2 is protected and can't be killed by an infused 1 drop. That is usually the ideal start against a deck like RO.
Turn 3) Usually you want to setup a Serpent Den here, but Xelhua is a very powerful tempo play especially if you can follow up with Ollama Ring on turn 4. Coining Kara or Bragi is a solid option too. In slow match ups you might want to consider playing Bragi on 4 and discarding the coin.
After Turn 4 you want to assess who has initiative. If you have it you can try to play more aggressively with cards like Speedway under Kara to force your opponent to waste answers while you keep setting up your board. If your opponent has it you need to setup a good board clear so that the permanent value you setup with enchantments and artifacts can take over from here. You rarely want to attack with snakes on den unless you are directly fishing for lethal, you'd rather force your opponent to deal with them by making them multiply faster.
Later in the game you'll either be able to out value your opponent so much that they will fold to the number of big minions that they can't deal with every turn or you'll need to setup lethal in some way, Freki Sidecar is key for this. Try to be aware of how many damage you can do in a turn with sidecar considering the number of artifacts and enchantments you have in play and try to push your opponent down to this number with chip damage.
TIP:Usually I would avoid replacing serpent's den through rainbow, but when finishing with sidecar remember that you can setup a lot more powerful lethal by doing so.
3) Specific Cards and Interactions
Singing Stone / Ollama Ring - Basically the power level of your deck will spike every time you can play one of these artifacts. The first one is very important so try to always keep one of them. But as a rule there are diminishing returns.Two is powerful enough to beat most aggro decks if you can stabilize and going over can lead to a nasty Gigantomachia so take that into consideration.
Freki Sidecar - This is a key card both to remove threats and to setup finishes. If it survives it also doubles the power of spawning of dens around it. It's a priority target for any sensible opponent. If you can give it lurker through Loki's Veil, some decks will have a hard time dealing with it, especially those relying on rush for removal. You should also always consider the possibility of using it with Goliath Web for 7 mana, this removes basically anything (remember that web also suppress alpha strike), and you can then let your sidecar sit on the web to make sure it's not killed for free. This is less powerful than Sapo on the spot but a lot more flexible and creates a lot of long term value.
Odinthrone - Avoid putting it between two dens as it will kill snakes, unless you are on two artifacts or more. At this point snake and reconstruct tokens will not die on it making it an ideal way to pressure your opponent, forcing them to deal with it at the risk of offering more draws. Overall the card isn't that easy to play but it's extremely powerful when well placed. A Kara or especially Bragi on Odinthrone can prove impossible to remove. Also remember that even if your opponent (or you) uses Misanthropia, the card will still draw before your minion dies. Finally, it's also a way to protect sidecar if you have at least one artifact in play.
Beimeini Falls - You don't have Impel to use it multiple times in a turn and it's your only source of healing so things can get a bit tricky. It's a good reconstruct target as you can move your token without attacking to play another one without losing too much. Try to play it away from your dens. The Regen 2 can also do wonders on Bragi or Xelhua. You can also consider playing it under a damaged maze to stall your opponent if you have board clear.
Orbital Jamming Satellite / Loki's Veil - You can suppress anything with those two cards but their power levels are very match up dependent so try to learn when to burn them and when to keep them at all cost.
Bragi Runesinger - Try using him to cycle back already burned enchantments back into your deck to cheat even more draws from Rainbow. Frenzy can close out games but usually you aim for the ultimate, it's actually not that hard to pull off considering how big Bragi can get.
Magnus / Twins : They are probably the most powerful coin targets. Twins in particular have synergy with basically everything in the deck and slow your opponent down enough that you get initiative back, and they can totally steal the game if not dealt with properly.
TIP: When it comes to your burns, usually getting blue gems is easy. You can burn Speedway, Stairway, Odinthrone or even Sidecar early. Yellow gems are a bit trickier. You usually don't want to burn Serpent Den unless you have multiple (almost always burn third den, sometimes burn second if the match up is fast), usually you have to choose between Beimeini and Web. Try to keep Web against control and Beimeini against aggro. Burning Sapo can be an option against decks that flood the board if the single target removal doesn't have that high value. If you have two Ollama Ring you can safely burn the second one unless the match up is slow.
4) Match ups
Good Match ups:
Most slow decks. The deck win against most control decks or even midrangey decks. If your opponent gives you time to setup they are in trouble.
Decks without tons of reach, they usually can't get through the tokens and lose to the value.
Anything FoC really.
Bad Match ups:
Valkyrie, RB rush and generally fast aggro. You need a bit of time to setup and those deck usually jump right at your throat. They aren't impossible match ups by any means, but you aren't favored
Combo decks. The deck can punish combo decks that are too slow but a good combo deck will usually have time to assemble it's pieces before you can be a threat. Since you'll have a massive board though, whether they can kill you or not really depends on the nature and the amount of reach of their combo.
Other:
Red Orange: Match ups against RO are really variable depending on the specific RO flavor. Aggro red carnival RO is very hard. Midrange RO is a bit awkward. If they don't pack enough removal they'll have trouble dealing with your big guys and aren't very favored. If they pack the right amount of removal you can't do much and they are generally favored. If they go overboard with it and go slower, usually season versions, then they are too slow and you are favored again. In all those cases Loki's Veil is a key card.
Yellow Green: The match up is generally favored as the OTK can't really go through, especially considering you empty your graveyard with reconstruct often. However if they start spamming all their bombs back to back you just don't have sufficient removal to clear that. So it really depends of how many bombs they actually draw starting from turn 6. Orbital Jamming Satellite is really important to properly deal with everything.
Necromantic: I'd say they are generally favored but not due to the nature of the deck and mostly because the decks tend to let you setup a bit too easily. However there is no graveyard tech in BY and there have been almost impossible necro match ups (blue necro before sidecar nerf). At the moment necro match ups feel fine.
Random Jank : The deck actually relies on knowledge a lot. Burns are very match up dependent and since you lose a lot of tempo when you setup enchants/artifacts it becomes very easy to get overwhelmed by cards you didn't expect. My advice would be to always respect match ups you don't know even if the deck looks bad. Don't try to take shortcuts assuming they won't be able to punish.
5) FAQ
Q: Why only 1 Misanthropia?
A: Misanthropia is an emergency button in some specific match ups that let you get a cheap win, but it actively goes against the game plan of the deck. Snakes killed by blight don't reappear the turn they die making it a very slow play in this deck considering the amount of tempo you give up early to establish your enchants.
Q: Why no Earthslide?
A: Earthslide is a strong card but it requires a solid enchantment board to be played. It also works very poorly with serpent's den. This makes it feel very win more.
Q:Why no Root of the World?
A: This isn't Angel Loop, you actually want your tokens to pressure the opponent. When your reconstruct tokens can become 4/4 you don't really want to use mana to kill them yourself.
Q: Games are going to be too long!
A: First that's not a question. Second, yes and no. It is a control deck and the games can get grindy. But it is actually rather fast once the initial setup is done. The reason you don't get to the board state of the picture above isn't because it's too hard, it's because your opponents are dead long before. Games are actually shorter than most control decks I'd say.
Q: What about that mythic?
A: You can try but the list is pretty tight. Xelhua is basically my "experiment" slot. Before that it was Zolea and I've tried cards like Serpentine Empress. So if you want to try things out I'd recommend switching out Xelhua for it. Loki's Veil and Orbital Jamming Satellite are tech options that I like to have but they are also good spots to try out new cards. I also recommend avoiding dropping below 13 enchantments, Rainbow is your only reliable source of draw so you can't really cut too many.
Conclusion
Thanks for taking the time to read all that! It's my first article and I hope it was useful. Have fun with the deck everyone!
Singing Serpents
