Deck Overview:

SK seems practically non-existent from ladder right now. Last patch strategies like self-wound and patricidal fury are even more outclassed as they got no support with the card dump, and to make matters worse, their best card got nerfed. The new cards are fine in a vacuum, but my attempts at running a full beast archetype has fallen short and relies on clunky Operator setups and mediocre payoff cards. While it's still very early in the season, I've had some solid success running a hybrid SK deck that takes some of the self-wounding package of old, combining it with a beast package and a Gedyneith point-slam combo that can play around the trendy artifact removal.

Swapping to this hybrid deck solves the problem of the old self-wound deck, which was very one dimensional with a tall unit strategy and was countered pretty easily by removal/resets and susceptible to being bled.

While the new cards fall short in my opinion of a standalone archetype, the cards do give SK some new angles: the ability to go wide, carryover value and one of the strongest short-rounds with a 38 point combo with leader/Gedyneith. I find the best way to explain the deck is in packages, in which the deck has three: self-wound, beast and Gedyneith.

Self-Wound

The self-wound package was a core strategy last patch. Although, the Priest nerf definitely hurts, the package still seems necessary to be able to compete in long rounds.

I view this package in two subsets: wounders and woundees. The main two woundees are Dracoturtle and Armored Drakkar. Priest is obviously the main wounder, but you also have other wounders in Raging Bear, Svalblod Butcher and Mardroeme. The deck also runs double Freya's Blessing. While one sometimes needs to be saved for the Gedyneith combo this is usually resurrecting a Priest or Drakkar.

I would also place an asterisk around two other units that conditionally act as woundee targets - Crowmother and Ermion. If you are planning to play another Alchemy card in the round, Crowmother will resurrect after she dies, so it's ok to kill her off as she'll come back when you play the Alchemy card. Having Ermion in the graveyard is a requirement to play the Gedyneith combo to avoid Artifcat removal such as Yennifer's Invocation or Arathi Heatwave. In some games I needed to play the combo while Ermion was still alive, so you can kill him off with one of you wounders and then rez him for the combo.

Beast

The second package in the deck is the Beast package. Unlike the self-wound package which is a more high-risk/high-reward, this package plays for faster tempo and is less all-in, but has a lower point ceiling. I tend to like playing for this strategy in Round 1 if I have the cards. It sets up the graveyard nicely, thins the deck, doesn't commit key golds and isn't as vulnerable to tall unit removal.

The beast cards in this deck are Crowmother, Raging Bear, Crow Messenger, and Crow's Eye Rhizome. Dracoturtle also is a beast, but plays best in the wound package.

The beast payoff cards are Crow Clan Druid (8 for 5) and Axel Three-Eyes (usually a 10 for 7). Nothing amazing from a pure point standpoint, but the upside to this package is that it's fairly non-commital as it's mostly bronze cards, and these bronzes tend to outtrade your opponent's bronzes.

Gedyneith

Finally, but most importantly, is the Gedyneith package and combo that is a very strong R3 seal and short-round pointslam. When the graveyard, deck and board is setup correctly, which is easier to do than it sounds, you can play for maximum of 38 points in one turn with Second Wind + Gedyneith in one turn with optimal set-up, and a minimum of 29 points with worst-case setup. The biggest counter to scenarios is artifact removal, so being able to bypass and brick their tech cards is very advantageous and safeguards the 14 provision investment.

Let's explain the combo. The combo is Gedyneith -> Leader -> Ermion -> Freya -> Crow Clan Druid. The scenario will trigger entirely, giving you a Crow Clan Preacher, Crow's eye Rhizome and Mardroeme. If Crowmother is in the graveyard, she will also trigger in this sequence.

Le's explain the setup. Ermion and Crow Clan Druid must be in the graveyard. 1 copy of Freya's Blessing needs to still be in the deck, so you can kick this in the R3 mulligan. To further optimize the combo, ideally you have the Crowmother in your graveyard, as well as a Dracoturtle or Armored Drakkar in play to maximize the Chapter 2 Mardroeme target.

The points looks like this: Gedyneith prologue gives you Crow Clan Preacher (4). You leader for Ermion (2), pulling a Freya's Blessing (1 to CCP), with the Ermion rez proccing Chapter 1 and Crow's Eye Rhizome (6+1 to CCP) and Crowmother (3). With the Freya's Blessing you then pull out a Crow Clan Druid (8), which procs Chapter 2 Mardroeme, which plays for (12 on Dracoturtle, 9 on Armored Drakkar, 6 on other) + (1 to CCP).

Max Combo Summary: CCP 7, Ermion 2, CCD 8, CER 6, Crowmother 3, Mardroeme 12 = 38.

And while this is a powerful point-slam combo, there are situations when you don't want to go for the combo or can just go for a Chapter 1 proc. The most common reason to not go for the full one-turn combo is that your graveyard/deck might not be setup properly. Second, if you are confident you don't need to play around artifact removal and are in a longer round 3, it can be more overall points to go for an uncomboed Gedyneith and proc it naturally with playing Druids from hand, and using the leader ability on Dracoturtle for more potential points. This also allows you to use Dracoturtle in an earlier round. You can also aim for a Chapter 1 proc with Gedyneith + Leader + Ermion, but pull a different alchemy card other than Freya's Blessing, or Freya's Blessing for a unit other than a Crow Clan Druid like a Priest for more potential points. Then if your opponent removes the artifact, you're not too sad as all you missed out on is the Mardroeme and +1 on your CCP. It can also make them choose between an Invocation or Heatwave on your semi-procced Gedyneith or a tall unit like Dracoturtle or Priest.

Mulligan:

The mulligan for this deck is fairly challenging, as there are a lot of bricks you need to avoid, however this gets better as you actively thin. If you're a good player, you draw Crowmother in R1. Generally keep all golds, but on top of that there are a few other aims with the mulligan. You should look to set up your graveyard (Crowmother, Ermion, Crow Clan Druid), thin your deck (Marching Orders, Raiding Fleet, Crow Messenger, Matta Hu'uri), but also look for synergy cards listed in either the Self-Wound or Beast package to play for a cohesive Round 1 strategy. For example, if you have a self-wound friendly hand with Drakkar and Priest and need to decide vs pitching a Crow's eye Rhizome vs. a Svalblod Butcher, pitch the Crow's eye Rhizome even though it's a higher provision card as the Butcher plays better with self-wound.

Round 1 Strategy:

While this deck can push for Round 1, it's not a necessity to win and a more important goal should be to setup your graveyard and thin your deck to prep for a strong Gedyneith. Hopefully with the mulligan, you're able to formulate a R1 strategy around Beasts or Self-Wound. I tend to favor a beast strategy as it's a bit harder to disrupt, is less committal on golds, and gets a few more key cards out of the deck and into the graveyard. This deck is fairly light on power golds other than Gedyneith and Dracoturtle. I'd strongly advise against playing Gedyneith R1. Dracoturtle can be played R1 with a self-wound strategy for the round, but do realize that you do limit your Round 3 a bit, unless you're planning to forego the one-turn Gedyneith combo and rez Dracoturtle with leader instead of Ermion.

Round 2 Strategy:

Regardless of whether you won or lost Round 1, in Round 2 it's important to finish your graveyard setup (Ermion, Crow Clan Druid in GY), and finish thinning as much as possible.

If you won R1, I like to bleed most opponents in R2 if you losing card advantage isn't too much of a risk. There's quite a few proactive, high tempo plays such as Raging Bear and Crow Clan Druid that can keep you ahead in points and force some golds out of your opponent. Since you have a very strong short round with Gedyneith in R3, it's usually in your best interest to bleed as much as you can.

If you lost R1, many decks now seem to like pushing heavily in R2 due to try to force out scenarios. If you notice they are trying to bleed you, setting up a Priest and self-wound package early is pretty important. You obviously want to avoid being forced to Gedyneith, but if they commit leader along with their bleed, it can be necessary to do so as well. Since this deck's bronzes play for a lot of points, going into a fully bled R3 without Gedyneith vs. a similarly bled deck isn't a death sentence.

Round 3 Strategy:

Time for the Gedyneith! Again, just to recap, here is the setup. Graveyard should have Ermion and Crow Clan Druid, and your deck should have 1 Freya's Blessing in it (kick back in mulligan). You also want either Dracoturtle or Armored Drakkar in play before you combo to give your Mardroeme a good target. It generally whether you play Gedyneith early or late. Playing it early might give you a couple extra procs on the Crow Clan Preacher, but playing it later might give you more points if you have a Svalblod Priest ticking. Since the deck doesn't run any major removal, last say doesn't matter much, other than playing around tall unit removal from your opponent.

Deck Omissions/Substitutions:

+Morkvarg: The main weakness of the deck is that the removal is very limited, but that was a conscious choice as I haven't faced too many engine decks or decks that go very tall (other than Death's Shadow).

+Triss: Triss is a solid value card in SK as playing for a Freya's Blessing on a Priest makes having one out pretty consistent. However, since this deck isn't as reliant on Priests, I decided to omit.

-Thinning: This deck thins a surprising amount. You start with 25 cards, draw 16 cards naturally, then the deck has 5 thinners (Marching Orders, Matta, Raiding Fleet, Crow Messenger, Ermion) and 1 more from leader Ermion. If your opponent also plays Matta, you play 23/25 of your deck. Naturally the tradeoff for consistency and thinning are potential provisions.

-Gremist: I haven't talked about Gremist this whole guide. I find that he fits nicely since poison is pretty rampant, and lock/bounty are also present and the deck has a lot of Alchemy cards for multiple charges. He's also a Druid, but that matters less as most times we go with the leader/Ermion combo to proc Gedyneith. But since the deck practically has no removal, offensively purifying a Defender/Shield is pretty pointless, making Gremist just a 6 point body when there's no defensive use for Purify.