RE: First Impressions: Beefy War Deck Archetype
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This is exactly the sort of hilarious and then super useful post I'm thrilled to see posted at what, for me is stupid early in the morning. I spent quite a good moment's time just imagining the look on anyone's face who came across "Beefy War" out of nowhere while checking GUdecks.
Whoever at GU who was goofy/bold enough to go with that for the archetype name def deserves some props!
Props also to you for the very useful breakdown of what makes this archetype tick and be unique enough to be more then a typical aggro build. Very handy to have the deck analysis paired with conclusions made after actually giving it a go for a decent run of games.
I haven't personally gotten into War much yet, other then some rather unsuccessful attempts at making Bearstriders work. Not being able to command ranks of hyped-up warriors riding bears into battle was so sad I had to take a break from War for a while.
I do however hear people asking for solid info on War stuff all the time so now I've got a good place to send them!
Indeed, the name is a little strange but I guess whoever named this archetype thought it was a good idea 😂
I took a look at Bearstriders and honestly it'll probably almost never see play in its current state due to how much effort it takes to give it a +1 strength bonus over the neutral Wetlands Ogre. Maybe one day in the future when GU decides to go crazy with some Damaged mechanic though...
Glad you found the post helpful! Always happy to hear that. Cheers!
I'd have to agree that Bearstrider is unplayable as a straight-forward deploy. If you don't have something to immediately trigger the +3 Strength, it's a hit to your own tempo.
Because of this, it's something I only include in Enrage decks (or a Viking deck if I had the cards for it) where I view it as a 5-cost 6/4 (4 +1 for Enrage) that can balloon out of control if you're running creature-ramp (Spoils of War, Blood Rage, Call to Arms, Sound the Charge, etc.). A common win-condition for me was playing a 3/7 Tamed Mammoth (thanks to Call to Arms) followed by a 6/6 Bearstrider that bumped my Mammoth to a 4/7.
This would hit the board early enough that other forms of control weren't quite ready to remove them, so I'd get enough face damage that it was only a matter of time before they keeled over.
You could argue that all of the Blitz alternatives are better/faster/stronger/harder. . . wait. . . I mean more immediately useful, and to a certain extent I'd agree. It just seems like for an archetype named "Beefy War", there's a distinct lack of beefening effects beyond Out Of Its Misery!
Interesting! Haven't really seen this version much, but it sounds like it could be more viable if a few extra cards were tailored for it. I'll take a closer look at this sometime soon, thanks a lot! 😄