Atlas Conquest League Deck Choice

I hope you are excited for the Atlas Conquest League! Many players have asked about what deck to play in the league, so I compiled a list of decks that are worth considering below.

Note that unless you have played a lot, I typically find it’s better to play a deck you are familiar with rather than a deck you have never played before. So if you have something that works, don’t feel like you need to deviate!

These are all my personal decklists. Feel free to adjust them as you see fit.

Starter Deck Upgrades

Recommendations for players moving on from the Starter Beasts, Starter Mage, Starter Death, Starter Military, and Starter Deploy decks — decks that will feel similar but at a higher power level for the Atlas Conquest League.

Upgrading Starter Beasts - Jagris Beast Midrange

The Starter Beasts deck has a great, top-tier analogue that is easy to play and very powerful with the same commander Jagris, the Huntsman.

The deck can be very aggressive with openings involving Emerald Asp into Call of the Jungle threatening kills as early as turn 4, and then quickly transitions into a suite of strong mid-game threats.

Cards like Beast Trainer, Prideplain Queen and Dyana, Prime Huntress make the deck very difficult to answer, and Jagris’s commander ability supercharges your threats at every stage in the game.

In the lategame, even a small board presence can turn into a one-sided board wipe or a lethal attack with Stampede.

I highly recommend taking this list to the tournament, especially for new players! Just don’t forget to activate Jagris’s ability when you have the opportunity - and always consider what the extra speed boost may unlock for you on a given board.

Upgrading Starter Mage - Rosirix Spellcaster Aggro

The Starter Mage deck has some equivalent decks helmed by Starwise Luna but my recommendation power-level-wise is to switch to a more aggressive list led by Rosirix the Witch.

Rosirix has a very powerful ability that draws up to a full hand. Her starting Intellect (the circle symbol on the commander card, which determines the player’s max hand size) is only six, so it’s important to keep Diplomatic Envoy which serves double duty as a Spellcaster and a source of card draw when using Rosirix’s ability later.

The deck’s game plan is to dump its hand of cheap Spellcaster threats, then draw 6+ cards while a Nexus Recruit or a minion buffed with Sage Potion is in play to deal huge chunks of damage while refilling their hand.

In the lategame, a few Spellcasters become a big threat with Nexus Operative and numerous cheap spells - especially after using Rosirix’s ability.

This deck is super aggressive, but a bit tricky to play. You need to always be planning for how you will use your commander’s ability, which functions best when you have few or zero cards in hand. Just note that if you lose control of the board and have already burned your commander’s ability, it will be tough to crawl back against some decks.

Upgrading Starter Death - Viessa Sacrifice

The Starter Death deck also has a great commander in Soultaker Viessa. I recommend going all-in on the sacrifice package, but note that the deck is nearly equivalent with Fael Spiritwalker as the commander.

Viessa is an all-around great commander and the sacrifice plan works well with her interactive ability. The best curve for this deck is playing a Dragon Egg and sacrificing it with either a Sacrificial Offering or Vyre Aristocrat.

The midgame involves converting the early tempo into an insurmountable advantage with Gravehand and Zoloth the Butcher.

The deck converts its zombie hordes into damage in the lategame with Horde Leader and Nilo of One Thousand Cuts who can kill an enemy commander from anywhere on the board.

This deck is a solid pickup with a healthy amount of complexity. The deck can play out in radically different ways each game, so be flexible in your planning and always look for subtle tactics to give you an edge.

Upgrading Starter Military - Elyse Human Tokens

For the Starter Military deck, I will also recommend a commander swap - playing Elyse of the Order for her ability to add to your army directly and to recover from area damage spells.

The Human Tokens deck has a simple but powerful game plan: play a ton of humans with cards like Conscription, and then turn them into massive threats with Holy Fervor and Zealous Strength.

That’s it actually, at all stages of the game you’re hoping to play as many minions as possible and buff them. You do have one piece of premium interaction with Outflank - use it at the right time to convert a lead into a win.

This deck is fantastic, and relatively simple to play (though you will have to be comfortable commanding a LOT of minions at once). Your biggest worry is an enemy who can wipe your entire board multiple times in a row.

Upgrading Starter Deploy - Deploy Aggro

Note: The Starter Deploy deck is TOUGH to play and this deck is no different! New players don’t find the game plan intuitive and we plan to switch it out for a more straightforward starter deck in the future. However, if you are set on playing Captain Greenbeard I will recommend you my Deploy Aggro deck.

The deck plays some early aggressive threats with Knife Sharpener and curves into mid-game threats that Captain Greenbeard can grant Haste to such as Ursine Blade Trio.

The deck has a fearsome top-end: Goblin Infiltrator and Dread Knight become absurd cards when given Haste. And the deck has great reach potential with Lightning Bolt.

The most counterintuitive thing for new Captain Greenbeard players is you want to keep your commander close to the enemy territory. Your commander does NOT want to back off, or you are essentially forfeiting a huge portion of your threat potential from your commander which necessitates playing cards in enemy territory, usually next to your commander.

Other Decks for Common Archetypes

A few other strong decks that play in different ways - strong contenders for the League.

Aggro

In addition to the great aggressive options listed above, I do think Macks Speed is a great option worth considering for somebody who wants to rush down their opponents.

There are numerous flavors of this and I don’t think my list is anything special, but below is my Lightning Aggro list built around Stormrider Zurn.

I think it’s relatively straightforward to play, just plan to save Lightning Spells in hand for when you do have a Zurn in play.

Midrange

I have to recommend It That Weaves for my midrange deck of choice. It crushes board-based aggressive decks and does well against other midrange lists since it commands the battlefield so effectively.

Control

For slower, controlling decks, my pick is a different flavor of Soultaker Viessa - using a top-end built around Daemonic Summoning to power out an early Darkwing and Daemonprince Grizlocke.

Ramp

This ramp deck was my pick for the most powerful deck in the format for a long time (it has notable weaknesses versus aggressive decks). Helmed by Lazim, Thief of Gods and aiming to ramp into Chant of the Old Ones it packs a nasty punch when it goes off.

Combo

There are a handfull of complicated combo decks - in my opinion this is the simplest, even though the namesake card was nerfed recently. The idea is to cheat out a Wandering Ancient by playing Grand Illusion with no other minions in your deck.

You can create minions via cards like Illusory Legion and your commander, Starwise Luna can play both in one turn with her ability. If you do this early enough, you can sneak a win versus many strong decks.

Final Note

I hope this is helpful! I like all of these decks and would consider each of them for a tournament, but there are a TON of viable strategies in Atlas Conquest so if your favorite commander isn’t listed here, don’t take that as a sign not to play them.

As one final thought: Purifier Euron was recently buffed in the last update so he might be very strong too! For brewers, consider running something with Euron and Executor Ginn if you think the update made him extra strong.

Cheers, and see you on the Battlefield! - Matan