https://eternalwarcry.com/articles/d/chq9EV4wLyU/drafting-good-decks-with-bad-cards-feln-control
I wrote the below disclaimer before I published my original Feln Control article.
-The majority of this article was written prior to the format changes/updates that occurred on August 10th. I haven’t played enough recently to know the major impacts of the update, except for changeestik, which acts as another win condition for this deck. I think most of the article is still relevant given that a major part of your plan is to kill your opponent with a flyer anyway.
At the time, I figured the introduction of Changeestik would have the biggest impact on the archetype I had just written about. I was wrong. The most impactful change, by far, was the reduction of Wisdom of the Elders from 10x boosted to 5x in the draft packs.
“I dig towards my revenge cards in this deck and have played at least 3 Wisdom of the Elders in a list, maybe 4.” This sentence was reasonable when I wrote it. Now I’m thrilled to have a single copy in my lists. Playing Valley-Clan Sage on turn two and then drawing two cards on turn three was such a strong start for this deck. It helped you hit your fourth power and likely play another big blocker in the form of acrid scorpion or hearty warrior. Forbidden Research is a great card but it costs the same amount as the aforementioned blockers. This is an example of how something seemingly small can have a big impact.
Sequence A: Turn 2 blocker, Turn 3 draw two more cards, Turn four blocker (it’s more likely you have one and the power to play it thanks to the two extra cards), Turn five: Lots of options.
Sequence B: Turn 2 blocker, Turn three do nothing, Turn four, probably blocker if you have one – forbidden research if you don’t – assuming you have four power.
^^^Yikes
On the most recent episode of Eternal Journey, @iplongno mentioned that his Feln decks never seem to come together. Based on the Feln decks I’ve drafted, played against, and have seen streamers play against since the pack changes, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people had the same experience. If you drafted Feln Control after reading my article and it fizzled out: I’m so sorry. Losing slowly is awful. The most likely reason your Feln Control deck didn’t work out was lack of card draw. I promise I didn’t know they were going to change the weight of Wisdom of the Elders.
In practical terms, this makes Step 2: Outvalue your opponent, much more difficult. Forbidden Research should move up in your pick order, same for Wisdom of the Elders in the draft packs, and cards with plunder that you wouldn’t typically want (e.g. yeti taunt patrol) become actively good if your deck is lacking card draw. In Quadrant Theory terms, it makes it more difficult for your deck to break parity (i.e. drawing extra cards is one form of breaking parity).
The weight of the Shadow removal was also reduced, which makes the deck more difficult to draft, but there’s still enough removal to go around. This is a list @patomaru was working on with myself and a couple others in the Farming Eternal Discord, the same list I referenced in Quadrant Theory Part 2 when talking about frogs blocking elephants.
As you can see, removal is not lacking, but where is the card draw? If you pass a Wisdom of the Elders in packs two or three, you better be taking some pretty fantastic cards over them.
The Feln Control deck can still come together. My most recent list above went 7-1 and *I won’t say things like this often* the seven wins didn’t feel all that difficult (ya know what, I think I’ll block with my 0/5s and hearty warriors again. Good choice). This was the game I lost:
The classic Aurapiercer/Wump & Mizo draft deck. I took a screenshot at this point in the game because of how absurd it was, but also because I thought there was a chance that I’d win this game. I killed Severin with Devouring Shadow and the Pack Conjuring I drew the following turn. Don’t remember how I dealt with the Aurapiercer, but the unknown card in opponent’s hand is the Lethrai Falchion (4/1 lifesteal weapon) that they invoked from the Aurapiercer, which is allowed them to attack past the 3/7 Cloudsnake Mount I had on the board. A few turns later, I died to snowballs. If not for the yeti’s ability, there’s a small chance I come back to win that game. It was incredibly fun. And before you look at this game I lost to my opponent’s completely overpowered rares and think about how lucky they were, please give them some credit and consider how extraordinarily difficult it is to draft and construct a deck with those power requirements that not only functions but can survive long enough to cast those cards.
Feln Control is still viable and a lot of fun to play if control is your kinda thing. If you read my article, drafted a Feln Control deck that followed all the guidelines, and your deck still didn’t feel very good, lack of card draw may have been the reason. It’s still a good archetype, but it’s significantly harder to draft now. That’s all for this Sunday morning. Happy drafting! And Happy Football Sunday for fellow sportsball fans. Oh yeah, and best of luck to everyone competing in today’s tournament!
TL;DR – Wisdom of the Elders isn’t 10x boosted anymore, it’s 5x; Card draw spells become a higher priority during draft. Deck is still good but harder to draft and build.
Schaab
Thank you to shiftstoned.com for making the draft pack weighting information easy to find.
You can find me in the LetsTalkLimited section of the Farming Eternal Discord https://discord.gg/YfQVbjZ
Let’s Talk Limited Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LetsTalkLimited?fan_landing=true
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