Flashy Introduction
- WARNING: SOME SPOILERS FOR WARHAMMER: 40K ARE INCLUDED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
The seeds of heresy are sown.
"Chief amongst the primarchs is Horus, called the Glorious, the Brightest Star, favourite of the Emperor, and like a son unto him. He is the Warmaster, the commander-in-chief of the Emperor's military might, subjugator of a thousand thousand worlds and conqueror of the galaxy. He is a warrior without peer, a diplomat supreme. Horus is a star ascendant, but how much further can a star rise before it falls?"
While leaning towards a Warhammer 40K theme, this deck at it's heart is a Mardu politics deck. Much like the Warmaster Horus, Mathas, Fiend Seeker is a diplomat supreme. His ability lets us coerce our opponents to use removal and resources taking out key threats to our board. The deck matches this, providing incentives to either persuade or force our opponents to attack each other before we deploy our spearhead for the final kill.
Politics
The political portion of the deck revolves around curses and other enchantments. Goading components are not included in this section: this section is highlighting key cards that will make our opponents willingly attack one another. Curse of Opulence and Xantcha, Sleeper Agent fit into this category perfectly. The curse provides a mana incentive, while our sleeper agent provides the opportunity for card draw. Both would normally put us into a major disadvantage, but if politics are applied properly then we will have little to fear. Crescendo of War and Darien, King of Kjeldor will help keep our opponents from attacking into our board as much, the King in particular due to the free creatures we will be gaining.
Forceful Persuasion
Now we will get to the less subtle portion: flat out goading. We have two Impetus cycle cards included in the deck, their value is self-explanatory. The one piece worth mentioning is Bloodthirsty Blade. This nasty blade can be used repeatedly, meaning it will not only be easier to remove creatures with bounty counters but also any other card that we don't want swinging our way.
Synergies
I will list off the synergy pieces to save some time and reading.
Enchantment Synergy
Blightcaster - great removal for small creatures
Lost Auramancers - cheap way to tutor out key, expensive enchantments
Mesa Enchantress - card draw
Sigil of the Empty Throne - quickly builds a formidable board presence
Sphere of Safety - makes it less likely for our opponents to swing at us
Enlightened Tutor - the perfect way to tutor up an effective enchantment or equipment
Commander Synergy
Bounty Hunter - efficient way to snipe creatures with bounty counters
Hunter of Eyeblights - kills off not just creatures with bounty counters, but other counters as well
Bloodthirsty Blade - lets us force creatures with bounty counters into attacking and being killed off quicker.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet - since plenty of creatures will be dying, this helps make it difficult for our opponents to get them back while also giving us a larger board presence.
The Haunt of Hightower - benefits off of our opponents losing creatures throughout the game and quickly gaining us back life.
And now... Warhammer references!
I'm sure this is what everyone has been curious about, "What cards represent what?". Now be warned, this will be including facts and references from both pre- and post- heresy. With that being said...
Assault Suit - Adeptus Astartes Power Armor
Blightcaster - Psykers
Captive Audience - Represents the Lupercal's Court. Also can be seen as a representation of the massacre onboard The Vengeful Spirit during the Istvaan III campaign.
Choice of Damnations - Showcases the moment when Horus decided to accept the powers of the Dark Gods.
Crescendo of War - represents the numerous campaigns that the Adeptus Astartes embarked on during the Great Crusade.
Damnation - the deployment of virus bombs on Istvaan III, killing the Space Marines loyal to the Emperor.
Darien, King of Kjeldor - represents the Emperor of Mankind.
Diabolic Servitude - the process of turning Imperial servants into Servitors
Goblin Sharpshooter - represents Imperial Guardsmen operating heavy Stubber weapon systems.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet - represents Erebus, First Chaplain of the Word Bearers.
Mathas, Fiend Seeker - represents Warmaster Horus
Mikaeus, the Lunarch - represents Kyril Sindermann, Primary Iterator of the 63rd Expedition.
Noxious Gearhulk - represents the numerous Titan war machines deployed by the Imperium of Man.
Rite of the Raging Storm - the numerous Warp storms, which impeded Imperial fleet movements.
Sphere of Safety - represents the Geller fields installed on all Imperial warships, protecting them from the madness of the Immaterium.
Smothering Tithe - the Imperial tithe, employed on all compliant Imperial worlds.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar - represents Euphrati Kheeler, remembrancer and later Saint who helped spread the word of the Lectitio Divinitatus.
Void - showcases the numerous battles that Horus' Legion, the Sons of Horus, were deployed to.
This deck list was fun to make, I hope you enjoy!
