Carte TCG Archan Diploma Mill Deck Guide

Carte TCG Archan Diploma Mill Deck Guide by Koronzon

Hey guys! I thought I’d share a strategy that’s been performing very well for me. It relies on the ability of so many Archan cards to trade with value using the Blast mechanic and Carla’s Laboratory. The deck operates in two main stages; in the early turns, your plan should be to land a Laboratory early and then start churning out Witches or Philosophers, all of which function as removal and card advantage. The later stages of the game should revolve around using Pyromancers and Thundermages to clear the way for Looters. Trading your cards for your opponents cards on a 1-for-1 basis, and gaining cards with Looter damage, is the primary path to victory, as your hand will remain stocked with gas while your opponent saps their resources.

LABORATORY PACKAGE
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3x Little Witch
4x Apprentice Witch
4x Philosopher
4x Carla’s Laboratory

This engine is insane. I find that the optimal curve is usually to drop the Laboratory on 2, then a 3-drop, either a Blaster or the Looter, then drop one of the 1- or 2-drops with mana for the Laboratory activation. It allows you to trade the Laboratory copies for real resources from your opponent’s hand, which is key.

CARD ADVANTAGE
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4x Otherside Looter
4x Thundermage
3x Pyromancer
2x Hand of Mia
1x Magmancer
2x Tear of Moonshadow

These are your draw engines and your 2-for-1s. Tear is optimally applied to a Looter, since you don’t want them in creature combat. Blast creatures also make great additions to the defensive row,as you are able to rattlesnake your ability to destroy multiple resources, making opponents more gunshy or cautious.

REMOVAL
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3x Fire Bolt
3x Flame Blast
2x Explosive Cloud
1x Intensive Bombardment
4x Steam Armored Car
1x Meltmancer

I save these spells primarily for creatures that die with value in combat (see: MOST OF OUR DECK). Plan your games to avoid creature combat when you’re playing against Archan or Forest Spirit Aggro decks, as these strategies benefit most from trading creatures (Blast and Soul Calling both produce pseudo-card advantage when triggered). The singleton Meltmancer is to have an out to various backbreaking Items (Rusty Sword, Carla’s Laboratory, Goblin Market, Mystical Tome all come to mind). The Intensive Bombardment is best used on something with 4 HP or more that your opponent manages to stick in play. The -1HP is a fair price to pay for staying even on cards, as you don’t want to have to waste too many resources on any one creature.

SHARDS
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15x Wisdom

Simple and to the point. The Trap-bouncing Shards are decent, but personally I prefer the immediate card draw to help plan out turns with the most available options (on that note: when playing this strategy, remember to attack with your Looters before you do anything with your mana that isn’t relevant to combat. Drawing those extra cards can present you with better options than what you’re holding at the time!)

HERO
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Carla Rossi

Arguments could be made here for Chimera or Moonshadow, as both have powerful skills. But very often you’ll catch your opponent completely with their pants down with Carla’s 4-cost ability, either by making a copy of a Hand of Mia or Thundermage to kill them when they thought they were safe, or copying a Blast creature to clear away large chunks of your opponent’s board.

Anybody else having success with strategies like this? Any ideas on additional tools for improving the deck?