Artifact Deck Tech: Blue Green Swarm Decklist

Introduction

This week we’re revisiting one of our old Artifact staples, but with a brand new twist. We’ve seen Blue Green board decks in the past, and we analyzed the big combo version a few weeks back. This week we’re going back to a Blue/Green creep build, but we’re coming at it in a whole new way thanks to a list from Reddit user frostykitten.

It's not easy to take a set deck list and make successful tweaks to it. Most popular builds are popular because they are strong in their current form. This one breaks that mold completely. Not only does it give us a brand new look at what Blue/Green can do, but it uses a lot of cards that nobody else does.

For that reason, it is not just a great lesson in deck building, but a good way to see how to utilize lesser-played cards.

The Heroes

Everything about this deck has minor tweaks that break from the usual mold and build into new trends. The first example of that is the heroes. Here, we have Lycan, Ogre Magi, Omniknight, Drow Ranger, and Kanna. Though most of those heroes are not the stock choices when going into these colors, they enhance the other cards in a big way.

Creeps are the name of the game here, and all of the above choices completely reinforce that style.

Lycan kicks off the party because he helps your build up a board state on two fronts. His body, while not the best, comes with a strong ability that instantly lets you win any early creep combat. Getting a quick lead with this deck is important, and he can help cement your presence right out of the gates.

In addition, Savage Wolf is also one of the best creeps in the game for this type of deck. Though the four drop starts out fragile, all you need is a lane for a few turns and it will grow into a truly terrifying monster. That type of “must kill” minion in a go-wide deck is fantastic because it often takes the pressure off your board. Either they take care of it to ignore your other threats, or they leave it alone and let it grow out of control.

Ogre Magi, while popular in slow control, is not something we typically see with Blue Green. However, he is important here because, not only does he come with built in card advantage, but he also brings Ignite. Creep focused decks want to control the board. That is strong, but it can leave them vulnerable to other board-centric lists. Ignite enables you to both push with your cards and steadily chip down your opponent's threats. That then helps you push without worrying about walls or getting overwhelmed on the retaliation.

Omniknight is wonderful at protecting units, which is another way to cement the board at all parts of the game. Though his body is not incredibly impressive (a theme in this list) his special card and ability are great. You don't need a lot to get this deck going, but you do need some creeps to make it work. Allseeing One's Favor helps fix that issue by spreading around numerous ways to ensure your units keep on attacking.

Finally, nobody encapsulates the go-wide strategy better than Drow Ranger and Kanna. Prey on the Weak is an army-in-a-can (and a win condition in its own right), while Drow's static ability plays well with the more creeps you have on the board. Gust can also save you in a pinch, but Drow's main power comes from being able to push out additional damage through your little guys.

Just know that, when playing Kanna, you have to be careful about her ability. While it is often great to know where your melee creeps will go (especially when making a push for the win) there are times where it can be a drawback. Kanna has a lot of health, and there will be games where she sticks around for quite a while. Always make sure you truly want her in the lane she's going into. Either that, or be ready with a Blink Dagger.

The Usual Fare

Though there are a lot of new aspects to this deck, that doesn’t mean it's reinventing the wheel. To make a creep build you still need a few classic staples so that everything works as it should. Those are Diabolic Revelation, Annihilation, and Emissary of the Quorum. All of those cards have popped up before in Artifact and, due to their strength, they will likely pop up again. Even so, they are still worth discussing.

The one-of Diabolic Revelation is an important draw tool for this list, and it plays nicely with Prey on the Weak. In fact, you could probably get away with running three if you really wanted to. The extra cards are always nice, and being able to refill your hand without losing any on board advantage (in fact, gaining it) is fantastic.

Annihilation is another great card that helps push this deck over the top. Many people, especially those not familiar with this style of list, wonder why a mass-creep deck would care about clearing the board. The answer is because things don't always go as planned.

A reset button is fantastic insurance if your opponent ever manages to get out ahead of you or stall out an attack. In addition, it's also a solid way to take care of a lane you've ignored for a few turns. Though it does wipe your units as well, your ability to quickly refill often means you'll be back on the board before your opponent.

The final card in this section, Emissary of the Quorum, is your big finisher. That should come as no surprise for any Artifact veterans. The eight drop has been a creep staple for a long time and helps you quickly close out the game. The ability is so strong that even one activation is enough to close things out. You simply can't run this list without three.

Buff Your Board

Now that we’ve gotten the familiar cards out of the way, the next question is, what makes this deck so different from the stock builds? The answer is how it takes advantage of a wide board by piling on one massive creep buff after another.

Many of the Blue Green Artifact decks use creeps to win, but that is more incidental than anything else. Rather than steadily growing an army, they push out an entire board at once to finish the game.

Here, we get a deck that creates a board and then feeds off of it a range of ways. You do not just have cards that create creeps, you have a long list of tools to make them stronger.

Mist of Avernus and Rumusque Blessing both reward you for spamming as many units as you can into a lane, but they do it in different ways. While Mist helps you get extra attack over time, Blessing allows you to instantly build a resilient army (or win in combat) right away. The only rule here is to never get too greedy. You want to play these cards where you’ll get value, but that does not mean you need to have a massive board to run them out. Sometimes just getting a few buffs to keep control in a lane is fine.

Two other great go-wide cards here are Dimensional Portal and Defensive Bloom. As mentioned, a big part of this list is its resilience. You either push by adding a ton of pressure or you rebound after losing your units. In order to do that, you need to have cards that give you creeps right away.

The three melee creeps from Portal may not seem like a lot, but they add up quick. Defensive Bloom only gives you two bodies, but those bodies are huge and work well with the extra buffs. These are the cards that enable you to overwhelm your opponent on many different fronts. You either use them to push when your opponent is vulnerable, or you can hold them back and only run them out when your opponent manages to answer your board. Always read the scenario and pace the game before committing.

Filling in the Gaps

The final cards in this build are a mess of strong plays that help round everything out. The core exists in a way to generate and pump large boards. While that is strong (especially in conjunction with the different heroes) you do often need something else to push you over the top.

The help comes in the form of Vhoul Martyr, Compel, and Aghanim’s Sanctum. At first glance, these cards seem random. However, they are all here for a reason.

Martyr offers a nice buff that you can use to give your units a bit of extra power throughout the game. Though you can place them wherever you want, this is a card that you want to get next to your heroes if possible. That's not the only rule, but it is one to keep in mind early on.

Compel is another great three-of because it's incredibly versatile. The ability to decide how different units attack from both sides of the board comes up again and again. You can either use this card to put extra pressure on your opponent's heroes, or you can help save your own units so that they live to fight another round. There is no one way to utilize this ability, but it will come up time and time again. Great early, and fantastic late.

Aghanim’s Sanctum is the final glue card. There isn't much to say about this one. It has a strong ability that you can refresh time and time again. This, like Diabolic Revelation, could be upped in number as well. However, the reason to not go that route is because, as you don't have that many big plays here, you don't need this effect. It can be nice in one lane when pushing for a double tower kill, but there's no reason to go overboard.

The Items

Unfortunately, it seems like, no matter how spicy a deck is, there isn’t much room to build off the items. You generally want to keep things cheap and efficient. Health buffs are great, but so are strong abilities that don't cost a lot of gold. There is no one way to build an item deck in the current Artifact meta as long as everything is affordable and runs well.

The five items in this one are Revtel Signet Ring, Demagicking Maul, Phase Boots, Stonehall Cloak, and Blink Dagger. Blink Dagger is still the best of the best, making it an easy three-of. Everything else here gives you a smattering of abilities to keep things versatile. Rather than going all-in on one direction, you get a little bit of everything.

Conclusion

It is important to remember that, when seeking success in Artifact, there is room for experimentation. That doesn't always mean you need to do something new. Sometimes, you can just take a great build and make it better. Don't just dismiss something because no one else plays it. See what cards could make it work, and then play with those cards until you have a lean, mean fighting machine.