https://discord.com/channels/978545345715908668/1091860757781684295
I climbed to infinite with a standard Dracula Swarm list, which felt quite strong. After I got to infinite, I started theory-crafting and experimenting, and I came up with this deck which makes GOOD use of Crystal. Not just, "throw Crystal in the deck, and never actually want to play her" , but "Crystal is the card that makes this deck work" . I'll explain: Pros: Dracula -> Infinaut is broken. You will win the majority of games you get this off. In a regular Dracula Swarm deck, you will draw Dracula + Infinaut about 50% of the time, and a decent percentage of the time that you draw both of them, you wont be able to isolate the Infinaut in hand and will have to 50/50 for game. In this Crystal Dracula Swarm deck, you will will draw Dracula + Infinaut much more frequently AND you will always be able to isolate Infinaut in your hand. This will more than make up for the tempo-loss of playing Crystal. Cons: That being said, this version of Dracula Swarm has less access to anti-meta cards such as Cosmo, and the deck will be less powerful when we don't achieve Dracula -> Infinaut, even though it is more consistent. Also, since we are more mono-focused, the deck will be weaker to forced hand and deck disruption from locations or the opponent. Win-Condition: The win-condition of this deck is win one lane with Dracula and the other lane with turn 6 Juggernaut. Juggernaut seems like the best second lane winner because he is low-cost and the Dracula lane is usually overkill so you don't care as much about shoving stuff into it. Supplement both your target lanes with your swarm cards. If you draw enough cards with Crystal, you can fill the board and compete for all 3 lanes. Here is how you should be thinking about Crystal: Crystal is one of 3 cards in the game right now that can thin your deck. The first one is Adam Warlock. He thins the deck by wining a lane, but he is a brutal tempo loss that most decks can't afford. The second is Jubilee. She pulls cards from your deck strait to the field, so she works best if your deck is full of cards worth more than the 4 energy you spent to play her. The third is Crystal. She essentially thins your deck and draws you more cards the smaller your hand is when you play her. You start with 3 cards in your hand and draw 1 per turn, so if you play more than 1 net additional card per turn, Crystal becomes a draw engine. Here are the 4 ways you should be playing her in this deck to generate value and increase your consistency: 1) If you DO NOT have Dracula in hand, then play as many 1-cost and 2-cost cards as you can on curve, then play her on turn 4 to dig for Dracula. 2) If you DO have Dracula, you can play him on turn 4, then play Crystal + a 1-cost card on turn 5. This will guarantee you 1 extra card draw since your hand will be smaller. You can play Kang first for an additional card draw! Because we are only running 1x 3-drop and 1x 2-drop, you will be guaranteed to play out 3 cards on turn 6 (1 + 2 + 3 = 6) leaving just Infinaut in your hand. 3) If you have Kang in your hand early, Crystal has a chance to put him back in the deck and not re-draw him. Then, if you draw him naturally on turn 5 or 6, you can "Kang Snap" for cube equity, then you will DRAW A DIFFERENT CARD after the rewind. This interaction comes up frequently with Crystal and thins your deck even more, making Dracula + Infinaut ridiculously consistent. 4) If you have all your combo pieces and think you can win the game, just play her somewhere else other than mid and her effect won't activate. Alternative card options: -Okoye -> Crystal could be good value, but her buff is kinda wasted on Infinaut, Kang, and Dracula if it hits them. -Goose could be another win condition since you need to win your second lane with mostly 1-drops. -Armor should be run in this deck in place of Korg or Lizard to protect vs Killmonger, but I wanted to test this maximum consistency version first.
Slightly updated list: Lizard -> Armor Korg -> Yellowjacket Armor helps vs Killmonger. Yellowjacket helps us dump for Crystal/Dracula and replaces Lizard as a second good Zero target. Also, you can throw him on top of Dracula if you need more power in that lane, and the -1 will get overwritten.