With the latest card to be added to the game, Corvus Glaive, a new deck has emerged, combining two previous archetypes for a new experience, Ramp Hela! Here are a few things to note since the release of Corvus Glaive.
- Corvus Glaive unlocks a new way to play two existing archetypes
- The most popular version of the deck is enjoying mild success
- The high levels of variance in the deck could frustrate some players, making snapping decisions difficult and risky.
What is a Ramp deck?
A ramp deck gives itself extra energy to play powerful, high-cost cards earlier than usual to overwhelm the opponent. Electro and Corvus Glaive give us a way to get ahead in this deck. To take advantage of this, Sandman is often used to 'lock' the opponent and make it difficult for them to catch up or deal with your significant threats.
What is a Hela deck?
A Hela deck uses discard effects to discard powerful high-cost cards and bring them back with Hela to overwhelm your opponent.
What is Ramp Hela?
I have a pen... I have an apple... Apple Pen! There's a lot of overlap in the cards surrounding the archetype enablers, so you can probably start to see the similarities now. However, due to their similar nature, the drawbacks and benefits of both archetypes are amplified.
This is a feast or famine deck. You'll have spectacular wins, wins 1 point away from losing, and spectacular losses. If things look bad, do not let pride stop you from retreating after snapping. At the same time, know what draws you have left. You'll often have a 1 in 3 chance of winning on the final turn with a Jubilee play into Hela, Odin, or one of your other big cards. You'll need to decide if it's worth the risk for that big payoff.
The Deck
Ramp Hela
Here is the most popular version of the deck at the moment. It has a 52.4% win rate at the time of writing, which is fine but not top of the meta. It's good enough to hold its own in infinite or get you into infinite. And if you need something for the Corvus Glaive weekend missions anyway, well.. this is it.
A word of warning. Ramp decks and Hela decks can be frustrating to play due to the key pieces that need to be drawn by specific turns for the deck to function correctly. Not drawing your ramp or discarding Hela reduces your win percentage significantly; it can be game over in many situations, and a wise opponent will apply pressure by immediately snapping when they see this happen. However, you still have a chance if one of the two options doesn't work out because you have Ramp and Hela.
The highs are high, and the lows are oh-so low. It's also somewhat telegraphed. A turn 3 Corvus is enough to make shrewd players retreat if you snap on turn 4. Later, turn 5-6 snaps and your opponent will assume you have Hela and probably retreat. You might have to snap before rolling the dice on your discards, playing Sandman, or being happy with the 1 cube.
Several locations hinder the deck, and few help it. Like all decks with Hela, locations will target you, and your deck will target you. Everything and everyone is out to get you. Locations will add cards to your hand, blocking your draws as you have no early game plays. Locations will make you discard critical pieces. Sokovia can and will discard Hela turn 1. It happened to my opponent during my games this season. It occurred to me in past seasons. It will happen to you. It is a rite of passage for all Hela players to experience this. If this game had achievements, this would be one of them.
It's important to remember that ramp decks heavily rely on specific cards more than other decks, so don't get upset about it when you don't draw them. You will frequently not draw any ramp or have a playable card by turn 3. Unless they snap, stay in and see if a turn 4 Jubilee into maybe Corvus or Doctor Doom can save you. Using the power of hypergeometric distribution, we know there is a 22.7% chance of not drawing either ramp card by turn 3 (6 draws from a 12-card deck for one of two ramp cards). So it's going to happen.. often. Don't get frustrated, don't tilt, keep swimming. Consider retreating if the cube cost is too high to stay.
Counting Cards
More than other decks, keeping track of what's in your discard pool AND which cards are left in your deck is essential. Sometimes, you'll face a final turn, hail-mary Jubilee play, and you need to know your outs. You also need to know how good or bad the Hela resurrection will be and any potential chain reactions like Odin, Doom, or Magneto that could significantly change the board state. Our deck tracker (link) can help with that.
Maximum Effort
What does playing the deck look like? Here is the ideal strongest playline this deck can offer.
Turn 1 and 2: Do nothing (or Blade, and don't discard Hela).
Turn 3: Corvus Glaive, and again, don't discard Hela.
Turn 4: Ronan or Sandman.
Turn 5: Hela, a powerful 6-cost card, or Jubilee fishing.
Turn 6: Odin to trigger discard and Hela again (or trigger Jubilee and Doctor Doom).
Card Breakdown
Corvus Glaive
The star of the show and the reason this deck is even possible. This is the card you want to see and play on 3 almost every time and is a higher priority over Electro. Even with Hela in hand, you still want to play Corvus on 3, so you can play a 5-cost on turn 4.
Electro
This is your backup if you don't draw Corvus and is the second enabler for the ramp side of the deck. You seldom want to play Electro if you have the choice to play Corvus. A powerful combo can be Sandman -> Doctor Doom -> Odin. But the locations must support it, and your opponent's plays are a factor. Unless you have all of those pieces in hand already, choose Corvus. You don't want to rely on a multi-card combo if you don't have all the pieces. This isn't a highlights video. And even if you have all those pieces, playing Corvus in some situations can still be better.
Blade
This is an exciting card. It might seem unintuitive initially, but you don't want to play Blade early in most cases. Hold him because you'll want a full hand to play Corvus on 3 while having Hela in hand. If Corvus has already been played in other games, you can play Blade and Hela on turn 6 to get an extra discard to bring back.
Sandman
This shuts down many decks and can cause an immediate retreat from your opponent. Zabu is one of the most popular cards in the meta, and not being able to play two reduced 4 costs on turn 6 can be crippling to their game plan. This also shut down Serra decks, which always exist somewhere in the meta. If you choose between Ronan and Sandman, consider carefully what deck your opponent is playing and whether they will only play 1 card anyway. Also, consider how far behind you are. Sometimes, Sandman loses too much tempo. If you played Ronan on 4, a surprise Sandman on 5 can derail your opponent's plans. Remember that you can't Blade and Hela on turn 6 anymore, so get Blade out earlier if Sandman is your plan.
Hela
Hela is the more powerful side of the Ramp Hela deck in the current meta, but because this deck is also a ramp deck, you can still win some games when Hela is discarded. Don't immediately retreat. Pause for a moment to consider staying if the opponent snaps you.
It's ok to play Hela on 5 or 6. Place Hela in a lane that has your cards with discard effects. This gives you a chance for an Odin to be played on 6, resurrected, or Jubilee'd into Hela's lane, triggering your discard and Hela again.
Odin
This guy is the reason for the ramp side of the deck and brings a lot of extra power. You have many powerful on-reveals, and getting a second round can completely overpower other decks. It's essential to plan with lane placement. If you plan to double Jubilee or Doctor Doom, keep some space in the lanes. If you haven't drawn Hela yet, play Odin on Corvus to empty your hand and set up for a massive Hela. Tracking your deck is essential to know which cards are worth triggering again.
Jubilee
Jubilee helps you dig one card deeper for Hela and has several other good hits. An early Doctor Doom, Odin for another draw, or a ramp card so you can play a 6 drop on 5, or just one of your big beefy boys are all good. Keep track of what's left in your deck to know your outs.
Magneto
Magneto is a powerhouse and does a lot of heavy lifting. A turn 5 or 6 Magneto moving your opponent's cards around, stacking all their threats in a single lane, completely blocking a lane, or pulling cards out of flooded locations can win you games. The disruptive factor of Magneto should not be underestimated.
Ronan
This guy can sometimes win a lane all by himself, but there are several counters. In particular, watch out for surprise rogue plays flipping the lane. Sandman locking the game to 1 card gives you precise knowledge about Ronan's final power (except for Jeff) and helps keep him big.
Doctor Doom
It's a generally powerful card, made more so by Sandman restricting your opponent to one lane per turn while you go wide. It's also great for getting into flooded or restricted locations. With a sandman lock, Odin, you can usually add more power than your opponent can handle.
The Big Boys - Giganto & The Infinaut
Discard fodder is just some extra big, beefy boys to overpower lanes.
Locations
Dark Dimension
We can't take advantage of this as much as traditional Hela, but we can still set up Blade, Hela, and Odin here or use the surprise factor for Doctor Doom and Odin.
Elysium, Superflow, CastleBlackstone
You're a ramp deck; these give you the ramp effect. Playing Corvus/Electro on turn 2 into Sandman on 3 can be crippling.
Final Thoughts
This deck can be fun depending on how much you like RNG and requiring specific cards to win. The mental load is a bit higher, tracking your discards and draws. It's not the strongest deck in the field, and the Hela side is propping it up more than the Ramp side. Electro ramp is a very distant second to the Corvus ramp here. The ramp option allows for some secondary play lines, more consistency, and additional interaction with locations.