Executioner's blade!

Hello buddyfighters! First off, Buddyformula would like to thank Panos Xanthopolous from Greece for providing us with this article! This article is an analytical review of the power of the Executioners deck and the reasons for its current place in the tiers. To begin with, this deck starts with 8 life and 4 gauge. Normally starting with lower life in a very aggressive meta should be a huge detriment to the viability of the deck. However, this deck managed to triumph over decks like the Zetta loop and even Neo Dragon Zwei and claimed the world championship in 2016. 

The deck revolves around this set spell, an extremely solid card that gives you 1 extra gauge per turn by sending the top 2 cards of your deck to the drop zone.A huge plus for the deck, since many of its effects rely on getting a specific number of cards in the drop zone. Not only that but it can also, for 3 gauge, get ANY executioner card you want back to your hand from the drop and also drawing you a card if you have 15 or more cards in the drop. This provides immense versatility and toolboxing as you can fetch any card that you need for specific situations. 

        

So, what makes the deck strong? Truth be told, Tempest Jailer Helle Cougar is a card that can make any deck viable. When you also consider the fact that the deck's main shield cant be nullified when you have 15 or more cards in the drop zone, which is a very simple task for this deck and at the same time gives you 2 gauge, and burns your opponent for 1 you can already see the humble beginnings of greatness. Add to that a counter card destroyer for 1 gauge, a size 0 that desouls cards on attack, a size 2 that destroys spells or items just by milling 3 cards, as well as quite possibly the best impact monster in the game, you can be sure the deck is going places.

            

In my opinion, the deck is supposed to be played as a mix of a grind and as an aggressive deck. You have tools to do both, so why not? With this deck, flexibility is the name of the game. The main damage dealers are the impact monster and the weapon, a great 4 crit vanilla that forces your opponent to use his shields there, meaning you can most of the times resolve helle cougars attacks. On one hand, you can easily otk an opponent with an impact monster or a Master of the Searing Executioners Gagalgarios. On the other hand, many decks just flip over and die the moment you use the effect of Hazel Emperor Jailer, Alking especially if you have an Inferno Rule as backup to go with him.

           

Consistency is in my opinion the greatest quality you are looking for in a competitive deck. Well, if that’s what you are searching for then you should look no further. Chaotic Hunt Jailer, Soku as well as Damians decision and Demon way Akeshigure make sure you never run out of cards. Access to 2 different searchers for the set spell (Sword Edge Jailer, Zagulus and Headslay Jailer, Brujeria) means you will get it in your opening hand as often as 80%-90% of the time.

This deck, just like Aster, has to be tailored to different metas accordingly. The win percentage against specific decks can be completely different even with changing 2-3 cards in a 65-70 card deck. The reason is, most of the cards you run can be reclaimed from the dropzone by Gate Of Verdict, Judgement and Demon Way, Jigokuezu . That means during games 2 and 3 you are MUCH stronger than your opponent. He has to draw into his side deck, while you can just mill it and then reclaim it, increasing your chances of using it exponentially.  For example, you can main deck 2 copies of Violent Jailer, Dogaragan if you expect to see lots of 72 Pillars players, and you will see a copy at least ½ games. That doesn’t happen with any other deck.

Don’t be afraid to play cards that are situational in this deck. That way, you have in your deck answers to every possible situation, and by turn 2-3 you will probably have one of them in your drop zone. Dont forget, this deck is always made to be more than 60 cards. This means that the chances of you drawing into any specific card is much less than with a regular deck. Plus, you can (and should) be maindecking damage control as a way to get rid of all the excess set spells and monsters that can be clogging up your hand.

Lastly, this deck is pretty hard to play perfectly. Gauge management is extremely important, deckbuilding is extremely important, knowing when to go for face and when to change to a grind play style makes or breaks many of your matches. The deck is neither cheap nor expensive, though it has jumped in price with the inclusion of the must-have 4 off that is Death Transfiguration Dragon , Paradise Lost. Still, with less than 200$ you should have a 100% complete Executioners deck, ready to trample all opposition. The deck has pretty much no tough matchups, except shadow shades. And its an investment that will last. Its core mechanic is so strong that even if the decks gets outdated, any future support will be able to make it jump into tier 1 again. 

Here is a sample decklist for you guys to refer!

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