How to Play Deep Riches
Hey all, Rattlingbones here with the latest update to the Deep archetype!
Ever since the new patch release and its direct buffs to Deep, I’ve been experimenting quite a bit.
Not sure if you guys remember but Deep had its glory days. It was one of the most prevalent decks in its prime.
It could play quite well into everything;
- Beat slow decks with Maokai
- Beat mid-range with Nautilus and Devourers
- Beat aggro with Viles, Wails, Toads, and Blooms
Deck Code: CECQKAQGE4WC6NJYAECAKDYDAICQOCAKAEAQKKABAQDAQAYBAMDACAICAYOQCAIFDUAQCAIFDE
[See Deep Riches deck details]
That being said, it fell off a bit. I can’t exactly recall when but other decks just became better?
Lee could OTK quite consistently (and it still can), Aphelios and TF decks were bonkers (they no longer are), and scouts were just so widely played (they no longer are).
Given the shift in meta, we might actually get to have some fun with Deep (I know I have)!
Let’s go over the deets.
Win Condition
Not much has really changed from the old version:
- Beat slow decks with Maokai
- Beat mid-range with Nautilus and devourers
- Beat aggro with Viles, Wails, Toads, and Blooms
I lied; there’s definitely one big change here and it’s Lost Riches.
We’ll get into this card a little more later but this also works as an alternative win con vs those slow/midrange decks.
The goal of the deck is to live and abuse Maokai where feasible until you’re Deep. Then you just get to play Nautilus or a bunch of overpowered units to help you stabilize/take control of the board.
Mulligans
Against slow decks
- We want Maokai and mill/Toss cards to level him up ASAP
- More specifically, we want Salvage, Dreg Dredgers, Slaughter Docks, and sometimes Lost Riches.
Against midrange
- It does vary from matchup to matchup but generally, you can’t go wrong with Dreg Dredgers, Jaull Hunters, Maokais, and Sea Scarabs.
- Essentially, we want to do our Tossing with units and summon Maokai when it’s fully leveled (against decks that can easily kill it that is).
- We also want to be able to summon a leveled up Nautilus on 7 vs most midrange decks.
Against aggro
- All of your early game units are great.
- Maokai is also surprisingly good at whittling down the board with its Saplings.
- Last but not least, Wail/Vile are your friends.
Card Choices & Key Synergies
Lost Riches
- Starting with the big one, it’s quite hard to describe why this card is good… All I can say is, Treasures are quite good if you can find them.
- Being able to play lost riches on turn 3 and playing a Treasure on turn 5 is game-winning… simple as that.
The Slaughter Docks
- Slaughter Docks is basically a 3 mana Toss 3-4 that will eventually turn into something big.
- It’s great vs slow decks as it deceptively creates bigger boards than your opponent can respond to.
- Last but not least, when you’re able to get Terror of the Tides, you usually outright win.
Withering Wail
- It’s not a crazy tech but given the number of aggro decks we’re seeing right now, Withering Wail seems quite good.
- It can easily get swapped later if the meta shifts.
Jettison
- I’ve seen decks that don’t run any and I just can’t understand it.
- Call me crazy but 1 mana Toss 4 seems quite good and lets you deceptively enable Maokai and/or your Deep cards.
Sea Scarab
- Last but not least, Sea Scarab is one of the main reasons why the deck is making a comeback.
- A 2|3 statted unit that Tosses every turn as your chumps get killed is exactly what the deck needed.
- Helps you stabilize against aggro decks a lot better and ultimately turns into a 5|6 when Deep.
Good Matchups (and How to Win Them Consistently)
Discard Aggro
- We have plenty of 1, 2, and 3 drop units all of which keep us healthy while advancing our game strategy.
- Withering Wail and Vile feast are great for keeping your health up and pinging down low health attackers.
- Devourer and Jaull Hunters help deal with our opponent’s champions.
- Last but not least, Nautilus is just a tank and that can’t be killed.
Lissandra/Trundle
- So it might sound surprising but we should do well in this matchup.
- Even if our opponent can get off their combo on turn 9, Lost Riches and Nautilus can turn the game around.
- This is all under the assumption that we weren’t able to Toss effectively and level up Maokai (by turn 9).
Bad Matchups
Targon Decks
- At the end of the day, we can’t really stop Comets on Nautilus and it hurts.
- What we can do however is rely on those Treasures to win the game quickly!
- I generally like to play Lost Riches on 3 and work towards leveling Maokai as quickly as possible.
Demacia Decks
- Any deck that can Rally on our turn hurts.
- Most of the Demacia units are higher statted units. Once they build a board and Rally, we really can’t do much.
- However, if we’re able to stabilize the early game and take some good trades, Devourer on turn 6 is quite good at getting us back into the game.
- We need to look for those Dreg Dredgers and Jaull Hunters to help stabilize the board early on.
Tech Choices
Lure Of The Depths
- Lure of the Depths could potentially be better than Lost Riches… After all, it’s able to make our Nautilus plays a lot better.
- That being said, the card may come at a premium in terms of deckbuilding costs.
- You’ll have to play multiple Atrocity and maybe Mist’s Call to get Nautilus to stick.
Abyssal Eye
- Good card but again, another option that I think needs to be played in conjunction with Lure of the Depths. It’s just a really slow card.
Vengeance
- Depending on where the meta goes, I can see Withering Wail getting cut for Vengeance. It’s just a good card, especially in slower matchups. 🙂
Shipwreck Hoarder
- I’ve always liked the card, but if we’re playing Lost Riches, I can’t really see much value in playing this card in most cases.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask Rattlingbones during his streams (every weeknight @9PM EST).
Bones streams at twitch.tv/rattlingbones_ every weeknight @9PM EST
