How to Play: Diana Aphelios Invoke
Hey guys NicMakesPlays here.
Today I’m going to go over my Aphelios Viktor deck!
Both Aphelios and Viktor were buffed in the most recent patch.
This deck is well-rounded and has tons of win cons and answers to threats in the current meta.
For more decks, head to the Deck Library! To build your own, head to the Deck Builder.
Deck Code: CEAQUAYJEM4ESS2MKRLFZWAB3EAQEAYDBEZVKYACAECQCGIA
[See NicMakesPlays Aphelios Diana deck details]
Goal of Deck and Mulligans
The goal of this deck is to outvalue your opponent and then finish them with powerful Celestial units.
Diana can help tear apart their early game while Aphelios/Mountain Scryer generates value.
Then you can close the game around turns 9-10 with Celestials and Atrocity.
In this deck, you want to mulligan for Lunari Duskbringer, Mountain Goat, The Sky Shadows, Diana, and Aphelios.
Lunari Duskbringer is a great 1 drop that enables your champions, while Mountain Goat and The Sky Shadows are great two drops.
Lunari Duskbringer / Spacey Sketcher
Lunari Duskbringer and Spacey Sketcher are your one drops of the deck. Lunari Duskbringer blocks in the early game well with her 2|1 statline while also giving you a Duskpetal Dusk. Duskpetal Dusk can be used to discount Aphelios and gain his Nightfall effect.
You can also use these cards as cheap Nightfall activators for Diana. Spacey Sketcher’s Celestial cards can also be discounted by Mountain Scryer.
The Sky Shadows / Mountain Scryer
The Sky Shadows and Mountain Scryer are great ways to get ahead on mana in this deck, and then control the game from there. The Sky Shadows gives you 2 mana if you Behold a Nightfall card, which you have 12 of.
You can use this as a 3|1 blocker to maintain tempo while saving mana for Aphelios’ Moon Weapons. Mountain Scryer discounts all your Celestials which helps you transition well into the mid-late game. You usually have more value than your opponent, and now that they are discounted it’s easy to take control of the game.
Diana / Aphelios
Diana and Aphelios complement each other well. Diana rips apart the opponent’s early game while Aphelios generates a card advantage to outvalue your opponent. You can play Diana as early as turn 2 to start removing enemy units.
This makes it harder for your opponent to push while you start generating your Moon Weapons and Celestials. In the late game, leveled Diana can start removing big threats as well and is a great Atrocity target.
Aphelios generates a toolbox of Moon Weapons to control the game with. If left unanswered he can win the game on his own by overvaluing the opponent. You can also use Infernum on leveled Diana to go for game.
Solari Priestess / Lunari Priestess
Solari Priestess and Lunari Priestess are two of your main cards that Invoke Celestials. Solari Priestess gives you access to 4-6 cost Celestials such as The Golden Sisters, Comet, Meteor Shower, and The Warrior.
This toolbox allows you to removal for tons of threats such as Viktor and Lee Sin. Lunari Priestess gives you access to the entire Celestial pool. This can heavily sway games in your favor due to the large selection of cards she offers. Both of these cards are particularly powerful when Mountain Scryer discounts their Celestials.
Starshaping / Atrocity
Starshaping helps generate Celestial win cons while also healing your Nexus. This tempo swing heavily swings the game in your favor. It puts you out of burn reach/aggro pressure range while also giving you a huge late-game win con.
Speaking of late-game win cons, Atrocity is perfect for this. Atrocity is great on Celestial units that are protected by Spellshield to go for game. A leveled Diana is also a great target because she can easily get to a 7+ attack.
Good Matchups
This deck is great against any midrange/or value-based deck. With a plethora of ways to generate card advantage, you can usually always outvalue your opponent.
Against Midrange, Gravitum, Diana, and Meteor Shower can control the board while you transition into the late game. You usually generate more value than other value-based decks due to Moon Weapons + Celestials.
Then, you have more win cons in the late game with Celestials, Infernum + Diana, and Atrocity.
Bad Matchups
This deck can be weak against Aggro since it has tons of cards that spend their turn generating value.
Against Aggro, you want to mulligan for tons of early game units to stop their early game pressure.
Once you set up Aphelios you can win by controlling the board and eventually healing back with Severum.
This deck also runs Starshaping and Guiding Touch for healing to get out of burn reach.
Tech Choices
This deck can cut copies of Lunari Priestess, Vengeance, and Guiding Touch
The Box – The Box can be played instead of Vengeance to help against decks that go wide with smaller units.
Celestial Wonder – This is a great card to stun the opponent’s crucial turns and stabilize from there.
Sunburst– Sunburst is a good alternative to Vengeance if you wanted to make space for more SI cards. This allows you to have removal for bigger units while also keeping your good Allegiance odds.
For more decks, head to the Deck Library! To build your own, head to the Deck Builder.
Catch NicMakesPlays live at twitch.tv/nicmakesplays 6PM-1230AM EST
