My Dread Awakening collection, bought on the secondary market

When the set was announced, I told myself: "no buys at the early stage this time". But when I saw the cards on TokenTrove (fresh and crunchy), I couldn't help buying some. The time of testing came after that. I was in Ethereal Diamond when I started, and I ended up in Midnight Shadow as it happens to people who test decks in Ranked. 😄 Then, I decided to play the old aggro Deception deck but added a bit of new cards. That brought me from Midnight Shadow to Mythic! 🤠 Sharing what I've learned.

Guild Nighthawk

Guild Nighthawk is a premium card which means it is common only in purchased packs. As for WR and Sealed packs, its drop rate is low. That was the formal reason why I decided to buy 10 and forge a couple of shadow Guild Nighthawk. And not formal reason was that I could afford it and wanted it. 😄 I don't think now that forging was the best investment, but okay, it's done. 🙂

Actually, I had noticed Guild Nighthawk before the release and decided it could be played well with A Real Man:

A Real Man is an amazing choice to think about at the time when hiding god power costs 3 mana and at the time of dreadtouched cards which can utilize the cannot-atack body of A Real Man and, thus, trigger its afterlife "draw a card".

Advantages

Guild Nighthawk belongs to Guild and, thus, he can be played in decks utilizing Guild synergies. I played it within a deck with Second-Rate First Mates, Crooked Quartermasters, Whisper Barons.

Guild Nighthawk is good against aggro opponents. Good to play it when a frontline appears in front of your hidden creatures. Guild Nighthawk returns the frontline to the opponent's hand and gets leech. For example, returning White Fur Guard or Blind Martyr this way is very useful.

If you have a Real Man, you then can hide Guild Nighthawk and start a hit-the-face series next turn.

But you sometimes don't need to focus on hiding Guild Nighthawk, he often serves well without it if your opponent doesn't have spells like aggro Light.

Disadvantage of Playing Guild Nighthawk in Aggro Deck

The biggest disadvantage is that it's more crucial to make as much damage as possible before mana 7 for aggro Deception. Leech might help to win the damage race with an aggro opponent but it adds not much when you play against the control. Thus, that 4-strength non-hidden creature with 2 health isn't good in many cases. Compare to 4-mana alternatives:

• Feral Shapeshifter is a great threat for aggro and good (hidden 4/4) against control
• 4-mana hidden Shade Walker with growing strength better fits aggro Deception
• guildian Lokian Disciple alone can win a game against relic War and works well (hidden 4/4) against the control

At least, that's how I see things today. Guild Nighthawk has unique features (leech and returning a creature) and might amazingly fit some other decks like a card draw Deception in @copperpitch's video, here.

Path of Deception

Path of Deception is a common reward card so I bought 2 meteorites and managed to stop my shopping impulses at that stage. Moreover, the card looks powerful and they might nerf it, who knows. (Though, the whole set looks OP).

Path of Deception has been designed to be played within Dread Awakening copy-card Deception first of all but I have found it very useful within a "Quartermaster, First Mate & Barons" deck. This is my lucky deck with Path of Deception:

Deck code: GU_1_2_KDPKDPCCmCCmCCQCCQNBiNBiMBfMBfCFVCFVIAlIAlCDDCDDIClIClCEPCEPMBgMBgKDSKDSCEQCEQCFTCFTGBnKCu

I reached Ethereal Diamond with this deck on the first try and, after 3 rounds in Ethereal, entered Mythic! 🤠

After several games in Auric, one round in Solar, and three rounds in Ethereal the deck's win rate is 62,8%.

Besides 2 Path of Deception, the deck has another peculiarity: there are 6 buffers: 2 Assassin's Aim, 2 Dark Knives, and 2 Selfless Guildmate. It's not too much since Path of Deception might work as a chest with 2 creatures (or more: Revivification, Bladefly, Pietro, etc). But honestly it's enough creatures in the deck and I often choose spells when delving.

The deck also has a ton of its own control spells thanks to 2 Crooked Quartermaster + 2 Stoneskin Poison.

Thus, having 2 Path of Deception in the deck allows you to make the deck even more aggro by adding extra buffers + I sometimes copy buffers from opponents when delving.

Another thing to mention: opponents can't predict your next move due to Path of Deception. They keep in mind Deception cards and, then, you summon copied Vanguard Axewoman or cast Savage Strike... Such tiny 1-mana moves can ruin the plan of the opponent; meanwhile, you can continue the hit-and-hide attack with Whisper Baron or anything else.

Look at this, from a game in Ethereal Diamond, turn 5:

turn 6:

How Path of Deception works

You delve (choose one card out of three) in your opponent's deck. If you want to do that twice, you must sacrifice one of your creature to activate dreadtouched. This:

Activating dreadtouched

Sacrificing a creature

Delving the opponent's deck for the first time

Delving the opponent's deck for the second time

Sacrificing a creature usually isn't a problem for the described deck. There are many tiny creatures in it - Rogue Skulkers, Second-Rate First Mate itself, or Contract Broker itself; Encumbered Looter can be utilized too. If you also have A Real Man in your deck, Path of Deception can utilize its cannot-attack body to draw a card. Damaged cards, cards with burn - you almost always have something. Even you don't, delving for 1 time is not bad too.

Bright Example of How This Works

Let me give a bright example - playing against zombie Death:

• muligan Second-Rate First Mate and Path of Deception. Play both on turn 1 + pip
• sacrifice 0/1 Second-Rate First Mate itself
• as a result, you'll have 2 1/1 Rogue Skulkers on the board + an opportunity to choose 2 cards out of six. If your opponent has 2 Necroscepters and 2 Cursed Obelists, you have a very good chance to get one of them.

Thus, you can play Necroscepter earlier than your zombie opponent! You can also get Blight Bomb, Perseverance...

When you play Path of Deception on late turns, you can choose some big creature, like, Overseer of Vitality, for example.

Ember Oni is a good choice too:

I first removed Ember Oni from the opponent's hand with Cutthroat Insight and, then, got a copy it with the help of Path of Deception. 😁

Much fun! Look at this game against War:

Buffed Whisper Baron + Another Round! and that:

And that's the win I needed to return to Mythic, the last moment Path of Deception brought me Dark Knives from the opponent on turn 6:

😀

Resurgent Sirens

I also want to mention another buy of mine, Resurgent Sirens. It's also a premium card. I decided to pay 5 $GODS for 2 cards to be sure I have them before the price is 30 or so - who knows! (I don't mean the price will definitely grow - I just wanted to secure myself from potential price surge and bought these tempting cards).

I learned about Resurgent Sirens from @copperpitch's video about a crazy card draw Deception deck.

And that's when I thought that Resurgent Sirens (combined with Cobra Scepter) can work in an aggro Deception deck too. For example, when the control opponent collects cards in hand, and you need the last blow but have the empty board or your creatures sleep... then, you can make final 8 damage with Resurgent Sirens + Cobra Scepter. If your deck has a way to return Resurgent Sirens (with the help of Guild Nighthawk, for example), you have a chance to repeat the damage later. I haven't yet tested it but... that's a very cool card, and I am glad I bought a couple of them.

Thanks for reading, guys, hope you've found some piece of usefulness in this post. Cheers!