Hello again! It’s Fireflyer and I have a fun deck idea for you to play around with if you’re the type that likes to mess with fun and interesting combos. This week, I’m looking at Aviana + Kun the Forgotten King which puts your mana at 10 crystals and sets all your minions to 1 mana! This sets up lots of possibilities for interesting minion-based combos and so far I’ve only seen TWO being used. Version 1 uses Alexstrasza and even though it’s fun to watch, it doesn’t quite work against Armor. Version 2 uses C’thun and Brann Bronzebeard and can actually work in smaller combos if you don’t have the full combo together so that’s the version I’m mostly going to go over. First let’s take a look at the combo itself.
Aviana Kun Combo: The Possibilities!
As I mentioned above, the Aviana/Kun the Forgotten King combo will reset your mana to 10 crystals and make all your minions cost 1 mana. Keep in mind, that doing this “reset” makes it so you can only cast 5 minions after these two.
Version 1 of the combo uses Alexstrasza + Malygos + Faceless Manipulator + Faceless Manipulator + Starfire to set your opponent to 15 health and deal 15 damage. While the combo is fun to watch in action, it doesn’t work against armor and the rest of the cards are usually dead cards in your hand until the combo is ready, especially with things like Malygos. If you like this version better, test it out for yourself but the version I prefer is this next one.
Version 2 of the combo uses Brann Bronzebeard + Dark Arakkoa + (Optional) 2nd Dark Arakkoa + C’thun + (Optional) Youthful Brewmaster. This combo will buff C’thun to a 12/12 or larger and end up having him deal 24 or more damage, with the possibility of Youthful Brewmaster to cast him again and deal another 24 or more damage. The reason I like this version better is because you can cast stuff like the Dark Arakkoa early in the match to stop early aggro and still get enough of a boost to C’thun to combo for lethal later on in the game. Even if you cast both Dark Arakkoas early, just Aviana, Kun the Forgotten King, Brann Bronzebeard, C’thun and Youthful Brewmaster will do 48 damage.
Even without the finishing combo pieces, the Aviana/Kun the Forgotten King reset will allow you to cast stuff like Azure Drake or Coldlight Oracle for just 1 mana and draw into your other combo pieces like if you’re missing C’thun to finish your opponent with. The thing to remember is that each time you cast something to draw more cards, it’s taking up a minion spot that your combo won’t be able to use any longer.
I go into detail below in the Comboing 101 section so check that out if you’re having trouble getting the combo to execute in your matches. But first, let’s take a look at the deck itself and the Druid control cards that keep it alive.
Decklist: Fireflyer’s Brew
My decklist is a variation that I saw streamer Savjz running. In his version he also ran The Curator in order to draw into Azure Drake and Coldlight Oracle but I felt my version needed more early game control with Doomsayer. I ended up taking out Mire Keeper for them which I really didn’t want to do but I was having lots of trouble with Pirate aggro so this is the adjustment I had to make.
Let’s take a look at all of the cards that go into the deck.
Early Control
These are the cards that help you control the game and survive to Turn 10 in order to get your combo off.
Innervate: It’s always important to use Innervate at the best moment. My personal favorite is using it with Fandral Staghelm to boost me into something good like Nourish or even Feral Rage. Also good to save this for later in the game when you get Aviana and need to still find Kun the Forgotten King. Don’t feel like you need to use this fast and be aggressive, we’re playing a control/combo deck.
Living Roots: Use this to deal with early game minions. Doesn’t really need to be saved for Fandral Staghelm since the 1/1s don’t do much but if you have him, it’s still nice to combo with him if you can to make distractions. Mostly good against the matchup vs Pirates and small-time buccaneer.
Wrath: You’ll almost ALWAYS use this for 1 damage and draw a card, but every once in awhile you need to kill something really annoying, you have the versatility to deal the 3 damage. Best combo’d with Fandral Staghelm so you can deal 4 and draw a card, but also pretty good with Azure Drake so you can deal 2 damage and draw a card. Don’t use these too early in case you draw a Fandral Staghelm.
Feral Rage: I wish I could find a spot for an extra one of these because it’s real good to stall against Pirates or other aggro decks. The 4 damage on Turn 3 is really good because it counters dangerous things like Frothing Berserker and the 8 armor will keep you alive to get to your combo. Works well with Fandral Staghelm but isn’t super necessary. Usually you’ll use it for the 8 armor to survive and get your combo together but in dire situations you can use it for 4 damage early in the game (like I said with Frothing Berserker).
Mulch: This is your answer to Edwin VanCleef right now in the current meta. Druid decks also have a habit of dropping big Arcane Giants early or Reno Warlock dropping Mountain Giant. This deck doesn’t have an answer vs big creatures except for this ONE Mulch so use it wisely. If you’re playing Rogue ONLY use it against Edwin VanCleef or if you’re about to die.
Swipe: This is your best removal card. Good damage and also handles lots of minions at once. Combined with Azure Drake you can clear pretty much any Pirate deck’s field in one turn.
Doomsayer: Answer to early game aggro like Pirate decks. The alternate to these two is Mire Keeper vs control so you can accelerate and try to get to your combo faster. Drop Doomsayer early against aggro to eat minions but even late in the game, it’s still a good card to eat 7 damage or more from attackers if you need to buy one or two more turns to get your combo working.
Fandral Staghelm: This wasn’t in the normal version of Savjz deck but I prefer this over The Curator. Fandral makes all of your abilities better and also forces your opponent to deal with him immediately if you play him on Turn 4, or else it risks getting a Nourish that would end the game by giving you so much ramp and draw with just one card. Fandral Staghelm is best used by playing him and then playing other spells in the same turn BUT in this deck he should be played as a distraction with the possibility of a bonus effect. If you’re close to 6 mana, hold on to him and use him with Wrath for removal and card draw, but personally I like to play him early like on Turn 4, force my opponent to worry about him and either use up a lot to remove him or let him live and face the consequences next turn. Also great to use Innervate with so you can cast things like Nourish with him on Turn 7 or something.
Wild Growth: Play this as early as possible. After Turn 5-6, don’t use it and wait for it on Turn 10 to use as card draw to find your combo pieces. Not much else, it’s just mana ramp.
Draw Effects
These are the cards that help you draw into your combo.
Coldlight Oracle: Any time you play this card you run the risk of giving your opponent what they need. Against Control I play it whenever because Control is already drawing cards so why not get some yourself. You can also force Warlocks to overdraw which is a lot of fun. Against Aggro I only use this when I’m ready to combo and I can use it after the Aviana/Kun the Forgotten King reset in order to draw cards and try to get the last few pieces of the combo.
Azure Drake: One of the best cards in the format. Free card draw and big enough to fight most other minions while ALSO giving you some spell damage that the deck can abuse using Living Roots, Wrath and Swipe. It can also be used like Coldlight Oracle to find combo pieces at the end but usually you’ll cast it early and use it as a distraction.
Lunar Visions: This is card draw that can also potentially set you up for an early Aviana combo. If you can get Aviana off of this, you can do the combo on Turn 8, or earlier with Innervate. This is also good to use with Coldlight Oracle since it drops the mana cost to 1 and gives you a cheap draw effect. It’s difficult finding a good time to cast this since you would rather cast Nourish or other control spells but if you haven’t drawn Aviana yet then sometimes the risk is worth it. I usually reserve these for late in the game, personally.
Nourish: Usually it’s not worth using this card to mana ramp unless you’ve got most of the combo together and you’re ready to go off. Most of the time you’ll use this to just draw 3 cards but my favorite is when you have Fandral Staghelm and you can drop him on Turn 4 to risk an easy game with a powerful Nourish. If you can ramp 2 mana and draw 3 cards off of just one, the game SHOULD be yours. RISK IT. Fandral Staghelm isn’t important in this deck and is a distraction.
Combo Pieces
These are the cards you need in order to insta-win.
Aviana: The most important part of the combo. With Aviana you can do lots of tricks with Innervate and card drawing minions. Don’t think about getting your combo going without her in your hand.
Kun the Forgotten King: 2nd most important card. If you have an Innervate or two, you can still possibly combo and win but in most situations you will need him almost as much as Aviana. Even without Aviana you can try to play him as a 7/7 on Turn 10 but it’s probably best to hold onto him for the combo.
Brann Bronzebeard: Do NOT play him early and try to use him with Coldlight Oracle or Azure Drake. It’s not worth it, he’s important in order to make the combo DEADLY. Without Brann the combo is still possible but the damage will be way smaller without him. He doubles all the effects of the Battlecries so just play the Azure Drake by itself and hold onto Brann Bronzebeard for when it’s time to combo.
Dark Arakkoa:Â ITS OKAY TO PLAY ONE OF THESE EARLY. Against Aggro or Control, it’s okay to play one early and use it as a distraction. Your opponent will know that something is weird when you play a C’thun card with no other C’thun minions, but if you need the Taunt then it’s not that big of a deal. I love to play this guy early against Aggro and watch them deal with a big wall. Against Aggro you can also play the 2nd Dark Arakkoa because the extra damage you get from playing him with Brann Bronzebeard won’t matter vs an Aggro deck’s life. Play it early, soak up damage, and then combo without them. Against Control I like to save one to use with Brann Bronzebeard and against Warrior Control I save both of them for maximum damage.
C’thun: He’s your finisher. 99% of the time you wait for the combo, but I did have one game where I couldn’t get Aviana OR Kun the Forgotten King and I ended up playing him as a 12/12 to hit my opponent’s board and attack for win. It’s a rare situation but watch out for when you have that opening.
Youthful Brewmaster: This card will allow you to get a 2nd Battlecry effect. In the combo you’ll use it with C’thun for double damage but if you’re struggling to get your combo pieces it’s okay to play it early on a Coldlight Oracle or Azure Drake in order to get a desperate card draw. 99% of the time I save it for the combo but I’ve cast it once or twice early to get a draw.
Comboing 101
This section is going to teach you how to focus on getting your combo to work. The easiest way to remember how to max your combo is by the number of minions you have in play. The full combo is 7 minions and will fill your board so if you look at your hand and you can count 5 pieces of the combo, you’re missing 2 pieces.
Step 1: Aviana + Kun the Forgotten King
These two are the “Catalysts” for your combo. Pretty much without these two, nothing is going to happen. The only other situation is if you have Aviana and Innervate and you can Aviana into Coldlight Oracle or Azure Drake and then Innervate into a Kun the Forgotten King but for the most part you want these two the most in your hand. Once you have found these two pieces you can focus on maximizing the potential with your combo.
Step 2: C’thun + Dark Arakkoa
The second part of the combo piece is C’thun because he is your finisher. If you have a lot of combo pieces you can finish your opponent off with just the C’thun battlecry damage BUT even if you’re missing a few pieces, you can still do some tricky stuff to wipe your opponent’s board and drop down a big C’thun. You might not finish them with the combo but you might be able to save yourself from dying and have a chance at winning.
In order to make C’thun a better finisher you need Dark arakkoa to pump him up. As I mentioned earlier in the article, it’s okay to cast one Dark arakkoa early because even in the best case scenario, all you’re losing out on is +3 or +6 to C’thun and 3-12 extra Battlecry damage. If you have a second one in your hand I would save it so when you combo you can drop it with Brann Bronzebeard to get maximum effects but against aggro decks that are trying to kill you early, drop it down and use that big Taunt minion to keep yourself alive longer.
Step 3: Brann Bronzebeard
Brann Bronzebeard is your doubler. He will double all of the major effects such as Dark Arakkoa buffing C’thun and C’thun‘s Battlecry damage. If you’re desperate to find your combo he can also work with Coldlight oracle or even Azure drake to give you extra card draw in order to try and luck combo your way to victory. Without Brann you can still combo with just C’thun and Dark Arakkoa or two of them to get some decent damage and put a big minion into play but Brann Bronzebeard is how you one-shot people.
Step 4: Youthful Brewmaster
This part isn’t that necessary but can be used in lots of different ways to abuse the combo, by either bouncing stuff like Kun the forgotten king to get all your mana back or get extra card draw with Coldlight oracle. The main thing you want to use him for is bouncing C’thun to get a double Battlecry. This is how you’re going to defeat Control Warrior with 50+ health. With a Youthful Brewmaster bounce and Brann Bronzebeard in play you can do 60+ damage in one turn.
Brief Mulligan Guide
I try not to focus on the combo too much when I mulligan but lately I’ve been thinking about holding Aviana in my hand if I get her. Kun the Forgotten King is also tempting since he’s the other main piece but at least Aviana can get you going. I haven’t started doing this yet because I prefer to try and get Aviana from Lunar Visions which is another easy way to start the combo.
Mulligan mostly for early game removal vs Warrior/Shaman/Rogue since it’s probably Pirates. Mulligan for acceleration and draw vs Priest/Warlock/Mage since it’s probably Reno Control.
Warrior/Shaman/Rogue (Pirates) Mulligan
Drop everything except Living Roots, Wrath, Doomsayer, Swipe + Innervate. Just focus on the early game stuff and if you can survive the first few turns you’ll be okay.
Priest/Warlock/Mage (Reno Control) Mulligan
Focus on getting your draw effects and mana ramp. Wild Growth, Coldlight Oracle, Wrath and even Aviana is good to keep. You’ll have plenty of time in this match so let the early minions deal damage while you mana ramp and draw cards, especially Lunar Visions. Save Coldlight Oracle against Warlock for when they tap and go up to like 8-9 cards and then make them overdraw. If you’re facing more control than pirates, take out Doomsayer for Mire Keeper so you can mana ramp more.
Tavern Brawl: 12/21/2016
It turns out as I’m finishing up this article, this deck works quite well in the current tavern brawl! This week’s Tavern Brawl is Clockwork Card Dealer which means that every turn you will draw a card with a cost equal to that turn. So turn 1 you will get a 1-drop, turn 2 you will get a 2-drop and so on. Drawing cards from effects like Wrath or Nourish don’t matter for this it’s only the first draw of the turn.
The reason this deck works well with this Tavern Brawl is because of the combo. Being guaranteed an Aviana on Turn 9 will set you up for Turn 10 when you draw either C’thun which you can try to set up for a big finish or Kun the Forgotten King which will set off your combo. You can ramp using effects like Wild Growth and Nourish but it won’t change the cost of the card you draw on your turn. So if you Wild Growth on Turn 2, you will still get a 3-mana cost card on Turn 3 even though you have 4 mana.
For the Tavern Brawl focus less on drawing cards and getting your combo and rather focus on controlling the board and let the Clockwork Card Dealer hand you the combo on Turn 10. Drawing one of the 10-cost minions before then will pretty much guarantee that the combo goes off so don’t hesitate to use a Wrath or two to filter the deck a little but don’t worry about using Nourish to draw, I used it to ramp my mana instead.
Optional Brawl Changes
+1 Ancient of Lore: This gives you something guaranteed to draw on Turn 7 that can let you live longer or draw you a free card.
+1 Ancient of War: Like above it’s something to draw on Turn 7. This does a better job of survival while Ancient of Lore does a better job of trying to get more combo pieces.
+1 The Curator: Once again, something to get on Turn 7. It doesn’t give you much of your combo pieces but it helps you draw more cards and also gives you a Taunt. Better than Ancient of Lore but cheaper if you don’t have him crafted.
Conclusion: Combos are fun!
WARNING: THIS DECK IS NOT FOR LADDER CLIMBING. The deck has the main pieces of a druid control deck but it currently is too slow to take on Pirate decks. I do a great job against the Reno Warlock/Priest decks and I also do decent against some of the other types of aggro decks like Jade Druid, but 50% or more of my matchups were Pirate and they just tear me up before I can even get to the mana to cast Aviana. This deck is lots of fun and it might do well in the higher ranks where people are using less “ladder-climbing” decks but if you’re trying to get to Legend, don’t bother with this one.
HOWEVER, this deck is really fun to play otherwise. I get the combo off pretty consistently and it’s always fun to see C’thun shooting off 32 bolts at your opponent and his minions. It’s also fun because I feel like it messes with people who see so much Jade Druid being played right now. They’re expecting me to play lots of minions but instead they get Doomsayer and Coldlight Oracle, who is also a lot of fun against Reno decks because they tend to overdraw and burn cards which are always fun to laugh about.
If you feel like taking a break from the meta and trying something new, mess with this decklist and see what you can do with it. I’m sure there are changes I didn’t think about which could make it better, like finding a way to put Mire Keepers back in. You can also come up with your own fun combos using minions and Battlecry effects with the Aviana/Kun the Forgotten King reset. Instead of C’thun and his buddies maybe you want to try Leeroy Jenkins + Dark Iron Dwarf + Faceless Manipulator + Faceless Manipulator or something along those lines. Come up with your own fun combos!
I hope that this article sparked some ideas and maybe gave you something new to try out in the upcoming week. Test it out in Tavern Brawl and if you like it, try it out in Ranked! I’ve been using it on and off just as a fresh decklist to look at while I grind out my ranks from Rank 7 to Legend.
As always you can try to find me streaming on Twitch at Twitch.tv/ItsFireflyer or you can follow me on Twitter @HS_Fireflyer. Let me know below if you’ve made up any of your own combos using the Aviana/Kun reset and come back again for more interesting deck ideas to try out.
