Deck Spotlight OTK BirbsThe birbs are back baby. I’m sure many of you have fond memories of the October 2017 meta, when a deck called 6-birb was the plague of the ladder. With Azure Summoning costing 0, a lucky Zirix could combo out 6 flying minions as early as turn 1, an impossible lead. After the card was nerfed to 1 mana, the flying Vetruvian deck disappeared entirely out of the meta, with the combo feeling too slow and un-impactful.

Fast forward to the Trials of Mythron expansion. The small and innocuous-looking Mirrorrim is revealed, and in a remote corner of Duelyst Official discord, Jason and Alpha go nuts with theorycrafting. However, initial tests fell flat, and the so-called infinity-birb deck was abandoned. Until now.

Trials of Mythron has given the birb deck new technology in the form of Mirrorrim and Khanuum-ka. These provide the missing ingredient for birbs to become a viable combo deck in the modern Duelyst metagame: namely, a “fun and interactive” way of killing your opponent in a single turn.

Apart from the core combo, the deck also runs most of the traditional Vetruvian goodstuff cards. The golem package and first wish provide a solid early game alongside deck cycling and ramp power. Thunderhorn will often buy you some breathing room to set up your combo, and the combination of Blood of Air and Sandswirl reader give you tempo-positive options to keep the board clear.

A Flexible GameplanOne of the main strengths of this deck is its adaptability. There are always multiple different gameplan lines to choose from, and knowing the correct one based on your draws and the matchup adds a whole extra dimension of skill to this deck. Even personally, I think it will be a long time before I reach the skill cap here.

For example, sometimes you can forgo the combo entirely and win with classic Vetruvian goodstuff, using your Ka’s and Orb Riders as value plays instead. Other times you might play a smaller combo without Nosh-Rak, and utilize your Ka’s to clear the board while developing a board of Skywings to win the following turn with Nosh-Rak. Still other times it is better to save entirely for the combo, and kill them in a single turn.

There is also an element of risk involved with choosing when to combo off. The more birbs you have in hand, the less likely you are to brick during the combo. I will personally wait until I have at least two birbs, but as always this depends on the situation.

The ComboAlthough utterly hilarious, the combo is not obvious and you would be forgiven for missing it.

These are the three key combo pieces. If all goes to plan, I will play Skywing and immediately play two Mirrorrims, bringing the total count of Skywings in my deck to eight. On a subsequent turn I will then play Azure Summoning and Skywing, and then draw and play eight Skywings. At this point you can play any other flying minions which might be in your deck for free…

Whenever you summon a minion with Flying from your action bar this turn, draw a minion with Flying from your deck.

FlyingYour other minions with Flying cost 1 less.

Opening Gambit: Shuffle three copies of a friendly minion into your deck.

Flying, Rush Dying Wish: A random friendly Dervish disappears, summoning a Khanuum-ka in its place.

Blast, FlyingThe enemy general takes double damage.

These are the four additional flying minions we choose to run. Ka comes in with 3 attack and rush, providing a total 9 face damage the turn you combo, or 11 with the general hit. A single Nosh-Rak will double this damage to 22, enough to kill most opponents.

There are many considerations for the set of additional birbs you run. Running fewer expensive birbs will decrease your chance of bricking before you can play enough Skywings. However, running additional Wind Strikers, Dust Wailers, or Nosh-Raks will increase your combo damage potential. There is still room for experimentation and meta adaption here.

Tips and Tricks• With a sand tile on board, Ka can be devastating.

Each birb you summon in your combo will generate a new Ka, allowing you to clear off all threatening minions on your combo turn if you have no lethal.

• Orb Rider has utility outside Mirrorrim. Good targets are Dreamshaper, Herald, Sandswirler, and even Skywing to keep him safe.

• With 8 Skywings in your deck, the full combo costs 7. With a Skywing on board, it will cost 4. You can play Mirrorrims on Skywing in your combo turn if you have extra mana.

• Extra mana on combo turn will decrease your chance of bricking, as you can play Ka’s for non-zero cost in order to draw into your last Skywings.

Video GuideTo see a video deck guide and three full-length showcase games with commentary by myself and the deck’s creator, Jason, visit AlphaCentury on youtube. Make sure to hit me with a subscribe and also follow Jason on twitch at icicle_duelyst!

Flex SpotsThere are three slots in the deck which are open for changes: the two Azure Heralds, and debatably the third Orb Rider. These can be filled to fit the needs of the meta, with honourable mentions going to Superior Mirage and Cataclysmic Fault.

Another version of the deck uses Cipheron instead of Zirix and fills these spots with Grapnel Paradigm. Cipheron does a great job of slowing down the game, and Grapnel is a fantastic single card power play to buy you more time to collect combo pieces. However, you do lose a lot of the consistency of Khanuum-Ka.

- AlphaCentury, 2018/05/21