Concept

There used to be a good tempo deck based around Obelysks, with Whisper of the Sands as the main engine. After Whisper was nerfed, the deck was no longer viable. Hence, while it is still possible to run the basic “Obelysk package” of Ethereal, Lavastorm, and Fireblaze in an aggro or midrange shell, it feels like dedicated Obelysk decks have disappeared from the ladder. This deck is an attempt to revive Obelysks with a more controlling list built heavily around Obelysk synergy.

Cards

Obelysks

• Ethereal
• Lavastorm
• Fireblaze
• Trygon

The best of the Obelysks: cheap, relatively high toughness, and nice bonus effects.

Omissions: Windstorm is actively bad since it interferes with your Wind Dervishes dying and thus prevents proper positioning, while Simulacra is too slow.

• Allomancer
• Nimbus

High-value minions which generate Obelysks.

Support

• Dunecaster
• Reassemble
• Portal Guardian

Dunecaster gives longevity to the Obelysk-summoned Wind Dervishes. Reassemble is like our First Wish (which we don’t run due to its antisynergy with Structures), and is actually quite good, allowing for a full heal, repositioning, and “undispelling” of any beat-up or out-of-the-way Obelysk. Portal Guardian grows reasonably quickly and helps you survive the early game.

Removal

• Sandswirl Reader
• Blood of Air
• Sunset Paragon
• Circle of Desiccation

Vetruvian’s generic 5-drop removal, plus a couple of sweepers that synergize really well with Obelysks in particular.

Gameplay

Run out your Obelysks, keep the board clogged up, and grind out your opponent. Positioning is very important to try to ensure good Wind Dervish spawns. You have decent matchups against midrange minion-based decks (including , most prominently, Wanderer) because your removal is pretty good and Obelysks are sticky. Sunset Paragon is a great mid-game sweeper since enemy minions will often be clustered up near your Obelysks, and with Structures only having 0 Attack, often you can play it without any adverse effect on your own minions.