The gameplan here is simple. We spend the early turns casting as many Lurking Fear effects as we can draw. Then we follow up with all manner of 4 mana dying wish minions, which are almost certainly discounted to 3, usually discounted to 2, and often discounted to 1 mana. As soon as we hit 4 Lurking Fear effects, the deck really turns into an unbeatable force. Our insane amount of draw lets us cycle through most of our deck in a matter of turns, playing multiple 4 drops per turn. This is the strongest lategame in the meta, creating a huge amount of value and enough pressure out of nowhere to be very difficult to deal with. We prey on Wanderer decks. Even an active Fault + Kha will struggle to deal with the amount of board presence you can create.

Check out this replay to see how this deck can make Flash Wanderer concede on 5 mana: https://play.duelyst.com/replay?replayId=-LZtLrLgSKG31VBPU5CV

Early Game

Play as many Lurking Fears and Carrion Collectors as you can. Always replace every opportunity so you can hit the coveted 4 Lurking Fears. In general, it is best to play Lurking Fear before Carrion Collector. Consuming Rebirth on Carrion Collector is also an MVP here, upping the number of Lurking Fears in your deck to an effective nine. And always be aware of how you can use mana tiles. If you can squeeze in a discounted Void Hunter or Dioltas, it is always a good idea, to help provide some board pressure to fight your opponents early game.

Mid Game

Play any additional Lurking Fears you draw, but this is where you should start trying to take over the board. Dioltas is your best minion. Use Void Hunters and Nekomatas to keep your hand full and your minions coming. You can play Desolator, and then replace him once he dies and is back to full cost. Depending on the matchup, you will want to use Gnasher or Cacophynos and a sacrifice effect (BBS or Consuming Rebirth) to interact with your opponent’s board when necessary. Lure can be used to answer anything in an emergency, but you should focus on building your own board instead. Azure Horn Shaman is the true MVP in the mid game. You should absolutely look to get huge value from him, by using BBS to make a 4/8 and to buff your board of frail 4 drops.

Late Game

This is where the deck becomes unstoppable. You should by now have found 3-4 Lurking Fears and a Rite of the Undervault. If I start with a Lurking Fear, I never replace Rite (unless multiples). On 6 mana, if you got a lot of Lurking Fears, then your hand should be empty. Here you can cast Rite and follow up instantly with a bunch of dying wish minions. Next turn you can play the rest of your 4 drops, use a sac effect, a lure, etc. The turn after you Rite again, and play a fresh hand of 4 drops. Really hard to stop.

FAQ

• Add another set of 2 drops? In my experience, none of the other dying wish 2 drops actually do enough in the deck. Including the Lurking Fears, we have 9 2 drops. You do miss sometimes, but eh.
• Why no Reaper/Reaver/Grimes/Dagona/etc…? The premise of the deck is to lower the curve as much as possible to take advantage of Azure Horn Shaman and Rite of the Undervault. If you want to run heavier minions, your deck transforms into a different deck. In my experience, this deck is worse. You will only be playing 1-2 minions a turn, and suddenly you are losing to BoA and other removal. With less cycle you see less Lurking Fears, and in my opinion, the heavier deck is more inconsistent.
• Why include void pulse? I tested a lot without VP, and it always felt like something was missing. You would set up your huge value, but the opponent would often be able to burn you out the following turn. The three Desolators were not enough healing. Adding Azure Heralds felt really bad (would you rather play a 2 mana Herald or a 1 mana Dioltas?). VP fills this gap really well, providing enough healing to carry you over. You can play them on 7+ mana after a Rite which feels really strong. The redundancy between Desolator and VP also feels really good. You can consistently answer artifacts, and have a good shot in the Heal+Burn gameplan in the lategame if you don’t have a huge board for some reason.
• Is Cacophynos/Gnasher really good enough? Yes they’re OP in this deck.
• If I only have enough mana for Lurking Fear or X, what should I play? Lurking Fear unless X is Rite of the Undervault.
• Is Consuming Rebirth awkward? Sometimes it can be. However, the deck needs some sac outlets to take advantage of Shaman/Gnasher/Cacophynos. I tested with a split between Consuming and Darkfire Sacrifice, and in the end felt DFS didn’t do enough. It felt nice to sac a Cacophynos/Gnasher on your Rite turn, and for double/triple casting Desolator, but outside of that felt lacklustre. In the end I opted for the sexy 13×3 and the consistent early Carrion Collector + Consuming Rebirth.
• How is the matchup against X? Probably winning. The deck really covers all its bases. It has the best highrolls in the game. It has interaction against big and small minions. Most decks cannot properly deal with the size and quantity of minions it puts out, and can be take by surprise by a huge pressure turn. The decks that can interact tend to be slower and value based. These decks cannot deal with the insane value from Rite.
• Don’t you lose when you don’t draw Lurking Fear? While games where you pull multiple Lurknig Fears are free wins, games where you don’t can be a bit trickier. In my experience, one Lurking Fear is enough to put the deck at a similar level to the rest of the field in the mid game. Dioltas and Azure Horn Shaman are midrange beasts, and you should look to leverage these to create a board to fight the opponent fairly. Buy time until you can get to higher mana, and find some Lurking Fears. You can play very defensively, safe in the knowledge that your lategame is unbeatable. Even if you have to be playing your Lurking Fears on 8 mana, you will always have an explosive late game.
• Why no Furor Chakram? Chakram is a card that I used to swear by in any minion-based Abyssian deck. It had it in for a very long time. But cutting Chakram was one of the best things I did for the deck. A hard 5 mana cost is too much for the deck. It tends to clog up your hand. It felt very win-more. Any time that seemed like a good Chakram turn, I would have other options such a buffing the board with Shaman, playing 3 more 4 drops, or playing Rite. These options would be just as game winning as Chakram. So while Chakram is a great card at winning games, the deck just doesn’t need the help from an expensive situational 5 mana artifact.