Deck Construction: Three Concepts for January- Death Bailout Build

Death. Profit Sounds like an incredible film that hits straight to DVD and stars actors from movies that made lots of money (though the actors, apparently, did not).

However, for the purposes of both this blog and my personal entertainment, the title instead evokes a particular Forsaken Wastes/Shattered Peaks deck devoted to letting your own fellows die, selling them dearly, and profiting from the result. I already have a Death Benefit deck, and this iteration represents my efforts at improving on that initial creation. The main focus of my revamp is making the deck more aggressive; Death Benefit is powerful in the long game but somewhat (or extremely) slow to hit critical mass. In the early game it relies mostly on Cyclops Nemeses, but they're a limited tempo gain since they're granting my opponent a creature. The Earthmover they grant is easier to kill than the Earth Golems which they used to, but it's also markedly quicker to find a fight and make its presence known. Even with the Nemesis rule change (wherein if your man dies so does your foe's free one, prior to which Nemeses were wretched) playing the Cyclops doesn't tend to put me as far ahead as I would like.

As mentioned in my previous article, there are some fundementaly broken elements of this deck which I do appreciate, like the interaction between Death Harvesters, Devour, and Moga Dens; or between Collections of Souls and Cyclops Battlefeinds. However, I want to find homes for Suicidal attacks and Utterdark Voidhowlers, at the very minimum. Rather than try to trim my previous deck, I'm starting from scratch, with eyes on the following runes.

CHAMPIONS
Angel of Death
Animated Blade x2
Anthropomancer x2
Archfiend x2
Arctic Beast x2
Bile Zombie
Blood Fiend x2
Bonecrusher x2
Cleric of Unrest x2
Collection of Souls x2
Corpse Golem
Crossbone x2
Crypt Guardian
Dark Messenger x2
Death Guard
Death Harvester x2
Essence Devourer
Eternal Lich
Executioner x2
Festering Corpse x2
Necromancer
Ravenwraith x2
Revenant
Skeletal Berserker x2
Utterdark Voidhowler
Vampyre
Wandering Zombie x2

SPELLS
Chain Lightning
Corpse Collection
Delay x2
Essence Drain x2
Mobilization
Necroweave x2
Reanimate
Soul Cage x2
Soulreave x2
Weaken x2

RELICS
Graveyard

EQUIPMENT
Blight Ring
Ethereal Mindshank x2
Sacrificial Dagger x2
Shield of Darkness x2


Shattered Peaks Champions

Clay Form x2
Cyclops Battlefiend x2
Cyclops Nemesis x2
Cyclops Seer x2
Cyclops Shaman
G'hern Birthmother x2
Gluttonous Overseer x2
Moga Cannon x2
Moga Sapper x2
Mogahern Destroyer x2
Parasitic Fesh
Sonic Elemental x2

Shattered Peaks Spells

Avalanche x2
Bad Blood x2
Extended Reach
Implant x2
Lightning Storm x2
Stormwrack
Suicidal Attack x2

Shattered Peaks Relics

Echo Chamber x2
G'hern Scarecrow x2
Moga Bartering Post x2
Moga Den x2

Shattered Peaks Equipment

Diamond Mace
G'hern Helm
Slaver's Whip x2

Again as mentioned in my previous post, plus added now because they make sense, the following runes are non-negotiable:
SP 2xCyclops Battlefiend, 2xImplant, 2xMoga Den, Gluttonous Overseer, Suicidal Attack x2
FW 2xEssence Drain, 2xUtterdark Voidhowler, 2xDeath Harvester, Collection of Souls, Sacrificial Dagger

It's hard to justify making a FW deck without Mobilization, so that's going in. I want to have ample AoEs to maximize the benefit of the Voidhowlers, and my Bile Zombie is both an AoE and another dying creature. I'd love to squeeze in double Echo Chambers on similar principle: it's a cheap AoE I can drop wherever I like with no threat to my own units, and in a long and sloppy game it's arguably repeatable. It also allows for +1 range font contesting, which is a tactic I think every deck should be able to take advantage of.

So I'm looking at a deck of:

Champions
Cyclops Battlefiend x2
Gluttonous Overseer
Death Harvester x2
Collection of Souls
Utterdark Voidhowler x2

Spells
Avalanche
Bad Blood
Implant x2
Lightning Storm x2
Suicidal Attack x2
Essence Drain x2
Mobilization

Relics
Echo Chamber
Moga Den x2

Equipment
Sacrificial Dagger

If I added an Elsari Bazaar I'd have yet one more way to kill my own men, but if I'm truly interested in that I should probably focus on indiscriminate AoEs (like Lightning Storms). Obviously I need more men, and quick-to-die men like Blood Fiends and Skeletal Berserkers give me early beats and Battlefiend-fueling corpses in a single convenient package. The Corpse Golem provides another method of eating my Moga babies, plus proven combat ability, plus Swarm for more non-summoned expendable creatures. That caps my FW side. Doubling down on my Avalanches finishes my SP side and I have a quick and dirty 30.

Champions
Cyclops Battlefiend x2
Gluttonous Overseer
Blood Fiend x2
Corpse Golem
Death Harvester x2
Skeletal Berserker x2
Collection of Souls x2
Utterdark Voidhowler x2

Spells
Avalanche x2
Bad Blood
Implant x2
Lightning Storm x2
Suicidal Attack x2
Essence Drain x2
Mobilization

Relics
Echo Chamber
Moga Den x2

Equipment
Sacrificial Dagger

Just looking at the deck, I'm already concerned that I lack sufficient durable fighters, meaning I may switch 1 Berserker and/or Blood Fiend for Executioners. No matter how I play it, that puts a lot of damage on my Shrine. However, I lack a Tome of Hate so there's not much I can do. There's also a distinct lack ranged champs, and a dangerous absence of non-physical damage. The latter can be addressed with a single Soul Rend, and I've definitely found that when I play a FW deck without that spell I miss it. It's a shame I can't think of two spots to cut for Moga Sappers, as well, since they'd practically be cooldown 4 direct damage spells with a Battlefiend-boosting kicker.

I had also planned, earlier, to try my Essence Devourer in this deck and feed him using a combination of Necromancers and Graveyards. I could peel out a Berserker, Fiend, and Collection for that alternate build, but I'd like to try the current version to see how it plays first.