Queen of Death: A Guide to Winning by Losing Your Own Creatures

Deck and strategy by Okami from the Origins Discord. Writeup and jokes by us.

Difficulty: Medium

Playstyle: Midrange, with tempo and combo elements

Winrate: Okami runs this after hitting Grandmaster and reports 75% or better, with the caveat that the number dips if you're only playing top-ranked GMs

Do you like it when your creatures die? Not in a sad way. In a "that Egg just became a 5/5, that Mouse just became two Mice, and that Bear just became a bigger Bear" way. Have you ever wanted to cast a removal spell on your own 7/7 and have it come out ahead? Do you get to turn 12 in most games and wish you still had cards in hand?

Well. Enter the Queen of Hearts, and a deck where nothing ever really dies.

Queen of Death is an On Death midrange deck. Every creature in it either does something when it dies, wants something else to die, or is a spell that kills things. It has strong board control without running big spells, it has more late game value than almost anything else in the format, and it doesn't have a matchup it's scared of. What it does have is a learning curve, because clearing a board with 1 mana spells and 1/1 bears requires you to know your deck and guess your opponent's plays. That's what this guide is for.

Importable deck code: KGBLDCdjF8QzAwMDAyX01CfEMwMDAzMV9NQnxDMDAwNDhfTUJ8QzAwMDcyX01CfEMwMDE0N19NQnxDMDAxNjNfU0J8QzAwMTY5X1NCfEMwMDE3Nl9NQ3xDMDAyMzZfU0J8QzAwMjQ1X01CfEMwMDI2N19NQnxDMDAyNzRfTUJ8QzAwMzQxX01C:d35d950c

The Queen's free spell, Off With Your Head!, is 3 mana: Destroy an ally. Summon a base copy of it at each other location.

The Bear family, for reference: Papa Bear is 4 mana 4/4, deals 3 to any enemy that damages your barrier in his lane, and adds Mama Bear to your hand on death. Mama Bear is 6 mana 6/6 and destroys any enemy that damages your barrier in her lane. Yes, this means one 2 mana card is three creatures and 11/11 worth of stats. We'll get to that.

A Quick Rules Refresher (Skip If You've Played)

• Three lanes, three barriers at 20 health. Take two and you win. A dead barrier comes back at 40.
• Each lane is a location with a random effect, revealed one per turn from turn 1.
• Start with 4 cards and 2 mana, draw 1 and gain 1 mana per round, cap at 10. Mana doesn't carry over.
• Reveal order alternates every turn. The first player resolves everything before the second does anything.
• Run out of cards and fatigue hits all three barriers for increasing damage.

The General Idea

This is a midrange deck that grinds. You don't win by racing and you don't win by a single combo turn. You win by making every trade lopsided in your favor until your opponent runs out of things to trade, and then you finish with Ellen or just walk in with a Goose.

The engine is On Death. Your cheap creatures leave something behind when they die: Mice become Mice, Eggs become Geese, Bears become bigger Bears, Mummies come back. The Queen doubles all of it. Your opponent is faced with an unpleasant choice every turn: kill your creature and get something worse in return, or leave it and let you kill it yourself on your own terms with Boogeyman, Trash for Treasure, Poison Apple or Off With Your Head.

The other half is deathtouch. Poison Apple on the right creature clears a lane for 1 mana. Cockatrice is deathtouch on a 6/6 body and takes something random with him when he goes. Between those two, the deck removes big threats without ever casting a big removal spell.

Card by Card

Queen of Hearts (4 mana, 3/3, Legendary)

Recently buffed, and the buff made the deck a lot better. Two things going on. First Strike lets her win most early combats without taking damage back, which keeps her on the board, and staying on the board is what she needs to do. The ongoing effect repeats every ally On Death, which is the reason every other card in this deck exists. Mice die into four Mice. Baby Bear hands you two Papa Bears. Cockatrice destroys two random enemies. Golden Egg becomes two Geese.

She also comes with Off With Your Head! at game start. It's not a card you can always fire off, but on the right turn it's absurd. It destroys an ally and summons a base copy of it in each of the other two lanes, so your best targets are things that are damaged, expensive, or have an On Death that the Queen can double. Egg is the dream: you get a Goose where it died and two fresh Eggs in the other lanes. Cockatrice gives you a random destroy and two more Cockatrices. Boogeyman gives you two more 7/7s, and because the copies are summoned rather than played, their On Reveal doesn't trigger, so they don't eat anything. Since the copies land in other lanes, plan a turn ahead so those lanes are where you want the bodies. Best done on a turn you reveal first.

Bagheera (1 mana, 1/1)

A 2/2 for 1 in a middle space. Always keep him in the opening hand. Nothing clever here, just the most efficient turn 1 the deck has.

Mummy (1 mana, 1/1)

Rebirth means he comes back after dying, which makes him a blocker that keeps blocking. He's not just an early game card. Late in the game he's still soaking a hit every turn, and he's a fine Boogeyman snack (he comes back) or Poison Apple carrier (a 1/1 with deathtouch that returns after trading is a very annoying thing to attack into).

Baby Bear (2 mana, 1/1)

Okami's pick for the most underrated card in the game, and after playing the deck it's hard to argue. The 1 damage ping to attackers is fine. The real value is the cards he generates: he dies into Papa Bear in your hand, Papa dies into Mama Bear, and with the Queen out you get two of each. That's so much late game material that you'll hit fatigue before you run out of things to play, which is exactly the problem this deck wants to have.

Two things to get right. First, play him in the last space of a lane so he sits behind your other creatures and pings anything that gets through to the barrier. Second, Baby Bear plus Poison Apple is a real play: a deathtouch Bear that pings every attacker in his lane can kill all three minions attacking that barrier by himself. Cheap, rude, effective.

Three Blind Mice (2 mana, 1/1)

Dies into two Mice elsewhere, or four with the Queen. Feed it to Boogeyman, feed it to Trash for Treasure, or just let your opponent kill it and watch them regret it.

Golden Egg (3 mana, 0/1)

The card the deck can't run without. It's a 5/5 waiting for permission to exist, and you have five ways to give it: Boogeyman, Poison Apple (a deathtouch Egg is a very bad thing to attack), Trash for Treasure, Off With Your Head, or your opponent doing it for you. With the Queen out, one dead Egg is two Geese.

Boogeyman (4 mana, 7/7)

The 7/7 for 4 with the drawback that he eats the lowest power ally in his lane. In this deck that's not a drawback, that's a feature. Egg plus Boogeyman is 12/12 of stats for 7 mana. Mice, Mummy and Baby Bear are all happy to be eaten. Cockatrice is a fine target too in a pinch, since his On Death removes something. The only thing you need to avoid is playing him into a lane where the only ally is one you actually wanted to keep.

Three Musketeers (5 mana, 2/1)

The odd one out, and it's here because the deck wanted a 5 drop. Four 2/1 First Strike bodies across a whole lane make a wall your opponent can't easily attack through, which buys time for the more expensive plays to come online. Okami notes it was excellent during the Pig meta and still holds up. Also a very good Poison Apple target, for reasons covered below.

Cockatrice (6 mana, 6/6)

Okami rates this as one of the strongest cards in the game and doesn't understand why it isn't played more. A 6/6 with deathtouch is already a fine 6 drop. The On Death, destroy a random enemy, is what makes it a late game problem, because by turn 8 the random enemy is usually something expensive. With the Queen out it's two random enemies. Trash for Treasure on Cockatrice is a real play in the right spot, if the board is full of things you want gone and you're happy to draw two.

Ellen Trechend (8 mana, 3/3)

The best finisher for 8 mana. This deck wins on board more often than not, but you still need something that pushes damage through when your opponent has finally stabilised. Trample plus +3/+3 per enemy in her lane is that. Drop her into their most committed lane and she clears it.

Poison Apple (1 mana)

The best card in the deck that isn't a Queen. Deathtouch on any character, and in this deck it goes on cheap things: Bear, Mice, Mummy. A 1/1 with deathtouch trades with anything.

The trick that wins games: put it on something with First Strike. Queen of Hearts or a Musketeer with deathtouch kills whatever it fights before that thing gets to hit back, so the Queen removes a 7/7 and doesn't take a scratch.

Trash for Treasure (1 mana)

Destroy an ally, draw two, and in this deck the ally is something that wanted to die anyway. Egg into Goose, Mice into Mice, Mummy comes back, Baby Bear into Papa. There's no drawback here, just two cards and an upgrade. It's also your answer to the opponent who refuses to kill your Egg because they know what happens, or, as Okami puts it, because it's cute.

Mind Palace (2 mana)

Draw two. Every time, in every deck.

Mulligans

Always keep: Baby Bear, Bagheera, Queen of Hearts. The exception for the Queen is a hand with no 1 or 2 drop at all, in which case throw her back and find a curve.

Keep depending on the hand:

• Three Blind Mice against aggro, or when the rest of the hand curves well.
• Golden Egg if you have a 2 drop to go with it, and always alongside Boogeyman.
• Boogeyman with Egg. Also fine with Mice or Mummy.
• Trash for Treasure with Egg or Mice when the curve is good. Prefer to keep it against control.
• Mummy is a keep, but Bagheera is the better 1 drop and you'd rather have a 2 drop than either.

Combo Lines

These are the plays you're looking for every game. Learn them and the deck gets a lot easier.

Baby Bear (or Papa Bear) plus Poison Apple. A deathtouch Bear that pings attackers kills everything attacking his lane. Three enemy minions swing at your barrier, three enemy minions die.

Poison Apple plus Queen of Hearts, Bear, Mummy, or Musketeers. Deathtouch on a First Strike body removes anything without taking damage back. Deathtouch on Mummy is a blocker that trades up every turn and comes back.

Golden Egg plus Boogeyman. 12/12 for 7 mana, in one lane, on turn 4 or 5. With the Queen it's a 7/7 and two Geese.

Trash for Treasure plus Egg, Mice, Mummy or Baby Bear. Two cards and an upgrade for 1 mana. Use it when you need to force the On Death right now, or when your opponent is being sneaky and refusing to kill the thing.

Off With Your Head! plus Egg, Cockatrice or a damaged Boogeyman. Three lanes of value for 3 mana. Set up the other lanes first so the copies land somewhere useful.

Reveal Order

Less central than in the Merlin or Mulan decks, but it still matters in two places. Off With Your Head! wants a reveal-first turn, so the copies land and the Goose or Cockatrice trigger resolves before your opponent can react. And Poison Apple on a blocker is best on a reveal-first turn too, so the deathtouch is on before they decide who attacks where. If you reveal second, they get to see the Apple and just not attack into it.

Common Mistakes

• Playing Baby Bear in the front of a lane. He goes at the back, behind your other creatures.
• Keeping the Queen in a hand with no early plays. She's a 4 drop, not a turn 1.
• Boogeyman into a lane where the only ally is something you wanted to keep.
• Forgetting the Queen doubles Cockatrice. Two random destroys is often the whole enemy board.
• Firing Off With Your Head! without checking where the copies will land.
• Getting greedy with card generation and running yourself into fatigue in a game you'd already won on board. If you have lethal, take it.

Closing

Queen of Death is the deck for people who like value, hate running out of cards, and enjoy watching an opponent stare at a Golden Egg for three turns trying to decide whether to kill it. It's not the fastest deck in Origins and it's not the flashiest, but it might be the most consistent, and it makes every single removal spell your opponent casts feel like a mistake.

Thanks again to Okami for the deck and the notes. Go make something die.