2-Time Crossroads Champion Duo's Post-Gothic Geomancer Roots Deck Destroys Everything

Written by ForceofPhil

The brewing is abundant in our post-Gothic world. I've been thinking about Duplicator and Magician, and how to maximize The Flood. Zac has delved into Animist and is uncovering the true identity of Imposter.

Throughout the Realm, other elite sorcerers are sharing their ideas, too. On New Year's Eve, two-time Crossroads champion Duo revealed his "Landlocked" deck, a Geomancer build that aims to obliterate the Realm with Roots of Yggdrasil in combination with Bedrock, new ward sites from Gothic, and an unsuspecting Ordinary artifact.

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Courtesy of the Sorcery with Duo YouTube channel.

Landlocked | Avatar — Geomancer

Tap → Play or draw a site. If you played an earth site, fill a void adjacent to you with Rubble.

Tap → Replace an adjacent Rubble with the topmost site of your Atlas.

Artifact (10)
- 3 Toolbox
- 4 Wiccan Tools
- 2 Tombstone Wardens
- 1 Torrid Omphalos
Minion (38)
- 2 Arjaro Exorcist
- 3 Bosk Troll
- 4 Kettletop Leprechaun
- 3 Vile Imp
- 3 Autumn Unicorn
- 1 Morgana le Fay
- 3 Order of the White Wing
- 3 Root Spider
- 2 Gargantula
- 2 Paladins of Bazia
- 3 Pudge Butcher
- 1 Archangel Michael
- 1 Balor of the Evil Eye
- 2 Cherubim
- 2 Infernal Legion
- 2 Malakhim
- 1 Wraetannis Titan
Magic (16)
- 1 Tithe
- 2 Blaze
- 3 Landmass
- 2 Searing Truth
- 2 Infiltrate
- 1 Pact with the Devil
- 1 Raze
- 2 Earthquake
- 2 Poison Nova
Site (30)
- 3 Active Volcano
- 3 Bedrock
- 4 Blessed Village
- 2 Crossroads
- 2 Gnome Hollows
- 2 Pebbled Paths
- 1 Pilgrim's Shrine
- 1 Pillar of Zeiros
- 4 Red Desert
- 2 Remote Desert
- 1 Roots of Yggdrasil
- 2 Sinkhole
- 3 Steppe

The goal of the deck is to destroy the Roots of Yggdrasil, thereby destroying everything in the Realm. Duo breaks that effect's parity with Bedrock, ward sites like Pilgrim's Shrine, and Geomancer's ability to replace the resulting Rubble. The intended result is locking the opponent out of mana and development in the Realm.

The bread and butter of the deck is the playset of Wiccan Tools, which leverages floating mana post Roots of Yggdrasil, to ignore thresholds for the follow-up spell. Sacrifice the Wiccan Tools, nuke the Roots of Yggdrasil, and use the remaining mana to cast a haymaker without any threshold, since that was all blown up.

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To accomplish this plan, Duo's Atlas prioritizes threshold and supporting Roots of Yggdrasil (e.g., Crossroads and Sinkhole), eschewing other tech sites that don't provide threshold.

Sinkhole's stock has increased with the release of Gothic's new powerful sites. Duo remarked on his respect for Thin Ice in combination with Coy Nixie.

The six Desserts in Duo's list are actually support for Roots of Yggdrasil in a world of ward. Since Desserts' effects target a site, they break wards, a necessary hurdle to make opposing sites susceptible to Roots of Yggdrasil.

Gothic Gone Midrange

The early stages of Gothic's meta, which is heralded by the nerf of Druid, are in a midrangeier space. Though Interrogator and Avatar of Air are still Aggro powerhouses to consider, if games are otherwise expected to go to turn eight or later, playing higher mana spells becomes more viable in deckbuilding.

Landlocked Standouts

Arjaro Exorcist

Don't sleep on Arjaro Exorcist. It's a flexible utility Spellcaster that solves so many problems you didn't know you had and can trade up well against commonly-played Evil, like Pudge Butcher. Be mindful that the exorcist's genesis is not a "may."

10 out of 10. Amazing card. will be a staple in every deck going forward. It's so easy to play and does so much.

—Duo

Order of the White Wing

Order of the White Wing is excellent at disrupting various strategies. It hoses Deathspeaker, Illusionists Adept, and Brother Knight, among others. Likewise, Order of the Sacred Oak is excellent at hosing Roots of Yggdrasil. Duo suggested that the popularity of Landlocked and other Roots variants would boost Order of the Sacred Oak's stock.

Gargantula

The way Gargantula's genesis is worded makes it highly effective against many otherwise problematic enemies. Since it doesn't target, it ignores ward and stealth. It doesn't care if the enemy is airborne. It doesn't care about the minion's size. Additionally, it isn't tied to the cocooned minion, so it can roam the Realm and leave the cocoon behind.

Archangel Michael

Archangel Michael is crazy. It's a blowout card.

—Duo

Balor of the Evil Eye

Balor's ability is another way to scorch wards from the Realm and close Death's Door.

Cherubim and Malakhim

Aside from Lord of Lies, Duo has been impressed by the six mana Elite Angel cycle in Gothic. As players recognize they need to build to beat ward, the stock of the warded Angels will likely be tempered.

Toolbox

Most competitive decks should have a playset of Toolbox.

—Duo

Wiccan Tools

Wiccan Tools is scaffolding upon Landlocked's foundation. Spells requiring no threshold not only smooths the Spellbook filled with and , but also propels your post-Roots of Yggdrasil Realm. Dropping a or minion onto lone site post-Roots is a monstrous swing.

Future Changes

Duo initially included two Pilgrim's Shrines, but dropped to one due to the liability of the ward being stolen by an enemy. Blessed Village is the true hero. Bedrock is the truer hero. Eight was mentioned as the desired minimum number of sites that can survive the Roots of Yggdrasil.

Raze should be Salt the Earth as an easier way to generate the same effect at the exact mana cost with fewer restrictions.

Duo has eight spells that cost at least six mana in his deck, fueled by three Landmasses, of which he said he would increase to four copies in the future.

Blaze has proved impressive for sweeping smaller minions from the Realm, like the Skeleton tokens generated by Necromancer. Duo would add the third Blaze.

Pudge Butcher might be on the chopping block. Duo believes it remains powerful enough to warrant inclusion, but didn't seem committed to it the way he was to Gargantula.