Damned if you do, damned if you don't

The more I play Worldbreakers, the more I enjoy mid-range decks. The game engine rewards flexibility and these types of decks are perfect for fielding a range of solutions to whatever your opponent is trying to do, all the while pushing their own agenda. This is my take on blending Void's mid-range capabilities into a Muhandasat brew.

The deck's strategy starts from the end-game. You have two routes to winning:

• Versus follower-heavy decks, you control the board using Bolt Strike, Vicious Stab, Volatile Furnace, and efficient followers (such as Moon's high-health followers or Void's Alamut Emissary). Then finish off your opponent with a well-funded The Ancient Butcher.

Don't forget your Forlorn Flats and Luminous Lagoon. You have several big followers that can buy you the turn needed to develop a shrine's stage II. This often puts you at a total of 5 removal cards.

• If your opponent is going for locations, drown them with power: your eight locations offer a total of 22 power, including three locations that give you 2 power on stage I (Solomon's Throne, The Pit of Despair, and Volatile Furnace). Oftentimes you only need one solid attack and 2-3 locations to get to 10, and if necessary you can reach for 12-13 power.

Proactive Economy

Many Muhandasat builds have passive economy: you spend an action and get some resources. We have these usual suspects here with Mythium Fund, Mythium Ingot, and Naming Ceremony. True to our secondary Void nature, though, we also include some more aggressive options with the Callous Closer/Serendipitous Witness combination along with Novice Cutpurse and Raider's Hideaway. You should attack often and get followers defeated so you can trigger these abilities and Void Apprentice's card draw.

It's important to be mindful of the cards we are not playing. In particular, there is no Electrifying Revelation to recycle other economy cards, since we prefer to keep the tempo going. Another missing piece is Lowly Bard (and her friend Proof of the Grotto), which means spare standing does not benefit us. On the other hand, we do run both The Humble Underpass and The Submerged Brilliance, two excellent early mines.

One last note about standing: Be careful with how you allocate your standing gains! The deck has 4 two-Moon cards, 3 two-Void cards, and one of each three-Moon and three-Void cards. The two-standing cards are all critical to your game play, so be greedy and dictate your path based on what you draw.

Mulligan Suggestions

Like most Muhandasat decks, you should mulligan aggressively. Most locations should go back to the deck, with the possible exception of The Humble Underpass and The Submerged Brilliance (especially if you go first or have a Peaceful Engineer). Try to bias your opening hand toward the following cards:

• Mythium Fund and Desperate Miners are strong early-game economy cards. Mythium Ingot is at its best if you go second (allowing you to play it on the wheel).
• Natty Matron will typically draw you 2-3 cards before your opponent deals with her.
• Naming Ceremony and Swift Messenger provide you with much-needed flexibility.
• Gratuitous Gift and Unstable Ore are more situational, but both are worth keeping if you got the right follower (remember that there are only four Scholars in the deck).

This deck rewards proper standing planning and keeping the tempo. You have several tools that pay dividends for forcing attacks and making razor-thin location plays. Plus, you have two powerful outs with the Throne and the Butcher. Now go play ;)