Help: I Think I am Becoming a Timmy! Moon Monk.

Well met, marshfriend, and welcome to Help: I Think I am Becoming a Timmy!, the bimonthly column where we take a look at whatever roleplay deck, meme deck, or combo deck is flavor of the month. I’m MerryWallofStorms, but you can just call me Merry.

Last month brought with it the third out of five expansions for 2019 for the Elder Scrolls Legends, Moons of Elsweyr, based on the similarly named ESO expansion. With Moons of Elsweyr we received a bunch of exciting (read: typically dead on arrival) new mechanics to build around: these are consume, the necromancy mechanic; wax/wane, the moon phase mechanic; and the return of dragons and pilfer, two classic mechanics from previous expansions. Today, we’re going to be looking at moon monk, the wax/wane deck in the Elsweyr kitties home class, featuring the greatest hits of Moon Gate, Rebellion Captain, and Alfiq Illusionist.

The Deck and All-Stars

There are a few rules that go into building a timmy deck (because we are, after all, all timmies here), and the number one rule among those is that you must never question a card’s quality, only if it fits with the theme around which you are building.

Fortunately for moon monk though, none of the theme cards are truly terrible (although I would argue that Queen’s Captain is not worth playing outside of this specific deck, or even in this deck). Those with more experience than I, however, have told me that Corinthe Brawler is not a good card. By contrast, Rebellion General is an incredibly powerful card and a must craft if you have any interest in playing moon decks: beyond that, however, Rebellion General may also have potential in straight aggro decks without access to yellow or purple, as most green four drops are pretty bad. That said, I do not recommend crafting any of these cards unless you have interest in playing moon decks.

The real all-stars of this deck are Moon Gate, which allows all of the shenanigans you’ll want to do with this deck, and Alfiq Illusionist, which is a very powerful card when Moon Gate is active, becoming a miniature Golden Saint.

As for the deck itself, I’ve built mine as more of a midrange list. Despite the absence of the old skulk-curse package, I am running Leaflurker for removal rather than javelin, because I don’t believe in running hard removal in anything even remotely aggressive. Brynjolf made the cut for the five slot because Moonphase Suthay just wasn’t enough drain and I needed something that wasn’t Cliff Racer, because it didn’t seem right for the deck and other green fives suck ass for aggro (that statement is up to personal interpretation: other individuals would claim that green fives are the best in the game).

Black Dragon, Varen Aquilarios, and Dawnbreaker are in there simply because every yellow deck runs those cards, Hive Defender makes the cut because…well, it’s HIVE DEFENDER, and Cloudrest Illusionist is in there doing Cloudrest Illusionist things.

Penitus Oculatus Agent is in the deck as a form of pseudosilence, Eastmarch Crusader is in there for draw (you can switch it out for Eldergleam Matron if you’re having a hard time breaking runes), and Cornerclub Gambler is in there for the thrill of either drawing two cards or losing on the spot if your opponent has ring bolt or edict.

Suran Pawnbroker is in there for extra resource extension and to give you something to pitch to the gambler. Wiley Kee’va is in there because it’s an excellent card, and Bruma Profiteer trades into Barrow Stalker and gives you incidental life-gain to help stay ahead of aggro decks.

Finally, at the one drop slot, Lunar Sway helps to fill your curve, Moon Bishop is mandatory because of the theme, and Moon Gate is your theme.

Below, you’ll find a video of me showcasing the deck for two games on the ladder, just as some of the popular legends streamers do when they do their deck-techs. The first of those games is a nail-biter vs. Dagoth control nonsense, and the second is one vs. a more traditional control Tribunal that I threw very hard multiple times. Remember to count your magicka kiddoes, and until next time, have fun!