When you play Masters of Myth™ and are looking through a new deck, you’re probably trying to figure out what cards are the strongest. It might not be immediately clear what powerful combos you can pull off until you get more familiar with the deck. This guide is designed to help players who are new to Hades, or those who are looking for new strategies you can implement.

Pneuma

Learning how to play Pneuma and optimizing their recovery is key to learning how to play Hades. Pneuma are a free, damage reduction minion in the Hades deck. Since they cost no devotion to summon, they are incredibly fragile, only having 1 power. Their strength comes from their stacking damage reduction and how other cards interact with them. Pneuma has an Innate Feat that reads, “Reduce damage dealt to you by 1 to a minimum of 1”. This damage reduction stacks with other Pneuma as well as Helm of Darkness allowing you to have a maximum damage reduction of 5 to a minimum of 1. This makes Hades incredibly durable as your opponents either have to pick Pneuma off one by one in order to lower your damage reduction or use mass removal to open you up for attacks.

That is not the end of Pneuma’s versatility. There are 4 different ways for you to bring back destroyed Pneuma from your discard to your hand; Charon, All Will Serve Me In The End, Asphodel Meadows, and Hades’ Death State God Feat. These will ensure that as long as you have a few Pneuma in discard you will always have access to some form of protection. If you are in desperate need of Guard, Pomegranate Seeds will grant a friendly Pneuma you control Guard until the end of turn. This can be used to disrupt your opponent’s attack plans.

The Unseen One

The Unseen One is potentially the most powerful defensive tool in your arsenal. This ritual makes you unaffected by enemy spells and feats. You minions, rituals and relics can still be affected by enemy spells and feats but anything that would deal damage, force you to do something, or assistance or hindrance to you directly will not work. Zeus trying to Lightning Bolt! you for max damage? Nope. Quetzalcoatl trying to make you sacrifice minions with Keep The Sun Burning? Nice try. Ra summon two Scorching Heats to cook you? Not today. This even extends to helpful enemy feats like Avatar of Knowledge, while The Unseen One is out you wouldn’t draw an additional card during the draw phase. Combining this with a defensive wall of Pneuma and you will become a fortress for your opponents to crack.

Binding Deal

At a glance Binding Deal doesn’t seem like a powerful card, but with the right combos and timing it can be devastating. Allowing your opponent to summon a minion for free from discard seems like a bad idea. It can give them a stronger board presence and can shift the tempo in their favor. With Binding Deal, you will be gaining devotion equal to the summoned minion’s cost plus two giving you a proportional chunk of devotion back. Additionally, this can synergize with Cerberus and Bident of Hades to deal damage directly to your opponents. Additionally if you have Tartarus out, you can immediately destroy whatever minion they brought back. This would negate an increase in board presence.

Erinyes

We’ve discussed several different defensive options Hades has included in his deck. While Hades is a much more attrition and combo focused deck, he’s not slouch on the offensive either. Cards like Cerberus and Thanatos can still pack a mean punch, but Erinyes is where the real firepower lies. Synergizing well with Pneuma, Erinyes will increase their power by 1 whenever a friendly minion dies until the end of turn. This means you can sacrifice your Pneuma clearing the way for a powerful attack by Erinyes. Additionally, on the defensive this makes them far more difficult to remove with attacks if other minions have to be destroyed before Erinyes is attacked forcing your opponent to make difficult decisions.

There are even more Hades combos out there just waiting to be discovered, but I’ll leave that job to you.

If you’re interested in learning more about Hades, click HERE to visit his god page. 

If you’re interested in playing as Hades, you can click HERE to pre-order the Hades vs Susanoo deck pack.