Kathari Beginners Guide
Aetio Noble Deck
Written By
freetipscout
November 4, 2024
Noble decks take the peasant format to the next level by including Rare cards in addition to Common and Uncommon cards in the deck.
In our Aetio deck this will allow us to use more powerful cards that can help to achieve our win condition which in this case is to waste our entire deck!
When comparing this build with our Gnaeus Peasant deck we see that there are slightly less units in favour of more Effects but there are even more cards available to be played on turns one or two with 25 compared to the 21 in the Gnaeus Peasant deck.
Commanding Aetio is a unique experience in Parallel with no other deck offering the same style of play, because in addition to building a strong presence on the board, the key strategy revolves around wasting the entire deck as quickly as possible.
The goal here is to get to zero cards left in this deck so that Aetio can then be played on the field to summon her latest clone creation - Aetio’s Iterant.
This lab-grown monstrosity inherits the sum of all attack, health and keywords from units in the waste and attacks the opponent immediately with Evasive, meaning it is a unit that is usually large enough to kill the opponent in one attack and end the game.
Because of this, our Aetio Noble deck has been built to consist of cards which have abilities to waste other cards in the deck allowing us to reach an empty deck state faster and before our opponent has a chance to win the game.
When combined with Aetio’s passive ability which wastes the top card of the deck the first time a Kathari unit enters the field, this Aetio Noble deck hits hard and fast.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the key cards within this deck so we can understand the overall play strategy and where our win conditions come from.
Early Game Cards
The Valerusi Striker is back with a vengeance after previously being included as the primary 1 cost unit in our Gnaeus Peasant deck.
Although the Striker doesn’t directly support our goal of sending cards to the waste, this is a unit which applies good pressure on the opponent when played in the early stages of a game.
Strikers are vulnerable to PS-8 Launchers and Life Siphon Effects which will remove the unit in one swift action but if the Striker can avoid such threats he can deal damage early, making your opponent’s health lower for Aetio’s Iterant to finish off later on.
Planetfall’s expansion introduced over 100 new cards into Parallel including this unsuspecting little drone which has quickly become a firm favourite amongst the game’s player base.
The AZ-12 Target Painter doesn’t look like a unit to be worried about at first glance with an attack value of zero, but you would be wise not to ignore this troublesome unit for too long.
The Painter targets other units to receive increased damage and when played early, this hard-working drone has the very real potential to shut opponents out from establishing their own units on the board.
The Tabula Rasa is a one-of-a-kind card providing a unique interaction experience not found in other decks within Parallel.
This card works by spending your remaining energy from a turn to reveal a friendly banked unit with the same cost as the energy spent.
The Rasa then transforms into a Clone copy of that banked unit which makes this card a flexible option to play at any stage of a game depending on what units are banked, the strength of the other cards you hold in your hand and the state of the board.
Just like the Valerusi Strikers, the Valerusi Standard Bearers return from our Gnaeus Peasant deck and once again play an important role in buffing our units within this Aetio build.
When played on-curve the Standard Bearer is ready to inspire subsequent units that are played on the field like the Cunning Scipian, Aetian Subjugate or the Convergent Centurus with a +1/+1 buff to their attack and health stats.
Keep in mind though that the Standard Bearer only inspires other clone units with a buff so remember to plan your next unit plays after him wisely.
The Cunning Scipian doesn’t help us waste cards in our Aetio Noble deck but it is a great card to set the tempo in the early game by building a wide board.
Deploying the Scipian on the field is often more optimal once the Valerusi Standard Bearer or the Aetian Subjugate has been played first so the Scipian token receives the +1/+1 buff but playing the Cunning Scipian on-curve is also a solid option.
Genetically enhanced in the hydroleum pools deep below the surface of Europa, the Cunning Scipian is now ready to take to the battlefield for the Kathari!
Sending cards to the waste is a crucial strategy for success in an Aetio deck and the Alkaline Hydrolist is the perfect 2 cost unit to help achieve that goal.
The Alkaline Hydrolists are no strangers to waste as a byproduct of the cloning process although wastage is expected to be kept to a minimum.
As such, the Hydrolist will waste just the top card of your deck once played on the field ensuring cloning standards are maintained and you are one card closer to unleashing Aetio’s Iterant!
Mid-Game Cards
The Aetian Subjugate is an essential card for Kathari decks with its powerful ability to buff any unit by +1/+1 but in an Aetio deck the value is twofold.
Subjugates not only buff any target unit when a friendly Clone enters the field but they also waste the top card of the player’s deck each time too, meaning we can waste our deck even quicker!
If played on-curve the Subjugate can set up powerful plays for the following turns with units such as the Cunning Scipian or the Convergent Centurus triggering the +1/+1 buff with each token.
The Logistics Support Cruiser (LSC) joined the game as the first ever non-legendary Battle Pass card and it has quickly established itself as a popular unit to include in any deck.
For our Aetio Noble build the LSC plays an important role in helping us gain energy quicker so we can play Aetio on the field as soon as the entire deck has been sent to the waste.
And if that wasn’t good enough already the LSC also delivers a card to your hand in the event it meets an untimely demise.
Some cards in our Aetio Noble build directly contribute to sending our deck to the waste while others like the Formatician’s Exalt provide an indirect benefit from being sent to the waste.
The Exalt is an excellent unit to play in the mid game with solid attack and health stats plus the ability to draw one card when played on the board which is a big strength of this particular unit where card draw is rare in Kathari.
And should the Exalt enter the waste outside of play, he will create a 1/1 clone token unit to help further strengthen your position on the board too.
Effect Cards
Everyone’s favourite rocket launcher returns for our Aetio Noble deck where the PS-8 will act as your main form of Effect removal in a game.
The PS-8 can be an effective way to control your opponent’s board and because it only costs 1 energy to play it can be combined with playing your own units on the same turn allowing you to turn defence into attack in the blink of an eye!
Keep in mind though that with only three copies in the deck you will need to carefully weigh up the situations which call for a PS-8 instead of letting your own units deal with threats on the board.
The Kathari laugh in the face of natural selection, believing the fate of their race lies firmly within their power and their power alone.
After countless millennia attempting to prove that theory through genetic alteration and cloning, the word natural has lost all sense of its meaning amongst the Kathari civilization.
With Unnatural Selection we can harness the Kathari’s ideology of selective fate by discarding a card from our hand, then drawing another one and if that card drawn is a unit we not only get to draw another card but also create a 1/1 token on the board too! The benefits of cloning humans right?
Some victories are sweeter than others but none more so than the Triumph of Europa.
With three copies included within our Aetio Noble deck this card has tremendous power and is capable of swinging a game in your favour.
Not only does the Triumph waste the top two cards of the deck which edges us closer to Aetio’s Iterant, but you can also play any number of units from your waste with a total cost of 5 energy or less and they gain +1 to attack too. Time to triumph!
