Control Haven Guide

The first of what I hope are many guides, Control Haven is one of the best control decks in the game. Although it has polarised matchups across the board, it is particularly excellent against decks that lack "inevitable win conditions", that is, cards that win the late game by default such as Prince of Cocytus.

In particular, it is recommended for people that enjoy starving the opponent out of resources and invoking despair. Esperanza has, bar none, the most BM emote in the game, which is "もう勝てないよ. わかってるよね?" Loosely translated, it means "You can't win anymore... You know that, right?"

Which is something you can obviously use when Lapis is about to spawn for lethal or the opponent just literally has no win condition left in the deck.

Matchup Spread:

• Sword - Favoured

• Artifact Portal - Favoured vs average players, unfavoured vs good players (explained later)

• Forest - Unfavoured

• Face Dragon - Favoured

• Ramp Dragon - Depends on how many Cocytus they run. If they never resolve a Cocytus, you are heavily favoured

• Mirror - Even

• Storm Haven - Favoured

• Puppet Portal - Favoured unless they resolve Cocytus

• Rune - Unfavoured, possibly worst matchup

• Abyss - Favoured

Decklist

The decklist below is my current Haven list, which I played in Diamond Tier.

Serene Sanctuary

Your main source of card draw. One of the key cards to mulligan for to ensure you don't run out of resources in the mid game. Helps you dig towards your key removal pieces so you don't need to inefficiently remove cards later.

Winged Statue

Originally I considered this an essential keep, but as I played more of the deck, I realised that the turn 1 tempo is ultimately insignificant against most matchups in the game and this card is much more important in the late game to contribute to Jeanne tempo reversals.

Bellringer Angel

Used to cycle through deck. If low on cards can evo to keep hand size healthy. Very useful in the late game with Jeanne to turn into a 2/6 ward.

Phildau, Lionheart Ward

Super efficient removal with evo. Good to tempo out on turn 2 as well, saves you a lot of health vs aggro decks.

Pact of the Beast Princess

Arguably the best card in the deck early game. It stabilises your first 4 turns singlehandedly, giving you significant freedom to develop your board and reduces the burden of needing to heal in the mid and late game. Can be used to set up tempo reversal turns. For example, n the early game, you can

Apollo, Heaven's Envoy

Necessary to stifle aggression from aggro dragon, sword and forest. Turn 3 stops most of these decks in their tracks, whilst against sword, his evo can clear practically every early game board.

Angelic Prism Priestess

Used primarily as a consistency tool that keeps your hand healthy. The reason we play this card is not generally for its evo effect, though occasionally, it can come in handy.

Dose of Holiness

Can be used instantly to remove a threat and heal up, or alternatively held on the board until it's needed later - in other words, to bank up removal/mana.

Originally ran three copies but felt it was not needed as we had a fairly large volume of turns where this card was awkward to play, especially with the addition of Angelic Prism Priestess which typically takes priority on turn 3 over Dose of Holiness

Divine Thunder

A way of removing major threats without needing to commit evo points. Useful in late game as it can be played alongside a follower on the 9/10 pp turn. Very useful when paired with Soulcure Sister on 10pp, for instance.

Salefa, Guardian of Water

One of the best cards of the deck. Every non Alouette mid game board dies to this card singlehandedly. It also heals for 3, which is useful at all points of the game. Also can combo on turn 10 with Olivia Super evo.

Soulcure Sister

This card won't save you from a bad early start, but supposing a relatively back and forth game, this will put you outside of burst lethal ranges, making its value immeasurable in those types of game states. The three main windows to play this are when your opponent lets you evo with it, you have Unholy Vessel prepared beforehand or on 10pp with Divine Thunder

Unholy Vessel

Arguably the best card of the deck. Can be used instantly to wipe the board but also to setup future turns, allowing for low tempo plays like Soulcure Sister, Maeve, or Lapis.

Olivia

Draws 2 cards and heals you, what's not to like. In addition, the Super Evo effect pairs well with the plethora of 2-costs in our deck, as well as the 10 turn combo with Salefa to heal for 5 while clearing enemy board and putting up a 6/6 ward

Maeve, Guardian of Earth

We've manipulated our amulet ratios specifically for this card, including the addition of Prism Priestess. This card is built specifically for Unholy Vessel. Almost no decks have access to banish, which means that it's almost guaranteed to get back Unholy Vessel. It's also not exactly easy for the opponent to clear through a 5/7 ward in the first place, forcing the opponent into a level of commitment they'll never be too happy with.

Lapis

Your win condition. In games where you get to play this for free (that is, your opponent fails to pressure you properly), you want to slam this. 7 damage every two turns is absurd, and the card can even be used to trade. Simply surviving will ensure victory if this card manages to reach the board safely without you dying first.

Jeanne

Clear a majority of boards in the game. Especially strong when paired on the same turn as breaking Pact of the Beast Princess or Winged Statue. In the late game, it is even stronger if paired with cards like Bellringer Angel to create a wall of 6 health followers.

Concepts to understand

Neutral game state: This refers to a position in the game where your opponent has no followers, or almost no followers on the field. This gives you what we will call "priority", that is, you have the opportunity to force the opponent to respond to your next move.

Neutral game states are pretty rare in SVWB because of how the evolve system works. Most of the time, the last player to evolve has priority over the other player - that is, that the opponent is forced to clear their board. Control Haven is one of the few decks that can, from a neutral game state, force another neutral game state on the following turn due to Unholy Vessel.

Early game chip damage: For most decks, early game chip damage is effectively there to stay. However, Haven has access to a large amount of healing, such as from Salefa. Therefore, Haven does not necessarily need to stay at 20 hp at all times, they can easily drop to 17 hp and expect to recover that via incidental chip healing. This leads to the final concept to consider:

Trading health to save evo points or gain future board advantages: A simple example is as follows: Suppose your opponent has a 1/1 on the board. Do you feel like you have to evo to clear it? Well, to answer that question, what tends to happen if you don't clear a 1/1 is that you take 1 face damage the next turn. In addition, you may not be able to remove it the following turn too, meaning you will take an extra 1 face damage for each turn it survives. This would potentially put you from 20-> 18 hp. However, because you're playing Salefa, you know that taking 2 damage doesn't mean anything, you will clear the 1/1 anyway at a later point while also healing back up to 20. Therefore, not using evolve point earlier carries no real downsides.

General Game Plan

In general, Control Haven is not an aggro deck, it is a late game deck that focuses on controlling the board early. So under a majority of circumstances, do not consider evolving to go face in the early game, and don't overextend your resources into an "all-in" that is effectively impossible.

For your first turn, play a 1pp Amulet if you have one, prioritising Serene Sanctuary. Even against aggressive decks, you'll often find that you won't have time to play Serene Sanctuary on subsequent turns, so this is the best time to get your inevitable 2-card draw in.

Your best two-cost play is almost always Pact of the Beast Princess. This card will singlehandedly keep you at close to 20 hp for the first 3-4 turns of the game. Alternatively, Phildau is the second best play, as it can be used to trade off against their 2-cost, thus preserving your health.

I would not typically advise using coin on turn 1 except in situations where I have Pact + Pact/Phildau as a curve, as it is often better to keep the coin for a potential Selena tempo reversal turn.

Turn 3 depends on the level of pressure the opponent is putting on the board. If there is minimal pressure, then develop with Angelic Prism Priestess. If there is a lot of pressure, then popping Pact is often ideal, especially when paired with a 2-cost 2/2 or Bellringer. Apollo depends on how many 1 health followers they have on board. Dose of holiness is an acceptable play for removing threats or banking mana (I note that Angelic Prism Priestess is much better when the opponent has no board).

Turn 4 going first is one of your weakest turns, as you need to consider what the opponent is likely to do on their evo turn and how you react the following turn. Developing cards like Dose/Angelic or your 1pp amulets is also quite acceptable here on the basis of having a suitable tempo reversal the following turn (for example Apollo/Salefa the following turn).

Going second, cards like Apollo and Phildau will often clear the opponent's entire board. If you have the coin still, you can also utilise Salefa here, especially against decks that have few way to remove a 5/5 from board without trading.

Important note: From Turn 4 onwards, a Winged Statue will pop on Turn 8, which is the first practical turn your Jeanne can come down. Engaging your Winged Statue will make you miss this window (which could be fine, btw, just be conscious that you're doing it).

On turn 5, you will, in most matchups, be forced to clear the opponent's board. From this point on, you should be looking for opportunities to clear board without using evo points IF possible. Otherwise, it's fine to use evo point.

From turn 6, you will have the option to use Unholy Vessel to full clear board on any given turn. You should consider if there are any opportunities to play Unholy Vessel without popping it on turn 6, allowing you to carry it over to a following turn. This is especially strong when paired with cards like Maeve - if you take 4-5 damage by not popping the Vessel on turn 6, you can pop it at the start of turn 7 and then play Maeve, effectively buying you turn 7 and starting turn 8 from a neutral position.

When deciding whether to use Unholy Vessel or a different form of removal, it is best to consider the opponent's deck. For example, if they're likely to drop followers above 6 health in the later stages of the game, it is better to save Vessel and look for different methods of removal (for example, Orchis is too big for Jeanne to clear without evo).

Note that going second, you can also go Vessel on 6 -> then coin out Lapis on Turn 7, then use Vessel to clear board.

On turn 7, you should again consider how to best remove the opponent's board. However, this time, you should be cognizant of a few things:

1) Am I able to Lapis the next turn? Most opponents will try to go wide so you can't get a free evo Lapis in. However, if you are healthy at around 20 health, their deck may not be able to 2-turn lethal pattern you.

In addition, if you are somehow in a neutral game state, you can set up cards like Dose of Holiness or Unholy Vessel to reduce the opponent's ability to lock you out of Lapis.

2) Am I looking to Jeanne next turn to clear their board? If so, you should consider playing Pact this turn and engaging it, thus ensuring it comes out at the same time as Jeanne. The same goes for Winged Statue. For example, if you have both of these cards out, then next turn, you can play Jeanne and create a board of 6/6 ward, 4/6 storm, 6/8 rush, which is obviously very strong against any deck that has no easy access to Bane or mass-removal.

3) What type of lethal ranges is my opponent considering? Around this point of the game is where you need to be very careful of 2-turn lethal setups where they chunk your health while forcing you to respond.

The biggest weakness of Control Haven is when you are unable to clear and heal at the same time, something which decks like Artifact can take heavy advantage of.

On turn 8, this is where you should aim for a Lapis evo if safe to do so without dying. Otherwise, you're locked into the "clear board, heal, build small board and pray opponent gives you a relatively neutral state later in the game."

On turn 9, you should start looking at setting up Pact for Jeanne. From turn 10 onwards, you're able to play a 2-cost from hand then Jeanne. This means that you should time your amulets popping to coincide with Jeanne being played, allowing you to AOE their board and create an unanswerable wall of 6 health followers. Around this time, both you and your opponent will be close to, or already out of evo points.

Turn 10 also enables the ability to use Soulcure Sister with Divine Thunder, or Olivia into Salefa (for healing, tempo, and clear).

Your game plan from here on out should revolve around a huge swing turn with Jeanne, as this is unanswerable by most opponents. This is a much harder game state to play than the one where Lapis was able to be dropped safely, which essentially plays itself (free 7/6 storm every two turns will result in the game being over in one direction sooner rather than later).

Matchups:

Face Dragon

Essentially unlosable matchup as long as you take minimal early chip damage and answer their board as it arises. Their deck doesn't function when you can clear their intimidate followers and heal past their natural burst range. In other words, mulligan for your 2pp tempo tools, Salefa and Serene Sanctuary.

Ramp Dragon: Serene Sanctuary and Pact are the most important keeps in this matchup. Since you won't know their deck on ladder, you can't safely keep Lapis. Going second with double pact opener is very effective against Ramp Dragon, giving you priority for multiple turns to set up Unholy Grail and, hopefully, Lapis. If the game goes too long, you can and will lose to Cocytus, but hopefully it won't get to that. You can play around Cocytus to an extent by going super wide with cards like Jeanne, but it often requires them to not his ramp + Cocytus on curve.

Sword: Apollo, Serene Sanctuary, Salefa and Pact are your most important keeps in this matchup. Phildau is acceptable as a baseline 2pp 2/2. Double Pact is probably the strongest opener, but the rest of these cards are all great. Don't waste Apollo when going first, if you don't have another one or Salefa. This is because you want to have an answer to the opponent evolving Zirconia, who creates a bunch of 2/2s that can be easily answered by Salefa/Apollo.

If the Sword Player lets you, Lapis is often a game ender by herself, but don't count on it against a good Sword Player. Instead, your goal should be to set up a large Jeanne turn. Ideally, you want two amulets popping just prior to your Jeanne coming down, thus giving you a board of at least three 6 health followers. Sword's outs to this are limited in nature and will force out their evo points. Once their ability to Albert evo is gone, their threat levels will be very low.

Nevertheless, it is still important to win via Jeanne or Lapis. Simply clearing alone will not lead to a victory, as you will not be able to find opportunities to swing their face if they draw their Amelias.

Overall, the win rate is exceptional against weaker Sword players, but those that do not overextend while forcing you to respond can find opportunities to outgrind you in the late game.

Artifact Portal

To be clear, this matchup is terrible if they know what they're doing. In general, those that are skilled with this deck will only create the 3-damage Artifact and build it via Alouette/Ralmia at every opportunity. It is impossible to out these cards on curve and heal at the same time, resulting in a very unfavourable matchup.

However, those that aim to build the 10-cost Robot will have a rough time vs Haven. Since the Robot costs 10, they can't really play anything else on the same turn, meaning any 6-health ward will result in you not dying. In addition, by being above 10 health + 2/3 depending on if they have Super Evo/Evo Point remaining, they also can't safely play the card. If they do, Divine Lightning + Soulcure will end the game right then and there.

Thus, it is important to be cognizant of the following key turns which will cause you issues:

5pp Turn: Alouette evo + 4/4 Artifact.

8pp Turn: Super Evo Orchis (8 damage to face) or Ralmia (9 damage to face)

9pp: Same as above

10pp: Same as above.

Now keep in mind, without the Ralmia dealing 9 damage to face, this matchup is perfectly winnable, if not rather favoured.

In addition, if you are ever able to safely drop a Lapis, this will also allow you to race (and often win the game). Once their super evos are out, Jeanne's buffs become almost unstoppable, regardless of how much health your leader has.

Forest

Generally unfavoured if they open with the 3c Amulet which draws them a card every turn. The problem is that even if you clear their board every turn, they just never run out of gas. The longer the game goes, the more likely they'll get chip damage in, and the stronger their roaches become.

The most reliable method to win is therefore via Lapis, as it puts a hard timer down on when they need to kill you.

The key turn you need to be wary of is on turn 3 going first and turn 4 going second. This is where they will look to drop two fairies into Fay Twinkletoes. You can either shut this down early with apollo or wait until after they're buffed to clear them with an evo point.

Not taking too much chip damage gives you a small window to Lapis, the only card in your deck that can realistically pressure their life total. Once Lapis is down, you can focus on defending your life and removing their board while chipping with the 7 damage storm until you have lethal.

Mirror

This mirror almost always comes down to Lapis. Hard mulligan for her and card draw only, forget everything else.

If you're going first in this matchup, you want to play as aggressively/wide as possible, especially around turn 7 to prevent them from being able to get a free Lapis down with their extra coin.

The first person to get Lapis down is at a major advantage, all else being equal. Once Lapis is down, focus on healing and setting up the storm bird amulet and Jeanne to buff everything at once and go for game.

Puppet Portal

Nothing to worry about except for Double Orchis -> Liam/one copy of Cocytus. Once they're out of gas, they don't really do anything, not to mention they have minimal pressure in the mid game. Just don't take chip damage for no reason in mid-game so you don't die to their double Orchis -> Liam game plan and it should be a pretty straightforward win.

Rune

Pray your Rune opponent is bad (actually very likely up until around Sapphire/Diamond btw).

Mulligan: Unholy Grail/Lapis/Serene Sanctuary/

If they tempo out their dudes, it's fairly straightforward to clear with any of your removal pieces. Unholy Grail is important to have in the mid-game, as it's your only super wide removal that deals with their Kuon/Flame Destroyers prior to Jeanne. Once Jeanne is live, you can focus on removing everything quite easily.

Despite the existence of AOE clear in the late game, your win pattern is dependent on you establishing either Lapis or a Jeanne board with 3 followers to prevent their Cocytus win condition. Ultimately, if the Rune player plays towards their win condition of Cocytus/Double Kuon, it's really hard to win. But the sad thing is that many Rune players don't understand their own win con, so it's not that bad to face rune on ladder, especially below Sapphire/Diamond.

Abyss

Lol.

Example VODs

https://youtu.be/9HzvnbnCQpk Bma vs Surre (Vs Artifact)

https://youtu.be/CIJMyWe7NX0 Vs Sword

Final thoughts

Haven is a deck that depends heavily on the metagame and has a rather polarising matchup spread. Personally, I find it a lot of fun to play, but the amount of unfavourable matchups may get on some players nerves(though to be fair, we have a bunch of super favoured matchups too). It's certainly not a tier 1 deck this expansion, but I think many of the concepts covered in this guide will be relevant again in the future!