Nautilus: Deep scaling and a recurring champion engine

Nautilus has two plans: grow a large follower deck, or summon the expensive champion cheaply and recur his removal spell. This build is the second plan, with Frozen Tomb, Troll King's Crown and The Grand General's Counterplan. The large-deck alternative has more starting stats but can make the opening draw less consistent.

Frozen Tomb

Game Start: If I'm in deck or in hand, summon a Stormcarved Spire with Countdown 4: Summon me.

The delayed extra champion entry provides insurance and another engine body. It takes time to arrive and a summon is not the same as playing a champion with a Play effect.

Troll King's Crown

Allies have Overwhelm.

Team Overwhelm provides combat reach so that a growing board can finish instead of repeatedly trading into small blockers.

The Grand General's Counterplan

Round Start: Create a Fleeting copy of me in hand.

The recurring copy gives a champion spell while the champion is alive, or a replacement champion if it is removed. Keep enough mana to use the copy before Fleeting removes it.

Mulligan for early blockers and the deck's draw/Toss cards, especially Dreg Dredgers and Salvage. Reach Deep while preserving Nexus health. The three-star power strengthens units that actually have Deep; Nautilus himself does not gain that keyword just because he levels up.

Frozen Tomb supplies a delayed champion without paying his full cost. Once he is in play, The Grand General's Counterplan supplies his champion spell or a replacement copy if he leaves play. Keep spell mana for removal instead of spending everything on one more unit. Overwhelm lets the Sea Monster board finish through blockers.

A summon does not trigger Play effects. This matters when swapping toward entry-draw or Nexus-strike relics: the delayed champion entry does not activate those effects.

For the follower-focused plan, run The Beast Within and Stacked Deck. The former adds team Overwhelm and subtype stats; the latter scales from the deck size at game start. Keep enough cheap units and draw/Toss cards so purchases do not crowd out the opening hand.

Frozen Tomb also pairs well with those two Epics. It explicitly warns that the interaction between the initial deck reduction and starting-deck stats needed testing. Copies added during a game don't count as starting-deck cards for the large-deck plan.

Found Fortune can find Devourer of the Depths in the base deck, giving immediate removal after a played Nautilus. Other eligible drafted cards can compete for that draw.

Echoes from the Deep II

Deep gives an additional +1|+1 for every 5 cards you've drawn or Toss.

• Nautilus Relic Theorycrafting by u/MartDiamond, 2025-02-11, 23 points (observed 13 Oct 2026).
• What do you guys think are the best relics to use with Nautilus? by u/Comprehensive-Link9, 2025-02-18, 8 points (observed 13 Oct 2026).
• Player-submitted builds, collected 13 Oct 2026.
• Supporting champion guide, collected 13 Oct 2026.
• Champion mechanics, LoL Wiki, checked 13 Oct 2026.