Nautilus: Stacked Deck and Titanic ramp

Use Starforged Gauntlets for earlier mana, Stacked Deck for team stats from a larger starting deck and The Beast Within to push damage through blockers. Your Sea Monsters become the main finishers after Deep.

It's his most popular build in 10★ clears, guide builds and player votes. Compared with the recurring-removal guide, this plan strengthens your followers and opening resources instead of generating repeated champion spells. Larger decks need deliberate drafting to stay consistent.

Stacked Deck

Gain 200 starting gold and +1|+1 for every twelve cards beyond eighteen in your deck at Game Start. Thirty cards gives +1|+1; forty-two gives +2|+2. The starting-deck count is checked before the two-star opening Toss, so later Toss doesn't remove that battle's bonus.

Starforged Gauntlets

The champion's base health already meets Titanic, so its extra starting gem works without a stat-enabling slot. Two-star mana makes three starting gems; five-star mana makes four.

The Beast Within

Allies have Overwhelm and allies with a subtype have +1|+1. Sea Monsters can turn their large Deep stats into damage even when blocked. The champion is not automatically a Sea Monster or a Deep unit merely because he has levelled. Level 30 and three Epic upgrades equip the trio.

Mulligan for Dreg Dredgers, Salvage and affordable plays. Develop enough defense to live while Toss and draw reduce the deck. Lure of the Depths helps the Sea Monster plan, while Heavy Metal removes a smaller threat.

Reach Deep, then use The Beast Below and Devourer of the Depths as large threats and removal. Draws also Toss one card until Deep at two stars, helping you move toward the fifteen-card threshold. Champions cannot be Toss; a deck crowded with champion copies can therefore interfere with the plan.

Play Nautilus when you can afford him and use his levelled Sea Monster discount. At six stars, the first qualifying unit drawn or Toss each round is copied into play. The limit is your mana gems, not spare mana, and only the first qualifying unit gets that round's free copy.

Spend the extra gold on useful draw, Toss and Sea Monster cards. Passing another deck-size threshold can be worthwhile, but random expensive filler lowers the chance of finding your early engine. Extra late-game stats do not compensate for dying before Deep.

Players disagree on how much deck growth is worth the loss of consistency. Disciple of Shadows replacing Stacked is a common shorter-adventure alternative that brings the champion down earlier from a developed board. The original Frozen Tomb and The Grand General's Counterplan plan instead emphasizes champion access and recurring control.

Three-star Echoes from the Deep II increases Deep's stat bonus with every five cards drawn or Toss. Two-star The Endless March supplies mana, extra Toss on draws before Deep and the opening deck reduction. Six-star Rising Tides adds free qualifying unit copies, but the main wide-board build is functional before that upgrade.

• Stacked Deck with Nautilus by u/Dekusteven, 2025-02-22, 58 points (observed 14 Oct 2026).
• Best relics for Nautilus by u/Comprehensive-Link9, 2025-02-18, 8 points (observed 14 Oct 2026).
• Player-voted builds, local snapshot collected 13 Oct 2026.
• Champion guide builds and recorded clears, local snapshot collected 13 Oct 2026.
• Champion mechanics and level rewards, local data checked 14 Oct 2026.