3 Pigs Mid Range: matchups, key interactions and Conquest

Before you start

This is the second part of the guide to 3 Pigs Mid Range, the midrange deck led by Three Not So Little Pigs that Davdas, OriginsMeta staff, published on 15 September 2026. The first part covers the list, the game plan, the mulligan and the round-by-round play. Here we look at the interactions that decide games, at the matchups and at the format the deck is tagged for. The author's notes are on the deck page; the matchup reading below is OriginsMeta's, based on the card texts of patch 0.6.3.

Five interactions to know

1. Rumple into the finishers. Rumple gives you +1 mana next round. Played on round five it lets you reveal Three Not So Little Pigs on round six, a full round before the opponent expects a seven-drop; played on round six it puts Ellen Trechend on the board on round seven.
2. The Wicked Witch and her Flying Monkey. The Witch is a 1/5: she rarely dies to a single hit, and each time she survives damage you get a Flying Monkey in hand and she moves one space to the left. The Monkey's On Reveal moves any other character, yours or theirs, to a random space in its location: use it to drag an enemy blocker out of the lane you are trampling through, or to bring a Wolf where the fight is.
3. En Passant on a grown body. The spell moves an ally and deals damage equal to its Power to the character across from it. On a Big Bad Wolf that has fought twice it is five damage plus a repositioning; on Ellen Trechend it is removal that also moves her Trample to where the barrier is weakest. It is also the answer to a blocker parked in front of one of your pigs.
4. Impundulu's Lightning Strikes. Every attack adds a Lightning Strike, two mana for three damage to any character or barrier, which must be used before the next combat. That is a repeatable, targeted three damage: enough for most early drops in the current card pool, or a direct hit on a barrier when the board is already yours.
5. Piglet on the pigs. Piglet's On Reveal buffs the other allies in its location. The round after the Pigs, a Piglet next to a Not So Little Pig makes a Trample body that hits harder: the deck page notes that the mulligan cards "support the pigs already on the board".

Matchups

Ranked data is not public yet, so what follows is a reading of the lists, not a win rate.

Against Van Helsing control, for example Healing Healsing, by the same author. This is the matchup the mulligan note has in mind when it says to keep Axe Throw: Van Helsing is a 3/4, and four damage removes him before his Tools start coming every combat. Push damage early, because the control deck wants to reach eight mana for Forbidden Knowledge, which destroys every character on the board, yours and theirs. Do not put the Pigs and Ellen Trechend down in the same window: hold one finisher for the round after the wipe. While Boitata is in play, spell damage to their barriers is dealt to yours instead, so aim Lightning Strikes at characters until it is gone.

Against go-wide boards (Swarm-style lists, Mulan). The wider they go, the bigger Ellen Trechend gets: she grows for every enemy card in her location. Keep the Witch as the wall on the lane they are flooding, play Frog Prince as a 2/5 rather than a 5/2, and save Axe Throw for the card that buffs the others. Mulan repeats the On Reveal abilities of her allies, so she is the priority target.

Against other midrange decks (King Arthur, Robin Hood). Tempo decides: whoever falls off curve loses. Rumple is at its best here, and Impundulu's Strikes are the difference on an even board. Robin Hood's On Reveal deals 2 damage to all enemies, which kills Bagheera, Piglet and a fresh Rumple but not the Witch or a Frog Prince played as a 2/5: at eight mana, do not overload a lane with small units. King Arthur gives Shield to Good characters, so keep Axe Throw for after the Shield has been used.

Mistakes to avoid

• Playing the Pigs as a rescue. The Legendary summons pigs on random spaces of the other locations: it is at its best when those lanes already have a Wolf or a Witch to fight alongside, not when everything is already lost.
• Holding Rumple. It is a 2/2 body with a bonus, and the bonus is worth the most in rounds two to six.
• Wasting Lightning Strikes. They are discarded before the next combat: a Strike into a barrier is better than a Strike lost.
• Forgetting the weaknesses. The deck page lists them: no mass removal and no healing for your barriers. Do not race a deck that heals unless you are already ahead on the board.

Conquest and the "competitive" tag

The deck is tagged for both ladder and competitive play. In the Conquest format used at Big Bob's Playtest Battle, and expected for the Steam Next Fest tournament, you register several decks with different Legendaries and at least nine different cards between any two of them. 3 Pigs Mid Range pairs naturally with the same author's other list, Healing Healsing: different Legendaries, and the only card they share is Ali Baba, so they are eleven cards apart. The deck builder counts the difference for you in tournament mode.