Okay, having had more time to think, and you asking about deck types that are different but have depth:
I think you could get really far with a bunch of dudes who "Eat mana", in the sense of "When you target me with a spell, I get +1/+1" "When you target me with a spell, I create a minion" "When you target me with a spell I get a free attack" and the like.
Then, replace the various curse/summon/protection spells with ONLY spells which target your dudes. Maybe a healing spell? MAybe a "+1/+1 bonus" spell, maybe a teleport spell that swaps two of your units... or maybe a "Manaflare" spell which doesn't target anyone, but activates ALL "mana eater" abilities (or... activates an entire row at any rate).
It makes it a little less "Auto", but I think the monster-spell back and forth could work in a cool and interesting way much like the Bard/summoner back and forth.
Maybe even have a monster who refreshes a spellbock on death (If in row one, is book one, if in row three is book three).
The other thing I can image is having monsters that get boosted from deaths in their row. In a like "On kill enemy, get +1/+1" (Great vs sneaks), Or "If an enemy dies in this row, deal one damage to the backmost enemy"
And... in terms of other ideas:
Traps.
Like, things that you put in your backmost column, and then, if an enemy reaches them, SOMETHING happens (Maybe 5 damage to the first enemy to reach them? Maybe 1 damage to the whole row if an enemy reaches them? Maybe summon charms first ally to meet them, who knows)