I had some extra time on my hands… I’m up to 10 core-only alpha decks now.
I am probably not going to write articles for all of these new decks (at least not immediately). So, I decided to let everyone vote on which deck they want to see. I will write an article on whichever deck receives the most votes by the time the Kickstarter backers get access to the alpha. Below I outline the genesis idea of each deck.
I had to make at least one deck with Thought Plucker or Thomas Dixon probably never would have talked to me again.
I wanted a deck with Ceasefire, Ice Drake, and Spike Trap.
I don’t like burn decks, but I was curious what mine would look like.
I really, really, really wanted a human token combo deck. This deck took forever and shifted considerably throughout.
I wanted a deck with powerful expend champions at its core.
I started out curious which cards I didn’t use (which partially informed the decks I made next). Then, I wanted to see which cards I used the most. I figured I might as well just compile everything out of curiosity.
Below are all of the cards I used across all 10 core-only decks for the alpha. They are formatted as Card Name: Copies Included (Decks with at least 1 copy). For example, Erase: 8 (3). I included 8 copies of Erase across 3 decks.
Evil (180 cards across 10 of 10 decks)
Guilt Demon: 27 (9)
Drain Essence: 17 (7)
Final Task: 15 (5)
Plague: 10 (4)
Apocalypse: 9 (3)
Medusa: 9 (3)
Necromancer Lord: 9 (3)
Plentiful Dead: 9 (3)
Wither: 8 (3)
Zombie Apocalypse: 8 (3)
Inner Demon: 6 (2)
Murderous Necromancer: 6 (2)
Army of the Apocalypse: 5 (2)
Corpse Taker: 5 (2)
Unquenchable Thirst: 5 (2)
Soul Hunter: 3 (2)
Angel of Death: 3 (1)
Bitten: 3 (1)
Dark Assassin: 3 (1)
Dark Knight: 3 (1)
Demon Breach: 3 (1)
Infernal Gatekeeper: 3 (1)
Succubus: 3 (1)
Vampire Lord: 3 (1)
Word of Summoning: 3 (1)
Drinker of Blood: 2 (1)
Not Used, Yet
Dark Leader
The Risen
Thrasher Demon
Trihorror
Good (156 cards across 8 of 10 decks)
Avenging Angel: 17 (6)
Watchful Gargoyle: 14 (5)
Brave Squire: 11 (4)
Angel of Light: 9 (3)
Noble Unicorn: 9 (3)
White Dragon: 9 (3)
Inner Peace: 6 (3)
Angel of Mercy: 6 (2)
Banishment: 6 (2)
Courageous Soul: 6 (2)
High King: 6 (2)
Inheritance of the Meek: 6 (2)
Priestess of Angeline: 6 (2)
Palace Guard: 5 (2)
Resurrection: 5 (2)
Secret Legion: 5 (2)
White Knight: 5 (2)
Gold Dragon: 4 (2)
Angelic Protector: 3 (1)
Ceasefire: 3 (1)
Faithful Pegasus: 3 (1)
Feint: 3 (1)
Lord of the Arena: 3 (1)
Priest of Kalnor: 3 (1)
The People’s Champion: 3 (1)
Not Used, Yet
Divine Judgement
Rally The People
Standard Bearer
Thundarus
Vital Mission
Sage (144 cards across 9 of 10 decks)
Forcemage Apprentice: 20 (7)
Ancient Chant: 19 (7)
Amnesia: 13 (6)
Djinn of the Sands: 10 (4)
Memory Spirit: 9 (3)
Erase: 8 (3)
Blue Dragon: 6 (2)
Sea Titan: 6 (2)
Wave of Transformation: 6 (2)
Hasty Retreat: 5 (2)
Crystal Golem: 3 (1)
Ice Drake: 3 (1)
Juggernaut: 3 (1)
Lying in Wait: 3 (1)
Muse: 3 (1)
Psionic Assault: 3 (1)
Thought Plucker: 3 (1)
Time Walker: 3 (1)
Transform: 3 (1)
Warrior Golem: 3 (1)
Winter Fairy: 3 (1)
Ogre Mercenary: 2 (1)
Spike Trap: 2 (1)
Steel Golem: 2 (1)
Turn: 2 (1)
Time Bender: 1 (1)
Not Used, Yet
Frost Giant
Keeper of Secrets
Stand Alone
Deadly Raid
Wild (120 cards across 6 of 10 decks)
Fireball: 12 (5)
Flash Fire: 10 (4)
Kong: 9 (3)
Rampaging Wurm: 8 (3)
Flame Strike: 6 (2)
Hunting Raptors: 6 (2)
Pack Alpha: 6 (2)
Rage: 6 (2)
Raging T-Rex: 6 (2)
Sea Hydra: 6 (2)
Strafing Dragon: 6 (2)
Surprise Attack: 6 (2)
Lightning Storm: 5 (2)
Cave Troll: 3 (1)
Fire Shaman: 3 (1)
Jungle Queen: 3 (1)
Lash: 3 (1)
Mighty Blow: 1 (1)
Pyromancer: 3 (1)
Rain of Fire: 3 (1)
Triceratops: 3 (1)
Wolf’s Call: 3 (1)
Wurm Hatchling: 3 (1)
Not Used, Yet
Bellowing Minotaur
Burrowing Wurm
Chomp!
Forked Lightning
Hurricane
Lurking Giant
Wolf Companion
Overall
So… was not expecting Evil to be my most included alignment, and I really was not expecting Good to be my second most included alignment either.
Most Used (10 + Appearances)
Guilt Demon: 27 (9)
Forcemage Apprentice: 20 (7)
Ancient Chant: 19 (7)
Drain Essence: 17 (7)
Avenging Angel: 17 (6)
Final Task: 15 (5)
Watchful Gargoyle: 14 (5)
Amnesia: 13 (6)
Fireball: 12 (5)
Brave Squire: 11 (4)
Plague: 10 (4)
Djinn of the Sands: 10 (4)
Flash Fire: 10 (4)
This lines up fairly well with My Most Common Cards section in my Core Expected Cards article, with a few exceptions. I didn’t realize I like Avenging Angel as much as I do. It even seems to have cut into spots which might have otherwise gone to Rampaging Wurm, the only My Most Common Card that did not show up.
I’m not a huge fan of Final Task, but it was frequently the best Evil 1-cost card to support my Guilt Demon splashes, similar to Drain Essence and Plague. Watchful Gargoyle and Brave Squire were unexpected, but they make sense since Good wound up being my second most included alignment. While I like Djinn of the Sands, I was not expecting to use it this much. Flash Fire breaks Muse, enough said.
I voted for Token Control, Burn is of least interest to me as there really isn’t much to it. Feint seems like a decent second choice but only if there are enough Blitz guys to make it viable.
Interesting (maybe) idea. Build a deck based on the cards you use least and see if you can come up with something half decent.
That is actually one of my favorite ways to build decks. If a card seems bad, I want to win with it, with a few exceptions. That’s largely how I came up with this list: http://www.tomsepicgaming.com/constructed-epic-4-color-army/ Which is probably the single most important deck I’ve made for my understanding of my constructed play style.
(I am also pretty surprised by some of the cards I haven’t used yet, like Divine Judgement, Frost Giant, and Lurking Giant.)
I voted for Sky Force… cuz mind games are fun!
Some of my most memorable Epic moments revolve around mind games, like that blow out at Origins by the “Hands” of Kyle Coons: http://www.tomsepicgaming.com/epic-limited-get-ahead-stay-ahead/