Tom Sorenson

Kahuna Review

Foreword

Kahuna is a short 2-player game that makes me feel clever. I really, really like feeling clever.

How to Play

Overview

Kahuna is all about timing, efficiency, and momentum. This is a game where each card is a potential bridge (or half of a negative bridge) used to control islands which by controlling you remove other bridges letting you control more islands. I let myself get carried away there purposefully, but the rules are actually fairly simple.

Goal

In this game you fight for control over 12 islands. Whoever controls the most islands, at 3 points in the game, scores points. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

The Turn

Play any number of cards in hand
Draw 0 or 1 card

Playing Cards

You gain control of islands by playing cards.

Each card has the name of an island on it. When you play that card, you place a bridge on any of the connections stemming from that island. For example, if I play an Aloa card, I can place a bridge on the Aloa-Bari connection, the Aloa-Duda connection, or the Aloa-Huna connection.

If placing this bridge grants you a majority of potential bridges controlled for an island, you remove all your opponent’s bridges touching that island and place one of your discs on the island. The disk shows that you control that island. For example, say I have the Aloa-Bari connection and my opponent has the Aloa-Duda connection. I then place a bridge on the Aloa-Huna connection (I could use either an Aloa or a Huna card to do this). I now have a majority on Aloa and would remove my opponent’s Aloa-Duda connection. This could cause your opponent to lose a majority on a different island. This in turn means they no longer control that island.

The second use for cards is to remove bridges. It takes 2 cards to remove 1 bridge. You can either use 1 card from each island or 2 cards from 1 island. For example, if I wanted to remove my opponent’s Aloa-Duda connection, I could use either 2 Aloa cards, 2 Duda cards, or 1 Aloa card and 1 Duda card.

Drawing Cards

At the end of your turn, you may draw 1 of 3 face up cards, 1 face down card, or choose not to draw. If your opponent chose not to draw on their turn, you must draw on your turn. Your hand size is 5 cards, if you have 5 cards in your hand at the end of your turn, you may discard a card face down to draw a card. If you draw a face up card, turn a card from the top of the deck face up to replace it.

Scoring

When you draw the last face up card of the deck, the round ends and scoring occurs. A game has 3 rounds. Bridges are not removed at the end of each round. Shuffle the discard pile to reform the deck for the next round.

After the 1st round ends, the player who controls the most islands gains 1 point.
After the 2nd round ends, the player who controls the most islands gains 2 points.
After the 3rd round ends, the player who controls the most islands gains 1 point for each island they control more than their opponent. So, if player A controls 6 islands and player B controls 3, player A would gain 3 points.
The player with the most points wins.

Conclusions

I enjoy this game. Like all of my favorite games, this game has a decent amount of depth to it. The rules are simple, but the more I play it, the more I realize. How much do you hoard cards? When is the best time to gain majority on an island/kick your opponent’s bridges off of islands? Which island connections are safe and which are risky? Do you want to expand your bridges on islands where you already have a majority? When do you want to not draw a card? How often should you remove bridges? These are a few of the interesting questions that arise when playing the game.

This game also has the potential for really huge, impressive moves. “I remove your bridge here, so I can play mine there and take control of this island. That then makes you lose control of this island so I will take control of that one too, kicking you off it entirely as well.” I also find it interesting that sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do is to gain control of an island.

Planning is highly rewarded in this game, but you can get lucky face up draws as well. You can mitigate this luck slightly by not drawing a face up card. This in turn doesn’t give your opponent a guaranteed new, situationaly perfect card. I very much still want to play this game more.

Constructed Epic Deck Round Up

Foreword

I have included links and pictures for all of my Constructed Epic decks below. Each post contains not only the deck list, but it also contains my revision history and explanations for the deck as well. I will update this post when I make changes to existing decks and/or add new ones.

As of 8/27/16, I am significantly more practiced at constructed now. Any deck without an update after this date is most likely at a lesser caliber than decks posted/updated on or after this date. I updated the decklists to be sorted by date last updated.

Core Set Only Deck for Digital Alpha

Click here for my Core Only Decks built for the Digital Alpha

My Worlds 2016 Deck

My World’s Pyrosaur Deck (Posted: 12/1/16)

Pre-Worlds 2016 Decks

Uprising Demons (Posted: 12/7/16, created before Worlds)

Brute Force (Posted: 12/7/16, largely created before Uprising)

4 Color Army (Posted: 8/27/16)

Pre-Origins 2016 Decks

Click here for my Pre-Origins 2016 Decks

Constructed Epic: Avenging Angel Control

Foreword

I have frequently heard people say Avenging Angel is overpowered. So, I made a deck focusing on it.

First Shot Deck List

Good (37)

Slow (11)
3x Avenging Angel
3x High King
3x Palace Guard
2x Thundarus

Fast (16)
3x Angel of Mercy
3x Banishment
1x Inner Peace
3x Noble Unicorn
3x Resurrection
3x Vital Mission

0-Cost (10)
1x Brave Squire
3x Priest of Kalnor
3x Priestess of Angeline
3x White Dragon

Sage (22)

Slow (0)

Fast (15)
3x Lying in Wait
3x Psionic Assault
3x Thought Plucker
3x Transform
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (7)
3x Forcemage Apprentice
2x Keeper of Secrets
2x Muse

Wild (1)

Slow (0)

Fast (1)
1x Lightning Storm

0-Cost (0)

First Shot Explanation

This is a control deck. The goal of the deck is to grind through your opponent. I brought no bounce, I focused on banishing removal, and I included discarding. Ideally, I want to slowly cripple my opponent so they are unable to deal with my Avenging Angel and/or Thundarus. Angel of Mercy, Resurrection, Priest of Kalnor, and Brave Squire are all included to help protect Avenging Angel as well.

With regards to Avenging Angel, I generally do not like it because it can be removed by so many cards. If your opponent is unable to remove Avenging Angel, a 6/6, airborne, blitz, righteous, you-can’t-be-attacked-while-expended body is enormous. If I can control the game and get ahead, I would then play Avenging Angel to stay ahead.

A singleton Inner Peace is included because I can see myself running a bit low on cards. In this deck, I believe I would generally try to play a card for its primary effect every turn, when possible.

A singleton Lightning Storm is included for a couple reasons. Recurring 6 divisible damage is a nice way to deal with a decent amount of threats and do some damage. 6 recurring damage to the face is also an excellent finisher.

Forcemage Apprentices are largely included to deal with tokens, since the deck has trouble dealing with them otherwise, I assume. They are also a nice reliable way to deal damage to the face.

Almost always you want to use Banishment on your turn so you can draw the card.

Vital Mission can be used on Thundarus to gain 10 health and draw 2 cards. Since Thundarus is also unbanishable, it stays in play. (Yes, that is how that works.)

I would recommend not playing this deck against newer players. Control decks are literally designed to be incredibly frustrating to play against.

3/11/16 Playtest Notes

This deck seems solid. I feel like it has answers to most of the decks that scare me currently. The only archetype I feel it is currently weak to is token decks.

Tyrants Initial Rework Decklist (3/29/16)

Good (29)

Slow (9)
3x Avenging Angel
3x High King
3x Markus, Watch Captain

Fast (11)
3x Angel of Mercy
3x Noble Unicorn
3x Resurrection
2x Royal Escort

0-Cost (9)
3x Paros, Rebel Leader
2x Priest of Kalnor
2x Priestess of Angeline
2x White Dragon

Sage (30)

Slow (6)
3x Elara, the Lycomancer
3x Knight of Shadows

Fast (15)
3x Lying in Wait
3x Psionic Assault
3x Temporal Shift
3x Thought Plucker
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (9)
3x Forcemage Apprentice
3x Keeper of Secrets
3x Muse

Wild (1)

Slow (0)

Fast (1)
1x Lightning Storm

0-Cost (0)

Tyrants Initial Rework Explanation (3/29/16)

Removed: Palace Guard, Thundarus, Banishment, Inner Peace, Vital Mission, Brave Squire, and Transform

Added: Markus, Watch Captain, Royal Escort, Paros, Rebel Leader, Elara, the Lycomancer, Knight of Shadows, and Temporal Shift

Temporal Shift replaces Transform since it essentially does the same thing for this deck, but it draws a card for me and doesn’t leave a wolf. It removes a champion and banishes a card.

Elara, the Lycomancer functions as a second reusable banishment champion that needs to be answered by my opponent.

Knight of Shadows is a second win condition and more forced discard for my opponent.

Paros, Rebel Leader is another threat that needs to be dealt with at 0-cost. If nothing else, it will give me more chump blockers and can block/break non-demon tokens.

Royal Escort is included specifically to protect my Avenging Angel and my reusable banishment champions. It also has some health gain.

Markus, Watch Captain is included because I think this deck is a bit vulnerable to tokens. If nothing else, it is a 10/10 loyalty 2 -> draw a card. As an added perk, it helps against forced discard.

Overall, I removed a net 6 removal cards, but I am hoping the deck will be more solid and consistent now.

Derik M 3/31/16 Adjustment

These changes are based on Derik M’s comment below, posted on 3/31/16. See comments for further discussion. I really enjoy seeing comments and discussion. Feel free to jump in below with thoughts or questions.

Reductions: -3 Temporal Shift, -1 Royal Escort, and -1 Paros, Rebel Leader

Additions: +3 Transform, +2 Palace Guard

After reading Derik M’s comment and thinking it through. I now currently agree that Temporal Shift is not strong enough for this deck, generically. It is being replaced by Transform. I do not think this deck needs to worry about drawing 1 more card, returning a threat to hand isn’t ideal for a control deck, and the wolf probably isn’t a big enough issue to worry about.

In addition, I am cutting 1 of each of my support Paros, Rebel Leader and Royal Escort to make room for 2 Palace Guards.

I really, really wanted to use Temporal Shift, and I personally still think it has its place. But, I currently agree with Derik M that it isn’t right for this deck, generically.

Based on the meta, I might change my mind and try to cut some more cards to make room for it. For instance, if Thundarus is dominating, I could cut one or both of the Palace Guards. Temporal Shifts can lock a player down while giving me time to draw into my Transforms, Wave of Transformations, or Elara, the Lycomancers…I do like the idea of getting someone to continually replay a no Tribute or Loyalty champion while I draw a card and they banish a card from hand each turn…I am going to have to do some more playtesting.

5/26/16 Rework v3 Decklist

Evil (9)

Slow (0)

Fast (6)
3x Plague
3x Zombie Apocalypse

0-Cost (3)
3x Guilt Demon

Good (27)

Slow (11)
2x Avenging Angel
3x High King
3x Markus, Watch Captain
3x Palace Guard

Fast (10)
2x Angel of Light
3x Angel of Mercy
3x Noble Unicorn
2x Vital Mission

0-Cost (6)
3x Blind Faith
3x White Dragon

Sage (24)

Slow (6)
3x Knight of Shadows
3x Mist Guide Herald

Fast (10)
3x Psionic Assault
1x Temporal Shift
3x Thought Plucker
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (8)
2x Arcane Research
3x Amnesia
3x Muse

Wild (0)

5/26/16 Rework v3 Explanation

Removed: 1 Avenging Angel, 3 Resurrection, 1 Royal Escort, 2 Paros, Rebel Leader, 2 Priest of Kalnor, 2 Priestess of Angeline, 3 Elara, the Lycomancer, 3 Lying in Wait, 3 Transform, 3 Forcemage Apprentice, 3 Keeper of Secrets, 1 Lightning Storm

Added: 3 Plague, 3 Zombie Apocalypse, 3 Guilt Demon, 1 Palace Guard, 2 Angel of Light, 2 Vital Mission, 3 Blind Faith, 1 White Dragon, 3 Mist Guide Herald, 1 Temporal Shift, 2 Arcane Research, 3 Amnesia

I reworked this decklist, again, primarily because the 0-cost cards were not working for it.

The Priest of Kalnors, Paros Rebel Leaders, and Forcemage Apprentices were the biggest problems. Since none of these recycle or let you draw 2 cards instead, they contributed significantly to the deck’s insufficient draw. Further, since the deck was weak on draw, I couldn’t afford to have multiple of these cards filling my ever-diminishing hand.

To fix this issue, I added 7 0-cost recycle cards, the Amnesias, Blind Faiths, and 1 more White Dragon. Amnesia is an incredibly strong control card since the discard pile is very important, even if your opponent is just using it to recycle. Blind Faith is an absolutely incredible card in so many situations. White Dragon is one of the best cards in Good. Since I switched to these 0-cost cards, I wasn’t forced into bringing much more draw, but the deck still became much more consistent.

Guilt Demon was added for more discard pile hate.

Arcane Research, as discussed in the comments, is excellent because at best it can find exactly what you need and at worst it replaces itself. About to die to burn, Arcane Research for Angel of Light. Draka comes blitzing at your face, Arcane Research for Wave of Transformation. In addition, for the cost of showing your opponent 1 card (not totally insignificant), you can always just banish itself to draw a replacement for it. Arcane Research is just an excellent card for constructed overall.

The other reason I reworked this deck was to make it more resilient to human token swarms. Plague and Zombie Apocalypse can break a swarm, and Blind Faith can strip unbreakable or even just blitz if needed. (Blind Faith would not remove the attack buff from effects like Courageous Soul, but it would remove Standard Bearer‘s buff.) Zombie Apocalypse also works nicely with my Wave of Transformations for non-targeting off-turn removal. (Markus afterwards on my turn is a satisfying follow up.)

Angel of Light was added for a bit of extra help against aggressive decks like burn, and it works nicely with Angel of Mercy. Elara was removed specifically because it does not work with Angel of Mercy.

Mist Guide Herald is nice primarily because I have so many strong champions I want to hit already.

Vital Mission is included almost exclusively for off-turn removal. It is still possible that I replace them for other removal, potentially adding the Lying in Waits or Transforms back into the deck. I’m still experimenting with Temporal Shift since I am still a little worried about card draw.

Overall the deck has been working much better for me. I’m still not sold on everything, but the 0-cost shift has made a noticeable improvement.

Weekly Post Reduction

Now that I have built up a comfortable amount of posts, I am going to reduce the minimum number of posts per week to 3. While I will still produce 1+ game reviews and 1+ strategy articles a week, I am going to be focusing on searching for an entry level position in board gaming, making my own games, and beautifying the blog a bit more.

Medieval Academy Review

Foreword

Medieval Academy is my go-to game for introducing people to drafting, which is one of my favorite game mechanisms. The game is short, fun, and easy to grasp.

Drafting

There are 2 major forms of drafting: simultaneous hidden drafting and sequential open drafting. Medieval Academy uses simultaneous hidden drafting.

Simultaneous Hidden Drafting

In this form of drafting, every player starts with an equal number of hidden resources, usually cards. Each player simultaneously picks a resource (keeping it hidden) and then passes the remaining resources to the player on their left (sometimes right). This then continues until there are no resources remaining to pass.

For example, in Medieval Academy each player starts with 5 cards. Everyone picks a card and passes the remaining 4 to the player on their left. Then everyone picks a card from the 4 passed to them, followed by the remaining 3 cards being passed, etc.

Simultaneous hidden drafting is also used in Epic’s cube draft and dark draft formats, Magic: The Gathering’s 8 player draft, Sushi Go!, Seasons, and 7 Wonders.

Sequential Open Drafting

This form of drafting is not used in Medieval Academy. Sequential open drafting involves a set of resources available to all players. Players then take turns selecting resources. This is usually done by “snaking” between the players. For example, in a 4 player game with Adam, Becky, Carl, and Diana the order could go like this:

Adam picks 1st
Becky picks 2nd
Carl picks 3rd
Diana picks 4th

Diana picks 5th
Carl picks 6th
Becky picks 7th
Adam picks 8th

Adam picks 9th
etc.

Some other games that use Sequential open drafting include Epic open draft format, Catan (opening settlement placement), Smash Up (official faction selection), and Heroscape (unit selection).

How to Play

Goal

The goal of Medieval Academy is to compete in 7 categories to become the best knight.

Set Up

Lay out the boards as shown in the picture below.

Place the respective coat of arms markers near their respective boards.

Each player chooses a color and places one of their discs on the first space on each board; order does not matter on the first space of a board.

Place the hourglass marker on the first spot on the draft direction board.

According to the rulebook, the player who strikes the most chivalrous pose takes Excalibur to determine the first player.

The Round

This game consists of 6 rounds with 3 parts.

Drafting Cards

This game uses simultaneous hidden drafting described above. At the start of each round, each player is dealt 5 cards. Players simultaneously draft 1 card at a time and then pass the remaining cards. (The direction the cards are passed changes after each round. The hourglass marker keeps track of the current direction.) This continues until each player has drafted 5 cards.

There are 6 types of cards available for drafting. Each type of card corresponds to one (or two in the case of Jousts and Tournaments) boards in play. Each type of card ranges from a value of 2 to a value of 5 (except Jousts and Tournaments which have no 2s). 5 is the best value. 4 of these 5 cards will be played in the next phase to advance a player on that respective board.

Playing Cards

Once everyone has finished drafting, players take turns playing a card. Each card advances a player’s disk a number of spaces on a single board. You can never split movement. For Jousts and Tournaments, they share the same card, but you can use it for either board. If your movement would put you on top of another player’s disk, you are ahead of that player. You continue this process until everyone has played 4 of their 5 cards.

Scoring Boards

After the final card is played in a round, certain boards score. Each board (except Jousts and Tournaments) scores differently. You either want to be ahead of other players or at a certain point on the board. The 7 boards are as follows:

Gallantry: This board scores every round, and it is the first board to score. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place (in a 4+ player game) finishers are able to advance any one of their disks. First, the 3rd place finisher advances 1 piece 1 space. Then, the 2nd place finisher advances 1 piece 2 spaces. Finally, the 1st place finisher advances 1 piece 3 spaces.

Jousts/Tournaments: These boards score every round. The player in 1st gets 3 points, 2nd gets 2 points, and 3rd gets 1 point.

Education: This board scores every round. The player in last gets -3 points. The player in 2nd to last gets -1 point.

King’s Service: This board scores on the 3rd and 6th rounds only. Relative position does not matter on this board. If you make it to at least space 6, you get 6 points. If you make it to space 12, you get 12 points.

Quests: This board only scores on the 6th round. The player in 1st gets 17 points, 2nd gets 10, and 3rd gets 4.

Charity: This board only scores on the 6th round. The player in last gets -10 points, and the player 2nd to last gets -5 points.

After round 3, the Gallantry, Jousts, Tournaments, Education, and King’s Service boards reset. All disks on those boards are returned to the first spot of that board. Play then resumes as normal.

Points you get (positive and negative) are kept face down so no one can check a player’s current score. All players on the start space are tied for last. This means that if you are on the starting spot you can not gain points, and you always lose the maximum amount of points. As a reminder, being on top of another piece means you are ahead of that piece, just not for the starting space.

Game End

The game ends after the final scoring of the 6th round. After that, everyone adds up all of their points. The player with the most points wins.

Conclusion

I stumbled across a demo of this at Gen Con, and I had to buy it. Drafting is one of my favorite game mechanisms, and I think this is a very good introduction to it. This isn’t one of my favorite games since it is fairly light, but I do enjoy playing it. More importantly, I am able to get more people to play a drafting game with me.

It is also pretty satisfying when you put your disk directly on top of another player’s. Generally, it doesn’t feel that awful when someone puts their piece on top of yours though. Most games are also fairly close, and it is not a long game either.

I haven’t experimented much with the variants the game includes. In my next game, I plan on trying out at least a couple. The one that seems the most interesting is the dueling knights as opposed to the Jousts and Tournaments boards. In the dueling knights variant, you can support either or both of the knights. The knight that gets the most support awards more points. While the game works perfectly well without the variants, adding them in could give the game enough depth for it to get more play.

Currently, I frequently introduce this as a new game, especially if the players have never drafted before. Without adding in the variants, it isn’t a game I want to play all of the time, and I do not know if the variants will change that. However, I believe I have more than got my money’s worth out of this game, and I am happy with the purchase. This game will definitely be seeing more play.

Constructed Epic: Who Needs Allies or Loyalty

Foreword

I wanted a deck that ran 15 of each faction. This is that deck.

First Shot Deck List

Evil (15)

Slow (0)

Fast (10)
3x Bitten
3x Final Task
3x Plague
1x Zombie Apocalypse

0-Cost (5)
3x Corpse Taker
2x Wither

Good (15)

Slow (4)
3x Palace Guard
1x Thundarus

Fast (6)
3x Cease Fire
3x Resurrection

0-Cost (5)
3x Brave Squire
2x Watchful Gargoyle

Sage (15)

Slow (4)
1x Frost Giant
3x Sea Titan

Fast (6)
3x Erase
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (5)
2x Amnesia
3x Muse

Wild (15)

Slow (4)
3x Kong
1x Triceratops

Fast (6)
3x Hurricane
3x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (5)
2x Lash
3x Rage

First Shot Explanation

While this deck isn’t terribly serious, I do like it. This deck is designed to exploit Kong, Palace Guard, and Sea Titan. All of these champions remove a champion when they come into play and leave a body (big bodies for Kong and Sea Titan). I then also bring 3 Resurrections and 3 Corpse Takers to reuse them. 3 Surprise Attacks are also included to get them into play. 3 Final Tasks can get solid blitz damage in or a block + removal.

3/11/16 Rework Deck List

Evil (9)

Slow (0)

Fast (6)
3x Final Task
3x Plague

0-Cost (3)
3x Corpse Taker

Good (12)

Slow (3)
3x Palace Guard

Fast (8)
3x Cease Fire
2x Inner Peace
3x Resurrection

0-Cost (1)
1x Watchful Gargoyle

Sage (15)

Slow (4)
1x Frost Giant
3x Sea Titan

Fast (6)
3x Erase
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (5)
2x Amnesia
3x Muse

Wild (24)

Slow (6)
3x Kong
3x Triceratops

Fast (10)
3x Hurricane
1x Lightning Storm
3x Lurking Giant
3x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (8)
3x Flash Fire
2x Lash
3x Rage

3/11/16 Rework Explanation

Removed: Bitten, Zombie Apocalypse, Wither, Thundarus, and Brave Squire

Added: Inner Peace, Lightning Storm, Lurking Giant, and Flash Fire

This deck actually worked fairly well when I played it, so I decided to forgo my 15/15/15/15 requirement to try to make it better. The strength of this deck is in abusing Palace Guard, Sea Titan, and Kong. Corpse Taker, Resurrection, and Final Task allow me to replay them, and the rest of the cards are just strong.

Flash Fire is one of the best cards in my opinion, and it was an easy replacement for Wither. It also helps to clear out chump blockers for an attack by one of my big champions.

Lurking Giant is an 11/11 ambush. I included this because it is another big Hurricane-surviving champion, and it can be played on my opponent’s turn. All of my other champions need a Surprise Attack.

Inner Peace is the most interesting card I added. This does have an ally effect so it messes with the deck’s name, but I think it will fit well. Since I am abusing those 3 champions, I have big champions and strong removal. I also have a lot of ways to deal with tokens, and a lot of ways to draw cards. In other words, I believe that I can afford to bring/play 2 cards exclusively to heal and not fall behind.

Lightning Storm is just strong in general.

Epic Tyrants Expansion Announced

Epic Tyrants, the first expansion, has been announced. Information can be found on their website here: www.epiccardgame.com/epic-tyrants-expansion-coming-to-stores-march-22nd/

Epic Worlds Announced

White Wizard Games has announced their $100,000 prize pool tournament. The information can be found at their website here: http://www.epiccardgame.com/worlds/

I plan on attending Origins and Gencon for the currently announced qualifiers. For those of you planning on attending, good luck and I’ll see you there.

Constructed Epic: Burn

Foreword

Burn decks try to reduce a player’s health to 0 primarily with direct damage. I hate burn decks. Here’s mine.

First Shot Deck List

Good (6)

Slow (0)

Fast (4)
3x Ceasefire
1x Inheritance of the Meek

0-Cost (2)
2x Watchful Gargoyle

Sage (18)

Slow (0)

Fast (12)
3x Erase
3x Lying in Wait
3x Memory Spirit
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (6)
3x Forcemage Apprentice
3x Hasty Retreat

Wild (36)

Slow (3)
3x Raging T-Rex

Fast (21)
3x Flame Strike
3x Forked Lightning
3x Hunting Raptors
3x Lightning Storm
3x Pyromancer
3x Rain of Fire
3x Strafing Dragon

0-Cost (12)
3x Cave Troll
3x Fire Shaman
3x Fireball
3x Flash Fire

First Shot Explanation

This deck is fairly simple. Ideally, you want to play a 1-cost burn spell directly against your opponent on your turn. If you have enough high damage burn, you can play burn on your opponent’s turn too. It is possible to beat your opponent in two turns this way.

Since there are not enough burn cards to make a full deck currently, the rest of the deck is designed to disrupt your opponent on their turn. This deck has bounce, non-targeting Banish, airborne ambush chump blockers, and Cease Fire.

Burn decks’ weakness is health gain. Inner Peace can shut this deck down, especially since it has no discard banish. Angel of Light is 10 health and a 5/6 flyer. It also can’t be bounced since it would gain your opponent another 10 health. Righteous champions, Avenging Angel and Gold Dragon, must be removed.

I dislike burn decks because they don’t require much thought to play, they radically change how the game plays, and it is frustrating to lose to them. This is included here so people know to watch out for them. As more ways to deal direct damage are added, this deck archetype could continue to get stronger. For example, the kickstarter promos include Aftershock, Searing Blast, and Owl Familiar.

3/11/16 Playtest Notes

This deck kills quickly with a strong draw. In the games I have played with it so far, it was basically unstoppable. Since I hate burn decks, these are the best ways to beat this deck. This deck hasn’t played against a deck that employed either yet.

The biggest weakness of this deck is that it can run out of steam. Since a lot of the burn only does damage without improving your board position, you can deplete your hand and lose board position quickly. Depleting your hand also makes it less likely that you will be able to trigger the critical Loyalty 2 effects from Raging T-Rex, Hunting Raptors, and Strafing Dragon. All 3 of those cards are basically worthless for this deck without loyalty. Therefore, Psionic Assault and Thought Plucker could do work in disrupting this deck. If they run out of steam prematurely, you have a strong chance of winning.

The second way to force a burn deck to run out of steam is health gain. Angel of Light, Inner Peace, Avenging Angel, Gold Dragon, Priestess of Angeline, and, to a lesser extent, Vital Mission, Drain Essence and Unquenchable Thirst all work for this purpose. For instance, if you have an Inner Peace you can out pace even Flame Strike. In addition, you don’t lose card advantage since this deck can’t stop you from recalling Inner Peace.

As of now, I see no changes that need to be made. If you run this deck, make sure you hold onto your 0-cost cards until needed. If you use them too early, you won’t be able to power your Loyalty 2 effects later. I also generally would not recommend playing this deck in casual games. If you do, people might not want to play against you, since it isn’t particularly fun to play against.

Tyrants Initial Rework Decklist (3/29/16)

Good (3)

Slow (0)

Fast (3)
3x Ceasefire

0-Cost (0)

Sage (24)

Slow (0)

Fast (18)
3x Crystal Golem
3x Erase
3x Lesson Learned
3x Memory Spirit
3x Temporal Shift
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (6)
3x Forcemage Apprentice
3x Hasty Retreat

Wild (33)

Slow (0)

Fast (24)
3x Draka’s Fire
3x Flame Strike
3x Forked Lightning
3x Hunting Raptors
3x Lightning Storm
3x Pyromancer
3x Rain of Fire
3x Strafing Dragon

0-Cost (9)
3x Fire Shaman
3x Fireball
3x Flash Fire

Tyrants Initial Rework Explanation (3/29/16)

Removed: Inheritance of the Meek, Watchful Gargoyle, Lying in Wait, Raging T-Rex, and Cave Troll

Added: Crystal Golem, Lesson Learned, Temporal Shift, and Draka’s Fire

Draka’s Fire was an obvious add as it was pretty much the only burn in the expansion. (As a remainder, I hate burn decks so this makes me happy.)

Lesson Learned lets me reuse all of the powerful event burn and disruption in my deck.

Temporal Shift is just solid removal that doesn’t deplete my hand size.

Crystal Golem is a bit of a replacement for Watchful Gargoyle. A block and draw 2 cards. Could potentially be used to attack as well.

The biggest change in this rework is the moving away from 20 0-cost cards. This deck can potentially run out of steam, and having 0-cost cards that don’t do direct damage or draw is less helpful then having reliably strong 1-cost cards. If I had more card draw, having 20 0-cost cards would be less of an issue.

6/11/16 Playtest Notes

So… I don’t actually hate playing this deck. In fact, I played quite a few games with it against a control deck, and the games were actually pretty interesting. Some of the games were fairly quick with a multiple Flame Strike draw, but one of the games I played was actually one of the longest games of constructed Epic I have ever played, most turns. (There was a lot of health gain.)

The interesting part is the balance between offense and defense. I built this deck fairly defensively with burn and disruptive events focusing on card draw. In general, I stuck with the game plan of playing burn against my opponent’s health on my turn and disrupting my opponent on their turn. One thing that surprised me though was the amount of times I passed my turn before spending my gold. Instead of just going face constantly with everything every turn, I had to think multiple turns ahead.

The most important part of playing this deck is understanding how to deal with your opponent’s threats. Burn should be saved for your opponent’s face whenever possible. Using a Flame Strike to break a champion is an absolute last resort. Instead, Erase, Temporal Shift (mini-Erase), and most importantly Hasty Retreat are your best ways to deal with big threats. Hand size for your opponent is largely irrelevant, as long as the board doesn’t get too out of control.

Ceasefire can also be excellent because it can set up for big Wave of Transformation turns. Being able to transform everything, then break all the wolves with Flash Fire and do 2 damage to your opponent’s health is a big deal.

Finally for defense, Rain of Fire, Forked Lightning, and Draka’s Fire can be insanely devastating against some decks. For these cards, if you can make efficient use of them both offensively and defensively, you’ll probably be in good shape.

Another factor to think about is your burn efficiency. This deck runs Wild loyalty and ally triggers and a decent chunk of Sage. Due to this, it is possible to have a mixed hand with a Fire Shaman, Strafing Dragon, Rain of Fire, and 2 Sage cards. Until you draw a 4th Wild, you can’t get both the Fire Shaman ally and Strafing Dragon loyalty effects in the same turn. Deciding when to hold back and when to press the attack in these situations is very important and interesting.

Lesson Learned is an absolutely incredible card as well. A second (third, fourth, fifth, etc.) Flame Strike is amazing, but so is a second (third, fourth, etc.) Erase. The same goes for Memory Spirit. Both of these cards provide a lot of extra flexibility that makes the deck better and more fun to play. (I do not currently feel like the Lesson Learned Ancient Chant combo is needed for this version.)

Overall, the deck archetype is a lot more interesting than I was expecting. This is another one of my four potential Origins decks.

Other Similar Decks Online

The Epic Insights blog posted a burn deck which can be found here.

Constructed Epic: Bouncing Chip

Foreword

This deck was designed around the idea of 0-Cost blitzers attacking, getting bounced by Time Walker, and attacking again.

First Shot Deck List

Evil (30)

Slow (11)
1x Angel of Death
3x Dark Assassin
3x Murderous Necromancer
3x Necromancer Lord
1x Soul Hunter

Fast (9)
3x Bitten
1x Final Task
3x Inner Demon
1x Plague
1x Zombie Apocalypse

0-Cost (10)
2x Corpse Taker
3x Dark Knight
3x Guilt Demon
2x Thrasher Demon

Sage (27)

Slow (7)
1x Frost Giant
3x Juggernaut
3x Time Walker

Fast (11)
3x Ancient Chant
1x Deadly Raid
3x Erase
2x Ice Drake
2x Turn

0-Cost (9)
3x Keeper of Secrets
3x Ogre Mercenary
3x Warrior Golem

Wild (3)

Fast (2)
2x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (1)
1x Lash

First Shot Explanation

This deck hopes to do a significant portion of its damage through 0-cost blitz champions. Dark Knight, Guilt Demon, Thrasher Demon, Warrior Golem, Keeper of Secrets, and Ogre Mercenary are the stars. Ideally, I would be able to attack with a couple or a few, then bounce them back to hand with Time Walker, then replay them and attack again. Ogre Mercenary -> Time Walker -> Ogre Mercenary is pretty solid card draw as well.

With that in mind, I will probably use a decent amount of my removal on my turn, to disrupt ambush champions etc. For this reason, Inner Demon, Bitten, and to a much greater extent, Turn have been included. All of these are fast so they can answer an ambushed blocker before the block can be declared. In addition, Turn would still permanently take control of the champion, or I could swing (attack) for the win with it. (Swinging for the win is much riskier, especially since this deck doesn’t have good 0-cost token disruption. This is a big judgement call that relies on you reading your opponent. Knowing/figuring out if they have an answer in their deck and guessing if they have it in hand are key.) Banishment is another excellent card for this role. It is not currently included since it is off-faction, and this deck focuses heavily on Evil and Sage 0-cost cards.

The only other thing special about this deck is the use of Ancient Chants. I use these in conjunction with a lot of recycle triggers to turn them into draw 3 cards. It is possible I have too many recycle triggers though.

I am currently worried about my minimal token/low defense sweepers (board clears that affect certain champions, in this case low defense champions). I do have Surprise Attack/Final Task Time Walker which is excellent. In addition, I might add more Zombie Apocalypses. My deck only has 21 events, but I do also rely a lot on recycle; so I am torn.

3/11/16 Playtest Notes

I haven’t had a chance to personally play this deck yet, but I lost to it a few times. It definitely seems strong enough to warrant further testing.

4/11/16 Deprecation Note

I reworked this deck to such an extent after Tyrants was released that I made a new post here.