Constructed Epic: 4 Color Army

Epic Box

Foreword

I originally threw this deck together before Gen Con because I wanted to subvert my “play threats on my turn” idea (which is a big part of Combative Humans and Untargetable Tempo). I also wanted to use some “bad cards” that weren’t seeing much play: Winter Fairy, Vampire Lord, The Gudgeon, Angelic Protector (Djinn of the Sands).

8/27/16 Deck List

4 Color Army

Evil (12)

Slow (3)
3x The Gudgeon

Fast (5)
2x Army of the Apocalypse
1x Drain Essence
2x Vampire Lord

0-Cost (4)
2x Raxxa’s Curse
2x Wither

Good (9)

Slow (1)
1x Avenging Angel

Fast (5)
3x Angelic Protector
2x Banishment

0-Cost (3)
2x Blind Faith
1x Second Wind

Sage (27)

Slow (7)
2x Djinn of the Sands
3x Juggernaut
2x Winter Fairy

Fast (11)
3x Crystal Golem
2x Helion, the Dominator
3x Memory Spirit
1x Temporal Enforcer
2x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (9)
3x Amnesia
1x Arcane Research
1x Hasty Retreat
2x Fumble
1x Shadow Imp
1x Vanishing

Wild (12)

Slow (2)
2x Rampaging Wurm

Fast (6)
3x Draka’s Fire
1x Flame Strike
2x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (4)
3x Lightning Strike
1x Lash

8/27/16 Explanation

winter_fairyAs I mentioned, I built this deck to subvert the idea that I play threats on my turn, and I use “draw 2+ cards” on my opponent’s turn like Erase and Ceasefire. Instead, I am using “draw 2+ cards” on my turn, primarily Winter Fairy and The Gudgeon. (Djinn of the Sands, Banishment, and Draka’s Fire are similar.) The reason why I wanted to try this was that I consistently saw decks retreating into drawing on their turn so they would be able to react on their opponent’s turn. If you spend your gold first on your turn, your opponent can’t immediately punish you: they can’t attack with held back champions, and they can’t play new blitz champions to attack immediately.

angelic_protectorThe second part of this idea was to play threat champions on my opponent’s turn. Angelic Protector is the star for this aspect. You can safely play it on your opponent’s turn before they spend their gold (unless they have Blind Faith or an AoE banish like Divine Judgement). If they don’t, you will have an unbreakable, untargetable airborne blocker on their turn and a 5/9 airborne champion that can attack on your turn.

crystal_golemAmbush champions are particularly powerful because they can give you an advantage going into the start of your turn. If at the start of the turn you are the only player with a champion in play, you can attack and force your opponent to spend their gold or take damage. Crystal Golem and Vampire Lord are nice because they are hard to deal with. Angelic Protector, Memory Spirit, and Temporal Enforcer are all ambush champions with evasion (Airborne or Unblockable). Helion, the Dominator is just an excellent champion with ambush, and Surprise Attack can essentially give ambush to any  slow champion. (I have also used it just to draw a card for free when playing a champion with ambush like Memory Spirit. This “cycles” the card. Your total number of cards in hand does not increase, but you draw one card deeper into your deck and put a card into your discard pile.)

vampire_lordIf your opponent takes the damage, that is great. You can just pass your turn with a lead on the board and damage dealt to your opponent. If they spend their gold, that is great. You can now respond with a blitz champion and attack while their primary defense is down. Vampire Lord, Avenging Angel, Djinn of the Sands, and Rampaging Wurm are included for this purpose. (Juggernaut too, but it can be played while your opponent’s gold is up.)

The general goal of this strategy should sound very similar to my Epic: Limited – Get Ahead, Stay Ahead article, except I get ahead on my opponent’s turn instead of my own.

lightning_strikeA large part of what makes this deck work is its versatile pool of 0-cost cards. Defensively, Lightning Strike is a great way to handle 5-defense champions like Angel of Mercy or Knight of Shadows while still allowing you to use your gold for a threat or “draw 2+ cards.” Raxxa’s Curse works similarly as a great answer specifically for Muse, Guilt Demon, etc. Fumble gives you protection after spending your gold while your opponent’s gold is up on their turn. Hasty Retreat and Vanishing are 0-cost cards that can bounce a 1-cost champion. Shadow Imp can repeatedly attack or chump block and then return to hand. Blind Faith can stop most crazy threats like Human Token Swarm or Juggernaut. Wither can break a surprisingly high variety of champions. Second Wind is free extra health, and Amnesia shuts/slows down discard pile shenanigans. Offensively, a lot of those cards can remove an ambushed in potential chump blocker as well.

memory_spiritMost of those 0-cost cards I run under 3 of in this deck, but Memory Spirit has been amazing for retrieving what I need when. If I know I’m against a deck relying on Drinker of Blood, I’ll return a Wither. Against a deck with a lot of high value 0-cost champions like Muse, Raxxa’s Curse is pretty nice. What’s really fun is dealing 10 damage with one Lightning Strike. Play LS, then Memory Spirit, and play that LS again, good stuff. Overall, my 0-cost events give me the extra edge to stay alive on my opponent’s turns and push damage through on mine. Memory Spirit helps me bolster whichever aspect is more important in each individual match, and it gives me an ambush 5/4 airborne champion too. (Returning Flame Strike, Banishment, and Drain Essence are also solid plays as well.)

army_of_the_apocalypseIn addition to the normal operation of the deck, Army of the Apocalypse can frequently work as a finisher or utility card. Since the deck is packed with inherent blitz champions (Vampire Lord as opposed to Helion), I can play Army and then swing with multiple 1-cost champions. This is especially devastating if my opponent’s gold is already spent for the turn, and/or I play an Amnesia beforehand. Crystal Golem and Winter Fairy also can provide me with some card draw when Army is used. With the combination of Army and Memory Spirit, my discard pile is constantly a threat that just a couple Amnesias can’t completely shut down over the course of a game.

rampaging_wurmOne card I specifically want to call out in this deck is Rampaging Wurm. It is a monster. Due to the massive amount of 0-cost removal I run and Lash, this has put significant pressure onto my opponents. Since no one runs Rampaging Wurm that I have seen, it is unexpected the first time I send a 14/14 blitzer at their face out of nowhere (or at least it was unexpected). Once they know about it, they have to constantly worry about it. Due to this, my opponent might be more likely to let my Angelic Protectors or Memory Spirits get through, even when I don’t have the Wurm in hand. In addition, there are few things as satisfying in Epic as hitting face with a Rampaging Wurm. Even forcing an opponent to block with a 1-cost champion is satisfying.  It is also Drain Essence and Kong resistant, and if my opponent wants to return it to my hand with Sea Titan after it completed an attack, that is fine with me (it will be there waiting). Recalling Lash is also pretty great, especially when you have this in hand.

8/27/16 Conclusion

This is currently my strangest deck. It is also one of my favorites and one of my best. In addition, I had largely written off multiple of these cards in the past. I love a lot of them now. Djinn of the Sands is one of my favorite cards, so is Rampaging Wurm. Vampire Lord is also pretty cool, and Avenging Angel when your opponent’s gold is down is quite satisfying.

Dark Draft Article Preview #1 (Top Picks)

Epic Box

Foreword

I am in the process of writing a large article explaining all of my thoughts on Dark Draft at the moment. Since I expect it will take a while to finish, I will be consistently putting out previews to keep me on track. Below I talk about my top 13 picks when dark drafting.

Preview

Almost entirely independent of what I am drafting I want in approximate order:

  • Amnesia, Heinous Feast
  • Lightning Storm
  • Sea Titan, Drain Essence, Kong
  • Wave of Transformation, Zombie Apocalypse, Muse
  • Flame Strike, Lighting Strike, Raxxa’s Curse, Wolf’s Bite
  • Chomp!

(Not including Chomp!, that comes out to 4 Sage, 4 Evil, 5 Wild, 0 Good)

Epic: Constructed – Origins 2016 (Part 2)

Epic Box

Foreword

In this second part of my 2-part article on the constructed decks at Origins 2016, I discuss the 3 remaining top 8/top 4 decks from Friday and Sunday.

Combative Humans

Good is strong – Tom’S Epic Gaming

Tom Combative Humans Origins

Results

2nd Place

I took this deck to the finals on Sunday.

Goal

Get Ahead, Stay Ahead

Play Style

This deck is the constructed version of my Get Ahead, Stay Ahead play style.

4 Color Control

Derek Arnold

Derek 4 Color Control

Results

1st Place

Derek won the first Epic Constructed tournament with this deck. His record in rounds was 2-0-3. The 2 wins were 1-0 and the final draw was intentional. This was the most interesting deck at Origins.

Goals

Win through Attrition (Drinker)

Play Style

Draw cards, play 2 for 1 reestablishing champions, heal, and use off-turn board clears for safety.

Time Walker

Gabe Costa-Gioni

Gabe Time Walker

Results

Top 8

This deck was played in top 8 on Friday.

I neither played against nor watched this deck played, so I’m effectively guessing how it was meant to be played.

Goals

Kill with 0’s, Disrupt with 1’s

Play Style

Open with 0’s as offense. Follow up with 1’s as defense. Utilize cards like Time Walker or Temporal Enforcer to return your 0’s to hand to keep them safe while not dealing damage.

Conclusion

These three decks are radically different from the Burn decks that made up the rest of the constructed decks. Not only are they primarily Evil or primarily Good, but the play styles, particularly for 4 Color Control, are different as well.

Once again, if you feel I misrepresented your deck, feel free to let me know in the comments below.

I look forward to seeing what shows up at Gen Con next week. I will be there once again providing updates on my blog. In the mean time, I can usually be found in the Epic Card Game Discord Channel here. Feel free to drop in and ask me questions directly or respond in the comments below.

Origins Friday Constructed Analysis

Epic Box

Foreword

In this article I discuss my thoughts on constructed going into the first Epic Constructed Qualifier. I discuss my deck, my matches, and my deck revisions afterwards. I went 3-2-0 for a 10th place finish.

Opening Constructed Thoughts

Constructed and Limited/draft/etc. are very different beasts.

In limited, you have to put together a deck of 30(+) cards (usually all different). So, you try to include the best overall cards, add as much synergy as possible, and then play against opponents who could have a wide range of potential cards.

insurgencyIn constructed, each player is able to spend an unlimited amount of time beforehand selecting and testing the best possible combination of cards. Some cards that can be frequently weak in draft, like Insurgency, can be powerhouses because the deck is designed to utilize that card well (otherwise it wouldn’t be in the deck). Other cards, like Lightning Storm, aren’t as devastatingly powerful in constructed because the variability and reusability aren’t necessarily as important. In addition, being able to run 3 of a card (for example 3 Flame Strikes and 3 Lesson Learneds) is a huge deal, but since it is a 60-card deck with no resources (like Magic Lands), the variability in each game can be quite large.

Meta

hands_from_belowIn constructed cards like Hands from Below or Lightning Strike have varying effectiveness. If no one is running 4 or 5 health champions, they are pretty bad. But, if everyone is running cards like Temporal Enforcer, both of these cards could be superstars. This idea is known as the Meta, or Meta-game. The ‘Meta’ generally refers to which cards/decks people currently think are the strongest and hence are the most played. So, if the meta says Thought Plucker and Muse are incredible, people could counter by playing cards like Wolf’s Bite, Helion the Dominator, Raxxa Demon Tyrant, etc.

secret_legionUnderstanding the Meta can be incredibly beneficial. For example, Human Token Swarm decks have the potential to consistently win on turn 1, but, they are fairly weak if the opponent has cards like Flash Fire, Wither, Blind Faith etc. So, if most of the decks run these anti-Human Token Swarm cards, the Meta would dictate that the Human Token Swarm deck is a lot worse, currently.

flash_fireThis in turn could discourage people from playing that deck. Then, if few or no people are playing that deck, other people might stop playing anti-Human Token Swarm cards and there would be a Meta-shift. In this situation, if someone then plays a Human Token Swarm deck, it would be stronger, relatively speaking, because opponents don’t have the answers they need to deal with it.

sea_titanThe Meta usually refers to tournament play, but a Local-meta would describe what you play against on a regular basis. If you and all of your friends think Sea Titan is the best card and include it in all of your decks, you might be more likely to see cards like Lying in Wait specifically to deal with that card. One of your friends constantly plays a burn deck, you can counter that by including cards like Inner Peace, Second Wind, and/or Drain Essence, etc.

My Deck

This was one of five decks that I was thinking about running: Untargetable Tempo. I did not post this beforehand. The other potential decks were: Human Token Swarm, Burn (my defensive variant), Avenging Angel Control, and Combative Humans (I ran this on Sunday).

Untargetable Tempo

Evil (0)

Good (9)

Slow (0)

Fast (6)

3x Banishment
3x Resurrection

0-Cost (3)
3x Blind Faith

Sage (42)

Slow (13)
2x Djinn of the Sands
3x Juggernaut
2x Mist Guide Herald
3x Sea Titan
3x Steel Golem

Fast (18)
1x Deadly Raid
3x Erase
3x Helion, the Dominator
3x Ice Drake
2x Lesson Learned
3x Memory Spirit
3x Temporal Shift

0-Cost (11)
3x Arcane Research
3x Forcemage Apprentice
3x Fumble
2x Vanishing

Wild (9)

Slow (0)

Fast (3)
3x Draka’s Fire
3x Hurricane

0-Cost (3)
3x Flash Fire

Deck Explanation

steel_golem

My main goal with this deck was to put big untargetable champions into play and disrupt any possible defense against them. Steel Golem was the critical card because it was a 13/13 untargetable blitz body that can be quite difficult to deal with for an opponent.

juggernautSea Titan was the other big untargetable body included. Juggernaut was a major offensive superstar because, while not untargetable, blitz, breakthrough, unbreakable, loyalty 2-> draw a card was incredible. Djinn of the Sands was included because it was an 8/8 airborne blitz champion. However, since it was neither untargetable nor unbreakable, I only wanted to play it after my opponent spent their gold on my turn.

helion_the_dominatorHelion, the Dominator and Ice Drake were included for fast offensive disruption. Helion is incredible for a plethora of reason: Steal an ambushed in blocker and then attack with it, steal an opponent’s champion and use it to block an opponent’s attacker, fast reusable small burn (direct damage) on an 8/8 body, and it can even be an 8/8 blitzing attacker, preferably after your opponent’s gold is spent.

ice_drakeIce Drake was nice in theory because it can be a fast expend-all-ambushed-in-blockers champion on your turn, or it can be a 6/8 airborne ambush champion (not bad already) that can expend all attackers on your opponent’s turn while also leaving that opening for your turn. (If a champion is already attacking when you play this, it would be unaffected since it is already expended.)

erase

Erase was included for fast draw 2 + bounce. Temporal Shift was included strictly as a worse Erase, since the banish a card from hand did not synergize with the rest of my deck at all.

deadly_raidDeadly Raid was included as a 1 of to let Steel Golem or Sea Titan get an attack through. Memory Spirits were included because it was an ambush champion that could return Erases, Deadly Raid and some of my other less important events. Lesson Learneds were included for similar reasons.

hurricane

All of the Wild cards (Hurricane, Draka’s Fire, and Flash Fire) were included to help fight Human Token Swarm type decks and to sweep possible defenders while my Steel Golems and Sea Titans survived.

blind_faithI love Blind Faith and try and shoehorn it into all of my decks. This was probably the worst case of this because Resurrection and Banishment didn’t fit too well into the deck, but the rest of the Good cards appealed to me even less at the time. Resurrection could bring back Steel Golem and Sea Titan. Banishment removes a champion. Giving a card to my opponent didn’t scare me much because I packed a lot of bounce (return to hand) already anyway (so they probably wouldn’t need the card), and drawing a card on my turn could have been nice.

arcane_research

Arcane Research essentially makes the deck 57 cards because it can replace itself for free if needed. Forcemage Apprentice was more offensive burn on a 0-cost card in a heavy Sage deck. Vanishing is an incredible tempo card because it can bounce a champion as a 0-cost card.

fumbleFumble was another one of the defining cards of this deck. It’s a zero that can essentially nullify an enemy attack (Draka Dragon Tyrant, Juggernaut, Triceratops, Brachiosaurus, Djinn of the Sands, Strafing Dragon etc.), and it recycles. So, if your opponent spends their gold on one of the above champions and attacks, you can Fumble and then follow up with an aggressive ambush champion (Helion, Ice Drake, Memory Spirit). Or, you can spend your gold before your opponent on their turn, if you have a Fumble in hand, and still be relatively safe. Overall, this card is incredible for how I like to play the game, one of my favorites for sure.

 Deck Choice Justification

draka_dragon_tyrantI chose this deck because I was expecting Wild with Airborne blitz champions and Burn to be the most common deck at Origins. In my games leading up to Origins, the decks that I ran had the most trouble dealing with Brachiosaurus/Draka/Strafing Dragon decks that finished out with burn. If these decks hit you once with a champion, you would be in range for a couple burn cards to finish you (while still needing to deal with that champion on your turn too). From my experience, this was fairly strong, it seemed that Wild was a very popular faction in general, and I was guessing people would gravitate towards burn for the first event at least.

strafing_dragonSo, I built this deck to counter that deck. The big untargetable champions can outpace burn and are difficult for these Wild burn decks to remove. Fumble is incredible for completely negating a hard to fully stop attack. Bounce is great offensively, but it can also severely punish people that play blitzing champions without strong Tribute/Loyalty/When Attacks effects. A Fumble followed by Sea Titan on my turn is also quite nice, even though they could replay the champion later. (It is less strong against Strafing Dragon in that deck though.) Helion is also a great play in this matchup because it can negate an attack and leave me with an 8/8 body.

Another large factor in my card choices was a fear of the Human Token Swarm type decks. As mentioned in the previous section, the Wild cards were included to deal with this strategy, but the Ice Drakes and Blind Faiths were also partially included as counters to that deck.

lying_in_waitGoing into this tournament, this was one of my least tested decks because it consistently performed incredibly well, and I didn’t want to reveal it too much. I was also partially afraid of people including Lying in Waits to counter it.

Matches

Match 1

temporal_shiftI played an opponent with a Wild Blitzing deck, in other words, the deck I specifically built this to counter. My counter was very effective. I won the match because my deck was able to stop basically everything my opponent’s deck attempted to do, while still getting big champions into play to attack.

Match 2

psionic_assaultIn Match 2, I played against a Sage/Wild Disruption/Burn deck posted on Epic Foundry here. I lost the first game because I played terribly, and my opponent successfully exploited my mistakes. I believe I started off fairly strong with an early Steel Golem, but the game went downhill from there. Essentially, I tried to maintain my offensive at the cost of drawing cards. This in turn allowed my opponent to completely deplete my hand with Psionic Assaults and Thought Pluckers.

thought_pluckerMy most egregious mistakes were playing directly into a Psionic Assault and a Thought Plucker that I knew my opponent had in hand. When I had 3 cards in hand, I played a non-draw effect with insufficient impact. This allowed my opponent to safely play his Psionic Assault to deplete me to 0 cards. Later, I made a play that left me with exactly 1 card that I was hoping to use to counter my opponent’s next turn. After I made the play, I remembered he had the Thought Plucker in hand, and on his next turn, he played the Thought Plucker, forced me to discard my last card, and then went on to win the game.

In that game I was put on tilt (I made a mistake that disrupted my analytical composure and caused me to make more mistakes) early, and then I played poorly for the rest of that game. After that game, I took a minute to think about that game and reassess my strategy. I realized that I didn’t spend enough time drawing and played too aggressively. So, in game 2 I adjusted my play and won.

time_benderGame 3 was a decently long game. I did work with Steel Golem, got him low, but couldn’t close out the game. At the end, he had me locked out with a Time Bender that he would play on my turn, bounce my Juggernaut, and then bounce his Time Bender on his turn. Because I did not draw another one of my only 6 total untargetable champions, he was able to hold me off for multiple turns. While doing this, he drew into his Flame Strikes and/or Lesson Learneds. With these, he was able to drop me from around 24 health to 0. Flame Strike on my turn. Flame Strike on his turn. Flame Strike or Lesson Learned on my turn.

I lost the third game because I wasn’t able to put enough consistent and effective pressure onto my opponent throughout the game. Alternatively, I also could have won if I closed out the game with my own burn (if I had any in the deck).

Match 3

flame_strikeMatch 3 was a rematch against the deck from match 2, played by someone else. I do not remember many specifics from these games or the record. I do remember that I was able to keep up my hand size because I didn’t undervalue draw against his discard, I didn’t draw my Steel Golems or enough other threats to put significant pressure on my opponent, and I believe that I eventually died to burn. In addition, I tried to use Sea Titan as an Establishing champion on an empty board multiple times. Unfortunately, Sea Titan was just too slow to be effective in this way.

This match loss cemented the realizations that I did not have enough reliable threats in my deck, which was due to too much ineffective card picks on disruption and other distractions. In addition, burn can function incredibly well in certain deck shells.

raging_t_rex(A deck shell is a common set of cards that define the core or a part of a deck. A big Wild Shell could contain something like 3 Raging T-Rex, 3 Brachiosaurus, 3 Triceratops, 3 Kong, 3 Hurricane, and 3 Surprise Attack. These 18 cards work fairly well together and can be used with a burn strategy like Flame Strike, Strafing Dragon, Lightning Storm, etc. or in a consistent threats strategy with cards like Draka’s Enforcer, Fire Spirit, etc.)

 Match 4

revoltIn match 4 I came across a Human Token Swarm deck that I was constantly worrying and warning about. Because I was so worried about decks like this, I had packed a ton of disruption into my deck to address it. Therefore, I was able to disrupt every potentially game winning combo that was thrown at me. In addition, my big untargetable threats were hard to stop, so I won the match.

The Human Token Swarm type decks are incredibly aggressive and dangerous if your opponent isn’t ready for them, but if the deck goes all in on the combo attacks, it becomes extremely vulnerable when the attack is rebuffed.

Match 5

memory_spiritMatch 5 was against another big Wild champions deck. My bounce paved the way for my aggressive Juggernauts, Steel Golems, etc. In this match, my opponent consistently had more cards in hand than me, but I was able to win the games before that disparity became an issue. Erase is an incredibly strong effect against Wild, even if it lets them replay cards like Raging T-Rex, Triceratops, etc. Erase + Memory Spirit is especially nasty.

 Final Results

At the end of rounds, my record was 3-2-0. With tie breaks I took 10th place and did not qualify for top 8. I did, however, stick around to watch some of top 8, specifically Derek Arnold in top 4 and the finals. I am really looking forward to writing an article about that soon. In the meantime, he wrote an article about his deck that you can find on his blog here.

Post-Matches Analysis

This deck countered the decks it was designed to counter fairly well. However, it wasn’t able to output enough pressure to seriously threaten the disruption/burn deck I lost to twice. In addition, I do not think it could have beaten Derek Arnold’s 4-color control deck for the same reason.

mist_guide_heraldSteel Golem, Juggernaut, and Mist Guide Herald (Forcemage Apprentice to a lesser extent) were my only aggressive Establishing champions, and in the games where I didn’t draw them early, my opponents were able to get far enough ahead that drawing them later didn’t change much. For a deck that was designed to be aggressive my lack of strong aggressive Establishing champions was unacceptable. (Djinn of the Sands can also be an Establishing champion, but it is extremely weak to removal when used in this way.) In order for my deck to more consistently maintain pressure, I need to increase my aggressive Establishing champion count specifically, and my champion count generally. I can’t rely on Steel Golem to win all of my games.

banishmentIn order to accommodate the increased (aggressive) champion count, I need to remove the less synergistic and less aggressive cards from the deck. Resurrection and Banishment were consistently worthless, but Blind Faith made big plays.

drakas_fireIce Drake was fairly weak and so were the Wild cards. These cards were included to help clear blockers in the path of my untargetable champions, but at 1-cost they weren’t reliably effective. Improving my 0-cost disruption would probably be wise.

Post-Origins Deck List

Untargetable Tempo 2.0

Evil (0)

Good (6)

Slow (0)

Fast (4)
3x Ceasefire
1x Resurrection

0-Cost (2)
2x Blind Faith

Sage (39)

Slow (15)
3x Djinn of the Sands
3x Juggernaut
3x Mist Guide Herald
3x Sea Titan
3x Steel Golem

Fast (11)
3x Crystal Golem
3x Helion, the Dominator
3x Memory Spirit
2x Temporal Enforcer

0-Cost (13)
1x Amnesia
2x Arcane Research
2x Fumble
2x Hasty Retreat
3x Shadow Imp
3x Vanishing

Wild (15)

Slow (3)
3x Triceratops

Fast (7)
3x Flame Strike
1x Lurking Giant
3x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (5)
3x Lightning Strike
2x Wolf’s Bite

Post-Origins Deck Explanation

I am currently experimenting with this deck as a hyper aggressive tempo deck. There are no board clears and the only 1-cost removal is bounce, Helion, and technically Flame Strike.

In order to up the aggression, I stripped out a lot of the events, upped Mist Guide Herald and Djinn of the Sands to 3x, added 3 Triceratops, 3 Crystal Golem, 2 Temporal Enforcer, 3 Shadow Imp, included burn, and 0-cost small removal.

shadow_impThe Mist Guide Heralds, Triceratops, and Shadow Imp are additional Establishing champions to help me start the aggression. Temporal Enforcer, Crystal Golem, and the singleton Lurking Giant help keep the pressure up off-turn if my opponent is forced to spend their gold on their turn for removal.

djinn_of_the_sandsDjinn of the Sands remains as a way to punish people for using their gold on my turn before I do, but it has also been quite nice for the card draw. After playing with Djinn a lot more, I have realized that I dramatically underestimated it. For example, in one game I played it after my opponent spent their gold, and I was able to attack for 8. On my opponent’s turn, he played Drain Essence on it. I used my singleton Resurrection to bring it back and immediately draw. Then, at the start of my next turn I immediately drew with it again. After that, it stayed around as a 6/6 airborne champion (just out of reach of my opponent’s Angelic Protectors) and added a lot of pressure. I am now a fan of Djinn even though I used to severely dislike it.

hasty_retreatFor defense, I added 2 Hasty Retreats, but I did decrease my Fumble count to 2 to allow me to bring 2 Arcane Researches. In addition, the Lightning Strikes and Wolf’s Bites can occasionally help on defense as well. Memory Spirits are excellent for this deck because I have such strong 0-cost cards I can return and then immediately play. It also works pretty well with Flame Strike.

ceasefireTo allow me to keep my Blind Faiths, I switched up my Good to 3 Ceasefire and only 1 Resurrection. Ceasefire is a great aggressive/defensive card because it allows you to draw 2 on your opponent’s turn before they spend their gold and not risk getting attacked by a big blitzer. Resurrection is fine as a 1-of especially since I ramped up the champion count in the deck. I did have 2 Inner Peaces for a little while to get me to a 3rd Blind Faith, but I’m testing this more aggressive version. Urgent Messengers are another possibility.

vanishing

Vanishing, Lightning Strike, and Wolf’s Bite have been working fairly well for me for opening up paths for my champions. Against the decks I have tested against, there have consistently been worthwhile targets. Wolf’s Bite on a Muse is incredibly satisfying.

crystal_golemCrystal Golem was included as another untargetable champion. The fact that I can ambush it in makes it significantly stronger. I was initially hesitant to include Crystal Golem because I feared cards like Hands from Below, Draka’s Fire, and unlikely Spike Traps. Now, I’ve decided to throw them in because they work great against control decks that are forced to board clear to kill them, and they can always just be used to draw 2 if my opponent has counters for them ready. (It is also quite satisfying to Blind Faith an opponent’s Crystal Golem and then block and break it.)

Overall the deck has been working fairly well, but I do want to test it a lot more before I potentially take another run with it at a tournament.

Conclusion

I have become a significantly better constructed player after Origins, but it is still my weaker format. My next article is going to go into more detail about constructed in general, my perception of the Meta, and I’ll touch on the top 8 decks. Eventually I’ll go into significantly more detail on some of the top decks.

Since constructed is still my weaker format, I openly welcome any comments, challenges, or questions on the format in the comments below. (I always welcome these comments, but I am even more interested in what others have to say about constructed.)

Constructed Epic: Human Token Swarm

Epic Box

Foreword

I reference Human Token Swarm decks all of the time. This is my current version.

First Posted Deck List

HumanTokenSwarm

Evil (6)

Slow (2)
2x Drinker of Blood

Fast (2)
2x Zealous Necromancer

0-Cost (2)
2x Wither

Good (42)

Slow (6)
3x Rabble Rouser
3x The People’s Champion

Fast (23)
3x Forced Exile
3x Inheritance of the Meek
3x Insurgency
2x Quell
2x Royal Escort
3x Secret Legion
2x Standard Bearer
3x Urgent Messengers
2x Vital Mission

0-Cost (13)
3x Blind Faith
3x Courageous Soul
3x Paros, Rebel Leader
1x Priestess of Angeline
3x Revolt

Sage (9)

Slow (0)

Fast (6)
3x Lesson Learned
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (3)
3x Arcane Research

Wild (3)

Slow (0)

Fast (2)
1x Battle Cry
1x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (1)
1x Flash Fire

First Shot Explanation

Human Token Swarm decks are nasty. They can do 30+ damage in one turn with nothing starting in play and just 3 cards (Secret Legion and any 2 of Courageous Soul, Paros Rebel Leader, or Revolt). Going second, I have won on my first turn of the game with this deck (Standard Bearer on his turn. Paros on my turn, and then I slow rolled out Secret Legion and Revolt trying to draw out removal without over-committing.) If you aren’t prepared for this deck, it can crush you.

One of the most devastating parts of the deck is Drinker of Blood. If you have a lot of tokens out and then Drinker on your turn followed by Flash Fire or Wither, you can just win. Or, as one member of the Epic Card Game Fan Page on Facebook laid out: Rabble Rouser on your turn. If your opponent doesn’t remove it, Secret Legion at the end of their turn and expend Rabble Rouser. On your next turn, expend Rabble Rouser, play Drinker, and then Flash Fire/Wither for 60 damage and 60 health.

The problem with this deck is that it can be countered (or at least disrupted) by a lot of cards: Surprise Attack/Final Task-> Angel of Death/Frost Giant/Time Walker, Plague, Wither, Zombie Apocalypse, Ceasefire, Secret Legion, Blind Faith (strips blitz, would not strip buffs from cards like Revolt), Insurgency, Quell, Ice Drake, Stand Alone, Wave of Transformation (not great but still saves you for a turn), Fireball, Flash Fire, Hurricane, Lightning Storm, Wolf’s Call, Draka’s Fire, and other cards disrupt it to significantly smaller extents.

Every deck needs to run at least a few of these cards to deal with this and similar decks. If you don’t, you run the risk of just losing instantly. If you don’t think anyone will run this deck, you are welcome to take that gamble. Thankfully, a lot of these cards are just super strong anyway.

I argue that Insurgency is the most important card in this deck (aside from Drinker of Blood) because it prevents the most answers (Flash Fire, etc.).

I don’t think I have seen anyone else include Zealous Necromancer, and I am still not sold on it. I have liked it the situations I have played it though. Conversely, I do not include Deadly Raid or multiple Battle Cries because I don’t think they prevent enough answers. I feel that Dark Leader is a bit weak too. The Risen could be quite interesting in combination with Zealous Necromancer.

Royal Escort is a new addition to the deck. It literally only answers Wither, but it is a nice ambush setup before the attack. It can also protect your Rabble Rouser. Unfortunately, it would prevent you from targeting your own human tokens with Wither for the Drinker Combo.

I’ve been holding off posting this deck because I originally thought Human Token Swarm decks would be the deck to beat. While I’m still considering playing it at Origins, I think enough decks will be running counters to it that it probably wouldn’t go all the way.

6/10/16 Fine Tuning

Removed: -2 Forced Exile, -2 Vital Mission, and -1 Priestess of Angeline

HTSRemove

Added: +1 Standard Bearer, +3 Erase, and +1 Spike Trap

HTSAdd

I am in the process of fine tuning all of the decks I expect to either play or play against at Origins. After doing some more testing with this deck, I decided to focus this deck more around winning directly with a combo. To this end, I removed the Vital Missions and most of the Forced Exiles because they provide a small enough edge for an opponent to survive. Erases were added instead because I don’t want the game to go long, and the draw 2 is a huge deal; if the first assault doesn’t win you the game, you need to reload for a second one.

Priestess of Angeline doesn’t offer enough to warrant a card spot, especially since this deck ideally wants to win in the first 3 turns. I also might not have 2 cards to recycle.

Standard Bearer has been very nice. I underestimated the static +2 offense buff and the fact that you can set it up on your opponent’s turn.

Spike Trap is another way to trigger Drinker: play Drinker, attack with all of my human tokens, immediately play Spike Trap to break them all. I would prefer another Flash Fire, but I don’t currently have the Wild 1-cost cards to support it.

I might, however, add some Flame Strikes etc. for finishing off an opponent. In that case, I would bring at least 1 more Flash Fire.

Constructed Epic: Combative Humans

Epic Box

Foreword

I was inspired when writing my Epic: Interesting Combat Cards article to make this deck.

First Shot Deck List

Combative Humans

Evil (0)

Good (51)

Slow (12)
2x Lord of the Arena
3x Palace Guard
1x The People’s Champion
3x White Knight
3x Markus, Watch Captain

Fast (23)
3x Angel of Light
3x Angel of Mercy
3x Ceasefire
3x Feint
3x Forced Exile
3x Noble Unicorn
3x Quell
2x Resurrection

0-Cost (16)
3x Blind Faith
3x Brave Squire
2x Faithful Pegasus
3x Paros, Rebel Leader
2x Priestess of Angeline
3x White Dragon

Sage (0)

Wild (9)

Slow (3)
3x Triceratops

Fast (3)
3x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (3)
3x Rage

First Shot Explanation

I made this deck because I wanted to use Feint, Lord of the Arena, and Faithful Pegasus. Since I had Faithful Pegasus, I included Markus, White Knight, Palace Guard, and The People’s Champion, all of which are big humans.

Angel of Mercy and Noble Unicorn are just generally amazing so I added them. Resurrection is similarly great.

Ceasefire is excellent, and I wanted more card draw to go with Feint. I thought about including Urgent Messengers in place of some of the Ceasefires and/or Feints, since Urgent Messengers always guarantees two human tokens with the two cards, but I decided to stick with Ceasefires and Feints because the potential is greater. Feints in particular I fully assume I will frequently use outside of combat to just draw 2 cards. In the situations where I can use it in combat, it is considerably stronger than just gaining two tokens. Unfortunately, the only expend champion I can abuse with Feint when defending is White Knight. The rest of the expend champions like Rabble Rouser didn’t fit how I wanted to build the deck.

Forced Exile is included because I needed fast targeted removal in Good. I plan on using this primarily on my opponent’s turn, so I didn’t want to draw my opponent a card with Banishment. I didn’t take Vital Mission because I wanted this deck to be more aggressive. 2 human tokens for my opponent seemed to be the least of the drawbacks. In addition, Forced Exile does have the draw 2 option that the other two lack. (Since I removed a Faithful Pegasus, I no longer need these to be Good, so I might replace them with Transforms or Bittens.)

For zeros, White Dragon and Blind Faith are just incredible cards. Brave Squire and Rage allow my big humans to fight basically all of the other champions and win. Rage is included considerably more for the +4/+4, but the breakthrough is a big added bonus.

I like Priestess of Angeline in a heavy Good deck because it recycles and gains health. Paros, Rebel Leader is an incredibly strong zero for this deck. In my testing, that 1 offense boost has actually been quite helpful, not to mention the human tokens it spawns.

One of the strongest cards in this deck is Quell. Basically every deck should have at least some board clear, and Quell works wonders for this deck. I have a very strong 0-cost champion presence and a strong 1-cost presence. So, depending on the board state, I can potentially 1-sided board clear my opponent, while leaving myself largely untouched. The fact that it can also stop Insurgency attacks is a major added perk.

I did not include High King because I wanted my champions to be threatening on the attack. Royal Escort wasn’t included, even though it is a human with decent stats, because I want to play my Brave Squires and Rages on my champions.

I also avoided the big token cards like Insurgency, Secret Legion, and Courageous Soul because I wanted to focus on the big human champions. After more testing, I’ll see if this decision is wise, but I have been liking it so far.

Wanting 3 Rages forced me to take 6 1-cost wild cards, and I went with Triceratops and Surprise Attack. Triceratops was chosen because I wanted another big threatening body that drew me a card. Surprise Attack is generically amazing.

My first change to my original list was adding in the the Angel of Lights. I got absolutely destroyed by a deck running blitzing Wild airborne champions, and I had no great way to stop them. Angel of Light gets boosted to 9 offense with either Brave Squire or Rage which lets it break all other non-Thundarus airborne champions. In addition, the 10 health gain is great for fighting burn and letting me play more aggressively.

Overall, Quell, White Dragon, Angel of Mercy, and Markus have been the stars of this deck. I very much look forward to testing this deck further.

Epic: Interesting Combat Cards

Epic Box

Foreword

In this article I go over some of the most interesting, combat-specific cards/effects. I break down the effects based on the primary card in the interaction.

Feint

feint

Feint obviously has to be one of the cards I talk about because it only deals with combat, aside from drawing cards.

Chump Block/Attack

The simplest interaction with Feint is to chump block or chump attack without losing your champion. You block with a champion and then play this when you gain the initiative. Your blocker is removed from combat and prepared while the attacker remains “blocked.”

You attack with a champion. They block with a champion, flipping it. You play this so your attacker is removed from combat and becomes prepared. Then, after all of the remaining combat phases occur, you can attack again with that champion and your opponent’s flipped champion can’t block it.

This card becomes more interesting in either of those situations if you can draw out resources from your opponent. While attacking, your opponent might ambush in a blocker. Play Feint after blockers are declared and attack again, bypassing the ambushed in champion. Or, if your opponent unexpectedly buffs a defending champion, play this to get out of that unfavorable situation while still wasting a card of your opponent’s, and then you still get to attack again. (This also works if your opponent buffs their attacker.) Finally, if your opponent group blocks, you can use this to essentially flip multiple defending champions while also drawing 2 cards.

When This Card Attacks

draka_dragon_tyrant

Feint can also let you trigger “when this card attacks” triggers twice in one turn. Say you have Draka, Dragon Tyrant already in play. Attack with Draka, deal 3 damage to all defending champions. Play Feint. Attack with Draka again and deal 3 more damage to all defending champions. This also works with Courageous Soul for a double +2 offense boost, and to a lesser extent, Guilt Demon and Thrasher Demon. I’ll come back to Faithful Pegasus.

One very important aspect to note: when you play Feint, it removes champions under your control from combat, but it does not end combat. So, when you attack with Draka and then play Feint, your opponent will still get an opportunity to play cards before blockers are declared, and technically after blockers are declared as well. Due to this, you could Draka, Feint, pass. Then your opponent could play Ceasefire or Bitten etc. before you can declare the second attack.

**Edit** If all champions that were declared as attackers or blockers are removed from combat, the combat immediately ends. So, in the above crossed out text, if you attack with Draka and then immediately Feint, your opponent would not get a chance to play anything before you could attack with Draka again. **Edit**

If WWG ever creates a card with a “when this card blocks” ability, you could potentially get that to trigger twice, but your opponent would have to attack you again for you to be able to get the second trigger.

Raging T-Rex

raging_t_rex

Raging T-Rex must attack each turn if able, but if you attack with Raging T-Rex and then play Feint, that condition has been met for the turn. So, it doesn’t have to attack again.

Prepare Expending Blockers

high_king

If you have prepared, non-deploying expend champion(s) (Dark Assassin, Dark Leader, Murderous Necromancer, Necromancer Lord, Succubus, High King, White Knight, Djinn of the Sands, Forcemage Apprentice, Keeper of Secrets, Time Bender, Hunting Raptors, Pack Alpha, Elara The Lycomancer, Helion the Dominator, and/or Rabble Rouser), Feint can let you trigger them twice in one turn.

If you are brave enough not to expend your expend champions right when you play them (usually better to expend immediately) and your opponent attacks you on their turn, you can declare all of your expend champions as blockers. Then, assuming they survive until you get the initiative, you could expend all of your blocking champions for their effects. (Since they were already declared as blockers, they remain blocking even if expended.) After that, you play Feint which removes all of them from combat and prepares them, so you could use all of their expend abilities again, immediately. (This only works with non-deploying or blitz expend champions.)

Double removal or a lot of human tokens could be pretty strong.

Faithful Pegasus

faithful_pegasus

Faithful Pegasus lets you group attack with it and another human. That human gains airborne this turn. (The human would not gain blitz, so it can’t be declared as an attacker if it is deploying or expended.)

Even if the Faithful Pegasus is removed, the human that gained airborne this turn does not lose it until the end of the turn.

The most interesting interaction with this card is Feint. If you attack with this and a Time Walker (granting Time Walker, a human, airborne), and then play Feint, both champions will be removed from combat. You could then have Time Walker attack alone with the airborne it gained from Faithful Pegasus. After that, you could attack with Faithful Pegasus and a different human, giving that second human airborne too.

Lord of the Arena

lord_of_the_arena

Lord of the Arena has a bunch of really cool effects, mostly concerned with combat. When you first play it, it is a 13/9 blitz, unbreakable, must be blocked if able champion. So, you can use it for 13 unbreakable blitz offense, or as removal. If you opponent only has 1 prepared champion, that champion (or one that gets ambushed in before blockers) must block it.

On your opponent’s turn, if you get the chance to play a 1-cost Good card before it is removed, it gains unbreakable for that turn. Then on your next turn, it can attack again and force another block. It’s also really nice that you can see how they block before you trigger Lord of the Arena‘s ally ability (if you don’t want to preemptively make it unbreakable that is). If its 5/9 body is big enough to get the job done, you don’t need to play a 1-cost Good card. If it isn’t, you can play a fast 1-cost Good card before damage.

Attacking with Lord of the Arena first also forces your opponent to block it, so you can follow up with a Rampaging Wurm afterwards if your opponent is out of blockers.

feint

This card also works with Feint, since if your opponent has 2 champions and they block with the one you didn’t want to block, you can Feint and force them to block with the second one (since the first blocker remains flipped).

faithful_pegasus

Since Lord of the Arena is a human, it also works with Faithful Pegasus for an airborne, 13/9, blitz, unbreakable, must be blocked by an airborne champion if able champion. In that scenario, the blocking champion would probably direct all of its damage to break the Pegasus, since the Lord of the Arena is unbreakable.

angel_of_mercy

If you returned this to play with an Angel of Mercy or an already in play Necromancer Lord, you would get the tribute trigger, and then you could play a 1-cost Good card to get the ally trigger too. This would leave you with a 21/9 unbreakable blitz champion.

Turn/Helion, the Dominator

turn

The simplest and frequently the best use of Turn is to permanently gain control of an opponent’s champion (especially if they ambush one in on your turn during combat). Since this doesn’t have much to do with combat, I’m largely ignoring that part for this article. This leaves us with the ability to steal a champion for a turn, prepare it, and let it attack (if it is your turn).

time_walker

Temporarily stealing a champion on your turn and letting it attack can sometimes be stronger than stealing a champion permanently. This is especially true if your opponent has spent their gold for the turn, even more so if you are playing against a control deck. Attacking with a big body champion can get a lot of damage in that your opponent might be unable to stop. Say your opponent Surprise Attacks in Time Walker. You steal it for the turn and attack for 10 damage. If you take the Time Walker permanently instead, your opponent can wait until their turn to deal with it, potentially playing a Sea Titan returning their Time Walker to their hand.

necromancer_lord

Temporarily stealing a champion on your turn can also allow you to use a powerful expend ability like High King, Necromancer Lord, etc.

One interesting quirk with Loyalty 2 -> Blitz effects is that the champion never loses blitz (unless a Blind Faith strips it). So, if your opponent played Necromancer Lord with Loyalty 2 -> blitz and didn’t expend it, you could permanently gain control of Necromancer Lord and still expend it on the turn you Turned it.

gold_dragon

Even with these uses, stealing permanently is so powerful, that the first option is usually only used on your opponent’s turn. The most common use of Turn on your opponent’s turn is to stop an attack. They play and attack with Gold Dragon, you Turn it, gaining control of it, preventing the attack from dealing damage to you/giving your opponent health through righteous, and you gain a blocker that your opponent won’t want to remove (since they will get it back at the end of the turn). If that is all you use it for, it’s okay, but not great.

draka_dragon_tyrant

The more champions in play and the more champions attacking at once, the greater Turn‘s  potential. Say your opponent attacks with 2 Draka, Dragon Tyrants at once. All of your champions will take 6 damage, but then you could Turn 1 of the Drakas, and, assuming your opponent doesn’t play anything, you can declare your stolen Draka as a blocker to the other Draka. This will cause both Drakas to break, netting you removal of 2 1-cost champions for 1 1-cost card. Even if your opponent only attacks with 1 Draka in this situation, you could still steal the non-attacking Draka and declare it as a blocker.

dark_assassin

Another excellent option is a combination of block and expend. Say your opponent has a Dark Assassin that they expended to break one of your champions, then they attack with Pyromancer. You could turn the Dark Assassin, declare it as a blocker, and then expend it to break one of their other 1-cost champions. In this unlikely situation, you would remove 3 1-cost champions with just 1 1-cost card. Even just stealing Elara to chump block a Steel Golem and then transform herself giving you the wolf token is strong.

rabble_rouser

Another great thing about Turn, is that you can target your own champions. You want to Rabble Rouser again? Turn. You want to attack with your Lashed Kong again? Turn. Another use of Necromancer Lord, etc. You could even attack with Dark Assassin and then if they ambush in Lurking Giant, play Turn on your Dark Assassin, expend to break the Lurking Giant, and then let your attack finish.

elder_greatwurm

Finally, one really fun one. Elder Greatwurm cannot gain blitz from Turn because of its “this card can’t gain powers or abilities” ability. But, if your opponent has Elder Greatwurm in play, you can play Blind Faith and strip Elder Greatwurm‘s can’t gain abilities ability. Then, you can play Turn on the Elder Greatwurm, give it blitz, attack, and play Lash on it.

That’s right WWG remainder text, I just gave it both blitz and breakthrough.

helion_the_dominator

Helion, the Dominator can do some of the same things. It does not prepare the targeted champion though.

Sea Hydra and Angelic Protector

sea_hydraangelic_protector

If you have Sea Hydra in play and you get attacked by a big champion (Steel Golem for example), you can block with your Sea Hydra and then play Angelic Protector before damage. Sea Hydra still takes 13 damage, but it doesn’t break because it is unbreakable. At the end of the turn, it will gain 13 +1/+1 counters. This can also be done with Brave Squire.

Thrasher Demon really appreciates unbreakable as well.

Army of the Apocalypse

army_of_the_apocalypse

Army of the Apocalypse can do a lot of crazy things: a lot of blitzers, Drinker of Blood combos, etc. Specifically related to combat already in progress, I really like it with dragons.

Attack with White Dragon. If your opponent doesn’t block, play Army of the Apocalypse to return 3 Thundaruses and a Gold Dragon to play. Your unblocked 20/20 righteous will then hit. If your opponent still isn’t dead, you can swing with your 21/23 airborne, blitz, righteous Gold Dragon.

More?

As I come up with more, I’ll be sure to add them here. Let me know if I missed any that you would like me to add.

Constructed Epic: Evil Board Clears

Epic Box

Foreword

This is a highly-experimental deck focused around Evil board clears.

First Shot Deck List

EvilBoardClears

Evil (41)

Slow (16)
3x Angel of Death
1x Drinker of Blood
3x Murderous Necromancer
3x Necromancer Lord
1x Raxxa, Demon Tyrant
3x Reaper
2x Soul Hunter

Fast (15)
2x Apocalypse
3x Final Task
3x Medusa
3x Plague
3x Raxxa’s Displeasure
1x Zombie Apocalypse

0-Cost (10)
2x Guilt Demon
1x Heinous Feast
2x Plentiful Dead
2x Spawning Demon
1x Unquenchable Thirst
2x Wither

Good (6)

Slow (0)

Fast (4)
3x Ceasefire
1x Inner Peace

0-Cost (2)
2x Blind Faith

Sage (9)

Slow (0)

Fast (6)
3x Ancient Chant
3x Lesson Learned

0-Cost (3)
3x Arcane Research

Wild (4)

Slow (0)

Fast (3)
3x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (1)
1x Flash Fire

First Shot Explanation

I have been playing against a lot of Brachiosaurus decks recently, which is part of the reason why I wanted to make a board clear heavy deck. (I also wanted another Evil based deck.)

To compliment the board clears, I added the Reapers, Murderous Necromancers, Medusas, and Necromancer Lords. All of these are incredibly powerful champions that are either removal or need to be removed. Medusa can be played off-turn, and all the rest will control the game if left alive. I did not include Dark Assassin because it is too easy to remove with a single 0-cost card.

Soul Hunter is included almost exclusively to be played when one of my Reapers is already in play. In that situation, I can use Reaper‘s ally ability to target Soul Hunter. This breaks the Soul Hunter dealing 5 damage to my opponent, puts a demon token into play for me, and put the Soul Hunter in the discard pile to come back on my turn. Reaper will also trigger its ally effect whenever you use a 1-cost Evil event to draw 2 cards. This does not work with 0-cost Evil events due to the nature of ally triggers.

The Ancient Chants and Lesson Learneds are included primarily for the 4 card draw combo, explained at Epic Insights. Lesson Learned also has a lot of other strong events to copy such as Surprise Attack, Final Task, Ceasefire, or any of the board clears.

Surprise Attack and Final Task can provide me with more fast removal. One of the best targets for this is an Angel of Death for an off-turn board clear.

3 Arcane Researches are included for a variety of reasons outlined by Derik M in an earlier comment.

Unquenchable Thirst can clash a bit with Arcane Research. I am not sure if I want both, or I might just adjust the quantities of each.

Plentiful Deads are included primarily for fast chump blockers.

Since this is a control deck and I have the Arcane Researches, I might add in some more singletons like Lightning Storm and Lash.

I avoided some strong non-Evil cards like Brave Squire and additional Flash Fires because I wanted to keep my ratio of 1-cost Evil cards high. It would be nice to cut the Sage and Good 1-cost cards altogether, but the 0-cost cards I gain from them are quite nice. If I were to cut them, it would help my Reapers, Spawning Demons, and Plentiful Deads. It would also be more incentive to add Infernal Gatekeepers.

The main reason I labeled this highly experimental, aside from heavy board clears, is the card draw situation. Most of the slow or 0-cost cards included do not draw cards. In addition, the board clears don’t draw cards when I use them for their “if it is your turn” effect. Due to this, I included the Ancient Chant/Lesson Learned combo and the Cease Fires. I might have gone a bit overboard though, since this deck only has 9 zeros that don’t replace themselves or come back to hand.

 

Epic Card Game Combat

Epic Box

Foreword

Epic implements combat in a TCG/CCG-like game better than all of the other games of that genre I have played. Attacking is a fluid part of your turn because both you and your opponent have a lot of decisions to make.

You must decide:

  • When to attack on your turn (if at all)
  • How many champions to attack with at once
  • When to “chump block” to prevent damage
  • When to play “combat tricks” that enhance your champions
  • Which of a plethora of other possibilities you need to consider

In this article, I will discuss first the generically correct answers to these questions. At the end of each discussion, I will link to an article that goes into more detail about that specific aspect of Epic combat.

Combat Overview

I have included my Epic Turn chart below to provide context for how attacking/combat works in Epic.

In Summary, Passing initiative during combat works like this:

  • Both players get a chance to play fast actions
  • Then, instead of playing fast actions and passing back to their opponent, a player may end the passing initiative cycle
  • The attacking player goes first after declaring attackers
  • The defending player goes first after declaring blockers
  • Explained in further detail later in the article

 

On April 6, 2017, WWG announced a couple of rules updates during the “Attack” phase and “Try to End Your Turn” phase. The currently accurate diagram and examples are above, click below to see the changes and old diagram.

When You may Attack Overview

After you perform all of the Start of Turn actions, you can initiate an Attack Phase at any point on your turn. You can attack, then play a champion, then attack again, then attempt to end your turn, then, since your opponent played a card, you can attack again, etc. As long as you have prepared champions that aren’t deploying (similar to “summoning sickness” for Magic player or non-charge minions for Hearthstone players), you can initiate an Attack Phase on your turn.

When Each Player may Play Cards in Combat Overview

(updated with April 2017 changes)

During an Attack Phase, there are 2 windows where both players may play Fast Actions: After attackers are declared and After blockers are declared.

An Attack Phase starts when the current player declares 1 or more champions as attackers. Then this attacking player may play any Fast Actions (events, champions with ambush, or activating a card’s power like expend on a champion in play or recall on an event in your discard pile). After the attacking player performs any number of these actions that they would like, the defending player gets that same chance. So, the defending player can play events, champions with ambush, or activate cards’ powers.

If the defending player doesn’t want to play any Fast actions, they can instead move directly to the next step (declare blockers). However, if they play one or more Fast actions, the attacking player gets another chance to play as many Fast actions as they would like. From here, players may take any number of Fast actions and then pass back to the other player, until, one player decides to move onto the next step (declare blockers) instead of playing 1 or more fast actions.

Once both players have passed, the defender assigns 0 or more champions to block the entire group of attacking champions. If at least 1 champion is assigned as a blocker, than none of the champions will deal damage to the defending player. (This is complicated by airborne, unblockable, and breakthrough.)

Once blockers are declared, repeat the same process that occurred after attackers were declared, except, the defending player gets the first chance to play Fast actions: defending player may play Fast Actions, attacking player may play Fast Actions or move onto the next step, etc.

Once both players have had a chance to play Fast Actions and then one player passes instead of playing a Fast Action, damage is assigned. The controller of the champions assign the damage. So, the attacking player would determine how much of the attacking champions’ offense is dealt to each defending champion, and the defending player would determine how much of the defending champions’ offense is dealt to each attacking champion.

When to Attack

You (almost) always want to attack with your champions before spending your gold.

At the start of the turn, you know all of the champions you have in play, and all of the champions your opponent has in play. If you see an attack you can make that is advantageous to you currently, make it. Your opponent will either have to play something to stop you or take the damage.

Examples:

Example 1 (Lone Attacker)

The most simple example is if you have a champion in play and they do not. If you have a Medusa in play and they have nothing in play, attacking guarantees that you will either do 6 damage to them, or they will need to do something to prevent it.

SoloMedusa

They could either remove Medusa by breaking/banishing/bouncing (returning it to hand) it or ambush a champion in to block it. Once they have committed to something, you can then potentially have an answer for it.

Scenario 1 (Opponent Ambushes in a Champion)

 

Scenario 2 (Opponent Uses Removal)

 

Example 2 (Multiple Attackers)

Attacking before spending your gold is even more important when you have more champions in play than your opponent. The greater your advantage on board, the better it is for your opponent to play a board clear. If you attack with your small champions first, you are almost guaranteed to do at least some damage to your opponent.

Say you have 2 demon tokens, Infernal Gatekeeper, and Triceratops in play. Your opponent has Sea Titan in play.

WhenToAttack

If you attack before spending your gold, your opponent can only block 1 of the champions, or they can board clear early.

Scenario 1 (Opponent Board Clears Early)

 

Scenario 2 (Opponent Holds onto Gold)

 

Relevant Supplementary Articles

When to Spend Your Gold Before Attacking (Coming Soon)

How Many to Attack with Simultaneously

You (almost) always want to attack with 1 champion at a time.

There a few major disadvantages when attacking as a group:

  • If any attacker doesn’t have airborne or unblockable, the entire group is treated as if they don’t have it
  • If even 1 champion blocks the group, all of the champions in the group are blocked
  • Cards like Spike Trap affect all attacking champions

If you attack with 1 champion at a time, you are more likely to deal damage to your opponent.

Examples:

Example 1 (Chump Block)

You have Thundarus, Knight of Shadows, Kong, and 3 human tokens in play. Your opponent has a Thrasher Demon in play with 2 +1/+1 counters on it.

SimultaneousAttack

Scenario 1 (Attack with Everything at Once)

 

Scenario 2 (Attack One at a Time)

 

Example 2 (Pack Attack)

You have 5 wolf tokens in play. Your opponent has Triceratops in play. You can either attack as a group for 10 damage, which would break Triceratops (and all of your wolves), or you can attack one at a time.

PackAttack

Scenario 1 (Attack with Everything at Once)

 

Scenario 2 (Attack One at a Time)

 

Relevant Supplementary Articles

When to Attack in Groups (Coming Soon)

When to Chump Block

“Chump Blocking” is when you block an attacking champion with a smaller one. The attacking champion won’t break, the defending champion will break, but you won’t take any damage.

You (almost) never want to chump block with a 1-cost champion. If you can’t break an attacking 1-cost champion and you have a token, you (almost) always want to chump block.

If you chump block with a 1-cost champion, you can fall behind in champions on the board. If you chump block with tokens, you protect your health and don’t lose much.

Examples:

Example 1 (Emergency Chump Block)

You just spent your gold playing Inheritance of the Meek on your opponent’s turn, clearing the board. They then spend their gold on Rampaging Wurm and attack for 14. You play Plentiful Dead to get a zombie token.

EmergencyChump

Since your opponent doesn’t play anything before blockers are declared, you declare it as (chump) blocker. Neither player plays anything so your zombie breaks to Rampaging Wurm‘s 14 damage, Rampaging Wurm gets tickled by the zombie, and you take no damage.

Example 2 (Airborne Lethal)

You have Ice Drake in play, Inner Peace in hand, spent your gold, and are at 16 health. Your opponent has no champions in play, 4 cards in hand, 3 health, and spent their gold. They play Draka, Dragon Tryant, revealing Flame Strike and Flash Fire for loyalty 2->blitz, and attack with it.

AirborneLethal

You could either chump block with Ice Drake, causing only Ice Drake to break, or not chump block.

Scenario 1 (1-cost Chump Block)

 

Scenario 2 (Don’t Chump Block)

 

Relevant Supplementary Articles

When to Chump Block with 1-cost Champions (Coming Soon)

When not to Chump Block with tokens (Coming Soon)

When to Play Combat Tricks

A combat trick is generally a buff (like Rage and Brave Squire), but the term can be broadened out into any Fast effect that can be used to modify combat (fast removal for instance).

You (almost) always want to play your Combat Tricks after blockers have been declared. The obvious exception to this is playing an ambush champion that you want to declare as a blocker before blockers are declared.

As the attacker you want to wait because how your opponent blocks can determine which combat tricks you want to play, if any. In addition, if you play a buff on an unblocked attacker after blockers are declared, the defender cannot change their mind and block the now buffed attacker.

As the defender you want to wait because your opponent might buff their attacker, and then you can use 1 card to answer 2 or more cards, the champion and the buff(s).

Examples:

Example 1 (Token Buff)

My favorite example is when you have Mighty Blow in hand, you have at least a token and 1 more champion in play, and your opponent has at least a token in play.

BuffOrder

You could either play your Mighty Blow before or after attackers.

Scenario 1 (Play Mighty Blow Before Blockers are Declared)

 

Scenario 2 (Play Mighty Blow after blockers are declared)

 

Example 2 (Lying in Wait)

You are at 22 health. Your opponent attacks you with Raging T-Rex. You have no champions in play so you declare no blockers. After blockers are declared, your opponent plays 2 Brave Squires on Raging T-Rex. Now, you play Lying in Wait and remove 3 cards for the price of 1.

Relevant Supplementary Articles

When to Play Combat Tricks Before the Declare Blockers Step (Coming Soon)

When to Play Burn Removal in Conjunction with Combat Damage (Coming Soon)

Additional Articles

Included above are the main considerations for Epic combat. Below you can find articles that cover in smaller and/or rarer situations. Articles denoted as Coming Soon have not yet been written. So, if a particular one catches you eye, let me know in the comments, and I will prioritize it.

Bluffing (Coming Soon)

Breakthrough (Coming Soon)

Chump Attacking (Coming Soon)

Interesting Combat Cards

Constructed Epic: Recursion Abuse

Epic Box

Foreword

This deck was built to abuse Resurrection and Final Task.

First Shot Deck List

Recursion Abuse 1

Evil (9)

Slow (3)
3x The Gudgeon

Fast (3)
3x Final Task

0-Cost (3)
3x Heinous Feast

Good (21)

Slow ()

Fast (14)
3x Divine Judgement
1x Inheritance of the Meek
3x Quell
3x Resurrection
3x Royal Escort
1x Vital Mission

0-Cost (7)
1x Blind Faith
3x Brave Squire
3x Priest of Kalnor

Sage (21)

Slow (5)
3x Knight of Shadows
2x Winter Fairy

Fast (9)
3x Psionic Assault
3x Thought Plucker
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (7)
3x Forcemage Apprentice
1x Shadow Imp
3x Vanishing

Wild (9)

Slow (2)
2x Kong

Fast (4)
2x Mighty Blow
2x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (3)
3x Feeding Frenzy

First Shot Explanation

Resurrection and Final Task are able to bring back all of my powerful champions. Brave Squire and Priest of Kalnor can give a champion I return with Final Task unbreakable. This prevents that champion from breaking at the end of the turn.

This can be disrupted by fast discard removal. Since a player maintains the initiative until they pass it, they can break one of my champions and then play Guilt Demon or Amnesia. Final Task and Resurrection can’t return a banished champion.

To best make use of this effect, I included incredibly powerful tribute champions. Kong is big and deals big damage. The rest (The Gudgeon, Winter Fairy, Thought Plucker, and Knight of Shadows) all either draw multiple cards or force my opponent to discard cards. One of the strongest plays in this deck is to ambush Thought Plucker in on your opponent’s turn after they spent their gold. Then, if they break it on your turn, you can Final Task it and Priest of Kalnor/Brave Squire it and attack. Assuming it does damage, the Thought Plucker has drawn you 3 cards and forced your opponent to discard 3. It also doesn’t break to Final Task because it is unbreakable.

Due to the incredible card draw in this deck, I included Feeding Frenzies (triggered by Forcemage Apprentices) and Vanishings to facilitate powerful tempo plays.

Royal Escort is interesting in that it helps protect my smaller defense champions, but it does also disrupt my own plans. While Royal Escort is in play, I can’t target my champions either. So, if I Final Task a minion, I can’t target it to give it unbreakable. I do really like the idea of Royal Escort and The Gudgeon though. You can’t target me while The Gudgeon is in play, and you can’t target my The Gudgeon while my Royal Escort is in play.

Since I have such strong discard, I included the Psionic Assault to up the ante. Heinous Feasts help me control my opponent’s discard. All of my board clears are banishment based because I want to shut down my opponent’s available resources as much as possible.

Mighty Blows are primarily included as finishers since they work excellently with unblockable champions like Thought Plucker.