Category: Strategy Article

Foreword

The goal of this deck is to force your opponent to spend their gold first as often as possible.

First Shot Deck List

Evil (0)

Good (0)

Sage (34)

Slow (11)
3x Elara, The Lycomancer
3x Juggernaut
3x Sea Titan
2x Time Walker

Fast (12)
3x Helion, the Dominator
3x Memory Spirit
3x Temporal Enforcer
3x Turn

0-Cost (11)
3x Forcemage Apprentice
2x Fumble
3x Hasty Retreat
3x Muse

Wild (26)

Slow (6)
3x Kong
3x Raging T-Rex

Fast (12)
3x Draka’s Enforcer
3x Hurricane
3x Strafing Dragon
3x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (8)
2x Feeding Frenzy
2x Flash Fire
1x Lash
3x Lightning Strike

First Shot Explanation

In Epic, it is frequently advantageous if you can get your opponent to spend their gold before you do in a turn. For instance, say it is your turn and you pass holding your gold. Your opponent then ambushes in Lurking Giant. After that enters play, you then spend your gold to play Kong and break their Lurking Giant. If you would have played Kong first, a Lash, Flash Fire, etc. would have been able to finish off your Kong, and then your opponent would still be able to play Lurking Giant unanswered.

Another example of this is when your opponent immediately spends their gold on their turn to use a “if it is your turn” board wipe like Apocalypse. If you still have your gold, once Apocalypse finishes, you can slam down a Draka’s Enforcer. You draw a card and have a 7/7 airborne champion ready to attack face next turn unopposed. On your next turn, you attack before spending your gold, and if they Surprise Attack in a Thundarus to block, you can play your Turn to permanently gain control of that Thundarus, or possibly just take it for the turn with blitz and attack face with it since they spent their gold.

So, since the goal is to get your opponent to play their gold first, I have included a lot of high-impact 0-cost cards and ambush champions. Hasty Retreat and Lightning Strike are solid 0-cost cards for dealing with threats. With a 0-cost card, you can potentially remove a 1-cost card leaving your opponent in a neutral or behind position. They can either play a 1-cost card (depleting their gold) or pass holding on to their gold. If they pass, you can let their turn end and just move into your turn denying them a chance to play their slow champions. If they play a 1-cost card, you have a significant advantage in deciding which card you will play afterwards. Fumble works similarly in that it can completely negate an attack while still recycling. Feeding Frenzy, Lash, and Forcemage Apprentice are generally much more devastating on your turn. Almost all of the 0-cost cards included can also be used to draw 2 if needed. Most of the 1-cost cards in this deck don’t have an or draw 2 option.

Helion the Dominator, Memory Spirit, Temporal Enforcer, Draka’s Enforcer, and Strafing Dragon are all excellent ambush plays. They can all do something worthwhile on your opponent’s turn, in order: stop an attack/use one of your opponent’s other champions to block their own attack, return an event to your hand (particularly a 0-cost event to immediately play), bounce a champion, block a champion, or deal 5 damage and potentially block. Memory Spirit, Temporal Enforcer, Draka’s Enforcer, and Strafing Dragon also all have evasion (airborne or unblockable) for attacking your opponent. Whether you attack or expend/hold your Helion depends on the board state, cards in hand, etc. In addition, Helion is an excellent answer to an opponent’s ambushed in champion on your turn.

I am very interested to really try out this deck, since I’m not sure how strong it will be in practice. If it can consistently draw out your opponent’s gold, I think it could really do work. The cards you would want to play on your turn to a neutral board are generally Juggernaut, Sea Titan, Forcemage Apprentice (enough of a threat that it needs to be eventually answered), and Raging T-Rex.

I am not sure how this deck will do with hand management generally, since it relies a lot on single use 0-cost cards and I don’t have events like Ceasefire and Erase. Juggernaut, Memory Spirit, Raging T-Rex, and Draka’s Enforcer due provide some card draw, but if you use all of your 0-cost cards for their effects, you might get into trouble.

As a final note, Surprise Attack into Time Walker is an excellent way to stop token strategies. It can also disrupt most other non 0-cost blitz champion strategies for at least a turn. Swinging in with a 10/10 on your next turn with a probably empty board is also a huge perk.

Foreword

This is the spiritual successor to Bouncing Chip which can be found here. Since only 20 cards are the same between the decks, I decided to just start a fresh deck post.

First Shot Deck List

Evil (9)

Slow (0)

Fast (6)
3x Bitten
3x Inner Demon

0-Cost (3)
3x Dark Knight

Good (9)

Slow (0)

Fast (6)
3x Ceasefire
3x Urgent Messengers

0-Cost (3)
3x Brave Squire

Sage (33)

Slow (9)
3x Juggernaut
3x Mist Guide Herald
3x Time Walker

Fast (15)
3x Helion, the Dominator
3x Memory Spirit
3x Temporal Enforcer
3x Thought Plucker
3x Turn

0-Cost (9)
3x Forcemage Apprentice
3x Shadow Imp
3x Warrior Golem

Wild (9)

Slow (0)

Fast (6)
3x Flame Strike
3x Mighty Blow

0-Cost (3)
3x Rage

First Shot Explanation

This is an aggro deck. I did say previously that I thought aggro decks wouldn’t really be a successful archetype in Epic, aside from Burn, but I was wrong. This deck can output a lot of damage quickly. A large chunk of that damage comes from the 0-cost cards.

Each 0-cost card is either a blitz champion or a 4+ offense buff. Shadow Imp is especially dangerous because it is unblockable, and it can either attack twice in one turn or be held onto to protect it/use it as a free chump block. For blocking, you would ambush it in, pass initiative, declare it as a blocker if it lives, and then play a fast 1-cost Sage card to return it to hand if it lived through your opponent’s post-block initiative. Shadow Imp is also an ideal target for Rage, Brave Squire, and Mighty Blow.

The Wild is included because I wanted the highest single damage events in the game, Flame Strike and Mighty Blow. Rage was a nice bonus.

The Good is included because I wanted 3 Brave Squires. Ceasefire and Urgent Messengers are excellent for a bit of defense and draw.

The Evil is included because I needed 3 Dark Knights. I decided to take Bitten and Inner Demon because it’s helpful to have more than just bounce for removal. Drain Essence could also work for removal and some health gain. Final Task is a definite possibility because it works well with Juggernaut (unbreakable on your turn), Mist Guide Herald (you still get the tribute ability), Time Walker (fast defensive board bounce), Helion, the Dominator (8 blitz offense and a partial Turn), Memory Spirit (can return that final Flame Strike etc.), Temporal Enforcer (bounce and 6 unblockable offense), Thought Plucker (strong tribute, strong damage effect, and unblockable), and I am already running 3 Brave Squires which could prevent that Final Tasked champion from breaking at the end of the turn. After some more testing, I might exchange some of the Bittens and Inner Demons for Final Tasks.

The Sage cards are just solid aggro cards. Helion, the Dominator and Turn give me solid (temporary) removal + a (temporary) threat. Juggernaut and the unblockable champions are excellent for inflicting damage.

Bounce is solid for both defense and offense, as was the original intention of the deck. For offense, I can play and attack with a Dark Knight, bounce it, and then play/attack with it again that turn. For defense, there is the obvious bounce a threat, but you can also bounce one of your blocking champions as well. For example, your opponent attacks with a blitzing Steel Golem. You block with your Mist Guide Herald, and then, assuming it lives to your post-block initiative, you ambush in Temporal Enforcer and return Mist Guide Herald to your hand. Since Steel Golem was blocked (even though the blocker is no longer in play), the Steel Golem does no damage that turn. Temporal Enforcer can also use its ally ability to bounce Dark Knights or Warrior Golems for a second attack.

Mist Guide Herald is a strong card for this deck because it can bring any of your other threat champions directly into play. Taking that Juggernaut out of the top 5 cards of your deck and putting into play is crazy. Even just taking a Shadow Imp is solid. Also, since this deck has so much bounce, you can potentially replay your Mist Guide Herald multiple times for significant value.

Helion, the Dominator is excellent to steal an opponent’s ambushed in blocker and attack with it that turn, or to steal an opponent’s blitzing attacker to prevent the attack that turn. In addition, you can always use its loyalty ability on itself to be able to immediately use its expend ability. That 2 damage to 2 targets should not be underestimated.

As you can tell, I am experimenting with the card images in the explanation. Feel free to let me know in the comments below if you think this is helpful or just annoying.

Foreword

Great Horned Lizard made me want to make a Dinosaur deck. So I did.

First Shot Deck List

Evil (2)

Slow ()

Fast (2)
2x Final Task

0-Cost ()

Good (9)

Slow (1)
1x Thundarus

Fast (6)
3x Ceasefire
3x Resurrection

0-Cost (2)
2x Brave Squire

Sage (0)

Wild (49)

Slow (20)
3x Brachiosaurus
2x Draka, Dragon Tyrant
3x Fire Spirit
3x Jungle Queen
3x Kong
3x Raging T-Rex
3x Triceratops

Fast (13)
1x Chomp!
3x Draka’s Enforcer
1x Draka’s Fire
2x Great Horned Lizard
2x Hurricane
1x Smash and Burn
3x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (16)
3x Ankylosaurus
3x Cave Troll
3x Feeding Frenzy
3x Fire Shaman
1x Lash
3x Wurm Hatchling

First Shot Explanation

I attack with Triceratops. Opponent ambushes in a Lurking Giant. I play Great Horned Lizard, breakthrough the Lurking Giant, and swing for 10 breakthrough with the Great Horned Lizard. That scenario was largely the impetus behind this deck. I really liked that interaction, in theory.

The rest of the deck just makes use of big, high-value Wild champions. The only other particularly interesting interaction in this deck is Draka, Dragon Tyrant Attack, followed immediately by Feeding Frenzy. This is one situation where you would actually use that window to play cards immediately after your attack and before your opponent gets a chance. (Fire Shaman 1-cost Wild card followed by Feeding Frenzy also works.) There is also the Final Task into Brave Squire trick.

(Use Final Task to return a champion from a discard pile to play. Then, you cast Brave Squire on that champion granting it unbreakable this turn. During the end step, you first resolve any “at the end of the turn” triggers. At this point, Final Task tries to break your returned champion, but it is unbreakable so it can’t. The “this turn” trigger from Brave Squire falls off after this point. Since Final Task only tries to break that champion once, that champion is now permanently in play. This also works when you use Final Task on your turn on an “unbreakable on your turn” champion, Juggernaut for instance.)

When I played this deck, it was fairly lackluster. I never had the Great Horned Lizard interaction I wanted, and I used my Feeding Frenzies just to draw 2. It is still a bit early to call it for this deck, but it didn’t show much promise. I do have a couple directions I want to experiment with going forward.

A Feeding Frenzy based direct damage chip deck featuring Blue Dragons, Forcemage Apprentices, and Helion the Dominators could be interesting. I could also make use of Lightning Storms, Rain of Fires, and potentially Fire Shamans/Fire Spirits. Memory Spirits could also be excellent to further exploit Feeding Frenzy. This would be a very different deck. (I would need to keep reminding myself that Feeding Frenzy can only break on my turn.)

A more similar deck could try and exploit the 10+ toughness champions that draw a card to overwhelm my opponent. For this deck, I could make use of Kong, Raging T-Rex, Triceratops, Sea Hydra, Lurking Giant, and possibly Jungle Queen/Draka’s Enforcer. Hurricane would be the major star of the deck, but I think Smash and Burn could work excellently in this deck as well. I would mainly just draw 2 and use the 6 champion damage to finish off pesky utility champions. This deck would probably also bring a lot of bounce like Erases to deal with other high toughness champions. Sea Titan, Hasty Retreat, and Vanishing could all also show up. The 0-costs would only be particularly viable if I had enough card draw. I would probably not bring 3 Feeding Frenzies to this deck, but definitely at least 1 Lash.

So, those are the 2 directions I might take this deck. Let me know in the comments below if anyone has a preference in which route I take. (I’ll probably do both eventually, but I am also working on other decks and articles so the second one won’t show up for awhile.)

Foreword

I started designing this as a demon deck, but I shifted to trying to make it as efficient as possible. What I mean is that I attempted to create a deck where I would spend as little time just drawing as possible. I want my plays on my turn to get me far ahead, and I want my plays on my opponent’s turn to also get me ahead, just not by as much. The challenge was doing this in Evil with minimal card draw. Well, we’ll see if I succeeded.

First Shot Deck List

Evil (48)

Slow (24)
2x Angel of Death
1x Drinker of Blood
3x Infernal Gatekeeper
3x Murderous Necromancer
3x Necromancer Lord
3x Raxxa, Demon Tyrant
3x Reaper
3x Succubus
3x The Gudgeon
0x Trihorror

Fast (16)
1x Demon Breach
2x Drain Essence
3x Final Task
3x Medusa
3x Necrovirus
1x Raxxa’s Displeasure
3x Zealous Necromancer

0-Cost (8)
3x Plentiful Dead
3x Spawning Demon
2x Wither

Good (6)

Slow (0)

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

0-Cost (2)
2x Brave Squire

Sage (3)

Slow (0)

Fast (3)
3x Erase

0-Cost (0)

Wild (3)

Slow (0)

Fast (3)
3x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (0)

First Shot Explanation

The slow cards in this deck do something powerful initially and must be removed. Aside from Drinker of Blood, none of these champions suffer terribly from bounce.

The fast cards in this deck were picked because they (almost) all provide incredibly strong effects on my opponent’s turn. Ideally, I can use the powerful effects each turn to grind down my opponent quickly. Essentially, I do not want to let up the pressure to spend my turn drawing 2 cards.

I am attempting to make this work due to 2 factors. I am including The Gudgeons, Succubi, Zealous Necromancers, Erases, and to a lesser extent Resurrections, Final Tasks, and Necromancer Lords to draw cards. Demon Breach and Plentiful Dead can both be returned to hand as well.

In addition, I have limited the number of 0-cost cards in this deck to 10. Since I have fewer 0-cost cards, I do not need to draw as many cards to be able to continually play 1-cost cards. In other words, I am less likely to be in a situation where I unload all of my 0-cost cards and run myself out of fuel. The 0-costs I included are either big threats, continuous threats, combo/defense, or efficiency enablers.

Spawning Demon can create an army of demons while I play my Evil 1-cost cards normally, and it can start on my opponent’s turn.

Plentiful Dead is a constant stream of zombie tokens. Wither can work with my deck or prevent the damage from a Secret Legion on my turn into Insurgency combo. (Wither wouldn’t kill those tokens with Insurgency, but it would remove their offense for the turn.)

Brave Squire is included for 2 situations, in addition to it being a combat trick. Final Task + Brave Squire is the first. Zealous Necromancer + Brave Squire is the second.

I am really curious to see how this deck works out. My greatest fear is discard, but Human tokens could be an issue too. The nice thing is that Zealous Necromancer does turn those broken human tokens into zombies.

This deck was incredibly difficult to pare down initially. I wanted more of a few cards because they are so powerful, but I cut them because they are either situational or 1 effective use is all that is needed in a game. I also had to cut Trihorror even though it works well with Necromancer Lord, Final Task, Resurrection, and Reaper as well as the demon specific cards. Trihorror just doesn’t seem reliable enough. I did not include Dark Assassin because it breaks a champion, but then it is too easy to remove. Necromancer Lord gives a permanent champion and The Gudgeon draws 2, so neither of them need to stay around to get excellent value.

Let me know what you think in the comments below. I am especially curious to hear how many 0-cost cards other people include in decks and why. Is 20 the goal every time, do you have a formula you like, or is it more about selecting the best cards regardless of 1-cost to 0-cost (as long as it is legal)?

Foreword

Recently I did a couple Dark Drafts with my friend Paul (quite a few), and we wrote notes during a couple so we could post it on here. We are writing up our thoughts throughout the draft in separate posts, so you can get the perspective of each of us. His post can be found here: Sample Epic Dark Draft 3/16/16 (Paul).

Dark Draft is a two-player draft format where each player is simultaneously dealt 5 cards face down. Each player picks 1 of their 5 cards and then passes the remaining 4 to their opponent. Then each player picks 2 of the 4 passed cards and discards the remaining 2. This is done 10 times and you have your 30 card deck. During the draft, you may not look at the cards you drafted (once you draft them) and at the end of the draft you will not be able to cut any cards from your 30. You may go over your drafted deck before the first game though.

To stay true to the Dark Draft format as much as possible, we took notes in a very specific way. After getting dealt the opening 5 cards each round, we wrote down all 5. We then circled our choice and put a square around the 2 cards we expected our opponent to take. In addition, we wrote notes beneath this to reference during these posts. Before looking at the passed cards, we flipped over the page so we could not see the previous choices. On the back of the page, we wrote our 2 choices from the 4 passed cards and any notes. We then started the next round on the next page.

Round 1

Angel of Death, Bitten, Muse, Plague, Word of Summoning

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Conclusion

Foreword

I’ve been playing board and card games with Tom for about seven years, if I’ve counted right. He introduced me to Epic a couple months ago. Him telling me it was his favorite game was enough to pique my interest, and I quickly came to really enjoy the unique facets of the game.

Dark drafting is one of the ways I can beat Tom. The randomness makes every draw fun, almost like opening a present to see what you’ll get. It can be frustrating to pass good cards to your opponent, but of course, that comes back at you. Overall, it’s very satisfying to play this format and come up with a plan for a deck as you build it based on draws.

Read on to see my choices in the 10 rounds, along with my commentary. Tom’s draft can be found here: Sample Epic Dark Draft 3/16/16 (Tom).

– Paul Kaefer, guest blogger

Round 1

Banishment, Cave Troll, Flash Fire, Surprise Attack, Wolf Companion

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Conclusion

About the Guest Author

Paul is an amateur board and card game enthusiast. His favorites are CardsAgainstHumanity, the Battlestar Galactica board game, and Bananagrams.

Epic has made his way into his top ten, and is interested in playing with more people. You can learn more about Paul on his website.

Foreword

In this post, I am including 2 constructed Epic decks. They are designed to be played against each other, with just 3 sets of the base game. The idea to do this came from Harold, a reader and Epic Fan, and it is an excellent idea. With these decks, players can experience Epic constructed play without needing 2 players to have 3 sets each.

In addition, I designed these decks to be largely opposite of each other. The first deck wants to get out big champions and run over their opponent. The second deck wants to get out a lot of champions and run through their opponent.

Tall

Evil (0)

Good (9)

Slow (0)

Fast (6)
3x Ceasefire
3x Resurrection

0-Cost (3)
2x Brave Squire
1x Watchful Gargoyle

Sage (21)

Slow (11)
2x Frost Giant
3x Juggernaut
3x Sea Titan
3x Steel Golem

Fast (3)
3x Stand Alone

0-Cost (7)
2x Forcemage Apprentice
3x Keeper of Secrets
1x Muse
1x Spike Trap

Wild (30)

Slow (11)
1x Jungle Queen
3x Kong
3x Raging T-Rex
1x Sea Hydra
3x Triceratops

Fast (9)
1x Lightning Storm
3x Lurking Giant
3x Hurricane
2x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (10)
1x Cave Troll
2x Fire Shaman
2x Flash Fire
2x Lash
3x Wurm Hatchling

Wide (Based on Plentiful Dead Deck)

Evil (42)

Slow (15)
1x Angel of Death
1x Dark Assassin
1x Drinker of Blood
3x Infernal Gatekeeper
3x Murderous Necromancer
3x Necromancer Lord
3x Trihorror

Fast (16)
3x Bitten
3x Demon Breach
3x Final Task
3x Inner Demon
2x Medusa
1x The Risen
1x Zombie Apocalypse

0-Cost (11)
3x Guilt Demon
3x Plentiful Dead
3x Thrasher Demon
2x Wither

Good (6)

Slow (0)

Fast (4)
3x Inheritance of the Meek
1x Secret Legion

0-Cost (2)
2x Courageous Soul

Sage (9)

Slow (0)

Fast (6)
2x Crystal Golem
1x Deadly Raid
3x Erase

0-Cost (3)
3x Hasty Retreat

Wild (3)

Slow (0)

Fast (2)
1x Mighty Blow
1x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (1)
1x Flash Fire

Conclusion

I am not going to go into too much depth on the strategy of these two decks. A lot of the fun of constructed play is figuring it out as you play. I also did not include Tyrants cards in either deck. Feel free to upgrade these decks as you see fit.

In general, Tall deck is much more straightforward to play. It doesn’t really run out of cards in hand either. To win, this deck has to get 1 or 2 attacks through with big champions.

Wide deck requires a lot more concentration to play well. Effective chump blocking is critical. Also, a lot of your fast cards work better on your turn. To win, this deck must chip away at your opponent’s health.

As an aside, I am beginning to think I underestimated Demon Breach and Plentiful Dead. 3 demons on your turn, with one card, isn’t bad. Plentiful Dead also works quite nicely.

**Updated Untested Lists**

Now that I’ve played significantly more Epic, Core-Only specifically on the app, I decided to remake these decks. (Someone also requested duel decks on reddit too.) I have not tested these decks yet, but they can both theoretically do a lot of powerful things. I also designed them to have some theoretically interesting interactions. Slight tweaking of certain card counts would probably make these better…hmmm…just had an idea…

Tall

Evil (6)

Slow (0)

Fast (4)
1x Drain Essence
3x Zombie Apocalypse

0-Cost (2)
1x Corpse Taker
1x Wither

Good (3)

Slow (0)

Fast (2)
2x Ceasefire

0-Cost (1)
1x Brave Squire

Sage (33)

Slow (11)
1x Frost Giant
3x Juggernaut
3x Sea Titan
3x Steel Golem
1x Time Walker

Fast (11)
1x Ancient Chant
1x Crystal Golem
1x Deadly Raid
3x Ice Drake
1x Memory Spirit
3x Stand Alone
1x Thought Plucker

0-Cost (11)
1x Amnesia
3x Keeper of Secrets
3x Forcemage Apprentice
1x Muse
3x Spike Trap

Wild (18)

Slow (6)
3x Kong
3x Triceratops

Fast (6)
3x Hurricane
2x Pyromancer
1x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (6)
3x Flash Fire
1x Lash
2x Cave Troll

Wide

Evil (39)

Slow (11)
2x Angel of Death
1x Drinker of Blood
3x Infernal Gatekeeper
3x Murderous Necromancer
2x Necromancer Lord

Fast (15)
3x Demon Breach
1x Drain Essence
3x Inner Demon
3x Final Task
3x Medusa
2x Plague

0-Cost (13)
1x Corpse Taker
3x Guilt Demon
3x Plentiful Dead
2x Unquenchable Thirst
1x Wither
3x Word of Summoning

Good (6)

Slow (0)

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

0-Cost (2)
1x Brave Squire
1x Watchful Gargoyle

Sage (12)

Slow (0)

Fast (8)
1x Ancient Chant
1x Crystal Golem
1x Deadly Raid
1x Erase
1x Lying in Wait
3x Wave of Transformation

0-Cost (4)
1x Amnesia
1x Muse
2x Ogre Mercenary

Wild (3)

Slow (0)

Fast (2)
1x Mighty Blow
1x Surprise Attack

0-Cost (1)
1x Fireball

Foreword

In this article, I go through an entire sample Epic Open Draft. I will be drafting 40 cards per deck and cutting 10 each for 30 card decks. I am picking for both decks, but, since the cards are visible to both players constantly in this format, I don’t have to pretend that I don’t have complete knowledge. So I think it works. (This wouldn’t work for Dark Draft; however, you can expect to see something involving Dark Draft soon.)

After showing my picks, I explain why I picked the cards for each deck. Anytime I say A thinks this or B thinks that, I am referring to my own thought process. I use A and B to (hopefully) make it easier to follow as two separate drafts.

Round 1 (Player A First Pick)

Round 2 (Player B First Pick)

Round 3 (Player A First Pick)

Round 4 (Player B First Pick)

Round 5 (Player A First Pick)

Round 6 (Player B First Pick)

Round 7 (Player A First Pick)

Round 8 (Player B First Pick)

Round 9 (Player A First Pick)

Round 10 (Player B First Pick)

Round 11 (Player A First Pick)

Round 12 (Player B First Pick)

Round 13 (Player A First Pick)

Round 14 (Player B First Pick)

Round 15 (Player A First Pick)

Round 16 (Player B First Pick)

Round 17 (Player A First Pick)

Round 18 (Player B First Pick)

Round 19 (Player A First Pick)

Round 20 (Player B First Pick)

Final Decks and Explanations

Draft Conclusions

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.

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.