Brave Phalanx [Arena][Upped][SoR][SoF][Gold League]

[jawdirk]

This is not my deck idea.

I am posting this here, because I think it is good enough to deserve its own thread. It is mostly based on a deck posted by Mathematistic. It is similar to other decks.
I don't have time to test it extensively, but it seems to get spins fairly reliably against Gold. If it gets its combo out early, it beats nearly everything. It almost always loses to not getting its combo soon enough. Perhaps there is potential for some tweaking to make it even more consistent.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 6rq 6rq 6rq 6rq 6rq 6rq 6s2 6s2 6s2 6s3 6s3 71d 71d 71d 71d 72i 72i 72i 72i 7gq 7q4 7q4 7q4 7q4 8pl

Spoiler for Stats vs. Gold, thanks to Belligerence:

Arena: Gold
Total Matches: 52
Won: 35
Lost: 17
Win %: 67.3%

Special Spins: 7

Spoiler for Vs. Detail:

1 - Stallbow, 8 TTW
2 - SoI deck, 6 TTW
3 - Steam Machines, 10 TTW, *SPIN*
4 - Mono Dark, 15 TTW
5 - Time/Gravity duo, 12 TTW
6 - Mono Dark, 8 TTW, *SPIN*
7 - Mono Fire, 9 TTW
8 - Earth/Gravity duo, 10 TTL *LOSS*
9 - Mono Gravity, 7 TTW
10 - Mono Dark, 6 TTL *LOSS*
11 - Physalia Poison stall, 9 TTW
12 - Earth/Gravity duo, 8 TTW
13 - Life based SNBow, 5 TTW *SPIN* (5 TTW against 153 HP deck lol)
14 - SNBow, 5 TTL *LOSS*
15 - Death/Darkness duo, 12 TTW
16 - Fire/Water duo, 13 TTW
17 - SNBow, 6 TTL *LOSS*
18 - Entropy/Death duo, 14 TTL *LOSS*
19 - Mono Life, 9 TTW
20 - Time/Water duo, 10 TTW
21 - Mono Life, 7 TTW *SPIN*
22 - Flying Weapons, 10 TTW
23 - Air/Water duo, 7 TTL *LOSS*
24 - Aether/Gravity duo, 6 TTW
25 - Pharaoh/SoR, 8 TTL *LOSS*
26 - SNBow, 8 TTW
27 - Mono Aether, 5 TTL *LOSS*
28 - Mono Gravity, 7 TTL *LOSS*
29 - SPlat, 7 TTW
30 - Golem rush, 13 TTW
31 - Mono Gravity, 7 TTW *SPIN*
32 - Entropy/Death duo, 10 TTW
33 - SNBow, 10 TTL *LOSS*
34 - SNBOW, 14 TTW
35 - Earth/Darkness duo, 7 TTL *LOSS*
36 - AdrenaVamps, 9 TTW
37 - SPlat, 7 TTL *LOSS*
38 - CataTitan, 8 TTL *LOSS*
39 - Mono Dark, 7 TTW
40 - ImmoRush, 7 TTW
41 - ImmoRush, 7 TTW *SPIN*
42 - Mono Death, 10 TTW
43 - Mono Aether, 12 TTL *LOSS*
44 - SNBow, 13 TTW
45 - ImmoRush, 7 TTL *LOSS*
46 - Mono Life, 8 TTW
47 - Steam Machines, 9 TTW
48 - Flying Fahrenheits, 8 TTW *SPIN*
49 - SNBow, 11 TTL *LOSS*
50 - Flying Fahrenheits, 7 TTW
51 - Shrieker/Gravity/deck... thingy?, 11 TTW
52 - Mono Aether, 9 TTL *LOSS*

Spoiler for TTW Detail:

TTW - Amount
1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 0
4 - 0
5 - 1
6 - 2
7 - 8
8 - 6
9 - 5
10 - 5
11 - 1
12 - 2
13 - 3
14 - 1
15 - 1
16 - 0
17 - 0
18 - 0
19 - 0
20 - 0

Spoiler for Stats vs. Platinum thanks to Spielkind:

Arena: Platinum
Total Matches: 50
Won: 34
Lost: 16
Win %: 68%

Special Spins: 13

Spoiler for Vs. Detail:

1: light/aether            TTW 8   1:0
2: monofire            TTW 7   2:0
Special: Shard of Bravery
3: time/aether/grav         TTW 10   3:0
4: time/grav               3:1 (bh with big creatures)
5: darkness/light         TTW 12   4:1 (miracle)
6: mono death               4:2 (no pury for sosac is crap)
7: mono life            TTW 9   5:2
8: air/life               5:3 (no mummy against rush = dead)
9: mono air               5:4 (all sor and 1 mummy in starting, but rest is waiting)
10: air mono               5:5 (too fast for no sofo)   
11: water bow            TTW 10   6:5
12: light/time            TTW 12   7:5   
Special: Shard of Wisdom
13: life stall            TTW 11   8:5
14: light stall               8:6 (healing + flying glories bad...)
15: immorush               8:7 (no deathquanta too slow)
16: darkness bow         TTW 9   9:7
17: mono aether            TTW 8   10:7
Special: Shard of Patience
18: entrobow            TTW 13   11:7
19: life death poison         TTW 6   12:7
Special: Shard of Serendipity
20: mono timeegg         TTW 14   13:7
21: time death            TTW 7   14:7
Special: Arsenic
22: mono aether               14:8 (no sofo against lobo)
23: aether water            14:9 (no rewind in 18 cards)
24: fire water            TTW 9   15:9
25: mono gravy            TTW 7   16:9
Special: Titan
26: immorush            TTW 8   17:9
27: mono air (wings)         TTW 8   18:9
Special: none... :-(
28: light gravy            TTW 8   19:9
29: mono fire               19:10 (4 novas 3 pends...)
30: earth entrobow            19:11 (no sor so cant eat shrieker)
31: aetherbow            TTW 9   20:11
32: deathpoison            TTW 5   21:11 (gotta die next turn cause of missing rewind, but 1hp enemy makes it)
Special: Poseidon
33: timebow            TTW 12   22:11
34: light air            TTW 7   23:11
Special: Shard of Void
35: mono death            TTW 7   24:11
36: rainbow               24:12 (no rewind and discord are bad)
37: water life            TTW 9   25:12
38: fire darkness aether      TTW 9   26:12
Special: Pulverizer
39: mono gravy BH         TTW 12   27:12
40: earthbow            TTW 8   28:12
Special: Shard of Sacrifice
41: darkness aether         TTW 9   29:12
42: stallbow            TTW 10   30:12
Special: none... :-(
43: ghostal               30:13 (no rewind, no chance)
44: fire death stall         TTW 8   31:13
45: earthstall            TTW 12   32:13
Special: none... :-(
46: water life rush            32:14 (way to fast with small creatures and one sor)
47: psion            TTW 6   33:14 (only 76 hp)
48: lightpoison               33:15 (fast poison and no deathquanta)
49: darkness void         TTW 9   34:15
50: grabbyrush               34:16 (outrushed without sor)

Spoiler for Brave People Without Shard of Bravery Version:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 6rq 6rq 6rq 6rq 6rq 6rq 6s2 6s2 6s2 71d 71d 71d 71d 72i 72i 72i 72i 72i 7gq 7q4 7q4 7q4 7q4 7q4 8pl

Spoiler for Stats against Gold for Brave People Without Shard of Bravery Version:

You don't need stats when you are brave.

The first time I saw it, I thought it looked weak. It is not. It can kill 100+ HP opponents in 5 turns. It eats rushes. It destroys all dim shields. It laughs at denial and poison. Healing stall is probably its worst enemy. It can also have trouble with GoP/Nightmare because it is so combo-dependent. Sometimes it has trouble with Lobo/Ulitharid, but at least it has answers. It can easily get the jump on any deck with the right cards. It is fun to play (most of the time).

Basic strategy:
Play pendulums as soon as you get them. You can play one at a time against earth but you really only need one pendulum at a time.
Your first priority is playing nova, mummy, rewind, SoR. Without this combo, nothing you do can possibly win, so just be patient (or quit).
Try to get a SoF out ASAP, but make sure you have a way to get for the rewind.
Once you have the combo, generally play all available SoR immediately on your Pharaoh. There is no need to save them for another Pharaoh, because you only need one SoR Pharaoh to win.
Try to keep one SoF around, but unless the deck you face threatens powerful shields, don't be shy with them. Take out pillars and cast BH.
If you can, save nova/rewind, and optionally mummy, in your hand. This will allow you to rewind a creature or get another Pharaoh in the unlikely event that you lose your Pharaoh.
The AI usually prefers targeting the scarabs to the pharaoh. You can also bait with an extra mummy since it has higher attack.

Anyone have any nice ideas for this deck? Anyone want to post stats?

[SnoWeb]

Very interesting. I wouldn't recommend it for platinum as the nova based fuelling is a bit too unreliable for such a high level league. However, it's fun and efficient in silver. A nice shard grinder I would say.

[redeyesly]

I've been using something similar in plat and it does ok. Depends on a good draw, but what deck doesn't. At least it can beat a wide variety of different arena decks, there are no auto-quit matchups like splat or dischole type decks have. And its fun.

[jawdirk]

Very interesting. I wouldn't recommend it for platinum as the nova based fuelling is a bit too unreliable for such a high level league. However, it's fun and efficient in silver. A nice shard grinder I would say.

I agree that it is not good for platinum. It is definitely good for gold though. In general, you should never play the novas until you need them. That is one of the good things about this deck: 1  and 2 novas is all the deck really needs to win, and you can usually hold the required quanta in your hand until you are ready to play the combo.

[sorfimmer]

I fell in love with mathematistics mummy+rewind+sor deck. I'm using a more basic version of this deck (-1 purify -1 sofo, +1 death pendulum, +1 mummy), but I'll try this one too. Oh yeah, and the original deck is called "phalanx"

[Belligerence]

Alright, so honestly... whenever I saw these Pharaoh based decks, I always just glanced at them, then let it be. I finally decided to give this a try in Gold, and wow... this is MUCH better than I would have guessed. And fast! I never imagined seeing 6 TTW against 100+ HP opponents with a Pharaoh deck of all things! I've only played maybe 20 or so games, but I think I'll switch my Gold grinder from Pillarless SPlat to this... this seems to be more or less just as effective (more-so maybe, because of the abundance of Purify in Gold), and not nearly as frustrating. And no weakness to Purify!

Certainly worth looking at if you have the cards for it.

Aaaand... because I'm feeling particularly energetic, some screen shots!

Spoiler for Special spin wins:

First up, a mirror match: Pharaoh/SoR spam deck. I got the combo off late, but the AI didn't play a SoR until really late, so I caught up. Purify saved me, I had 7 HP at one point.



FFQ/Hope deck, with some Miracles. Never saw Hope or Miracle, because hungry Scarabs > FFQ's.



Physalia poison stall! This one was close at the start, I got 15 poison on me even before I got out the combo, and the enemy had 4 Physalia out. I drew a SoBe, which gave me both Reverse Time for the combo, and Purify. Purified myself, fervently hoping the enemy didn't have SoSac... and he didn't.

Anyway, amazing deck, I certainly won't ignore Pharaoh again in the near future lol

[Belligerence]

I started taking some stats for this today, since I was grinding anyway and there's no stats for this yet. I shoulda started taking them when I first started using this deck, but oh well. Right now its a rather small sample, because I gotta go do some stuff in RL. Will grind some more later and update the stats again then.

Edit: I'm using the Brave version.

NOTE: The vast majority (like 85%) of the losses are from not getting the combo out in time.
This deck seems to have the hardest time against *really* fast SNBows, and Mono Aether. Not once have I beaten Mono Aether (stupid immortal creatures >.<).

Spoiler for Stats:

Arena: Gold
Total Matches: 52
Won: 35
Lost: 17
Win %: 67.3%

Special Spins: 7

Spoiler for breakdown:

1 - Stallbow, 8 TTW
2 - SoI deck, 6 TTW
3 - Steam Machines, 10 TTW, *SPIN*
4 - Mono Dark, 15 TTW
5 - Time/Gravity duo, 12 TTW
6 - Mono Dark, 8 TTW, *SPIN*
7 - Mono Fire, 9 TTW
8 - Earth/Gravity duo, 10 TTL *LOSS*
9 - Mono Gravity, 7 TTW
10 - Mono Dark, 6 TTL *LOSS*
11 - Physalia Poison stall, 9 TTW
12 - Earth/Gravity duo, 8 TTW
13 - Life based SNBow, 5 TTW *SPIN* (5 TTW against 153 HP deck lol)
14 - SNBow, 5 TTL *LOSS*
15 - Death/Darkness duo, 12 TTW
16 - Fire/Water duo, 13 TTW
17 - SNBow, 6 TTL *LOSS*
18 - Entropy/Death duo, 14 TTL *LOSS*
19 - Mono Life, 9 TTW
20 - Time/Water duo, 10 TTW
21 - Mono Life, 7 TTW *SPIN*
22 - Flying Weapons, 10 TTW
23 - Air/Water duo, 7 TTL *LOSS*
24 - Aether/Gravity duo, 6 TTW
25 - Pharaoh/SoR, 8 TTL *LOSS*
26 - SNBow, 8 TTW
27 - Mono Aether, 5 TTL *LOSS*
28 - Mono Gravity, 7 TTL *LOSS*
29 - SPlat, 7 TTW
30 - Golem rush, 13 TTW
31 - Mono Gravity, 7 TTW *SPIN*
32 - Entropy/Death duo, 10 TTW
33 - SNBow, 10 TTL *LOSS*
34 - SNBOW, 14 TTW
35 - Earth/Darkness duo, 7 TTL *LOSS*
36 - AdrenaVamps, 9 TTW
37 - SPlat, 7 TTL *LOSS*
38 - CataTitan, 8 TTL *LOSS*
39 - Mono Dark, 7 TTW
40 - ImmoRush, 7 TTW
41 - ImmoRush, 7 TTW *SPIN*
42 - Mono Death, 10 TTW
43 - Mono Aether, 12 TTL *LOSS*
44 - SNBow, 13 TTW
45 - ImmoRush, 7 TTL *LOSS*
46 - Mono Life, 8 TTW
47 - Steam Machines, 9 TTW
48 - Flying Fahrenheits, 8 TTW *SPIN*
49 - SNBow, 11 TTL *LOSS*
50 - Flying Fahrenheits, 7 TTW
51 - Shrieker/Gravity/deck... thingy?, 11 TTW
52 - Mono Aether, 9 TTL *LOSS*

Spoiler for TTW Breakdown:

TTW - Amount
1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 0
4 - 0
5 - 1
6 - 2
7 - 8
8 - 6
9 - 5
10 - 5
11 - 1
12 - 2
13 - 3
14 - 1
15 - 1
16 - 0
17 - 0
18 - 0
19 - 0
20 - 0

If you wanna stick 'em in the OP, feel free to. If not, then they're here for anyone interested.

Second edit: Added more stats. Will add more when I grind again.

Third edit: Added even more stats. Up to 38 games now. Will add more later/tomorrow/whenever I grind next.

[jawdirk]

Second edit: Added more stats. Will add more when I grind again.

Awesome!

[Belligerence]

Alright, updated stats to 52 games. That's probably it, unless I get some more motivation to record more games lol

Winrate is about 67%, TTW ranges (on average) from 7-10 turns.

And, because I've spent so much time over the past few days grinding with this (certainly more than 52 games), some general tips for grinding:

Most losses are from not getting your combo out. If its abundantly clear that you're gonna lose before you get the combo out, quit and save yourself a bit of frustration.
Mono Aether is the bane of this deck. Don't bother, once you're sure it's mono Aether, just quit. Seriously, just quit.
The AI will prioritize using CC on your Scarabs over your Pharaoh, EXCEPT: if you have a 31+ HP SoFo (sometimes AI will target that SoFo), OR it's using Lobotomizer/Mind Flayer, in which case it will target Pharaoh.
Otyugh: Unless you can use SoR to instantly spawn more Scarabs than the Oty can eat (2 SoRs for unupped Oty, 3 SoRs for upped), DON'T play your combo. The Oty will eat faster than you can grow, and you'll end up with an uneatable Oty on the field.
SNBows are the second bane of this deck. If you don't get the combo out quickly, you're probably gonna lose.
Don't be afraid to use your SoFo's liberally, but make sure to leave at least a couple uses for if a pesky permanent comes up. Don't be afraid to rush through your SoFo to get the BH if you're losing to a rainbow, and need the healing badly.
Lastly, mass CC (Rain of Fire, Thunderstorm) can leave your Scarabs unable to nom for a few turns. Try to avoid playing less than 4 Scarabs at the start of your combo against mono Fire, or you might regret it. Pandemonium will sometimes TU a Scarab: This Scarab will be able to nom your Scarabs usually, so RT it if you can... otherwise, just suck it up.

And... done, last block of text (for this topic)... I sorta promise.

[BunKeR]

I've played against the Brave Mod twice in PvP2 , both times while I was using SoG Firestall with Firestorm in hand and in both games and I lost .

I even knew what I was playing against , I just couldn't create a winning situation .

This is pretty impressive in the PvP environment .

[jawdirk]

Mono Aether is the bane of this deck. Don't bother, once you're sure it's mono Aether, just quit. Seriously, just quit.

It definitely has issues against mono aether. If you can get a SoF out before his lobotomizer, you have a fighting chance I think, but you are going to have to get the combo out reasonably fast to out-rush the dragons, and you are probably going to have to draw at least 2 SoF. Theoretically, you even have a chance if he gets the lobotomizer out first and you can play 2 SoF.... unless he lightning bolts one of them of course. But yes, a well-balanced Gold league mono aether is probably going to mess you up, particularly if it has 192 HP.

Otyugh: Unless you can use SoR to instantly spawn more Scarabs than the Oty can eat (2 SoRs for unupped Oty, 3 SoRs for upped), DON'T play your combo. The Oty will eat faster than you can grow, and you'll end up with an uneatable Oty on the field.

While this is absolutely true, you can sometimes outrush it (risky because you need to draw into SoR), and you can sometimes BH to eat the if you've gotten a lot of SoF.

Don't be afraid to rush through your SoFo to get the BH if you're losing to a rainbow, and need the healing badly.

Yes. Sometimes you have to choose whether to rush to BH with your SoF or save them for some random shield. Usually the right choice is to use SoF like crazy (even cancel if they have no targets) if you are worried about HP. You will get more SoF, but you will not get more HP (except with BH).

[Absol]

Phalanx? Isn't it the exact name Math used for one of his decks?
Change the name please.