Decks for War

[MrBlonde]

Tuesday i should be able to be on no problem. Tomorrow not likely until my usual late night hours and Monday i'll try to be on as much as possible.

[Daxx]

Tuesday sounds good to me.

[icecoldbro]

I think I can get on Tuesday.

[SteppingStone81]

I can try Tuesday ... what time (in GMT)?

[kev]

Approximate deck list taken from Vault:

- anti-fire
- pandabonium
- mummybow
- grabow
- dosa
- parasite stall (most likely going)
- air stall/air MVP deck
- fractal spiders/mummies
- sanctuary stall
- mono death rush
- death/fire
- rewind deck
- lightning stall
- thorn shield/heal deck or just a 6 heal deck/rush.
- speed poison/nova speed poison (2 decks)
- death/darkness (2 decks)

My two    Overall this is a really solid deck list.  I'm impressed with how easily it seems to have come together.  I had envisioned selecting 14ish exact decks and putting those cards in the vault, then maybe taking pillars/pends out of one and adding the body of a 15th deck plus some opportunistic cards.  What you've done is more by feel and... if we had a less experienced Master I'd feel... uneasy.

Anyway on to the decks you've selected.  I'm fully aware you fudged some half decks.  For example I see you included three discords, which means one could look at the Entropy cards broken out as a true Entropy duo and two pandeboneiums despite the deck list you gave above.  But I can't go deep enough in your brain to sort it all out so my comments will apply to the deck list you gave.

I'll give my candid input, but as always I won't be offended if others disagree.

I like grabow more than mummybow, and taking another grabow frees up mummies for other decks.  To those who say we'll be able to salvage grabbys et all, I'd say I have no problem salvaging another full grabow and having three on hand.  If that's our biggest problem we'll do fine. :)I don't know what to say about parasite stall.  I tried making parasite decks quite a bit and failed hard but never approached it quite like xdude did.  My fear is that the deck would fall apart to CC but I haven't tested it at all.  Seems a shame not to have steals in as well.I'm not in love with fractal mummy/spider but my guess is it was just added as a easy bake half deck.I thought about the lightning stall deck but with ragepots and fire bolts instead.  Then I thought RoF would be useful.  Then I realized I'd made a less effective pandeboneium, or a RoF-a-boneium.  So I just quit.  On that topic the proposed Entropy Deckout deck is really just pandeboneium without poison and with AMs.  I said in chat I really prefer damage as a win condition so imo 2x pandeboneium is the way to go.  Meh.I think I'll have to see the life duo deck in action because in my head it seems like we have stronger options.It's not much different from the other proposed decks but here's an option for a fire/death duo:

Code: [Select]

52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52h 52h 52q 52q 52t 52t 52t 52t 52t 52t 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 5f6 5f6 5f6 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fbUsing speed poison in The Draft has left me jaded.  Against opponents we knew wouldn't have purify it still failed pretty consistently.  Are we sure it's effective in an unupped environment?  Also I mention above the novas might be best used in a grabby deck.  I dunno, maybe I'm too high on the grabow.Despite my pounding the table regarding a need for PC, a big part of me feels we have better options than 2 dusk and 4 steals slung into a mono-death.[/list]So all in all if it were my decision alone I'd prolly try to put a finer point on the exact cards in the decks we're building the vault around.  I'd also consider replacing mummybow, parasite stall, lightning stall, Entropy stall, and 1x nova speed poison with another grabow, another pandeboneium, another Air duo, and a true Entropy duo.  I thought icb's sundial deck on page 1 was intriguing, (maybe less dragons, more plague and bonewall) or something akin to the dial deck used in War2.  We could look to see whether we have better options than the life and darkness duos when they're fully developed.

One additional comment: 120 pillars/pends is aggressively low, and I like it.    We just need to be comfortable converting the first couple rounds even though it'll seem that we don't need them.  If we start that low and wait too long to start converting we'll end up short and having to suicide.

[SteppingStone81]

I like grabow more than mummybow, and taking another grabow frees up mummies for other decks.  To those who say we'll be able to salvage grabbys et all, I'd say I have no problem salvaging another full grabow and having three on hand.  If that's our biggest problem we'll do fine.

Mumbows can pack more PC and fast CC than a grabbow (since 6 nova + 6 graboid leaves only 3 off-element slots).  I especially like xdude's mumbow #5, which is a solid counter to entropy.

Granted, we really do need the mummies in other decks.

I thought about the lightning stall deck but with ragepots and fire bolts instead.  Then I thought RoF would be useful.  Then I realized I'd made a less effective pandeboneium, or a RoF-a-boneium.  So I just quit.  On that topic the proposed Entropy Deckout deck is really just pandeboneium without poison and with AMs.  I said in chat I really prefer damage as a win condition so imo 2x pandeboneium is the way to go.  Meh.

We built a RoF-bone wall decker with plagues, RP, etc, but I agree it might be better just to go with 2x xdude's pandebonium.

I think I'll have to see the life duo deck in action because in my head it seems like we have stronger options.

I am not a huge fan of thorn carapace ... was the life duo built specifically to counter aether immaterial creatures?  Does the deck actually do well versus the opponents' likely range of decks?

Despite my pounding the table regarding a need for PC, a big part of me feels we have better options than 2 dusk and 4 steals slung into a mono-death.[/list]

One viable deck with steals and dusk is a darkness duo denial deck, but the vault is currently not packing devourers.  Regarding packing steals, I think death really does need to show a credible amount of PC for metagame.

I thought icb's sundial deck on page 1 was intriguing, (maybe less dragons, more plague and bonewall) or something akin to the dial deck used in War2.  We could look to see whether we have better options than the life and darkness duos when they're fully developed.

Having 6x sundial in the vault would be nice.  In addition to the dial decks mentioned, upped dials could be useful in a **general light-death deck.

[MrBlonde]

I like grabow more than mummybow, and taking another grabow frees up mummies for other decks.  To those who say we'll be able to salvage grabbys et all, I'd say I have no problem salvaging another full grabow and having three on hand.  If that's our biggest problem we'll do fine.

2 grabby decks or 1 mummy / 1 graboid. Not quite sure just yet on this one.

I don't know what to say about parasite stall.  I tried making parasite decks quite a bit and failed hard but never approached it quite like xdude did.  My fear is that the deck would fall apart to CC but I haven't tested it at all.  Seems a shame not to have steals in as well.

Yeah parasite deck has left the building

I'm not in love with fractal mummy/spider but my guess is it was just added as a easy bake half deck.

Fractal spider works really well as a General deck and has been effective the first two wars. Fractal mummy is kinda meh though.

I thought about the lightning stall deck but with ragepots and fire bolts instead.  Then I thought RoF would be useful.  Then I realized I'd made a less effective pandeboneium, or a RoF-a-boneium.  So I just quit.  On that topic the proposed Entropy Deckout deck is really just pandeboneium without poison and with AMs.  I said in chat I really prefer damage as a win condition so imo 2x pandeboneium is the way to go.  Meh.

I think simple decks with CC that can virtually run on the mark are decent decks to use. Lightning certainly fits that role. 2 panda decks i think is a good way to go though. The entropy stall though is so unpredictable with panda. Surviving 30 turns is always tough without any healing.

I think I'll have to see the life duo deck in action because in my head it seems like we have stronger options.

I'm certainly not married to the life duo deck. Thorn shields probably really are unnecessary since skull shield ends up being very similar. I personally like it because it really is just 3 cards that can be added or not added to a 6 heal/life mark deck. Course with the thorns you really need some life pillars or run all pendies.

It's not much different from the other proposed decks but here's an option for a fire/death duo:

Code: [Select]

52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52h 52h 52q 52q 52t 52t 52t 52t 52t 52t 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 5f6 5f6 5f6 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fb[/list]

Lots of different fire variants we can use. We definitely need to land on a couple IMO.

Using speed poison in The Draft has left me jaded.  Against opponents we knew wouldn't have purify it still failed pretty consistently.  Are we sure it's effective in an unupped environment?  Also I mention above the novas might be best used in a grabby deck.  I dunno, maybe I'm too high on the grabow.[/li][/list]

Honestly speed poison doesn't light my fire either. It's effectiveness in two wars has really been pretty meh. I think having one speed poison deck is fine, but 2 probably isn't worth it. For the most part last war the speed poison decks just sat in the vault.

Despite my pounding the table regarding a need for PC, a big part of me feels we have better options than 2 dusk and 4 steals slung into a mono-death.

This deck actually doesn't get a whole lot of action and is usually opponent specific (aether, air). When we do use it though it does fairly well. Perhaps just keep 1 deck of it instead of 2 and call it a day and focus more on other decks.

So all in all if it were my decision alone I'd prolly try to put a finer point on the exact cards in the decks we're building the vault around.  I'd also consider replacing mummybow, parasite stall, lightning stall, Entropy stall, and 1x nova speed poison with another grabow, another pandeboneium, another Air duo, and a true Entropy duo.  I thought icb's sundial deck on page 1 was intriguing, (maybe less dragons, more plague and bonewall) or something akin to the dial deck used in War2.  We could look to see whether we have better options than the life and darkness duos when they're fully developed.

Talking about sundials, i personally was the only one last war who wanted them in. Your suggestions sound pretty good. Personally i think i'd like to keep the mummybow and maybe change the lightning stall to a lightning rush deck. I think one darkness duo is good and perhaps dump the life.

[xdude]

I like grabow more than mummybow, and taking another grabow frees up mummies for other decks.  To those who say we'll be able to salvage grabbys et all, I'd say I have no problem salvaging another full grabow and having three on hand.  If that's our biggest problem we'll do fine.

2 grabby decks or 1 mummy / 1 graboid. Not quite sure just yet on this one.

I'm sure they're interchangeable

I don't know what to say about parasite stall.  I tried making parasite decks quite a bit and failed hard but never approached it quite like xdude did.  My fear is that the deck would fall apart to CC but I haven't tested it at all.  Seems a shame not to have steals in as well.

Yeah parasite deck has left the building

Good

I'm not in love with fractal mummy/spider but my guess is it was just added as a easy bake half deck.

Fractal spider works really well as a General deck and has been effective the first two wars. Fractal mummy is kinda meh though.

I thought about the lightning stall deck but with ragepots and fire bolts instead.  Then I thought RoF would be useful.  Then I realized I'd made a less effective pandeboneium, or a RoF-a-boneium.  So I just quit.  On that topic the proposed Entropy Deckout deck is really just pandeboneium without poison and with AMs.  I said in chat I really prefer damage as a win condition so imo 2x pandeboneium is the way to go.  Meh.

I think simple decks with CC that can virtually run on the mark are decent decks to use. Lightning certainly fits that role. 2 panda decks i think is a good way to go though. The entropy stall though is so unpredictable with panda. Surviving 30 turns is always tough without any healing.

I think I'll have to see the life duo deck in action because in my head it seems like we have stronger options.

I'm certainly not married to the life duo deck. Thorn shields probably really are unnecessary since skull shield ends up being very similar. I personally like it because it really is just 3 cards that can be added or not added to a 6 heal/life mark deck. Course with the thorns you really need some life pillars or run all pendies.

It's not much different from the other proposed decks but here's an option for a fire/death duo:

Code: [Select]

52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52g 52h 52h 52q 52q 52t 52t 52t 52t 52t 52t 542 542 542 542 542 542 542 5f6 5f6 5f6 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fb 5fb[/list]

Lots of different fire variants we can use. We definitely need to land on a couple IMO.

Using speed poison in The Draft has left me jaded.  Against opponents we knew wouldn't have purify it still failed pretty consistently.  Are we sure it's effective in an unupped environment?  Also I mention above the novas might be best used in a grabby deck.  I dunno, maybe I'm too high on the grabow.[/li][/list]

Honestly speed poison doesn't light my fire either. It's effectiveness in two wars has really been pretty meh. I think having one speed poison deck is fine, but 2 probably isn't worth it. For the most part last war the speed poison decks just sat in the vault.

They didn't fare too good for me in PvP 1 either. I think they're still being used only as novelty because there sure are better decks.

Despite my pounding the table regarding a need for PC, a big part of me feels we have better options than 2 dusk and 4 steals slung into a mono-death.

This deck actually doesn't get a whole lot of action and is usually opponent specific (aether, air). When we do use it though it does fairly well. Perhaps just keep 1 deck of it instead of 2 and call it a day and focus more on other decks.

So all in all if it were my decision alone I'd prolly try to put a finer point on the exact cards in the decks we're building the vault around.  I'd also consider replacing mummybow, parasite stall, lightning stall, Entropy stall, and 1x nova speed poison with another grabow, another pandeboneium, another Air duo, and a true Entropy duo.  I thought icb's sundial deck on page 1 was intriguing, (maybe less dragons, more plague and bonewall) or something akin to the dial deck used in War2.  We could look to see whether we have better options than the life and darkness duos when they're fully developed.

Talking about sundials, i personally was the only one last war who wanted them in. Your suggestions sound pretty good. Personally i think i'd like to keep the mummybow and maybe change the lightning stall to a lightning rush deck. I think one darkness duo is good and perhaps dump the life.