Pre-War: Deck Brainstorming

[ddevans96]

This thread is for the discussion of decks. Our decks need to be as effective as possible in as many situations as possible. View the Deck Layout thread for a general idea of how our opening vault should be set up, and previous Wars for decks used by team Water in the past.

[rob77dp]

My suggestions to begin discussions on a few of these (bear in mind I have never been in a War on a team that is not Death so much of where I start from here is based on Death-experiences):

Rushes

Spoiler for Grabbow:

Mod 1

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 590 590 590 5c1 5i4 5i4 5i4 5ia 5ib 5ib 5ib 5ie 5if 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5og 7dm 7gm 7gm 7gs 7gs 7gs 8pm

Per dd's comments, this ensures a much more usable poseidon and purify is situational.  Regular fog can still summon soon enough to haxx and affect an opposing rush.

Spoiler for old versions:

Original Idea

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 590 590 590 5c1 5i4 5i4 5i4 5ia 5ia 5ib 5ib 5ic 5ie 5if 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 7dm 7gm 7gm 7gs 7gs 7n0 8pm

A slight modification of a frequently used Water-grabbow from last War...  Tested only one game and using the Trident/Poseidon was slick!

Spoiler for Catatitan:

Just found this today while creating records for last two Wars' decks used against Water...
Water's War#6 Catatitan

Catatitans as done by Team Water in War #6

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55s 55s 55s 55s 561 561 561 5i4 5i4 5i4 5ib 5ib 5ib 5ig 5ig 5ig 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 7n2 7n2 7n2 8pl

Hmmmmm, similar-ish but yet different - not sure yet if "better" than.... --v

Catatitans Mod 1 from dd's post

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55s 55s 55s 55s 55s 55t 55t 561 561 561 5i4 5ib 5ib 5ib 5ie 5ie 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 7gk 7i6 7n2 7n2 7n2 7n2 8pl

As dd states, the squids can stall a bit while the quanta builds for the burst damage of the flown frozen Titan (50 damage!).

Spoiler for old versions:

Catatitan Initial Effort

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55s 55s 55s 55s 55t 561 561 561 5i7 5i7 5i7 5ie 5ie 5ie 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 7i6 7i6 7n2 7n2 7n2 7n2 8pl

As of now, this is kind of slow and VERY combo dependent with minimal defense against opposing attack.  It did not go smooth at all - maybe some tinkering can save it but otherwise might be a victim of the 50% War in-element rule...

Stall Breakers

Spoiler for Steamie Control (Domin + Stallbreak) Fire Duo:

Steamie Control

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5f6 5f6 5f6 5fb 5fb 5fb 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i7 5i7 5i7 5i7 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5ii 5io 5io 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 7i6 7i6 7i6 7i6 7i6 7i6 8po

Work in-progress... Steamies build and both them and Queens are hard to CC-kill.  Deflag to fatal-hit Dim chains and RP/Frz for rush counter CC.

Spoiler for PDials+Chrys (stall breaker I suppose?):

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i5 5i5 5i5 5i5 5ib 5ib 5ib 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5rp 5rp 5rp 5rp 71a 71a 71a 71b 71b 7dm 8pk

Poisons, Arse, Chrys, Dials, quanta...?  I 'know' dd has a code or deck laying around for this code.
This is my idea from near-copy of Water's similar deck last War.  I changed it from 9 ups (General last War) to 6 upgrades (soldier this War).  Played it a couple times - felt smooth and played well.  It _might_ be a bit over-quanta'd but that determination would require more testing than I've done so far.

Spoiler for PU-gons:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5i4 5i4 5i4 5io 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 61r 61r 61r 61r 61r 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 61t 622 7gt 7gt 7gt 7i6 7i6 7i6 8pu

Essentially, 4 dragons + 4/5 PU's + Dim's_or_Lightning_for_protection as the base...  I imagine team water archives have something on this we can dig up to use (if not from dd's memory or Spiel).  x1 Fractal can REALLY provide stall-break if opponent is full-stall strategy.
This is my opening idea for PU-gons...  I played it several times with AI3 to test - bad opening quanta draws are dire situations otherwise Dims > no-PC/no-bypass.  The x1 Fractal and Queen provide pretty good stall break above-and-beyond the power of copying 13|5 dragons.
**dd comments reply** I think leaving it 31 cards here is good as almost every Dim deck should be >30 for those cases where you oppose a 30-card deck that can handle this decks offense but leaves a deckout win condition available... :-/

Domins

Spoiler for Poison variant:

Wet Poison

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i9 5i9 5ib 5ib 5ib 5id 5ie 5ie 5ie 5jm 5jm 5jm 71a 71a 71a 7gk 7gk 7gl 7gl 7gl 7gl 7gl 7i6 7i6 8pk

Twelve upgrades.  This performed VERY well in short testing vs AI3.  I believe it has enough stall to halt rushes and Poison performs well against most control (Purify in war meta is seldom used against elements NOT death, right?).

Spoiler for Toadmare:

Original Idea

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5ie 5ie 5ie 5ie 5ie 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5up 5up 5up 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 7gm 7gm 7gp 7gp 7tb 7tb 8pt

Taken from dd's post below.  I like it so far...

Stalls

Spoiler for Lightstall:

Mod 1

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i8 5i8 5i8 5i8 5i8 5i8 5ia 5ia 5io 5io 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5lh 5lh 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 7gp 7gp 7gp 7k2 7k2 7k2 8pq

-1 Purify and +1 Queen - I like this dd-suggested change as 1 Queen is a bit flimsy and with so much Sanct/Miracle healing the missing Purify is small potatoes for that tradeoff.

Spoiler for old versions:

Original deck

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i8 5i8 5i8 5i8 5i8 5i8 5ia 5ia 5ia 5io 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5lh 5lh 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 5lm 7gp 7gp 7gp 7k2 7k2 7k2 8pq

Essentially, Sanct's + Miracles + Desi + Ice shield + Purify as the base...  I imagine team water archives have something on this we can dig up to use (if not from dd's memory or Spiel).
Water used this against my Death team last war and I think it is quite good.  To fit the theme as 40-card based on a stall, I modified it to have 6 upgrades and with +1 quanta source.  I played it a few times against AI3 just to get a feel - it stalls very well and the immaterial 7-damage from Morningstar is very handy alongside a late-game Queen build-up.

Spoiler for Airstall:

Mod 1 via dd comments

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i8 5i8 5i8 5i8 5i9 5i9 5i9 5ia 5ia 5ia 5ia 5ia 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5oh 5oh 5on 5on 5on 5on 5on 7gr 7gr 7gr 7n5 7n5 7n5 8pr

With the T-storm it provides a more varied CC base.

Spoiler for old versions:

Original Idea

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i8 5i8 5i8 5i8 5i9 5i9 5i9 5ia 5ia 5ia 5ia 5ia 5ia 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5on 5on 5on 5on 5on 7gr 7gr 7gr 7n5 7n5 7n5 8pr

Plenty of stalling here and if the field is control-able without using the bolts they can be a good win-condition after EE chips down opponents' HP.  It played fairly smooth against AI3, which does not have much in the way of rushes, admittedly.

[rob77dp]

*bump* for updates in my post above...

[ddevans96]

Suggested changes:

Grabbow: -1 purify, +1 squid, imp fog --> poseidon (control is great, the third squid should offset that extra cost for fog, and getting stuck with an unupped trident can be awful)
Chrysadials: No changes, although there's a lot of games I find myself better off three BWs to survive, and an extra chry would be helpful
PUgons: -1 pend, transfer that to support to fit 30 cards - we'll almost always use 31 cards in that deck, so we just take it from the extra.
Sanc Stall: -1 purify, +1 queen (purifies are good in support, but a second queen really can help this deck)

Add to support: +2 purify (good against death, and some other matchups), +2 pend, +some aether cards (lightning, fractal, silence to be able to swap into that duo)

[ddevans96]

Basic toadmare:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5ie 5ie 5ie 5ie 5ie 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5up 5up 5up 5v1 5v1 5v1 5v1 7gm 7gm 7gp 7gp 7tb 7tb 8pt

For the airstall...maybe -1 pillar, -1 purify, +2 tstorm, just to add a bit more varied control. Whether or not we have squids or permafrost upgraded in this version doesn't matter, we can decide that best based on matchup

[rob77dp]

I updated, expanded, and revised my decks post per dd comments and such.

[ddevans96]

Spoiler for Older stuff:

Find this to have a tad more survivability:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55s 55s 55s 55s 55s 55t 55t 561 561 561 5i4 5ib 5ib 5ib 5ie 5ie 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 7gk 7i6 7n2 7n2 7n2 7n2 8pl

It's still not great, but it's something. Squids can potentially stall long enough for the deck to really hit its stride.

**dd comments reply** I think leaving it 31 cards here is good as almost every Dim deck should be >30 for those cases where you oppose a 30-card deck that can handle this decks offense but leaves a deckout win condition available... :-/

Agreed, as I said - to clarify, my suggestion was just to drop it to 30 so it fits in the deck layout, and put the 31st card in support - but I can modify a slot in the layout to be 31 cards as well, so that's not a huge issue :3

New catatitans version I'm testing:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55s 55s 55s 55s 55t 55t 561 561 561 5i4 5i4 5ib 5ib 5ib 5ig 5ig 5ig 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 7gk 7i6 7i6 7n2 7n2 7n2 8pl

[Spielkind]

hell you did good work both, i will try to add some ideas too, but need first some rest from my holiday...  8)
but realy, see some good options and autoincludes, so prewar works good ^^

[rob77dp]

Alright, included dd's idea for an improved (even if still not so great yet) Catatitans to my post with decks in it.

[rob77dp]

Yet another double post

I added a "Poison Variant" to my decks post.

[Legit]

I'll edit this post with all the deck ideas I think of. Testing soon.

Alternate rainbow: This deck is really fast

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 590 590 590 590 590 590 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5ie 5ie 5ie 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 61q 6rl 7dm 7gm 7gm 7gm 7gm 8pm

Another version with Lycan and Mind Flayer

Spoiler for Hidden:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vh 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 4vj 590 590 590 590 590 590 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5ie 5ie 5if 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 6rl 7dm 7gm 7gm 7gm 7gm 8pm

Control? deck: I have to test this a lot, but it works really well. Testing +/- 1 of the main cards for optimal wreckage.

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

55k 55k 55k 55p 55p 55p 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5i4 5ib 5ib 5ib 5ib 5ig 5ig 5ig 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 5jm 74b 74b 74b 74b 7h3 7h3 8pl

[ddevans96]

Loving the fastbow. We have the problem that we can only have 9 novas to start, so what I'd like to do is have skeletons for a control grabbow, a fast grabbow like this one, and a poisonbow, put them all in there, and use the best bow we have when we can.

The gravity control is something really interesting. It's certainly worth testing - I'd like to play it against the power decks, such as grabbows, the best fractal decks, bonebolts/storms, etc, and see how well it works. Also, half of that deck works for Nymphcord, so if we can work that in as well, we'd be extremely well over.