True that. Bust out the Rod of Palver Pree or Asmod's TK chain if you have it. While I dig the double Sander's Mirror (Great for Death March), I would imagine that Ring of Appropriation might be more useful for defence.
What is the advantage of using lava terrain, a bigger range? Seems a lot slower but I will try it out if Punishing Bolt doesn't pan out. I'm not running Telekinesis because I want damaging spells to trigger Martyr's Blessing but I will replace those too if need be.
While I think it's pretty cool that you are using Battlecries and your own Martyr's blessing to force your opponent to draw cards (and it may be the best use of two Heartrippers I have seen), isn't it a bit risky? They can draw armor, blocks, spells or even Move, Team! cards. Isn't it better to hit them with Punishing Bolts repeatedly once you have them in hand and you know they can't fight back? Heh, if you attached your Martyr's Blessing coupled with Path of Knives, you could force your opponent to draw a lot of cards before they figured out what you were up to. The benefit of the items I mentioned is that they replace your Blasting Amulet's force cannon/force cannon/pen zap with damaging terrain and TK. You should keep the Heartrippers. If I was running two priests, despite wanting three Oak Roots I would have considered Skull of Savage Iljin instead for the Savage Curse fueled roots. Maybe you need two wizards after all? One priest could fit 9 roots plus more buffs on weapons. I think that your build is unique enough to warrant some serious testing before making improvements.
Ten games down and I went 5-5, though 2 of the losses were to Cheat-O-Tron who is pretty much impossible to beat. You need to take down the wizard fast but he empties his hand way too quickly to do anything meaningful with Punishing Bolts. If you do manage to slay the short one, the warrior has too much armor and blocks to fight through and the priest will randomly heal a bunch or cast Impenetrable Nimbus. Against humans I was pretty dead once the wizard died. Armor was a huge problem so I added a Mirror Of Melting as insurance. The Cannon spells were ok but Telekinesis would have been much better. I ended up casting Martyr's Blessing and Unholy Energy on enemy characters but only if they were locked down. I did manage to get one opponent to hit the draw limit and one unfortunate elf warrior had both Elven Maneuvers and Martyr's Blessing on for a double Punishing Bolt take down. While it was a fun combo, it was way too risky to attempt most of the time so I will probably move it out. I actually only faced 2 wizards total (not including Card-O-Tron) and they didn't put up enough damage to take anyone out but I still think a wizard based party would be a nightmare. Violent Spin was awesome as always so they stay for sure. This is what I will try next. Spoiler: Don't Just Stand There...Stand There Grundkazad Level 21 Dwarf Priest Gloomthirst Darkblood Glaive Rusted Angel Mail Eeygonnic's Shield Pergop's Slippers Oak Roots Oak Roots Oak Roots Raging Battler Novice Ablution 1 x Consuming Spear 2 x Violent Spin 1 x Toughened Hide Strips 2 x Unholy Energy 2 x Lifesaving Block 1 x Polearm Slash 2 x Blind Rage 9 x Entangling Roots 1 x Rusty Armor 3 x Savage Curse 1 x Nimble Strike 1 x Purge 2 x Perforating Strike 1 x Reliable Mail 2 x Holy Presence 1 x Accelerated Thought 1 x Surging Shield Block 1 x Invigorating Touch 2 x Wounded Block Marroo Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Heartripper Heartripper Luke's Iron Hand Asmod's Telekinetic Chain Rod Of Palver Pree Ring Of Appropriation Rockshard Robes Vinorkin's Boots Advanced Toughness Electroporter Novice 8 x Telekinesis 1 x Resistant Hide 1 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Gusts Of War 1 x Spark Inductor 1 x Violent Spin 1 x Hot Spot 4 x Stone Spikes 12 x Punishing Bolt 1 x Officer's Harness 1 x Jump Back 2 x Jarring Block 1 x Spark Generator 1 x Toughness Onkuzkul Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Illusion Illusion Runestone Rod Of Palver Pree Rod Of Palver Pree Runestone Rockshard Robes Pergop's Slippers Perfect Toughness Electroporter Novice 2 x Winds Of War 2 x Telekinesis 1 x Spark Generator 1 x Resistant Hide 4 x Stone Spikes 1 x Rusty Armor 1 x Spark Inductor 2 x Violent Spin 2 x Hot Spot 2 x Squeamish 2 x Wall Of Fire 1 x Toughened Hide Strips 1 x Dimensional Traveller 10 x Illusory Barrier 2 x Flash Of Agony 2 x Toughness I could either go with Savage Curse or card draw for the priest weapons. I opted for one of each to see which one will work better. With the Martyr's Blessings gone I am free to use Telekinesis again so in they go. I've also shoved in a bunch of damaging terrain to see how that goes. The Illusory Barriers will help against wizards and there should be enough control spells that the Punishing Bolt wizard will be out of harms way most of the time.
Wow, this is disgusting! I HATE entangling roots. I can already feel the cringing agony of facing this build. HaHa, and I am smiling about it. I am already thinking of my own copy build. Troll'n'est build around! It's brilliant! It's INSANE! I can't wait! One BUILD to TROLL them all, One BUILD to find them; One CARD to bring them all and in ROOTS to bind them.
Currently 7-3 with the latest build. Illusory Barriers really shut down wizards but weren't great against anything else. Still, having more control spells worked better than excess Entangling Roots and a couple rows of Illusory Barrier still takes a while to move through. Damaging terrain plus Entangling Roots was as filthy as it looks on paper. I'm almost tempted to use Flanking Move instead of Violent Spin so I can Root people down for a second helping. Savage Curse was way too unreliable and I switched them out for a second Gloomthirst. Too many times I would have spells I couldn't cast at the moment but would be crucial for staying alive later. Other times, I had 2 Punishing Bolts side by side that would do more damage unbuffed. Each of the losses was due to losing a wizard prematurely. Wins were mostly about chipping down a character with Punishing Bolts and Roots assisted damaging terrain and then controlling victory points for the last few stars. There were a lot of grind fests with me trying to keep everyone from getting hit and opponents trying to wade through walls and Spikes. I think this type of deck is very powerful on the right map. The relatively short range of Entangling Roots is one of the biggest weaknesses. If the opponent isn't pressured into moving close, there isn't really much you can do besides sit and wait. If you're like me, you will move your wizards up for no reason and get Brutal Charged to death. Don't move your wizards without an escape plan. The build seemed to work pretty well so I don't think more tinkering is necessary. I will try to make another cheapo version though I'm not sure what I would replace the Illusory Barriers with. Maybe maxing out on Winds Of War will be enough to keep opposing wizards from doing stuff. Punishing Bolts will have to get the axe too.
If I were to make a build around Roots I would go with the obvious Runestone selection. You get the roots to pin the wall of fire to damage and then the winds of war to push 'em back, possibly for a second blast. IF you are going 2 wiz 1 priest, you could have up to 8 runestones, I would probably swap out 1 or 2 for Rings either Sensate for tokenless or appropriation for more control. I would still want to go heavy on the punishing to synergize with Squeamish (Punishing and Squeamish are made for each other) or use other high damage staffs likely fire or spark. Actually I might just make this deck tomorrow when my kids are napping... I only have 1 Heartripper so I would like go 1 ripper 1 Chask and a fire based wiz. I feel like Illusion is a mixed bag, since it is so strong against wizards, but is not better than acid when against Melee. I might swap an illusion for a Sour Staff but not sure if that works token wise, since you would need to swap out Pergop's for blue or 0 boots. I've been having some good success with mono-class builds. 3 warriors works better than I expected although I still think I want to swap one out for a heavy hitter buff priest and nothing is more fun to mess with the trend of 3 Elf War teams than a 3 priest build 1 buff 2 vamps which just dominates since I can have 3 Aegis easily Martyr's Blessing all around and just enough buff to make every hit hurt. I also LOVE the new shiny Human Wiz figure and made a build just to show it off after buying it for the premium 160 pizza price. But enough about me.
It occurs to me that Punishing Bolt has too little range (along with Roots) so you truly need something with range 6/8 in order to blast with the wizard and defend with the priest. Seems like fun though. I will try this with double Axe Of The Dark Soul , Illusion, Blue Destruction, Oxha's Sparkspreader, and Yoloxl's Staff since I have no Heartrippers or Gloomthirst. I'm going to try and fit Orb Of Eex for a little extra control, possibly Destructive Wand as well.
Here is the cheapo version as promised. Spoiler: The Floor is Lava Grundkazad Level 21 Dwarf Priest Coruscating Blade Vampire's Blade Rusted Angel Mail Hexagon Shield Diamond Moccasins Oak Roots Oak Roots Oak Roots Perfect Toughness Superb Cleansing 1 x Consuming Spear 1 x Accelerated Thought 1 x Draining Touch 2 x Unholy Energy 2 x Lifesaving Block 2 x Rusty Armor 1 x Quick Run 1 x Inspiration 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 1 x Purge 9 x Entangling Roots 2 x Loner 1 x Surging Shield Block 1 x Bad Luck 2 x Toughness 2 x Penetrating Stab 1 x Holy Presence 2 x Pushback Parry 2 x Invigorating Touch 1 x Brutal Charge Marroo Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Whiterune Staff Whiterune Staff Runestone Runestone Sensate's Ring Runestone Robe Of Lightness Glimmer Boots Advanced Toughness Electroporter Novice 3 x Winds Of War 4 x Acid Jet 1 x Hardy Mail 5 x Gusts Of War 1 x Spark Inductor 5 x Squeamish 1 x Little Zap 4 x Chilling Rime 3 x Wall Of Fire 2 x Hover 1 x Cloth Armor 1 x Dimensional Traveller 2 x Jarring Block 1 x Spark Generator 1 x Run 1 x Toughness Onkuzkul Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Whiterune Staff Whiterune Staff Runestone Runestone Sensate's Ring Runestone Robe Of Lightness Glimmer Boots Advanced Toughness Electroporter Novice 3 x Winds Of War 4 x Acid Jet 1 x Hardy Mail 5 x Gusts Of War 1 x Spark Inductor 5 x Squeamish 1 x Little Zap 4 x Chilling Rime 3 x Wall Of Fire 2 x Hover 1 x Cloth Armor 1 x Dimensional Traveller 2 x Jarring Block 1 x Spark Generator 1 x Run 1 x Toughness I tried out Pearwood Staff at first but Fright was too much for a deck without non-attack spells. Both wizards were Frightened the same turn and were quickly mowed down soon after. There may need to be some armor removal though 8 copies of Acid Jet should be enough. This one is as mean as it looks. Lay down damaging terrain and just keep them there for as long as possible. I have a feeling wizards will still be tough to deal with since there's really only Winds Of War in terms of long range spells but there isn't much you can do with only rares. This build should have no problems with regular melee parties. Step attack elves can be a problem if you don't Root them down.
Entangling Roots Pros Completely shuts down Elven Maneuvers Minimizes the effectiveness of draw spells on melee characters Allows you to relive the glory days of roasting encumbered dwarfcicles over a Hot Spot Pseudo Impenetrable Nimbus effect when you are out of attack range Forces opponents to choose between discarding business cards at end of turn or risk not being able to get close enough to attack the following turn Gets around melee blocks Cons You need a wizard if you want attack melee characters from a safe distance but you also need a warrior to quickly take down wizards that can attack back but can't escape Kinda ineffective against wizards due to the aforementioned ability to continue attacking while halted Range 4 often forces you to place your priest in a vulnerable position Takes up valuable real estate that usually goes towards powerful spells Doesn't stop cards like Dash, Team! Weak in Purge heavy environments I didn't really end up making too many changes to any of the builds that I didn't go over already. Entangling Roots is fun to play with and can be extremely effective against melee parties. You need to sacrifice a lot of your edge against melee parties to have a shot against wizards and that probably isn't worth it in the long run.
For this week I couldn't really come up with a way to abuse cold spells, which were next up on the list. You can't halt anyone with encumber anymore but even if that were still possible I didn't want to go that direction after having just done Entangling Roots. Well, the best way to go about messing with encumbered foes is to push them as far away as possible and wouldn't you know it, Force Cannon not only slides things the furthest but also happens to be on the list as well. What goes best with sliding people 4 squares away? Tacking on 8 damage with Path of Knives of course, another card I can strike off the to-do list. Spoiler: Cold Spells and Path of Knives and Force Cannons, Oh My! Marroo Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Sub-zero Staff Sub-zero Staff Xochu's Icy Circlet Booming Ring Blasting Amulet Sarigo's Rod Forceful Robes Pergop's Slippers Perfect Toughness Electroporter Novice 1 x Winds Of War 2 x Violent Spin 1 x Spark Inductor 1 x Resistant Hide 2 x Cold Snap 1 x Rusty Armor 2 x Maze 4 x Force Bolt 1 x Penetrating Zap 1 x Dimensional Traveller 2 x Chilling Rime 3 x Force Cannon 1 x Toughened Hide Strips 4 x Freeze 1 x Spark Generator 2 x Cone Of Cold 4 x Path Of Knives 1 x Force Cone 2 x Toughness Onkuzkul Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Staff Of Winter Frosty Staff Xochu's Icy Circlet Booming Ring Blasting Amulet Sarigo's Rod Forceful Robes Pergop's Slippers Perfect Toughness Electroporter Novice 1 x Winds Of War 2 x Violent Spin 1 x Resistant Hide 2 x Cold Snap 1 x Rusty Armor 4 x Path Of Knives 2 x Force Bolt 1 x Penetrating Zap 6 x Frost Jolt 1 x Dimensional Traveller 2 x Chilling Rime 3 x Force Cannon 1 x Toughened Hide Strips 1 x Force Cone 4 x Cone Of Cold 1 x Spark Inductor 1 x Spark Generator 2 x Toughness Angruff Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Heartripper Trog Melter Aork's Vial Of Memories Sarigo's Rod Sarigo's Rod Blasting Amulet Robe Of Opposition Vinorkin's Boots Perfect Toughness Electroporter Novice 2 x Winds Of War 1 x Violent Spin 1 x Magma Spray 2 x Toughness 1 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Rusty Armor 4 x Path Of Knives 2 x Forgetfulness 3 x Melt Armor 1 x Officer's Harness 6 x Punishing Bolt 3 x Force Cannon 1 x Cloth Armor 3 x Counterspell 1 x Jump Back 1 x Spark Inductor 1 x Spark Generator 1 x Flash Of Agony 1 x Penetrating Zap There are a few things I'm testing right now. I'm trying out a Cone Of Cold arcane item to see if I need more cold spells or if the staves are enough. I'm also limiting the Path of Knives to 4 per wizard since I'm fairly certain that will be sufficient. Those two can be swapped or replaced if I find the numbers are off. The other big thing I'm testing is magic discard like Counterspell. I want to see if it is as narrow as I think it is as well as how it performs against wizards. I am particularly interested in its usefulness against priests, since that is what will push it over the playability threshold or relegate it to Shimmering Aura status. Lastly, I've got all the best cold staves equipped to see which combination works best. Well, not Staff Of The Arctic, never had the urge to pick it up.
Currently 6-4. I'm going to switch out the Sub-Zero Staff. The extra encumber rarely mattered so I'd rather run more consistent spells. I'm still not sure whether Cone of Cold is better or worse than Frost Jolt so I'll keep testing one of each staff. I kind of like being able to knock off attachments though doing enough damage is kind of a problem. The number of Path of Knives seemed ok. The magic discard totally blew. Out of the many times I cast one I got 2 cards only twice, and one was against Card-O-Tron. Every other time I didn't have line of sight, it got blocked, or only caught 1 or no cards. The time it got blocked was off of a Duck too so that was doubly bad. So now I need to decide where to go on the third character. I can make another copy of the other two wizards, I can try a warrior to take advantage of relatively stationary enemies, or something else. I am leaning towards a warrior since I'm having a little trouble taking down characters. I think I will try a Jump Back elf with step attacks. Spoiler: White Men Can't Jump Back Marroo Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Staff Of Winter Frosty Staff Xochu's Icy Circlet Booming Ring Blasting Amulet Sarigo's Rod Forceful Robes Pergop's Slippers Perfect Toughness Electroporter Novice 1 x Winds Of War 2 x Violent Spin 1 x Resistant Hide 2 x Cold Snap 1 x Rusty Armor 4 x Path Of Knives 2 x Force Bolt 1 x Penetrating Zap 6 x Frost Jolt 1 x Dimensional Traveller 2 x Chilling Rime 3 x Force Cannon 1 x Toughened Hide Strips 1 x Force Cone 4 x Cone Of Cold 1 x Spark Inductor 1 x Spark Generator 2 x Toughness Onkuzkul Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Staff Of Winter Frosty Staff Xochu's Icy Circlet Booming Ring Blasting Amulet Sarigo's Rod Forceful Robes Pergop's Slippers Perfect Toughness Electroporter Novice 1 x Winds Of War 2 x Violent Spin 1 x Resistant Hide 2 x Cold Snap 1 x Rusty Armor 4 x Path Of Knives 2 x Force Bolt 1 x Penetrating Zap 6 x Frost Jolt 1 x Dimensional Traveller 2 x Chilling Rime 3 x Force Cannon 1 x Toughened Hide Strips 1 x Force Cone 4 x Cone Of Cold 1 x Spark Inductor 1 x Spark Generator 2 x Toughness Rimeelear Level 20 Elf Warrior Vibrant Pain Crazy Sal's Halberd Crazy Sal's Halberd Perilous Ringmail Antler Shield Crusty Helm Bouncing Boots Cautious Mobility Novice Impaling 2 x Penetrating Cut 2 x Impaler 2 x Reliable Mail 6 x Polearm Slash 6 x Blind Rage 1 x Hardy Mail 4 x Jump Back 1 x Obvious Maneuver 6 x Nimble Strike 2 x Elven Maneuvers 1 x Traveling Curse 1 x Thickened Mail 1 x Scouting Run 1 x Hard To Pin Down
Hmm. Looks pretty neat peon. I'm not so sure I would run so much Force cards and avoid terrain completely. Have you tried Encumbering your warrior with Cone of Cold to improve your Jump Backs? How much damage can you really do with Path of knives? Is Sarigo's Rod + Blasting Amulet better than Ring of Appropriation + Booming Ring? I like Force Cannon and Winds of War but I prefer consistency, not to mention TK is really strong.
I did think about encumbering for Jump Back. It will probably happen at some point with Cone of Cold and maybe an extra Chilling Rime. Path of Knives has actually been doing really solid damage. I could try some Telekinesis but aside from a couple of awkward positions there aren't too many spots where Force attacks are dead. Koi in particular is rough but the other 3 maps have huge open lanes to take advantage of.
