Curse of Fragility: A Diamond in the Rough

Discussion in 'Deck Building' started by Deepweed, Mar 28, 2015.

  1. Deepweed

    Deepweed Thaumaturge

    Heya everyone! I’m fairly new to Card Hunter having started about a month ago and I have to say that the game’s mechanics are absolutely intriguing to me.

    I was surprised to see that the card ‘Curse Of Fragility’ was not widespread in use, for several reasons:
    • The card adds 2 damage to any damaging effect. That's like Melee Frenzy 2 or Frenzy 3 for spells, which is huge. It's also like attaching a one-turn Vulnerable on your target.
    • The card is only paper quality. PAPER. That means you'll be saving tokens when you get it, as it's effectively your "weakest" card in the deck.
    • Green Lotus Root gives 3 of it for no token cost. Initiate's Glaive gives three of it and three medium-damage range 2 attacks for one minor token.
    I realized that it wasn't so popular because it lasts only one turn. It's hard to maximize a frenzy-like card in one turn, right?

    Wrong. There's a nifty way one can take advantage of it: fire cards. You will get a net bonus of 4 damage per fire card you use because it adds damage to both the initial cast and the burn at the start of the next round. Two fire cards will net you 8 bonus damage, which is pretty much about a Gold-quality card (think Mighty Spark).

    ...and then there's Instant Burn. If you hit your target with two fire spells, anything else you hit with Instant Burn will add 4 damage to that target plus the burn damage. Effectively, you can be dealing tons of extra damage.

    Another plus to this already-great feature is that Purge cannot stop its wrath completely. If the enemy Purges upon cast, he relieves the 12ish bonus damage (assuming you don't have another Curse of Fragility ready, hehe) but not your wrath of fire. If the enemy Purges after you cast your fire cards, you have a base of 4 damage in, and you most likely have another fire card to replace the loss. Additionally, another debuff helps to knock off buffs and Impenetrable Nimbus.

    Have I mentioned that Path of Knives makes it trigger too?

    Unfortunately, though, I don't have all the items I need to test this devilish strategy. I have almost completed the fire wizard but the other two members are just half-complete. I need someone to test my ideal build, or suggest a build of their own with this tactic (similar to what Bandreus did for the Lunginator). I think it has a lot of potential.

    -----------

    The ideal build is as follows:


    Tick Tock
    Dwarf Wizard

    Clockwork
    Dwarf Wizard

    Shifter
    Human Priest

    -----------

    Here are the concepts behind the characters:

    TICK TOCK - Fire Wizard

    This guy is what makes your opponents tick. With 19 fire spells (6 Ember Bursts, 6 Instant Burns, 5 Globs of Flame, 3 Flame Jets, and 1 Ember Spray) you can never go wrong with this guy. When played right, he can obliterate a target or a team in one round. He's your primary damage-dealer, so protect him at all costs.

    CLOCKWORK - Varied Control Wizard

    Clockwork is designed to delay your opponents' advance as much as possible to make them tick. Illusory Barrier is essential because wizards are the primary offenders of this strategy. Powerful control spells help stop the early runners and align the opponents for heavy punishment. Additionally, his minor damaging tools become significant when Curse of Fragility is applied.

    SHIFTER - Team Power Priest

    Shifter provides the base of your team. A steady stream of Curse of Fragility is to be expected from Shifter, along with nice per-round draw effects, team heals, stabs, and remote blocking. The concept behind the use of team heals is that mostly burst mages will be able to penetrate your defenses courtesy of Clockwork. It's also quite cool how you can select which of the two mages you need to draw more cards (more control or more punishment) or even yourself (more curses, buffs, etc.). Lastly, Leadership helps alleviate bad draw problems and acts as like a card draw effect when your mages don't have to move.

    -----------

    I hope someone decides to try this build out for me or create a better build with a similar concept. I really, really believe this build has so much potential, to the point that it could become one of the meta strategies.
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2015
  2. Pawndawan

    Pawndawan Champion of Cardhuntria

    Interesting concept! :) I don't have the MP experience nor the items needed to test this, but maybe you could suggest that @peonprop would try this out in his weekly brews.
     
  3. Deepweed

    Deepweed Thaumaturge

    Thanks, glad you appreciate it. :) Peon would probably see this thread anyway, so I won't reply to his thread. May dorf wizzes live on...
     
  4. peonprop

    peonprop Thaumaturge

    I have all the items so I'll add your build to the queue.
     
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  5. ChosenUndead

    ChosenUndead Mushroom Warrior

    You bastard! Now I'm going to have to change my entire deck : ( I hope your happy.
     
  6. X_Sauron_X

    X_Sauron_X Mushroom Warrior

    I can attest to having been on the end of Deepweeds testing yesterday and it was not pleasant. :)
     
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  7. Deepweed

    Deepweed Thaumaturge

  8. Magic Elves

    Magic Elves Thaumaturge

    I'm attempting to create this too, and while I lack a few of the legendary components, I have enough things that I can do a decent job of emulating it. I'll be sure to try it out later, and see how it does!
     
  9. X_Sauron_X

    X_Sauron_X Mushroom Warrior

    I don't play a lot with more than one Wizard but for what it's worth my 1/1/1 Wizard is a Human and is focussed on control. I've played a bit with some of his items but always come back to having 1 x Ring Of Appropriation in all variations of the build as well as a Booming Ring when I need one tokenless arcane item.

    :)

    Wizards are not my forte. Then again neither are Warriors or Priests lately.
     
  10. Deepweed

    Deepweed Thaumaturge

    Since it's going to take time before Peon tries this out (and we haven't seen results from Magic Elves yet), I did some experimenting myself. I still lack some components, though, and I am lacking in battle experience.

    I tried out something emulating the above build, and it occurred to me that the control wizard is my weakest link. I don't have Illusion, Sarigo's Rod, or Phantom Pain, so I used some crappy substitutes (a.k.a. another Yoloxl's, RoA, and Ixtli Amulet). It didn't perform so well (by my standards, and with me playing it).

    Because of the above, I decided to swap the control wizard for a melee combatant. I thought about using a warrior, but the warrior wouldn't really mesh in well with the build. I then realized that I had the perfect items for an Elven vampire (which I used to defeat Magic Elves and Fif in 2v2 with il_Doc... :p). The Elven vampire should serve as a decent front guard and tank.

    Curse Of Fragility has a lot of synergy with vampires. It basically gives you additional 4 health advantage per card (+2 healing, +2 damage). And since I'm running a melee combatant, I no longer had use for team heals. I modified the party to the one below:

    Shifter
    Human Priest

    Tick Tock
    Dwarf Wizard

    Gears
    Elf Priest

    THE THEORY:

    I'm actually really proud to put up Gears's deck after only over a month of playing. Gears's has 8 trait cards, reducing the effective deck size (not including Dash) to 28. But that's not all: Elvish Insight is trait-like, Defender's Block triggers draw, and Escaping Run has this amazing synergy with Elven Maneuvers.

    The strategy behind using this vampire is that you work with the trait cards you draw. Often, you'd find yourself discarding traits on yourself due to the 3-buff maximum. Shifter will provide great draw-over-time effects to the vampire or the wizard as needed. If the vampire draws Slippery, one could work around it by immediately applying Unholy Wellspring for a decent beating at the start of the next round.

    If the vampire draws Elven Maneuvers, the card can trigger to draw 4 cards: either a step attack, or 3 Escaping Runs. The beauty behind Escaping Run and Elven Maneuvers is that if you draw Escaping Run, you can trigger the card draw to move you AND draw a card which is most likely lifestealing. So in a diagram:

    Elven Maneuvers trigger -> Move card draw (1/4 Lunging Strike, 3/4 Escaping Run) -> Escaping Run moves 3 , triggers card draw again (which is most likely a block or lifestealing attack)

    The above mechanism is somewhat like what Slippery does to you at the start of a turn (moving 3 without costing a card), which gives the build somewhat consistency. Another advantage to Escaping Run is that if you don't need the mobility you can easily convert it to another card. (This assumes that you're adjacent to the opponent, but if you're not adjacent to the opponent, you need the mobility, right?)

    Tick Tock is pretty much the same, with a few minor changes. Shifter, on the other hand, had some changes and a perspective overhaul. Shifter now focuses on buffing either the wizard or the vampire with card draws or Unholy Wellspring and on applying Curse Of Fragility.

    EXPERIMENTATION:

    The build is still currently climbing in Elo, and I'm getting a fairly good win ratio with it. I don't want to discuss too much about tactics and strategy as that will make it easier for opponents to counter me. I have some connectivity issues which caused several defeats, but that's just a minor setback in the Elo climbing.

    A dedicated purge priest will cripple this build, but if there aren't too many purges it is manageable.

    I'll try to give hard results with what I make of it. I'll see where this goes. :)
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2015
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  11. Drakkan

    Drakkan Ogre

    Why would you use Curse of Fragility over Mass Frenzy?
    They both add 2 to dmg .. and Mass Frenzy lasts more, and buffs all characters .. ? Only notable difference is that MF buffs wizard for 1dmg .. and that curse is cheaper to get ..
     
  12. Lord Feleran

    Lord Feleran Guild Leader

    Because:
    1. It saves a major token and
    2. It triggers multiple times with burning effects.
     
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  13. Deepweed

    Deepweed Thaumaturge

    I have to admit, though, that the vampire is not working well with mages being popular and all. I'll keep looking into it.
     
  14. PDXTai

    PDXTai Ogre

    I've been trying a variant of this. Here's mine (a bit legendary heavy):
    [SRC] Fyra
    Level 21 Dwarf Wizard

    [SRC] The One True Cheese
    Level 21 Human Priest

    [SRC] CT2
    Level 21 Human Priest

    I found using one wizard was much more effective than two. I can put all the draws onto one guy and usually get the firestarter / fragile curse / instant burn combo. Protecting the wizard is key of course. I've lost several battles to Cardotron when he pulls out punishing bolt on the wizard with 7 cards. Armor can be annoying. Blocks, nimbus and elven maneuvers aren't too bad as you can usually stack enough attachments to push them off.

    It's surprising how quickly the damage adds up. Normally glob of flame plus instant burn would be 6 damage (1 glob DD, 2 instant burn DD, 3 burn). That jumps to 12 with fragile curse. After that, each additional instant burn does 9, 13 if you have firestarter. It doesn't take many of those to finish even a dwarf warrior.

    I stayed away from ember burst as I found it better to just focus damage on one char. I also liked the spare tokens from the overheated staves. The wizard has 7 traits plus 2 officer's harness and 2 arcane shells. You can sit and pass so those build up then make them useful with leadership or savage curse.

    I've been most successful where I can camp on a VP and let someone come to me. I pass as much as I can, using inspirations to buy time. When the opponent is low on cards, pick a target and try to burn it down.
    Edit instant burn doesn't trigger itself and does 2 DD, not 1
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2015
  15. Deepweed

    Deepweed Thaumaturge

    It's about time that there's an update on this! :)

    I recently pulled together a new build that's adjusted for the current month's maps. I am now using a GAME RECORD for it, and I'll post updates every four games (format inspired by @Bandreus). The build performed well so that's why I'm posting it here:

    Absolute Infinity
    Dwarf Wizard

    The Middleground
    Dwarf Wizard

    Absolute Zero
    Dwarf Priest

    The priest, Absolute Zero, is similar to the original design. She is now a dwarven priest for the elusive Dwarven Battle Cry and another functional trait (Blind Rage can be used so that your normal attacks become heavy hits with Curse Of Fragility). Also, there were some minor item changes. I tried to maximize traits a bit and have "lucky 9" copies of Curse of Fragility.

    The fire wizard, Absolute Infinity, had only two items switched out: Wym's Fiery Bangle instead of Miligar's Dragon Tongue or Swiz's Circlet Of Elements and Robe Of Lightness instead of Forceful Robes. I think Glob Of Flame is more important than Flame Jet. I also think that Ember Burstss are far too useful to be ignored, since Burst 1 effects can be shot out of line of sight (it has helped a lot). Also, having two people on Curse Of Fragility and using Ember Burst on them is just too fun.

    The control wizard, The Middleground, focuses on control effects, namely Gusts Of War, Telekinesis, and Illusory Barrier. That's pretty much all there is to tell for this guy.

    GAME FORMAT
    Each game will be recorded in this format:
    Game # - Deepweed (my rating) vs XXX (opponent's rating) - map - [game record with my score first, game type] - result
    Short essay on the game

    Example:
    Game 100 - Deepweed (1234) vs XXX (1540) - The Shrine of Azul - [6-0, blitz game] - WIN
    The game was easy peasy.

    GAMES 1-4 (3 wins out of 4)


    Game 1 - Deepweed (1318) vs XXX (1622) - Ice House - [5-0, blitz game] - WIN
    This is a really interesting first game for the build. The opponent was using a 1-1-1 (25-hp style). In the first few rounds, we just redrew cards. Then, I took the initiative and started advancing, which was unusual because dwarf wizard builds suck a bit at playing offensive. I was amazed as I was able to somewhat get my spells off decently. I advanced to the lower box of the map and used The Middleground to both control the enemy and help Absolute Infinity advance. The opponent resigned with only a priest left.

    Game 2 - Deepweed (1345) vs XXX (1320) - Crundyup's Bridge - [2-0, blitz game] - WIN
    My opponent used 3 dwarf wizards. Luckily enough, I was able to draw Illusory Barrier within the first two rounds. I applied Curse Of Fragility to two targets and began roasting the opponent. He used mobility to get past my Illusory Barrier, and started shooting burst spells, but I was able to take down a guy of his and heal up with some Team Heal and Inspiring Presence. The opponent resigned afterwards.

    Game 3 - Deepweed (1360) vs XXX (1355) - Melting Glacier - [2-0, blitz game] - WIN
    This was against a two wizard and one priest composition, though I'm not exactly sure what kind. I was able to lay down an Illusory Barrier early enough, and when he tried overwriting it with terrain I just put down more. I overwrote a Martyr's Blessing on a wizard by applying Curse of Fragility and Ember Burst (he also had Mass Frenzy on so I just needed two spells). I also advanced Absolute Zero who drew only two attack cards and Curse Of Fragility so that I could take down the wizard. The opponent resigned after losing the wizard.

    Game 4 - Deepweed (1376) vs XXX (1350s) - Crundyup's Bridge - [0-5, blitz game] - LOSS
    This loss against a dwarf warrior and 2 human priests was mostly because of draws not being in my favor. I admit I made some mistakes, but I drew only one Curse Of Fragility for the entirety of the game, on top of him drawing two Impenetrable Nimbus cards at round 2, and both Martyr's Blessing and Sparkling Cloth Armor at round 3 while I did not draw Illusory Barrier nor Boiling Armor and I had only two or three control effects. He was able to take down my control wizard with his warrior. Admittedly, if I played better I could have killed at least one enemy character, but the loss was surely unpreventable. I'll watch out for games like this and I'll learn how to cope with them.


    In an unrelated note, I actually came across someone in the 1500s using Curse of Fragility and fire spells when I was testing something else (he was using 2 wiz and a priest). And guess what? He won with ease.
     
  16. Deepweed

    Deepweed Thaumaturge

    Ten more games, and a modified build! I played a lot of off-record tests with the build above, but some things didn't feel right. I felt like there could be more focus in the deck. I also realized that armor on the priest wouldn't make sense if my intention was to keep the enemies away. I actually undervalued a lot of tokens (I used a major token when a minor was needed in three cases!) just to achieve that focus. It's getting better.

    So, since this thread is getting too long to scroll through, I decided to hide the build in a spoiler and give a general summary.

    I swapped out the Godtouched Spear for another Initiate's Glaive since I realized I didn't want to get touched at all so heals won't make sense. Also, three range 2 attacks with 6 damage is actually pretty good (with Curse Of Fragility that's the equivalent of a Potent Stab, and Reaching Swing is a very good block bait) I put the token into Wlakwa's Boots because team movement helps counter lots of strategies and movement is your last-resort control effect.

    I changed Cintxotl Mail to Unholy Nimbus to conserve a token, since Unholy Frenzy can help knock off Impenetrable Nimbus and at the same time those +1s add up really quickly (or if you're daring, +2s with the priest and the stabs). Since I got 6 CoF from the weapons already, I swapped out a Green Lotus Root for Crespin's Shroud. I changed that to Oak Roots after some games though since I feel control is more important. Since there's no longer any healing, I changed Canny Healer back to Superb Cleansing. As you can see, the priest has 2 undervalued tokens... If I had an Aegis Of The Defender I'd use that over Defensive Buckler.

    For the wizards, I changed them to humans. Why? I need the goddamned mobility. Dwarfs are just too slow. Also, humans have better squares to move on than dwarfs in the current map rotation. Additionally, I get to use Advanced Flexibility on all three characters, which was actually a huge boost since it helps draw the appropriate control spell (Telekinesis, Gusts Of War, or Illusory Barrier) and I can draw the combo more reliably (Don't need that Reaching Swing? Have one too many Glob Of Flame cards? Don't need that Officer's Harness? Swap it out then.) I was also able to get a hold of my second pair of Lt. Buckwell's Boots, so that helped, too. I made some changes and used Rod Of Palver Pree instead of Wym's Fiery Pin since I need the control and the token. I switched out one Yoloxl's Staff for a Staff Of Chask to help cope with the melee invaders, and to use the token for the leadership.

    Here's what I'm currently using:
    Stop Hitting Yourself
    Human Wizard

    Stop Hurting Yourself
    Human Wizard

    Stop Cussing
    Human Priest

    And if anyone wants to test this, below is the new ideal build. There are still some tweaks that might improve it though, and some stylistic options like taking Gloomthirst and using another Green Lotus Root instead of Mokad's Reeking Skull.
    Stop Hitting Yourself
    Human Wizard

    Stop Hurting Yourself
    Human Wizard

    Stop Cussing
    Human Priest

    Anywho, here's the report for the 10 games I played (sadly, I won only 6 out of 10). I forgot to record the maps, so...

    GAMES 5-14 (6 wins out of 10)

    Game 5 - Deepweed (1378) vs XXX (1423) - [0-2, blitz game] - WIN
    This game demonstrates how frightening this build could be. He was able to snatch two victory points by using Smoke Bomb as a cover, but that did not stop me from roasting his characters alive. He was running a 1-1-1, using a human priest and wizard and a dwarf warrior. I was able to burn him partially while securing a second victory point, and when he ran out of moves and saw me starting to use my combo (in which he will pass for at least 5 turns... hehe) he resigned. I was amazed.

    Game 6 - Deepweed (1396) vs XXX (1413) - [6-2, blitz game] - WIN
    This game, nothing extraordinary happened. The win was pretty easy against the 1-1-1 composition... I use Illusory Barrier to block off the priest and the wizard, I control and roast the warrior, I advance to roast one other character next, and so on.

    Game 7 - Deepweed (1413) vs XXX (1353) - [2-1, blitz game] - WIN
    This was against a standard 1-1-1 composition. It proved to be an easy win because I was able to knock out one of his characters which led to a serious advantage.

    Game 8 - Deepweed (1426) vs XXX (1608) - [0-3, blitz game] - LOSS
    I was against two elven warriors and a human wizard this game, and it was pretty bad. My priority target had drawn a Reliable Mail, and I rushed in too much, I think. If I played more defensively I might have done better. Also, I didn't draw control effects when I needed them and I wasn't able to get a Firestarter going on. With the ideal build, though, I see this could have been an easy win. Too bad.

    Game 9 - Deepweed (1418) vs XXX (1280) - [2-4, blitz game] - LOSS
    I lost this game to extremely bad luck. I can even have my opponent affirm this for you. I was against a 2 dwarf priest + dwarf warrior team. A Mass Frenzy-boosted Fiery Stab went through Defender's Block and Block, my Unholy Energy which I tried to use to bait a block passed through two Disorienting Blocks, I had pretty bad draws (I drew all the cards from Forceful Robes on both characters), and a lot of other things. I think though that this would be a win if the ideal build was used, I was more skilled, and my luck didn't suck.

    Game 10 - Deepweed (1396) vs XXX (1276) - [0-0, blitz game] - WIN
    I was against a human wizard, dwarf wizard, and an elven vampire this game. He was able to advance his vampire, but when I started stacking CoF and fire spells on his vampire and placed an Illusory Barrier in front of him... well... let's say he didn't like it.

    Game 11 - Deepweed (1407) vs XXX (1284) - [0-4, blitz game] - LOSS
    This game I was really unlucky. I was against an elven 1-1-1. I was able to move out of his Volcano + Bless combo at the first round (considering it's 1-1-1... the chances are really slim of him having that). I was able to bait his first Counterspell, but I couldn't bait the second one, since my bait failed. I drew only one control effect for the entirety of the game. I couldn't stack debuffs on his Martyr's Blessing because I lost cards to Counterspell and I had poor draws. Generally, it was just bad.

    <At this point I swapped out Crespin's Shroud for Oak Roots.>

    Game 12 - Deepweed (1386) vs XXX (1390) - [6-0, blitz game] - WIN
    The opponent's team consisted of two wizards and a priest. I was able to play smartly and win easily. The draws weren't too good, but that didn't become a problem.

    Game 13 - Deepweed (1402) vs XXX (1522) - [2-2, blitz game] - WIN
    O ho ho. Lo and behold. I was against a good example of a 1-1-1 Impenetrable Nimbus spam, and it faltered with ease. He kept using Nimbus to protect himself, but I was able to stack debuffs and play smartly. When he saw his that it was too late and his wizard was about to die, he just disconnected.

    Game 14 - Deepweed (1423) vs XXX (1318) - [3-6, normal game] - LOSS
    Luck was not on my side this game, but I admit I could have played better. I was against a 3 wizard team which used a decent quantity of step attacks (Surging Blast and Surging Bolt), control effects, and fire. Out of luck, I didn't draw any Illusory Barriers even after two Leaderships. I'm sure this would be an easy blitz win if I was using the ideal build.


    So all-in-all, I think this is a strong build. As you can see, every win was a blitz - every single one - so with the right draw, you can dominate with this. If you have the items this build needs, try it out... you won't be disappointed. It's a ton of fun, and it's a ton of fun. Just a ton of fun. I think that with the ideal build (which may in fact not be too ideal since there will be ways to improve it still) and with a good amount of skill it can even be competitive. Look at fenixknight1: he uses a similar build (though not too similar), and he's hanging around 1550.
     
  17. Deepweed

    Deepweed Thaumaturge

    I played 4 more games rather blitzy and won all four. Consider those Game 14-18. Here's a short data tabulation:

    Game 15 | Game Record: 6-1 (blitz) | Result: WIN | Final Rating: 1413
    Game 16 | Game Record: 6-0 (blitz) | Result: WIN | Final Rating: 1428
    Game 17 | Game Record: 6-3 (normal) | Result: WIN | Final Rating: 1451
    Game 18 | Game Record: 4-3 (normal) | Result: WIN | Final Rating: 1464

    Notes: In game 17 opponent was rated 1598 and he was using the niche 2 elves with Double-edged Sword and a Mass Frenzy buff priest... I even accidentally used Reaching Swing on myself and Unholy Frenzy on the opponent! One opponent was rated 1300+, the other 1400+, another 1500+, and finally 1598.

    So that brings us to a win rate approximation after 18 games! After 18 games, we have a win rate of...

    72. 22%!
    That's pretty sweet. My bad luck, lower skill level, and incompleteness of the build (as compared to the ideal setup) should probably make this a good estimate considering I tested it at medium elo level (with a good win rate versus opponents around 1600).
     
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  18. Flaxative

    Flaxative Party Leader

    18 isn't a significant sample size. :p (But gj! keep it up)
     
  19. Robauke

    Robauke Guild Leader

    I envy the very believe you could close in on something dominating, competitive or strong with this venture.
     
  20. Deepweed

    Deepweed Thaumaturge

    I'm just giving a taste of what is to come :p

    You know, honestly, I don't think this will be as good as buff+burst or CoB. But like your decoy elven wizard, things out of the meta are definitely worth a try. I think we differ in how we define competitive, but the way I used it, I meant that it is potentially more than just 'viable'... We can't know if it truly is if we don't test it out.

    EDIT: As of now, Rob, it has passed your so-called "Chaos Zone" and is out of the 1200-1450 zone.
     

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