So I've been creeping up the ranking with this build and noticeably faster with the halloween boards. Not sure how interesting it is, really - the standard maneuvres elf warrior is built with just rare items (plus a team run boot). But I've recently switched from two near-identical copies of Thormindril to one warrior who's more dodge based. And the support priest is loaded with painfully expensive bling. Not sure whether it's just the boards that helped, maybe it does better in the 1500+ environment or maybe the various tricks I've evolved in the past few weeks make some difference. Eluamwen Level 18 Elf Warrior Tango Spear Eixocl's Hammer Bejeweled Shortsword Dependable Mail Rusty Buckler Weakling's Helm Captain Cedric's Boots Cautious Mobility Novice Impaling 3 x Dancing Cut 1 x Hardy Mail 2 x Dodge 3 x Potent Stab 2 x Vicious Thrust 2 x Parry 2 x Flanking Move 1 x Wimpy 1 x Penetrating Cut 2 x Lunging Bash 1 x Cautious Sneak 2 x Mail 2 x Reliable Mail 2 x Elven Maneuvers 1 x Team Run 3 x Powerful Hack 1 x Powerful Bludgeon 2 x Impaler 1 x Blind Rage 2 x Pressing Bash Lancdis Level 20 Human Priest Rapier Of Misfortune St. Portia's Maul Burnished Plates Parrying Buckler Sliding Boots Tome Of The Martyr Spellstripper Relic Bleneth's Skull Perfect Command Novice Piety 3 x Strong Bludgeon 2 x Altruism 1 x Fiery Stab 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 1 x Inspiration 3 x Parry 1 x Run, Team! 3 x Consuming Spear 1 x Frenzy Aura 3 x Martyr Blessing 1 x Minor Heal 1 x Dash, Team! 1 x Team Heal 3 x Bad Luck 3 x Mass Frenzy 1 x Team Run 3 x Purging Burst 2 x Flanking Move 2 x Nimble Strike Thormindril Level 19 Elf Warrior Tango Spear Rageblood Dagger Bejeweled Shortsword Dependable Mail Parrying Buckler Weakling's Helm Rhood's Boots Cautious Mobility Novice Impaling 4 x Dancing Cut 1 x Hardy Mail 1 x Wild Run 1 x Penetrating Cut 5 x Vicious Thrust 3 x Parry 1 x Rushing Aura 1 x Wimpy 1 x Cautious Sneak 2 x Mail 2 x Reliable Mail 2 x Elven Maneuvers 1 x Raging Strike 1 x Team Run 3 x Powerful Hack 1 x Powerful Bludgeon 2 x Impaler 1 x Blind Rage 3 x Potent Stab For Thormindril, 9 step attacks (+3 moves from non-weapon items) seems a right number for EM. Sometimes I end up drawing nothing from the maneuvres, but it doesn't happen very often and any draw is likely to be useful. Helmets etc. with step moves don't make much sense, because drawing a lunging thrust would be a disappointment. After I use all my tokens on weapons there's enough left for a buckler full of parries and team run boots. I'd prefer 2x captain cedric's boots, but rhood's boots will just have to do. The weapons are the best way of getting vicious thrust and the best way to get dancing cut. The priest has a good smattering of epics and legendaries. Some are the standard support items, but some are needed to get an effective set of weapons when I've already spent nearly all my tokens. I'm a big fan of True Strike Spear so the rapier of misfortune became a natural choice for the minor-token weapon, once I got one. There are several ways the cards combine to form beautiful synergies, the newest one I've played with is dodge. If you can draw a dodge while holding martyr's blessing/elven maneuvres/parry; then you can more or less choose whether to avoid damage or draw a card. And of course EM makes it more likely that you'll draw that dodge and can start marching around like a boss. Eluamwen's two dodges seem like enough, though I haven't sat down to reason out the odds. I also had the choice of Bec De Corbin (major token cost would be too much) or Bolg's Club Of Evasion (3 dodges might be workable so i can swap back to the parrying buckler, but I lose a trait) I wanted to retire this deck for a while and try some new things, but now I finally have a Vibrant Pain I might see how I can add it. Obviously it replaces Dancing Cut and gives a little leeway to swap in weapons with slightly fewer step-attacks. But what's more irreplaceable, stabs or powerful damage cards?
