Hey fellow Cardhunters, With the conclusion of the first pvp season, I thought I'd make a thread for us to share our builds and tactics from the last 13 weeks. Awesome ELO farming build? Fast win gatherer? Something else entirely? What about tactics? How did aota change your builds? Did your strategies change as the season went on? Will post my stuff as soon as I can... Curious to hear from all of you!
I cant post here my decks...i would occupie all the space,since i keep rotating then.. from fs to mf to ww-wwe to 3dc and 1-1-1..and even then i keep changing then i get bored if i keep playing the same over and over I jsut want say FS worked quite good till this maps came into rotation, fast games and raked some nice wins. Other than that.. a lot of time and patience. now can go try make some silly decks. But Questor already said it..dwarvs.. buttload of winds and ns, try trow in some mf in there and ur golden
While this mostly summarizes the prevalent strategy for the "highest rated" chart (with occasional frenzy), I don't think the "most wins" chart was nearly as cookie-cutter. And even in the swarm of nimble striking dwarves, I still saw many of the season winners doing slightly different things I'm curious about.
I thought "most wins" is too obvious and sad to mention. So here comes the secret of that: Build a deck or decks you like and play as many games as your time allows. The ~50% percent win rate you achieve will bring you to the goal.
This was my team for most of the season, that would have ended in a better position (3rd-5th) if I didn't try another build back on week 2 and didn't make the top 20 cut. It's a traditional Divide and Conquer build but with some forced changes due to the lack of Lochabers (only 2) and VPs (none). For this reason, I had to sacrifice the big attacks to include Tango Spear in both warriors to help the lack of movility, and it worked pretty well, letting me settle at the 1800 Elo. I made focus on traits with the warriors, that's why I put Spiked Tlahuiztli instead of Xender's Mail (I have 2). The other major change is the inclusion of Pearwood Staff instead of the traditional Staff of Winter for the wizard, exchanging some encumber for some more flexible cards, good in the offense and the defense as well. Oh, and also, as you can notice, I don't own Bewlin's Bafflin Bauble, so it was Farzil's Perplexing Horn for me. The tactics are pretty basic, so I won't bore you with that. The only thing I would suggest (because I saw plenty of players making this mistake) is that, if you play with WWe, that doesn't mean you have to use it every turn. Save them and use them at the right time, after you used some encumbrance, after your opp have used most of his/her moves or for removing them from the vps. I saw a lot of players losing games because they used WW and WWe like crazy. The difficult thing is to calculate the risks it implies every time. Sometimes it's just better to pass and concede a star. Anyway, I know it's not the most original build, but it could be useful for those who don't own VPs or multiple lochabers and have trouble with movility; you don't have to use WWe necessarily, this build could be good with a MF priest instead of the wizard too (specially if the devs balance WWe). My suggestion is always priotize movility over big attacks. Big attacks are worthless if you can't reach your opponent's characters. Of course that if you own a VP or 2, you don't have to worry because you can have both movility and big attacks. Faris Level 11 Dwarf Warrior Tango Spear Bejeweled Shortsword Lochaber Axe Spiked Tlahuiztli Rusty Buckler Weakling's Helm Goat Boots Apprentice Ferocity Savvy Attacker 2 x Blind Rage 1 x Desperate Block 1 x Slicer 1 x Immovable 1 x Powerful Bludgeon 1 x Team Run 3 x Vicious Thrust 2 x Parry 1 x Dodge 3 x Nimble Strike 1 x Weakened Armor 1 x Mail 1 x Unreliable Block 1 x Reliable Mail 3 x Potent Stab 1 x Impaler 1 x Wimpy 1 x Barbed Platemail 1 x Weak Chop 1 x Ouch! 1 x Hardy Mail 3 x Dancing Cut 3 x Powerful Hack 1 x Dangerous Maneuver Koldum Level 21 Dwarf Warrior Tango Spear Bejeweled Shortsword Lochaber Axe Spiked Tlahuiztli Rusty Buckler Weakling's Helm Goat Boots Apprentice Ferocity Savvy Attacker 2 x Blind Rage 1 x Desperate Block 1 x Slicer 1 x Immovable 1 x Powerful Bludgeon 1 x Team Run 3 x Vicious Thrust 2 x Parry 1 x Dodge 3 x Nimble Strike 1 x Weakened Armor 1 x Mail 1 x Unreliable Block 1 x Reliable Mail 3 x Potent Stab 1 x Impaler 1 x Wimpy 1 x Barbed Platemail 1 x Weak Chop 1 x Ouch! 1 x Hardy Mail 3 x Dancing Cut 3 x Powerful Hack 1 x Dangerous Maneuver Ogriok Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Trembling Staff Pearwood Staff Rod Of Winds Rod Of Winds Rod Of Winds Farzil's Perplexing Horn Thin Sparkling Cloak Kelharin's Clogs Solid Rock Electroporter Novice 3 x Whirlwind 1 x Immovable 2 x Flame Jet 2 x Short Perplexing Ray 1 x Perplexing Ray 2 x Officer's Harness 3 x Vulnerable 1 x Combustible 1 x Spark Generator 1 x Parry 6 x Whirlwind Enemies 1 x Acid Jet 2 x Winds Of War 2 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 1 x Spark Inductor 2 x Mighty Spark 1 x Toughness 1 x Frost Jolt 1 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Fright 1 x Team Run On the end of the season I made some changes: with the warriors, I felt that I had few blocks, so I trade the Rusty Buckler for a Twisting Shield, the Tango Spear for a Double-edged Sword (so I had one yellow token free), and the Apprentice Ferocity for Solid Rock. I lost the Blind Rages, but I ended with more blocks, which was what I wanted. And I also changed the Peerwood Staff for the Staff Of Winter, not because I wasn't happy with the first one, but because I wanted very badly to include the so good Sliding Boots, so I needed a yellow token there. I think I will try now to put my 2 The Strongarms and include one more Team Run per warrior to compensate the lack of step attacks. I'll see how it goes. I only wish I had one more Sliding Boots for that.
I played a mass frenzy build the first 10 weeks of the season, then transitioned to whirlwinds at the end of the season. The frenzy team topped out around 1730, whirlwinds went up to 1780 or so. Here is the frenzy team I settled on after several weeks of tweaking. The main point is having as many attacks on the warriors as possible. Bad luck and mind worm on the priest are great for probing for blocks, and in the case of mind worm encouraging the opponent to action. If I could get my hands on VP I would love to try VP/Lochaber/Hackmaster on the warriors. I tried Xander's mail, but for this comp it doesn't feel as effective. Another thing I do that some may consider crazy is tossing attacks in favor of reliable mails when discarding. I am still unsure between Slippery Shield + Mouse Boots vs Twisting Shield + Sliding Boots. Zhufdar Level 19 Dwarf Warrior Bejeweled Shortsword Double-edged Sword Lochaber Axe Perilous Ringmail Twisting Shield Weakling's Helm Sliding Boots Apprentice Ferocity Superb Impaling 2 x Blind Rage 1 x Unreliable Block 2 x Reliable Mail 1 x Desperate Block 1 x Hard To Pin Down 2 x Impaler 1 x Weak Chop 1 x Backbiting Strike 1 x Potent Stab 2 x Dancing Cut 3 x Powerful Hack 3 x Impaling Stab 1 x Wimpy 3 x Vicious Thrust 1 x Thickened Mail 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 2 x Pushback Parry 1 x Hardy Mail 1 x Traveling Curse 3 x Nimble Strike 1 x Flanking Move 1 x Team Run 1 x Powerful Bludgeon Azgand Level 1 Dwarf Warrior Bejeweled Shortsword Double-edged Sword Lochaber Axe Perilous Ringmail Twisting Shield Weakling's Helm Sliding Boots Apprentice Ferocity Superb Impaling 2 x Blind Rage 1 x Unreliable Block 2 x Reliable Mail 1 x Desperate Block 1 x Hard To Pin Down 2 x Impaler 1 x Weak Chop 1 x Backbiting Strike 1 x Potent Stab 2 x Dancing Cut 3 x Powerful Hack 3 x Impaling Stab 1 x Wimpy 3 x Vicious Thrust 1 x Thickened Mail 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 2 x Pushback Parry 1 x Hardy Mail 1 x Traveling Curse 3 x Nimble Strike 1 x Flanking Move 1 x Team Run 1 x Powerful Bludgeon Thrundrok Level 20 Dwarf Priest Mindshrinker Rapier Of Misfortune Mail Of The Martyr Twisting Shield Sliding Boots Bleneth's Frenzy Medallion Shuddering Relic Bleneth's Skull Apprentice Ferocity Advanced Piety 1 x Greater Heal 2 x Altruism 4 x Nimble Strike 1 x Polearm Slash 1 x Hard To Pin Down 1 x Unholy Frenzy 2 x Martyr Blessing 6 x Mass Frenzy 3 x Mind Worm 1 x Vulnerable 1 x Flanking Move 1 x Team Run 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 2 x Pushback Parry 2 x Blind Rage 1 x Horned Plates 3 x Bad Luck 1 x Fiery Stab 1 x Desperate Block 1 x Enervating Touch
jday, I've seen you using Superb Impaling throughout the season, and I've continued to wonder what your rationale is for it. This is something I'm tempted to try out. I also used Spiked Tlahuiztli a lot when Aota came out, but I wound up giving up on items that reveal my attacks like that (looking at you Crusty Helm). Still not sure how I feel about it. I love Barbed Platemail, but I also don't Ouch letting my like my opponent know what I have... Anyway, here's the build I spent the most time playing during the season. Like Tuknir, I switched my decks up a few times (sometimes for new rotations, sometimes to avoid getting bored). This is my favorite iteration though. At it's core it's just another whirlwind build, but like Jacques and jday it does a few things different. My favorite part about this deck is the 16 Powerful Hacks/Powerful Bludgeons between the warriors. Although the dorfs would often get stranded with their big attacks (the team runs try to minimize this), for every time that happened there would be a time where an opponent make the mistake of thinking their full health warrior was pretty safe next to my dorfs, only to then be on the receiving end of 2-5 powerful attacks in one turn. The wizard can dish out damage as well with Punishing Bolt and big sparks. Between Solid Rock, Staff Of Chask, and 3 Thin Sparkling Cloth, I often used him as bait to try and lure in a warrior to team up on. Coupled with whirls, this gambit made for a lot of fast games (helpful since I was going for both the most wins and highest rated charts). Finding a Bewlin's Baffling Bauble part way through the season was also a nice boost. Captain Conflagration Level 20 Dwarf Warrior Bejeweled Shortsword Lochaber Axe Bejeweled Shortsword Perilous Ringmail Rusty Buckler Weakling's Helm Goat Boots Apprentice Ferocity Savvy Attacker 1 x Weakened Armor 5 x Vicious Thrust 1 x Traveling Curse 1 x Thickened Mail 1 x Dodge 2 x Parry 2 x Reliable Mail 1 x Unreliable Block 1 x Slicer 1 x Immovable 2 x Blind Rage 1 x Impaler 1 x Wimpy 1 x Hardy Mail 1 x Weak Chop 6 x Powerful Hack 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 1 x Desperate Block 2 x Powerful Bludgeon 1 x Team Run 3 x Nimble Strike Book Burnin' Bill Level 6 Dwarf Warrior Bejeweled Shortsword Lochaber Axe Bejeweled Shortsword Perilous Ringmail Rusty Buckler Weakling's Helm Goat Boots Apprentice Ferocity Savvy Attacker 1 x Weakened Armor 5 x Vicious Thrust 1 x Traveling Curse 1 x Thickened Mail 1 x Dodge 2 x Parry 2 x Reliable Mail 1 x Unreliable Block 1 x Slicer 1 x Immovable 2 x Blind Rage 1 x Impaler 1 x Wimpy 1 x Hardy Mail 1 x Weak Chop 6 x Powerful Hack 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 1 x Desperate Block 2 x Powerful Bludgeon 1 x Team Run 3 x Nimble Strike Elder Bruugenstorch Level 20 Dwarf Wizard Jaguar Spirit Staff Trembling Staff Bewlin's Baffling Bauble Rod Of Winds Rod Of Winds Rod Of Winds Thin Sparkling Cloak Sliding Boots Solid Rock Superb Electromancy 6 x Whirlwind Enemies 3 x Short Perplexing Ray 1 x Flame Spit 2 x Spark Generator 1 x Combustible 2 x Weak Parry 1 x Immovable 1 x Team Run 1 x Punishing Bolt 1 x Deadly Spark 3 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 2 x Flame Jet 1 x Toughness 3 x Vulnerable 3 x Whirlwind 1 x Mighty Spark 1 x Firestorm 1 x Parry 1 x Obliterating Spark 1 x Flanking Move
1) Yeah, Pearwood Staff is the only way to have both SPR and WoW together if you want to keep 3 Rod of Winds. Some players are scared with that Fright, but you can still use WW/WWe with it attached, so it's not too bad and it's one more trait that cycles. 2) I also hate revealing my cards, but Ouch! isn't nearly as bad as Obvious Manouver. Most of the times you will be revealing only 1 or 2 cards. And Barbed Platemail is just too good. 3) Your dwarves are pretty similar to mine, except because of the double Bejeweled. I wonder if you didn't have problems with movility there, but maybe those are similar to my problems of killing heavily armored enemies due to my lack of big attacks... it's an interesting discussion. I prioritize movement because it goes well with WWe. So, if I had trouble killing some enemy, I could still win via WWe and taking the vps. That's why I think that the big attacks are not entirely necessary in this build, except if you have VP and can have the luxury to include both. 4) You said Staff Of Chasks in your description, but then your wizard has Jaguar Spirit Staff in your party. I suppose it's the Staff of Chasks you were using. I like that staff a lot, but I couldn't find the token for it because I thought I had to exchange it for the Trembling Staff. I didn't realize I could switch it for the other staff . It's an interesting choice. You lose control (encumbrance or WoW) but you have more defense against step warriors and also good attacks to help your warriors with the killing. But I find it a bit too much. I mean, if you put double Bejeweled it means that your warriors are more than enough for killing the enemies, right? Staff of Chasks would make more sense imo in a build like mine where the warriors only have 4 Powerful Hacks each, so a wizard that can do big damage is more welcomed there. What do you think? Maybe you were prioritazing quick games over consistency, which is fine.
Oops, yeah, I was using Staff Of Chask, my bad. I did use Staff Of Winter a fair bit since it synergized better with my lower mobility, especially when I was just going to play a few games. But when I was going to play 20+ wins for a day (which was most of the time), I knew I'd mostly be playing weaker players and cardotron, making the damage more helpful. Which brings me to another related question: I kept the AI on, since my build had relentlessly decimated Cardotron. This gave me a steady stream of wins, but I know a lot of players don't like to risk playing him. The consistency of the four bejeweleds made for easily taking out a character in one round, which helps prevent it from getting lucky draw win. Did other players "most wins" players keep Cardotron on for the season? What about "highest rated" players?
No Cardotron for me. I have a good record against him, but I prefer to play with other players instead.
Interesting. I appear to have the same items as jday was using, notably Mindshrinker and Rapier of Misfortune. I can never decide on which priest weapons to use, but those 2 are on the bottom of my list...
I stopped playing Cardotron about 4 - 5 weeks into the season since I was going for the high rating and losing to Cardtron, although infrequent, was costing too much ELO per loss.
When I wanted to jack up my rating as high as possible, I went with the old Divide & Conquer with 7 Obliterating Bludgeons between my two warriors. I can post a build if anyone really is curious about it. I tinkered with that build quite a bit after the new cards came out and played several other builds, but since that's when my season took a turn for the worse, we can forget those ones. I am much more interested in what people are playing now that the season is over...
There is a lot of value in nearly all the attacks on the priest being nimble strikes or stabs. The only card on whiteglow flail i really miss is the extra martyr's blessing. Rapier of misfortune is a great value for one minor token. This combo lets me keep 4x nimble strike, 2 stabs, and run bleneth's skull, mail of the martyr and sliding boots. I suppose I could switch out sliding boots with Captain Cedric's then Mindshrinker for Whiteglow.
