Tired of losing to higher rating players with all the best items? Then fret no more, here is an easily obtainable viable build that will increase your win rate. As you can see the core items are uncommon so you can put this together on the cheap in a few days scouting the normal shops. If you don't have the epic boots, they can be replaced with something similar with flank moves. 3x Elf Warrior Double-edged Sword Double-edged Sword Double-edged Sword Spiked Tlahuiztli Parrying Buckler Crusty Helm Sliding Boots Cautious Mobility Novice Impaling 1 x Team Walk 1 x Mail 6 x Impaling Stab 1 x Hardy Mail 2 x Impaler 3 x Backbiting Strike 1 x Obvious Maneuver 1 x Reliable Mail 6 x Dancing Cut 1 x Flanking Move 3 x Potent Stab 2 x Elven Maneuvers 1 x Penetrating Cut 3 x Parry 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 1 x Scouting Run 1 x Ouch! 1 x Barbed Platemail
While the Barbed Platemail coming with Spiked Tlahuiztli certainly is juicy, I don't like how Ouch! fits in such a mobility-focused build. Elves can be very squishy, especially when they don't come equipped with lots and lots of armor. I feel like an ill-timed Ouch could all too easily cost you the game (both because of potential damage taken and the fact you show your hand). I would suggest giving up the liable deck-thinning potential and Barbed Platemail in favor of some more reliable defense. Several options are available: Solid Mail (common): Hardy Mail triggers quite often. Trog Skin Jacket: While laughable at first sight, Reliable Hide Armor can absorb lots of damage over the course of a match. The Trog Skin significantly ups you chances of drawing one early in the game. Jerkin Of Thorns or Shoulderspike Mail (both uncommon): Spiked Mail is not as good as Barbed ofc. Dependable Mail (rare): if you would rather take one more Reliable Mail in your deck. Xander's Mail (legendary): This isn't something new players will have. Since this probably is one of the best token-free heavy armors in the game, I'm posting it for completeness sake only.
Why not Perilous Ringmail? Yeah, Traveling Curse hurts, but it goes into an opponent's deck, and doesn't reveal your hand. I guess it comes down to how you value the cycling of the Curse versus another copy of Mail, and Thickened Mail v. Mail. EDIT: this does look like a fun build to try, though. I've had a few similar ideas bouncing around.
Spiked Tlahuiztli is not bad. Ouch! usually does 4 or less and you'll only be showing off how stabby their death will be. Perilous Ringmail is a fine option too. If you are concerned about self damage you can easily move the shield or boot token to equip a better pain free armor. The boots especially aren't as important since you are running elves with a fair amount of step attacks. I would suggest something with less movement cards to take advantage of Cautious Mobility.
I totally like your post Jezter .. I alwas wrote and tried to explain that you DONT NEED all the "fancy legendary items" to go over 1500 .. maybe more .. But its like players judge the Deck depending on how much Legendaries it has Anyway I just recently thought about 3x Double Edged .. that might even be called broken .. if you mix your attacks differently its like you have 1x Vibrant Pain without fly 1x Weapon with 6x 8dmg range2 1x 3x 9dmg penetrating range 2, 3x 4dmg and that's looks really nice
Sure there are better options and adding epics and legendary will make it more reliable. This is more of a template for the newer players and it is very easy to put together and play. Adding a priest for buffs and support is an option, but a lot of the decent stuff is hard to get.
I honestly think this is a more than decent build, even w/o any epic+ (That being said, ppl will prob have more than a few usable epics by the time they get a hold of 9x double edged swords)
I was thinking of a build like this, except replace parrying buckler and sliding boots with Aegis and Tough Leather Cap, and replace 1 Double Edged Sword with Warrior's Mace. This build could work though, because the specter of Aegis hangs over the meta, reducing the use of wizards and anti-block cards. The problem it might have is against lower ranked teams, who aren't building their team around the dominance of Aegis. Thus they might include wizards who quickly kill the pure parry elves, or even include anti-block cards (not sure if anyone does that now).
These elves would be awful to fight against if you can't hit them, but if you can either hit them hard before they can attack you or isolate one and attack with two characters, it should be possible to win. Letting them attack you would probably be a bad plan, unless you have a lot of spears to back yourself up with. Wizards focused on dealing damage could kill them potentially, as long as the elves don't draw maneuvers or too many moves. Anti-block cards may be less effective, as they are all range 1 and that's not likely to be where you're fighting these elves from unless you corner one.
I should have said War Cry specifically. It would be very strong against this team, but nobody uses it in Aegis tier.
There are ways to improve this with epic and legendary items, but from the title I think Jezterscap's point is a "peasant" build with no rares or better. Something new players can build from the shops & minimal farming. And this one looks pretty good.
Maybe some combination of Blazing Shortsword Crazy Sal's Halberd Aegis Of The Defender Forrtescue's Feathered Cap Lt. Buckwell's Strapping Lt. Buckwell's Boots Pergop's Slippers Captain Cedric's Boots Perilous Agility Trained Evasion
Blazing Shortsword - Thats EPIC Crazy Sal's Halberd - I asked about non-weapons Aegis Of The Defender - Epic Forrtescue's Feathered Cap - ok Sprint Team is good .. but Reliable Mail is as well.. Lt. Buckwell's Strapping - I dont like that Helmet, I have 4 of it, Reliable always shown better Lt. Buckwell's Boots - I like Mouse Boots better (epic) Pergop's Slippers - ok Captain Cedric's Boots - ok Perilous Agility - ok Trained Evasion - ok All those are great items, no argue there -> but it all comes to few Boots and Racial .. and I dont think any of those Boots are that much better than Sliding Boots.. And Racial -> 2 traits vs more movement .. that's arguable if deck would be better without 2 traits with more movement? Do you think deck needs more movement? I dont think that using Captain Cedric' Boots and Trained Evasion instead of Sliding and Cautious would make that big of an improvement? Much more would depend on player skill ..
How are you going to trade Sliding Boots and tokenless Cautious Mobility for Captain Cedric's Boots and Trained Evasion? It doesn't work that way. If only you could... If I could build the perfect flanking stabbing elf, it would need quite a few legendaries but... 3X Double-Edged Sword Parrying Buckler Captain Cedric's Helm Xander's Mail Lt. Buckwell's Boots Novice Impaling Trained Evasion You'll notice that you have 5 Officer's Harness, two Reliable Mail, 4 Flanking Move and 1 Violent Spin. Violent Spin is amazing for pushing the enemy back so you can stab them from safety. If you want to stick with the Cautious Mobility for the Elven Maneuvers, you lose the Violent Spin but gain a Scouting Run and the ability to draw Dancing Cuts and Flanking Move when damaged.
Building "perfect" version is not the point .. the point is that that version of yours with 3 Legendary Items (if you use Cautions) VS version without Legendary items is not THAT MUCH of an difference. 3X Double-Edged Sword - same Parrying Buckler - same Captain Cedric's Helm - Crusty Helm Xander's Mail - Perilous Ringmail Lt. Buckwell's Boots - Mouse Boots or whatever Novice Impaling Trained Evasion - Cautious or Advanced Footwork or even Superb Footwork No way those 5 Officer's Harness vs 2 armor + 2 traits +1 move makes some big improvement (I could even say if improvement at all..) I would have build it like you no argue there, it can probably be called a perfect version .. but imho that non-Legendary version is really close match.. It's like you have a car that goes 4.9s 0-60, and "perfect version" goes 4.6s 0-60 ..
Well, Crusty Helm and Sliding Boots aren't peasant-legal, but replace them with Fool's Coif and Black Iron Boots and you've probably just solved the peasant format. No need for anymore tournaments.
I really love this build. Until now I am not quite sure if I love this one or the Cult of Bejeweled more. Also the title of this thread is uncomming stabbing elves, I would like to focus more on the improved versions. What is the way to go after you put together the complet uncommon version? The Core The core of the deck for me is clearly the following: Double-Edged Sword Double-Edged Sword Double-Edged Sword Aegis Of The Defender A more improved version could be Double-Edged Sword Double-Edged Sword Crazy Sal's Halberd Aegis Of The Defender but when the Crazy Sal's Halberd was in the market I had not enough gold But that is not the point. Do you think a version with the Halberd would be better? In the vacuum it is clearly better, but when there are armors on the opponent this version could be slightly worse. The Blind Rage will add two damage, but even a Reliable Mail will reduce the damage, when not having the Impaling Stab And in the last games i often had opponents which had Thickened Mail, when all I was hopping for was an Impaling Stab. Fortunatly enough the matter whether you choose a Crazy Sal's Halberd or yet another Double-Edged Sword does not change anything on the rest of the build. With the already spend the big question is, where to spend the last . Here are some ideas with which I currently experiment. The Minor Token Alternative 1 Trained Evasion It is just great to have even more Flanking Moves. You really have to think about positioning to give your opponent the chance to do mistakes and running into a Flanking Moves with a Double-Edged Sword. If I had more of this, I would love to play them on all the elves. Having Cautious Mobility seems better, but unlike the Cult of Bejeweled this biuld does not have a great damage dealing card, namly Vicious Thrust, to draw and needs the step attacks just to run away. This decision may change with more wizards in the meta. Alternative 2 Forrtescue's Feathered Cap Mathiam's Helm ... As the currents maps are very large I love having a Sprint Team. The Forrtescue's Feathered Cap would be my favourite one, but since I only have Mathiam's Helm I tried it. The problem is really the Weak Chop, which can be handy at times to draw blocks, but most often it does not even deal damage. I like the Chain Harness with Thickened Mail and Barbed Platemail. Alternative 3 Duncan's Leather Cap plus Spiked Tlahuiztli or Perilous Ringmail This is another thing I try at the moment. May be it is just a little bit too fanzy, but having Thickened Mail or Barbed Platemail with Enchanted Harness is just too sweet. Alternative 4 Sticky Slippery or Captain Cedric's Boots This is more a just to mention. As mentioned before there are not that many mages at the moment. With that said the Immovable looses much of its value. The discard of the Wild Run can really suck, but I mislike much more the fact I have often to send in just one of my elves. The alternative 2 is much better than this. So Sticky Slippery are not that great. While Captain Cedric's Boots seems good, it just does not much more than Lt. Buckwell's Boots or Mouse Boots and with that alternative 2 with adding a Team Sprint is much better. The Armor There are four good tokenless alternatives. There is Jezterscaps Spiked Tlahuiztli. As bandreus said: Dependable Mail (rare): if you would rather take one more Reliable Mail in your deck. Xander's Mail (legendary): This isn't something new players will have. Since this probably is one of the best token-free heavy armors in the game, I'm posting it for completeness sake only. And Accent completed: Why not Perilous Ringmail? Yeah, Traveling Curse hurts, but it goes into an opponent's deck, and doesn't reveal your hand. As most the game end in me hopping to draw an Impaling Stab I really like the thinning effect of Spiked Tlahuiztli and Perilous Ringmail. Also this may be also just a marginal and too fancy effect. The Boots I like beeing able too stab people by surprise or to go first in the next round. So I think there are mainly the alternatives which Jezterscap and Drakkan mentioned: Lt. Buckwell's Boots Mouse Boots Alternatives in characters Here ends my experience and begins my way to go. I really would love to here from your experiences. Alternative Human Warriors Did I say that I love having Sprint Team? And I love Flanking Move? Another way than with the helmet is to have Advanced Command or Bloody Command. This way you have also at least one Flanking Move like in Alternative 1 with the Trained Evasion. Alternative Elf Cleric There may be a place for a buff priest in this party as Jezterscap mentioned. He can have one of the commands to send in his boys. But what else should he have? My thinking involves a buff vamp with a copy of Bleneth's Skull, a copy of Huetotl's Firebrand for even more Mass Frency and damage. Then he should have a combination of Chalcus Hammer and Hand Of Malveous to stay alive and to be able to finish of people. Also he has some techs which Sundering Strike and Unnerving Strike which can be handy. Did you tried something like this? Did you use other buffs than Mass Frenzy? Did you find other techs handy, like having Entangling Roots or Purging Burst? Alternative Wizard I have experiences with adding a wizard, but lets say it were not the best. I tried a more controlish variant to push the opponents to my warriors and a more bursting one to finish my opponents. But both variants failed badly. My opponents killed my wizard most of the times way too fast. Have you been more successful in adding a mage to this party?
I've just noticed that with this deck, Cult of Bejeweled, and my (admittedly unpopular) parry elves, there are three rather distinct low rarity triple elf warrior deck with high rating. Good thing mine is more or less built to counter the others, woo.
