For the past month I've been twiddling with the idea of mass volcano type decks. Mainly, I feel as if accelerate time is a central force that, whilst requires patience to activate, becomes almost as great as Asmod's Telekinetic Chain for the go-to ultimate wiz staple. These accel's require gold tokens, so some of the rarest tokenless staves will matter for correctly distributing item power. See this? Only using one tokenless staff, the famous and most popular Mullik's Blisterstaff! And you swallowed the first statement huh?! Rules are supposed to be broken ofc. Not only that, whilst I could gain another two accel's from Mr Dusk Mantle here by removing Pearwood Staff for say, a Hotglass Staff, it's about mitigation. Not what I want to do, but what the possibility of pitting against a heavily orientated move based team. The flaw here is I'm never going to compete with a step warrior, so we rely on drawing power using traits and leadership to remove some unwanted little zaps. Volcanoes must be quickly activated before dudes start storing up armors like some kinda obsessive cat lady. Mewing on this, we have some ability to remove some armor from Mr Devourer, but it's frequently not enough since the art of passing well is a must, usually guessing on who has what, where and when. You'd probably throw out dissolves to keep a turn free from a rather awkward pass and throw away a turn. (That means more chances for them to gain moves, armor, everything you don't want them to have). Our pillar here is the priest. For one they are mysteries when your opponent muses on what they are up against. In this deck, they'd be guessing you have either a drawing monster, a nimbus freak, or a buffer type, and usually a combination of two of these. Purging Mace is what drives this to the next level. It's usefulness removes all our bad traits, the enemies good traits and any unwanted blocks for Pearwood's ultimate satisfaction. So that's the concept, I hope you find it interesting and useful. One last thing though, since it's Christmas and all, may I present the... ***BONUS ROUND*** The fun side of this deck is that it teaches you alot on how to be a great player (not that I am by any means, but all that aside..) Using leadership gives you a good idea on what chances you are to have a card during gameplay. Choosing to use terrain damage deploys a degree of passing techniques, and usefully having enough cards to still stay in the same round with a degree of minimal wastage, and still having enough disruptiveness to hopefully win out. with this in mind I've created a deck that has the kinda rarity that you could seek out in a bit of time (sadly though, you still need Mordecai's Staff Of Magma The major difference is adding nimbus instead of all those bless, that can be very tricky to find 3 of kind + that Stargod's Raiments. In some ways, this has more diversity than the first. But I am not satisfied, the deck simply will not do. So many rares that are not on my priority of collecting, and so... ***BONUS ROUND 2*** Much better! There's your peasant right there. No volcano, but more control and slightly more movement so you can find line of sight for the fire walls. Here's the simple what is there PEASANT Spoiler Obsidian Pillar Level 4 Human Priest Purging Mace Purging Mace Rusted Angel Mail Twisting Shield Black Iron Boots Medallion Of St. Vigus Amulet Of Inspiration Tainted Terraformer Advanced Flexibility Superb Piety 6 x Purging Burst 2 x Lifesaving Block 1 x Rusty Armor 1 x Demonic Power 4 x Purging Strike 1 x Healing Rays 1 x Immovable 2 x Impenetrable Nimbus 1 x Quick Run 3 x Inspiration 2 x Predictable Stab 1 x Slowed 1 x Healing Blessing 1 x Consecrate Ground 1 x Radiation Bolt 2 x Leadership 1 x Hard To Pin Down 2 x Altruism 2 x Pushback Parry 1 x Hardy Mail Dusk Mantle Level 1 Human Wizard Pearwood Staff Pearwood Staff Locket Of The Gale Sensate's Ring Sensate's Ring Akon's Amulet Robe Of Lightness Spinning Top Boots Advanced Flexibility Electroporter Novice 2 x Hover 2 x Frost Jolt 1 x Dimensional Traveller 2 x Fright 1 x Ember Spray 2 x Spin Around 2 x Boiling Armor 2 x Gusts Of War 2 x Little Zap 6 x Winds Of War 2 x Mighty Spark 2 x Leadership 1 x Slowed 2 x Squeamish 1 x Cloth Armor 1 x Spark Generator 1 x Charge 2 x Acid Jet 1 x Spark Inductor 1 x Dissolve Armor Devourer Level 1 Human Wizard Counterblast Staff Hotglass Staff Firewall Amulet Firewall Amulet Firewall Amulet Runestone Robe Of Lightness Hexcoco Boots Advanced Flexibility Electroporter Novice 2 x Hover 7 x Wall Of Fire 1 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Spark Inductor 1 x Surging Blast 1 x Winds Of War 1 x Quickness Aura 3 x Perplexing Ray 2 x Forgetfulness 1 x Magma Spray 1 x Spark Generator 2 x Hot Spot 2 x Leadership 2 x Run 1 x Squeamish 1 x Cloth Armor 2 x Combustible 1 x Sizzling Bolt 2 x Sorcerous Blast 1 x Slowed 1 x Jarring Block QUEEN Spoiler Obsidian Pillar Level 4 Human Priest Purging Mace Purging Mace Stargod's Raiments Twisting Shield Sticky Slippers Corpselight Charm Medallion Of St. Vigus Corpselight Charm Advanced Flexibility Untrained Piety 6 x Purging Burst 2 x Immovable 1 x Defensiveness 4 x Purging Strike 1 x Hard To Pin Down 4 x Impenetrable Nimbus 2 x Predictable Stab 1 x Slowed 1 x Healing Blessing 1 x Enervating Touch 2 x Unholy Energy 1 x Wild Run 1 x Cushioning Armor 2 x Boosted Heal 2 x Leadership 2 x Altruism 1 x Bless 2 x Pushback Parry Dusk Mantle Level 1 Human Wizard Pearwood Staff Staff Of The Inferno Disruptive Warp Pistol Disruptive Warp Pistol Locket Of The Gale Sensate's Ring Portal Frock Sticky Slippers Advanced Flexibility Electroporter Novice 1 x Frost Jolt 1 x Spark Generator 3 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Spark Inductor 2 x Firestorm 1 x Fright 1 x Ember Spray 2 x Immovable 2 x Ember Burst 4 x Winds Of War 2 x Force Cannon 1 x Mighty Spark 2 x Whirlwind Enemies 2 x Leadership 1 x Slowed 1 x Gusts Of War 1 x Little Zap 1 x Wild Run 2 x Combustible 2 x Accelerate Time 1 x Acid Jet 1 x Squeamish 1 x Hardy Mail Devourer Level 1 Human Wizard Mordecai's Staff Of Magma Staff Of The Inferno Boiling Warper Boiling Warper Mirror Of Melting Armorbane Pendant Portal Frock Sticky Slippers Advanced Flexibility Electroporter Novice 1 x Memory Loss 2 x Immovable 3 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Spark Inductor 2 x Firestorm 2 x Accelerate Time 4 x Boiling Armor 2 x Burning Fingers 2 x Ember Burst 1 x Dissolve Armor 1 x Spark Generator 2 x Leadership 1 x Slowed 4 x Volcano 1 x Wild Run 3 x Combustible 2 x Flash Of Agony 1 x Stone Spikes 1 x Hardy Mail KING Spoiler Obsidian Pillar Level 4 Human Priest Purging Mace Purging Mace Stargod's Raiments Twisting Shield Sticky Slippers St Ulrich's Bones St Ulrich's Bones St Ulrich's Bones Advanced Flexibility Untrained Piety 6 x Purging Burst 2 x Immovable 1 x Defensiveness 4 x Purging Strike 1 x Hard To Pin Down 3 x Cleansing Ray 2 x Predictable Stab 1 x Slowed 1 x Enervating Touch 3 x Martyr Blessing 1 x Wild Run 1 x Cushioning Armor 2 x Leadership 2 x Altruism 4 x Bless 2 x Pushback Parry Dusk Mantle Level 1 Human Wizard Pearwood Staff Mullik's Blisterstaff Disruptive Warp Pistol Reality Warper Sensate's Ring Sensate's Ring Portal Frock Sticky Slippers Advanced Flexibility Focused Teleportation 1 x Frost Jolt 5 x Dimensional Traveller 2 x Firestorm 1 x Fright 2 x Accelerate Time 2 x Immovable 1 x Short Perplexing Ray 2 x Gusts Of War 2 x Little Zap 1 x Force Cannon 1 x Mighty Spark 4 x Force Cone 2 x Leadership 1 x Slowed 2 x Squeamish 1 x Telekinesis 1 x Wild Run 2 x Winds Of War 1 x Whirlwind Enemies 1 x Acid Jet 1 x Hardy Mail Devourer Level 1 Human Wizard Mordecai's Staff Of Magma Wym's Lavastaff Boiling Warper Boiling Warper Armorbane Pendant Armorbane Pendant Portal Frock Goat Boots Advanced Flexibility Electroporter Novice 2 x Memory Loss 1 x Immovable 3 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Spark Inductor 4 x Firestorm 2 x Accelerate Time 1 x Weakened Armor 2 x Boiling Armor 2 x Burning Fingers 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 1 x Spark Generator 2 x Leadership 1 x Slowed 6 x Volcano 2 x Combustible 2 x Flash Of Agony 2 x Dissolve Armor 1 x Hardy Mail
Perhaps so, as I guess fundamentally you avoid any type of tactical movement in game. But that's just like burft, and in terms of annoyance, the frequency of anything in meta, like bejewelled elves, or say dwarves with nimble and stacks of armor, is really a bigger aggitator to me. Problematically I find that if not choosing any warriors in a build, relying on wiz for damage increases the chance of failure without something like this (you could go all priests but it's difficult to remove all the armor to validate a vamps exisistence). Although, as someone said to me, this is an argument about which you prefer, swiss cheese or cheddar. It's up to a personal stance.
You're not wrong. I ran a nasty little triple volc build on Central Processing that caused a few tears, and I just tested it in Barrels, where it seems strongish. In this build, each character is only packing four volcs and two accels, which doesn't sound that good, until you remember that all three characters are essentially doing the same thing, tripling your desired results. Your chances of drawing at least one volcano in the first two turns on a single character is 55%, and the same calculation for an accelerate time in the first three turns is 43%, with dimensional traveller at 78% in three turns. I tried it with a bless priest and that just seemed to slow it down. The MO is to draw blocks with whirlwind enemy, harass with flash of agony and shred any powerful armour with dissolve (akon's works better for armour, but you'd be surprised at the amount of times you'd catch a support with either vulnerable or raging strike--or once, deliciously, both--and be able to peck some sizeable damage with 2-3x 1 damage attacks). Force cannon buys some time against rushing/stepping fighters. Within 3-4 turns you should have dimensional traveller on all three wizzes, a couple of volcs in hand, and most likely at least one accel as well. Then the carnage begins. On Central, it seemed only mildly vulnerable to a strong burfft deck with an ideal draw, and superfast elves. One deck packing a tonne of illusory barriers beat it, and of course volc decks tend to end in a stalemate and a race to the VP. The other good point to this build is that there are no key characters to lose. Burfft builds in particular are stuffed if the priest dies. Three cats on a hot tin roof Level 23 Dwarf Wizard Mordecai's Staff Of Magma Staff Of The Misanthrope Disruptive Warp Pistol Disruptive Warp Pistol Destructive Wand Destructive Wand Portal Frock Vira's Shoes Raging Battler Focused Teleportation 4 x Volcano 1 x Reliable Mail 2 x Powerful Spark 2 x Accelerate Time 2 x Shimmering Aura 1 x Walk 2 x Whirlwind Enemies 2 x Blind Rage 1 x Hardy Mail 6 x Flash Of Agony 2 x Force Cannon 5 x Dimensional Traveller 6 x Dissolve Armor
Volcano decks tend to require more planning and finesse, and are generally despised by those who prefer hitting people with sticks.
What you're discussing avoids why there's such a potential for aggravation. Whirlwind is an average card, with very situational/random circumstance, and blocks in terrain damage type decks do not matter so much (unless it's sheilding block/hard to pin). Flash of agony is just a bad card because your starting position tends to be in line of sight of your own characters, reducing the cards potential exponentially... If drawn first round, it's often, nay, THE discarded choice. When in the second round, you may be able to use it, if you'd decided to dissperse the team, or gaining mail and expecting more consistentency then the *possible* warrior opposing you, which is also unlikely, and very much situational. The point on dissolving armor is that it does both drawing blocks or succeeds in removing armor. Since we can have memory loss, you have two cards that draw those blocks out with a better ability and higher chance of impact. (That's ignoring my version of a purging burst priest, which also incredibly adds to the same effect) Absolutely true! It's not easy playing these types of decks when the majority of 1200 elo+ expects and wills itself to move fast. Here's a very good example of what I mean in terms of player choices in deck building, the Shieldripper! It's a beyond excellent item, however due to it's lesser zone of effect, and because it does not add any step, it becomes generally unviable without some savvy warrioriness. It's an item I do not expect, and one that will frequently lose to anything other than another warrior. The task using volcanoes is managing a decent time to decide when all movement has been lost, and how to discover this, with a great hand yourself, passing in an effective manner. I use leadership to remove the chaff, and without that card specifically, I'd have a much harder time with drawing due to the same point of removing anything I can see as useless against the opponent.
Trust me, this build was aggravating to play against, and I heard plenty of reasons why from my opponents. Nope, you've got a bronze card that affects all three opponent characters regardless of range and cover, removes shielding block and hard to pin, and upsets their positioning (which often tricks inexperienced players into immediately wasting a move to regain position). It's a pretty good deal for the weak card on an accel time item, where your other choices are more powerful but shorter range (flame spit, tele, force cone) or useless (burning fingers, acid blast). Which is why cards like WWE, dissolve armor and flash are great, because they give you something to do that looks somewhat like a legitimate strategy, while you're waiting for you opponent to use up all their moves. At least to a novice-intermediate player, experienced players can smell a volc deck a mile off anyway. I did mention that this was a build primarily for Central Processing. On turn 1, if you move your dwarf wizzes into the far left and right corners, and the middle one into the middle square of the alcove behind him/her, then the flash from the left/right wiz only hits one of your characters, and the flash from the central wiz hits neither. With four pieces of decent armour (reliable, hardy and 2x shimmer), it's not long until you draw a piece or two on each character, at which point they become practically immune to their teammates' flashes. Your opponent isn't, however, because their armour is gone from the dissolves. I find a volc deck is like rich food, though, too much and you stop enjoying it. I'll probably only run it on Central, and maybe test it on other open/wiz-friendly maps (like Shrine and Waterways), just to see how it goes.
Thanks for the inspiration. The 3-wizard, mega-volcano build is coming for the rest of 2015. Ice House is going to melt.
I prefer brute force to finesse, and if I don't have a firearm, mortar, or the ability to call in an air strike, hitting with a stick ranks fairly high on my choice of alternative responses. However, I won't speak ill of those who use volcano. If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the lava.
You don't seem to understand. Volcano decks punish you for using something you get not because you added that to your deck, but because it's given to you by a GAME - Movement. There's even a high chance that the following happens: You don't use up your movement card. He uses volcano. Now you use your movement on all three heroes to avoid damage. He uses volcano again. And you ask yourself "How does one even fight against that?". The answer is... you can't. This deck requires tons of team moves (you can't have a lot of these though), tons of cleansing (which having too much hurts you when you play against other decks), etc. So basically, you can win against volcano, but then you won't win against anything else. It's not chess when your opponent swallows your chess pieces.
^^^ once I have dimension traveller on at least two wizzes and draw a pair of accels, it's usually over. Sometimes that happens on turn 2, sometimes turn 5.
Maybe I don't, but I think I do. I haven't played MP in a long time, but I played against volcano quite a few times and never lost to it. Admittedly, I didn't face the best players, nor did I have to contend with AT (which I hated to see get into player's decks). Volcano is annoying, but like any viable build it should have a decent chance of winning if built and played well. If it ever becomes truly dominant I expect it to be toned down. Until then, it's just annoying.
Yes it definately is, I just don't find that the whirlwinds are the annoying part. It's the volcano. I doubt that if whirlwind moves an elf two steps toward you that they would pass up the opportunity to rush against an all wiz team. Out of all the accel items it is probably the best choice to go for, for the fact that its not hard to attain, so I do agree that it is useful, just has less ways to be more harmful than the dissolves. Ok, I can see flash is very good when you can attain four armors even without being map/league specific. I tend to dislike things (as you may of guessed) that are abit of a slow burner in normal play, where I would probably discard the armor or the agony for a spare volcano if given a choice. Good point on Central Processing.
Accelerate Time is one of the cards which I think the developers have had great success with in implementation. It was thoughtfully placed on only Arcane Items for a major token each; and all of the items it's on have flair and use. I'm constantly finding ways to exploit each kind of Accelerate Time item. Really, I even have a theoretical build ready for Klonox's Warper (and trust me it's nasty).
You're not wrong, Veza, I can confidently say that it would break the game on any map where wizards are separated by warriors for more than 2-3 turns of default movement.
