Righteous!

 

In the last Deck Building 101 article, we covered the basics of how one can think about a deck. Decks in the WoW TCG fit into a number of archetypical categories that describe how they are played (for example, rush, solo and control) and their construction is directed by a set of fundamental principles (such as synergy, curve and efficiency). Once you’re armed with these concepts and ideas, the best way to advance your deck building skills further is just to jump right in and get your hands dirty trying to put together new decks, and that is the purpose of these next few articles in the Deck Building 101 series.

 

The first thing to do when beginning a deck project is to decide on a goal and direction for the deck. The goal can be something like a deck archetype and it tells you how you’ll want your deck to play when you have it finished. Your direction helps you narrow down your potential card pool. Picking a class and faction can give you some of your direction, but oftentimes there will be a certain card or combination that just begs for a deck to be built around it.

 

Surprise Attacks! formed the foundation of the Rotun solo deck that had its heyday at last years Worlds. Dragon Breath facilitated fire mage burn decks’ rise to power by allowing them to handle threats that would’ve otherwise overwhelmed them. Shadowfiend, with its ability to ready a resource upon damaging an enemy hero, calls for a deck filled with cheap allies and abilities to pile damage onto the opposing player before he ever has a chance to respond. Other allies like Kagella Shadowmark and Broan Charges-the-Fight (along with Omedus’ killer flip) pretty much locked this particular build in for the Horde.

 

March of the Legion gave us a new kind of card, one that referenced the type of damage that an ally or ability deals (e.g. fire, shadow, holy). Of this card kind, there are three talent spec abilities (Fire Power, Shadow Weaving and Sanctity Aura) that reference that little graphic in the bottom left corner of your ally cards, as well as a mini-host of rare allies that power up your allies or provide other benefits for your deck in the same way.

 

Shadow Weaving and Fire Power have already found themselves a place in the current meta, partly because they fit rather cozily into existing builds that had already proven themselves top-tier in the pre-MotL competitive meta. Sanctity Aura, on the other hand, hasn’t seen much of the light of the day since its release, but it practically screams for a new deck type to be built up around it.

 

From a deck building perspective, Sanctity Aura is advantageous because it provides a very clear direction for a deck to be built with. Sanctity Aura is an on-going ability that boosts the attack of holy allies in your party by two while attacking and increases the holy damage that your hero might deal with powers and abilities by two (righteous!). Therefore, it begs for a deck with holy-dealing allies and abilities to be built around it, a deck where these cards will form the structural backbone. Of course, we’ll need other non-holy cards like quests and class abilities to fill in the gaps, but our holy cards will take up the majority. We’ll start with them as our potential card pool.

 

The Holy Rollers

 

Usually, when I begin deck building, I’ll lay all of my potential cards out on a big table and sort them into groups. As it is, this is the Internet, so instead of a table, we have lists, charts and, well, walls of descriptive text that will have to suffice.

 

When I start grouping my card pool, I’ll put cards together by card type and go through them to determine the possible synergies that they might offer, as well as starting to determine which cards just aren’t efficient enough to make the cut (there are a lot of cards from the HoA days, for example, that are simply starting to show their age and are no longer worth their cost). Generally after this I’ll lay the cards out in a row according to their costs to determine the deck’s potential curve which in turn will help you decide at the very end how many of each particular card you’d want to include (take a look back at the first Deck Building article for a refresher if you’re not sure what to make of the italicized words).

 

Sanctity Aura is a retribution paladin card, so of course we’ll require a ret pally hero. Luckily, there are three (two Alliance, one Horde) so we’re free to make a Sanctity Aura deck of either faction, although granting that one of the Alliance heroes was a Burning Crusade promo and so is not exactly easily to get. As you’ll notice below, any neutral ally cards that we may want to include are going to be Aldor (with the notable exception of A’dal), so if we’re going to include a sub-faction, Aldor’s going to be it (unless, you opt out of any holy-ally Aldor cards and go instead for non-holy Scryer: that’s an option, but they certainly won’t synergize with Sanctity Aura like the rest of our deck).

 

I mentioned above the fact that every good deck building adventure should start out with a direction and goal. The direction was provided for us pretty clearer from Sanctity Aura (aggressive holy allies and abilities) and our goal is provided from exactly the same source. Consider Sanctity Aura for a moment as a card: it’s a four cost on-going ability (four cost meaning that the earliest it could come on-line is turn four) that benefits steady attacking. It couldn’t be any more tempo of a card. Like a tempo deck then, the idea is for our Sanctity Aura deck to be able to deal with opposing threats while steadily piling up damage towards a mid-game turn victory (as in, later than rush’s victory range but earlier than control’s).

 

So anyway I did the grunt work for you, and here is the list of all the potential cards that fit our holy requirement:

 

Allies (Horde)

 

Blood Knight Tarae, Dark Cleric Jocasta, Deacon Johanna, “Fungus Face” McGillicutty, Grandma Deadsie, Katsin Bloodoath, Kelvor Valorshine, Kiana De’nara, Lessa the Awakener, Nalonae, Ra’chee, Shadala, Tyrennius Scatheblade, Zul’that Steeltusk

 

Allies (Alliance)

 

Alhas, Archbishop Benedictus, Caretaker Mooncrier, Champion Zosimuus, Dorric the Martyr, Freya Lightsworn, Hailey Goodchilde, Hanaga Silvervein, High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind, Jewelcrafter Zanaz, Krenig Soulguard, Kryton Barleybeard, Lady Courtney Noel, Lady Kath, Lilnas the Calm, Lord Grayson Shadowbreaker, Magdeline Prideheart, Marilyn of the Sacred Vows, Marnie Moonlight, Medoc Spiritwarden, Miner Stonedeep, Nalkas, Reverend Tobias, Seraph the Exalted, Seva Shadowdancer, Stylean Silversteel, Vestia Abiectus, Wyneth Harridan

 

Allies (Neutral)

 

A’dal; Adyen the Lightwarden; Anchorite Alonora; Anchorite Jaliah; Anchorite Viluaa; Ishanah, High Priestess of the Aldor; Neophyte Morandi; Vindicator Belian; Vindicator Kaldel; Vindicator Khorin; Vindicator Zalreth

 

Abilities (Holy/Paladin)

 

Consecration, Hammer of the Righteous, Hammer of Wrath, Seal of Blood, Seal of Command, Seal of Vengeance

 

So to understand the potential synergies these cards might have, look at the different powers and abilities they offer and form them into groups. Any set of particular allies may work well with each other and may make choosing another card that compliments them easier. As you might notice, UDE tends to group powers roughly according to class and race, so because our holy card pool is made up of predominately priests and paladins, there will be some fairly consistent powers that you can find throughout.

 

For the Horde, the holy allies can do the following things: ability hate, damage prevention, unpreventable damage, healing that doesn’t require exhausting, offering an alternate pay cost, and retrieving allies from your graveyard upon entering play.

 

The holy allies for the Alliance do the following things (with many similarities, although note the differences in activation cost or condition): ability hate, healing with a variety of costs and conditions, ally retrieval, and even one ally each of damage prevention and deck milling.

 

The neutral allies desire a special measure of attention, because they can be put into a deck of either faction. With one exception, they’re Aldor and being Aldor means that we have access to the more universally powerful subfaction keyword: Inspire. With these cards we have Inspire for heroes, allies and resources. I’ll draw your attention to Inspire: Ally as by far the most important incarnation of the Aldor power. And here’s why: Sanctity Aura only benefits your allies when attacking, so with a character with Inspire: Ally in play, any protector you might have can do double duty as attacker and waiting readied protector. Inspire: Ally in this case works in your favor making your deck more aggressive so it is a fairly strong choice.

 

Adyen the Lightwarden is an epic ally who locks down the opposing player’s graveyard, and the two cards Vindicator Belian and Neophyte Morandi both possess the highly exploitable power of having all damage that would be dealt to an ally in your party dealt to them instead. Their presence might allow you to set up some very uneven ally trades, effectively allowing you to lose a 1-cost ally while a bigger ally of yours takes down an opponent’s ally of cost 4, 5 or higher. Zaistor the Vigilant is the martyr of the bunch, allowing you to destroy him to make an ally in your party indestructible for that turn, and he in no way combos with Vindicator Belian, so don’t even think about.

 

The High Priestess of the Aldor should look fairly familiar to you by now as an increasingly popular finisher card. If you decide to include such a card in your deck she seems like a pretty solid choice. A’dal would be our other option, but at a cost of 10 he’s probably won’t prove as useful as often as the cheaper High Priestess might be. But let’s not cast him off just yet. A’dal’s power is that he universally prevents any damage that may be dealt in the game: effectively bringing everything to a screeching halt, barring any direct ally removal. However, as you’ll note above, the holy allies of the Horde have as one of their powers the ability to deal unpreventable damage. Let me say it for you: Righteous! And as you’ll see below, three of our paladin abilities do damage of the unpreventable type.

 

The paladin holy abilities are a fun bunch. The most noteworthy are the Hammers, as they do conditional packets of three damage for a relatively low cost of one or two. Play these with Sanctity Aura out and you have the possibility of dealing five damage for a single resource! And because the card that allows you do to this is Hammer of Wrath, which specifies that the target must be one with damage on it, you’ll find yourself more often than not slamming the opposing hero with this rather cost effective combination.

 

So now that we’ve gone through the cards to classify them and determine what they can do and how they might possibly synergize, let’s take a look at curves to see how the numbers might work out. To do this, we’ll use a rather simple chart that looks something like this:

 

1-

2-

3-

4-

5-

6-

7-

8-

9-

10-

 

For the Horde, then the ally curve looks like this:

 

1- Ra’chee (1)

2- Deacon Johanna, Nalonae, Shadala, Tyrennius Scatheblade (4)

3- Grandma Deadsie, Kelvor Valorshine, “Fungus Face” McGillicutty (3)

4- Katsin Bloodoath (1)

5- Zul’that Steeltusk (1)

6- Blood Knight Tarae, Dark Cleric Jocasta, Lessa the Awakener (3)

7- Kiani De’nara (1)

8-

9-

10-

 

This curve is actually pretty solid and in large part thanks to MotL. It’s got cards all the way through from one to seven and only a couple that might see the cutting room floor because of the lack of efficiency (cost vs. utility), and, yes, I’m looking at you Ra’chee, but more on that later.

 

The Alliance curve, which is a little thicker but also has a little more fluff to be cut, looks pretty much exactly like the following:

 

1- Dorric the Martyr, Krenig Soulguard, Kryton Barleybeard (3)

2- Freya Lightsworn, Hailey Goodchilde, Hanaga Silvervein (3)

3- Alhas, Caretaker Mooncrier, Jewelmaker Zanaz, Lady Courtney Noel, Seva Shadowdancer, Vestia Abiectus (6)

4- Archbishop Benedictus, Champion Zosimuus, Marnie Moonlight, Nalkas, Reverend Tobias, Wyneth Harridan (6)

5- High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind, Lady Kath, Lilnas the Calm, Magdeline Prideheart, Marilyn of the Sacred Vows, Medoc Spiritwarden (6)

6- Stylean Silversteel (1)

7- Lord Grayson Shadowbreaker, Miner Stonedeep (2)

8-

9-

10-

 

Also a thorough curve having cards to play in all the slots one through seven, although there are quite a few more of the Alliance allies who just don’t quite stack up anymore in terms of efficiency. The blue allies seem to be heavier in the three through five slots, whereas Horde is heaviest in slots two and three and this might have an effect on how either one of the decks play out (meaning the Horde version might be slighter faster, whereas the Alliance may play a little more control – also pointing to this is the fact that the Horde allies tend to having higher attack values to their cost).

 

Finally, the supplemental neutral ally curve has the following distribution:

 

1- Vindicator Belian, Xavar the Resourceful (2)

2- Vindicator Kaldel, Zaistor the Vigilant (2)

3- Adyen the Lightwarden, Anchorite Viluaa, Neophyte Morandi (3)

4- Anchorite Alonora (1)

5- Anchorite Jaliah, Vindicator Khorin (2)

6-

7-

8- Ishanah, High Priestess of the Aldor (1)

9-

10- A’dal (1)

 

Putting It All Together

 

One of the great things about a Sanctity Aura deck of either faction is that the holy allies seem to make a fairly self-sufficient bunch on their own, granting though that the Alliance version of the deck could probably use a few low cost non-holy protectors. The only other place the allies are lacking is in equipment hate, meaning that you would either have to pack some equipment hating abilities or, again, include non-holy allies whose powers can help you take care of any gray threats that make their appearance on the opponent’s side of the table.

 

Before I go any further I should issue a warning: there will be no final deck list here. Providing one would be totally counter to the expressed purpose of these articles. What I do want to do, though, is walk through the beginning parts of deck building and then provide a solid basis for a builder to build the rest of the deck off of. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how the curves might come together for Horde and Alliance, and for that, we’ll return to our concepts of synergy, efficiency, and curve.

 

The Horde ally curve is relatively skinny, but there are a few cards in there still that deserve to be cut. Definitely Ra’chee, Deacon Johanna, Dark Cleric Jocasta, and also Grandma Deadsie. Take a look at the Horde cards. They’re united in having high attack values for their costs, so they want you to be aggressive with them. High attack values mean both that they can deal big damage to the opponent and trade higher up the ally scale (i.e. they can kill allies that have a higher cost). Compare Johanna with Tyrennius, both cost two, but Scatheblade is much more efficient in terms of combat for what you pay. Compare Dark Cleric Jocasta to Lessa the Awakener. Jocasta has a low attack and only puts an ally card into your hand when she comes into play. Granted, Lessa can only target an ally of cost two or less, but playing her on turn six and pulling a Tyrennius from your graveyard to put into play is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Deadsie’s a fun card, but she can only be doing at the most damage and that’s only when attacking. It’s great that she can’t be dealt damage to, but she’s not aggressive enough for what we want.

 

This leaves us a few gaps, though. These, I’d offer, can be aptly filled in with neutral allies from the Aldor. The uneven trades that Belian can create should not be understated, and, if you take a look again at the abilities, this deck probably isn’t going to be running enough one-cost instants to warrant including Xavar and his Inspire: Resource. Inspire: Ally is solid, and in terms of combat efficiency it’s pretty easy to see that Kaldel can be taken over Alonora. Adyen’s great (a solid 3/3 for 3 with a cool ability) but he’s unique. We’ll include him, but only a copy or two, I’d say. And A’dal… well, he’s a gamble, but if you get to play him and your opponent can’t respond he can de facto win you the game just by entering play.

 

So I’d say that our final Horde/Aldor ally curve could look something like this, although this is definitely not the only way to do it:

 

1- Vindicator Belian (1)

2- Vindicator Kaldel, Tyrennius Scatheblade, Zaistor the Vigilant (3)

3- Kelvor Valorshine, “Fungus Face” McGillicuty, Adyen the Lightwarden (3)

4- Katsin Bloodoath (1)

5- Zul’that Steeltusk (1)

6- Lessa the Awakener (1)

7-

8- Ishanah, High Priestess of the Aldor (1)

9-

10- A’dal (1)

 

The Alliance curve needs even more cutting. As a matter of fact, rather than listing which cards gets cut, I’ll just jump right to reprinting the curve with the allies that are worth retaining plus the Aldor and non-holy supplements. When you look through to see what cards I kept and what cards were cut, pay special notice to cost vs. attack ratios (ally health is important too, but damage will ultimately help you win the race) and also to the activation costs for allies’ powers. Exhausting to use their ability is counter-productive to our Sanctity Aura driven deck. One other difference is the card Champion Zosimuus, his power allows us to make attacking our threats on the board damaging to the opposing player. We don’t want to overdo it, but that would mean there are some advantages to playing cards with higher health to cost totals so it forces our opponent to make 2-1 or 3-1 trades with them, or else burn their ally hate abilities. So our Alliance/Aldor curve will wind up looking something like this:

 

1- Vindicator Belian, Kryton Barleybeard (2)

2- Zaistor the Vigilant (1)

3- Adyen the Lightwarden, Alhas, Caretaker Mooncrier, Kulvo Jadefist (4)

4- Champion Zosimuus (1)

5- Magdeline Prideheart, Medoc Spiritwarden (2)

6-

7- Lord Grayson Shadowbreaker (1)

8- Ishanah, High Priestess of the Aldor (1)

9-

10-

 

Again, both curves are only one way of building things, but they seemed to work best together and synergize powerfully with our founding card, Sanctity Aura. The last thing to do is deal with numbers and what other cards might fill our final slots… but first, briefly, abilities.

 

Hammer of Wrath and Hammer of Righteousness are unavoidably good. Their cost effective enough on their own and with Sanctity Aura’s blessing they become even more powerful for their price. Consecration can be incredible with Sanctity Aura in play, but at a cost of six, I would actually not include it – at least not in the Horde version. Ideally, you don’t want to be facing an opposing board filled with enemy allies (your early game trades and Hammers should have been taking care of this) and these decks would probably rather throw down an ally turn six than play a Consecration, however big.

 

By the Numbers

 

The guiding principle for deciding how many of a certain card to include in a deck is consistency. For cards that are vital to your deck and its game plan, you’ll want to throw in four. Cards that are almost as important, but are perhaps have perhaps a higher cost or are not the only card in your deck that could fulfill that duty, you’ll want to play three or perhaps two in your deck (two for uniques and more expensive cards – again and as always: generally speaking… be always mindful of exceptions). Three and two is also for the cheap card that isn’t as good on its own as it is with other cards already in play. Finally, for the big game winning control style cards, include only one in your deck.

 

And without further ado, here are the foundational parts of a Sanctity Aura deck based off of our core card pool:

 

Horde/Aldor Sanctity Aura Deck

 

Sanctity Aura x4

Hammer of Wrath x4

Hammer of Righteous x4

Vindicator Kaldel x4

Tyrennius Scatheblade x4

Kelvor Valorshine x3

Katsin Bloodoath x3

“Fungus Face” McGillicutty x2

Vindicator Belian x2

Adyen the Lightwarden x2

Zul’that Steeltusk x2

Zaistor the Vigilant x2

Lessa the Awakener x2

Ishanah, High Priestess of the Aldor x1

A’dal x1

 

Total: 40

 

Alliance/Aldor Sanctity Aura Deck

 

Sanctity Aura x4

Hammer of Wrath x4

Hammer of Righteous x4

Caretaker Mooncrier x4

Champion Zosimuus x4

Kryton Barleybeard x3

Kulvo Jadefist x3

Vindicator Belian x2

Magdeline Prideheart x2

Zaistor the Vigilant x2

Adyen the Lightwarden x2

Medoc Spiritwarden x1

Lord Grayson Shadowbreaker x1

Ishanah, High Priestess of the Aldor x1

 

Total: 39

 

So what final cards could possibly fill our last few deck slots? Obviously, we’ll need room for quests (opinions here can differ greatly, but somewhere between 9-12 would be a safe place to begin, adding or subtracting to taste). Without any discussion of them (because this article is already plenty long enough), here are some cards I’d recommend for consideration:

 

Hellreaver

Greatsword of Horrid Dreams

Paladin Training

Sheath of Light

Hammer of Justice

Blessing of Freedom

Aldori Legacy Defender

Platinum Shield of the Valorous

Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros

Sonic Spear

 

-Ryan

Tags: Warcraft

Related to: World of Warcraft TCG

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