Unrelenting Zeal

I've always been a fan of combo decks. It's hard not to appreciate the sudden explosive power of a deck designed to get a few working parts in play and then go berserk on an opponent. It's also scary to play against them, knowing that you're always fighting the clock because at any moment they could start up their machine of destruction and send it hurtling at your face.

There's some well known combos in WoW TCG, Morlug/Faesha being the one to get the most attention recently, but my favorite one comes in the form of a glowing sword and a burst of attacks: Sword of Zeal + Unrelenting Assault.

Many people are aware of the combo, but most consider it so janky that they have never given it much thought. This often leads to a suprise factor (even though they might suspect the combo is coming, often they don't understand how it plays out) which can be used to your advantage.

I've been playing this deck since December, and it's gone through many different iterations. My inital setup was a little too focused on the Sword of Zeal, and the overal consistency of the deck suffered. Over time, I've tweaked it in several ways, adding a second win condition and giving it some more early game resilience.

I placed 2nd at Sunday's Realm Qualifier at DMF Orlando with almost this exact decklist (I maindecked Wreck's instead of the bloodrages), going 4-1. In the main event at DMF, I ran Horde Paladin. In hindsight, I wish I'd run this deck for two reasons. First, there really wasn't a lot of solo hate in the main DMF tournament, and second, I enjoy this deck a lot more than Nathanandan control.

So without further ado, here's my Unrelenting Zeal decklist:

HERO: Victoria Jaton

QUESTS
4x To Serve Kum'sha
4x Big Game Hunter
3x Manhunt
3x The Name of the Beast

EQUIPMENT
4x Sword of Zeal
4x Latro's Shifting Sword
4x Stronghold Gauntlets
4x Bracers of the Green Fortress
3x Perditions Blade
3x Cloak of the Pit Stalker

ABILITIES
4x Gear Upgrade
4x Puncture
2x Burn Away
3x Withering Shout
4x Unrelenting Assault
3x Bloodrage

ALLIES
4x "Steelsmith" Joseph Carrol

SIDEBOARD
2x Lionheart Helm
1x Withering Shout
4x Wreck
3x Berserker Rage

First, I'll discuss the major win conditions of the deck, which are the Sword of Zeal + Unrelenting Assault, or Steelsmith + Bracers of the Green Fortress.

Sword of Zeal Combo

The primary goal of the deck is to start a turn with Sword of Zeal / Latro's Shifting Sword in play, then play Unrelenting Assault (costs 5) and have at least 1 resource open to fuel it. If your opponent doesn't have a way to stop you (Intercept, Cyclone, etc... there are plenty of ways), then you can attack forever.

Here's how it works:

Unrelenting Assault, Cost 5
You can’t play other cards this turn.
If you’ve played no other cards this turn, when your hero attacks this turn, you may pay 1. If you do, ready your hero and all of your Melee weapons.

Sword of Zeal, Cost 4
When your hero deals combat damage with Sword of Zeal, target player may ready that many of his resources.
2 Attack 2 Swing Cost

Latro's Shifting Sword, Cost 4
Your hero has dual wield.
You pay 2 less to strike with other Swords.
3 Attack 2 Swing Cost

Your turn starts, you've got the Sword of Zeal and Latro's Shifting Sword in play, five resources down, and an unrelenting assault in your hand.

You draw a card, and play it face down as your sixth resource. Then you exhaust 5 resources and play Unrelenting Assault. If it resolves, you're halfway there.

Next, declare an attack on your opponents hero. If the attack goes through, then you exhaust your hero and immediately pay 1 resource to activate Unrelenting Assault, which allows you to ready your Hero and your swords. Now your Hero is ready, but still attacking.

Then, you strike with the Sword of Zeal. Because you have Latro's in play, the Sword of Zeal is free to swing. The sword does 2 damage, and you ready two resources.

Declare another attack with your hero, paying 1 resource for Unrelenting Assault. Your hero exhausts to attack, then readies along with your two swords. You can then strike with the Sword of Zeal again. Each time you strike you ready 2 resources. Once you have 3 resources ready, you can pay to swing with Latro's blade as well as the Sword of Zeal, and then you'll be hitting for 5 and readying 5 resources.

At this point, if you havent been stopped, you've won the game.

Stopping the Combo

Knowing how your combo can be thwarted is vital in deciding when to play it. There's really two main ways people stop the combo, either by preventing your hero from attacking (Intercept, Hammer of Justice, Cyclone, etc) or by preventing the damage you do with Sword of Zeal (and thus stopping you from readying resources).

The first one is the real problem, as there's not much you can do to stop it. If you play a shield bash in reaction to a Cyclone, you're already nullifying your Unrelenting Assault - because it stops working if you play another card. This is why I don't usually run Shield Bash, because when I need it, I can't play it.

The second scenario, damage prevention, can be played around simply by waiting a few more turns so you've got more resources in play. This way you can strike several times before needing to have the Sword of Zeal ready your resources. Also, the Lionheart Helm is an excellent sideboard card if you notice your opponent is playing cards like Ice Block or Divine Shield.

The deck isn't a glass cannon, however, so even if your combo doesn't go off the first time, the game isn't an auto-loss by any means. With Stronghold Gauntlets in play, you'll be swinging swords for 7 (or 8 with dual Latro's) a turn, and with Bracers of the Green Fortress, you'll have a decent amount of armor to help you weather your opponent's attacks (not to mention the ability to create a huge Steelsmith for 1 resource).

While the combo is fragile in some ways, it's very powerful in others. It doesn't care about protectors, as long as you can take the damage they do to you, because they can only protect once each - then they'll all be exhausted and you can pound away at your opponent's hero.

The combo can work with just a Sword of Zeal and Stronghold Gauntlets in play, but you'll need 8 resources (5 for unlrelenting, 1 to activate unrelenting, and 2 to pay for your first sword swing).

Steelsmith of the Green Fortress

After playing this deck for a while, I added a second win-condition in the form of the Steelsmith and the Bracers of the Green Fortress. This addition was a major boost to the deck's power. With a good draw, I can play a Steelsmith turn 1, play a cloak of the pit stalker turn 2, and play bracers of the green fortress turn 3 to have a 6/6 steelsmith in play on turn 3.

This isn't a new combo, but few people play it because it's considered to be too inconsistent for real play. The key here is that it isn't the heart of the deck. It allows for some lucky starting hands, but the real benefit is late game when your combo has been shut down and you find you need a way to push a little more damage through.

I remember one game where I had two Steelsmiths in play, with a Sword of Zeal and a Latro's blade. My opponent had me locked down with Cyclone, and knew to expect my Sword of Zeal combo. It was close, and I had to pull a win very soon or I'd be dead. I used Gear Upgrade on the Sword of Zeal (If I can only have one, I prefer to keep Latro's most of the time, because it give you dual wield) and fished out the Bracers of the Green Fortress. I dropped the Bracers on the board and suddenly my 3/3 Steelsmiths became 10/10 each, which gave me the win. It's not a perfect or unfalable setup, but it makes for some great plays sometimes.

Also, having the ability to throw out huge steelsmith's for only 1 resource really helps to put the pressure on your opponent. Because the Steelsmith is a big threat, opponents sometimes shift their focus from your hero to the Steelsmith, and that can buy you one or two turns you need to quietly setup your board for your main combo. This works best against players who haven't played against you before, and aren't fully aware of how to play against our deck.

Supporting Synergy

Outside of the combo, Latro's Shifting Sword is an awesome card in this deck. Drawing more than one is no problem because you can have 2 in play. I've won games by using Unrelenting Assault with two Latro's Swords in play and swinging 3-4 times into my opponent for 6 (or 8 w/gauntlets) damage on each attack.

Perditions Blade is a good early game play, and an excelent target for Gear Upgrade. I'll often play Gear Upgrade on a P-Blade at the end of my opponent's turn. If you have the resources, you can even flip Victoria to immediately drop a sword into play. This is a nice trick for avoiding non-instant equipment destruction in order to combo off.  Opponents will save their puncture for your Sword of Zeal, but if you drop it on the end of their turn, and set your combo in motion on your turn, they're in trouble.

Cloak of the Pit Stalker is awesome against rush decks (although not so great against the untargetables). It also works very well with Withering Shout, allowing you to take out some tougher allys later in the game.

That being said, Withering Shout is a must. It's a powerful card that can win games outright against decks vulnerable to it.

I'd also like to mention the synergy between Sword of Zeal and the Bracers of the Green Fortress, as this is often overlooked by an opponent durring play. With a Sword of Zeal / Latro's Shifting Sword / Stronghold Gauntlets in play, you can pay 2 resources to attack for 7 damage. That 7 damage is delivered as a single packet of damage, so you'll get to ready 7 resources (even though Sword of Zeal seems to say otherwise - this is an actual example in the official rules FAQ).

In other words, you can play 5 resources worth of cards - a steelsmith / cloak / complete some quests / etc - then attack for 2 resources, and ready all 7 resources. Plenty of times I've heard my opponent mutter in frustration when they realize those 7 ready resources are also 1 Armor each.

This lets you play out your turn, attack, and still hunker down to defend against your opponents incoming damage.

Consistency

The key to having this deck run with consistency is the Quest base and the Gear Upgrades.

You'll notice most of the quests I'm using involve searching through the deck. This makes it much easier to try and get your combo online quickly.

For a cost of 2, both To Serve Kum'isha and Big Game Hunter are amazing quests for this deck. Sometimes these cards miss, but not too often, and when they do you'll know you're that much closer to the combo piece you need.

Here's some tips on questing: If you've got all the equipment you need, and are searching for that Unrelenting Assault - don't complete any Big Game Hunters. It hurts to see your game winning card to flip to the bottom of your deck.

Also, even though you can't play cards on the same turn as Unrelenting Assault, you can draw a quest, place it into play, complete it, fish for an Unrelenting Assault, and then play it. This assumes you've got the swords setup and ready. You'll need at least 8 resources in play (9 if the quest is The Name of the Beast) to take this shot, and your opponent will no doubt mutter about how lucky you are.

The truth is, it really isn't luck. What many of my opponents don't realize is that I'm fishing for these cards starting from turn 1. Every quest you complete puts you that much closer to finding the cards you need, and it's really inevitable that you'll eventually get your combo online.

Also, I learned early on not to use Gear Upgrades as a resource. They're a vital part of the deck, and I try to hang onto them whenever I can. Gear Upgrade is an awesome card to play in response to equipment destruction, is great to play on a weapon you're going to lose (like perdition's blade or a second latro's sword) when you play Sword of Zeal, and is also very important as an answer to Bringer of Death. If you've got the Bracers of the Green Fortress in play, The Bringer of Death will kill all of your resources as well as the rest of your board. You can respond by upgrading your own Bracers and thus removing them from play before the Bringer effect hits, saving your resources.

I sometimes main-deck Wreck, sometimes I don't. It really depends on how many Bringer's I think I'll be playing against. Using Wreck on a Bringer of Death is one of the most enjoyable plays you can make. Especially if your opponent has put too much of their focus onto using the Bringer as a safety net. Often times, they let you get away with plays just so their Bringer can come down and have a bigger impact, but when they play the Bringer and it gets Wrecked, there's usually a psychological shift in the game. Where before they tend to think and play like they are in control, after that they start getting a little nervous. Sometimes after Wrecking a Bringer, all you need to do is keep 1 card in hand and 1 resource open and this stopps them from trying a second Bringer (even though you don't have a Wreck, they don't know that).

After seeing many of the preview cards this week from the new set, Servant's of the Betrayers, it looks like there are a lot of reasons to consider solo play. Many of the new cards make it easy to steal an opponent's allys.

So, the next time you're looking for something different, give some thought to going it solo and give this deck a try. If you do, stop by and let me know how it played out for you. I always like hearing about creative plays.

Vindictus is a member of Team F.A.M.E., based in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Tags: Solo Warrior Combo Unrelenting Assault Sword Of Zeal

Related to: World of Warcraft TCG

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