Rak's Redemption
A Paladin Powerhouse Combo

On your mark! Get Set! Game On!

It's a race to the Realm Champs, and it's going to be an awesome mind-bending five weeks for deckbuilding enthusiasts and cardboard hustlers alike. The meta is undefined, carrying over echoes of past decks from previous times, but having no solid front-runners to try and build against.

It's a time to unleash the creative you, and since Servants of the Betrayer has so many new cards that are begging to be abused, the sooner you get started the better.

Let's face it, there are cards all over the place that want to have a deck built around them.

If you're like me, you've been spending a lot of time studying the cardlists, dreaming up ways to build the ultimate board state. During that time, you've probably found plenty of cards that cause tempo-stealing combos to swirl around in your head. More often than not you feel dragged in ten different directions, I know I do, but eventually you've got to settle onto that one idea you just can't shake.

Sometimes, I get so obsessed about a particular combo that I can't stop thinking about how the deck would play out, and I've learned that the only way to get this out of my system is to put a deck together and put it through the ringer.

To give credit where it's due, I first ran across this combo in a post on the Official WoW Forums. The specific post started by Romnus can be found here: http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/community/forums/thread/1111249.aspx.

If you've read my previous Unrelenting Zeal blog, you can guess that I really like these types of decks, and after reading about the combo, I decided I just had to give this one a try.

I'm glad I did, because I'm enjoying it a lot. So, here's my current version of Rak's Redemption:

Hero
Lelora the Dawnslayer (Blood Elf Traitor Paladin)

Allies
4 Rak Skyfury
4 Snarl Hellwind
4 Wysko

Abilities
4 Aura of Fanaticism
4 Seal of Redemption
3 Hammer of Justice
3 Blessing of Freedom
3 Spread the Word
1 Shattering Blow

Equipment
4 Mass of McGowan
4 Sword of Zeal
3 Skibi's Pendant
3 Stronghold Gauntlets
2 Thundering Greathelm

Quests
4 One Draenei's Junk
4 A Warm Welcome
4 Big Game Hunter
2 Solanian's Belongings

Rak Attack!

I'll begin by going over the core Combo of the deck and explaining how it plays out.

The general idea is that you'll need Seal of Redemption in play. This allows you to put an ally card from your graveyard into your hand whenever you do combat damage. Then you'll need the Sword of Zeal in play, so you can do some combat damage. In order for the combo to be infinite, you'll either need a way to make the Sword of Zeal cost 1 less to swing, or give it +1 Attack. Then, you need a way to kill Rak when he comes into play. You can use either Snarl Helwind or Aura of Fanaticism.

So, I'll start by going over the perfect setup (which almost never happens, but its good to for explaining the idea):

Let's say that it's your 5th turn, and you have Snarl Helwind, Aura of Fanaticism, Seal of Redemption, and Sword of Zeal in play, along with 4 resources.

You draw a card, and play your 5th resource.

Now, you declare an attack with your hero, paying 2 to swing with the Sword of Zeal. You'll inflict 3 damage, thanks to Snarl and the Aura giving your hero a +1 Attack. When you do damage, you'll ready 3 resources.

Then you pay 1 resource to play Rak Skyfury. His come-into-play power lets you ready your hero and a weapon, then he instantly dies to the -1 health from Aura of Fanaticism.

You attack with your hero, paying 2 resources (now you have 3 exhausted and 2 ready resources). You inflict 3 combat damage using the Sword of Zeal, which lets you ready 3 resources. You also get to return Rak from your graveyard to your hand, thanks to the Seal of Redemption.

And then the combo goes on and on, because you can continue to play Rak, ready your hero, attack, and get Rak and your Resources back.

Snap Back to Reality

It's fine to put together an awesome 5 turn kill like that, and really easy when you get exactly the cards you need and your opponent doesn't do anything to interfere at all, but if you're counting on that to win you games then I'll advise you never to go to Las Vegas. I hear the locals there love taking money from gamblers who like to challenge the odds.

So, let's get back to reality for a bit and talk about the cards in this deck and what they do.

One Drops

On turn one you've got three cards you can play on the board:

Rak Skyfury: A key card to the deck. Deciding to play it on turn one depends on both your hand and your opponent. If you are playing against a fast rush deck with lots of 1 health allies, and expect to be needing to trade with Merry's or the like, then Rak is an ok turn 1 play. You'll do this knowing he's going to be trading with an oposing ally, but that you'll be able to get him back later with a Seal of Redemption. However, the rest of the time you might want to opt to hold onto him, especially if you're planning a turn 2 Aura of Fanaticism, or if your opponent is playing defensively and you expect them to be putting down protectors for a few turns.

Snarl Helwind: He's a solid turn 1 drop, has 2 health so he can survive even if you've got a turn 2 Aura of Fanaticism to drop. Playing him on turn one depends again on what you expect from your opponent and what cards you've got in hand.

Your last 1 cost card, Blessing of Freedom, is probably not going to see much use on the first turn, but it can produce game-winning shifts in balance in the late game, and protect your hero when the final assault begins.

Two Drops

Aura of Fanaticism: This card is the reason to turn Traitor. It's penalty, -1 health to all of your allies, is actually part of your game plan and it allows you to kill Rak Skyfury over and over so you can keep bringing him back in the same turn. It also gives your hero a +1 Attack for each ally in your party. Like the card made famous by Bulkas Wildhorn - Cruelty, this card gives your hero the attack bonus with no stipulations. That means when your hero is defending against a 3/2 ally, and you've got 2 allies in play, your hero will deal 2 damage back and kill the ally. This is a great card for stopping a weenie rush strategy in it's tracks. They are punished for not trading with your allies, and most rush strategies don't want to make those early trades.

Skibi's Pendant: This is a solid turn 2 play, allowing you to swing for free with the Mass, or swing for 1 with the Sword of Zeal. With this card in play on turn 2, you can drop a turn 3 Mass and attack immediately, taking out a troublesome ally or putting some early game damage on your opponent.

Hammer of Justice: Like Blessing of Freedom, this card is a staple in Paladin decks for a reason. It's got great utility, and it replaces itself.

Three Drops

Mass of McGowan: One of the best ally-killing weapons the paladin can have. The Krol Blade is a comparable alternative, and in some situations may even be a better option (against solo, for example), but overall the utility of the Mass makes it a solid weapon in this deck.

Stronghold Gauntlets: Protect your weapons from destruction, and enable your Sword of Zeal combo by providing a much needed +1 attack. Not to mention it's armor also. This is a great card all around.

Four Drops

Sword of Zeal: The key to going infinite, the Sword of Zeal allows you to ready resources, over and over and over. 'Nuff said.

Shattering Blow: While nothing spectacular here, this deck basically has to scoop to the Greatsword of Horrid Dreams. It turns off your Rak, and thus severely limits your explosive potential. Shattering Blow is 1 of just so that matchup isn't hopeless before sideboarding in more equipment hate.

Quests

When it comes to Quests, A Warm Welcome is the MVP. With Mass and any one of these (Wysko, Stronghold, AoF/Ally, Helm/Ally), you can deal 5 to an ally and draw 2 for 2. A great deal. Its even easier to deal 5 in a turn when Rak shows up.

The Solanian's Belongings help you recover your Redemption if it's destroyed. This card also helps if you need the usual Hammer recursion that Paladin's are famous for.

Big Game Hunter: Great for finding one of your 8 weapons.

One Draenei's Junk: Can draw 39 of the 60 cards in the deck. With 3 to choose from, those are good odds that you'll be getting to pick a card you need.

Only the Beginning

So that's the breakdown. Unlike the Unrelenting Zeal warrior combo deck I wrote about in a previous article, this deck is still in it's early stages and has plenty of testing and development to go through before it reaches it's potential. I think it may have some tournament viability depending on how the meta shapes up.

Some modifications I'm currently thinking about include, Krol Blades instead of Mass of McGowan. I might try this without the Sword of Zeal, instead using the Obsidian Edged Blade and/or Demonslayer - the plan wouldn't be to go infinite, but instead to pound away 3-5 times a turn on an opponent. Also as another late game option, the Felsteel Reaper is a possible addition.

I've also given some thought to using Aegis of the Vindicator, and swapping it via a sideboard with the new Azure-Shield of Coldarra depending on the matchup.

I might try shifting to a little more ally style rush, and putting more reliance on Aura of Fanatacisim and less on the combo. If I try this, Vexmaster will definately make an appearance.

And last, but probably most important, if card draw turns out to be a consistent problem, I may add some with Blessing of Wisdoms. I might also consider adding Counter Attacks.

For Sideboard, I'm currently running something like:

1x Hammer of Justice
1x Blessing of Wisdom
3x Shattering Blow
3x Sacred Purification
2x Lay on Hands

If you're like me, and have always found the Paladin fascinating, but haven't been happy with the usual stall-to-ishana strategy, then give this deck a try and let me know how it works for you.

Vindictus plays with an awesome group of players in Virginia Beach, and while he is always interested in new card interactions, he's happiest when he's got a Sword of Zeal in play.

Tags: Warcraft Paladin Combo

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Releasing the Pre-Release!

Traitor heroes and insane new cards were flying across tabletops yesterday as the pre-release event of Servants of the Betrayers gave us true WoW TCG fans our first chance to play with the new cards. The format, sealed of course, with 2 packs of MotL and 4 packs of SotB. There was only one game per match, instead of the usual best 2 out of 3. This worked out great because you had the chance to play against more opponents and see more of the new cards at work.

They ran two flights in Richmond, and I was lucky enough to get to participate in both of them, scoring a 3-3 in the first flight and a 4-1 in the second. Rather than go over all the games I played, I'm going to review some of the more common cards that performed well in the sealed environment. I'll leave the  8+ drop bombs for another time, as its more obvious that those are going to win games if you can get them down and keep them in play.

Hulok Trailblazer, Cost 2 Horde
Ally - Tauren Druid
When you place a quest, Hulok deals 1 arcane damage to target hero or ally.
Attack 2, Health 2

I ran alliance for both of my flights, but everytime I ran up against this guy he was a problem. The versatility he provides is great, and if you have two of them in play, and run a decent number of quests, then you'll be able to trade your smaller guys for larger enemies without a 2-for-1 card loss, and kill 1 health allys with just a quest. In games where my opponents had one of these on the field, I typically found the game to be a toughter matchup than most.

Breen Toestubber, Cost 5 Alliance
Ally - Gnome Warrior
Opposing Allies have -1 ATK.
Attack 4, Health 5

I ran two of these in my second flight deck, and they worked out really well. Not only is a 4/5 ally a pretty good beater in sealed, her effect makes it notably harder for your opponent to continue trading allies with yours. In one game where she hit the board, my opponent didn't want to make the 2-for-1 trade to take her down, and chose to sit on defense, which allowed me to pick off his allies with my own and ended up giving me the tempo needed to push a win through.

Magistrix Dianas, Cost 4 Neutral
Ally - Blood Elf Mage
Scryer Reputation
When Dianas enters play, look at the top card of your deck. Either draw it or put it on the bottom, if you draw it, out Dianas from play into her owner's hand.
Attack 4, Health 3

I didn't run Scryer, but one of my friends from Comic Kings was running this and showed it to me (fear the mighty Adam). I had to read the ability a few times, but once I got it I was quite impressed. Not only is this a 4/3 ally, but you can play her, choose to draw the top card after looking at it, and bounce her back to your hand.

While 4 can be a high cost to pay, having the ability to see the card before you decide to draw it really makes a difference. You can decide, based on the board state, if it's worth the tempo loss to take the draw, or if you'd rather keep your 4/3 beater in play.

Myriam Starcaller, Cost 4 Alliance
Ally - Night Elf Druid
Untargetable
Exhaust Myriam deals 5 arcane damage to target hero.
Attack 3, Health 4

This lady wins games. I had her in both of the decks I ran, and was very happy with the threat she creates once she's in play. An automatic 5 damage a turn isn't easy to ignore. Not to mention if you drop an Aldor ally with Inspire: Ally, then you up the stakes to 10 damage a turn. They've got to answer that fast, and her Untargetable attribute makes her that much more resilient once she hits the board.

And the card that just flat out won me several games:

Earth Mother's Blessing, Cost 3 Druid
Instant Ability - Restoration
Attach to target Ally.
Ongoing: Attached ally has +3 ATK / +3 Health.
When attached ally is destroyed, draw a card.

I had two of these in my deck when I went 4-1. Normally, cards that attach to another card in play are viewed as bad, because they create the potential for an easy 2-for-1 trade. Your opponet kills the ally, and the ability attached goes away at the same time. For 1 kill card, your opponent has removed 2 of your cards from the board. That kind of trade can swing tempo away from you and then you've got to try to catch up because you've lost 2 cards while your opponent has only lost 1.

Not so with Earth Mother's Blessing. When the ally its attached to dies, you get to draw a card to replace the loss. The ability on it's own is amazing, turning a 2/2 2 drop into a 5/5 monster on turn 3 is very impressive, but wait... there's more. It's an instant. Yep! You can wait until your opponent decided to protect, then drop this ability down for some serious combat shenanigans.

My final game of the day, I had two of these in my hand. One went onto a 2/2 ally with steath, making him into a 5/5 with stealth, and the other dropped onto a 4/2 ally, turning him into a 7/5. This setup went into motion in the early turns when you're still making ally tradeoffs, and I just rolled over my opponent. This card is a great reason to go druid.

That's it for my pre-release data dump. I look forward to watching the way SotB will cause our meta to morph, and hope to bring you some interesting thoughts on constructed combos over the next few weeks.

Vindictus is a member of Team F.A.M.E., based in Virginia Beach, and he often wishes that smacking people who deserve it was considered socially acceptable behavior.

Tags: Pre-release SotB Warcraft Sealed

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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

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Magic lost my interest a few years ago. When I discovered the WoW based card game not too long ago, I decided to check it out. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much, as I've never found a game that lives up to what Magic was in it's prime. Until now, that is. I've been playing for around three months, and I'm having a great time.

One of my favorite parts of card games has always been deckbuilding, and I thought it'd be a perfect starting point for me to get a blog going. So, for starters I'll reveal a simple trick I like to use when building decks. I'm sure it's obvious to the pro's, but for those beginning deckbuilders out there, it's a simple and solid way to get you thinking in the right direction.

If you played magic, you may have heard about the 'mana curve' of a deck and how important it is to consider it when stacking up your sixty-card killing machine so that it runs at optimum efficiency. The same concept applies to WoW.

In a nutshell, you want your cards to vary in cost, so you end up with cards you can play on turn 1, turn 2, turn 3, etc. The goal is to be able to optimize your resources, and the best way to do that is to build your decks with a resource curve in mind. If you have no cards that cost 1, 2, or 3 resources to play, you won't be doing anything until turn 4, and by that it won't matter how many big bad allies you've got because Gorebelly and Morlug will have you bleeding all over the floor.

I'm not the uber spreadsheet data-mining guru, but my respect goes out to those of you who are. I used to think worrying about a resource curve was beyond the time and effort I was willing to invest into my creations, until I stumbled upon an amazingly simple way to design a deck with the resource curve in mind.

I throw together an inital 60 card deck that has a basic concept in mind (I try to stick to 4x of each card to start). Then I sort the deck into piles. First pile is quests, second pile is all cards that cost 1, third pile is cards that cost 2, and so on. No more charts needed, with those piles of cards sitting in front of you, you've got your own piled high resource curve bar graph.

With these piles in front of you, you'll be able to immediately see glaring weaknesses. Happen to have a tower of 4 drops, but nothing in the 2 spot? You might want to consider dropping some of those Axe of the Legions for a Perdition's Blade instead.

I find that doing this really makes the difference when trying to choose between those last few cards you need to answer the local meta. Give it a try next time you're building the next big original deck (Equipment Mage, anyone?) and it might just make the difference.

- Vindictus

Tags: Wow Deckbuilding Resource Curve

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