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Shallow Era

Berserker Boris [1.503]

Rating: 4 votes, 4.25 average.
Of all my creative decks this is by far the the most competitive. The deck pretty much speaks for itself, and is the exact deck I used unchanged in all my rounds of The Gauntlet.

Current deck (40):

1 x Boris Skullcrusher

4 x Lily Rosecult
2 x Armored Sandworm
(6 Allies)

3 x Smashing Blow
2 x Enrage
3 x Crippling Blow
4 x Rampage
2 x Shield Bash
4 x Blood Frenzy
4 x Retreat
(22 Abilities)

4 x Reserve Weapon
4 x Berserker's Edge
1 x Nova Infusion
1 x Violet Thunderstorm
1 x Mocking Armor
(11 Items)

After playing a solo Ter Adun deck previously I came up with this version thanks to bug fixes involving Lily + Dual Wield, Violet Thunderstorm, and Berserker's Edge that make it possible.

I'm getting surprising results so far. You need to resist using anti ally cards on weenies. The first card used should be a T3 Blood Frenzy, or T4 Rampage if you could not draw a Blood Frenzy. Occasionally you may need to use a T3 Shield Bash for a pesky Priest of the Light (providing no Blood Frenzy drawn).

This is primarily a solo deck although the allies are included for their support abilities. Sandworm for Mages, however I have been testing Aeon recently instead which may be better. You should usually get this build up to about 10/11 resources (sometimes higher to avoid card block) and there are plenty of spare cards to resource that are included x 4 only to get as early as possible (Blood Frenzy, Rampage, Berserker's Edge, Reserve Weapon, Lily). You can usually resource one Reserve Weapon and one Lily early if needed. The deck is very versatile and can be reactive without T3 Blood Frenzy, and controlling with.

The theme of this deck is to revive Reserve Weapon with Lily and maintain a +2 Berserker's Edge from mid through to late game. It's rare someone has enough item destruction to prevent this and still do any damage. With Rampage in play you will suffer minimal HP loss as allies sacrifice themselves against your double edged blade.

By the time you need to start dropping Lily you can already have board control. You will find great synergy with Shield bash Vs Shadow when going first or second so do not resource this card lightly, you usually have more copies of Reserve Weapon, and Lily than you need for the match.

eg:
T5 Shadow summons a Plasma Behemoth
T5 you summon Berserker's Edge and hit hero (now at 2 attack)
T6 PB casts firebolt (usually doesn't attack fearing a killing blow from next strike when BE at 3 attack)
T6 you summon Shield Bash and finish of PB with BE, healing half of firebolt damage thanks to Rampage.

You can save Retreat for mid-late game for the next PB while getting your BE up to 4 attack, then summoning your first Reserve Weapon to one-shot it when re-summoned. They can also be used to retreat Lily's for more items in your graveyard.

Often you will want to keep your Reserve Weapon on the field after using the last of Berserker's Edge durability (unless you can immediately return with Lily) even when opponent has allies on the board with 2HP or less, as weapon destruction can bury the Reserve Weapon underneath Berserker's Edge now out of Lily's reach. Once you get your first copy of Berserker's Edge you can usually resource the rest unless you are still waiting for Blood Frenzy in which case you may need to sit on 5 resources until you do.

Smashing Blow is primarily for armour (and in some cases only armour that would prevent BE attack gain) as for the most part they will only have your hero with BE to hit with a weapon and even Gwen and Amber will take more damage from you than they can dish out, by a long way once you get armour out. These can often all be resourced with the right draw or match-up.

Armour is very important in certain match ups. Only one of each suitable is used and Lily can usually bring them back if needed. Nova Infusion is not primarily here to remove Poison Gas or Engulfing Flames. It has 3 armour with 5 durability. If it shielded maximum damage you would have to equip it for 16 turns for it to be more costly than beneficial. Best used against Hunters, Rogues, Warriors, Darcklaw, and Gravebone, but can be suitable any match. Against Mage it has a better ability of removing freeze if you cannot draw a Smashing Blow after they summon Snow Sapphire, and can be removed by drawing another piece of armour later.

Violet Thunderstorm is an obvious choice and combo's very well with this deck now the bug is fixed in which your hero would retaliate wasting durability when an attacking ally has only 1HP. Quite often an ally will remain on 1HP after a defensive strike from Berserker's Edge (leaning more towards human match-up synergy), and after summoning this armour you no longer have to waste weapon durability to finish them off. Also heavily punishes solo/weapon class Heroes.

Mid to late game Mocking Armor is a finishing blow. Future Lily summons are protected, and by the time you use it you will usually have board control and enough resources to combo Lily + Mocking Armor in the same turn if it goes down and you need it back. Just don't rely on it. It is a comeback card, not a required card for victory. The 4 armour can come in handy Vs Serena and Gwen especially when they have Night Prowler.

The perfect draw is usually the same:

T3 Blood Frenzy
T4 Rampage
T5 Berserker's Edge
T6 Reserve Weapon
T7 Lily (returning Reserve Weapon) + Cripling Blow/Retreat/Smashing Blow/Shield Bash (as/if needed)
T8 Armour + support or Lily + Enrage

Here is where the deathly hallows combo begins:
T9 Elder Wand: Reserve Weapon + Lily.
T10 Invisible Cloak: Mocking Armour + Lily.
T11 Life Stone: Reserve Weapon + Lily + Retreat.

Feel free to post any questions or feedback from using this deck.

The Videos in this deck's play list are using a slightly modified version of the deck.

Vs Banebow:



Vs Gwenneth:



Vs Zaladar in my Round 8 of 2012 World Championship Qualifiers:

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Updated 06-12-2012 at 05:24 PM by Keaven

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Comments

  1. Methesda's Avatar
    Hi Keaven,

    I'm only seeing 36 cards. What's missing?
  2. Keaven's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Methesda
    Hi Keaven,

    I'm only seeing 36 cards. What's missing?
    Only the most important card in the whole deck. Reserve Weapon. I've updated it to the current version I'm running also.
    Updated 03-14-2012 at 12:22 AM by Keaven
  3. ahmet476's Avatar
    This looks like a very good deck Keaven.
    Updated 03-19-2012 at 07:47 PM by ahmet476
  4. Keaven's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ahmet476
    This looks like a very good deck Keaven.
    Thanks Ahmet. It's been my strongest so far.
  5. Keaven's Avatar
    More depth and strategy posted here.
  6. Keaven's Avatar
    There are many teched variations of this build that can be effective as the foundation of the deck is just over half of the card minimum.

    The build alternations are based around the support cards and armours depending on what you are either expecting, or ranking (ie trying to cater for anything).

    The unchangeable cards that the deck is based on are:

    1 x Boris Skullcrusher
    4 x Lily
    4 x Blood Frenzy
    4 x Rampage
    1 x Enrage (minimum)
    3 x Smashing Blow (minimum or LLN)
    4 x Retreat
    4 x Berserker's Edge
    3 x 5cc+ armour (minimum and can be varied)
    4 x Reserve Weapon
    (28 cards)

    The remaining 12 are the optional support cards which I find it is particularly important to include some ally hurting abilities (at least 2) either Shield Bash, or Special Delivery. Crippling Blow helps particularly Vs Shadow Knight.

    When including fatties I find in general that Aeon performs better than Sandworms for a more balanced deck Vs random Heroes, although the most I would include is 4/5. Perhaps 2 x Aeon, 2 x Raven, 1 x Sandworm for an even spread.

    My favourite armour spread is Violet Thunderstorm, Nova Infusion, and Mocking Armour although in an Aeon absent deck I sometimes substitute a second (or even third) copy of Mocking Armor. The T10 Lily reviving then re-deploying Mocking Armor is very strong.

    One aspect I have not dabbled in much is the inclusion of weenies because this would seem more of a viable strategy with Amber than Boris.
    Updated 06-23-2012 at 02:46 AM by Keaven
  7. Keaven's Avatar
    Added videos to OP.
  8. Keaven's Avatar
    On Barcafan's way to qualifying 1st seed for the 2012 World Championship he used his version of Berserker Boris to help defeat the previously undefeated Jacqui, wining 1-1 and 3-1 for the round. This was the round winning match.