Amber Deckbuilding Advice (Catching up in 3.63)

Hey all,

Total: 43 Cards

Allies:
4x Layarian Knight
2x Aldon the Brave
3x Layarian Seductress
2x Sorcerer of Endia
2x Braxnorian Weaponsmith
2x Yari Marksman
2x Braxnorian Soldier
2x General of Unaxio
1x Viska, The Scarlet Blade
1x Nanaya, Yari Conqueror

Abilities:
4x Crippling Blow
2x Bad Santa
4x Blood Frenzy
3x Smashing Blow
1x Groundshift

Items:
4x Jeweler's Dream
2x War Flail

I've recently become more active and tried to use my ~3.60 Amber deck, and received middling results. When I was last active, my deck was pretty stacked with 3-cost cards, and I was able to keep a solid tempo against most of my match-ups. Since I've been playing in the 3.63 environment, I've felt like my deck and playstyle have been lacking and out of sync.

My deck used to have Layarian Diplomats instead of Knights and Groundshift, Sabreen instead of Brax Weaponsmith, and two Viskas instead of one. I started to change my deck as I struggled with attachment decks, recovering my own lost tempo, and losing board control to harder hitting 6-cost allies. Recently, I've felt like my deck has been both too slow and too weak to keep up with most decks at or above 250. Any suggestions - holistic or otherwise - would be appreciated.

Additionally, I'm looking for a few pieces of advice:

1. Has Amber's play philosphy changed with the release of the newest cards (i.e. is she less focused on heavy aggro than in previous builds)? And, as a follow-up, are decks slightly fatter than 40 useful for her?
   
2. Has the meta shifted away from high frequency, low-cost allies to more mid-cost ones? If so, which are most useful for Amber?
   
3. If/when you give deck feedback, can you (briefly) describe Amber's current match-up quality against other heroes?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Piercing Serenity

Hey all,

Total: 43 Cards

Allies:
4x Layarian Knight
2x Aldon the Brave
3x Layarian Seductress
2x Sorcerer of Endia
2x Braxnorian Weaponsmith
2x Yari Marksman
2x Braxnorian Soldier
2x General of Unaxio
1x Viska, The Scarlet Blade
1x Nanaya, Yari Conqueror

Abilities:
4x Crippling Blow
2x Bad Santa
4x Blood Frenzy
3x Smashing Blow
1x Groundshift

Items:
4x Jeweler's Dream
2x War Flail

I've recently become more active and tried to use my ~3.60 Amber deck, and received middling results. When I was last active, my deck was pretty stacked with 3-cost cards, and I was able to keep a solid tempo against most of my match-ups. Since I've been playing in the 3.63 environment, I've felt like my deck and playstyle have been lacking and out of sync.

My deck used to have Layarian Diplomats instead of Knights and Groundshift, Sabreen instead of Brax Weaponsmith, and two Viskas instead of one. I started to change my deck as I struggled with attachment decks, recovering my own lost tempo, and losing board control to harder hitting 6-cost allies. Recently, I've felt like my deck has been both too slow and too weak to keep up with most decks at or above 250. Any suggestions - holistic or otherwise - would be appreciated.

Additionally, I'm looking for a few pieces of advice:

1. Has Amber's play philosphy changed with the release of the newest cards (i.e. is she less focused on heavy aggro than in previous builds)? And, as a follow-up, are decks slightly fatter than 40 useful for her?
   
2. Has the meta shifted away from high frequency, low-cost allies to more mid-cost ones? If so, which are most useful for Amber?
   
3. If/when you give deck feedback, can you (briefly) describe Amber's current match-up quality against other heroes?

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Jesus Christ! You want such detailed answers!!!

Just kidding bud. I will do my best.

1. No. She is still a beast with the familiar up tempo start. New cards have not truly done much to divert the strategy from that.

2. The meta has shifted in this respect in regards to Lance but not truly every other hero. There are still plenty of decks that utilize the constant pressure of allies in the 2-4 cost range. I think the question would be better phrased "is there still a spot for aggro style decks in the game." The answer is definitely, Yes.

3. Amber still throttles mages.

Issue now is the match up is not so great against Priests. Mainly because the more popular priest is Jericho. Obviously, you can understand why.

Wulven still are typically a good match up but they have become a tier 1 tribe over the past months especially with the new item, Eye of the Dark Forrest.

Hunters are hit or miss depending on Shadow or Human. Human, especially Gwen, can easily roll you. Shadow though tends to be a bit easier.

Elementals, Zal is dead at this time so there goes one of your better match ups. Elementalis has some nasty aggressive decks that can easily outpace your own. Just hope you have Crippling Blow and Retreat handy to maintain tempo. Even that might not work so well as many of their allies now have steadfast.

In regards to your deck, there is not much i would change myself. I definitely would not have Sorcerer of Endia in there. That card just fails to do anything even against attachment decks. If they are bothering you that much, pack retreat for your allies or Spectral Sabre.

Overall, i would go with:

Allies:19
4x Layarian Knight
2x Aldon the Brave
3x Layarian Seductress
3x Braxnorian Weaponsmith
2x Yari Marksman
3x Braxnorian Soldier (Lance is everywhere)
2x Viska the Scarlet Blade (Great close out tool. Too good to have only 1)

Abilities:15
4x Crippling Blow
2x Retreat
4x Blood Frenzy
3x Bad Santa
2x Smashing Blow

Items:6
4x Jewelers Dream
2x War Flail

That is 40 + Hero. You could always remove a Santa for Desperate Tactics or just throw it in. It is a great finisher. Or maybe a Reserve Weapon for that 5 attack Flail. Also, Spectral Sabre. It is up to you.

I think that this setup constitutes what would be considered a "standard" approach to Amber at this point in the game. Some people do enjoy playing War Cry over Santa. Otherwise, I think that most you come across would have a similar setup.

Hey man,

Thanks for the very detailed reply. I have a few follow-up questions to what you added here. First, what's been your rationale for the shift away from cards like Layarian Diplomat or Groundshift towards Layarian Knight? To me, diplomat seemed useful more often as a way to stop tempo gains from tainted oracle, night owl, or counter Tala's ability. Knight seems very useful as a T2 drop, but much less useful when mid game drops will deal the 4 damage easily. Maybe I'm just misreading the meta and the common cards out there, but I'd like to understand your thoughts on that, if you don't mind. Secondly, I've noticed a shift away from lower health three drops (like Sabreen) with abilities, and in favor of 2/4 and 3/6 cards. Why is that, in your opinion? I'd like to get a better read out on the types of ways I should shift the way that I think about my playstyle, and that of others, and this trend stuck out to me. Also, any thoughts of Dark Riding Hood in a deck like this? Lastly, I see that you've included Spectral Sabre as attachment removal, but I'm curious about other useful tech cards for attachment heavy decks (if they exist for a good Amber deck).

Once again, thanks for the help and feedback. I'm about to use your deck suggestion to rebuild my own, and give it a few rounds of play testing.

The shift to Knight is simply due to its survivability. The damage reduction makes it a decent t3 drop as well. Diplomat is an awesome tech card to have but just not a solid option with Hunters being so strong and gambit easily dispatching of him. However, for what you mentioned, yes, it is still very much a killer in that respect. You could always make a split if you want. Its just that going first, Knight is much more threatening than Diplomat.

Sabreen has faded from many decks. You will find the card most commonly in Garth. A solid setup playing Garth going second tends to be t2 Hitlist, T3 Garth Ability + Sabreen.

I do not see the shift from Sabreen having to do much with the card itself. Just think it was more of testing perhaps at the time? Bottom line is that Seductress is just so much better at stunting your opponents game plan seeing as you can live at 4-5 resources so each summon will likely always disable an opposing ally. The 3/6 body of Braxnorian Soldier is simply to stave off Lance. Turn 6 Eriss is a crippling play against Warriors as that means death to your Blood Frenzy and an ally. This is also why you have Retreat! Retreat! is an incredibly useful ability against Lance. Maybe more than any other.

Dark Riding Hood spot is better filled with the control option of Marksman. Especially his synergy with Crippling Blow.

Attachment heavy decks, I assume you mean Jericho, are just something you will have to gut your way through. As you likely know from being a returning player, every deck has its bad matchups. Jericho just tends to be that one for you. Vess is also a pain but is not seen as often anymore. If attachments on your allies are the issue, go for a 3/3 Crippling Blow/Retreat! setup. At least you can bounce your or opposing allies with attachments.

Spectral Sabre is more for those mirror or warrior vs warrior matchups. Especially since you can seek it with Weaponsmith.

Remove Sorcerer of Endia for extra Braxnorian Weaponsmith/Yari Marksman. Viska is better than Nanaya imo. Stun Turret is better than Groundshift. Add Spectral Sabre for attachment removal.

Try to trim down your deck for extra consistency. If you are struggling against attachment deck, it’s a good idea to add retreat.

Hope it helps!