Knight* of Unaxio? CoF? Hit List?
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Knight* of Unaxio? CoF? Hit List?
If I were to sneak the buffed CoF in I would cut 3 Champions and a Mystic. They're the least important allies and the deck works fine without a 2 drop (thanks to Owl and Silent Crusader)
If I'm playing CoF, Coercion might look good over Smoke Screen (though I do like Screen a lot).
Hit List just looks worse than CoF. Paying 2 once is ok, otherwise resources are pretty tight here.
If by Paladin you mean Knight, I tried him a while ago and he was nice but he got cut. Playing 1 KoU and 3 Irina could be a decent split though given Irina's uniqueness. The additionnal CoF draw might make him more playable too.
Actually shaving a Smoke Screen to sneak a KoU in sounds decent.
If by Paladin you mean Paladin, then no. :)
Thanks for the input I kept mostly everything but shaved Smoke to 2 added a KoU by dropping 1 Irina. The rest was for CoF. Anyway do you see much use for Aldon or Smoke Screen? I tend not to since I feel these slow you down too much so I just sac them :(
Aldon is pretty important. He allows you do deal a lot of damage on turn 4.
T3 Aldon/Crusader T4 Crusader/Aldon + Backstab allows you to take out 5 HP allies and sets up nicely for a big hasted Irina next turn
T3 Crusader/Owl T4 hasted Aldon gives you at least 6 damage (up to 9 possible damage with attachments)
T3 Owl T4 Aldon/Heirloom can still take out a bunch of allies (just like T3 Aldon T4 Heirloom/Backstab)
etc.
Late game getting an Aldon out with Silent Strike the turn before hasting in a 6/8/10 damage Irina will close a lot of games.
In short, Aldon is key. 4 might be overkill, but I would never go down below 3 (and to be honest, I'm staying at 4 cause I always want to have the option of using him in the early game).
With KoU in the deck, you get another opportunity to deal 5 damage early (but at the cost of a card), so that might change things a little.
Smoke Screen is pretty good, but you'll rarely play more than 1 in a game so feel free to sac the early ones. 4 might be a bit too much, I think 3 might be the correct number.
With just 2 guys on the board (say Owl + Crusader), a Smoke Screen can be at least 10 damage to the opposing Hero (since a lot of Heroes really on their allies' help for board control). It's also awesome when you have Irina + Aldon/Backstab/Heirloom in hand but you're waiting on your 2nd ability.
In some matchups, like Tala and her armored protectors, your only chance to win is to get some guys on the board and then string a couple Smoke Screens and hit her face as hard as possible.
I haven't really tried Overwhelm (or Coercion with Confluence of Fate) to be honest, but they might be suitable substitutes.
tl;dr Aldon and Smoke Screen are the cards I sacrifice most often (along with Zailen Crusader - you only really need in play in the early game), but they still feel key roles. I would keep 4 Aldons and at least 3 Smoke Screen.
I actually dropped them to 2 each. I guess its my playstyle to keep one ally as a sort of solo with some zailens buffing my toon. Thanks for your input :)
Tweaked my list a bit to try the newly buffed CoF.
Ended cutting 1 Mystic, 2 Champion of Irum and one Smoke Screen for 3 Confluences and 1 Knight of Unaxio.
1x Lance Shadowstalker
2x Zealous Mystic
1x Champion of Irum
4x Zailen Crusader
4x Night Owl
4x Aldon the Brave
4x Irina, Guardian of the Swan
1x Knight of Unaxio
3x Confluence of Fate
4x Silent Strike
4x Backstab
2x Treasured Heirloom
1x A Legend Rises
3x Smoke Screen
2x Anklebreaker
I tried 4 CoFs but it was overkill. The deck already draws enough, and drawing multiple is terribad. The strength of the deck is that all cards point in the same direction which makes it good in topdecking situations. CoF makes topdecking less likely, but it does nothing in the crucial turns of the game. 4 might still be correct, but for now, I'm happy with 3.
I like having a single CoI. Very useful little bugger to sneak in here and there. The Mystics are All-Stars with Backstab. The price of CoF is to cut down on 2 drops (which makes Snare Trap more annoying) but I think it's worth it.
I've been unimpressed by Knight of Unaxio. Every time I've had the choice between him and Irina, I always wanted to play Irina. His ability is pretty expensive when you're low on cards on turns 4 or 5. Hitting for 4 by default is much better than hitting for 3. Shaving the Knight for a 2nd CoI sounds appealing.
I'm reluctant to switch SS for Coercion. Coercion is cute with Crusader and CoF, but I still think SS is the more consistent option. Both are great when you're ahead, but chaining SSs is so much better than chaining Coercions. Also SS is my only hope against Armored Protectors (Tala) and stealth (MS).
Keep in mind I got a Backstabbing Irina Coerced for 8 damage to my face and I still think the card is crap.
All in all, I have a 14-3 record with this at 300+ this season. I remember losing a mirror match (with a hasted Eriss destroying a Silent Strike on Irina - I'm 2-1 in mirros) and against rush Loest (also 2-1 in that matchup - it's certainly close).
Also, don't cut Aldons.
Thanks for the updated deck and detailed explination of card choices.
Slight tweaks. For this season, I've used the above list but with -1 Champion -1 Knight +2 Diplomat
I haven't used Diplomat's ability super often, but it did come in handy against armored allies. His best use is T2 going first with T3 Aldon or Heirloom to kill their 2 drop.
TBH it's very close between him and Champion, but I like that I get (theoretically) better against Tala and MS, two tough matchups, while only sacrificing a little power when going second.
Great deck FDL
Had a really close game with my tala! It was a great win by you
Do you think cof is too strong?
Should it be nerfed to 3cc?
And would that nerf alone kill this sorta deck?