I was once a powerful Wulven Pack Alpha, then I took an arrow in the knee.
I was once a powerful Wulven Pack Alpha, then I took an arrow in the knee.
Pack Alpha sucks.
Fire Snakes are high in Vitamin D.
Account for Gondorian to put crystalz into: Reshiram99
Watched some of the replays, very impressed. From what I can see this is definitely a competitive deck
Very interesting deck! I like it
Proud member of the Shadow Era Design Team
Love and Peace!
Former Physical World Champion
Card Advantage 101
Hey Ramirez,
Nice deck! Seems like it would do well vs. Elad (thanks for posting it on the other thread!) A few questions- what do you need shriek for? I can imagine any item that poses a real threat to MS, besides fighting DC or a mirror matchup. And even then, you can still win without FM. Second, why only 1 bazaar? Odds are pretty low of drawing it at 1x, and you have little other draw options. I imagine you'd be top-decking quite often, and this deck doesn't seem like the bet top-decker.
My thoughts and ramblings:
The art of death racing
Hitting em with all you got
In defense of bazaar
Card draw engines and card draw advantage
Damage Strategies in SE
A1's resident Mathemalogian
A1 : Evolution in Theory.
Member of the PFG, and guest article writer for GDC's website
Do you really need 4 copies of Lone Wolf? Quantity seems high for this build purpose... you can't play until T4, but then you are playing recursing PB and SK T5 and beyond... it may help occasionally, but maybe you could use 1-2 cards elsewhere? maybe another WBT or Speedstrike?
It's not that Lone Wolf is a bad card, but you're not receiving its benefit if you have 8 heavy hitters waiting in the wings...
Perhaps I missed something?
Last edited by TJM; 12-15-2011 at 07:31 PM.
Contribute to the discussion about the new upcoming 1.29 / 1.30 allies.
v1.26 - v1.27 Majiya
v1.28 Boris shutdown
Thanks to all those replies and suggestions, I need now advices as this deck struggles against 290+ rated decks.
Kamman13, I read your threads from your footnote (and some of He-Man), very impressive and good work. As mage decks like Eladwen are predestinated for race/beatdown decks, the wulven decks are predestinated for control decks, having some good wulven abilities to control the opponent. Therefore games against Eladwen have a special touch and I am glad that most games are won by this deck .
Let me give some answer and thoughts to the questions (some comments afterwards would help to see, if I think right). For those, who posted to be interested in my replays: Thx, your interest motivates me to go on (pls don't look at the latest replays against lower rates, I lost them because my internet connection is instable, grrr).
Shriek (Kamman13)
I don't like this card, it costs me a ressource, and in the new SE-versions it can only be used against mid-cost items. However I made some good experience:
Conclusion: Shriek is not really needed but can help (in the right moment). I will consider to remove it (or just taking 1 Shriek to this deck). Do you agree?
- In my first games (rate 0 - 150) there were many Darkclaw opponents and I beat them with Shriek (see thread).
- While rising (rate 100 - 250) there were many Eladwen opponents and I made the experience that Eladwen struggles against my deck if no Research or Bazaar is in play (see your thread). Shriek helped me (temporarily).
- There were some other games like Gravebone who set up their strategy upon cards like Portal, but I must consist that Shriek was never in my hand in this moments (well, hidding was a good alternative). But it would helped me.
- Now (rate 200 - 300) I face many heavy item Amber decks (with Rusty Longsword and Jeweler's Dream) and my 2 Shrieks are a drop in the bucket. Also against warrior decks (with War Banner and Rampage) Shriek would only occasionally help.
Bazaar (Kamman13)
Good question as my actual game against 300+ rated warrior decks were lost and maybe could be prevented by having Bazaar in game.
Let me write my theoretical thoughts by creating this deck for the decision for only 1 Bazaar:My practical experience:
- This deck needs only 3 cards in game (What big Teeth, Lone Wolf and Behemoth) and 1 card in hand (Shadow Knight). In many games I will reach this goal without any draw engine. All other cards (like Shadow Font, Now You're Mine etc.) can help to achieve this state (by lengthen the time) and are optional, but not necessary.
- Wulven players don't have any draw engines (maybe Wrath of the Forest or Belladonna) and Bazaar as well as Bad Santa will quicken the game of the opponent. But the deck strategy is to slow down the game of opponent as the win-chances increases with every survived turn (typical control deck goal). If the opponent has only 2-3 cards in hand, it is easier to control him.
- After T5 I invest my resources in plasma bolts, Behemoths and Shadow Knights (for resurrection). For all other hand-cards the priority to play them is lowered. I am not dependant to choose any other cards anymore.
- Bazaar is helping in the final phase as the opponent now ran out of steam, the board is under control and the possibility for milling comes near. For this reason 1 Bazaar is enough, because the chance to get (and store) it in hand till final phase is very high.
- Bad Santa helps to change bad hand cards to good ones. If you really really need a Captured Prey as last chance to reverse the board control a Bad Santa can be your lucky charm.
- As this deck has many high-cost cards, I need much resources. Example: While every turn my Behemoth outside shoots plasma bolts for 3 resources, I would like to play in addition some Shadow Font (+4 resources) or another Behemoth (+5 resources). But as I can slow down the game, I will have enough time to reach this state without draw engine.
Conclusion: By integrating and playing some more Bazaar cards, I would benefit, but the deck strategy can also be weaken. Maybe the additional strategy would be to only play Bazaar, if opponent played a draw engine before. Do you agree? Which card should I drop?
- Reached. Sometimes I miss WbT or Lone Wolf at beginning but I still won these games. In T5 I always had a hard hitter in hand.
- Partially reached: Some opponents really have no draw engines until mid of game and they struggle making it easier for me to build up. But most of them use Blood Frenzy, Wizent's Staff, Research etc. in beginning and after mid phase it gets harder to keep them controlled (but not impossible).
- Partially reached: Sometimes it would make the game easier when a Shadow Font or Captured Prey would be in hand, but in many situations I can manage the control with my main cards (otherwise I would not have a rate above 260). Top-decking: Yes, I only have 2-3 cards in hand and occasionally I lost games because the right counter card was not comming in hand.
- Not reached. The milling phase doesn't come often, most of the times I (or my opponent) kills all allies and afterwards the hero before running out of cards. If mill phase was reached, I win (Blood frenzy + Bazaar makes 4 dmg ).
- Reached.
- Not reached. Sometimes I can build up my resources, but I also have some turns, where I don't want to sacrifiy any hand card .
Lone Wolf (TJM)
I think, Lone Wolf is necessary to be played as soon as possible in this deck. My Lone Wolf only helps occassionally, yes, but about 5-10 times in one game. Many opponents focus to kill my hard hitters because they know that the game is otherwise lost and every time they reached a kill (maybe every second turn), I heal 2 health (as I loose health in T1 - T4, I often have space for healing). In my mind I thank my opponent for this favor and play Shadow Knight in the next turn getting the graveyard cleaned up.
My experience is that while my Behemoth (or Shadow Knight) is outside, my Moonstalker will not be attacked anymore (this sounds strange, but it is similar to a Full moon or Rain Delay phase without healing). And these free turns are important to collect shadow energy. After 3 collected shadow energy the protection is turned on and in the next round your hard hitter kills some opponent allies. Then your hard hitter is killed again (you gain 2 health) and so on. Then the moment comes up where the opponent can't kill or disable your hard hitter in one turn and now you have almost won.
Against Eladwen I often hold back my Behemoth (as long as no enemy allies are to be blast away) to heal the burn damage with Lone Wolf just to see, how one fireball after another is used without any advancement.
I can't explain it, but in the games without Lone Wolf, I definitely have lesser survival chance. Sometimes my first Lone Wolf comes into my hand after T6 and I don't find a gap to play it as all my resources are necessary for board fight.
My conclusion is to leave 4 Lone Wolfs to have a good chance to get it until T4 into play. If you would test this deck with less Lone Wolfs and gain other experience please let me know.
Your deck is great and your analysis is insightful!
My suggestion is either include more Evil A to stall or remove EA and include some Bellas for extra atk power and draw. (Maybe remove one bazaar and one Bad santa).
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