Banebow's Spamming Jabs Aggression/Control deck

and weapons can steal enemy technology (If you have Tracking you know when it's worth it to play this combo)

The objective is to hold the board, then beat your opponent with constant small damages from Banebow

, weapons and allies.

You need the item destruction for annoying things that can cripple this deck like WhatBigTeeth, Curse, enemy Golden Katar

or King's Pride

.

Shadowspawn

works great because Banebow

's ability costs 3 SE. Usually Zaladar (any hero with an ability cost more than 3 SE) would beat Banebow

with his stronger ability, but when you can use yours and then Shadowspawn

to deny his, you are in good shape! You can also use this when you think a hero with a weapon ability and lots of stored shadow energy is going to get a weapon soon.

Thaddeus

is my favorite Shadow Ally, and even though he dies to Ascendant, Dima got me hooked on DMT because of how good it is for early control (http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....dow-m-conveyor). So I need at least 1. You can trade more in for Bad Wolfs, but I found Bad Wolf

works best in the longer games with Ascendant.

Plasma Behemoth

is the strongest shadow ally so I included some. PB does not care about Ascendent because he has 5 health, and by the time he dies from it you can do lots 7 damage per turn (ouch!) PB is one of the only effective ways in this deck to deal with allies like Sandworm

and Aeon

.

If your enemy takes the board, you can use Golden Katar

, Arrows/EA + Banebow ability to chip away at their allies while you take it back. Forest has saved me more than once in this situation.

Remember, the small numbers add up quickly!

**ACrowley** · 12-11-2011, 11:30 PM

Now I ask for advice from the hunters out there:

So far this deck is fun, but it has some major problems.

I can't seem to beat Elad with it. Elad early control and then fast burn seem too much for a deck like this to handle.

Warriors (obviously) and Priests also are very tough matches.

Priests can kill all my items, wipe the board and delay until they get big creatures out which are hard to deal with (Sandworm

/Aeon/Raven

) then heal.

Any advice for Banebow

to win these matches?

**Sisyphos** · 12-12-2011, 04:07 PM

Against Eladwen

:
Remove her early allies fast – Brute and Death Mage are your best bet, so i'd add 4 of both.
Have a Soul Seeker

ready in case she keeps drawing/playing allies (or has one remaining to heal up on.)
If she doesn't play more allies you don't always need to play SS asap and can play some of your own allies instead. (Not knowing whether or not you have a SS in hand will make her more inclined to risk giving you fodder.)
After a Supernova

keep threatening her with hard-hitters. I'd recommend Shadow Knights to not run out of threats and Plasma Bs because, well, they're the best.

Warriors: Hardest match-up by far, but here's what you can do:
Keep (somewhat) countering Blood Frenzy

with Bad Santas.
Gargoyles often don't perform so well against warriors (Boris

' ability, Crippling Blow, Amber

with Jeweler's Dream

and a 3-drop remove a gargoyle just as easy as a 3/4 ally).
Try not to sac' Plasma Bs and Death Mages - since they can't be crippled they are harder to get a hold of once you have established them.
Shadowspawn

is good stuff against Boris

.
Against Logan

i'd recommend 40x Into the Forest or waiting for new cards to protect your allies with. Otherwise you need to have a good start and he has to have a very bad start (like no gargoyles, weapons, crippling blows). Shadowspawn can again help you maintain a good board position, but since Logan

's ability only cost 3 you need to go first and won't be able to continuously use it after turn 4 without burning your own shadow energy.
Against Amber

shrieks can take down Jeweler's Dream

, but should be used with care. It's also often better to try and swarm her early- to mid-game. By rule of thumb 2 + 3-drop > 5-drop until she has used some of her retreats and crippling blows.

Priests:

Generally, you're the one who threatens and they have to keep you off, meaning it's more important not to run out of threats than not to run out of board control.
Don't overextend your hand. If you have 2 allies play, have a soul seeker in hand in case those allies won't get waved.
Plasma B on the table + Death Mage in hand kills Aeon

.
A combination of the allies you should have in play before Raven

hits the board, arrows, soul seeker and your ability should be enough to remove her. If you already have Plasma or Knight in play she's practically meaningless until your opponent manages to get rid of these threats first.
Armored Sandworm

is bad news, most of the time i'd say ignore it and force a tidal wave. Be prepared for King's Pride

though (Acid Jet

). Good news is that few people bother with Sandworms when there are so many rush & burn decks out there.

Some cards you should get rid of imo:

Evil Ascendant

, all of them.
1x Shriek
Bazaar

Surprise attack unless you run a lot of 2-drops
Golden Katar

Into the Forest

, Tracking, Night Prowler

, Crimson Vest

(You've listed them under “optional”, but they are not even that imo.)