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  1. #1
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    KISS Majiya [1.5]

    I've been working on this deck for a bit, and i'm finished with it for now (priests are so much more fun), so I thought i'd share it. It would be much better if Majiya had Eladwen's card pool, but there you go

    In many ways, it's a relatively simple deck, hence the name. Basic mage stuff - draw lots of burn and win. You can't simply go for the throat though, you need to take board control, that's just the way of things for the meta as it is. You need to gain board control until you can do enough damage to the opposing hero to get him to a point where you can go for the throat. These are the two stages to using this deck. First off, gain board control, chipping away at your opponent's hero if you can afford to, and as you are doing so, keep a note of what you need to do to finish the opponent off. This is very important to do, and can give you wins that you might not have otherwise had if you had focused purely on board control. As soon as you know that your opponent probably can't kill your hero before you can burn/attack his to death, completely forget about board control and go for the throat.

    In this (second) stage, your burn cards (Fireball/Lightning Strike/Supernova) are extremely valuable, so don't use them earlier on if you don't have to. It is generally best to save them for the later game to finish off your opponent in 1 or 2 turns once you know he can't respond. The more burn cards you have in hand, the earlier you can go to stage 2, and the more protected you are from new threats. Majiya's ability is similar in the latter regard. Treat them as emergency cards, and only use them before the end if you're going to otherwise lose board control to a point where either you can't regain it, or your hero will take so much damage in the process that your opponent can go for your throat and win before you can.

    The other important aspect is your draw power. Because you're using so much burn, if you can keep up a card advantage you can answer your opponent's threats 1 for 1 and maintain board control. So, if you can get away with using Tome of Knowledge, playing Wulven Tracker or with using Majiya's ability, do it. The more cards you have in your hand, the more versatile you can be, and the faster you can finish off the game. This can lead to a balancing act in knowing what and when to sacrifice if you are short on cards, which is why draw is so important. If you can sacrifice each turn and still keep alot of cards, then you're in a great position.


    Anyway, here is the deck:

    1x Majiya
    3x Brutalis
    4x Infernal Gargoyle
    4x Death Mage Thaddeus
    4x Wulven Tracker
    3x Plasma Behemoth
    4x Tome of Knowledge
    4x Fireball
    4x Lightning Strike
    4x Supernova
    3x Lay Line Nexus
    2x Dagger of Unmaking


    The cards and their uses:

    Draw power - Tome of Knowledge, Wulven Tracker - Both are great sources of draw power, it's as simple as that. And draw is very important in this deck. Tome of Knowledge on turn 2 if you don't have Brutalis, or turn 4 if you're looking good for board control and don't need to press with another ally. You can abuse your draw power advantage if you are playing against classes that can't keep up with you. Majiya is also draw power, but like the burn cards, only use her ability if you have to.

    Buuuurn - Fireball, Lightning Strike, Supernova - They are staple and a key part of any mage deck, Fireball and Lightning Strike are obvious at 4 apiece. Supernova also needs to be at 4. You will find yourself sacrificing it quite a bit, but having it at 4 increases the chance that you aren't without it when you do need it. It takes skill to use, but if you can afford to take 5 damage, it can be incredibly helpful for board control. Don't be afraid to nova own allies if the situation demands it. It is also often a key card when you get to the 'going for the throat' phase of the game. All of these are great for board control if you are taking that route. Remember though, don't use them if you don't have to.

    Early Board Control - Brutalis, Infernal Gargoyle, Thaddeus - Gargoyle is a beast, that's it. As is Thaddeus - combine his ping ability with a Lightning Strike or Majiya to take out all those annoying 4 health allies such as Jasmine. He can come in and take out Kristoffer or Puwen, and continues to be useful later into the game. As for Brutalis, he's the best 2cc ally that Shadow has at the moment for board control purposes (Pack Wolf excluded), so he is a must. Similar to Thaddeus, you can combine his 1 damage with Majiya or Lightning Strike's.

    Later Board Control - Dagger of Unmaking, Plasma Behemoth - Combine Dagger of Unmaking with Supernova to regain board control. Supernova your opponent, and if they respond with a fatty you can Dagger of Unmaking it back. This forces them to spend their resources dealing with your Dagger, allowing you to put down allies next turn to begin taking over the board. Plasma Behemoth is a board control machine, all he needs is to survive for one turn and he can start going to work. 3+4 damage is just so good and versatile. Dagger of Unmaking, Supernova, Majiya and the rest of your burn can all help him to do this. Not to mention his damage output can help you with finishing off your opponent.

    Item Destruction - Lay Line Nexus - Just a very useful card. It, along with Dagger of Unmaking, are slightly situational, in that you don't need them against all decks, but against decks that are weak to Lay Line Nexus, including a few can make all the difference. Destroy Soul Seeker, Ghostmaker, etc. and a host of different armours and that can really hurt certain decks. And it gives you a card back for your effort - it's the ability that just keeps giving! It is, however, a matter of weighing up how useful they can be against how often they are useful. It is for this reason that I found, in the current meta, that 3 is a good number of them to include.


    Cards that could be included, but weren't:

    Molten Destroyer - I was weighing up for some time whether to use him or Plasma Behemoth. He's pretty good in his own right, with his abilities combining well with Majiya's ability and Lightning Strike. I settled on Plasma Behemoth in the end though for the reasons listed above. Molten Destroyer isn't bad in this deck, but not great. There are two situations in which you could play him - when you opponent can destroy him, and when he can't. When he can destroy him, he's better than Plasma Behemoth since he can do a little damage when going down, but since your opponent often gets to choose where his ability damage goes this isn't huge. In addition, if you're having to play him in that situation you're most likely going to lose anyway. There are certain situations when it could be worth it, when you can force your opponent's hand and regain board control because of this, but they are limited. However, in the situation where you opponent can't destroy him, Plasma Behemoth's damage output makes him better, and can increase your chances of winning more than Molten Destroyer would.

    Shriek of Vengeance and Evil Ascendant - These would both be good cards for this deck, they really would. Shriek would give you added versatility against certain opponents and Evil Ascendant would combo very well in a similar manner to Thaddeus, but adding one or both of these would not only decrease the consistency of the deck, but there is a question of what cards would you take out that they would be better than? Lay Line Nexus and Dagger of Unmaking have more use than these cards, the burn and draw power are essential, and taking out allies would set you back quite a bit. They're both good cards, but for the sake of consistency I have not included them. This isn't to say that they shouldn't be in some Majiya decks though, and there might very well be a way to work them in.


    Anyway, I hope this has been an interesting read. I know a lot of this will be quite basic to alot of you, but I thought i'd share my deck and perhaps give ideas to some people regarding Majiya.
    Last edited by Spectrl; 02-23-2012 at 09:21 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member bobwei's Avatar
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    What do you think of shadow knight?
    Shadow Era, ETC

    Evolve Through Cooperation

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by bobwei View Post
    What do you think of shadow knight?
    Due to her low health and use of Supernova, I feel Majiya needs early board control to avoid being overwhelmed. This is why I have included so many 2-3cc allies. Shadow Knight is an interesting thought, but I wouldn't want to take out any of the lower cost allies to put him in. The Wulven Trackers are needed to draw out your burn, so the only one left to replace would be Plasma Behemoth, and he just fits this deck much better. The thing with Shadow Knight is, aside from his low health, his use is to bring back allies, and that isn't something that this deck really needs. You need the low cost allies early in the game, so you need to include plenty of them, which means that you're not really going to be short of them later in the game and need Shadow Knight to bring them back. While Shadow Knight provides a kind of draw power, it's not really the kind that would suit this deck I feel.

  4. #4
    1.27 Tournament Champion Raphael Majere's Avatar
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    Almost 100% of my own Maj. This will be the standard "Elad" Burn of 1.30.

  5. #5
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    Being from you, I'll take that as a compliment!

  6. #6
    Senior Member bobwei's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spectrl View Post
    Due to her low health and use of Supernova, I feel Majiya needs early board control to avoid being overwhelmed. This is why I have included so many 2-3cc allies. Shadow Knight is an interesting thought, but I wouldn't want to take out any of the lower cost allies to put him in. The Wulven Trackers are needed to draw out your burn, so the only one left to replace would be Plasma Behemoth, and he just fits this deck much better. The thing with Shadow Knight is, aside from his low health, his use is to bring back allies, and that isn't something that this deck really needs. You need the low cost allies early in the game, so you need to include plenty of them, which means that you're not really going to be short of them later in the game and need Shadow Knight to bring them back. While Shadow Knight provides a kind of draw power, it's not really the kind that would suit this deck I feel.
    Good analysis, I agree. Your deck is really good.
    Mine aims at controlling the board instead of burn, that's why I think about shadow knight.
    Shadow Era, ETC

    Evolve Through Cooperation

  7. #7
    1.27 Tournament Champion Raphael Majere's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spectrl View Post
    Being from you, I'll take that as a compliment!
    It is a compliment!

    And it shows your skill - it's the best deck that most Maj players will use once it's live and you've found it.

  8. #8
    Senior Member razcrux's Avatar
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    Miaji is back, ;-)

    Nice deck list! Well written too.

    This deck may be better than some other Miaji decks I've seen and used (?), but there are also some other Miaji-type builds that also seem to be doing very well. One much more pure ally-control with even higher card draw potential, and another which is actually (nearly) solo. It will be nice to see if some other types of Miaji surface with time.
    Raz (Sebastian)
    Creative Game Designer
    --
    (Was once a member of the Wulven Design-Team)

  9. #9
    1.27 Tournament Champion Raphael Majere's Avatar
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    There are. In my 3 tourneys recently, all my Maj decks are different and they all work well. I would suggest to all to try all options out!

    So many choice of fatties, with/w.out Nova - Draw options (BS? Wulven?) Ally? Solo? Pure burn/draw? Mixed? Weenies, Fatties?

    Nice job by DT. 1.30 is fun fun fun!!

  10. #10
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    I agree with both of you. Majiya is a really interesting hero in terms of all of the different routes she can take. I went for this one since I feel it is quite versatile compared to the others, since it can adapt quite well, but that's just my play preference. It's quite a 'middle ground' deck in that respect. Going in, I thought she would be a fairly easy hero to build for, which is why I picked her for my first 'thought out' deck, but she can do so many things that choosing what to route to take with her is very difficult. There will no doubt be many more variations on her that emerge in the coming months due to all of her options, and it will be fun to see how this goes.

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