Lance Shadowpwner Revisited

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Hello all! Sorry if I have been a ghost lately on the forums. Life gets in the way like that sometimes. I thought I would share some changes I made to my original Lance deck, Lance Shadowpwner. Be sure to read my first article (I will not link you, because I feel that many people need practice with the search function). Instead of posting the changes, I thought it would be easier to post both decks. The changes might seem small, but I assure you their impact is felt and justified.


ORIGINAL DECK

Hero:
1x Lance Shadowstalker

Items:
4x Ill Gotten Gains
4x Anklebreaker

Abilities:
3x Bad Santa
4x Retreat!
4x Stop, Thief!

Allies:
4x Puwen Bloodhelm
4x Jasmine Rosecult
4x Priest of the Light
2x Aldon the Brave
3x Raven Wildheart
3x Aeon Stormcaller


UPDATED DECK

Hero:
1x Lance Shadowstalker

Items:
4x Ill Gotten Gains
4x Anklebreaker
2x Black Garb

Abilities:
4x Stop, Thief!
2x Sever Ties

Allies:
3x Puwen Bloodhelm
3x Nightshade
4x Jasmine Rosecult
4x Aldon the Brave
3x Raven Wildheart
3x Armored Sandworm
3x Aeon Stormcaller


THE CHANGES

Hello Black Garb: An early game item and an insta-resource if you go first. When going second, this item protects you from the lame (lame going against you, awesome when you do it) human rush that is Puwen+Aldon. If you are going second and your opponent does not have a T1 Kris or Firesnake, hold onto Black Garb. If they play a 1cc ally, sac it as it will be almost useless now. If they achieve their Puwen+Aldon combo and choose NOT to attack you after you drop the Garb, a T4 IGG makes life hell for them.

Bye Bye Bad Santa: Ehh, I was saccing it almost always. With no 1cc allies to Santa Bomb (TM), I wasn't really using it. Playing against mages, the last thing I would want to do is give them more burn for my allies. Bad Santa just works much better in Serena decks that can manipulate your opponent's hand. If you do not draw your IGG early, you will run the risk of being in top-deck mode. But I have come to terms with this and accept it as the nature of the beast. At least the deck top-decks rather well. All warriors have the same issue if they do not draw their Blood Frenzy. Santa just helps my opponents too much too often to be justified.

Retreat, Retreat!: It just wasn't working. I was only using it against Moonstalker decks, and those are very few these days it seems. I am content to be a big underdog to a Moonstalker deck in order to be a favorite against any other deck. The card advantage you give to your opponent is very noticeable; I even mentioned this in my original article. If I was going to work it into the deck, it would go in place of Sever Ties. But currently I am getting more use from ST against the Amber rushes I am seeing.

Sever Ties?!: I am not crazy. I promise. Okay, maybe a little. Remember when everyone was complaining before 1.5 because there was no way to remove attachments aside from playing Jericho? Then we got it! And as a neutral ability so anyone can use it! Great! Right? I have seen this card played maybe twice ever (and I can specifically remember one time with a 58 card Eldawen...ugh). What gives?! It is a great surprise in a Lance deck because no one will suspect you are running it. NEVER sac against a warrior. Drawing it early means you can shut down their Blood Frenzy draw, drawing it late means you can make them explode when you remove their Enrage, and it can be useful to un-cripple an important Raven to win on a turn you otherwise could not. Against mages, it is an auto-sac (Poison Gas and Engulfing flames were changed to not be attachments). Also an auto-sac against priests and fellow rogues. It is hardly ever gamebreaking except against warriors, but I am finding the card 100x more useful than the previous Santas that held its spot. It is also a good feeling going into a match knowing that you have the ability to counter any item or attachment your opponent may play thanks to Stop, Thief! and Sever Ties. This is a control deck at heart; if Lance was in MtG he would be white with some green mixed in.

2cc allies: I put a LOT of thought into this. I was finding my old 4x Puwen to be far too inconsistent to show up in my starting hand. I also hated the idea of 4x Puwen and 4x Nightshade as I saw myself drawing useless cards in the lategame. I even considered Dirk Saber....briefly. Finally, I found this to be the happy medium: 3x Puwen and 3x Nightshade. Playing against Human opponents, the Puwen+Aldon combo going first allows you to kill their T2 Puwen and set up a strong board. A pumped-up Nightshade with Aldon works nicely too in order to kill a 4-hp ally on T4 right after you plop down your IGG. Both Puwen and Nightshade HATE Death Mage Thaddeus; he messes up their fun...a lot. But I see no way around this.

3cc allies: Goodbye PotL! As much as I liked him and as much fun as SE manipulation was, I finally realized he was just gimmicky - a way to be cute when already ahead. I was never dropping a PotL to regain or maintain the board. I was dropping him when I was already ahead to irritate my opponent when in reality another Jasmine or Aldon would have done the job better. That is also why I added two more Aldons. Aldon survives a Lightning Strike or Zaladar blast and is useful going first or second.

5cc allies: Ahhh, choices! Raven is there to use with Lance's ability when you absolutely MUST deal with a hard-hitting ally that turn such as Brutal Minotaur. A T5 Jasmine + Lance's ability also works. Why oh why did I avoid using Sandworms for so long? They are AMAZING! Eldawen is the only mage in the game that has an easy way of dealing with them. They laugh at Supernovas and Dagger of Unmaking. Even in a mirror match, Lance's own Anklebreaker cannot touch the mighty Worm. Sac against warriors in favor of Raven since he is a prime target for Crippling Blow. Not that Raven isn't, but at least she can do something more useful when hasted for a turn.


GAMEPLAY

Going first (ordered by preference, leftmost preferred)...
T1: hold
T2: Puwen or Nightshade
T3: Jasmine or Aldon
T4: IGG or Aldon
T5: Raven or Sandworm or Anklebreaker or Jasmine (using Lance's and Jasmine's abilities)
T6: Aeon

Going second (ordered by preference, leftmost preferred)...
T1: hold
T2: Nightshade or Puwen
T3: Aldon or Jasmine
T4: IGG or Aldon or Jasmine (using Lance's ability to regain board control)
T5: Anklebreaker or Raven (using Lance's ability) or Sandworm or Jasmine (using Lance's and Jasmine's abilities)
T6: Aeon

I try to hold onto my SE as much as I can and use it when there is a threat. There is no point in hasting a Raven on T5 if my opponent has nothing to make use of it. I would instead plop down a fat Worm (which is immune to a possible Anklebreaker and DoU drop) and save her to use as more of a surprise.


FINAL WORDS

Thanks goes to A1's Wtzky for mentioning my original deck in a recent post about heroes for beginners and inspiring me to write this follow-up. Indeed, Lance is easy to play compared to other heroes like Jericho or a well-tuned Banebow. But I still find him highly enjoyable, and it has been my primary deck for a while now.

You can watch recent replays of me playing the deck on the main server, IGN TJ blueblurr.

Thanks for reading.

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Shameless(/ful) bump.

[Bluejet24]

Interesting... why aren't you in the WC??

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Unfortunately I was on hiatus during the sign ups. I feel so left out in the cold now.

[Newari]

I am trying to come up with a heavy control deck as well and your deck is a great Lance Control deck. Just like you are trying Sever Ties which can be situationally quite strong or resource food, what about including 2 Spelleater Bands? I know it's quite situationally good but it really shuts down certain decks and you can resource it against other decks. The same principle as the usefullness of Sever Ties, thoughts?

[Dima]

Dont you think EP better than sandworm for Lance?

4 Aldon, you love them too much mate=))

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I am trying to come up with a heavy control deck as well and your deck is a great Lance Control deck. Just like you are trying Sever Ties which can be situationally quite strong or resource food, what about including 2 Spelleater Bands? I know it's quite situationally good but it really shuts down certain decks and you can resource it against other decks. The same principle as the usefullness of Sever Ties, thoughts?

I have tried 2x Spelleaters in the past. My issue with it is that I have never won a game BECAUSE of it. I would only play it when I feel I am about to die to burn the following turn, and at 6cc, I would rather roll the dice that my opponent does not have that burn in hand and start charging with allies to try to kill him instead. Too many mages are running 2-3 LLN's to justify its inclusion in my opinion.

I also have no spot for it in the deck. I am pretty set on my ally count, and I am a staunch believer in exactly 40 card decks. Using the minimum amount of cards will give you your win condition with the most consistency. If the minimum was 50, I am sure I could find a place for 2x Spelleaters.

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Dont you think EP better than sandworm for Lance?

To be honest, I am torn between the decision to include either EP or Worm. I think the deck will be too cluttered to try to squeeze in EP, Raven, and Worm for the 5cc choices. I guess I just currently favor Worm because I have been facing a lot of mages recently for some reason. The EP+Aeon combo is definitely one of the best in the game and Lance is perfect for setting it up. I will have to do some more testing with EP to see if I can squeeze some into the deck and still be happy with the distributions.

[Dima]

-1 Aldon, -1 worm, +2 EP, i found that place bro=)))

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-1 Aldon, -1 worm, +2 EP, i found that place bro=)))

Not too eager to lose a 3cc ally. Not having a T3 drop is pretty scary for Lance. Would bump the resource curve up.