Zhannagression

[cosmo K]

For the sake of discussion, here's the zhanna deck I'm experimenting right now, and the deck I feel
most confortable about since I've been playing priest. There is room for improvement, but
it's doing fine at my level (~260) ... at least so far.

It's supposed to be a fast Zhanna, taking a few shortcuts wrt to more classical
builds such as Zhannax.
To do that, I use only small cc allies, and try to swarm the opponent with allies
under KP, possibly revived with GM. You could even say it's a deathrace zhanna (tongue-in-cheek mode).


Zhanna

3x Birgitte Skullborn
3x Dirk Saber
3x Jasmine Rosecult
3x Priest of the Light
4x Tainted Oracle

4x Tidal Wave
2x Ice Storm

4x Focused Prayer
3x Smite
2x Book of curses

3x The King's Pride
3x Wizent's Staff
3x Ghost Maker

The main draw is TO+GM (forget about the impossible combo with EP), with
WS as secondary draw engine, or after the deck takes control of the board.

This deck needs only to reach 7-8 resources to be on cruise control, by which time
you can cast 3 allies at the same time. I don't have 5cc allies because it takes too long
to reach the point when you can cast enough of them to matter. It's easier to have too many
targets that the opponent can handle, and then cast KP.

In the first stage, fight for the board to distract the opponent (against some heroes, you might
even keep it, esp. going first), drop TO, wipe, GM, then drop allies until they stick / add a KP and voilà.
You can also wait, play defense with curse and smite until you have enough resources for
an invasion.

Only obvious bad-match up is Moonstalker ... I'm not sure how to handle it, but otherwise, you have
solutions against everyone.

Possible tuning: it's a delicate balance, but I'm not sure about smite, and maybe I could
use another Birgitte or Curse. Curse is mostly only useful goind second anyway.
Birgitte is key to ensure you have at least one round worry-free before putting KP.
I used to have Retreats, but used them in too few occasions to keep them.
People are going to criticize Dirk Saber, I know, but he's good for early board control
going first. Useless otherwise at the beginning.

[Caitlyn0]

that is funny... we post 2 zhanna decks at the same time and both are using Dirk

yours is more aggressive, i like that too... mine is more delay and heal stall. both are good approaches

[cosmo K]

yeah let's form a committee for the defence of underestimated cards.

[Dima]

its underestimated cause puwen is just better in most decks, of course when you know you can wipe board with td, storm, staff, smite you dont care much about 2cc drops, in other decks that 3hp makes a difference

[Caitlyn0]

dirk is amazing in any deck that uses brigette.

[Saigne]

I really like agressive Zhanna too.
I play an even more agressive, kinda weenie, with lots of cheep creatures, 3 KP and nice draw engine (TO / Wizent's).
It works pretty well ^^

But I can't understand the enthusiasm toward PotL, I find this card quite weak in a metagame full of human with Jasmine, Aldon and Puwen. It has poor boardcontrol power, hasn't it?

[Harakhte]

PotL does two things early, which is why it's popular. It moves an opponent's SE count back a turn, and heals a point of early damage. Plus, unlike Aldon, you can drop all your PotL at the same time as it isn't unique, and with Mages they hate wasting Fireballs on it. Under an Aeon's or KP buff, it turns into another nasty little bugger for 3cc too.

Edit: Personally I prefer a mix of Aldon/PotL than just PotL, as especially with Birgitte/Dirk, Aldon can quickly ramp up early damage.

[davidwm18]

This deck seems consistent. Im using a deck very similar to that except that Im not using Dirk and GM and I have Aeon.
If you want to make a death-race deck shouldnt you put more 1/2cc allies? and for this purpose I think Puwen fits better than Dirk (I like dirk but have to agree Puwen is a bit better for higher resilience). Dirk is vulnerable to sooo much abilities, ice storm, arcane burst, etc, and is killed by a single strike 2cc ally.

Edit: You said u are using KP right, so I think you must consider using Kris+ Aldon in PotL place. He is like free fireball with haste for just 1cc, and you can retreat him to recast next turn. very powerful.

[cosmo K]

yeah i was sorta kidding with the death race. but you're right Aldon is certainly a good idea.
Dirk is good in the early fight, either playing first of behind birgitte.
Kris I don't know. He's so small !

retreat to cast him again ? what about leaving it on the board

[davidwm18]

Just make the check: Kris + Aldon + KP = 4atk/2hp for just 1cc having haste. Due to his low hp its better to retreat him so you can recast next turn for attacking again because of haste.
So 4x retreat + 4x Kris + 2 or 3 Aldon would make a finishing move on mid/late game (not on early game cause KP isnt on play yet).
I will try this on test server now, Ive never did before just planned.