Blacksmith Victor

[Ballyworld]

I've been enjoying the posted decks recently along with the conversation around them and thought I'd put mine up too.

Victor

Allies:
Kris x4
Aldon x3
Kurt x3
Sandworm x3
Aeon x3

Abilities:
Poor qual x3
Poison Arrow x4
Flame arrow x3
Bad Santa x4
Retreat x2

Items:
WOTF x4
Gravediggers x2
Soul Seek x3

Total 41 at start of game.

The idea of the deck is to use Vic's ability and his arrows as the anvil to the hammer provided by the allies. The main goal of the ally strategy is to get Kurts and Worms out and buffed by Aeon. POTL is there to slow down SE and gain health in addition to being a strong 3cc ally. Kris is there to finish off opposing allies, take down weapons, and to use the Santa Surprise (don't want to pay royalties).
Item are there mainly as support. WOTF for draw, Soul Seek for healing and help with board control, and the cloak as a hedge against allyless decks and additional draw.

For a long time I had this deck with four Puwens and 2 EP's rather than the 3 Kurts. This worked very well but I always felt I needed more punch, and managing EP in the presence of Kris was a headache. Kurt has the benefit of not being unique and allowing two on field. Also He and the worms are an effective counter to people who run Evil Acend.

I am not completely sold on this build as I havn't had too much time to play it recently, and may sub Kurt for Marshland Sentinal. Even going second, it can neuter, Knights, Raven, Ericka, Oggy, Moltens, and give a leg up on the powerful 5cc and 6cc allies. It is easy to kill however, and could lead to a lack of late game punch. So I am up in the air on this..

Generally speaking over the iterations of this deck, I've done well against most other decks, I cant really think of a deck that just hands it to me every time in 5-7 turns. Even against the best Lance Builds and Zaladar type decks, I go deep into the game. I win <50% of those probably, but still a fun competitive game that goes at least 10-15 turns. What more can you ask really?

Let me know what you think and any suggestions are welcome.

[Ballyworld]

I've been having some success with this build. Won seven of my last eight with a six game streak on-going. I'm in the Mid-240's and all the players have seemed experienced. I've seem mostly Mages and Warriors during this streak, but also Darkclaw, Gwyn, and a Elementallis. No Rouge or Priest though so that will be a nice test too.

[Diamond Dog]

why wouldnt you run 4x soul seekers

[Ballyworld]

why wouldnt you run 4x soul seekers

Good Question.

At one point I had 6 bows in deck and found it lacking some power in the mid- to late- game, even when I can keep them on the board. Since then, I've slowly taken out some weapons and replaced with certain allies aiming for a 40-44 card deck..

On a related note, I've been tempted recently to take out the seekers altogether and replace with allies, into the forest, or Honored Deads. However, the seeker does have a nice synergy with vics ability as it can take out any ally but sandworm... So I've been reluctant to take this final step.

[mongobo]

Seems like the only time it's worth it to bring out Gravedigger's Cloak is if you play against a solo deck. Otherwise, you're really sacrificing the recursive power of Victor.

[Ballyworld]

Seems like the only time it's worth it to bring out Gravedigger's Cloak is if you play against a solo deck. Otherwise, you're really sacrificing the recursive power of Victor.

Most times that is is the way it works. Lately, I've taken to using it early against mages too. Recently had a match against a Portal Majyia using the Shadow Knight loop. I was hoping to use the cloak to poach the knight(s) from the graveyard. I didn't win the coin flip but stole a Fireball 3x in a row which was the cool by me as well. This trick could also mess up a gravebone deck or a weapon deck too.

Even if I had stolen the knight, not sure if I would have cast it as that would allow it to go back to their graveyard. Sac-ing would permanently remove it from the game....

It is also a late game card to bring over useful cards when my deck is getting short...

[Ballyworld]

Deck is now 16-5-1 over the last couple of weeks. I don't get to play a whole lot but it is doing well.

[FlyingFerrari]

why wouldnt you run 4x soul seekers

These are an must in any hunter deck!

[Ballyworld]

These are an must in any hunter deck!

I'm not so sure. There are several heros who could work well with no direct intervention with weapons. Moonstalker, Elementals, Boris, Priest, Mage. Not to say they don't benefit from using certain armors. I think Victor might fit well into this mold as well. Caitlyn posted a Balrudu deck whose primary weapon is BDB and it has seeming done well.

I have not yet tried this as I mentioned above about the bows synergy with Vic's ability, but to not even consider it does not push the boudries of the meta.

[Ballyworld]

Deck is now 16-5-1 over the last couple of weeks. I don't get to play a whole lot but it is doing well.

Tough week for me, 1-4-1 (17-9-2). Including a loss to our friendly neighborhood moderator Danae (A fun, well fought match against a Zaladar deck).

Probably some regression to the mean, in baseball terms, my batting average of balls in play was way too high. Still almost a 2/3 winning pctg. I'll take it!