1.5 - Gwen "The Bride"

[Preybird]

NOTE: Current list is at the bottom of the post.

Hi all,

It's been a while since I posted a deck, the last being my utterly invincible Snake Inferno*. Now while I'll never reach such lofty heights of deckbuilding again, I figured I'd throw out a deck that I've been using a lot lately, featuring everyone's favourite bowslinger, Gwen.

1 x Gwenneth Truesight

3 x Jasmine
4 x Puwen
4 x Tainted Oracle
4 x Priest of the Light
2 x Aeon Stormcaller
3 x Fire Arrow/Poison Arrow/Retreat (take your pick )
4 x Rapid Fire
3 x Into the Forest
2 x Ley Line Nexus
4 x Bad Santa
4 x Soul Seeker
2 x Golden Katar

Total 39 cards + Hero

This is probably as consistent as you are going to get Gwen. It's a solid early ally rush coupled with a late game thumping at the hands of the dreaded Rapid Fire + Soul Seeker combo.

Why Allies?

Simply put, Gwen traditionally suffers in early game, taking a beating until such time as she can regain the board and start gaining her life total back with Soul Seeker. Having cheap early allies means that you can at the very least divert some of that early game pressure from her, meaning that she can more quickly and effectively start beating down the hero with 8 damage a turn. If you can even get a couple of allies to stick you're in good shape. Should you get an Aeon to stick however (which can happen quite easily against some heroes), it's game over for your opponent.

Why Katar?

Golden Katar is a placeholder weapon. It's there to increase your weapon count to 6, giving you an extremely high chance of having something on turn 6, which is when you would be aiming to get your weapon out (Turn 5 is generally reserved for Rapid Fire). However, it's a dangerous weapon in it's own right, and realistically impossible to remove unless your opponent has item destruction.

Santa? Why no WotF?

This is the result of a lot of thought on my part, and me finally being tipped over the edge by conversations with Otto. Gwen is an offensive hero, she hits hard and fast and needs huge card draw. Wrath of the Forest is great for decks like Moonstalker (for anti-mage) and Banebow (control style), but is less effective with Gwen. This is because most of the time you're casting allies up until turn 4, then 5 and 6 are reserved for Weapon related cards. By turn 7 you are usually transitioning to a solo-beatdown style of play. Unfortunately, this means there's no slot for WotF (Turn 4 is better used for Tainted Oracle). Many many hours of testing have proven this to me. Santa also allows you to dig for that final Soul Seeker very easily.

Strategy and Optimal Start

This deck operates in two stages:

The first is the early game stage, where you pump out allies as fast as possible, using Tainted Oracle and Bad Santa to keep your hand full. The purpose of this is two-fold, firstly you put pressure on the opponent immediately, and secondly you take pressure off Gwen as your opp has to deal with the allies lest they take a lot of hits early game. It's not unheard of to lose all your allies by the time this deck transitions into the second stage, but with Gwen, it's not the problem that it is with other heroes.

The second is the late game stage, where the deck transitions into a solo-beatdown style deck. This is where you use Soul Seeker, Into the Forest and your Arrows/Retreat to keep the board under control while you heap damage on the hero. Bad Santa is doubly important here, as it allows you the draw to power this stage, as well as helping you to draw out any remaining allies to help keep the pressure up. Aeon can make an appearance here, and if he does your opponent is in trouble, though he's not essential. Always, repeat ALWAYS sac allies over weapons in this stage. Remember Gwen is a one-trick pony to a large extent, and your opponent, if he's clever, will be hoarding that item destruction.

So, here's the optimal start:

Turn 1: Nothing
Turn 2: Puwen
Turn 3: PotL/Jasmine
Turn 4: Tainted Oracle
Turn 5: Rapid Fire
Turn 6: Soul Seeker/Golden Katar + Into the Forest
Turn 7: Beatdown

So that's my Gwen. It's a solid deck, and should do you well in the 250+ on QM (does for me ).

*WARNING: Snake Inferno may cause you feelings of invincibility and supreme arrogance, followed by nausea and headaches when you finally realise it's a joke deck.

EDIT: New list is below:

1 x Gwenneth Truesight

3 x Jasmine
2 x Lily
4 x Tainted Oracle
4 x Priest of the Light
2 x Aeon Stormcaller
3 x Poison Arrow
2 x Retreat!
4 x Rapid Fire
3 x Into the Forest
2 x Ley Line Nexus
4 x Bad Santa
4 x Soul Seeker
2 x Golden Katar

Total 39 cards + Hero

I've been advised that Puwen is superfluous in this build, contributing little. It makes sense, so I've removed him and added 2 Lily and 2 Retreat. And it does feel better. I think this is a better variant.

Thanks Sisyphos and Ahmet for your help with this adjustment.

EDIT: Realised I still had Fire Arrow listed, been using Poison Arrow for a long time instead. It's the better choice.

[Keaven]

I found the ally heavy Gwenneth builds lack the might of (semi) Solo versions. Placing allies out can really shorten your hand, and come T5 or T6 you can be facing some seriously difficult decisions if you have drawn more than 1 weapon before then, especially when facing a Hero with weapon destruction, or if your Tainted Oracle is returned/disabled.

...
Turn 1: Nothing
Turn 2: Puwen
Turn 3: PotL/Jasmine
Turn 4: Tainted Oracle
Turn 5: Rapid Fire
Turn 6: Soul Seeker/Golden Katar + Into the Forest
Turn 7: Beatdown

With this play you will have 1 card in hand at the start of T6 playing first so you would have to be extremely lucky to combo a weapon and Into the Forest if Tainted Oracle was killed. +1 cards when playing second, and likely no allies remaining on the board.

For any Hero you face packing Severed Ties (or Jericho) I also find this play better if you can draw it:

T5: Golden Katar (no buff)
T6: Into the Forest + Rapid fire and ability if weapon not destroyed

This will protect Gwenneth from both damage and removal of Rapid Fire. On the next turn you can then switch in a Soul Seeker if you need HP. If they have item destruction and did not use it the turn before they probably will now looking at your damage output for the next two turns which is great if you have a Soul Seeker in hand waiting. As they cannot get this and armour/Aeon out in the same T6/T7...

"Advantage Burns"

[FDL]

Does Steve know your hanging out with Gwen these days... I smell trouble.

[Preybird]

@Fou.... Shhh! Don't tell him!

@Keaven: Valid points. I get the cards in hand thing, you could drop a Santa instead of a TO if going up against Warriors or Wulven. Alternatively you suicide the TO in turn 5. Like I said, it's an optimal play, and I have had it happen a number of times. However most of the time you'll be running another 3 drop in turn 4, or a Santa in turn 2, or something else somewhere else

As I also said, the allies are simply there to take the early damage away from Gwen. Even if you're opponent manages to kill all your allies off, that's still X damage that was not aimed at your face. Then comes Soul Seeker/Katar to level the playing field.

Jericho is a bad matchup for Gwen at the best of times, and it's surprising how few people run Sever Ties. In fact I never encountered the card in the WC, either used against me or in any of the matches I scouted.

And WHAT is with the Advantage Burns thing?

[Keaven]

It's a quote from Simpsons is all, implying you have the momentum and advantage despite them destroying your weapon..

I find that Soul Seeker and Rapid Fire perfectly enables you to tank any early damage, and stall cards such as Retreat, Traps, Rain Delay, and Poison Arrow do a better job in early rounds. Retreats fit well with Bad Santa also minimising their extra draw.

[Preybird]

It's a quote from Simpsons is all, implying you have the momentum and advantage despite them destroying your weapon..

Fair enough then I've never been a fan of solo builds, I guess that's why I've grown attached to this build. It's also grown in conjunction with my experiences in WC, as all the Gwen's I faced had allies.

[Keaven]

Fair enough then I've never been a fan of solo builds, I guess that's why I've grown attached to this build. It's also grown in conjunction with my experiences in WC, as all the Gwen's I faced had allies.

Of course it all depends on what you're teching, as Gwen is only effective in certain match ups no matter what support cards used.

[Larus]

You made here obviously a very good deck, thumbs up

But I personally wouldn't chose between Poisen Arrow and Retreat in my Gwen, I would take both.

[Seth]

It's also grown in conjunction with my experiences in WC, as all the Gwen's I faced had allies.

Haha, you're welcome!

[Preybird]

Haha, you're welcome!

Had to get something out of my arse-whoopings

Truthfully, I started experimenting on this after I saw Cwhit's Gwen. Yours and Otto's helped me tweak it. Plus hours and hours of playtesting.

So, what do you think?