Hi everyone!
First a quick introduction, then we get down the the interesting part. First of all I realize that solo DC is not a new concept and that large part of the deck is basicly the same in all cases.
This doesn't change the fact that I love the deck, I've since I started playing SE.
My first QM was vs a player playing solo DC. I was arogant and smiled when I got him down to below 10 HP, but then it turned. Lone Wolf, Speedstrike, Rain Delay and Shadow Fonts, and a few rounds later he was up to 20 HP and I was dead. I was amazed!
This is where this old school (30 years old now) Magic player fell in love with SE, I went directly to the merchant and got enough shadow crystals to obtain my own solo DC deck.
Since then I have played many different decks, but I find myself always coming back to my first love. With that in mind here is my list.
Lonely Wolf - The List
Foundation (does rarely change)
1x Darkclaw
4x Speedstrike
3x Lone Wolf
2x Evil Ascendant
4x Shadow Font
2x Ley Line Nexus
4x Bad Santa
4x Blood Moon (new to DP, but it will never go under 4 cards, best card in SE)
4x What Big Teeth
2x Fangs of the Predator
The hard part that's in constant flux - At the moment this is my choice
3x Captured Prey
3x Rabid Bite
2x Ripping Fury
2x Cresent of Doom
Why these cards?
Lets start with the obvious ones
What Big Teeth
Unlimited weapon...
Speedstrike
Hitting 2 times after activating hero ability, enough said, with Fangs of the Predator thats 8 damage that you dont get any return attacks on.
Lone Wolf
Solo DCs staple, getting 2 HP every turn is a game breaker, with this out you can ignore some minor allies and focus on the hero. Or you can withstand those pesky mages spells for a longer time.
Shadow Font
Without this card you're a wimpy 1+1 with return attacks gimp. With Shadow Font you're god dealing anything from 8-10 (to allies) damage per turn.
Ley Line Nexus
You will need this to take down freezing armor and nasty weapons. Or just to remove that armor on the last turn when you opponent thought they were safe.
Evil Ascendant
This card does help you out a great deal, it works even better in combination with Rain Delay. Why only 2? Well there are more important cards to include.
The draw engine - Blood Moon & Bad Santa
I can not stress this enough, this deck is all about draw. You always want to have at least 1 extra weapon in your hand, extra speedstrike & lone wolf as well if possible, some anti creature card (Captured Prey, Rabid Bite...), Ley Line Nexus and of course you want another draw card in you hand as well.
The hard part - Ally control
For me is which cards to include for ally control. Since I began to play DC I have tried lots of different ways for example:
- 4x Rain Delay, 4x Full Moon, 2x Cresendo
- 2x Now You're Mine, 2x Captured Prey, 2x Rabid Bite, 4x Rain Delay, 2x Cresendo
etc etc
Problem is that cards like Cresendo works only well enough with Rain Delay, reasoning being that you dont want to waste any cards, attacks on seperate targets when Cresendo will take care of all of them in X rounds.
Rabid Bite is horrible vs lots of small allies. But works great when rushing for damage if used on a ally with strength 4 and above. Can also help with board control if you get lucky and get one ally hurt and the other one killed.
Now You're Mine is okey but most allies at 3cc and less are easily ignored to be killed of when they attack or just too weak to do enough damage to worry about.
Captured Prey is a much more all-round card, works vs everything. Only problem is the possibility of a retreat, or remove attachment card.
Rain Delay and Full Moon are situational cards, the problem I see with them is that more or less all other cards are more useful/urgent, hence I find myself sacrificing them in favor of more urgent cards.
So I feel a bit stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to selecting cards for creature control. I just mix and match, switch out and try different approaches.
Now for some of the cards I find interesting in DP
Blood Moon
Allready mentioned - it's the bomb!
Cresent of Doom
Good weapon to take board control, works as a delay card. Works best when you use it to wipe out 2 T4 allies in a deck with lots of 2cc, 3cc allies.
Does it derserve a spot in the deck?
- I honestly don't know, right now I'm trying it out, we'll see how it goes. Not the best and not the worst so far, by far the 3rd best weapon for DC.
Ripping Fury
Really useful card when you don't want to waste attacks on allies. Just put it out and for 3 turns the enemy will have a very hard time attacking. Can also be used in rare cases to wipe out a high toughness ally such as Aeon Stormcaller.
Does it deserve a spot in the deck?
- I'm begining to think so, for 2cc it's a damn good card, works as delay as well os offense, and has a passive aspect to it because of it remaining on the board for 3 turns.
Word of the Prophet
Solo DC is all about having the right cards at the right time, if you need a Speedstrike and you have 3 weapons you don't necessary want to sacrifice any weapons, nor can yu wait for that speedstrike to appear by it self. Word of the Prophet is a great card for these times.
Does it deserve a spot in the deck?
- Hard to say. The card is great, problem is, is it better then other possible cards?
How do you play such a deck?[
Well there are a few ways, depending on what cards you use for ally control, and of course how your inital draw looks.
Scenario I - Optimal
You get 1xSpeedstrike, 1x Lone Wolf, 1xWhat Big Teeth (+Blood Moon).
Now you are set to begin, sacrifice any doubles (not weapons) and any cards that will not be useful vs the opponents deck. On turn 2 play Blood Moon in you have it, turn 3 What Big Teeth, Turn 4 depending on if you are facing a mage with focus on spells (Lone Wolf) or a ally focused deck (Speedstrike), on turn 5 you play the one you didn't play the turn before.
You have you combo out, just keep drawing and building a back-up hand. Play Shadow Font as much as possible. Focus on hero unless you ar facing 3/1, 4/2, 5/3 allies, the kill the off before they can hurt you to much.
Scenario II- Missing Speedstrike or Weapon
You could be in for a hard start, but if you have some draw you will most likley be okey. Just try to preserve as much HP as possible and control the board with the cards you have in you hand. Lone Wolf will probably play a vital part in this match so get it out asap.
Scenario III/a - Heavy Ally Deck (You have Cresendo/Rain Delay in you deck)
You will most likely have to focus a bit more on board control, this is where a deck with Rain Delay and Cresendo can be absolutly devestating. Just kill off some allies every turn, get Cresendo out, play a Rain Delay, focus on the allies that will have a possibility to attack next turn (and take away durability from Cresendo) and when you are getting close to Cresendos boom focus on hero for a bit and see the opponets allies disapear.
Scenario III/b - Heavy Ally Deck (You don't have Cresendo/Rain Delay in you deck)
This is harder but should be okey, once again board control will be important, You might have to focus a bit more on the hero and let your ally control cards (Rabid Bite, Captured Prey...) handle some of the heat. Just make sure you take out dangerous allies like PB and easy targets like allies with high strength but toughness 3 and below.
I have found that Ripping Fury can be very useful in these situations as well as Cresent of Doom in some cases, both kill allies faster and has a secondary delay function.
Scenario IV - Ability Heavy Decks
Tbh these ones are pretty easy, Priests are a pain because of focused prayer, so just make sure to have lots of extra weapons in your hand. Lone Wolf does wonders vs mages.
Scenario V - Facing Ter Adun
Hard, hard, hard. A good player playing Ter Adun is hard. Never sacrifice any Speedstrike, Lone Wolf or Weapon and you might stand a chance.
Scenario VI - Facing Jericho Spellbane
Just say GG and quit, you can't win. Won maybe 1 in 100 games vs this bastard.
So how is it to play Solo DC?
The Good
- Fun, really fun. When you get everything going and keeping control it's great.
- You can handle almost every deck if you play well and keep your priorities right.
- Really nice artwork on all the cards, Blood Moon is sick, props to the artist!
The Bad
- Bad draws are really frustrating. Learn to work around them and find ways to minimize your disadvantage because of them.
- Predictable damage curve. Because of the 1+1, 3+3 damage variants the enemy can easily know how much damage you will deal the next turn and plan accordingly. Learn to counter this with Fangs of the Predator for a 4+4 damage round or use Rabid Bite to try to hurt the opponent a bit extra with thier own ally.
- Jericho Spellbane - Don't even try to fool yourself, you will be irritated with this absolute counter to Solo DC.
Conclusion
Hope I have been in any way helpful to those interested in Solo DC, if you haven't tried it yet do so it's a nice change of pace.
And if you have anything to add to my predicament with ally control please do so, I welcome all input.
Best Regards
// Lots of Fnords
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