Kylt's Zhanna 2: Banish Control

[Kylt]

Hi. Here is my another Zhanna deck.

Previous Zhanna that I posted here was aggro heavy. You can go get the board with ice storm, while having Priest's almighty tools to control the game. This deck is control heavy, meaning that you let your opponent be the beatdown and you stay passive until you get to finish the game.

This deck might be difficult to play for new players as you need to know what your opponent is doing. But once you know about many heroes and decks, you can play this deck without thinking too much because this deck has a golden strategy just like rush Eladwen.

I play this deck when I feel like I just wanna play SE without using my head but not quite in the mood for rush Elad

(My aggro Zhanna deck is here: http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....p-winning-deck )




DECK

***HERO***
Zhanna Mist

***Allies (17)***
4x Jasmine Rosecult
2x Aeon Stormcaller
3x Layarian Seductress
4x Elizabeth Winterborn
4x Knight of the Golden Dawn

***Abilities (19)***
4x Tidal Wave
4x Focused Prayer
4x Retreat!
1x Forgiveness
4x Banish
2x Mass Purification

***Armors (2)***
2x The King's Pride

***Weapons (4)***
4x Wizent's Staff

TOTAL: 42 cards + Hero


This deck is all about gaining advantage.


You have 4 retreat, 4 banish, 4 TW = 12 ability cards to control the board, while you also have 4 Jasmine and 3 Seductress for extra ally control. Too much? Maybe. But this makes your sac choice so much easier.

Shutting down your opponent's draw is the first thing you need to do. And then get you draw engine on the board. From there, you can counter every card opponent plays, thereby leaving them nothing to fight with. Use Banish for 1:1 trade, TW is for 2 for 1 trade, while you are drawing 2 or 3 cards every turn. Accumulate hand advantage first, then turn that into board advantage when your opponent has not many ways to counter.

Type: Control
Resource: 7~9
Speed: Slow and Passive until you win the game.




Cards

3cc allies here can be swapped/mixed to what you like.

Jasmine
Solid 3/4 and strong ability. Never less than 3 in any DP priest deck imo.

Seductress
Since KotGD have 4 atk, Aldon is less important here. Seductress alone can buy a lot of time for you to cast control card while presenting a body on the board, forcing your opponent to deal with it. Also, nice alt way to deal with steadfast allies other than Tidal Wave.

Other possibilities are,

Aldon
As I wrote above, since this deck's main finisher has 4 atk, and also 1 ping damage from Wizent's Staff is usually enough, Aldon's +1 boost is less important. But still, being able to buff KotGD to kill IG/MA/PB in 1 hit is nothing to ignore.

FFM
Actually pretty cool in this deck because in any control deck, more ways to make your hand better is never a bad thing. Especially, with this deck, you need to have correct answers for opponent's play throughout the game. FFM greatly helps you to reach the card you need in the situation. Also, KP+FFM ftw.


KotGD
Pretty powerful. Game finisher No 1. I don't say it is absolutely better than Raven or Brax soldier, but KotGD allows you to use Aldon's slot for something else. He is better than Raven to face Jasmine, Aldon or DMT. Plus, he has to be killed in 1 turn or Zhanna can gain 6 point advantage. So he actually has a good survivability when Zhanna has SE stock. Overall, KotGD fits well in Zhanna control deck.


Elizabeth
4 copies because you need a massive draw power. You can swap 1 Elizabeth with TO if you like, but never bring less than 3 copies.

Aeon
Finisher No 2. He requires your opponent to have pretty specific cards to counter: Dragon's tooth/MC etc. Note that getting a retreat on Aeon is good for you because opponent have used 1 card and did not gain much tempo since Zhanna have multiple ways to counter allies on the board that came along with the retreat. You must kill opponent draw engine first, then getting an Aeon retreated hurts your opponent more. +1 Aeon, -1 KotGD works too.


Tidal Wave
Big advantage gaining card. Auto 4 in this type of deck.

Banish
Quite expensive, but it gives your opponent no hand advantage, unlike retreat. Since it costs 4 resource to cast, your aim is to get to 7 or 8 resource for Banish + something (Or even double Banish!)

Retreat
Cheap and good. Not as great as Banish, in terms of diminishing opponent's hand advantage, but Zhanna needs 2cc ability cards to cast on t2 to delay opponent's rush.

FP
Best item destruction card in the game. It is a bit easier to use FP on Tome or DoU against portal majiya than normal Zhanna build, because Banish can take care of SK portal combo to a degree. Auto 4 in passive control deck.

Mass Purification
Another advantage gaining card. MP is like TW against certain decks. +1 MP and -1 retreat/banish for attachment heavy meta.

Forgiveness
AUTO 1 include!


Wizent staff
Draw more without using your precious resource! W.Staff = BF if you like.

KP
Finisher No 3.


Plays

t4 Staff, t5 TW, t6 retreat+Elizabeth, t7 Banish + Jas.
t4 draw engine, t5 retreat + FP, t6 TW, t7 retreat + KotG, t8 double Banish etc.


Have fun!


Any questions?



P.S.
You can do almost the same with Jericho. He cannot use Elizabeth and KotGD well, but he can exclude MP so the deck will be more lean and probability of drawing key cards goes up.

[Wes Davis]

Why is Forgiveness auto one include?

[Daemon Rayge]

Why is Forgiveness auto one include?

Kylt loves the card. It makes T1 sac easier knowing you can get it back. In a way, you could even use it as storage for the card. Sac a KP T1 and then use Forgivness to instantly pull it out later for example.

[Skurai]

nice deck, thanks for sharing

[williedelice]

Steady and strong deck!

But when it comes to Solo-mage

[Bobbypim]

Deck looks very solid! Will try it out, thanks for sharing

[araedros]

only issue comes with attachements that cripple your allies.
Having no healing touch or a legend rises to deal with crippling blow captured prey and consuming fear

[Peithoson]

Interesting that Aldon is not included.

[Daemon Rayge]

only issue comes with attachements that cripple your allies.
Having no healing touch or a legend rises to deal with crippling blow captured prey and consuming fear

He has 2 Mass Purification which is pretty much Sever Ties, but cost 1 CC more and can un-Cripple multiple allies and also devastate those multi-turn Attachment setups like those used in Darkclaw (This card has single handedly won me a game once against one by eliminating Lone Wolf, Speedstrike, and 3 Captured Prey in one swing).

[WrathOfCroft]

I rarely get to use mass purification, but when I do, it wins me the game. I'm likiing banish more and more now. Some people say u can't use TO and eliz in the same deck, but that's BS. Having both let's u plan accordingly. Most of the times tw isn't even needed because your opponent knows you have it and will not stack the board because they fear it. So when they are swarming early, drop to. If its safe drop eliz. Then if they spam allies after eliz, tw them. Really digging banish man. Thanks for the inspiration.

Also, havin both TO and eliz frees up your se instead of using staff. The beauty with eliz is that she goes unchecked because they know if they cant kill her in one turn, she is going to get healed. When kp drops, or hell, even aldon, she really shines as cleanup. This is why i rate her higher than staff because of her flexibility. And to me, TO is an auto include in zhanna deck cuz no criplling ability can withstand TW.