Ter Stripper

[Shadowborn]

Ter Stripper

TL: DR
Main win con of this deck is not mill damage or even your own cards, it's your opponents cards, steal as many as possible and use it against them


For those unfamiliar, this deck is a Stripper deck, it's name originating
from A1 Caitlyn's Stripper decks. What it means is that you use cards like Night Prowler and Transferrence to steal your opponents cards(strip them) and that's why this deck is so fun. Honestly can anyone claim that they've played Ter Adun and ran around with What Big Teeth, Speedstrike and Reserve Weapon? Or maybe did a Infinity Core, Aldmor Conduit combo when decked out? Thought not . *Btw this deck is not a mill deck. With Dimensional Ripper it may seem so but the core aim is to use DR to destroy your opponents beautiful, slim, well-planned deck. Steal their cards and use it against them, that means cast those Gargoyles and Oggys that you stole. Because of this, this deck is best played above the rating of 250+ where there are no mammoth, 60 card decks running Eternal Renewal(yes I played against one before)

Ter Adun

ALLIES(9)
Furrion Terror x4
Shadow Knight x3
Braxnorian Veteran x2

ABILITIES(12)
Crippling Blow x4
Rampage x2
Bad Santa x4
Shadow Font x2

ITEMS(20)
Reserve Weapon x4
Evil Ascendant x4
Aldmore Conduit x3
Dimensional Ripper x4
Snow Sapphire x4
1x Arthyle Crypt


I've been using this deck concept for about half a year already I only decided to post it now because of the recently revived hyped over DR, KA Leo used it in his WC finalist deck, I've seen lots of arguments on the forums on whether is good or not, I've seen some decks posted on the forums using it. However I feel that most of the decks posted were not optimized to run DR, I mean, a Zal running DR should never also have Mind Controls, Warriors running DR should never run Smashing Blow(hence why I use Ter Adun). This deck on the other hand has been tuned to fit DR, almost every card that has been given to the opponent can be countered by your own cards. It's a classic DR deck, where taking your opponents cards benefits you more than giving yours away

ALLIES
Shadow Knight is such a flexible ally, Return back your Furrions for board wipe loop, return Brax Veteran for Cripple Blow loop or just do the classic SK loop for plain board pressure and damage. That's what makes this deck so good, you have near unlimited control options. If they get any of your allies, just kill it or Cripple Blow them. SK could be difficult if your opponent gets it but honestly, you have tons of ways to deal with it, FTs, CB, DR and EA, because of its low health. Furrion Terror isn't that useful for them since this is a semi solo deck. Brax Vet is even more useless unless you're playing against Warriors

DRAW
Aldmor Conduit works as a SE sink, in case you have no items to destroy, it's more of a supplementary draw option to fish out for DR or BS. You rarely use it once you pull out a DR because of the extreme draw you get from it
Bad Santa and DR synergize extremely well with each other. Santa Bomb your opponent, then attack with DR to ensure only you get the cards.
If your opponent gets your draw cards, even better for you. Aldmor and BS are bilateral draw options. If they cast DR, even better, they further destroy their own deck and give away their better cards.

CONTROL
You technically have 6 Cripple Blows in this deck. If you're going against Rush don't hesitate to use it against the T2 Puwen or IK, other than that, save it for the 3cc allies or the 5+ cc allies. Rampage is rather tricky, it's gold if you get it, it's not uncommon to be down to single digit hp early game and then boardwipe everything with FTs loops to get it back up to 20, at the same time if your opponent gets it, it's bad but with so little allies, the healing is not as efficient as yours when you start boardwiping. Need I explain EA? It's a semi solo deck, you need it, your opponent won't use it.

WEAPONS AND ARMOR
DR, the core of this deck, the damage is nice but what you're aiming for is your opponents cards, strangely enough, the cards your opponent runs are your main win con. Reserve Weapon is really good, more damage+more cards. How useful it is to your opponent depends on whether he's running a weapon deck, if he is... blow it up with your ability, that's why I run Ter Adun, you simply just counter yourself. Snow Sapphire is great. Decent dura and armor plus great stalling tool. A nifty trick is that if a FT attacks you( opponents FT, your stolen FT, Mind Controlled FT), it dies straightaway, preserving DRs durability. Arthyles Crypt, ultimate recursion. With all your items, this is the least likely to be destroyed, if it is however, you'll know for sure that you're up against a pro because the most canny opponents know that what makes a semi solo deck tick is ally recursion. WARNING: Always ATTACK with DR first before recursing. Otherwise you're gonna give away your Furrions and SK, do not ever make that ridiculous mistake. I had a game against a Zaladar. Both of us were milled out and he had an Infinity Core. He used Infinity Core to bring back a PB, before attacking me with his Gargoyle. Needless to say he immediately quit after he processed this ridiculous folly for 5+ seconds

ALTERNATIVES
I tested out Punishers Gauntlets, 4x Gauntlets, 2x Gauntlets+ 2x SS but I found that it's actually possible to run out of SE as Ter Adun. Gauntlets definitely benefit your opponents less when they get them but in order to use them efficiently, you need to run 4x SF, which by the way, is very useful to your opponent. Still worth trying out if you're quite the adventurer

-1 Aldmor Conduit
To make your deck slimmer.You don't actually need it, some games I don't even use it at all and still win, DR and BS is more than enough draw.

+1 Rampage
I have yet to try this, however recent games show that Rampage is absolutely critical, without it, your health will fall too low to be able to fight your way back late game. As I said earlier, Rampage is more efficient and important to you than the opponent so it's okay to have 3 of it.

GAMES

Gravebone
AA1 ShadowBeast vs Ostrayus
Honestly, this probably isn't the best GB deck or player out there. Thoughtful Investment? T5 FT on an empty board? But it does give you a good idea on how this deck is run. Use their Ogloths, Poisons, Flames, Meteor Shower whatever. Oh and keep some CBs handy for their fatties

Gwen
AA1 ShadowBeast vs Chiroko
This deck hard counters Gwen with Ter's ability and Snow Sapphire. Against a better Gwen deck try not to use Aldmor since you need all your SE for her weapons but in this game I had no DRs in my starting hand so I had to fish around for them. Plenty of example Santa Bombs here too.

Zhanna
AA1 ShadowBeast vs Funtos
Had to fish really for my DR in this one. With Rampage I was able to hold on for a ridiculously long time at single digit hp. I was actually confident on milling her until TO and double Puwens came out. That's when I suspected that she ran Resurrection and boom it did. That's one of this deck's weakness, Resurrection or Renewal, you simply get flooded with so many allies you cant control them

Serena

Serena is actually quite a bad matchup. Despite being a weapon hero, she'll always get her discards in+ she has lots of Stop Thiefs

AA1 ShadowBeast vs BlackLotus 0488
Classic Rampage comeback, with Furrions and DR. Also I completely forgot that Serena has a pseudo-boardwipe now: Fan of Blades so I got taken by complete surprise when I tried to swarm the board

AA1 ShadowBeast vs Bactrian
A very good Serena deck. First game I lost because I prioritized her weapons over her IGG. Learnt my lesson now, Serena will ALWAYS get her discards in so destroy the IGG first. This is not a mill deck, you want your opponent to draw as slowly as possible so you can milk as many cards.
Second game I just got totally killed. He had 3 Stop Thiefs in the early game so I had next to no draw and damage

Elementalis
AA1 ShadowBeast vs Khroos
Elementalis decks run lots of juicy allies, make sure you get into some of that action. Contrary to popular belief, do not CB every ally in sight, rather play it conservatively and time it with Ele's ability so that it's completely wasted. Santa Bombs galore here. Snow Sapphire really shines here when both players run FT and Mind Controlled. The guy got a real rude kick in the face at the end, when he Ele buffed and Life Infusioned his FT, only for it to get Mind Controlled and killing him. It's actually my favorite coup de grace when playing Elementals but it's 10 times better when you're using it as Ter Adun.

I will be updating more games with +1 Rampage in the changelog. So give me some feedback, advice and I'll test it out. I will also be trying to find games against hated archetypes like Elad rush and Millstalker. In theory, against rush, your strategy will be... going out of the window. Forget T3 EA or Aldmor or T4 Rampage, just CB everything





... Also this deck is not competitive in the current meta. This deck is a mid-range to late game deck. The current meta is either Rush or Late-Game, that's why I was hesitant to post it at first. Obviously this does not mean that this deck cannot handle both archetype, it's just that you'll need to be able to pilot it very well. Please don't let that info put you off playing this deck. It still has a decent win rate and is IMO one of the most fun deck in SE because of how varied games are. HOWEVER, this does not mean that this deck is a "FUN" deck, it is competitive in QM provided you understand how every card works. DR does not make this deck "FUN", it is a calculated risk that more often then not benefits you more, it's only limited by the current meta. If in the future, when decks become a bit more slower or in the slower tourney meta, this deck will be just as successful as other more "standard" ones

[Shadowborn]

CHANGELOG: +1 Rampage

Games with this tweak will be out soon

[Shadows R Us]

Interesting deck, and great write up. You give detailed explanations for your card choices. Thanks of posting this.

[maru]

nice guide! thanks for posting

[Karyo Ten]

Very refreshing deck.

There is so much cards at 4cc and 5cc and almost nothing early, it seems like the deck does not allow any error while in most other decks the opening hands pretty much gives you a sacrifice plan.
If you ressourced the wrong card early or you played the wrong 4cc/5cc, isn't it hard to come back? Does it happen often ?

[Shadowborn]

Thank you all ^^

Very refreshing deck.

There is so much cards at 4cc and 5cc and almost nothing early, it seems like the deck does not allow any error while in most other decks the opening hands pretty much gives you a sacrifice plan.
If you ressourced the wrong card early or you played the wrong 4cc/5cc, isn't it hard to come back? Does it happen often ?

You can sac those extra 4 of's that you have, e.g Reserve weapon, Furrions, EA, occasionally CB too or Brax if you're not up against a matchup that's CB heavy(e.g Gravebone or Ele), occasionally DR too if you have too many DRs and Reserve Weapons. This deck is always making comebacks, the fact that your sacrificing the early game. How easy it is depends on the cards you have in hand at that moment, the best start would be
T3 : EA
T4 : Rampage
T5 : Furrion or DR
To start gaining life or drawing as quickly as possible. The heal from Rampage is actually pretty massive. If they started off with weenie rush, you'll be healing about 4-6 hp the moment Furrion Terror comes down, not enough to gain back all your early hp lost, but enough to stall the game for more FT boardwiping. If they're not rushing, all the better, you lost little early hp and you can start CBing or stealing their bigger allies

[Caitlyn0]

this looks like you combined my ter stripper concept and my solo ter into a semi-solo stripper ter.

those are the best 3 allies for either deck. what i see as a hard balance is when you opponent gets and casts your rampage, making it harder to play your allies but it can be done. the heavy hitting mid game with reserved DR and SK loops will win you the game.

[Daemon Rayge]

this looks like you combined my ter stripper concept and my solo ter into a semi-solo stripper ter.
.

You must be one proud mama.

[Alien Fungus]

Why only one Arthyles Crypt ? If you like recursion. I have found it to be equally likely to be destroyed and running only one you have a fair chance of losing it to your opponen. SK is your only alternative

[Shadowborn]

this looks like you combined my ter stripper concept and my solo ter into a semi-solo stripper ter.

those are the best 3 allies for either deck. what i see as a hard balance is when you opponent gets and casts your rampage, making it harder to play your allies but it can be done. the heavy hitting mid game with reserved DR and SK loops will win you the game.

o.O the boss is here! How do you like the deck? Any tweaks you would recommend?

Why only one Arthyles Crypt ? If you like recursion. I have found it to be equally likely to be destroyed and running only one you have a fair chance of losing it to your opponen. SK is your only alternative

Though I did say it was the "ultimate" recursion, I meant it in the sense that it could be used forever, SK is actually my favourite recursion option because it's a big body on the board. In the original version, I did not even run Arthyles, it's just meant to supplement your SKs really late game. Never really found a situation where I really needed Arthyles. Most games end before you reach the stage where both decks are milled out with no allies