Kylt's Zaladar [SF]

[Kylt]

This deck was built in old SF version. Many cards in this deck have been nerfed/changed.


Hello!

I'm sharing a deck that achieved 96.6% win rate at 280-300 (30 games 29 win 1 loss, but it was when Zal could use Thoughtripper's Cutlass).
This deck works quite differently from DP Zaladar, so hopefully, by publishing this, people get to know how SF Zaladar can be played.


DECK

Zaladar

Allies: 16
4x Harbinger of the Lost
4x Brimstone Devourer
4x Rampant Krygon
4x Falseblood Cultist

Abilities/Items: 15
4x Antimatter
2x Soul Reaper
1x Shriek of Revulsion
4x Shadow Font
4x Mind Control

Weapons/Armors: 8
4x Dagger of Fate
4x Living Armor

Total: 39 + Zaladar

http://db.deckmill.com/#f0kaRsEt1vnwZx6xexg85zezn


This deck is rush build. I excluded tech cards so that you have higher consistency for beatdown.
You can modify the deck a bit after you understand how it works!
Basically, this deck only includes powerful cards. Then how can it be weak?

Analysing this deck should help you understand why certain cards are stronger in this game. Also you will know which cards to purchase from Merchant if you haven't got 4 copies of all cards.

The deck is quite easy to master. Strongly recommended for new players.


Type: Aggressive beatdown
Resource: 6 or 7~9
Speed: Fast (Rush)


Harbinger of the Lost
Discard & potentially 2/4 ally. In fact it almost always becomes 2/4 (I don't have the stats for this but I rarely see him being 1/3). Karash is very strong 2cc ally, but Harbringer is slightly better than Karash against BB, RD Baduruu and Amber. Discarding effect is also useful to trigger Dagger of Fate. Considering these, I chose Harbringer over Karash.

Brimestone Devourer
He is an amazing ally. 0cc 3 damage ability card when discarded. He can be played as 2/4 if necessary, and counted as an ally in the graveyard for Soul Reaper. Great versatility in this deck. You should always play games as if BD is on top of your deck. This should avoid wasting damages from BD.

Rampant Krygon
Another amazing ally. This ally, originally designed by a SE player, has changed the meta drastically. He is more of t4 ally than t3 drop, and because of him, Garg and other 5 health ally are not as resilient as before, making DoF better than 3cc ally on t3. Extremely versatile and CB/Zail's Hymn proof. Very strong card.

Falseblood Cultist
He is like shadow Tainted Oracle if you like. Good ally to play when you are going into mid game. Its discarding ability synergizes with DoF and BD in this deck.

MC
Font

Soul Reaper
Cards with discard effect makes SR more reliable.

Shriek of Revulsion
≥Sever Ties. Mainly for Enrage and Portal

Antimatter
Main draw engine + Discard engine. t5 cast AM and draw, t6 AM draw + 3cc etc.

Dagger of Fate
This card is so underrated. It can be 3cc 9 damage with discard effect. If played correctly, its cost and damage output ratio is extremely good. And even if you cannot trigger DoF, it still guarantees 3 damage for 3cc with versatile weapon use. This card can totally replace 3cc allies as it can be played on t3 and sometimes does better than any other 3cc allies. Also it's high damage output allows Zal to play like a semi solo hero if needed, thereby making ally control cards in opponent hand useless. It adds another layer to the win condition, which is quite advantageous in PvP as opponent will be forced to make difficult decisions. The key to use this card is not to attack too much with it when you cannot swing it for 3 damage.

Living Armor
I hear LA is OP, but people only include 2 copies of LA. WHY!? Yes, LA's power level is way above than other 6cc cards. Then why don't you include 4 LA to get the full out of it?? If the card is powerful, then have 4 of it, regardless of its cost. This is my SE philosophy. I often finish games with Zal Blast 3pts+DoF 3pts+LA attack 4pts+BD discard 3pts=13 damage.


Going First
t2 Harbinger/AM
t3 DoF/Krygon/BD
t4 Font/Krygon/Cultist
t5 AM/MC

Going Second
t2 Harbinger/AM
t3 DoF/Krygon/BD
t4 Cultist/Krygon/Font
t5 AM/MC


Any questions?

[Pat Jay]

Awesome deck Kyltz! Your deck building skills always amaze me

With Harbinger if we assume each deck has 50% of cards devoted to allies ... then the chance of harbinger ending up to be a 1/3 ally is simply 25% (0.5 x 0.5)

So yeah... he pretty much is a 2/4 ally around 75% of the time

And he discards as well which makes him perfect for this deck

[Shadows R Us]

Excellent looking deck. I will try it out. Close to what I had, but this appears better to me.

[Bobbypim]

Very nice breakdown of a strong deck - as usual

[Preybird]

Very nice deck! The only thing I really disagree with is your logic for Living Armor. I only run 2 copies because:

1) I generally only need it once a game.
2) Too many copies messes up your resource curve.
3) Four copies increases the probability of a poor opening hand.
4) I'd rather more valuable, cheaper cards than redundant copies of an expensive card.

I'll use a few examples. Take Aeon Stormcaller. Huge 6cc ally, arguably the best for humans (though Viska is gunning for that). People only run 2 usually. Unique plays into it, but it's more about probabilities. You don't want it early game. Getting a couple of Aeon in your opening hand can really hurt your opening.

Another example is King's Pride. Game changer. Once again most only run 2 copies for the reasons above.

And how often do you run 4 x a 5cc+ ally, even super critical ones like Raven in a Lance deck, or even Dakrath in a GB?

Lastly, and this is applicable to Zal specifically, he doesn't like going to high resources, especially with a rush build. Getting to 6 while keeping your hand in a decent condition is much harder than 5, especially when you are aiming to control the board and you are discarding so many cards.

I would count how many LA you sacrifice in a game and how many you play. I think you'll find most games one to two would be sacrifice fodder.

[pjoe0211]

bird, having 4 living armor is not the worst thing, you can play one, wait a turn and assuming it stands, you play another and then you can hit the guy for 8 damage of readied allies, which is pretty fun, i almost had a chance to hit sam with 3 living armor in one turn, but he played an ally so i won by mcing it.

and when aeon was a non unique 4/8, everyone ran 4 of him. altho back then protector also protected the hero, and there were many less cards.

[Preybird]

bird, having 4 living armor is not the worst thing, you can play one, wait a turn and assuming it stands, you play another and then you can hit the guy for 8 damage of readied allies, which is pretty fun, i almost had a chance to hit sam with 3 living armor in one turn, but he played an ally so i won by mcing it.

I know that. I have done it before, but you don't need 4 copies to make it happen. I just think it's deck space that could be better used is all. Hell even my Shard haste deck which relies on LA as a finisher only runs 3, because I don't want them in the first 6-7 turns.

[WrathOfCroft]

I agree with LA being too much at 4x. 2x is my preferred amount.

Also drop DoF to 3x

Add 3dmt for xtra ping

[Jo3yb0i]

I like the fact u emphasize the importance of LA. I like the fact so much damage can come straight from the hand. And it makes it such a strong deck.

Thanks for sharing.

[Kylt]

I know that. I have done it before, but you don't need 4 copies to make it happen. I just think it's deck space that could be better used is all. Hell even my Shard haste deck which relies on LA as a finisher only runs 3, because I don't want them in the first 6-7 turns.

I run 4 KP in my recent Zhanna deck, and 6 6cc ally (3 Aeon 3 Viska). I would definitely run 4 Dakrath in GB if I get 4 (I intend to get foil Dakrath so haven't bought 4 yet Awesome art!!)

My point is that if it's a win condition card, you should have 4. Even if you are to sacrifice it, you are given a chance to choose sac or not sac. If you don't even draw it, then you can't build your in-game strategy that directly leads you to win. Have it in hand first, then decide.

As I said before, you don't fill 39 cards slot. You should start off with cards that wins you games, then add cards that support achieving the goal, until it gets to 39 cards deck size.