Need help with tempo/control deck

[Szkaplerny]

Hi,
I'm newbie with Shadow Era, but generally my playstyle is tempo/control.
I switched my first hero and now I have to pick it again. And I'm not sure which one will be better choice: Eladwen Frostmire or Victor Heartstriker?
Eladwen seems be just better/easier to play, but is it possible to create any good tempo deck with her?

[bobrossw]

Hi and welcome! I'm not sure if your definition of tempo/control matches mine...When I think of the two together, I think of the style of deck that most people on these forums refer to as mid-range. Essentially they're relatively quick decks that can counter a rush, but win by controlling the board while beating down the opposing hero. They tend to have a weakness to slower decks, that win by having cards that just pack a big punch, and overwhelm their limited ability to control the board.

Eladwen can work well as either a rush deck (winning by playing fast and cheap allies in the early game, supported by her ability to deal a lot of damage to the opposing hero, followed by using burn cards to finish off the hero). She can also do a control deck, which is decent, but probably sub-par compared to many other control decks.

Victor really encapsulates that mid-range flavor that I just described. He works by controlling the early and mid-game and keeping control through some strong tempo plays. The classic tempo play for victor is: T3 - Zailen Crusader, T4 - Bobcat + (free due to zailen) Hunter's Gambit (which can also combo with victor's ability to kill nearly any ally). I would say that he's a bit tougher to play well than a rush eladwen. On the other hand, his good cards are generally cheap - making it easy for a new player to put together a decent victor deck. Many of the basic ingredients for a good victor deck are present in that Ythan deck that you can buy for 250 SC, by the way. I've also got a guide to victor on shadowera.net, and if you look in my tag, there's an episode of Bob and Sam Trollin it Up! where we play Preybird's Pussy Galore Victor deck. I'd recommend you check it out, and if you like how that plays, maybe consider that. Just realize that any control style will be hard to play well until you understand how other people's decks work (which takes time for new players).

[Szkaplerny]

Thanks for this lenghty comment!
Yes, we think about the same thing

You made me a little sad by saying Elandwen isn't the best choice to control deck, because I thought her skill is really useful to counter tought allies (which could help with control table).
Hmm, and yes, you are right by saying control is hard deck. But I just hate playing rush/aggro, so I have nothing to lose :P

Ok, it seems I will chose Victor, but before it, tell me just which heroes are good too for control/tempo deck

[bobrossw]

Thanks for this lenghty comment!
Yes, we think about the same thing

You made me a little sad by saying Elandwen isn't the best choice to control deck, because I thought her skill is really useful to counter tought allies (which could help with control table).
Hmm, and yes, you are right by saying control is hard deck. But I just hate playing rush/aggro, so I have nothing to lose :P

Ok, it seems I will chose Victor, but before it, tell me just which heroes are good too for control/tempo deck

For pure slow control, Priests are generally good (but tend to be weak against rush). Rogues can play control and can vary between fast and slow depending on how you build the deck. Victor and Banebow do that mid-range with a control feel deck very well. Baduruu can sort of play that game as well, but it rellies on tempo more and suffers if the game takes too long. Warriors, especially Boris, Amber and Vess can do a mid-range control-ish deck well also. Mages can do control, and they're ok, but I wouldn't say that's their strong-suit.

[Coins Raven]

Very interesting information

The fun thing is you can try and work on one and then switch to another or add a second deck.

[Szkaplerny]

Thank you for this really useful summary.
So I pick Victor, hope it is good choice.

[LucasBlitz]

Yes our lord and savior Victor is one of the best next to overlord Swagdurru. I would recommend http://www.shadowera.com/showthread.php?p=506479 this deck or a different Victor bobcat deck you might find on the forum.

[Leviosablade]

Here's a good example of warrior mid range.
http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....e&goto=newpost

[bobrossw]

No problem - and your read on Eladwen is a common one. A lot of new players look at those ice cards and Eladwen's ice ability and think that will make a strong control deck where you freeze and destroy all the opponent's allies...it's actually very difficult to pull that off, so those decks wind up being inconsistent. A better version of Eladwen (or other mage) control uses transmogrification curse for ally control, combos that with Sorceror of endia for item destruction and uses allies with good comes-into-play effects along with portal to control the board. It takes some finesse to pull those off but they're decent. There's also some decent aramia control decks that use Urigon's Fang in combination with different items to keep the board. Again, they're ok but there are ways to completely bypass them.

[FDL]

You made me a little sad by saying Elandwen isn't the best choice to control deck, because I thought her skill is really useful to counter tought allies (which could help with control table).

Most Mage decks are based around Supernova which is probably their strongest cards (or at least, their strongest build around card), but it encourages a more aggressive style.

If you're looking to play a longer game, you can rarely afford to deal yourself a lot damage since Mages have the lowest starting HP and the worst healing capabilities.

But, like bob said, an Eladwen based on Curse and Sorcerer should hold its own fairly well. See this one by SamuelJ: http://shadowera.net/eladwen-the-familiar-sorceress/ (note that Amulet of Conjuring was tweaked since then, so the numbers might need to change a little.)

For a while there where also a number of decent stall Loest decks around. They had very few allies and looked to win with Poison Gas/Engulfing Flames and burn damage while slowing the opponent with Voice of Winter and Snow Sapphire. They were never super competitive though.