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  1. #1
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    300+ Lance deck (v 2.89)

    Hello Rogue forum! I feel like no one is posting in this forum anymore so I wanted to share my Lance QuickMatch deck which was good enough to get me a top 100 ranking (300+ pts) in Season 25 on version 2.89. I hope this helps other Lance players.

    Cards

    Hero – Lance

    Allies

    Key Items

    Key abilities

    Secondary Items/Abilities for bad matchups against popular QM heroes

    Deck Total – 43 cards

    Ideal game start

    Deck strategy
    This deck is fundamentally a control deck. Night shade and Night owl help you get stealthed allies on the board. Midnight sentinel provides needed health against decks with direct damage (e.g. Mages and Zaladar). Aldon adds attack power. Layarian Diplomat reduces the importance of passive abilities like Phoenix Urigon, stealthed allies, sandworm, Braxnorian anti-haste, etc. Braxnorian prevents haste based decks (e.g. Zaladar rush). A hasted Eriss Fateweaver wipes out key attachments while haste killing most allies.

    For 80% of matchups, the key will be Ill Gotten Gains and the limitless card draw this provides. Only play Ill Gotten Gains when you know you can afford the loss in tempo (e.g. Anklebreaker as next play) or when you know you will immediately gain a card from playing it. In the current meta of rush decks, you can’t afford to play Ill Gotten Gains only to get wiped out before your game gets going. If you don’t have Ill Gotten Gains in your hand, make sure to keep your Night Owls (assuming no T2 drops) and your Backstabs for cantrip card draws. Backstab is very important as a T3 or T4 play since it can unexpectedly kill your opponents while keeping card advantage.

    Occasionally, this deck can be played as an aggro deck. This is made possible by the cheap 2-3CC allies, Anklebreaker, and a hasted Irina/Backstab combination (8 damage!) This typically only works against decks that take time to set up (e.g. other Rogue decks).

    Good card combinations
    • Night shade/Midnight Sentinel – The best start to this deck.
    • Irina/Backstab with Lance’s ability – The best damage combination in this deck. Generally speaking, you should never sac Irina or Backstab if you have both in your hand.
    • Lance ability on any ally + Midnight Sentinel – Midnight Sentinel gives Lance-hasted allies a +1 attack. Most useful for Irina or if you desperately need to regain board control with a 3CC ally.
    • Eriss + Lance’s ability (and 5SE) – Great for hasting Eriss and unexpectedly wiping our key enemy attachments followed by a 5 damage Eriss strike. Recommend you save this for hero attachments (e.g. Blood Frenzy, Survivalist, Speed Strike, Rapid Fire, etc.) vs ally attachments.

    Matchup strategy
    • Ally based-decks (e.g. Gravebone, Tala, Ythan, Elementalis) – Generally easy matchups. Survive any rush with stealth based allies, play Ill Gotten Gains, kill the opponent card draw with Stop Thief or a Hasted Eriss, and then let your ally control cards (Anklebreaker, Retreat, and Lance-hasted allies) wipe out allies while you pick up cards. For Gravebone, be sure to use Midnight Sentinel to keep allies above 5 health (Nova). For Tala, keep Retreat and Layarian Diplomat to defend against strong protectors like Eleanor or Fortified Wisps. For Ythan, get out Braxnorian to prevent hasted allies.
    • Weapon based-decks (e.g. Serena, Amber, Darkclaw, Gwenneth) – Also somewhat easy matchups. Get low CC allies on the board and augment them with Midnight Sentinel to soak up weapon durability and damage. Get Ill Gotten Gains on the board, destroy weapons with Stop Thief, and kill opponent card draw with Stop Thief or Hasted Eriss. Eriss is also important for wiping out Speedstrike or RapidFire. Amber can be a tough matchup because most Ambers use both Crippling Blow and Retreats which are cheap ways to slow down your allies. For this reason, use Assumed Command on a crippled night shade to prevent Retreat of all of your allies.
    • Direct damage decks (e.g. mages and Zaladar) – Get low CC allies on the board and augment them with Midnight Sentinel to soak up direct damage. Wipe out opponent card draw with Stop Thief. (Stop Thief is critically important against these decks.) Take out supporting allies with Anklebreaker and hasted allies. Use Anklebreaker to draw out the opponent’s item destruction (E.g. Ley Line Nexus). Play Spelleater Bands as a surprise defense card when you’re between 5-10 health and hopefully you have enough allies and card draw advantage to charge back.
    • Moonstalker – Ordinarily a terrible matchup for Lance. If playing an ally based-Moonstalker, get stealthed allies and Ill Gotten Gains on the board. Use retreat and Layarian Diplomat to deal with stealthed allies. Anklebreaker works as a great defensive deterrent. If playing a stall-based Moonstalker, flood the board with allies and Stop Thief any Evil Ascendants or Crescendos that will kill your allies. Don’t bother with Ill Gotten Gains since most of these decks include bi-lateral card draw. Wait to play a hasted Eriss to destroy any Full Moons or Rain Delays and attack. Or wait until Moonstalker uses his ability and play Nowhere to Hide to wipe him out. In the latter case, I’d recommend combining this with a hasted Irina/Backstab for the surprise damage you may need to take him out.
    • Banebow/Baduuru – Somewhat tough matchups. Sac any early Braxnorian or Eriss cards. You need to regain board control and may not have time to wait to play them. Get low CC allies on the board and augment them with Midnight Sentinel to soak up damage. Get Ill Gotten Gains out and destroy any card draws from Wrath of the Forest or Grundler’s double. What makes these decks especially difficult to deal with is the unstoppable card draw from Raven's Gambit. Obtaining card draw advantage against these decks is challenging and they can flood the board with cheap allies.

    Hope this helps! Please feel free to share feedback or pose any questions.

    DuneAvatar

  2. #2
    Senior Member mrs choo's Avatar
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    Nice writeup! Good work. (:
    Twisted Marrow the Prophet of Mayhem
    Warrior of the Blue Phoenix
    Greatness, Reborn

  3. #3
    DP Visionary Shadows R Us's Avatar
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    Awesome writeup. Thank you so much. I'm gonna try it out.
    The Paladin of Punxsutawney
    Warrior of The Blue Phoenix
    Greatness, Reborn

    IGN: BP Shadows R Us

  4. #4
    Senior Member LucasBlitz's Avatar
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    TL;DR. the numbers look good though :P Have you considered Spirit Shuriken in case you ever fall behind?
    (ง ͠° ل͜ °)ง the unseen phoenix donger is the deadliest (ง ͠° ل͜ °)ง
    Justiciar of the Audacious
    Warrior of the Blue Pheonix
    Greatness, Reborn

    "When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car." -- Author Unknown
    (ง ͠° ل͜ °)ง the unseen phoenix donger is the deadliest (ง ͠° ل͜ °)ง

  5. #5
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    Hi LucasBlitz,

    For a while, I ran three Anklebreakers and two Spirit Shuriken. Spirit Shuriken is helpful against heavy card-draw, ally-rush decks (e.g. Banebow, Aramia, Bloodfang, any Shadow heroes still playing Ironhide Karash) who can cause this deck trouble. Another positive aspect is that Spirit Shuriken combos well with Ill Gotten Gains since you'll kill strong allies and pick up a card with it.

    The problem is that that the Shuriken conflicts with Anklebreaker and the 1 SE cost slows down the Lance ability/Irina/Backstab combo which usually turns around most games. I also found that, when I was in a situation where I was behind and needed Spirit Shuriken, usually the Shuriken only lasted one turn meaning I was only getting one kill for 4CC and 1SE. I find it rare that Anklebreaker isn't a better deterrent against multiple allies assuming you can Lance-haste attack within a turn or two. Also that Sprit Shuriken/Ill Gotten Gains combo is pretty expensive (8 total CC) and usually implies you haven't spent enough CC to get allies on the board.

    Would love to hear if you've had better success with Spirit Shuriken or found other uses for it that I haven't considered. Thanks for the feedback!

  6. #6
    Senior Member LucasBlitz's Avatar
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    I can't argue with that logic I suppose. It's still interesting that the only form of control are 3 Anklebreakers and 2 Retreats. Usually I've seen Layarian Seductress or Sword Thief to slow down the game but if you can do it without using control options that's good I guess. Gratz on the 300+
    (ง ͠° ل͜ °)ง the unseen phoenix donger is the deadliest (ง ͠° ل͜ °)ง
    Justiciar of the Audacious
    Warrior of the Blue Pheonix
    Greatness, Reborn

    "When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car." -- Author Unknown
    (ง ͠° ل͜ °)ง the unseen phoenix donger is the deadliest (ง ͠° ل͜ °)ง

  7. #7
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    Great points, LucasBlitz. I usually aim to maintain control through difficult to reach stealthed allies, unexpected Backstabs, and use of Lance's ability to haste-attack allies.

    For Rogue Decks with Ill Gotten Gains/Stop Thief, I don't often use Layarian Seductress. I find that IGG/ST decks like this one do best at higher resource levels (6+) where you can play two cards at once. As a result, Layarian Seductress doesn't help.

    Sword Thief does work very well in this type of control deck. I used to have Sword Thief instead of Night Owl. This made the deck much more effective against Moonstalker which was a bit of a weak point. The problem I ran into then was that I was lacking in early game card draw. Plus Sword Thief is weak against Zaladar who is also a difficult matchup for Lance.

    I'm sure most could sub out the "secondary cards" I've included here and use Sword Thief instead to achieve similar results.

    I appreciate the feedback!

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