Tala Pureheart Deck: "STO"

[VulcanOfWillendorf]

A Boris player in my 2013 go-round with Shadow Era, once I got my 250 SC I decided to try out the new Warrior, Tala Pureheart.

This is a control deck based on the concept of using high-health allies then using Tala's Protector special ability to make it increasingly inefficient for opponents to maintain or reclaim board control. After that, stacked buffs empower the group of allies to claim & keep the board and deal knockout damage to the opposing hero.

I got to the low 200's with Boris, but Tala has taken me to 281 with a very strong win percentage, and most of those losses are attributable to user error. (For example, a Boris deck dropped Loom of Fate and so I decided I could sac my Blood Frenzy)

Anyways, I'll discuss strategy but first, here's the deck:

Allies: 20
4x Yari Bladedancer
3x Aldon the Brave
3x Midnight Sentinel
2x Twilight Shepherdess
2x Artful Squire
2x Yari Marksman
2x Irina, Guardian of the Swan
2x Armored Sandworm

Non-Allies: 19
3x The Last Harvest
2x Crippling Blow
2x Curse of the Aldmor
4x Blood Frenzy
3x War Banner
3x Jeweler's Dream
2x The King's Pride

General Strategy:

I used the Rule of Six to define the deck and trim it down to 40, so that's probably the best way to explain my general strategy.

I - Attack: Include allies with a high ratio of attack/cost.

Yari Bladedancer, Aldon the Brave, Yari Marksman, and Irina the Swan Guardian

First off, realize that most cards overlap into more than one goal; I started with almost 100 cards I wanted to put in and cutting it down to 40 involved a lot of eliminating the card that did one thing great versus those that do 2-3 things well.

As for this goal, notice all 4 allies have an attack/cost ratio of 1 (most cards, especially higher-end, fall short of 1). This deck is defensive, but I call it the STO deck because the STO is a Judo-inspired wrestling finisher that does sudden knockout damage. This deck's success comes not just from allies that are hard to kill, but from those allies being able to kill when it's their turn to attack.

Oh, and if you haven't paired Irina with Bladedancer yet, then you haven't truly lived. When I say "sudden knockout damage", I'm telling you that double-digit damage per turn is not just possible, it's the standard, and I have watched the Irina/Dancer combo drop 20 on a hero in one turn.

Swan Lake? Yeah, it's a pool of your hero's blood.


II - Buff: Overlapping Buffs Make Strong Allies Unstoppable

Aldon, Last Harvest, War Banner, King's Pride

Noteworthy is that all 4 of these buffs are global, meaning "more bang for your buck", especially once you have multiple allies on the board. Also, since they are all different types (ally, active artifact, passive artifact, armor), it's very unlikely that your opponent is well-prepared to dispense with all of them.


III - Protect: Dictate What Your Opponent Can and Can't Do to You and Your Allies

Midnight Sentinel, Twilight Shepherdess, Armored Sandworm, King's Pride

King's Pride replaces Enrage in the sense that it can prevent up to 10 damage, and the other 3 are excellent tanks. Going second, Shepherdess plus the Tala skill means a 2/7 Protector on Turn 3. But to be honest, more often than not, if I've drawn my Sandworm, I'll hold off until Turn 5 and plop him down and put him in front as a 3/6 with a -2 modifier to incoming damage. Remember that Sandworm is not only immune to Now You're Mine and Boris, but even if your opponent flips out and drops Mind Control, he doesn't hit you as hard as other tanks out there.

It's important to remember not to panic. Tala has 30 HP and I often lose half my health before locking the board down. Don't panic.

IV - Eliminate: Kill Opposing Allies Efficiently While Opponent Considers Disconnecting

Yari Bladedancer, Midnight Sentinel, Yari Marksman, Crippling Blow, Curse of the Aldmor

An underappreciated benefit of the Sentinel is that he gives ambush to an ally. You'd think Midnight would be best used giving the protector a +2 health, and that's one way to use him, sure; but my favorite way to use Midnight is on T4 after a T3 Aldon drop. Midnight gets the Tala buff, but Aldon with ambush can deal damage over a protector's shoulder to safely gang-tackle Fortified Wisps and Sandworms. Likewise the dancer can pass his attack on to other allies, and there are plenty of times when a focused sledgehammer shot is the best offense (Sandworms and Wisps, sure, but also if your opponent puts on Snow Sapphire, you can hit hard and minimize how many allies freeze)

Only 2 Cripples sounds like a bad idea. (It's a POWER CARD, Vulcan! Didn't you read the Mewtwo guide?!?) Truth of the matter is that this deck is very good at just killing dudes, so Cripple really only comes into play as part of reclaiming the board against a rush opponent or if your opponent did a board wipe followed up by a new heavy hitter.

It ALSO makes for a damn fine combo with Curse of the Aldmor. Curse is in this category because, since Sustain occurs at the end of the turn, the opponent has the chance to use his SE and lose the ally at the end of his turn, but what's REALLY fun is to Cripple an ally, then Curse it. I mean sure, that ally can be Road Less Traveled, but drawing 2 cards and "healing" his ally doesn't make up for multiple turns in which that ally was essentially a double-agent.

V - Tempo: Get More Cards and More Resources Faster

Twilight Shepherdess, Blood Frenzy, Jeweler's Dream

Blood Frenzy is obvious, and I went ahead and put 4 in to make it very likely to have by T4 and to have an easy sac choice in the mid-game. Shepherdess, though, is another interesting one. Since her ability is tied to cost, a Crippled ally can still provide value. Likewise a poisoned/burning ally can be usefully put out of its misery. Lastly, Shepherdess can mark an ally for disposal just before said ally runs into the wall of a tough opposing ally, helping fell the beast while providing resources to pay for his immediate replacement. It's almost like having HASTE!

VI - Defend: Make Weapons, Burn, and Traps Just as Ineffective as Opposing Allies Have Been

Twilight Shepherdess, Armored Sandworm, Artful Squire, Curse of the Aldmor, King's Pride

Sandworm, like KP, makes weapons suck because so few of them do more than 2 damage at a time. Sandworm is also special for his ability to withstand a LOT of burn (with one Tala buff, a 3/6 Sandworm is immune to Arcane, needs 6 Lightning/Zaladar blasts, or 3 Fireballs, or 2 Supernovas to kill). Shepherdess, at 2/7, likewise takes a LOT of punishment to dispatch, and her ability to pay it forward can be useful if you want to set off that trap with a less useful creature (I have yet to test if Midnight provides his 0/+2 and Ambush bonus before Death Trap sends him to the graveyard). Artful Squire is an obvious anti-item who has the other benefit of being a decent enough ally if it looks like your opponent isn't all that into bling.

And don't forget Curse. In fact, there's nothing wrong with putting a T2 curse on that Kris your opponent played rather than dropping a Dancer right away. Whether Curse is an SE-suck or an ally-killer is pretty much up to your timing and your opponent's priorities.



Specific Strategy:

vs Weenie Rush: Don't Panic. Your critters can beat the crap out of their's and your resource curve is lower than most control decks, so it isn't long before you are able to drop 2 allies a turn.

vs Burn Decks: Don't Rush. Aside from Fireball, burn spells are very cost-inefficient if you don't have allies on the board to share in the pain, and human psychology dictates that your opponent is likely going to wait to drop Lightning and Arcane until you have allies on the board. So wait it out, playing your buffer cards like Harvest and War Banner (or maybe Cursing that one ally he throws out to ping you some more). A T5 buffed Sandworm can take a lot of licks while you get the rest of your team on the field.

vs Priests: They can't heal faster than you can kill. Just like you shouldn't worry until your health is below 15, don't worry about her ability to heal. Build your field, take control of the board, and once you have control, save some allies for the inevitable Tidal Wave.

vs Wulven: What Big Teeth can be Artfully Squired, so let the other 18 allies in the deck do the ally work. Moonstalker is a bad matchup because while he can play the strategic ally control game, your game is better because you are dropping buffs and building HP, so when the wolves come up for air, you suffocate them.

vs Weapon/Hunter decks: Traps can be Artfully Squired, otherwise salute your Bladedancers as they walk into certain death. If the dancers DO survive, then let them use their ability to buff your Sandworm for a home run hit on the hero while their sword/arrow bounces off his armor. Failing that, just rush the hero if their weapon is a big problem. Your guys have plenty of HP and there's nothing in this deck that only has 1 copy, even the unique Aldon and Irina. (Except DON'T send Irina into a fight where she'll take damage. She's your killshot. Those 5+ HP are for her to survive the opposing tricks and schemes. Only give her a Tala buff if those extra 2 damage = winning the game that turn).



Other than that, that's my deck. I offer it freely for your criticism and/or use. It wasn't that expensive (aside from the 250 SC; which you don't NEED to buy Tala), and I found that a lot of popular expensive cards such as Legend Rises or Champ of Irum didn't jive with the deck strategy. (Legend only buffs 1 ally, presumably the protector, making him a perfect target for Mind Control and becoming worthless once the ally is dispatched. As for Irum, his strength is being cost-effective when your opponent has allies on the board. You don't want that.) I'll come update if I change anything (or if I get past 300!) Otherwise, enjoy!

[Grawnderston]

Very thorough write-up and thought process. A few comments:
1. I can't wait to play this deck sometime, it looks like a good starting point for Tala
2. Have you considered Fortified Wisp? It's very good if you can boost its attack a little (You have plenty of ways) and it gets on-board a turn before Sandworm would. Maybe you play both Wisp and Sandworm. Just a suggestion.
3. It seems like you know your matchups well. Knowing your matchups is just as important as a good deck when you are trying to get a high ranking. I'm at 315 right now with a custom deck that I made, and part of that is because I've tailored the deck a lot and I know how I should play each individual matchup. The only way to do this is with a lot of practice.
4. Continually edit. Even if this is the best list for this deck today, it might be different in a week, or tomorrow. The metagame is always changing, don't be afraid to change your deck to suit that.

[Demnchi]

I really like this deck and it uses some cards that are underused right now. I'll have to give this a shot later tonight. Thanks for sharing!

I especially like the use of Midnight Sentinel and Artful Squire here. The Shepherdess is also a card I've wanted a use for, so you've sold me. :P

[frost09]

nice deck and well thought out

[Buqs]

I really like the use of Twi Shepherdess here. Shes has that high health great for surviving and early protector and then she can get all of the attack boosts as well as help renew cost emulating JD.

I'd try to squeeze in a few more draw options. With all of the resource renewal you might be card starved especially if you don't get your Blood Frenzy early. Id probably try a breakdown of 3 Blood Frenzy (since you'd rather play ally early), 2 Treasured Heirloom (emulates attack buff theme) and 1-2 Bad Santa. I think you could easily cut 1 war banner, possibly 2 since these are most likely not going to be high priority targets from destruction by opponent and once you get one in play the rest are dead draws.

[Megatog201]

So I made my version of this. A little bit different card choices but general idea and it's pretty good. I like the attrition concept you have here. So far I've survived Baduruu RD build and a poison hunter locking my dudes down. I decided against sentinel because well he sucks. My 4 drop instead is the guy that kills something you get extra health to all your allies. I feel this keeps pushing the concept and thanks also for pointing out midnights. Honestly never played them before but they allow some pretty crazy interactions. Running two retreat so it's even funnier with midnight's. I like to play them and give them protector. When my opponent thinks he has him to bounce him away and replay giving more health and often an extra attack to the previously targeted dude.
All in all the deck has surpassed all my expectations. Nice idea.
Also I'd suggest taking out 2 banners for 2 resolves. They work so well with protector. Try wisps instead of wurms.

[Relentl1ss]

New player here. I quite like this deck. I was using it last night and had a bit of success with it. It was a much stronger deck than the Tala Yari deck I created.

Question: Is Midnight Sentinal bugged or am I not using it right? It seems to always give the +1/+2 rather than Ambush. Last night, I really needed Ambush on a Aldon and got the other buff instead.