Raikka humo

[SEF Mango]

I don't think anyone denies its strength. As with any deck, you get the right hand, you should win. The potential is enormous. Yet, if they don't get the right draw, a loss is almost certain. I just have not had the type of experience you have facing it. I really don't think it is all that special. It can be a terror. It can also be a dud.

[trevorJacobs]

i put this deck together to try it out - when it comes together, it's really strong. When it doesn't it falls flat (crippling blow!). Very clear from the opening which situation you're in. BUT it's possible to have a high liklihood of a workable opening with 4x of each ingredient, plus some redundancy:

T1: gremlin or rotling
T2: factory ideally, but crown works with gremlin. Spontaneous Growth or even PBR is also an option
T3: location (free), which is then triggered by any of: gremlin, factory, crown (if other ally in the bin), arachnid (played this turn) + ally death, bloodthirsty

Essentially, it's really easy to have location, ally plus several growth events out by T3 plus other ally / draw.

Oh, and using the location twice in a turn is really nice. Double draw and grow all allies.

Point is: i get sad when i play against a deck so powerful or so fast there is nothing i can do about it (like the old Aramia Wisp). When this comes together, it's unstoppable (except specific match-ups [crippling blow!]) ... and it comes together fairly consistently because of the options on early turns.

[Dvsklown]

Yeah my bad turn 3. But still a lot of early boost with draw. For no cc. On multiple allies.

Compare to other nerfs and tell me this is t going to get one as well.
Krygon, nerfed because ability was too strong for turn 4
Sabreen, nerfed 2x because of ability was too strong for turn 4
Stardust extractor, nerfed because ability was too strong for turn 4
I could go on and on and on

Rankett does more than these ever did, how can you defend that rankett shouldnt be nerfed?
Plus the deck also lives or dies dependent on this one card. No ranket no win. In fact no ranket no deck at all.

[trevorJacobs]

Rankett does more than these ever did, how can you defend that rankett shouldnt be nerfed?

Rankett also has an opponent ability to activate - allowing them to draw a card AND reduce health of my army.

But i do agree that Rankett is the source of the problem - the other elements work well (slightly under-powered without Rankett). Note - this is part of my general take on Locations: they are either useless, or just don't work that well. The mechanism is just half-baked.

Some more thoughts:
- The 1SE cost of draw and buff is low. 4CC + 1SE = draw (Wizent's staff); 3SE = buff + defender (Tala); 2CC+1SE = draw (Conduit)
- Rankett is conditional, but the condition is super easy to fulfil
- The opponent cost is, conversely, high! 2SE for a card is too much, and you can't keep up with the buffs at that rate
- Also, taking control of the card is not an advantage to the opponent - it allows Raikka to use it twicw = 2 draw and buff (use it first, THEN play new ally, then use it again) is a great move

Conclusions:
- Make the activation harder (i think the cost would be ok that way)
- Reduce opponent activation cost OR make it "homunc are reduced by 2 health"
- Remove the change of control

[trevorJacobs]

thinking about this more ... making the opposite ability reduce Homunc by 2 health would be good. Would be a meaningful counter, and (once control is switched) Raikka would have to think hard about activating it twice ...

or if you removed the switch, would allow opponent to keep dinging your army

any views from Gondorian?

[Megatog201]

I was one of the first ones playing this deck. It's a hyper aggro deck. No way to come back if your plan goes bad. The deck itself is not broken by any means. It's a rush deck and by that definition it has some good an some bad match-ups.

[SEF Mango]

I was one of the first ones playing this deck. It's a hyper aggro deck. No way to come back if your plan goes bad. The deck itself is not broken by any means. It's a rush deck and by that definition it has some good an some bad match-ups.

Exactly. I played it a few times a while back. One thing I remember is if I lose the board, done. Toast. No chance of a comeback. Literally.

Just beat this deck again. Granted, I was Playing Boris. He is the prime hero you want for this matchup in my eyes. I played turn 3 BF with three allies to none on my side. He had Aracnid on board and ranker was already buffing. Heck, i accidentally played a weapon (I had a weapon out already with 2 durability) late game instead of my General of Unaxio and still won.

I was at 5 health and opp at 24 when they quit. Now, Warrior and Boris are probably the worst matchup for this deck but Warriors are still very common. Any human with Retreat! Can handle this deck. Just too many counters from common cards to list this deck and location as an issue.

Don't want to see it changed. If it was, I like the mentioned idea of having it not change controllers. Maybe add in Allies get -1 attack as well? That's if it is changed. I still feel it is ok as is.

[Nataku]

Exactly. I played it a few times a while back. One thing I remember is if I lose the board, done. Toast. No chance of a comeback. Literally.

Just beat this deck again. Granted, I was Playing Logan. He is the prime hero you want for this matchup in my eyes. I played turn 3 BF with three allies to none on my side. He had Aracnid on board and ranker was already buffing. Heck, i accidentally played a weapon (I had a weapon out already with 2 durability) late game instead of my General of Unaxio and still won.

I was at 5 health and opp at 24 when they quit. Now, Warrior and Boris are probably the worst matchup for this deck but Warriors are still very common. Any human with Retreat! Can handle this deck. Just too many counters from common cards to list this deck and location as an issue.

Don't want to see it changed. If it was, I like the mentioned idea of having it not change controllers. Maybe add in Allies get -1 attack as well? That's if it is changed. I still feel it is ok as is.

Logan is a shadow warrior how the hell do you have general of unxio (human ally - templar) In that deck

[SEF Mango]

Logan is a shadow warrior how the hell do you have general of unxio (human ally - templar) In that deck

Lol!!! That would be impossible... Boris... :P edited

[trevorJacobs]

I've been playing this some more - and losing a lot! I think a big part of its power was people not being familiar with it, and thus not neutralising the weenie allies whislt they are still small. I'm seeing people respond much better to this deck. Weaknesses:
- Without Amulet and/or location, draw is a real problem because you play every turn AND discard
- Crippling blow really slows it down (especially with Yari Marksman ... )
- Tidal Wave can be fatal if you have a small / empty hand on T5 (which is a real possibility)
- Logan and Boris
- Loss of board control

Still, when it all comes together it's really funny - growing allies by 4 or more per turn, and attacking for 10+ is fun. Just not consistently do-able.