Gravebella 3.5 - Return of the King

[Killtrend]

Gravebella 3.5 Return of the King

”I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts and I looked, and behold a pale horse and his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him"

Difficulty Rating: Advanced.

It’s been a long time since 1.7. A lot has changed and a lot of people have came and went. For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Killtrend aka The Ed Man. I specialize in lost and forgotten heroes, flavor decks and the like. My most popular post is me designing a deck for a bad hero that no one used with a whole new concept of how he should work. Now, my first order of business after looking over all the new cards is to bring back what I made a name with:


Gravebella

45 cards

Hero

1 x Gravebone

Allies

4 x Frostmare
4 x Death Mage Thaddeus
4 x Eternal Troll
4 x Slingblade Demon
4 x Belladonna
4 x Brutal Minotaur

Spells

2 x Tome of Knowledge
4 x Sacrificial Lamb
4 x Fireball
4 x Lightning Strike
4 x Portal

Weapons

2 x Dagger of Unmaking

Sideboard

2 x Shriek of Vengeance
2 x Supernova
2 x Ley Line Nexus
2 x Bloodlust

How To Play

“Gravebella 3.5” has seen a big overhaul moving away from survivability some and towards more synergy. -4 Brutalis, -4 Ironhide Karash, -4 Infernal Gargoyle -3 Bloodlust and -2 Tome of Knowledge for +4 Frostmare, +4 Slingblade Demon +4 Eternal Troll, and +4 Sacrificial Lamb. People tell me “Portal decks are too slow.” “Belladonna is even worse now than she was before when no one played her.” Well, I’d like to have a word with you.

The way it plays now: Hunting for combos. Slingblade Demon is the redeemer of Portal Gravebella. Slingblade single handedly turns this into a pre-nerf Gravebone of sorts by packing an onboard Snap from Magic the Gathering. Anything pulled from my graveyard can be Slung out and replayed with a 2cc discount. Whether it’s Frostmare chip and cycle, Bella recursion cycle or late game dead or at risk Brutal Minotaur through a portal. Slingblade also of course helps me clear status affects for which I previously had no answer to. The addition of Sac Lamb and Tome was tough but I feel it’ll pay off to get the cycle moving too. It’ll also help me cycle Eternal Trolls for free cards and kill less useful allies to lose the ally advantage so I can play free Frostmares.

T1 Hold
T2 Frostmare/Tome of Knowledge/Hold Frost for burn assist.
T3 Slingblade+Frostmare/Troll/DMT/Fireball ally
T4 Portal/Lightning allies
T5 Bella/Brutal depending on what you need to kill
T6 Start the Troll+Sac Lamb hilarity/Slingblade a 5cc ally back through the portal.
T7 Repeat.

Perfect Turn 4, 5 and 6: 4: Portal>>5: Brutal Minotaur>>6: Slingblade the minotaur after attacking and play him again for a 15 dmg turn 6!!

Sac Choices: Any duplicates are a priority early, especially “uniques”, also anything that puts you at a disadvantage early depending on what Hero you are facing. Play smart if you have a portal and plan what you may need to send through it; I’ve dropped Portal on T4 and then Lightning Strike on T5 because it was the smarter play. Although my old deck held on to portal for late game this one can drop it immediately because of the heavier ally pool and especially if you can’t get an ally advantage down first and Bella is at risk. If all else fails try the Dagger and get an ally on the board from the graveyard without being pestered. It also stops these “super combos” people are doing to a single ally because you can just slap it away.

Pro Tip:

Don’t just throw Frostmare out there to do damage and get rekt. Save him for when he can be played for free and help the burn spells kill big allies.

The sideboard is there to swap in and out with Dagger and or Tome. Those 2 for 2 trades are the only ones I recommend.

Commentary

Cards on my watch list:

None

Notes for my sanity:

Please. For the love of god. Cut your decks down from 60+, 80+ Etc. It tilts me to no end. Second: stop doing anything that solely is meant to stall the inevitable. Either let me kill you or kill me and we can move on with our day. 15-20+ min games are not fun outside of the tournament setting.


I’m back, baby. If you see me in game (apparently a lot of you have already) and watch I hope you enjoy and I’m not too much of a newb after being gone so long. If ya wanna talk to me make sure you pm or post here.