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  1. #1
    Lead Developer / Designer Gondorian's Avatar
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    Constructive Discussion about "Attachment Priest" (3.61)

    Hey all!

    There's loads of posts about it and talk all over Telegram, but most seem to just be complaining and the rare constructive stuff gets lost. This is an attempt to get just constructive contributions in one place so we all understand the deck(s) referred to, the power/weakness, etc, etc.

    Please can some constructive posters attempt to answer, in their opinion:

    1) What actually is "Attachment Priest" for you?

    2) Thinking of your definition above, what are the bad match-ups and what does it destroy completely?

    3) Thinking of your definition above, how do you feel when you play against it?

    4) Overall, how much of a problem (if any), do you think "Attachment Priest" is for the game?

    Many thanks!


    A more general thread about 3.61 in general is here: http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....-the-3-61-Meta

  2. #2
    Senior Member Kolodi's Avatar
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    1. Attachment priest is a deck with tons of attachments that you can recycle and trade for lower cost - Divine Connection. And you have a tons of draw thanks to Confluence of Fate and Zailen Scholar
    2. They are very versatile, pretty much no bad match-ups.
    3. Trying to destroy the draw or rush on hero
    4. Priests have too much draw options compared to other classes, combined with great control they are too strong.
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  3. #3
    Lead Developer / Designer Gondorian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kolodi View Post
    1. Attachment priest is a deck with tons of attachments that you can recycle and trade for lower cost - Divine Connection. And you have a tons of draw thanks to Confluence of Fate and Zailen Scholar
    2. They are very versatile, pretty much no bad match-ups.
    3. Trying to destroy the draw or rush on hero
    4. Priests have too much draw options compared to other classes, combined with great control they are too strong.
    A great example of what was being asked for! Thanks.

  4. #4
    Community Manager SEF Mango's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post
    Hey all!

    There's loads of posts about it and talk all over Telegram, but most seem to just be complaining and the rare constructive stuff gets lost. This is an attempt to get just constructive contributions in one place so we all understand the deck(s) referred to, the power/weakness, etc, etc.

    Please can some constructive posters attempt to answer, in their opinion:

    1) What actually is "Attachment Priest" for you?
    Priest deck that focuses on abusing the ability of Zailen Scholar to draw an absurd amount of cards and to play attachments without fear due to the constant resource renewal.

    Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post
    2) Thinking of your definition above, what are the bad match-ups and what does it destroy completely?
    Generally, Wulven fair well against it due to their numerous methods of ally removal.

    Basically, ever other class without direct removal suffers. You can tech in a few Sink Hole to help but those tend to not be enough of an answer.

    Any weapon based hero loses automatically besides Serena with Black Garb. Even that though only does so much.

    Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post
    3) Thinking of your definition above, how do you feel when you play against it?
    Nothing you can do really matters against this deck if it gets the correct starting hand unless you are Wulven. Even Warriors with their control methods, Crippling Blow, does nothing since Jericho can easily remove it. Priest being human also has access to A Legend Rises.

    Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post
    4) Overall, how much of a problem (if any), do you think "Attachment Priest" is for the game?
    It is a frustrating deck to be matched against if you are not playing Wulven. Then changes made to Tome of Blessings was a small ding but not truly enough. The problematic card is Zailen Scholar. The amount of value you obtain from that card in regards to resource renewal and card draw is too much. Even for a class Specific card. It is the tool that really puts the deck over the top.

    I feel it is bad for the game just because there are many decks that would not have, and do not have available to them, an answer to these buffed up allies.

    I feel that this style of play should be possible. Just not as strongly as it currently is.
    Many thanks![/QUOTE]
    Last edited by SEF Mango; 08-23-2018 at 09:10 AM.
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  5. #5
    Senior Member Rajawali's Avatar
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    1. Priest with a ton of attachment and the ability to recycle them unlimited time

    2. Shold: tempest gorge would actually destroy this deck, it denied their ability to recycle attachment and put sustain cost to every artifact they have

    3. Play Shold: tempest gorge and play hasted Eriss, it should not be much trouble

    4. I guess not much people doesn't like to play against them since they need to tech their deck to be able to fight it. I do think that Zailen Sholar is the key problem and has too much value for 2 cc card

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rajawali View Post
    4. I guess not much people doesn't like to play against them since they need to tech their deck to be able to fight it. I do think that Zailen Sholar is the key problem and has too much value for 2 cc card
    I don't know if this is proper place to write this, but maybe changing Scholar ability to renew resources only once per turn would do the job?

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  7. #7
    Senior Member mojorge's Avatar
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    1) What actually is "Attachment Priest" for you?

    It is a play style that focuses on buffing low-cost allies rather than playing high cost allies.

    Attachment priest is best played as a control deck in my opinion because it can out-resource most decks with superior draw power, and has Tidal Wave to out any truly dangerous situations.

    4) Overall, how much of a problem (if any), do you think "Attachment Priest" is for the game?

    I view a deck as a problem when it is a tier 0 deck: this means that only that deck and decks that counter that one deck are playable in competition. Tier 0 is an issue because it creates boring gameplay, reduces creativity to make decks, and takes out one of the two biggest parts of skill in a tcg: deck building. I came to Shadow Era primarily for a diverse meta that most other tcgs lack.

    I don't like Attachment Priests because they are really boring to play in my opinion. They are certainly a strong deck. But they are by no means tier 0. They suffer in tournaments due to having a linear strategy that is extremely predictable. They have several auto-loss match-ups. Every deck can tech-in against Attachment Priests, so even decks that have no natural outs can still counter them.

    This is reflected again and again in tournament results, monthly ranked match results, my experience playing them and losing a lot... they simply aren't as good as everyone is claiming. Based on the comments on Telegram you would think that the entire meta is Attachment Priests. The reality is that it isn't.

    2) Thinking of your definition above, what are the bad match-ups and what does it destroy completely?

    Bloodfang, and to a lesser extent the other wulves, are an auto-loss for this deck. Wulves have always ran Now You're Mine and Death From Above. Now they have Torn Apart and the Attachment Priest killer, Crusher of the Weak. Not only does Crusher of the weak kill one of the guys immediately, it also has huge attack that needs to be addressed immediately and also is extremely difficult to be killed in battle by low cost allies.

    Rogues stomp Attachment Priests as well. Oliver Fagan, Anklebreaker, Dhalia Blackrose, Black Garb, Covert Operative, and Coercion all are natural counters to the deck. For more insult to injury, lots of rogues play sinkhole or other techs to hurt low cost allies anyway due to a lack of board clears. It has Stop Thief to hurt the artifacts, lance runs Eriss Fatebreaker, and Garth hurts protect the castle strategies with his ability.

    Here's the other MU's if you are interested:

    Priests have the toolkit to deal with Attachment Priests too. Mass Purification, Tidal Wave, and Jerry's Ability all hurt Attachment Priests where needed. This might be obvious but Priests have a pretty even match-up and can easily tech for Attachment Priests.

    Skervox and Victor can handle Attachment Priests. Other hunters like Banebow and Baduruu, have a shot due to their hero powers making it easy for them to dominate the early game. They have access to Snare Trap and Camouflaged foe (which may not seem like that good of a counter, but remember that it hits before the other player can put attachments on it, putting it in range of Gambit or a strong ally attack). Gwenn and Ythan needs to adjust to combat AP effectively, like Retreats or Sinkhole. But even un-teched, they still stand a chance against AP.

    Warriors are where the scales turn a little bit in favor of AP, but they still have some natural counters like Spectral Sabre. A lot of warriors actually have a strong chance against AP, like Boris or Amber. I think though that a Warrior player now has to consider how they will play against Attachment Priests, which is totally fine.

    I feel like Mages got shafted by not getting any good cards in LL2 except Subdue. On top of that, Sticky Maj and Darkrath Gravebone tanked in use after Stun Turret. I still see rush mage and stall mage in ranked. Both of these aren't so great in tournaments, and so I really don't see them in tournament play at all. But maybe that is just me. Anyway, Mages also suffer from AP, but I think the reason they aren't played is because they haven't gotten any better while most other decks have.

    Oh, and I almost forgot about Elementals. Well, Elementals also are pretty linear now because they really don't have the tools to play an effective Control game anymore. One thing they are good at however is aggro, which struggle against Attachment Priests but not because of the little guys: it's due to tidal wave ending the game at T5 for the elemental player. If the elemental player can't win by then, they have to hope the other player didn't draw into it.

    3) Thinking of your definition above, how do you feel when you play against it?

    I don't enjoy playing against them because they always do the same plays and aren't that interesting to watch. Especially For Unaxio!. Every time a player attaches it to a guy for no reason just for it to be bounced back to the hand, I want to rip my hair out. Like, I get it if it's for confluence of fate or something, but otherwise it's just really annoying to watch. I already know you have it and I'm not going to forget, you don't have to show me every. single. turn.

    But in terms of Shadow Era, it's not breaking the game. I still play against a lot of different decks and I just see attachment priests as one of those decks. I think that there is less diversity than before. But in my opinion, it's not due to attachment priests. It's due to the changes (or lack of changes) to mages and elementals and the nerfing of stall strategies (which is a really good thing, by the way).
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  8. #8
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    1) What actually is "Attachment Priest" for you?
    It is a Templar build that focuses on the synergy of the tribe with attachments to buff smaller allies into bigger and better ones.

    2) Thinking of your definition above, what are the bad match-ups and what does it destroy completely?
    Bloodfang is a bad mu for sure. Crusher is the main reason, along with nym and other removal. A little luck can still win the match though. The other Wulven heroes can also give it some issues, but are far from auto loss. This deck likely has a mostly positive with a few even winrates against most other heroes with a good pilot.

    3) Thinking of your definition above, how do you feel when you play against it?
    Playing against this deck is very difficult. One problem is that they can get such an explosive start that you will never be able to keep anything on board, and they won't run out of gas because scholar draws them as many cards as Bloodfrenzy. A common argument at this point is to say that you can just play sink hole and it answers the problem. Obviously this is the case, but lets say you are going second. Your opp. plays a scholar on t2. On your turn you play sink to exile it. Then on t3 they just play another ally with an attachment or 2 on it. So all you have really done is just set the game back a turn. This isn't a good strategy against this deck, because it is actually better in the late game imo. Say that you have finally retaken board, or maybe they had a slow start with few or no allies. This can actually be better for the priest deck at times, they can set up divine connection and cof and just wait for the right moment to tidal wave away your board and drop all their threats. That's not even considering that Jeri can take out a huge variety of draw engines with ease through his ability and focused prayer while filling his hand every turn. These 2 extremes make it hard or even impossible to build a deck to combat it. I have seen decks draw several sink and still lose.

    4) Overall, how much of a problem (if any), do you think "Attachment Priest" is for the game?
    I think it is the biggest issue in the meta atm. Most decks are required to devote 3-4 tech slots at minimum to it, and even then they might lose. It could be argued that it is the best aggro deck AND the best control deck in the game right now. I don't think that is healthy for the game, especially the competitive scene. The clear change for me is to hit scholar. I am actually fine with it being able to become big in the early game. I think that the draw is absurd on a 2cc ally. An explosive threat with Bloodfrenzy minus the life loss? I struggle to see how this is balanced.
    Last edited by TJ dubdub; 08-23-2018 at 06:27 PM.
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  9. #9
    DP Visionary tman507's Avatar
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    1) What actually is "Attachment Priest" for you?
    Has the cheap allies Zailen Scholar and Templar Adventist, cheap attachments to buff these allies up, also other attachments like Safe Return and Sacred Martyr can provide ally recycle and healing. General of Unaxio can seek needed attachments, Tidal Wave can reset should things go wrong. Plentiful draw options.

    2) Thinking of your definition above, what are the bad match-ups and what does it destroy completely?
    Wulven would be a hard one, Bloodfang in particular because he can summon Crusher or even Riphide easily, as well as having access to NYM and DfA. Anything else I'd say it probably has a pretty good matchup against, as most other stuff doesn't have as much access to instant kill or exile.

    3) Thinking of your definition above, how do you feel when you play against it?
    As I have been playing lots of Bloodfang, I feel I do at least have a chance against these decks. If I can deal with their guys early and make them use up all their Tidals, I can win. Even doing that tends to be a slog though, and if it doesn't work just right it will kill you easily.

    4) Overall, how much of a problem (if any), do you think "Attachment Priest" is for the game?
    The main problem I see is that Priests have already been one of the best late game hero types, now they can also be one of the best early game types at the same time. Also, the Scholar and Adventist do an awful lot of stuff in one cheap body. In terms of overall game impact, it isn't bad in the Millstalker or Stall Vess sense that it becomes super non-interactive at a certain point, I think it more so just sets a bad precedent of how strong a deck can be throughout a whole game, and for how many effects are being put onto one ally, being able to do too much for too little basically.
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    This isn't going to meet all of your constructive input desires, for that I apologize, but I'm just beating my own dead horse here when I say that the problem is draw power.

    Have you watched some of these attachment priest matchups? They easily refill their hands every turn between the new allies and confluence and glass chalice, etc. That should not be possible.

    Beware the power of the draw... Should be the number one concern when it comes to CCG in my opinion.

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