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  1. #1
    Senior Member mojorge's Avatar
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    [3.90] Slugfest deck lists

    The finals of Slugfest XII (http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....alifying-Event) just concluded, and so I wanted to share the deck lists that I used to win this tournament. I also wanted to encourage anyone else who participated and wants to share their deck lists to reply to this post with their lists, or make their own posts, which will help analyze some of the results and see what decks worked well, etc. I also wanted to explain some of my tech choices, as I have been asked a couple times about some of them.

    What is Slugfest? Deck Selection Strategy for the format
    Slugfest is a best of 7 in which you bring 2 shadow heroes and 2 human heroes. You play your heroes in any order without repeating any for the first four games, and then do this again if there is no winner yet. Importantly, the first game has a random start, while the second game you know who has First Turn Advantage (FTA) and who is going second. Because of this, I knew I wanted to bring at least 1 midrange/control-oriented deck that can comfortably go second, and 1 aggressive deck that can do well going first. I also wanted to bring a diversity of decks so that my opponent cannot easily predict my next deck and therefore has a harder time choosing which deck to bring.

    Deck One: Haste Bloodfang
    There aren't a lot of decks in Shadow Era that prefer going second, but one of them is Haste Bloodfang (because of Wulven Prophet). The other shadow deck that does really well going second is Lakmire Darkclaw, but I personally think it is less consistent, and I expected players to tech heavily against it. I made a forum post about this deck, but I have since updated it:

    Hero: Bloodfang (48 cards)

    Ally (20):
    2x Bloodpack Shaman
    4x Wulven Prophet
    2x Wulven Predator
    2x Wulven Scout
    4x Wulven Tinker
    2x Howlfang, Terror of the Vale
    4x Crusher of the Weak

    Ability (23):
    4x Midnight Howl
    4x Blood Moon
    2x Death from Above
    4x Captured Prey
    4x Will to Fight
    1x Wulven Resilience
    2x Confluence of Fate
    2x Torn Apart

    Location (4):
    4x Lakmire: Training Outpost

    Deck Code: 985290B

    Why 48 cards?
    It is true that consistency is super important in Shadow Era. That said, there are three large dilemmas that anyone building a Haste Bloodfang deck has to solve. The first problem is that you ideally want to run 4 Will to Fight and 4 Midnight Howl, because hasting your allies and hitting face is the main win condition. One option is to only run 3 or so of these abilities. This is more consistent, but also means that sometimes you cannot eek out that extra bit of damage to win the game against a control-based hero. The second problem is that to activate Lakmire, you need to have a Wulven Ally on the field. One option is to cut some of the 3cc allies, like Wulven Scout or Wulven Predator, to get down to 40 cards. This, however, significantly hurts the deck's curve. One of the most basic rules I try to follow when building ally-based decks is to have at least 8 allies that I can play on turn 3. Turn 3 is so important because missing it means you have often lost the board entirely, something that is crucial for any deck. Additionally, having more 3cc allies works very well with Howlfang, Terror of the Vale. Some people will cut Howlfang, which makes sense if you are not running many 3cc allies, but the ability to play 9cc worth of cards for just 6cc (or for free, with BF's ability) is extremely strong. It can entirely swing the game around, and is basically instant board presence. Finally, the last problem is that there are certain allies, namely Sorcerer of Endia, Braxnorian Soldier, and Towering Brute, that completely shut down this deck if they can stick on the field. One possibility would have been to remove Torn Apart and Death from Above, but this would leave the deck too vulnerable to these allies. Since I could not cut any cards from the deck due to these 3 problems, I decided to just break one of the supposed rules of Shadow Era deck-building and run a 48 card deck. While I have lost a couple games due to drawing all attachments or bricking, I personally think this deck is a lot more consistent than other 48 card decks because of the insane draw power and the ability of Wulven Prophet to seek any attachment from the deck. Because I have so many ways to draw cards, I actually deck out relatively quickly, which can be a problem against control heroes. Having more than 40 cards ended up being very relevant in a game against CharlieD's Zhanna. I had 0 cards in my deck, and would have surely lost the game had I only had 40 cards.

    Wulven Resilience: This card is a nice tech choice because it can remove Captured Prey from your allies, which can be very useful against other Lakmire builds. It is also a neat way to increase an ally's attack by 3 and is also some light damage reduction all for 1cc, something I used to great effect in my final game against TJ Vanity's Loest. The fact that this card is searchable means you only have to run 1.

    Only 2 Confluence of Fate: Confluence of Fate is the deck's main draw engine, but you can afford to only run 2 because Prophet can simply tutor it out. Given the amount of attachment hate, I think running a third would not hurt too much.

    No Eye of the Dark Forest: Eye of the Dark Forest is an amazing card, but I decided not to run it because Towering Brute is immune to it. Instead, I opted for Death from Above, which is a bit easier to use in the early game before the hero power is live. I don't think I ever saw Towering Brute in Slugfest, but I didn't regret this choice because Death from Above saved me many times in the early game against Sorcerer and other early game threats.

    No Ley Line Nexus, Pathfinder's Machete: I decided against these tech choices because of consistency. I get that this is really ironic coming from me, especially since I run a 48 card deck, but I tried running a 50+ card BF in qm and it was just no good. There is a limit to how much you can stuff into one deck.


    Deck Two: Shield Elementalis
    I really wanted to bring my Kiruth Gravebone to Slugfest, but ultimately decided not to because I needed something more reliable, and I had a bad experience bringing Kiruth Gravebone to Champion's League. This deck is pretty much my WC Elementalis deck with one additional card: Accumulate.

    Hero: Elementalis (46 cards)

    Ally (26):
    4x Caged Savage
    4x Rapacious Vermin
    2x Stardust Transfuser
    2x Morbid Acolyte
    4x Voracious Arachnid
    4x Murderous Hulk
    3x Stardust Extractor
    2x Stardust Ampliflyer
    1x Axiom the Soulless

    Ability (13):
    4x Bad Santa
    2x Permeate
    1x Accumulate
    3x Power Surge
    1x Energy Discharge
    2x Mind Control

    Item (4):
    4x Gold-Laced Shield

    Location (2):
    2x Tisay: Volcanic Springs

    Deck Code: 894415B

    Why 46 cards?
    Honestly, this deck has simply been tried and true for me. Every time I try and run a slimmer deck, I get heavily punished for it. There are a few reasons that a fatter Elementalis can work well. Firstly, the reason this deck is fatter than normal is because of the large amount of early game allies and low cost abilities. Because there is a large proportion of low cost cards, running a larger deck does not necessarily mean that the early game is weaker. Additionally, Elementalis tends to be a one-dimension deck where you simply try and make the biggest beatsticks you possibly can. The opponent will exploit this whenever possible by disabling your allies, killing them outright, or retreating them back into your hand. That's why it is super important to have at least some back-ups available.

    4 Bad Santa: The secret sauce to any Shield Elementalis deck is Bad Santa. I truly think that this is the card that makes Shield Elementalis so great. The big problem with Elementalis is that it (and Elementals in general) has super weak draw. Giving the opponent cards always hurts, but in Elementalis is can be ok just because of the fact that your allies are so much beefier than the opponent's allies, and so the opponent often has to spend multiple cards just to get rid of one of your allies. Because this exchange rate is so favorable, it makes sense sometimes to allow the opponent to draw 3 cards so that you can keep putting down allies every turn.

    Tisay: Volcanic Springs: I think this location works incredibly well in Elementalis because it makes it much harder for your opponent to efficiently take your allies out of commission. Cards like Anklebreaker, Layarian Seductress, and Snow Sapphire are in a lot of decks. I actually don't think I used this card that much this Slugfest though, partially because I didn't draw into it very often, so this is a candidate for removal. I would keep it in the deck for QM for sure, since you run into so many stall strategies there for some reason.
    Last edited by mojorge; 12-07-2020 at 01:44 AM.
    Black Templars - No Remorse, No Fear, No Pity.
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    I'm a game designer and blogger. Check out my blog:
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  2. #2
    Senior Member mojorge's Avatar
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    Accumulate: This card ended up being pretty worthless so I regret bringing it. It is the ultimate Crippling Blow and Captured Prey counter, but Crippling Blow is out of meta and it was probably not worth running this just for Captured Prey.

    Murderous Hulk: This ally is really great in Elementalis, because its effect is stronger as it grows bigger. It's ability basically lets it attack a second time, so this ally is pretty much 2 allies in 1. That makes it create 2 times the board presence as something like Stardust Extractor, despite the fact that you don't get to draw off of it: something that ends up working out because the follow-up to T4 Hulk is T5 Ele Ability + Shield (Draw 1) + Hulk Ability anyway.

    Only 2 Amplifiers, 1 Axiom: Amplifier is a win condition, but its major flaw is the fact that it is unique. I think it is a mistake to run 4, and I almost ran 3, but I like Axiom a lot and just decided to run Axiom in place of an Amp anyway. Axiom's revival ability is really strong too, and the opponent cannot let it stick similarly to how they cannot let Amp stick.

    Energy Discharge/Mind Control/Power Surge/Permeate: These are some of the best abilities in the game, the only problem being that Elementalis needs allies to function properly. For that reason, I wanted to go relatively light on abilities because allies are always good, but these are usually only good in certain situations.

    Deck Three: Ythan
    I won't talk too much about this deck because it isn't really my creation (I think TJ Dubdub was probably the first one to start running this on QM), but it is a tier 1 human hero that almost always wins when it has FTA. I did make a few modifications to this deck (as you can guess by now, I put more cards into the deck). Because of the sheer power of this deck with FTA, I almost always brought it when I had FTA, and almost always brought Haste BF when going second.

    Hero: Ythan Redthorn (44 cards)

    Ally (36):
    4x Twilight Opportunist
    4x Unaxio Squire
    2x Layarian Knight
    4x Aldon the Brave
    4x Layarian Seductress
    4x Zailen Crusader
    4x Sorcerer of Endia
    2x Braxnorian Soldier
    3x General of Unaxio
    3x Viska, The Scarlet Blade
    2x Nathanias, People's Champion

    Ability (5):
    4x Hunter's Gambit
    1x A Legend Rises

    Location (2):
    2x Anmor: Garina Road

    Deck Code: 1441383B


    Why 44 cards?
    As was the theme with my Slugfest decks, I opted to go with 44 cards. The main reason is that Ythan will lose the game if it misses his T2 ally drop. It is so crucial to have a T2 ally that some people like BT Sigismund dropped 2 Nathanias in favor of 2 Layarian Knights. While this can work very well, I also think that Nathanias is such a strong card in Ythan that it is worth running anyway. To solve this issue, I decided to just have more cards than necessary. I also ran an additional Sorcerer of Endia, because it is such a broken card in some match ups.

    No Inspiring Fellowship?: I forgot to include this card to be honest, and while I wish I had it, it ended up not being relevant because when you have 4+ allies on board you generally will win the game even without this card.


    Deck Four: Irum Aramia
    This deck is also not really my creation, and I scouted KA Nobilshao who had a monster Irum Aramia in QM 2 months ago. While Irum Loest might be the more versatile deck since it can exile anything, I like Irum Aramia more because it is slightly more aggressive. I also don't think you lose that much versatility, because Aramia has the ability to seek any item. For that reason, you can actually just tutor out the card you need for that situation. This was super helpful many times, and I am glad I brought Aramia over Loest.

    Hero: Aramia (42 cards)

    Ally (6):
    3x Aldmor Artisan
    3x Tempest Runebearer

    Ability (17):
    2x Bad Santa
    4x Fireball
    1x Disarming Personality
    4x Lightning Strike
    4x Shadowbolt
    2x Supernova

    Item (14):
    2x Loom of Fate
    1x Stun Turret
    1x Distortion Harness
    3x Pathfinder's Machete
    1x Voltar's Ring
    4x Amulet of Conjuring
    2x Soulbound Armor

    Location (4):
    4x Irum: Lightning Quarry

    Deck Code: 794267B


    Soulbound Armor instead of Snow Sapphire: The main advantage of Soulbound Armor is that it has 4 defense rather than 2 defense. This was very relevant in my game against A1 SamIamIam, because his Gwen would have been able to take out Snow Sapphire much more easily. It also has the advantage of turning into a readied ally, allowing it to deal that extra few bits of damage needed to close out games. This is more relevant in this build because of the lack of Isadora, meaning that damage output is actually extremely important. Fireball (16 damage) and Lightning Strike (12 damage) is rarely enough, because you often have to use Fireball in the early game to kill an ally or sacrifice them if you draw too many at once. I think Snow Sapphire can make a lot of sense in an Isadora build where damage output is hig, because it can counter Darkclaw slightly better.

    Distortion Harness: This card is an MVP, because it counters other location builds so well. You only have to run one because it can be seeked, but this card is basically free card advantage while putting the opponent behind. It was also relevant as a 1 defense armor in a game I had against SET CharlieD's Bloodfang, keeping me alive for just long enough.

    Voltar's Ring: This card I will usually sac in the early game, but it can be very powerful late game in terms of dealing that last additional damage. Without Isadora, Ring is mostly there just to make sure you actually can kill the opponent. It is also searchable with Artisan.

    Disarming Personality: This is my only out to Spelleater Bands, but I figured that wouldn't be very prevalent and I could get away with just running 1. I like Disarming Personality over Ley Line Nexus because it can be used on any weapon/armor, even Lythian Sledgehammer. It is also cheaper, making it easier to play Disarming on Spelleater Bands and then play a bunch of damage dealing abilities. Finally, it can also be used offensively for that last bit of damage, because you can use it on your own Pathfinder's Machete to attack again! Overall, it is a very versatile card and I am glad I brought it even though I never ran into Spelleater Bands.
    Last edited by mojorge; 12-07-2020 at 01:41 AM.
    Black Templars - No Remorse, No Fear, No Pity.
    http://www.blacktemplars.org/

    I'm a game designer and blogger. Check out my blog:
    www.jorgezhang.com

  3. #3
    Senior Member Veles's Avatar
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    Congrats on tourney win and thank you for sharing decks!

    You can watch finals here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/828134271
    Retired Card Game Designer

    “Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments.
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  4. #4
    Senior Member Bluejet24's Avatar
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    Congrats!
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  5. #5
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    here are my decks. wanted to go for consistency so everything is close to 40. all my decks did great except badu that sucked ass. don't wanna spend too much time writing about card choices so here we go:


    Hero: Garth Ravensoul (41 cards)

    Ally (24):
    2x Skilled Ironmonger
    4x Unaxio Squire
    3x Aldon the Brave
    3x Night Owl
    3x Aldmor Artisan
    4x Sorcerer of Endia
    2x Braxnorian Soldier
    3x Viska, The Scarlet Blade

    Ability (5):
    4x Stop, Thief!
    1x A Legend Rises

    Item (11):
    4x Ill-Gotten Gains
    2x Spirit Shuriken
    4x Anklebreaker
    1x Spelleater Bands

    Deck Code: 513138B



    Hero: Banebow (40 cards)

    Ally (8):
    4x Spitfire Hound
    4x Ravager Zealot

    Ability (10):
    4x Hunter's Gambit
    4x Survivalist
    2x The Perfect Shot

    Item (21):
    2x Obelisk of Echoes
    3x Death Trap
    3x Ricochet Trap
    3x Thriss Assault Plinth
    4x Weevil-tipped Crossbow
    4x Thriss Crucible
    2x Helm of Saymeht

    Deck Code: 703873C



    Hero: Baduruu (41 cards)

    Ally (16):
    4x Krugal Trapper
    3x Sneerkrug
    4x Snowland Spotter
    2x Krugal Quickshot
    3x Drangis, Lord of the Hunt

    Ability (10):
    3x Sacrificial Lamb
    4x Hunter's Gambit
    2x The Perfect Shot
    1x Ley Line Nexus

    Item (14):
    3x Ricochet Trap
    3x Camouflaged Foe
    2x Soul Seeker
    3x Grundler's Double
    3x Emore Crossbow

    Deck Code: 754263B



    Hero: Ythan Redthorn (41 cards)

    Ally (30):
    4x Unaxio Squire
    3x Layarian Knight
    4x Aldon the Brave
    4x Layarian Seductress
    4x Zailen Crusader
    4x Sorcerer of Endia
    1x Braxnorian Soldier
    3x General of Unaxio
    3x Viska, The Scarlet Blade

    Ability (8):
    2x Inspiring Fellowship
    4x Hunter's Gambit
    2x A Legend Rises

    Location (2):
    2x Anmor: Garina Road

    Deck Code: 1711623B
    IGN: TJ Scout
    Telegram: @shubham1309

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