Lance 1.26 - "No catchy name" deck

[Ness]

Maybe fairly well was an overstatement. So far I've beaten about 5-6 Majiyas and lost to 2.

Here's how it usually goes down:

Turn 5: I play Raven.

She can only kill Raven with 2 fireballs if she went first, but odds are she won't so Raven probably survives (possibly damaged by Lightning Strike).

Turn 6: I play Aeon.

Raven is protected from everything except for Supernova. If Majiya decides to play Supernova Aeon survives and she takes 3 or 4 damage next time depending on what I draw. If Raven was at full health then Majiya probably won't play Supernova and I'm one step closer to victory.

For the remaining turns I just play what comes up and she will try to take down my allies and/or damage Lance. In a way, it's a very dull and unstable deck to play because you basically play 2 cc ally, 3 cc ally, 3 cc ally, Raven, Aeon and then whatever you draw next.

I can see how it may look bad being left with a 0 hand and playing whatever comes up but for some reason it has worked well against many decks. It's probably because you have an easier time maintaining board control thanks to Lance's ability and thus you won't need to draw as many cards as a conventional deck would. And for support you have Jasmine's ability which is spammable late game when you only play 1 card each turn.

In addition to the 2 Majiyas I've also lost to 1 Nishaven, 2 Ambers and 1 Gwen.
If I had to estimate I'd say Lance is at an 75 % win so far.

[drmayo]

Hmm I have ran into trouble against Majiya (especially those with Allies) who play early board control (Fire Snake, Brute, Gargoyle). Wouldn't you have trouble playing against that without Retreat/Assassination? With those few allies, she can keep your allies off the board with supporting nuke cards.

[Ness]

Yup, that's what happened the second time I lost. She started with 1 Brutalis and I had to waste 4 damage on it with Jasmine + Aldon combo.
Then she played 1 Garoyle and I used Jasmine to distract it. But then she played 2 more Gargoyles so I had to get rid of them. Then she played Behemoth and I had to get rid of him as well, all the while being poisoned and taking some damage from her spell cards.

It's a matter of composing the most efficient all around deck. If I add more support cards and less allies I might do better against Majiya but my other battles will suffer.

After the protector change Lance's saving grace is an ally packed deck. As long as Aeon is kept alive your allies can't be targeted by attacks or support cards. Even a crippled Aeon will do his job as a protector and you'll have a good chance of maintaining board control as long as you keep drawing and playing allies each turn.

[Blood Daze]

So I have the perfect deck in my eyes atm... Lance has won the last ten games im now 210 rating.... I will give you a hint of my build... It has no aeons IMO the change makes it not even worth it and instead I rely on ravens I stack it with 4x ravens and they are quite impressive who needs a protecter when you can knock any ally on the board to 0 attack thus making it useless..Turn 5 I shine and usually dont even need to have 6 resources. I will say with my build you need 4 assassinations and 2 jasmins. I have went up against maj 2-3 times and you cant panic, take a beating get about half life then you will get enough board presence to win. This deck isn't unbeatable but if played right damn hard to lose.

It's a matter of composing the most efficient all around deck. If I add more support cards and less allies I might do better against Majiya but my other battles will suffer.

I use 18 allies. 11 Support. As long as you read the deck and resource according to them you will have a high chance of winning.

[Callous Buddha]

Playing Lance is really frustrating because you get the distinct feeling that he really has a great potential but Majiya just trumps all over him. And since most players are playing Majiya...it stops being fun after a while. Still, Lance does really well against Warriors, Priests and even Hunters (though less so) so here's my 30 card decklist for anyone who wants to try it out:

2x Aeon Stormcaller
4x Aldon the Brave
4x Jasmine Rosecult
4x Nightshade

4x Assassination
2x Ill-Gotten Gains
4x Reconnaissance
3x Stop, Thief !

2x Crimson Vest

Feel free to play it, change it or criticise it as you will. If you have better luck than me against Majiya, please let me know.

This seems to be too light on critters, without some draw. I'm working on a variation of the OP, and find that my best counter to Supernova is to be able to quickly load the board back up. Out of curiosity, what rank are you?

I tanked down to 200 testing out the new heroes, but I'm working back up now at 210.

[shannong]

So I have the perfect deck in my eyes atm... Lance has won the last ten games im now 210 rating.... I will give you a hint of my build... It has no aeons IMO the change makes it not even worth it and instead I rely on ravens I stack it with 4x ravens and they are quite impressive who needs a protecter when you can knock any ally on the board to 0 attack thus making it useless..Turn 5 I shine and usually dont even need to have 6 resources. I will say with my build you need 4 assassinations and 2 jasmins. I have went up against maj 2-3 times and you cant panic, take a beating get about half life then you will get enough board presence to win. This deck isn't unbeatable but if played right damn hard to lose.



I use 18 allies. 11 Support. As long as you read the deck and resource according to them you will have a high chance of winning.

I've sussed out your deck (you've given enough clues in various posts to supplement what I can see in your replays). I enjoy playing it. Haven't played enough yet since coming back for 1.26 to get a feel for whether it has "T1" potential or not, but it's certainly strong enough for fun casual play. My gut instinct is that the T1 decks with reset buttons will probably beat it often enough with proper play to not make it to T1, but until another round of balancing and raising the limit to 40-card minimum deck sizes, IMO playing for ratings right now is futile. The 1.26 meta seems too lopsided in favor of priest/mage decks with resets.

[Blood Daze]

With all my posts it should be easy to sum up my deck. I'm just not ready to throw a light on it just yet. Yea T1 can take it, you pretty much have to make little to no mistakes and anticipate every move of your opponent to win. I like it though it takes skill, instead of say gwen where you throw out some meat bags and then get bows and game over.

About my replays, I swear i'm one of the few who have the same name in game and forum lol..


PS: Glad you enjoy it. I intentionally gave clues so that people could!

[thendless]

This seems to be too light on critters, without some draw. I'm working on a variation of the OP, and find that my best counter to Supernova is to be able to quickly load the board back up. Out of curiosity, what rank are you?

I tanked down to 200 testing out the new heroes, but I'm working back up now at 210.

I'm currently 230ish. I think I lost about ten rank points while playing Lance exclusively. Regarding your observations: you only need three allies on the board to maintain board control, providing one of them is Aldon. A attack by two of your allies will usually be enough to take down most opponent allies, Aeon and Erika being the exceptions. And you are right about the recovery tactic, of course; I used it all the time against Priests and their Tidal Wave with great success, but Majiya will always draw another crowd control spell. Always. Stealth is pointless against her.

As for the drawing mechanism that's why Ill-Gotten Gains is there. I love that card although i get the feeling I'm the only one.

That said I am curious to see what the next upgrade will bring. Perhaps something along the lines of the MtG's "protection from red" ability? That would really push this deck upwards the tier list.

[shannong]

As for the drawing mechanism that's why Ill-Gotten Gains is there. I love that card although i get the feeling I'm the only one.

IGG is a good card but it falls into the "not good enough compared to other more important cards" to fit into a 30-card deck. IMO for support cards, Assassination, Reconnaissance, and Stop Thief are more globally useful. Especially since your best strategy for winning with the current set of Rogue cards is an ally *rush*. Dropping several IGGs (to replace the early ones that get item-destroyed) starting at turn 5 is too late to really get a lot of draw advantage working in your favor.

In a 40-card environment, however, I think IGG would be a must-have card in a rogue deck.

[Callous Buddha]

IGG is a good card but it falls into the "not good enough compared to other more important cards" to fit into a 30-card deck. IMO for support cards, Assassination, Reconnaissance, and Stop Thief are more globally useful. Especially since your best strategy for winning with the current set of Rogue cards is an ally *rush*. Dropping several IGGs (to replace the early ones that get item-destroyed) starting at turn 5 is too late to really get a lot of draw advantage working in your favor.

In a 40-card environment, however, I think IGG would be a must-have card in a rogue deck.

Yea, I'm with you 100%. I've got 4 Thief and Assassination, they are so valuable in most match-ups.