1.27 Gravebella Beatdown

[Killtrend]

This is Build 2

Gravebella Beatdown Alpha Build 2


1 - Gravebone

4 - Hellsteed
4 - Brutalis
3 - Infernal Gargoyle
3 - Medusil
4 - Belladonna
2 - Shadow Knight

3 - Portal
4 - Lightning Strike
2 - Shriek

30 Cards



You'll notice right away the lack of research. Shadow Knight, Bella and Gravebone should be more then enough card advantage plus I never really used research all that often. You'll also notice this deck looks remarkably close to the 1.25 build. Why? Well, don't fix what's not broken. This deck is far more creature heavy and test games will tell me if that's a plus or minus.

What we know:

Everyone and their mother are going to be running weenies. This means a lot for us: One, our guys need to either beat them out, beat them when they get out or mass murder them with burn. I chose to beat them down. Slow and steady use of 4 health creatures will solidify board control against most weenie decks. As a bonus, people using arcane burst to try to smash weenie decks will run up against my guys and stall. We also know that there are some extremely dangerous large creatures out there now. That said:

"Why not burst then? Why still strike?" Well besides my ever present hatred for Puwen, there will be decks with fatties. Raven and company cannot be easily taken down with a burst. I like the safety that the 3 damage does. Another reason Zaladar is excellent.

"No nova?" You should know by now, no nova. For those new to Gravebella, portal acts as my reset button. Nova is too painful to Gravebella's win condition. We need to save all of our health and keep as many of our own creatures alive as possible. Plus Nova doesn't kill many human allies or anything with infusion on it.

"Warriors! Omg warriors!" I know, Jeweler's dream is a menace. I'm still trying to find a way to consistently beat them. Every deck can't win all the time though.

[iClipse]

Seems solid. I think 4 Bloodlust is a bit overkill though. What about -1 bloodlust +1 death mage. Bloodlust will still come soon enough in your deck anyway, and as I see it now, it looks like a card you'll sac a lot anyway, especially early game.

[Killtrend]

Death Mage is unique and I don't see myself needing anything else. At this stage it's there until I think of something else.

That said, I'm doing that anyway. Plus 1 death Mage. Minus 1 bloodlust. Kind of important to ensure I get him

[iClipse]

Yeah I forgot Death mage was unique. How about another Shadow Knight instead of that 4th Deathmage?

Just brainstorming here

[Killtrend]

I thought that. Don't want to weigh down the ally pool with 5ccs. I want the knight to be the finisher. Not the showcase.

But hey, it's alpha. Bounce off ideas till one sticks.

[Padawan Pete]

-1 deathmage
-1 bella
+ 2 medusil

[Gondorian]

Birgitte Skullborn is a she not a he. Be careful or you might get banned.

[Hatts]

Birgitte Skullborn is a she not a he. Be careful or you might get banned.

I just spit my coffee all over my keyboard. Well played.

[iClipse]

What about another Portal? To ensure you have it.

[graphlem]

Not sure you really need 4 Deathmages in a 30 card deck and you can only use 1 (and can keep re-animating if he gets killed), I'd go with 3. Although, he'll be an easy card to sac when you have two in your opening hand as I bet you will a lot ;-). I'd probly replace 1 with a Flayer or something -- he's the only card that can deal with going 2nd and take 2 off a Puwen so you can Deathmage it the next turn.

I might even swap all the Bruts for Flayers -- dealing damage first is pretty huge, whether offense or on defense, and as long as GB's ability costs 2 he's easy to pop back out.

Also, not a big fan of SK, at least as long as GB ability costs 2. most times I tried using the SK I would have rather had a PB, but I'm more of a control player. For your style (pure rush) I would replace with 2 Minotards -- will hit harder for the same cost and given your allies you'll have a hard time dropping the SK and anybody he brings back at the same time (since you got rid of Hellsteed).

Will be fun seeing how GB plays out in 1.27!