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  1. #1
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    My first deck to post and it is wulver..omfg!!

    The deck has been evolved inspired by a Raphael's comment. You could find the new version a bit below along with the reasons for that approach




    Hello everyone. The release of version 1.28 offers a lot of power cards for the arsenal of shadow spectre. (I was so sick of Boris dominance during 1.27 that I refused to play him).
    The combination of blood frenzy + shadow font + 3 cost ability + items recursion was tempting enough to convince me that Logan will be the next dominant hero around.I played a bit with him and my suspicions were right.Logan is powerhouse. But ... that is the great challenge to find a deck that will be capable to handle him. My obvious choises were two:
    The Ter Adun with his inbuild ability to destroy items, access to blood frenzy + shadow font but my decklist seemed to be so similar with Logan so I had to abandon him.
    The other option was the Moonstalker.I have to admit that I was frustated in the past by wuverns and the toooo long lasted games vs them so I would to like to apologize in advance because my deck falls into that category.
    So without any further delay I wil provide you my list and comment my choises

    Hero : Moonstalker (because he is untargetable and free valiant defender for his minion every 3 turns)

    Creatures (8) you main source of dealing damage

    4 Plasma Behemoths (cast him under a barrage of consecutive moonstalker activations to establish board control, finish off opponent)
    4 Shadow Knights (recursion (potential endless loop), high power)

    Board Control Elements14)
    4 Captured Prey (nullifies opponent creature, try to keep them for really annoying creatures like Plasma Behemoths OR to stop opposite death knights recursion...choose wisely the target, they are only 4 so avoid to discard them)
    2 Now You Are Mine (main purpose to get rid of opposite gargoyles, brave commanders and especially death mages)
    2 Selfness (the Aeon is huge and acts as a shelter for his comrades,this has to stop)
    3 Evil Ascendance (untargetable damage every turn for all allies,kills slowly and because you have so few creatures and death knights it doesn't hurt you really)
    3 What Big Teeths (extra few damage points to opponent, finish off creatures,combo with Evil Ascendace)

    Utility cards(11)
    2 Speedstrike (if you have big teeths it will be shame not to use them more often)
    1 Lone Wolf (it is better than none, might boost your health a bit but not that necessary for my build to have more copies)
    4 Shadow font (spending 4 manas for moonstalker's ability activation seems a good bargain to me,possibly can go down to 3 for an extra regen/lone wolf)
    4 Full Moon (stall opponent for a turn is good especially under evil ascendant,big teeths, the allies boost is irrelevant, cast them early as they dont provide shelter for your creatures)

    Item Destruction (4)
    1 Shriek (its usefullness has been reduced but still capable to handle a portal)
    3 Acid Jet (because there are king prides and bersekers' edges out there)

    Card Drawing (4)
    Bazaars (cast as soon as possible)


    Strategy:
    Your goal is to survive long enough in order to establish board control with behemoth(s) and consecutive ability activations. Don't be afraid to be low in health (depending opponent hero of course), choose wisely each turn which card to discard (there is no general rule which card to discard, dependiing opponent can be creature or artifact/creature removal, plan in advance).

    Cards not included:
    Gargoyles (seems narutal inclusion because they cooperate with evil ascendant but thay pale in comparison to behemoths/knights.They are just resource fodders)
    Rabit bite (nurfed, for the same cost I will prefer shadow font every time)
    Regeneration (valid alternative option for the lone wolf, perhaps a better option because of the removal of this pesky poison gas,flames)
    Packwolf (this is not a theme deck)

    Predictions:
    The deck is far away from being even to tier 1.5 because it has instrict difficulties vs direct damage spell based decks (aka Eladwen), obvious flaws to handle extensive presence of good ascendant and/or early fatties and guarantees long lasting games and possibly angry opponents
    but
    has strong play vs Logan and Gravebone which seem to be too popular at the them,
    increases your tactical thinking/game understanding because you have almost every turn to make a difficult choise which card to discard and why.

    In order to watch that deck perfoming you can watch my recent games (though there are some Logans as well )

    The card pool is still limited so I am sure that there are and will be many similar builds,even posts around here.I don't proclaim any credits for myself.I just want to share my point of view and I would like to listen your comments/thoughts.

    PS English is not (obviously) my native language so please tolerate my bad syntax/grammar. Thank you for your time.
    Last edited by micfarmakis; 10-26-2011 at 12:52 PM. Reason: Obsolete..The deck has been evolved below

  2. #2
    1.27 Tournament Champion Raphael Majere's Avatar
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    Nice deck, good thoughts put into it. Concept looks interesting.

    My suggestions - take out the teeth and SS. SS is useless without teeth and there are only 3 Teeth.

    I have a Moonstalker Weenie rush. It's doing well. Will update. Testing.

  3. #3
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    Well I have to admit that your suggestion was revealing enough. I have modified the decklist accordingly transforming it into a weenie and the results are verifying your proposition.The deck is less complicated,more attractive and (more important for a lot of people) the games don't last for ages. I am not going to provide a list because that will be improper as Raphael has to be credited for that.

    PS Because of the different tactical approach the current decklist has very few similiraties with my original one.
    Last edited by micfarmakis; 10-23-2011 at 08:50 AM.

  4. #4
    1.27 Tournament Champion Raphael Majere's Avatar
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    No no, please go ahead, micfarmakis. Post your deck.

    You are too polite, I appreciate the gesture but please proceed with deck post list.

    I am sure everyone would love to see your deck build. It's probably going to be similar to mine, but I'll reserve my comments until I see yours, and maybe we can compare.

  5. #5
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    The new version

    Having Raphael's encouragement and permission this is the new transformed moonstalker deck.

    The unquestionable (28)

    Creatures 18
    4 Pack Wolf (because they have 3 health, 2-5 ideally power and just cost 2 mana)
    4 Plasma Behemoth
    4 Infernal Gargoyles (because they are resistant to 4 direct damage)
    3 Death Mage Thaddeus ( direct damage without attacking, but unique)
    3 Death Knight (card advantage, potential endless recursion loop and high power)

    Spells (10)
    4 Captured Prey (use it wisely, primary targets will be the opponent behemoths, additional hints: nasty on death mage, stops death knight loop)
    2 Now You Are Mine (cheap creature removal, they are many valid targets)
    4 Shadow Fonts (extra ability activations, key element of the deck)


    So we have at least 11 more slots to fill. And this is where fine tuning has to be done.

    Item Removal (4-6) [6]
    In my decks I used to have four item removals in order to be able to find one during game.(Though depending opponent hero I don't hesitate to use them as resource fodder during early rounds).The viable options are Acid Jet and Shriek. I initially started with 4 Shrieks because they are cheaper and able to remove annoying items like Bazaar,Portal,Research,DarkClan's items but they are incapable of handling king prides, soul seekers, armour frozen/ages. For that reason you have to include the Jets as well. My current build has 4 Shrieks (because DarkClan is very popular) and 2 Jets.

    Additional creature control (0-2)[0]
    Now You Are Mine vs. Selfiness. (both ego praising titles )
    Well the comparison is a bit misleading. The first one is pure creature removal with only cast restrictions whether the later does not even destroy it. But it allows you to target that perky Aldon brave, Sentinel or Raven who is hiding behind a protector. Still not convinced by its usefulness so for the moment my vote is for Now you are mine(0).
    Game practise proved me that selfiness is totally unimportant for that deck because your game plan is to go for the kill instead of establishing board control.

    Draw mechanisms(0-4)[2]
    Viable options are Bazaars, Bad Santas and Wrath of the forest. Wrath has a relatively high cost and does not cooperate good enough with moonstalker's ability so it is excluded. Bazaar and Santa have the same cost and provide cards for both players. The difference is that Santa provides immediate card drawing [and up to 3 cards] whether bazaar has a lasting effect. In generally I don't like my opponent to draw extra cards because that means more possible solutions for him. In addition to that, frenzied warriors proved not to be that difficult (due to moonwalker's ability) and maj has been nurfed hard. So I have decided against bazaar and at moment I have 3 santas.[As an additional observation the archer/wulven decks seems to use bazaars anyway and Jericho is not that popular].
    Many people will notice that so few Bad Santa will not be benefitial and better be replaced by additional removal or creatures.It is a valid option because of experience that deck can be fully functional even without any additional card drawing.

    More Creatures(0-6)[4]
    The candidates are:
    Deathbone (almost guaranteed 2 points of damage,3 cost, not my first option)
    Keldor ( boost to 4, 4 health but because he is mana intensive, behe has priority, excluded atm)
    Chimera(same as keldon,higher cost,ability less significant,not even close)
    Brutalis (too weak in comparison to wolf packs)
    Snake,HellSteed,Dark Frayer,Carniboar (all of them are early drops,carnis can potential grow but as they have low health are prone to dark ascendants, not using any of them)
    Belladona(low health means she is unplayable)
    Medusil,BadWolf (same cost,power,health, medusil ability not too important in that deck, bad wolf's also not great one, it's up to you to decide which and how many copies .for me 3 wolves because they are resilient to dark ascendants)
    Death Mage (the 4th,because of his uniqueness I play with 3)
    Dark Knight (the 4th, I have him)
    Brute Minotaur (he is huge,extra power but can be stopped relatively easy, pick dark knight over him, better keep them for around portal decks)


    Other things to consider [0]
    What big tooth ( It fits the wolf theme but absolutely not needed)
    Pleasure of Pain (low cost, can boost your creatures for few extra damage,didn t make it)
    Bloodlust ( as I am not using 2cc creatures(but of pack) it is not included)
    Extra sharp (inferior to bloodlust)
    Jewellers Dream(an interesting option, few point of damage, resources renewal, I haven't tested it possibly instead of bad wolfs)
    Regeneration (seems viable, possible future inclusion but I can't recall a game that I needed till now)
    Rain Delay (wtf!!ll I admit it is weird but there is a rough cooperation with your deck strategy. I am not using it anyway but DarkClaw does).

    General tips/info:
    Deck is quite resource intensive (7+) in order to be able to activate behemoths ability regurarly.At the moment I tend to play shadow fonts aggressively but I predict this to change very soon (if shadowspawn becomes everyone favourite).
    It is not uncommon to have 4-5 consecutives turns of moonstalker's activation that will be enough to deploy your behe(s) or swarm of creatures and achieve victory.
    Alternative win plan is to try to play around DK's recursion. Lure opponents to cast fireballs on them only to be resurrected and casted again.
    Vs. evil priests that have plagues consider the mill strategy as a valid approach during late game. Remember that if you have 7 cards on hand you won't be forced to draw and you can just swap death knights.


    Matchup Analysis
    [/COLOR]
    Vs. Warriors: They can't handle moonstalker's ability. Blood frenzy will help you more than them. Strategy Beatdown,Behe activation Most annoying card: Retreat
    Vs. Gwen: Play around using behemoth, death mages. They are relying on Soul Seeker. Annoying card: Into the forest
    Vs. Victor: Use DK to seal your victory, either recursively or to support Behes
    Priests: Don't overextend ,try to control wizard staff. If they have aggressive plague build don't hesitate to sac your high cost creatures and win using wolfs bad/packs...Most annoying card: Plague, Wizard Staff
    Lance, Serena: You can keep them on track with your ability in order to obtain board control.
    Baduruu, Majiya: I haven't met anyone using them since the release of 1.28.I proclaim them as non-existent Baduruu will be not a big trouble and Majija at best of her will be an inferior Eladwen
    DarkClaw: Considered to be nightmare but with 4 shrieks you have a chance. I will try not to allow bazaar, lay as many creatures as possible, behe,mage ignore rain, use shrieks under full moon / rain delay for massive damage, don't hesitate to attack to DK protected by his ability in order to destroy jeweller. Still tough matchup. Annoying cards : Shadow font, bazaar,Speedstrike (faster clock)
    Eladwen: tough matchup, supernova(s) mostly and behemoth (secondarily) will decide the winner, try to be aggressive , try to lure expected supernova with all but Behemoth in order to lay him right after...even if you win will be a close race. Annoying cards: Supernova, Bazaar
    Nishaven: Don't overextend, use cleverly DK and Behemoths, keep jets for armour..
    Gravebone: the whole deck depends on portal, beware the burn support, keep in bay his behemoth with prey, you can nullify his death mage that way, remember creatures entering play using his ability don't trigger any events
    Elementalis: funny deck to play vs. as they can boost their little fellows ridiculously but they don't have a chance.

    My favourite heroes for the end:
    Banebow: out of popularity because it fails vs. warrior badly. I believe that you can handle even builds with 4 shadowspawns
    Zalandar: less aggressive than Eladwer, more ally dependent...don't use DK without reason because of mind control, keep pray for his behe,mage..
    Moonstalker: Behemoths, Preys and Shadow Fonts (not necessary in that order) will define the result. It is amusing and interesting game especially if balanced.
    Last edited by micfarmakis; 10-26-2011 at 01:00 PM. Reason: meta game changes

  6. #6
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    Please share your thoughts/experiences. As not being a member of a team/guild all my play-testing is vs random people.

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