Building and reviewing a deck: The Rule of Six

[TripleHBK]

Berserkers Edge is actually amazing right now with Amber.

Let's look at the damage change..

1/2/3/4/5 = 15

3/3/3/3/3 = 15

It didn't. The consistent 3 is much better in my opinion. It hurts allies suiciding into you much more.

I don't want to say a stupid thing but... BE's durability is 4, and it seems to me that it gains the +1 at the very first strike. If it's like I say it should be

2/3/4/5=14

3/3/3/3=12

In this case it would be the same with JD, and with the 2 extra resources gain when you hit and a lesser cost I think it's much better than BE.
With dual wield, then, you can bring it back with the +1 that stacks with Amber's ability, making it 4/4/4/4. Of course, being a 4cc card it's more vulnerable... but somewhere you have to pay...
If I wrote something wrong, I apologize and you can forget everything about this post.

[Cruxx]

First, I love the idea and it's a really well written piece Cruxx.

Second - I've been playing with the concept on Rogue heroes. I did this because I feel it's the general consensus that they're "auto lose"and I love the idea of the rogue, I just feel like the implementation isn't quite done. Any tips for a rogue deck using the Rule of Six?

Either hero is good.

When I started with the game, I also played Rogue - that was until I had enough Shadow Crystals to switch to my beloved Wulven.

I haven't played Rogue in some time, but it definitely shouldn't be an auto-lose. I don't face rogues often, but so far Lance encounters have been 50/50 and it really comes down to the exact right decision making and a bit of luck.

My first shot at a proper rogue deck would be this, made up within 3 minutes with the Rule of Six.

I - Draw mechanic
4 Bazaar
2 Bad Santa
I prefer Bazaar > Bad Santa most of the time, because Santa gives you additional cards constantly. It's really up to personal playstyle though.

II - Item removal
4 Stop, thief!
2 Misplaced
Trust me when I tell you, I would give a lot to have such dependable item destruction as Stop, thief! Jeah it costs 5 resources, but you can destroy any target (oh how my shadowy Wulven heart longs for such a card...) and you get one resource for free - so basically the cost is 4. Misplaced is the perfect card to keep the balance, super cheap and useful in different situations (could also be used to pick up your own Bazaar if you are in a better position than your opponent and want to keep him at low cards.)

III - Early board presence (round 1 or 2)
4 Kristoffer
2 Birgitte
Both cards are useful throughout the game. Needing to chew through a Birgitte to target the real threat can be a life saver. Also Kristoffer works well at any point in the game to get out some burst damage. Works especially well with the next goal:

IV - Buffing creatures
3 Aldon
3 Reconnaissance
Aldon: Probably the strongest creature in the game relative to its cost. Reconnaissance is one of my all time favourite rogue cards. 3 great effects for the low cost of 3. Buffing your creatures works really well with Lance's ability. Also drawing an additional card and seeing the hand of you opponent can give you a huge benefit - just adapt to the cards that are available to him.

V - Creature control
4 Assasination
2 Retreat!
Destroying any enemy ally for the cost of 3 is immensely powerful! Retreat! should be used against hard hitters until it hopefully gets nerfed at some point in the future. ; )

VI - Strong creatures (with additional control abilities)
3 Jasmine
3 Raven
Both work very well with Lance's ability, enabling them to skip their inherent restriction of being delayed for a round. Great cards in themselves, great synergy with the hero and even more creature control. Theorycrafting sugar de luxe!

Freebees:
3 Aeon
Just too good a creature to not have it as a late game fallback option.


That's what I would play in an instant and refine to oblivion if I wouldn't be dedicated to my cute ferocious Wulven!

[Cruxx]

Ok just invested all my gold and shadow crystals into this rogue deck... damn you!
Kristoffers are out of stock though at the moment, so I will have to try it some other time...

[TripleHBK]

Ok just invested all my gold and shadow crystals into this rogue deck... damn you!
Kristoffers are out of stock though at the moment, so I will have to try it some other time...

Just one advice: with Lance's new ability you want 4 jasmine and 4 ravens in your deck. And not only because they are good looking girls
You colud even get rid of those 2 birgitte to find room for them, and not regret for having done it. (but since kris is out of stock, you can use 'em until you will buy him)
For the rest, it looks good... very similar to mine, in effect, so... yes, it's good indeed!

[Cruxx]

Just one advice: with Lance's new ability you want 4 jasmine and 4 ravens in your deck. And not only because they are good looking girls
You colud even get rid of those 2 birgitte to find room for them, and not regret for having done it. (but since kris is out of stock, you can use 'em until you will buy him)
For the rest, it looks good... very similar to mine, in effect, so... yes, it's good indeed!

That's exactly where the refinement process and personal preference come in. With our rule of six goggles on you would simply redefine our early on creature goal to "even more creatures that have really good synergy with the theme of our deck", ending up with 4 Jasmine, 4 Raven (hero ability) and 4 Kristoffer (Assassination, Aldon, Reconnaissance) - at the cost of a slower resource curve though.

Would be interested if The Rule of Six works as well for other decks of advanced players, being able to come to a very similar result.

[Bael]

So Cruxx here's my deck idea for Lance. Below is the 6 goals and cards associated:

1. Card Draw
3 baz
3 Santa

2. Item Destruction
4 Stop Thief
2 Misplaced
Thought: Why don't people like Poor Quality? I've used it in place of stop thief and put stop thief to 2. Seemed to work okay. Love it verse the Wulven guys because It makes their weps useless for the most part and it's only a cost of 3. Just curious.

3. Heavy Hitters
4 Erika
2 Earthen Prot
Thought: I love Erika because she has that extra layer of protection against physical damage. Granted she's not very hardy in HP, but the enemy has to have spells to be able to get rid of her or if they're warriors/wulvens have perma gimps. I dont' know why more people don't use her. Plus with Lances ability she can be used to even greater affect - If you get aldon down early (which you most likely will) you can put Erika in (by the time you have 5 resources to put her down you'll have enough SP to cast the ability) and pretty much take out most any fatty in the game She'll have 5 attack and immunity to counter attacks. Or if you're in position that's 5 HP off the hero. I just feel like she's an amazing combo, but correct me if I'm wrong. Then EP because he's nice with 4/4 and if you can get him out and not get insta killed by a spell or something well then the opponent will think twice about offing a softy.

4. Get rid of z fatties
2 Assassination
2 Retreat
2 Kristof
Thought: I love comboing Assassination with Kristof especially when they have board control with Behe, or something. It's the best! Then retreat for anytime during the game that I need something off the board.

5. Ally Protection
2 Aeon
2 Lay Low
2 Birgit
Thought: This is a bit of a curve ball I'm trying out. The basis for lay low is that I can potentially use Misplaced to bring it back and use it over again after attacking or w/e I'm doing with allies. Aeon, and Birgit are obvious choices.

6. Buff
3 Aldon
3 Recon

Additional: 3Gravediggers Cloak - I like the utility this gives. It's always fun to steal away something from the opponent, and then potentially get re-use ability on it as well.

Let me know your thoughts. If it's terrible just say so I'm open to criticism but I would like to get something positive out of it.

[Cruxx]

So Cruxx here's my deck idea for Lance. Below is the 6 goals and cards associated:

1. Card Draw
3 baz
3 Santa

2. Item Destruction
4 Stop Thief
2 Misplaced
Thought: Why don't people like Poor Quality? I've used it in place of stop thief and put stop thief to 2. Seemed to work okay. Love it verse the Wulven guys because It makes their weps useless for the most part and it's only a cost of 3. Just curious.

3. Heavy Hitters
4 Erika
2 Earthen Prot
Thought: I love Erika because she has that extra layer of protection against physical damage. Granted she's not very hardy in HP, but the enemy has to have spells to be able to get rid of her or if they're warriors/wulvens have perma gimps. I dont' know why more people don't use her. Plus with Lances ability she can be used to even greater affect - If you get aldon down early (which you most likely will) you can put Erika in (by the time you have 5 resources to put her down you'll have enough SP to cast the ability) and pretty much take out most any fatty in the game She'll have 5 attack and immunity to counter attacks. Or if you're in position that's 5 HP off the hero. I just feel like she's an amazing combo, but correct me if I'm wrong. Then EP because he's nice with 4/4 and if you can get him out and not get insta killed by a spell or something well then the opponent will think twice about offing a softy.

Up until here it looks all fine and boils down to personal taste in creature choice. I think most players would prefer Raven, especially with Lance's ability, because you can instantly make another creature useless and the 6 HP make her very tough to kill.

Low quality is very specfic in use and best against weapons with one attack only. I tend to keeping my options open, being able to destroy any item (including King's Pride etc) with one swift strike.

4. Get rid of z fatties
2 Assassination
2 Retreat
2 Kristof
Thought: I love comboing Assassination with Kristof especially when they have board control with Behe, or something. It's the best! Then retreat for anytime during the game that I need something off the board.

Yes, Kristoffer and Assassination are a great combo, but you are only running 2 of each in a 40 card deck. There isn't a super high chance you will have both. If you want to make the combo work I suggest 4 of both, as in the example deck further up.

5. Ally Protection
2 Aeon
2 Lay Low
2 Birgit
Thought: This is a bit of a curve ball I'm trying out. The basis for lay low is that I can potentially use Misplaced to bring it back and use it over again after attacking or w/e I'm doing with allies. Aeon, and Birgit are obvious choices.

I like the addition of lay low, you are also able to give it back to your hand with Misplaced in some situations.

6. Buff
3 Aldon
3 Recon

Jap, good goal.

Additional: 3Gravediggers Cloak - I like the utility this gives. It's always fun to steal away something from the opponent, and then potentially get re-use ability on it as well.

Lance's ability is really good imo, I wouldn't want to use GC in many cases since the card you receive is picked at random. I personally wouldn't add it in.

Let me know your thoughts. If it's terrible just say so I'm open to criticism but I would like to get something positive out of it.

That would be my thoughts, but as I said, I havent played rogue in a while. Best to take it to the rogue forums for additional feedback. Keeping the overall goals in mind you can easily adapt the deck with recommendations given from the community.

[Cruxx]

Removed unnecessary cludder, streamlined it some more and updated the example builds.

[Atomzed]

Looks better now Cruxx. Your framework serves as a good guide for deck building... though i don't necessarily agree with everything

[Sephirus]

Agreed.