Majiya deck (in awe of Ice)

[Obsolete]

hey guys


i recently saw Ice play a match using his infamous Majiya and it was amazing. Totally annihilated the zaladar deck.

just wondering if anyone had any good compositions for a majiya deck and would this be good against a darkclaw control deck since i keep getting grinded to death by it against my eladwen

what would a majiya vs eladwen matchup be like?

[Narziss]

Ice killed my Eladwen deck with his Majiya deck.

If my memory serves me right Ice was playing first and I was on the draw. We were within one turn of defeating each other -- it was a great game.

[arebelspy]

Now I'm curious.

What's the trick to it? Just standard seems inferior to Eladwin right now.

Maybe more fun for variety, but what makes his so good or different?

[Obsolete]

to be honest, im a total newbie so probably wasn't really able to analyse Ice's game except that he went second against a zaladar deck

it seemed that he really planned his mid/end game well and did not worry when initially taking damage from his opponent. from memory his majiya went down to about 13 before he went nuts and the zaladar deck couldnt do anything

in terms of his composition he had

infernal gargoyle
belladonna
bad wolf
portal
here be monsters
research
plasma behemoth
fireball
not sure if he had any lightning strikes or not but i think he did

not sure how many of each though

i remember his first two allies laid down were gargoyles which worked great against the zaladar ability and laying down a portal was super helpful. also using majiya ability let him draw out lots of useful cards

his deck was about 35 cards including his hero

anyway, it was just really exciting to watch and at the end he had two gargoyles, plasma behemoth and badwolf all on the board against a zaladar with nil allies.

portal seemed to be a key thing as well

perhaps if he reads this he may enlighten us

[arebelspy]

Yeah, sounds pretty typical. I really like Majiya, as card drawing is good, ability to use portal is good, and ability to beat darkclaw via infernal garg is good.

But I don't like that eladwen hands it to you.

[ViTTiE]

After using gravebone, i tried majiya and i think the key card is infernal gargoyle, research, portal, attacking magic cards, here be monster, and behemoth. My tactic is be patient and win with the advantage of the card on hand from her ability and research.

Btw, it is just tactic, but i still can not comeup with the best majiya deck.

[Obsolete]

so does that mean your'e saying that eladwen is superior to majiya? Ice's rating was like 411 so it cant be THAT bad if he is up there lol

btw, i wonder if belladonna is necessary given majiya's card draw ability or perhaps it's more for use after portal given her 4 damage is massive

[arebelspy]

so does that mean your'e saying that eladwen is superior to majiya? Ice's rating was like 411 so it cant be THAT bad if he is up there lol

btw, i wonder if belladonna is necessary given majiya's card draw ability or perhaps it's more for use after portal given her 4 damage is massive

yes. i am saying eladwen is superior to majiya.

mostly due to human allies > shadow allies. mostly.

and i didn't say she was bad, in fact I pointed out three reasons why i liked her.

[ViTTiE]

i use the small allies with the bloodlust to take out eladwen and her allies since they underestimate such a small creatures such as the fire snake 1/2 ^ ^

[Ice]

A thread dedicated to my sweet Majiya? How delightful!

Let me start off by saying that the Eladwen matchup isn't as bad as you might think. I've gone second many times, and many times I lost I've been but a strand of a hair away from winning, meaning if I had gone first, I would have most likely have had it in the bag (too bad no one at the top wants to go second ). That said, I'm subject to the laws of nature like everyone else in that I am capable of losing.

I originally hadn't planned on talking about my deck, but since you're all talking about it anyway, let's have a look at it, shall we?


Hero: Majiya

Allies:
4 Infernal Gargoyle
4 Belladonna
4 Plasma Behemoth
4 Bad Wolf

Abilites:
4 Fireball
4 Lightning Strike
2 Supernova
4 Here be Monsters

Items:
3 Research
3 Portal


The deck has changed quite a bit since my first build. I've since removed Rain Delay and Clinging Webs, Here be Monsters found its way in as one of the most important cards in the deck, and the number of certain cards have been changed slightly. Although I do miss the former two in some instances, I can't justify their inclusion right now. Besides, it's doing pretty well without them.

4 Plasma Behemoths so I don't feel torn about sacrificing one or two of them early on, and he's also pretty good against Darkclaw. Bad Wolf becomes resource fodder early in the game against Eladwen, as it can't survive ice shard. This means Infernal Gargoyle is a better choice if you want to play an ally early (either due to not having a Fireball or not having a Here be Monsters, which are both better choices than the gargoyle for your turn 3 play).

Due to Majiya's hero power, I can get away with only running 3 Research and 3 Portal; I'm likely to find them anyway, and I don't like drawing dead cards late game.

Belladonna is best used with Portal, obviously, basically granting you a reusable Fireball if not answered, and replaces herself by drawing you a card for further card advantage.

Fireball and Lightning Strike for killing the ubiquitous Human allies. Supernova is there for insurance if the board gets flooded by allies (just make sure you have enough health to survive some turns after using it).

The key is to not be in a hurry to beat your opponent, like you would be if you were playing Eladwen or Zaladar. This is a mid-range/control deck, and your playing style should reflect that.

You're right in that I don't care about early damage too much. As long as the damage isn't overwhelming, meaning turn 2 Blake followed by turn 3 Aldon while I'm on the draw, I usually let Majiya tank some hits while casting a Here be Monsters or two (fantastic card when going first, and still good when going second). If Eladwen (I'm referring to this matchup quite a bit, but it is them most common one) can't get a 3-cost ally on turn 3, Here be Monsters is the best play you can make.

Going first against Eladwen, you'll want to follow up your opponent's turn 2 ally with playing a turn 3 Here be Monsters. If it yields a second 2-cost ally, feel free to Lightning Strike them into oblivion. If there is no second ally, play a second Here be Monsters, or a Portal if you don't have a HBM.

Zaladar isn't too threatening, unless he runs Shard of Power, though that also means he becomes easier to control (Lightning Strike guarantees you kill two allies, for example). Lacking Portal, Zaladar has a hard time regaining lost momentum.

A big worry for the deck is Aeon Stormcaller, meaning two or more of him (then again, most decks should have some degree of trouble with that). One Aeon is pretty managable, but two can get a little out of hand if they're played back-to-back.

Another worry is several back-to-back Here be Monsters if you're going second. The deck can't play anything besides Research with only two resources. Getting hampered by HBM isn't fatal, since you're not taking much damage in the process, but it sure puts you at a disadvantage.

This became somewhat lengthy. I probably missed something I wanted to say, but it can't be helped now.