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  1. #1
    Senior Member Keaven's Avatar
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    Cool Famine (Zhanna Mist)

    Posting this deck for an opponent that was interested. It's still in the construction testing phase and needs some serious adjustments, but the current build is below and is working fairly well against all heroes so far. The name speaks for itself as it functions entirely as a resource destruction deck.

    Current Version (48):

    1 x Zhanna Mist

    4 x Lily Rosecult
    4 x Puwen Bloodhelm
    2 x Priest of the Light
    4 x Tainted Oracle
    4 x Raven Wildheart
    (16 Allies)

    4 x Healing Touch
    4 x Focused Prayer
    4 x Tidal Wave
    4 x Plague
    3 x Sever Ties
    (19 Abilities)

    4 x Book of Curses
    4 x Cobraskin Wraps
    2 x Ghostmaker
    (12 items)

    With Blood Frenzy at 3 cost this deck now relies on Tainted Oracles for needed extra draw. Famine can also reduce cards as the deck is no longer able to destroy so many resources. This version is not able to mil the opponent out (and Resurrection has been removed), however the resource lead you are able to gain can protect your allies on the board. Resurrection may still have a place to refresh your deck with allies if you can get enough of a resource lead to maintain board control, especially if the only allies burnt are Lily enabling a repeat Cobraskin Wraps cycle. Raven is my fatty of choice to deal with any allies the opponent might have out gy the time you get a big resource lead and can start to summon allies.

    1.29 Original Version (52):

    1 x Zhanna Mist

    3 x Jasmine Rosecult
    4 x Lily Rosecult
    4 x Puwen Bloodhelm
    3 x Aldon the Brave
    2 x Sandworm
    (16 Allies)

    4 x Healing Touch
    4 x Tidal Wave
    4 x Destroy Arms
    2 x Resurrection
    (14 Abilities)

    4 x Plague
    4 x Curse
    4 x Bazaar
    4 x Cobraskin Wraps
    4 x Wizent's Staff
    1 x Voice of Winter
    (21 items)

    Demonstration play list.

    Vs Darkclaw:



    Vs Nishaven:



    Vs Amber:

    Last edited by Keaven; 06-18-2012 at 06:22 AM. Reason: Adding videos

  2. #2
    Senior Member Manbane's Avatar
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    nice to see someone still having some hope for the priests , well what can i say , reduce the nuber of cards to a max of 42 i would sugesst -3 curse they are not that good in a plague deck -2 or even 3 healing touch , get ride of the holy shields and cobraskin is not that good , you want to be the guy with the bord control so you can abuse you plague and cobraskin doest not help with that
    Eventually , i will be your bane




    Team Juggernauts - Eclipse

  3. #3
    Senior Member Keaven's Avatar
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    Post

    ** DP Updated Deck List **

    Famine is back in all it's annoying glory.

    Just took a decent win against Amber in Borlaug match history. FoxFyre88 Vs Borlaug

    Current Deck (50):

    1 x Zhanna Mist

    4 x Sandra Trublade
    4 x Lily Rosecult
    4 x Raven Wildheart
    4 x Elizabeth Winterborn
    (16 allies)

    3 x Healing Touch
    4 x Tidal Wave
    4 x Focused Prayer
    2 x Resurrection
    4 x Plague
    4 x Bad Santa
    4 x Banish
    (25 abilities)

    4 x Book of Curses
    4 x Cobraskin Wraps
    (8 items)

    ** End Update **

    I have since modified this deck to counter it's biggest threat: Blood Frenzy, and now it works a lot better having slaughtered a few Logan's with the adjustment:

    - 4 Tainted Oracle
    + 4 Bazaar

    - 1 Good Ascendant
    + 1 Resurrection (only one usually needed per match but drawing early when only stocking 1 effectively reduces hand size for most of the match)

    - 4 Holy Shield
    + 1 Puwen Bloodhelm
    + 2 Jasmine
    + 1 Sandworm

    I'm stocking a slight modification to this to test currently.

    Quote Originally Posted by Manbane View Post
    nice to see someone still having some hope for the priests , well what can i say , reduce the number of cards to a max of 42 i would suggest -3 curse they are not that good in a plague deck -2 or even 3 healing touch , get ride of the holy shields and cobraskin is not that good , you want to be the guy with the board control so you can abuse you plague and cobraskin doest not help with that
    Manbane, you are looking at this deck with a pre 1.28 control strategy in mind, this deck is not won through early board control as that is too risky and dependant on getting the correct draw now deck sizes are 40 minimum. This deck focuses mathematically around reducing damage per turn (DPT). By reducing DPT through resource "starvation", armour, curse, healing, ally soaking, and board clearing, advantage is gained around mid or sometimes even late game. Victory usually leaves Zhanna with around 6-12 HP remaining. Sometimes allies can speed up a victory, but they are not needed for hero damage in most cases. And on the very rare occasion you can convert to an early board control strategy depending on the opponent Hero.

    Now that the minimum is 40 cards this mil deck needs around 50 cards and I have had no problems drawing what I need as there are many varieties of start up that work towards the same goal. Some cards heal/tank, others stall. The 4 x Plague cards alone reduce you and your opponents deck size by 12 and combined with 4 x Cobraskin Wraps, 4 x Lily, and 2 x Resurrection, you can imagine how much resource damage you can do and how many resources you need yourself to burn their whole deck. I have played a few matches where the opponent did not ever reach 5/6 resources before bleeding to death from drawing from an empty deck after saccing almost all of their cards trying to keep up, even if they sneak out a couple of allies Curse and Cobraskin lowers damage per turn allowing Zhanna to out last even Eldwen burn decks. If they play an early Shriek before seeing what's coming it's almost an auto loss as this allows you to Tidal Wave and still never let them get out any fatties if you are Player 1.

    I suggest actually trying the deck to see how it works. Board control is not at all necessary early and can be taken mid-late game to prevent loss when Zhanna is running out of HP and you have resource and card/draw advantage. Curse and Cobraskin work hand in hand to minimise damage early game and taking draw advantage. The remaining curses are also needed for Resources. In fact the most vital card to draw by T3 is usually Curse.

    You were right about Holy Shield as I sacced it most of the time and when I did use/need it I usually lost anyway. A 4 HP ally usually soaks more damage/resources in this deck as the opponent rarely gets enough momentum to summon multiple allies and the more allies in this deck the larger the deck size indirectly when combined with Resurrection. Quantity of Healing Touch can also be reduced as they are often sacced, but they are a counter card to some common high level tactics so I would not reduce to less than 2.

    I'm starting to think that this deck refined can be quite competitive, so anyone willing to help please post any feedback from testing.
    Last edited by Keaven; 10-14-2013 at 11:24 AM. Reason: Updating for DP

  4. #4
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    This deck seems pretty interesting - I'm testing this one out.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Keaven's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sweetgab View Post
    This deck seems pretty interesting - I'm testing this one out.
    It does require experience to be able to figure out what cards your opponent is likely packing, and also experience in using the deck to know when to wait patiently taking damage and getting the right timing to start hitting back (with preserved Tidal Waves).

    Fear of Tidal Wave and The King's Pride helps this deck get the momentum it needs, but if you can keep card advantage whilst destroying resources, once you get a lead the match is almost yours.

    It might help clarify if I describe which cards should be resourced and what to (almost) never resource:

    As mentioned before, cards are resourced based on how much DPT they can reduce, so once you get a feel for the deck you can better decide on each turn which cards are best to keep. You will want at least 6 or 7 allies to be resurrected, so even if just soaking damage you will want to summon; all of your Lily's; and at least one each of the other allies stocked ideally. The others can be resourced at will. ie once you have sacrificed an Aldon to die for example, any others can be Resourced as he will be needed after Resurrected and probably wont help much until then.

    Abilities are the cards that will vary heavily game to game as what needs to be Resourced.

    Items are fairly easy choices. Wizent's Staff is an emergency card draw engine so is not even needed most matches. With a good draw, Cobraskins and Lily's can give you all the cards you need, with the help of Bazaar played early game Vs Blood Frenzy, and Late game Vs most other Heroes (or post resource lead of 2/3).

    The Resource List is roughly:

    2/3 x Jasmine Rosecult
    2/3 x Puwen Bloodhelm
    1 x Aldon the Brave
    (5/7 Ally Resources)

    2/4 x Healing Touch
    0/4 x Tidal Wave (varies based on opponent hero, or how well start-up works)
    0/3 x Destroy Arms (again Hero dependant. You will want to remove early game draw items Vs non Warrior Heroes so keep one until mid game if able)
    1 x Resurrection
    (3/12 Ability Resources)

    0/1 x Plague (You may have to Resource one, but unless they have only 40 cards this is a very tough call as this card reduces DPT exponentially so the longer the match plays the more important this card becomes)
    3 x Curse
    3/4 x Bazaar
    1/2 x Cobraskin Wraps (usually only resourcing 1 early if you have to, however 1/2 can be resourced end game after Resurrection used and Lily's have served their purpose. When getting all the way down to the bottom of my deck the cards in hand are usually very similar and consist of at least 2/3 Cobraskins to prevent bleed)
    4 x Wizent's Staff (only in deck as emergency card draw engine or 1 HP Ally killer. All are not eventually Resourced only when Lily's cannot dig one out of Graveyard to do so.
    (11/14 Item Resources)

    Total Resources: 19 to 33

    As you can see from the maths, the minimum Resource requirements will leave you with 7 (19-12) resources by the last card if all your Plague's are used. If you get to the last card you are probably winning and your opponent will be around 3-5 (max) resources if it is a close match.
    Last edited by Keaven; 01-25-2012 at 04:39 AM.

  6. #6
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    Have you tried some Sandra Trueblade in there?

    And why not Santa instead of Bazaar?

  7. #7
    Senior Member Keaven's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ACrowley View Post
    Have you tried some sandra trueblade in there?

    And why not Santa instead of bazaar?
    Actually, yes. One of my first variations was to try Sandra Trueblade exclusively for matches where I am Player 2. Unfortunately she could only be effective if her cost was 3 instead of 4. Allowing the opponent to get to 5 Resources (particularly for Shadow Heroes with Death Knights) only to follow up with a 2/3 ally does not work at all. You are usually at a board disadvantage before this point as well. You need to cast Cobraskin to stop them from getting to 5 Resources and keep DPT low.

    Bazaar is purely to counter Blood Frenzy as you balance the draw engine and eliminate the warriors advantage as they cannot often cast three cards in one turn when their resources are being destroyed. Bad Santa is too high in resource cost as well. You may need to try the deck to see exactly what I mean.
    Last edited by Keaven; 01-25-2012 at 04:40 AM.

  8. #8
    Senior Member Keaven's Avatar
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    Another thing with this Resource destruction build (particularly when Bazaar is in play) is it kind of reverses your opponent's luck- that is to say, usually a good draw relies on drawing certain cards from the top of a deck. Victory in this match-up can depend on what is on the bottom of their deck as they will need to Resource a lot of the cards drawn from the top to keep up in the Resource race, especially anything that costs 5/6 and above.

    After several Cobraskins and Plagues they have to start wondering if they should Resource those fat cards they have been waiting for the opportunity to punish with, which opens a new strategy too. Once your opponent realises they might never get to 5/6/7 resources they start Resourcing cards with heavy costs and you will notice them using more 2/3/4 cost cards, at which point you can hold back Plagues to Tidal Wave their board before switching back to Resource destruction.
    Last edited by Keaven; 12-07-2011 at 07:06 AM.

  9. #9
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    I'm going to test this build out and give feedback here. You seem to have a strategy that could work, and I'm not a math guy. It'll be a blast either way =]

  10. #10
    Senior Member He-Man's Avatar
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    If Blood Frenzy is your single largest thread, is it worth it to try using Jericho instead?
    proud former member of A1 Alliance
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