Ok, this time I'm tackling the undead mage Gravebone. Many thanks to Buqs, Fou DeLile, Ahmet476 and Xander Spitfire for their help with this one.
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Intro
Gravebone is one of the most interesting heroes out there because his playstyle is quite unique in this game, revolving around the concept that no ally can be permanently killed. The most famous Gravebone deck of course is Killtrend’s Gravebella way back when, which took advantage of GB’s old ability (back to hand, not to play), Belladonna and Portal, which gave you recyclable threats and draw in one.
Unfortunately Gravebone’s ability change killed that deck archetype; however he still has plenty of tricks up his undead sleeve.
Overview
Gravebone’s ability, like other ally centric abilities, forces you to run allies (of course). However because his ability allows you to recycle your allies, there is actually two schools of thought here. One is that you need as many as possible to provide fuel for his ability, the other is that you can go ally light because you will get unprecedented value for the allies you do have. Personally I find 14-16 allies a good number to run, and I actually only run 4 5cc or higher allies, simply because I can keep cycling them.
Now in addition to his ability and the Shadow ally pool, Gravebone also has access to the mage pool which is as we all know is excellent, filled with direct damage and board control solutions. Of particular note are the ubiquitous Fireball, Lightning Strike and Supernova, but he has another wonderful control option in Consuming Fear, and it boosts his early game considerably (without a direct damage ability his early game is weaker than the other mages).
He also has his standard draw option in Tome of Knowledge, and can make excellent use of Sacrificial Lamb, bringing back allies he kills with it. His main weakness is his complete lack of healing and without the board control ability of his counterpart Majiya he is particularly vulnerable to rush.
Allies
The backbone of any Gravebone deck and there are many to choose from. Personally I advocate a healthy mix of allies, with a good enough early game to cover Gravebone’s weaknesses in that area, and the late game win cons that never end.
Call of the Crystals
- Infernal Gargoyle: Gravebone needs Gargoyle’s survivability more than most, so this is generally a 4 x auto-include. His low attack is not so much of an issue in mage decks because they have many ways to supplement it. Also bringing these guys back time and time again is also troubling for some heroes (Zaladar in particular).
- Plasma Behemoth: A big ugly threat that must be killed immediately. The problem for your opponent is that with Gravebone death is temporary, and you can just keep cycling this guy, putting a massive drain on your opponent’s resources.
- Molten Destroyer: Another big ugly threat, the problem is that this one is much easier to deal with without killing it, thus negating Gravebone’s ability.
- Shadow Knight: If you’re running a Portal build you put four in; it’s as simple as that. The hasted Shadow Knight loop is one of the most dreaded situations in this game. Gravebone makes the Shadow Knight loop so much more powerful because he can sort his graveyard, fixing the loop by resurrecting those allies that get in the way. It also gives you another ally on the board, and with hasted 5 damage beats coming through a Portal, you can assert dominance pretty quickly.
Dark Prophecies
- Ironhide Karash: Survivable allies are the order of the day with Gravebone, and this guy provides massive bang for your buck in most cases. Awesome early game power means even going second you can deal with almost anything (Karash w/ Fireball will wipe ANY 3cc drop). He’s also damn solid through Portal if you choose that route and he is a nifty form of pseudo item destruction.
- Morbid Acolyte: This ally is quickly becoming an auto-include in all Shadow decks and with good reason, survivability second only to Gargoyle and a killer ability to boot. This guy is the preferred 3cc drop going first as you can use his ability to shut down your opponent’s allies if need be on turn 4 (think Champion of Irum and Gargoyle).
- Sun-Blighted One: Okay, one look at this ally tells you he was designed specifically for Gravebone. Unfortunately the bilateral SE acceleration tends to harm you more than help you, giving your bad matchups (Zaladar, Banebow, Amber as an example) quicker access to their abilities, and the ping damage does little. The buffed beastie on return is nice, but as a vanilla 5/4 SBO is easy enough to remove. Still SBO does have use in a rush style strategy, allowing you to dump many threats early, and revive those that fall much quicker. The aim is of course to get enough damage in early and then switch to burn late game.
He (she?) is also very useful in one deck type, the Voice of Winter/Snow Sapphire stall freeze deck. Combined with your DoT’s you can actually ping your opponent down very fast, and it doesn’t really matter if SBO doesn’t stick because your goal in this case is cycling them (any hits they get in are a bonus).
- Kairos Doombringer: Now this guy is a beatstick. And if your opponent cannot disable him he’ll deal incalculable damage to them and their ally line when you keep cycling him. Watch out for disabling effects however, as they’ll upset his momentum.
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