Smith Shop Logan [3.90]

[mojorge]

4/2/2021 Update:

Hero: Logan Stonebreaker (40 cards)

Ally (10):
4x Fuzam, Yari Blademaster
4x Braxnorian Weaponsmith
2x Phaedon Barbarian

Ability (13):
2x Bad Santa
4x War Cry
1x Smashing Blow
4x Blood Frenzy
2x Mettle of the Warrior

Item (16):
4x Smith Shop
4x Startleshell Vest
4x Boooomerang
4x Pithing Spear

Deck Code: 1343750C


I prepared this list specifically for the Off the Grid tournament, in which this deck took second place. This tournament had a special condition: no locations allowed. This made Logan a prime choice for this tournament because it means he doesn't have to worry as much about decks that do not need to play allies. That's an extremely important, which I will discuss in a moment.

The Strategy:

This version of Smith Shop Logan has one goal: dig to the bottom of the deck while having at least 2 Booomerangs, War Cry, and preferably Mettle of the Warrior and Smith Shop. That's because of the endgame combo that allows you to draw a Booomerang by using Boomerang's ability, and loop that multiple times until the opponent is out of allies. This can clear the board every turn while healing up your health, making it impossible for any ally-based deck to maintain a board and win. If they refuse to play allies, you can chip away at their health with Booomerang every turn for 2 damage (and gain 1 health for it).

How to beat this deck:

Because of the unique strategy, a lot of players do not know how to play against this deck or what is good against it. Here are a few key weaknesses that I have found:

1. Do not play any allies once the combo is ready and deal damage exclusively in other ways
2. Attack the draw power early on (remove Blood Frenzy, etc.)
2. Win in the early game by rushing down Logan's health

Some other counters include stuff like Black Market, "infinite" healing cards like Infinity Core, and armors with more than 2 defense (because Booomerang only returns to the deck if it deals combat damage). That makes this deck a poor choice for QM, because you will see a lot of those cards there.

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Logan has a powerful hero ability costing 4 SE that gives your weapons +1 attack, and lets you kill any ally he deals combat damage to. This can be a very strong ability against fatty allies, but often is insufficient against swarms of smaller minions that have fewer health. This deck attempts to solve some of Logan's problems with ally swarms through using Smith Shop, a 2cc artifact that reduces the cost of all items by 1, in conjunction with a bunch of cheap items that help control the board.

Hero: Logan Stonebreaker (44 cards)

Ally (14):
4x Fuzam, Yari Blademaster
4x Braxnorian Weaponsmith
4x Yari Plunderer
2x Phaedon Barbarian

Ability (14):
2x Bad Santa
4x War Cry
2x Carnage
1x Smashing Blow
4x Blood Frenzy
1x Mettle of the Warrior

Item (15):
2x Smith Shop
3x Startleshell Vest
4x Boooomerang
4x Pithing Spear
2x Shard of Ithrund

Deck Code: 1524138B


Card Choices: This deck uses many cards traditionally found in Logan, such as Fuzam. This ally is very strong on T2 with Pithing Spear on T3 because it means that you can kill an ally with 4 health, and also get a shadow energy from Pithing Spear (which gives you 1SE each time you kill an ally with your hero). Braxnorian Weaponsmith is amazing in this deck because it can search out Pithing Spear or Boooomerang, depending on what you need. Boooomering is a key card of the deck. It allows you to attack through activating its ability, which attacks the opposing ally with the highest cost. It then returns itself to the bottom of the deck. This is amazing in the late game in conjunction with War Cry and Smith Shop, because War Cry allows you to draw a card every time you deal combat damage with your hero. Thus, you can activate Boooomerang, drawing a card from War Cry, and then putting Boooomerang back on the bottom of the deck. You then play your second Boooomerang, activate its ability, and then draw your first Boooomerang from War Cry's ability. For this reason, you should never sac more than 2 Boooomerangs in a game because if it gets to the late game, you'll want to have the potential to set up this combo.

Here is that combo in action:
https://youtu.be/uGdx1obka88

Startleshell Vest is a 2cc armor that deals damage equal to its defense to an ally. It also has +2 defense when your hero takes damage that turn. This combos very well with Blood Frenzy, which lets you draw an extra card per turn at the cost of taking 1 damage each turn. Thus, it deals 3 damage a turn over 2 turns, which is fantastic value, especially when combined with Smith Shop. This card often turns the tides against swarms of mini allies, since many of them have low health already. Mettle of the Warrior is another key card in the deck, even though we only run 1. This card heals you and all your warrior allies for 1 every time you summon weapons, armors, or certain warrior-type cards. Pretty much every card in the deck triggers Mettle, which adds up to a TON of healing. You often heal more than you could by just playing Enrage. Shard of Ithrund is mostly just there because I felt like I was lacking some weapons, and it combos very well with Yari Plunderer because you can pay 1 SE to give it an additional durability, which is mostly relevant against opponents that don't run a lot of allies and you need something else to use your shadow energy on. Finally, Carnage is an underestimated card that gives your allies +1 attack whenever your hero kills something, and also gives your weapon +1 attack when it is first attached. You can even play this on T2 if you have nothing else to play, because this bonus over the course of the game can turn your initially wimpy allies into powerful behemoths. It works particularly well with Phaedon Barbarian, which gets readied when you kill an ally and can help eek out that additional damage needed to close out games.


How competitive is this deck? I think this is a solid tier 3 deck, which means that this deck is usually something you would bring when the situation calls for it (generally, when the meta is full of fatties). On the other hand, it won't define the meta like a tier 1 deck will, and it can sometimes struggle too much to be considered tier 2. That is underselling it a little bit because Logan is an incredibly potent counter to a lot of the top tier meta that runs fatties, and has a lot more going for him that people give him credit for. That just goes to show that even a hero often considered among the worst heroes in all of shadow era can still be relevant and powerful.

[Gondorian]

Very nice write-up and inventive use of lesser used cards! I’m a big fan of Smith Shop but in Amber. I forget what’s in my deck there but I’m sure it needs refreshing!

[seedog]

The war cry boomerang combo is incredible!

[Nijjis]

I like it! I actually was looking at startle shell about a month ago when browsing through my collection.. it dawned on me that it’s just strictly better than Shield bash (not that anyone plays shield bash) basically guaranteed, if like you mentioned you have up bloodfrenzy. Worst case scenario it’s usually going to be a 2cc bash that soaks one damage, which is pretty solid I estimate. I actually came close to giving it the old college try, but like many if not most of my deck ideas it never moved passed the drawing board. I was interested to see I had the same idea you did, and glad you pulled the trigger on it. I may try out!

[mojorge]

I didn't want to take up too much space in the original post, but some thoughts on how to counter the counters with this deck:

1. Against a very fast deck, playing Fuzam T2 and Pithing Spear T3 is one of your only hopes. While you would usually prefer to set up the draw first, this combo pays off huge dividends later on. You should also consider sacrificing Mettle of the Warrior. This seems very strange since you want to heal up, but actually the number 1 priority is killing their allies and offense, not promoting your own defense. In general, I have found that playing Fuzam tends to be a better T2 play than playing Smith Shop no matter what the MU, but since Fuzam only has 3 health it is often dangerous to do if you are going second. Other cards to look for when against an aggressive deck is Startleshell Vest (with Blood Frenzy) and Smith Shop (This card is surprisingly strong early game).

2. Against a deck that plays armors like The King's Pride, you want to keep Smashing Blow in your hand as long as possible until the best possible time to play it. Since you draw your entire deck out, you WILL find it.

3. Against a deck that can remove Blood Frenzy, you need to keep multiple copies in hand, because keeping the draw going is the only way you can dig to your endgame combo. Against Sorcerer of Endia, you cannot use your hero ability unless you have excess shadow energy or can guarantee that you kill it if the opponent plays it.

While I didn't mention it earlier, if you are going against a deck that has stealth, you must keep all of your Startleshell vests because it is the only way to get around stealth.