Try it -- it's fun!

[Stopped Cold Deck]

Here's a deck I've been playing with lately and giggling like a schoolgirl as the computer crumbles repeatedly...now if only I knew someone else who owned this game. So here it is -- analysis to follow:

Creatures
Lunatic Hare x 2
Medusa x 4
Grendel x 2
Cait Sith x 2
Gladiator x 2
Cockatrice x 4
Huge Spider x 2
Spitting Cobra x 2
Gremlin x 2
Knight x 4

Items
Battering Ram x 4
Hell Blaze x 2
Black Orb x 2
Hourglass x 2
Vorpal Sword x 2

Spells
Acid Rain x 4
Turn to the Wall x 4
Wing x 4

Here's the idea -- with this deck you keep the opponent from gaining any ground by turning their creatures into defense creatures(both in and out of battle) and then subsequently destroying them. Most people know about the Medusa/Cockatrice/Battering Ram combo (which turns your opponent into a Statue/Wall of Stone and then kills them instantly), but Turn to the Wall is a card that hasn't been mentioned much on this site. This spell lets your other creatures take advantage of Battering Ram's power as well. Acid Rain is frequenly the only direct damage card you'll need -- and the fact that it does 30 (not 20) damage makes it even better. That's why you don't see any Magic Bolts in here -- and Evil Blast is too expensive considering the cost of the other cards in this book.

Knight, Grendel, and Gladiator are your heavy hitters here. Considering that you'll be up primarily against walls, these guys can usually get critical hits without any assistance. Once you get one of these guys on the board though, either Wing them or switch them out for Cait Sith or Spitting Cobra. This deck doesn't have a lot of options when it comes to defense, though Hourglass affords you some protection in most cases.

Spitting Cobra and Huge Spider are in here to help deal with those irritating curses. I've also tried using Hyde before, but having him and Grendel in the same deck gets kind of tough due to the land requirement. Plus, I just think it's funny that there's actually a card called "Huge Spider"! Lunatic Hare and Gremlin will also get you some outside wins in battle that may prove tough for your other guys.

Hell Blaze is another card that fits well in this deck. It does 60 glorious points of damage to most walls (Pillar of Flame is a problem). Factor in the pair of Black Orbs and you have little to fear from pesky Decoys and neutralization-granting items.

Ok, that's enough out of me. Have fun, kids!

[pistachiosrule]

Oops! Forgot to log in when I posted the deck above...sorry guys. I must be exhausted from trying to get that 3-on-1 medal...

[WhoseYerLilith]

Thats a great idea- and I've been meaning to throw together a deck like that when the computer is feeling generous enough to grant me some Medusa's--Im a bit surprised you chose to not to include a few "Sculpture"'s in there- any particular reason why not?

[zaraphael]

Nice against the grain idea. Two cards I'd suggest as possibilities for fun: Centaur, to recycle the rams, and Temperance, great with acid rain.

[pistachiosrule]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

Sculpture seems lto be a total no-brainer natural fit for this deck and I've played around with that card quite a bit. Generally though, I've found that there aren't enough targets on the board to justify the card's exorbitant cost (150+discard). Plus, it also affects my own Medusas and several of my other critters as well, therefore making me vulnerable to my own Acid Rain! It saddens me, but Sculpture is out.

Temperance is a pretty good idea -- I could probably ditch a Wing or two.

I never even considered Centaur -- and you're totally right Zaraphael -- since Battering Ram is so crucial to this deck's success why not bring 'em back over and over again?

[WhoseYerLilith]

Oh damn that totally makes sense...why can't I get a MEDUSA!!!!

[Shazam]

I like this deck. It's different.

Something that I did though, was I made the deck a little weaker towards some things by taking out all of the items EXCEPT for Battering Ram, and added 4 Prophecies. That way, I'm essentially playing 8 Battering Rams in the deck, and can really start juicing on the Battering Rams. Add a Lightcraft and some Revelations, and you can pretty much wing up anything you play. I also play a few less creatures so I can play Wind Of Hope and the like, to just rip through my deck.

But I like the concept, very well done.

[Cernovog]

I was browsing through this forum looking for a new deck to try and this one caught my fancy.

It's a neat idea and it works well, but the deck listed here is imperfect. I was wondering if anyone has tweaked it to work better?

The deck is weak defensively. I have a hard time hanging on to territory once I claim it. Wing is easily overridden and the only defensive item is the hourglass. It's usefulness is highly subjective.

Cait Sith is just one big let down when it comes to holding a territory and with its low strength, hourglass doesn't help it one bit.

Huge Spider and Spitting Cobra are also disappointing as mainstays for green.

Here are some adjustments I've made, but I'm still not happy with the deck:

I replaced Cait Sith with Manes for my red land holder. Manes does not have any pre-requisites and he's mighty when combined with Wing. If your opponent overrides Wing with Fog or Camoflauge or whatever, Manes still gets a bonus due to his special ability.

I replaced Huge Spider with Troll. He's a little mightier defensively. He also has no pre-requisites.

I replaced Gremlin with Centaur. As mentioned before in this thread, Centaur is a good choice for this deck because he can recycle the Battering Ram. He has first attack which makes him a decent land holder on his own, especially with the items in this deck.

I don't like sacraficing cards to get Medusae on the board, so I removed one Medusa. I also removed one Spitting Cobra. I added another Centaur and, tentatively, I've got a Brass Idol in the deck.

Brass Idol is an iffy call and I'm not sure if I'll keep it. It eliminates the need to sacrifice a card to summon Medusa. Sometimes I'll get my Cockatrices early on and I can't summon them with no monsters on green. An early Brass Idol helps in this department too. The problem is, Brass Idol goes bye-bye with the first Acid Rain.

I removed one Wing card and added Sculpture, but so far, I've never used it.

One of the problems I have is that I can never get enough Turn to the Wall cards out. You get four of them per draw. Once my Medusae and Cockatrices hit the board, they usually kill everything right away with their Battering Rams.

Sculpture would seem to help in this regard, but it's expensive and it hurts me if I have any Lunatic Hares or Gremlins on the board.

So here is what my deck looks like now, but it needs tweaking:

Creatures
1 Brass Idol (<-- Probably a bad idea)
2 Lunatic Hare
3 Medusae
2 Grendel
2 Gladiator
2 Manes
4 Cockatrice
2 Troll
1 Spitting Cobra
4 Knight
3 Centaur

Items
4 Battering Ram
2 Hell Blaze
2 Black Orb
2 Hourglass
2 Vorpal Sword

Spells
4 Acid Rain
1 Sculpture
4 Turn to the Wall
3 Wing

[Cernovog]

Okay, I've played this deck thoroughly and I've won against many of the story characters. So far I've played against Selena, Picket, Leo, Balberit, Gamygn, Mullyn and Zagol and I've beat them all. I've only played one-on-one matches. I haven't tried two-on-one or 3- to 4-player free-for-all.

Here is my current deck listing:

Creatures
1 Archbishop
1 Brass Idol
2 Lunatic Hare
3 Medusae
2 Grendel
2 Gladiator
2 Manes
3 Cockatrice
2 Dwarf
4 Knight
4 Centaur

Items
4 Battering Ram
2 Hell Blaze
1 Black Orb
2 Hourglass
2 Vorpal Sword

Spells
4 Acid Rain
1 Sculpture
4 Turn to the Wall
3 Wing

Here's my criteria for replacement monsters:

Since the deck is weak on defense, I need either non-defense monsters with high hit points or first attackers. Since the items are all weapons (the only defensive item is the hourglass), first attackers are ideal.

Pre-requisites suck with this deck. It's bad enough there are requirements for Cockatrice and Grendel. Taking that into account, there's no need to clutter up the deck with monsters that have pre-requisites.

With that in mind, I removed the 40-hit point Trolls and replaced them with 50-hit point Dwarves. Gargoyles would rock (50 HP and first attack), but it would take forever to get something on green so you could use both Gargoyle and Cockatrice. So we're left with Dwarf.

I learned quickly that Land Protection sucks, so I replaced Spitting Cobra with Archbishop. With him on the board, you've got a chance to zap those land protected monsters with a Turn to the Wall spell... if you're lucky. Between low hit points and Banishing Ray, Archbishop doesn't stay on the board for long.

Now, you might want to tweak the deck to suit your opponent if you know who you're playing against. Dump the Black Orb if you know your opponent isn't using Decoys or other pesky monsters. Add more Hourglasses if you can. I never realized what a handy item this is. It makes first attacks absolutely certain. Since most of your monsters are either heavy hitters or petrifiers, Hourglass is great for defense.

I've even saved wimpy Archbishop with the Hourglass on occasion!

Another tweak might involve removing one Hell Blaze scroll or one Vorpal Sword and adding another Hourglass.

So far, I'm keeping Brass Idol, but that's an iffy decision. He's rarely worth the effort. More than a few times he's gotten destroyed before he helped me put down monsters. Other times, I put down one Medusa for free and then the Brass Idol was destroyed. I might as well have sacrificed it in the first place for the same benefit.

This deck on a whole stands up. The worst game I played was against Picket. The Turn to the Wall spells were among the last five or six cards I drew. Can you believe it? It slowed the whole game right down and it was very frustrating. Once they came out, I quickly turned the tables on Picket. After the reshuffle, I dominated the game.

I played another awful game against Picket when the bullcrap computer luck was in full effect. He landed on the Castle or the fortress perfectly every time, evading long lines of tolls I had set up. He always drew the right card at the right time and landed on the perfect vacant or safe spot. I still won, despite this.

So this deck is solid. I've been playing it a lot, ironing it out. I'm gonna play against some real live people and see how it does. Thanks for posting this novel idea!

[cerealkiller251]

Awesome deck. That is what I love about this game, there are so many different ways to win.