Duelyst Forums

Dark Memes VII: Z0rlithe

#1

Howdy guys, how are you all doing? It’s Miguelosz here back from a slight ladder break, played tons of Gauntlet with different/weird playstyles (my favorite one was a ridiculous draft with bae Lilithe, which had 4 Shadowdancers, 4 Rot9Ms and a Variax). Anyway Faie is as annoying as ever, so I decided it’s time to go back to chill out with the good ol’ Abyssian memery.

This time we’re doing something different: You know how people seem to be always picking on the adorable robokid Z0r, saying that he’s not fit to go on the ladder and should just go home like the little wussy he is (how dare they!). So here comes daddy Mechaz0r with some Dying Wish bodyguards to show those bullies their place!

Mech engines… ignite!

(If you’d like a more refined take on Z0r, see @Nwardezir’s ZirixZ0r lists, great stuff)

kuva

Originally the deck had no Spelljammers, with 2x Grasp of Agony and a third Ritual Banishing instead, but it ran out of gas often so I tweaked a bit to include more draw power. I piloted the deck from rank 10 to rank 6, at best I was 2 wins away from Diamond with a nice winstreak but the meme dream doesn’t seem to be quite strong enough to enable a convenient entry at this time of the month. Anyway the list fares very well in lower ranks where people don’t play that well around Mechaz0r and/or Dying Wish minions.

A word on some of the card choices: I went with Cannons instead of Swords, because they are generally better removal bait to make way for your later stuff. Necrotic Sphere kills those few people that love to vomit their whole hand in your face, and Ritual doesn’t seem to be that great in many situations these days so I let it at 2x. No Revenants because Mirage exists and if someone doesn’t stop using auto-includes as auto-includes things will never change around here…

The deck plays differently from a general mech deck (it is Abyssian, after all). In fact, you only get to play enough pieces for Mechaz0r in about 50% of the games. That’s fine, because besides mechs, there are alternative win conditions in the form of a late-game unanswered Vorpal, Vorpal into Shadowdancer, overwhelming your opponent with a swarm burst+Shadowdancer and even the occasional Z0r into Mechaz0r or Rot9M into something stupid.

With 12 p1t1 plays, the deck has many nice combos in the early game. I tend to prioritize them as follows:

Going first:

  1. Wings on mana tile, Helm in front of the enemy general
  2. Wings right in front of the general (the “classic” one)
  3. Lurking Fear into either Dioltas/Cannon + Helm/Z0r on the following turn

Going second:

  1. Helm+Cannon
  2. Lurking Fear+a combination of Z0r&Helm
  3. Double Wings on mana tiles +optionally Helm (beware of losing your hand though)

The list loses pretty hard to Songhai and many of the typical cheesywheezy lists out there, but feels great when you get some powerful combos out (like summoning Rot9M/Vorpal and Mechaz0r on the same turn). So all in all, it’s a deck that’s just really fun to play.


Oh yeah, and #IreallyreallyreallyhateEMP

3 Likes
Coldharbour Forge (chat about Mech, Vanar or both)
#2

as some general advice on those p1t1 plays, I find putting helm in the center to be better so you can accelerate. The “classic” one as you call it is better putting the wings directly in front of the tile, 1 space away from the general so that they can’t block you off from accelerating.

As a more general thing, since when was mechaz0r a meme :thinking:

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#3

Aww damn I wish I had spirit;;

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#4

The moment z0r was revield I thought of a deck like this, also it’s finally a deck i can use my 2 prismatic ro9m in. Lyogiggle.

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#5

Depends on the preferences, ramping might be indeed more beneficial when you have something nice to ramp into (like Dioltas). Often in the early game I’m playing 2 minions per turn, so blocking the enemy movement feels nice when you aren’t focusing on the beefy stuff yet. But yeah putting Helm to the center might generally be better, I’ll take that into account! As an Abyssian main I can’t say I’m really an expert on Mechs. :smiley:

I don’t know what else than a meme I’d call a Lilithe list with 3 Z0r, 3 Lurking Fear and no Revs? If it’s not memeful enough you can always make your own list with some more ridiculous Dying Wish minions ^^

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#6

Also, is vorpal reaver neceassary?

#7

Vorpal is best played on curve (5 or 6 mana, depending whether you have played LF or not). It’s a huge threat in itself, and if it’s destroyed without dispel it can lead to a big HP steal next turn if you manage to play Shadowdancer. 5-mana Vorpals are really threatening, since there are only a few things around that remove them cleanly for a lower cost (Aspect of the Ravager aside). It’s also surprising how many people just leave the Reaver unattended, I guess it’s so rarely seen on ladder these days? A 12dmg burst feels powerful enough. :stuck_out_tongue:

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#8

Can I just replace it with spec rev?

#9

Mech abyss is a meme! Not even mentioning all the dying wish trash!

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#10

Yeah easily, reconsider dropping Shadowdancer to 2x though since most of its utility comes from the combo.

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#11

Make daddy proud Zor! When I saw the thread name, I though for sure that you were going with Consumimg Rebirth/Blood Echoes so you could keep killing Zor, and potentially have multiple MechaZ0r!!!s in hand. XD

I think your original plan of running Grasp of Agony is actually very nice. Maybe remove the Shadowdancers since this deck doesn’t look like it wants to play a long game. Void Pulse could provide you quick healing if you really want it.

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#12

Ahahaha that’s an awesome idea! If you make a deck like that I’d definitely want to see the list :grin: I feel that without any Dancers I’m often just easily killed around 5-6 mana (or lose all my hand even with the Spelljammers), but I could see Void Pulse working nicely instead.

2 Likes
#13

Dunno if it’s my bad habit of playing countless seasons of Zirixz0r but usually I go :

  1. Wings on Mana tile, move 2 forward, Helm diagonal top or bottom
  2. Wings on tile just right of center Mana tile

In case 1, it’s almost garanteed ramp on turn 2
In case 2, it’s still disturbing for the General (blocking access to mana tile) and ramp is easier/assured by just going one back on turn 2. If you play it near opponent General, he still can go diagonal and play a minion behind Wing to cut the path

Just my 2 cents about Mech’s openings :wink:

4 Likes
#14

Mmmmm no nekoma or Desolator, dissapointed. I think this has the potential to be quite powerful with a little tweaking, perhaps something like this:

http://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MTozMjMsMzoyMDA1OSwzOjE5MDAyLDM6MjAyMDEsMzoyMDA1MiwzOjIwMDQ5LDM6MjAxOTksMzoyMDI0MywzOjE5MDAzLDM6MTEwNjEsMzoxOTAwNSwzOjM0MSwzOjM0MCwzOjMxNA==

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#15

Desolator sadly benefits from Lurking Fear only once per each card, so I left it out this time. 3-mana Dioltases provide so much delay/control, that without them (or the Lilithe stuff) I’d say it’s a different deck entirely. More efficient maybe, sure :slight_smile: I just love my thicc waifu stuff too much I suppose!

Nekomata would be a nice alternative to Jammers, although it doesn’t contribute much to the mech plan directly. I wonder how I left them out of consideration.

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#16

Well nekoma sort of helps with mech plan directly by fetching Zors.

Could still run Lilith by swapping in inkling over perhaps void pulse. I just rather like cass’s ability to kill your own Desolator, and the extra efficiency of punish/class over Lilith/ritual. And only getting one proc off of lurking doesent make Desolator any less valuable though.

But yea it is a pretty different deck.

#17

I have named my version. “Meching a Wish”

And the runner up:

DeCH. (Because it sounds like deck, also Death (Dying Wish), and Mech.)

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#18

Is it intended BTW? If it lowers the cost of all cards in the deck, shouldn’t cards keep their cost after being played?

#19

nope, all minions that have their mana cost reduced have their mana cost set back to their default after being played. the same happens with every other form of cost reduction. even gore horn from koan of horns goes back to 3 mana if hailstoned

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#20

Was there any comment from devs on this?