Tech Cards and Strategies against Rise of the Bloodborn cards

[BlankTrack]

In the patch notes, the Devs said that they were taking a little holiday break, and that we would have to wait a bit for our next patch. There has been a little bit of complaining going on and since we will have to wait it bit longer for the next update, I thought we could discuss any counterplay that has been discovered to make these “OP” strategies easier to deal with. This is not the place to suggest changes and such, but rather how to deal with the problems as they will be for the next month or so.

I myself am trying to create a control deck that can outlast Variax, but have yet to find anything. I am hoping someone has some ideas or something that I can incorporate into my own decks that might give me the little edge needed to win after she has been dropped.

As far as I have seen, the main contenders as problems are:

---

Grandmaster Variax- Wins the game almost unconditionally once he has been played. If you can’t kill the general after 1 or 2 turns then you lose. Community seems divided if the problem is the card itself, or the fact that Abyssian has very strong ramping options. Variax is much more popular with Lilithe, but still a pain to deal with when used with Cass.

Magmars Out of Hand Damage- A lot of burn damage has pushed a strong gameplan to be even stronger. Rush minions, and buffs are now joined by simultaneous card draw and spell burst.

---

If anyone has any tech cards or strategies that help combat against these please chime in. Also, any other newer problems that have Risen with the expansion please say so and I will add it to the list.

So far I am loving the expansion, but I know that not everyone shares my delight. This post is aiming to help anyone that is frustrated or just having trouble dealing with the new options. I have read a few posts on here or reddit of people claiming that they were done with the game, and I think that they are definitely overreacting. New things are always exploitable because nobody knows how to play against them. Give it sometime to see how the dust settles.

[phayze]

Against Variax… I’d say that Nosh-rak is a surprisingly good option. The easiest way is to kill the general quickly after Variax is summoned. Since Vet is capable of baiting out answers fairly easily, it can be possible to get Nosh-rak to stick. You need to kill em quick, Nosh-rak makes it twice as easy.

As for Maghai (heh) i.e. Decimus Spike. Spellhai works surprisingly well. The burnmar deck is downright masochistic bordering on suicidal for how much self damage it does. So play songhaI and finish the job they started. After all, Reva is the queen of burn and ain’t nobody gonna take that title from her, definitely not some glorified dinosaur/unicorn combo deal.

[excogitator]

The two newest complained about decks both do not run too much hard removal.

Abyssian Variax Ramp might run a few light benders and a Ritual Banishing or two, but they are still quite vulnerable to units where killing is just not enough, such as Aymara Healer or Vorpeal Reaver. Other things that absolutely demand removal, such as Silithar Elder, The other Grandmasters, and Ironcliff into divine bond are serious road-blocks to Variax ramp’s Plan. The same is true for Burn Magmar; they do not run any removal other than thumping wave. An Aymara healer is often instant GG for them.

Other strategies that are particularly effective are Frigid Corona and/or Gravity Well openings, which can win you the game on the spot, Shadowdancer + Shadow Sister combos, which might out-heal Burn Magmar, and Silithar Elder, which can out-value Variax.

Other than that, the other dominant decks, Tempo Lyonar, Creep Abyssian, Control Vanar, Spell Songhai, and Obelisk Vetruvian, have been around for a while and have more well documented counters.

[mrmana3]

Eclipse can be nice against Magmar, whether hitting a buffed Vaath or a Rancour that has grown to ridiculous levels. Songhai even has Inner Focus to get the effect faster.

This one I haven’t tried yet, but it’s been on my mind: Venom Toth to punish Variax’s BBS as well as cards like Bloodmoon Priestess, and honestly Swarm in general in decks such as Obelysk Zirix and Zoo Starhorn. Maybe Lyonar can use Aegis Barrier to make it easier to keep it alive.

[BlankTrack]

I really like Eclipse as a card, but just the way the creature looks puts me off so much I don’t want to play it. Like look at it up close-

At first glance I was like oh its some type of MechaMoth or something. The name kinda fits because it has to do with sun/moon/light and moths and stuff. Then I realized it was a Wolf with a human body, wearing ballerina tights with a chain wallet going into each of his/her back pockets also having with what I assume to be are artificial wings. IDK it just looks extraordinarily odd to me.

Never thought about Venom Toth, that would be super cool. I would be super fun throwing one down against a Variax Cassyva near death and preventing her from using her BBS.

[snowwy]

It looks like a husky ballerina assassin wielding dual swords of feminism with dangling ribbons and a pair of butterfly wings xD

[narasimha]

Problem is it’s vulnerable to Plasma Storm. That makes a HUGE difference. Yes, you can Inner Focus it. But for 6 mana, you’d probably be better off Focussing a Backstab minion with Killing Edge thrown in, or a ranged minion. On curve, Vaath won’t be big enough for the damage to matter,and Rancour would either be dead or you are. Late game, theres simply better options.

[raviel1234]

Have nothing against variax.
Against starhorn i found a few things:

1. When he uses his combos he draws you cards so you benefit from having little number of cards in hand so always better to play more offensive early than you would regularly.
2. he has many options for out of hand damage, playing around all of them might be hard so getting a nightwatcher atleast deals with the rush minions.
3. heals counter his burns somewhat, always nice to heal against him if you can
4. he damages himself alot so easier to kill him with out of hand burst or potentially get him low enough so he can’t play illucidator or stuff, could be effective.

[alplod]

Actually, I won plenty of games against AggroMag and Variax Cass with control Heal Zir’an. Variax Lilithe however is just a race against time. Either you’re fast or you’re dead.

Still it’s OK to me. I don’t see a reason to whine)

[project2el]

Against aggro magmar you want to heal yourself or strike back when It took damage with flameblood w./elu/tectonic.
So ziran and reva ar good decks in this case.
Against lilithe Variax you must kill It before or Just right After Variaxs summoning. So fast deck is the best, reva , aggro lyonar, magmar itself.

[nicon]

Is it just me who thinks Scintilla being common is problem in Gauntlet? +3 health every turn in the late game is a lot.

[raviel1234]

Some more starhorn tips:

1. Often he will play flameblood warlock early. A good idea would be to have a few bloodtear alchemists to gain a good tempo swing early.
2. magmar burn cards can only damage your general so if you gain a tempo advantage as long as you play around makantor/plasma storm he will not be able to do much about it.

[anti]

Thinking about the general state of the meta here. When looking to tech I think about what will increase my decks win rate. If that tech card boost a weak matchup while not lowering my lists ability to beat the decks it should then I think it’s time to experiment. I’ve tried many, but not all, of the cards listed. As tech cards few, if none, of these cards are three-ofs.

Neutral:
Alcuin Loremaster - This simple card can blowout a game. Holy Immolation, Plasma Storm, Punish, Cromatic Cold, etc. Use in decks with small spell count to further boost consistency and steal opposing spells as a bonus.

Syvrel the Exile - This meta seems all about putting annoying minions in a corner. Vet is notorious for not having ranged removal. WIth Vet buff options Syvrel could find a place.

Repulsor Beast - This is a great card. Still not sure why I don’t see this more often. We all know what this does and why he should be picked.

Venom Toth - Punishes swarm but innocuous enough to make an opponent question using removal. Getting 3+ damage on the enemy general and trading with a minion is a good deal.

Night Watcher - Aggro lyon, Abys, and Magmar normally cant close games when this card is in play. The statline isn’t too bad and forcefield is incredibly problamatic. Give this one a go.

Silhouette Tracer - Good offensive and defensive tool. Getting close enough to place that Ephemeral Shroud or run away from lethal for one turn is often game deciding.

Sunset Paragon - Excellent comeback mechanism. The statline if offputting but if the text read “kill two enemy minions” (which often happens) Paragon would be an auto-include.

Bonereaper - By turn six mana it’s quite possible that the enemy simply can’t remove this card if your curve saw strong removal worthy minions being played. The two damage is nothing to sneeze at. Bonereaper can go 3 for 1 and pull a game back.

Lyonar
Draining Wave - Strong early game card. As player two, hitting a 3 drop onto the mana tile into Draining wave feels very good.

Magnetize - Nothing on the map is safe. Soft removal is not enough to stop Divine Bond combos.

Sunstone Templar - The dispel is applied before the counterattack.

Vetruvian
Psychic Conduit - This spell does not have a proximity requirement

Incinera - Either I don’t see enough Vet or people haven’t tried this card. Tired of not being able to reach those far off threats? Double your movement.

Magmar
Iridium Scale - Frenzy is an excellent keyword and Vaath can boost his attack. This artifact is often a clear.

Vanar
Hailstone Prism - Strong tempo card for aggro Vanar builds. Returning minions heavily disrupts Lyonar and Songhai.

[nantas]

Reva: The spell Reva is good against both burn magmar and Variax (probably why it climbs up to top tier again). Against magmar, it deals damage early and hard, can deplete hands even quicker than magmar. Variax is too slow for opponent to threat your general and there’s usually enough time for Reva to rush the opponent down.

Argeon: I guess divine bound is still a valid win condition against Variax, to ramp up to variax they usually run early swarms and not enough hard removal. But I don’t have enough practice to prove it.

Faie: Concealing shroud is great against burn magmar, even godlike drogon Vaath (I got face punched by a 14 attack Vaath in a game, but still won the game with 2 concealing shroud). Frigid corona is in general a great tempo catch up against all aggro decks. Against variax just grab a lot of out of hand damage (flameblood for example), stay close to Abyssian general and rush her down as much as you can from early to mid game, then run away and chip her out when variax is coming out.

Vaath: mentioned by anti, the artifact that gives Vaath frenzy and other ways to buff your Makantor warbeast is viable options to clear furious wraithlings and damage Lilithe at the same time. Mogwai actually proves that with his most epic battle recently: https://youtu.be/cVDkEjhHGbk You should definitely check it out. (Iridium Scale, Drogon, Silhouette Tracer, Admantie Claw, Makantor Warbeast)