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what is a good defense against banding?

Herods and Philistines.  Both are beasts against banding.

Philistines are amazing with Twelve-Fingered Giant negating banding and being CBN, meaning it works even against FBTN banding.  Plus he has 12 defense, so he can beat single heroes easily.  Of course, they also have Goliath, who kicks everyone out and negates nearly everything while also being CBN and working against FBTN.  This is incredibly useful when you consider that characters kicked out cannot reenter battle on the same turn.  Add to these guys large characters, great enhancements for Philistines and in Black in general, Outpost to recur them or get precisely who you need, and it is a great defense against banding.

Herods are also beastly against banding.  Best guy for the job is Herod Agrippa II, who (importantly) is CBN, negates protect abilities on fortresses, and then causes any withdraw ability to become a capture (note that this is CBN).  Add to that Herod's Treachery and other gold cards, and you have a nasty combo that can capture an entire band (which may be all of their heroes).  Herod the Great is almost as good.  He is Cannot be Prevented (again, works on FBTN), prevents all good banding, and returns all but one hero to territory.  Finally, all Herods are fairly large, there are some bands, they can work well with Sadducees (HAII bands to them), Herod's Dungeon can capture the worst of your opponent's heroes without much repercussion, and they have great enhancement support in general, especially against FBTN.

Hope that helps!

Quote from: Fireman789 on September 10, 2012, 06:04:09 PM

what is a good defense against banding?

Herods and Philistines.  Both are beasts against banding.

Philistines are amazing with Twelve-Fingered Giant negating banding and being CBN, meaning it works even against FBTN banding.  Plus he has 12 defense, so he can beat single heroes easily.  Of course, they also have Goliath, who kicks everyone out and negates nearly everything while also being CBN and working against FBTN.  This is incredibly useful when you consider that characters kicked out cannot reenter battle on the same turn.  Add to these guys large characters, great enhancements for Philistines and in Black in general, Outpost to recur them or get precisely who you need, and it is a great defense against banding.

Herods are also beastly against banding.  Best guy for the job is Herod Agrippa II, who (importantly) is CBN, negates protect abilities on fortresses, and then causes any withdraw ability to become a capture (note that this is CBN).  Add to that Herod's Treachery and other gold cards, and you have a nasty combo that can capture an entire band (which may be all of their heroes).  Herod the Great is almost as good.  He is Cannot be Prevented (again, works on FBTN), prevents all good banding, and returns all but one hero to territory.  Finally, all Herods are fairly large, there are some bands, they can work well with Sadducees (HAII bands to them), Herod's Dungeon can capture the worst of your opponent's heroes without much repercussion, and they have great enhancement support in general, especially against FBTN.

Hope that helps!

Actually, in my experience, Philistines don't really do that well against FBTNB. I beat two Philistine defenses at Nats with a Sam/FBTNB deck. Asahel really hurts them with both his abilities. Then Bravery of David/David's Triumph for the win. Herods are definitely good though.

Also, Grapes of Wrath can be a great card against banding.

If you're using Crimson or Pale Green, consider adding these old forgotten gems:

Surprised no one has mentioned Household Idols yet. /thread

Quote from: Master KChief on September 12, 2012, 02:10:08 AM

Surprised no one has mentioned Household Idols yet. /thread

I was going to, but it's pretty easy to kill artifacts now.

Well, this, and the original post was asking specifically about defense, hence the discussion on entire defenses as opposed to artifact hard-counters.

Household Idols + Nazareth is incredibly hard to stop. Throwing in a temple and Lampstand is probably overkill, but those 4 cards will shut down most decks.