Cactus Game Design Message Boards

So I think this set was amazing. A lot of Babylonians running amok as well as demons/magicians. Here are two of my favorite defensive builds that do not include Babs.

Damsel
The False Prophet (crimson/orange UR)
Babylon The Harlot
Frog Demons
Kings of the Earth (reserve)
KoT (PoC)
Abaddon
Messenger of Satan
The Fallen Star
Red Dragon

Wages of Sin
Did God Really Say
Blasphemies
Scattered
Fire From Heaven
War in Heaven
Deafening Spirit

Sheol
Gates of Hell

Unholy Writ
Magic Charms

This deck has some amazing bands, a lot of extend the battles, obviously negate heavy due to the bands/characters, and can block with Writ and Magic Charms as well. Getting past a KoT can be tough, getting past The Fallen Star can be tough, getting past Red Dragon can be tough, getting past a big demon band can be tough, now get through all that with negates, adding a magician to battle, having Writ and Magic Charms, and none of this includes dominants. Pretty solid defense if I do say so myself. If you play Job and angels, or just angels, Dragon's Wrath in reserve, Dragon's Minions main deck, additional curses in reserve, Worshipping Demons, all sorts of good stuff, but I left out the reserve, just included the main portion.


My favorite defense in type 1 this year so far.

Outsiders
Priest of Zeus
Demetrius
The Chief Priests
High Priest Ananias
Goliath
KoT
Gib Delegates
Lot's Wife

Wages of Sin
Seized by Rioters
Plot to Kill
Abandonment
Mourn and Weep
Scattered Sheep
Stricked

Sheol

Caanan

Reserve has Wages of Sin stuff
Doomed Conspirators
Fortify Site


This defense focuses on territory destruction. Priest of Zeus and Doomed Conspirators is brutal. Doomed takes out their territory and when they draw I choose another hero. Caanan is used to snipe another pesky hero, I use Remnant lost soul in the deck as well. This is the defense I was talking about in my cheese chump post. I love using this defense instead of my stop rescue defense because this hurts the meta, hurts heroes, hurts drawing, and has some decent star/reserve access. High Priest Ananias absolutely wrecks the new Prophets and The Chief Priests can snag him and draw and HPA also hurts CoW Moses decks which also saw a resurgence in this set, thanks Daniel heroes and Brian Jones. Fortify Site can be snagged with Wages and I can capture two heroes, Sheol can underdeck Remnant and I can snipe a different hero if I am having issues there. Dominants, Caanan x2, Remnant, Doomed Conspirators and Priest of Zeus really limits their options. Just using what was listed I can temporarily or remove (counting Doomed Conspirators for one and PoZ for one) I can take 7 heroes (CM, FA, Caanan x2 due to Fortify Site, Remnant, PoZ and Doomed). I also like the lost soul that snags a site from discard so i can do Caanan x3 with more Caananites in the reserve. Doomed Consiprators and KoT should be in just about every deck. KoT is a beast by himself, but giving the opponent Doomed Conspirators also stops Babs and a lot of unity defenses (Sheol aka everyone). DC in their territory, PoZ out, and High Priest Ananias really helps me without me having to do anything. Hope you enjoy this defense, I expect it to be popular this season once people realize the tricks black has.

Unity is "own and control" so giving someone a Doomed Conspirators would not disrupt their Sheol (or other Unity).

I've got a deck with that first defense (actually a bit larger version), and it's crazy tough to break through. Adding Coliseum to ensure no CBN battle winners is also an option.

Thanks for the Unity ruling, I would rather know now than later! But yeah, that orange is strong and Coliseum can go in easily. Justin, my version is also bigger for the deck I am running, this is my slimfast version, I think a slightly larger build with a few more demons and Coliseum is extremely tough to get through. I might mean Doomed Canaanites, whoever discards one in their territory.

Thanks Elders for ruining my hopes and dreams one comment at a time. lol. It does not give me the result I was fully going for, but Canaan does still capture a hero, so that works.

I love that Orange defense that uses both Gates of Hell and Sheol.  I've theorized, but not built, a similar one. 

Mine would definitely play Foreign Wives.  Plays all your EEs, usually 1 autoblock per game, gives you another human for Sheol?  Yes please.

And as for your second defense, I'm going to be unoriginal and suggest you add Foreign Wives.  And then since you have 2 female Canaanites, Stone of Thebez 

Thanks for posting these, will definitely make it easier to build these defenses.

Both are great comments and I considered them but wasn’t sure about adding that many brigades but you guys brought up great points so I will add both. That’s why I posted these! I like the foreign Wives as an auto block plus Stone but depends if Coliseum makes the cut too, I usually don’t use it in my black defense though. Pagan plus fW is nice and adds versatility plus more Sheol options. I do see that Sheol doesn’t make it too long but having two more flexible ECs plus potential blocks is good. Thanks everyone.

All of these are assuming KoT works without Judean Mediums, which is just not true 85% of the time (in my experience). But that black defense does look tough on paper. You can go big or small and stop bands forever as long as they don't have Coliseum. This is of course assuming your hand isn't too clogged that you won't be able to rescue when you need to, but I'd probably run FW and Mayhem in something like that to reset the hand if you have too much evil.

Somewhat unrelated, but I really despise Mourn & Weep and how you're basically forced to run it. Yeah, a non-responsive card that's basically FA, can discard a good card with its * ability, and playable in 100% of defenses. Thanks, I hate it.

I’m not gonna disagree with your statistic but I do think 85% not working is extremely high. The only card that’s reliant on him is Doomed Conspirators, everything else works as advertised. I agree with you on Mourn and Weep but there are so many TC negates now it’s not unstoppable.

75%, but I won't go lower until I actually see it work.

Saying M&W has counters does not justify its existence. It's not something like HSR in that, despite its unhealthy power level, has a plethora of counters available to all decks.

KoT without Judean Mediums is very similar to Babylonian Siege Army, or Nebby+Betrayal. Far, Far better with CM, FA, Writ, or Charms as backup.

Do you think Writ could see a comeback as a staple?

A staple? No. But it could certainly see more play than it has in recent years. Cards like Pagan Sailors (or others that can activate it from Reserve/Art Pile) and Valley of Dry Bones give it more value.

Quote from: Master Q on June 08, 2019, 05:46:05 PM

75%, but I won't go lower until I actually see it work.

Saying M&W has counters does not justify its existence. It's not something like HSR in that, despite its unhealthy power level, has a plethora of counters available to all decks.

KoT without Judean Mediums is very similar to Babylonian Siege Army, or Nebby+Betrayal. Far, Far better with CM, FA, Writ, or Charms as backup.

When running a Deceiver, Judean Mediums, KoT package I find myself torn between slotting a PoC KoT vs. a Pr KoT... grabbing a Doomed Canaanites and stuffing it into opponents territory is fun, but also a surprise 14/16 CbN FbtN can be.... well surprising.... am I the only one who waffles back an forth on this one?

Godspeed,
Mike

I have found if it isn't pulled from hand, reserve or a combo of both, the success rate goes down as it tends to be a big target if a piece is in territory.


Godspeed,
Mike

I've been playing the PoC KoT pretty much since it came out and I think 85% is about right. That being said, it might just seem like that because I only block with him sans Judean Mediums when I have no other options or I know what my opponent has.