Hi, I'm new. Technically, I've had an account for years, but I haven't posted much, nor have I gotten that much into building decks before.

So, I wanted to try focusing on the command struggle. Eldar and Tau seem to be best for this. Eldar have the best warlord, but the Tau have better loyal cards (recon drone, deception). I went with Tau/Eldar for now, but this might work better with the Eldar warlord. Really, this deck concept is waiting for a different Tau warlord that isn't out yet. The one previewed for the Warlord cycle does seem a slightly better fit for this, but oh well. I should also come up with an Eldar version of this as well, but then the Tau lose some of their luster, and I might choose Dark Eldar as allies instead. Not sure about that.

I'm less interested in micromanaging this specific deck than I am about how well the concept of building for resource denial works.

[cut and paste from cardgamedb]

Hmn. I missed Nullify and Superiority. I can add in 2 Nullify and 3 Superiority and take out... 1 Carnivore Pack, 1 Ion Rifle, 1 Repulsor Impact Field, and 2 Void Pirates (because I've convinced myself that Earth Caste Technicians are much better than Void Pirates).

Never take out ION RIFLE or Repulsor Impact Field. This cards are mandatory 3 ofs. Earth Caste Tech. is not better than Void Pirates! I played Tau/Eldar alot these days and ECT are 50% a pain. ECT and cutting Rifle and Field is counterproductive !

Ok. What should I cut?

Also, Earth Caste Tech is only worse than Void Pirate if you don't draw an attachment or drone within 6 cards. If your deck is ~1/3 attachments or drones, then you should expect to draw 2 of them. The odds of drawing none is there, but small (~ 8 %). Now, that changes entirely if you play an Eldar Warlord with a Tau ally. Then Earth Caste Tech is not as valuable, as your attachments and drones would likely go down as well.

I'm more concerned about not including orbital platform, but I'm not sure what to cut.

It looks to me that this deck is overly focused on command struggle and lacks a bit in the combat department.I understand that it was your goal to focus on it, but it lacks some punch.

I don't think you need Promotion, you already got a bunch of inexpensive units with hammers to win command struggles. You can add Nullify, I wouldn't worry too much about Superiority here.

I would definitely take out all the Carnivore Pack and put in Stingwing Swarm. They are slightly more expensive, but they are the strongest ranged unit(Shadowsun's Steal Cadre makes them a 5/5 with range), are nasty in fights, and still have a hammer. Another issue is that you have too many weak units to put your attachments on. You really don't want to be playing them on Technicians, Survivalists, Trailblazers, Recon Drones, Pirates. They won't last long, and you will be constantly losing attachments. I would suggest including either Fire Warrior Strike Team(works well with attachments) or Fire Warrior Elite(soaks damage away, great with the Repulsor Impact Field) instead of Void Pirate and one Crisis Battle Guard(very good unit, but expensive, you probably don't need three).

I'm a little ambivalent on Deception. I find better work for it as a shield than an event. At the very least, I would not carry three of them. Take one out and add Ambush Platform, and perhaps cut the Nullify down to two and add another Platform.

Ambivalent on Deception? That's an interesting one...

Maybe it's just me, but I find that I have better things to do with my resources during deployment than to play this. Most of the time, it just seems that most units can be handled in other ways. It has really made a difference for me as a shield, though.

It looks to me that this deck is overly focused on command struggle and lacks a bit in the combat department.I understand that it was your goal to focus on it, but it lacks some punch.

I don't think you need Promotion, you already got a bunch of inexpensive units with hammers to win command struggles. You can add Nullify, I wouldn't worry too much about Superiority here.

I would definitely take out all the Carnivore Pack and put in Stingwing Swarm. They are slightly more expensive, but they are the strongest ranged unit(Shadowsun's Steal Cadre makes them a 5/5 with range), are nasty in fights, and still have a hammer. Another issue is that you have too many weak units to put your attachments on. You really don't want to be playing them on Technicians, Survivalists, Trailblazers, Recon Drones, Pirates. They won't last long, and you will be constantly losing attachments. I would suggest including either Fire Warrior Strike Team(works well with attachments) or Fire Warrior Elite(soaks damage away, great with the Repulsor Impact Field) instead of Void Pirate and one Crisis Battle Guard(very good unit, but expensive, you probably don't need three).

I'm a little ambivalent on Deception. I find better work for it as a shield than an event. At the very least, I would not carry three of them. Take one out and add Ambush Platform, and perhaps cut the Nullify down to two and add another Platform.

I temporarily forgot that you cannot legally play Nullify out of faction, as the only two unique Eldar units are the warlord and the loyal lieutenant (the unofficial term I used to call the one unique loyal unit for each faction). In the future, that might change, but for now, Nullify should effectively be considered a loyal card. (So, take out Nullify and put back the two attachments.)

In practice, I've never gotten much out of ranged. It's easy for Eldar and Dark Eldar to cancel it, and it's useless on a unit in HQ. However, I may be overgeneralizing from a few bad experiences.

Honestly, you don't need much combat with this approach. A swarm of 1/1 units are good enough for anything but AoE. The point is that your opponent isn't going to have any more than 4 resources unless they remembered to include economy cards (promethium mine or the 1 discount supports), at which point they will have the critical 5, which means 1 big unit per turn. (This is why the Eldar are effective at this -- the warlord goes to the planet with your 1 unit, exhaust it, and ping it to death.)

As for attachments, I feel that stacking up a huge unit just makes it a target, so spreading it around is more useful, as long as you can counter AoEs, but that's what Deception is for.

Ultimately, you're asking me to make a completely different deck with a different approach and strategy. I think that can be effective, but I want to experiment with this approach to see if I can make it work. (My biggest defeat was an Eldar deck with emphasis on capping units.)

I temporarily forgot that you cannot legally play Nullify out of faction, as the only two unique Eldar units are the warlord and the loyal lieutenant (the unofficial term I used to call the one unique loyal unit for each faction). In the future, that might change, but for now, Nullify should effectively be considered a loyal card. (So, take out Nullify and put back the two attachments.)

For some reason, I always forget about Nullify needing an eldar unit.

In practice, I've never gotten much out of ranged. It's easy for Eldar and Dark Eldar to cancel it, and it's useless on a unit in HQ. However, I may be overgeneralizing from a few bad experiences.

If they want to spend resources and effects canceling it, let them. That's resources and abilities they are not spending elsewhere. It's a threat and they are either forced to deal with it or suffer it's effects.

Honestly, you don't need much combat with this approach. A swarm of 1/1 units are good enough for anything but AoE. The point is that your opponent isn't going to have any more than 4 resources unless they remembered to include economy cards (promethium mine or the 1 discount supports), at which point they will have the critical 5, which means 1 big unit per turn. (This is why the Eldar are effective at this -- the warlord goes to the planet with your 1 unit, exhaust it, and ping it to death.)

I'll just say that I have my doubts about how much combat can be avoided. Trailblazer can do it, but what about the rest? An eldar deck would certainly be better at it, sure, but this isn't one. And Eldorath is not here to exhaust.

As for attachments, I feel that stacking up a huge unit just makes it a target, so spreading it around is more useful, as long as you can counter AoEs, but that's what Deception is for.

I don't know why so many people seem to think that Tau are about having a super unit that an opponent can key on. That's not the case at all. It's about having three or four very strong ones spread out that cannot all be easily dealt with. That's the reason I mentioned some of the stronger units as alternatives. I see your point with Deception, though.

Ultimately, you're asking me to make a completely different deck with a different approach and strategy. I think that can be effective, but I want to experiment with this approach to see if I can make it work. (My biggest defeat was an Eldar deck with emphasis on capping units.)

Not at all. The only capping stuff that was taken out was two Void Pirates and Promotion. You still have a large command struggle engine. I don't really think this changes the emphasis of the deck, and that was not my intention, it just balances it out a bit. However, I do agree that it is a good thing to experiment with it, and see what results you get. I do think this strategy may be more workable with an eldar deck and their ability with misdirection and exhaustion.

I've already taken out the Void Pirates, but I put in Superiority instead -- the goal is to starve the opponent, so you don't want them winning, even if you don't gain resources.

I'll consider the two Fire Teams, Stingwing Swarms, and Orbital Platform.

Also, I admit that the Eldar warlord is much better for this than the Tau one. However, there's a lot of good Tau stuff I wanted to experiment with, especially Recon Drone. I also didn't want to just replicate their deck, but try it with the Tau and take Eldar as an ally.

Really, I need more chances to play and see how it goes.