So I've been reading that players from either here or across the pond have mad success with their aggro decks. With all of the major tournaments I have attended plus all of the experience and knowledge I have gained from the high-ranked players, I honestly do not see how control is not the dominate archtype, but with the understanding that metas vary, I put forth a request.

I wish to obtain the top aggro decklists (current block, no legacy) from different metas to experiement with my own meta that is filled with control and mill. I understand that Zi Mei is the queen of aggro, and yes she works in our meta sometimes, but it's not consistent against the control, which wins imma say 80% of the time against her. I also understand that Donovan and Ibuki are top aggro choices as well, yet no consistent success in my meta.

In other words, I am stuck in the mentality that mill is the best kill condition in the game right now and aggro doesn't stand a chance, and I want you to convince me otherwise.

This is not a selfish request for aggro decks, but an experiment because I really want to play against them but cannot because our aggro decks never seem to consistently stand a chance against control decks. It's not because we're bad deckbuilders, because aggro is all in our hearts and we know how to construct and play it well. We just play control because that's what seems to dominate the format right now.

If you post it here that would be great. If you don't want to reveal your decklist then you can AIM myself at Shaneth21 or hit me up on email:
[email protected]
Just make sure the topic has something along the lines of UFS aggro deck.
If you don't want to reveal it at all then I understand, it's no problem.

Thank you all who participate.

well i have guy deck that can general kick of turn 2 using execution rites and he oviously makes sure they hit. i just cantbe bothered to right up a deck list for him lol.

I'm curious about the build of your Donovan deck that was unsuccessful... I've got a pet Death Donovan as well, and for the most part it feels like it has a fairly good matchup with the control decks I've faced. Mine basically tries to spam as many control pieces (Manifest Destiny, Alluring Beauty, Ka Technique, Charismatic, Inhuman Perception, Shadow Blade, Ichi no Tachi) as possible to set up Shredding Vibrato + damage pumps [unstoppable Warrior, All Life is Prey] kills. The specific decklist has been fluctuating around, but I think I named most of the important cards -- add Dhalsim's Crouching Roundhouse and Unorthodox Training to help pass through blocks.

Felicia is probably the most consistent agro in our meta, one of my deckbuilds always run by another (our resident agro) player.

I'm working on the final build for our Calgary regionals over the next few days and will send it to you right after (i.e. next Monday).

Said player will probably run an updated version at Worlds too (he loves Felicia and always has - let's just say now that she is the only Spike touter that he is even more happy).

The key here though is that the Felicia runs a lot of counter-control elements which is vital to her dealing the damage she needs to when she needs to.

i.e. a 'pure' agro deck doesn't exist, rather a counter control one does. Still can kill T2/3 consistently, but can also kill T5/6 once an opponents deck is setup...

- dut

Waffle)) If you could hook me up with the decklist then that'd be great.

My Donovan was mainly leading to Shredding Vibrato on early turns. I played block baiters like Monster Lariat and cards like Ichi No Tutchi to lock down certain foundations. Clear my pool, play an attack or two, then Shredding Vibrato and enhance with cards like Saikyo-Ryu to pick off the rest of their blocks, pushing through Shredding Vibrato.

In play, it just seemed like it never drew the attacks when it needed to, especially the Shreddings. I ran 16 attacks. When I upped it to 20 attacks, I had no problems drawing them, but I would always check them and have to commit myself out before my Shreddings would ever hit the table. That's what was most frustrating.

dutpotd said:

Chubbs built Felicia after the errata of Feline Spike and none of us liked it. The loss of Chester's was very crucial to Air as they can't keep up with mad control wars anymore. They have cards like Inhuman Perception and End it All, and they do stop Holding Ground for the multiples, but they do not stop Healer. Plus you can always block like we have always done against Spike. Perfect Sense of Balance helps tho.

Air is still a very good aggro symbol. Just with the bans and all that it obviously got weaker, and from all of my experiences, can no longer compete with control on high levels.

Shaneth said:

It's not mono-air... That is where the counter control comes in... There are a few strong good solo and water solo action cards that can be played and then cleared by Felicia's form.

I'll show it to you on Monday.

- dut

I hear Water Felicia is pretty good >.> Stall till you can kill with Spike.

B-Rad said:

Shaneth said:

An agro deck is not a stall deck. An agro deck is one that sacrifices everything in order to bust the defenses of the opponent. Felicia is especially good at this considering her vitality count (for the character ability).

I can assure you that a stall deck would require even more counter-control to kill with spike. i.e. it would beat other stall decks or decks that have to attack to win, but it would not survive a mill or complete lockdown deck that doesn't get itself out of position by needing to throw attacks.

- dut

Death Donovan just never worked that well for me, and I was using the tried and true Ichi -> Launcher -> Breaker cheese into my Vibrato =/

I think that a Water-based Felicia, running a pair of Spikes and a slew of the Yi-Shan face-up momentum attacks, could be pretty beastly...or an Air version running Power of the Light to power through the deck and set up quickly.

MegaGeese said:

shhhh.

Heres a little agrro deck i made up a while back!

:Yang: [Death] [Fire] [Life] 7/19

Actions

4x Bringing The Master To His Knees

Assests

3x Lynette's Shop

Attacks

4x Toro Zan

4x Leg Slash

4x Midnight Launcher

3x Chaos Flare

Foundations

4x Destiny

4x Adoration

4x Inhuman Perception

4x Buddhist Devotion

4x No Memories

4x Demuths Sponsorship

4x Free Will

3x Oral Dead

3x Revenant's Calling

3x Spiritual Center

3x Trapped In A Nightmare

2x Superiority

1x Charismatic

dutpotd said:

Then our definitions of aggro differ.

Ever since the inception of the game, aggro has been stuff like 8HS Hanzo Air To The Bone w/ throws, Water Ukyo w/ Postage Stamp, and other stuff that plays multiple attacks a turn.

A deck that stalls till it gets it's one-shot kill condition is not aggro.

Wurm-Z)) How much success with that deck have you had?

I know Yang is one of the best aggro characters because he can negate the damage redux, plus pump speed on his attax.

My personal opinion is that "aggro" still isn't in the game honestly. There is way too much defense out there and so few enablers it is depressing. Yang honestly has the best chance...with the built in negation to damage redux it helps ALOT, but it is still not enough. You still give up a foundation for every ability they play...lets face it that hurts you just as much as it helps. Ok so this attack will be at full damage, but can I actually pass the next one with what little I have left? Much less watch out for that Tag Along coming your way...

No enablers is a HUGE problem. All be it I am not clamering for Absurd Strength back, but where are the great damage boosts anymore? Where can you take an attack and make it dangerous and force our opponents hand? Unstopable Warrior helps...kinda. It however is very restrictive requiring a printed 5 damage attack and nukes your staging area at the same time. On top of that say you check bad on the second attack and need to abort your run sorry you are stuck...can't play anything else. Meanwhile your opponent just builds up more, and the great wall grows and grows and slowly you lose the ability to even scratch them. Let's face it, we need something of absurd's strength back. Maybe with just a static 5 damage bonus and same stats. You can bring up Pillage but honestly it is a joke...again way too restrictive and too high a cost for its ability.

well its been pretty succesful so far...but i havent really been able to play anyone with a top tier deck so i cant really say its really good....Yang is def. a really good aggro char...they deck would probably much better with Knight Breaker but i only have 1

Wurm-Z said:

if you would come over to blacksburg sometime you could play some competitive decks : )

but our playerbase is mostly out of town right now because of school and it being summer

Bob: Enraged Golem is Hammer/Way of Hammer on a foundation.

Run Felicia off of Good, with Spinning Beats, Feline Spikes, Charlies Fierce Punch, Swooper Kicks, Leaping Snap Kicks, and Hilt Impacts. It drills one zone, high in this case, so you'll exhaust your opponent, Supposing you draw a Spike or a Beat, you can decimate someone T2 or T3, and with the defensive capabilites of Good, you can pick away at your opponent, a few attacks every turn, until you do.

have you looked at Hilde?. that deck is a beast that can kill T2/3 no problem. ive seen it done, and had it done to me

spyke132 said:

But are they doing it with just one or two attacks that are nowhere near blockable, or is it a string of 3-6 attacks that are killing you? I've not seen this Hilde build where one attack is just ridiculous, but from what I understand, one attack kills you, the rest don't even matter.

I'm just curious, because, like I said, I've not seen this Hilde build everyone is all up in arms about. No one at our shop has built one so I have no clue what her capabilites are.

Shaneth said:

Hey Shaneth,

Here's a deck i threw together and have had a blast playing. Managed T2 kills vs a Life-Gain Juni deck and a Reanimated Death Victor deck.

Check it out... http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=27&efcid=5&efidt=155782&efpag=0#156092

spyke132 said:

I drop a Spiritual Centre. Hilde loses. I drop anything that negates an enhance... Hilde can't kill me. I drop a fricken Holding Ground and Hilde isn't killing me. Yes Hilde's fast, and BM's is HELLA good, but relying on one enhance to kill someone, especially when it's usually a one shot a turn enhance, isn't very reliable.

Well B-Rad, you've probably never played against a Hilde that killed with Heel Snipe, which in this metagame is a better choice than Lynx Tail.