Another Tournament...Results and Meta Analysis

By Guest, in Warhammer: Invasion The Card Game

Hi guys! :)

We have lots of recent topics where people looks for meta analysis and decks...

Ok, then...I did a report for our local previous tournament...I won't do a "detailed" report, but a detailed general analysis on what we've got, hopin' it could help us to understand what's going on...

And then they were...

10. We were 10 and someone was missing :)

Here are the decks:

- Pure Orc Blitz;

- Pure Orc Blitz;

- Orc/Skaven Blitz;

- Caos/Skaven Aggro-Control;

- Dark Elf Control;

- Caos/Orc Control;

- Empire/Dwarves Control deck (ME, no jov inside...YES, I'm crazy :));

- High Elf/Dwarves Bolt Thrower Deck (almost Unitless);

- Dwarves/High Elf/Empire Control/Combo deck;

- Empire/High Elf.

6 Destruction decks, 4 Order Decks...People in my area definitely prefer to be "aggro" in 'da zoul! .)

What Happened?

It's been a GREAT tournament...It was lot of fun, with lots of surprises...

Here are the Decks we liked the most...

Dwarf/High Elf/Empire Control Combo

Weird deck, based on Treasure Vaults, Buildings and Flames of The Phoenix...

Collect lots of stuff, a bunch of defense/Units and Flames to reset and restart...Never seen a deck able to collect something like 15 resources 4th turn that way....

Great dinamism...The biggest drawback is the fact that sometimes it's no cards in hands and 20 resources, that's completely useless...Untill you draw Flames of the Phoenix...

Everything goes back and comes down again for him... :)

I lost a game against it and it was funny until the flames hit the table...Then, everything ended up in a mess in a couple of turns. :)

Nice deck...I'll post the LIST later...

Caos/Skaven

A friend of mine (the Shop owner) created this deck...Caos/Skaven, definitely well-builded and fine-tuned, with ALL Skaven stuff and removals...Some Orc stuff to speed up the victory and LOTS of EVIL! :)

Fast, aggressive and, sometimes, even control-ish.

Good player...

The fact is that Skaven seem a bit overpowered at the moment...They work well in almost any destruction race and are TOO fast and solid to be hit by the "common" weapons... :)

I thinks something has to change before everyone starts playin' those dirty annoying rats :)

Dark Elf Control

Nice Deck, with an ORC Splash in it (Lobber Crew and Pillage).

It won and it did it well.

It depends A LOT on the starting hand, but the big amount of control (by attachments, events and strong chars) it can handle, makes it a great archetype and a good race.

I'll post it if the winner allows me to do so. :)

I'll post more comments and analysis later...Revealing you the TOP 4 and other details...

Be patient...Now I've to sleep...

Be happy to be my last thought before dreamin' :)

awesome stuff! thanks! did you take your un-judgement of verena deck posted here DB? how did you do overall?

Many thanks for this, it's very helpful.

Artemus Maximus said:

awesome stuff! thanks! did you take your un-judgement of verena deck posted here DB? how did you do overall?

Thanks guys...I'm happy to be helpful :)

So, about my deck...

I've to fine tune it (consider that for lots of reasons I did a lot of deckbuilding but small playin')...

I won the first game against ORCS (it was a difficult game, but I won 2-0).

Then I met a Caos/Skaven deck: it was a well-tested deck and destroyed me. I cannot do anything against heavy skaven right now, but I don't think is "just" my problem. :)

The first game I've lost for a little error (1-0)...The guy played the strong Dwarves/High Elf/Empire described above and it finished with the Flames of the Pheonix...I pushed him near the DECK-OUT...I ned a couple of turns more and a couples of mistakes less...

But the deck did pretty well.

The last game I got a draw: it was against High Elves/Bolt Thrower deck. It got lots of control (first game: 3x Shadow Warriors, 2x High Elf Disdain, Caradryen, Tyriel, 2x Demolition!, Master rune of Valaya...)...

BUT I've WON! :) I started to play "aggro", managed to draw 5 cards and put everything I draw in the battlefield...They poor units used to die each turn, but with a little effort I did it. :)

Second match against this player was similar to the first...At the SAME MOMENT the time ended (i was controlling EVERYTHING on the table :)) he drew the damned Flames of the "Bloody" Phoenix and the game ended.

1-1, but a "close call" for him. :)

In the end, the deck has to be fine tuned has I said and I need more testing...But CONSIDERING that I created this deck THE NIGHT BEFORE the Tournament, the base is good.

Here's the list:

UNITS

3x Flagellants

3x Pistoliers

3x Nuln Tinkerers

3x The Greatswords

3x Reiksguard Knights

2x Talabheim Detachment

3x Northern Halberdiers

3x Dwarf Miner

3x Mountain Brigade

3x Troll Slayers

SUPPORTS

3x Church of Sigmar

2x Temple of Shallya

2x Gate of Sigmar

3x Keystone Forge

2x Contested Village

3x Dwarf/Empire Alliance

TACTICS

3x Forced March

3x Demolition!

3x Master Rune of Valaya

#52

Sideboard:
2 Zealot Hunter
3 Rune of Fortitude
1 Temple of Shallya
3 Burn it Down
3 Demoralise

#12

ANALYSIS

I'm changin' something, cause it need changes :)

I REALLY WANT to make a NON-VERENA deck work well and ANY HELP would be appreciated.

That's what I'd change:

OUT:

2x Talabheim Detachment

3x Northern Halberdiers

1x Church of Sigmar (goes in the sideboard for Temple of Shallya)

IN:

3x Gold Wizard Accolyte

3x Slayers of Karak Kadrin

More consistancy, in my opinion and more controllish-options in this way....



I'll post the winner's deck later :)

Bye

Yours DB

Hi,

Great report ! :)

I really like that your deck is diffferent from the usual Empire builds.

A question : The 12 card sideboard is FFG official turnament rule, or it is just used locally ?

Cain

Cain_hu said:

Hi,

Great report ! :)

I really like that your deck is diffferent from the usual Empire builds.

A question : The 12 card sideboard is FFG official turnament rule, or it is just used locally ?

Cain

Thanks :) Any suggestions are welcome ;)

The 12 Cards sideboard is something we use in the Italian League (an actual "league" that starts in March and ends up in July). Not official for FFG, but official for us eheheh :)

So who were the top 4 finishers and in what order.

Could you better describe those top 4 decks and what they do rather than just using generic terms that don't necessarily mean a lot to me (yet - some I'm still learning in an effort to merge better with the M:TG crowd's terms)? Thank you.

I'm interested to see what the top 4 decks did. Also, what type of tournament was it? Swiss? Best of 3?

Did any of the matches between decks surprise you in how they turned out?

Sorry, but in the confusion of my "crazy" posting, I did a little mess...

Here are the 4 decks:

The tournament was led in the SWISS + TOP model, each game Best out of 3, 12 sideboard cards, as usual in our national league.

1- Dark Elf (with Orc Splash)

Basically a control deck with some Unit control (Mind Killer, Vile Sorceress, Har Ganeth) and a little splash for Orcs (Lobber Crew and Pillage).

Nothing strange...Not too fast...This deck relies more than others on the starting hand and often a mulligan may occur...

It plays Shades to get some cards advantage, but no other discard.

Uses Lokhir Fellheart as a finisher, coupled with the Cold One Riders.

Nice deck, pretty original. I guess it won most for the "unexpected" factor.

2- Straight Orc

Orcs as mother nature wants. :) Everybody knows this kind of list: Camp, Bigga!, Spider riders, Choppa!...Old stuff. ;)

It did pretty good, but can be better than this...Consider that it tied 2 or 3 times during the swiss rounds.

Anyway, it was pretty solid and won almost any game with Waaagh!

It didn't played any skaven...Just the 2/5 guy...

3- Caos/Skaven

Very hard to beat deck. All the skaven stuff (everything, from Thanquol to Clan Rats, to every other exsisting Skaven). It plays a splash for usual orcs stuff (Pillage, Lobber Crew).

The deck is incredibly capable of control-ish matches. Uses the Skaven Hero to destroy Units, other skaven to Boost-up the attacks and Caos stuff (Nurglings, Seduced) to gain turns.

A good refined deck.

4- Orc/Skaven

Nothing new. Orc Deck with the Skaven in it. Nothing particular.

There were 3 "unusual decks": mine (posted before, Empire + Dwarves with no Verena in it), High Elf with the "Thrower" and an ORDER deck with FLAMES of the PHOENIX and an incredible resources engine.

I described what mine did before...

HIGH ELF'S THROWER DECK played good games, but didn't reach good results. It's a "new" deck in the concept and will need some time to work...But it will do.

It was a project we created 2 days before the tournament, as a Joke and a guy tried and built it.

7 Units (Caradryen, Tyriel and 3x Shadow warriors).

Then, all Supports and Tactics, with the Treasure Vaults/Buildings Engine, Flames and Indirect damage.

ORDER CONTROL DECK

Similar to the other, but without the Thrower. Uses Treasure/Buildings Engine to boost up...Slows down the oppo with Master Rune of Dismay, Keystone Forge, some good guys in defense (Reiskguard Knights, Mountain Brigade) and waits for the FLAMES of the Phoenix to jump everything back in hands and suddenly PLAY everything in the battlefield to win in a 2 turn massacre.

Did pretty good, but it slows down the match in an incredible, frustrating way. If you let it go for 3 turns, it's very difficult to catch it...It collects like 12-13 resources turn 3-4 and starts drawing 3 per turn, ignoring the battlefield...The games used to end with a bunch of cards left in the deck and the Combo, for 1-0 wins after 30-35 minutes of "preparation".

Hope it helps. Let's wait a bit for the lists... :)

I'd love to see that HIGH ELF'S THROWER decklist!

Here's the Winner's Deck...

It's something like a basic control deck...It needs lot of patience and relies a LOT on the starting hand, for the cost curve.

Anyway, it's QZ heavy, has some discard, some removal and HP reduction, just to get some time.
Even if Lokhir is in it, we rarely met him and the deck still was hard to beat.

If it comes, btw, it's a bad time.....

UNITS

3x Lobber Crew

3x Shades

3x Cold One Rider

3x Cold One Knight

3x Vile Sorceress

3x Corsairs of Ghrond

2x Mortella

2x Lokhir Blackheart

SUPPORTS

3x Har Ganeth

3x Mind Killer

2x Cloud of Flies

3x Warpstone Excavation

2x Contested Village

QUESTS

3x Sack Tor Aendris

TACTICS

3x We Need Your Blood

3x Chillwind

3x Pillage

2x Dark Visions

3x Invoke Khaine's Wrath


SIDE:

3x Burn it down
3x Brutal Offering
3x Call The blood
3x Word of Pain

Tomorrow I'll get the HIGH ELF THROWER LIST and post it :)

Many thanks for that, and good to see a winning deck which uses quests too.

so it's 51 cards with 6 We Need Your Blood.?

The correct card is not We need your blood but Invoke Khaine's Wrath.

Edited!!! ;)

I re-post it to avoid confusion...

UNITS

3x Lobber Crew

3x Shades

3x Cold One Rider

3x Cold One Knight

3x Vile Sorceress

3x Corsairs of Ghrond

2x Mortella

2x Lokhir Blackheart

SUPPORTS

3x Har Ganeth

3x Mind Killer

2x Cloud of Flies

3x Warpstone Excavation

2x Contested Village

QUESTS

3x Sack Tor Aendris

TACTICS

3x We Need Your Blood

3x Chillwind

3x Pillage

2x Dark Visions

3x Invoke Khaine's Wrath

Can we see the Elf thrower list yet?

Please?

Here's the Thrower List...

NOTE: this was a prototype of an idea we had 2 days before the tournament...An "advanced" and more tested list is posted on the Deckbuilding Section (Control-Combo Thrower Deck).

Anyway, here's the tournament list:

UNITS 7

2x Caradryan

2x Slayers of Karak Kadrin

3x Shadow Warrior

SUPPORTS 18

3x Repeater Bolt Thrower

3x Dwarf/High Elf Alliance

3x Treasure Vaults

3x Keystone Forge

3x Warpstone Mine

3x Contested Village

TACTICS 26

3x Gifts of Aenarion

3x High Elf Disdain

3x Demolition!

3x Master Rune of Valaya

3x Asuryan's Cleansing

3x Flames of The Phoenix

3x Innovation

3x Wake the Mountain

2x Pilgrimage

:)

I always though about a Repeater bolt thrower deck, and always thinking of playing Surprise assault in it.

You actually pretty much never want to have both in the same deck. With the Bolt Thrower, you almost always only play one dev in the battlefield and then you use that "Repeater" part of the name. With Surprise Assault, you want more stuff like Wake the Mountain or City Gates in the battlefield.

Definitely agree with Clamatius...The prototype of the Thrower deck I've posted (I wasn't the player...My version is on the deckbuilding section)...

The Thrower needs just 1 developement to work...

The above list focuses on dev. production and maybe Surprise Assault can be another way to deal big amounts of damage...

In the other version, you rely A LOT on the flames...You jump back everything and, using the resources engine, put everything you can in the battlefield, for the final attack (if you wanna a combo-ish win condition) or, just, wait, slow down the oppo and once you have 10-11 resources, start dealin' ;)

Well, then any 1 thoughnes unit breaks the combo.

Sure, so either you play 2 devs (which halves your damage) or (more likely), you Gifts a large attack, then Flames at the beginning of your turn and fill them full of bolts once the problematic toughness guy is gone.

or banish him. or pilgrimage him. or have Illyriel out after he used resources to put him out or youve used Asuryan's Cleansing

Yes...At the point the Thrower starts dealin' damage, no toughness guy's around... :)