Hi

First post here, folks, so first things first - hello!

Just wondering if anyone out there might be able to give some advice. My partner and I have been playing CoC LCG for a while now - long enough to have collected all the deluxe expansions, various asylum packs and have created some interesting decks with the various factions. Given that Yog-Sothoth is my faction of choice, I was really excited about the prospect of getting my hands on a copy of The Key and the Gate. So I put together a tasty deck comprising about a third Yithian, third new occult stuff, and a third old favourites (Faceless Abductor, Blood Magician, a few from the core set, amongst others) and sent it off to war - expecting it to suffer from a clash of identity, run out of steam and get flattened.

Imagine my dismay when my partner (one of those nefarious Order of the Silver Twilight or Shub types by preference) declared the new and improved Yog-Sothoth deck to be so overpowered that she's no longer willing to play against it and now has a bit of a downer on the game. Her main gripes are the abilities that trigger from the discard pile (awesome!!!) and that there seems to be very little she can do with any of the factions to combat that - we've cycled through the various factions and different permutations thereof and I keep beating her quite resoundly. Now I'm by no means a pro at this game, and the deck I'm using is a work in progress, so I'd like to know what solutions you guys have to combat the new content from the expansion. I've suggested that a rush deck could work well (Cthulhu) but we're mindful that the YS deck does a pretty good job of denying threatening cards and manipulating her deck.

In the meantime, I've offered to not play that particular deck or to de-fang it a little, but that's a shame because I'd rather not have to deliberately water down the deck if I want to play a game with my favourite faction. I remember when she first started playing with the Lodge and how crushed I felt once she started to got a strong deck together and got the ball rolling with them, so I totally empathise with her. On the other hand, I came up with some strategies for dealing with the Lodge - but the new expansion seems to be pretty atomic.

What do you guys think?

How do we restore balance to what has been a wonderful pastime for so long?

Thanks your your help.

Pac_Man3D

Hi there.

She needs to search for solutions against cards in your discard pile. Some examples would be:

The Stone on the Peak (Shub location support, Dunwich Denizens)

Atlantis (MU civ support, Seekers of Knowledge)

Back from the Dead (Shub event, In Memory of Day)

Gregory Gry, Shadow of his former self (Criminal char, Journey to unknown Kadath)

Specimen Room (Shub Location support, Murmurs of Evil)

Trophy Room (Criminal location support, Murmurs of Evil)

Dr Baker, Chief of Medicine (Lodge char, Twilight Beckons)

Feasting Ghouls (Shub char, The Wailer Below)

Hope that helps, if you need anything more just ask in this thread.

Hi Pac_Man3D,

I am agree with you, The Key and the Gate is a overpower expansión. I am worry about this. You can wound, steal control, bound to hand's owner, go to madness, blank text a character in play. With Snow Graves can prevent play with her discard pile

But… you do not have tools to play again abilities can be trigger from discard pile.

We had a Regional Championship locally yesterday and The Key and the Gate was legal. There were no abusive combos displayed using the new cards and in fact very few of the top decks used any. I recorded a loss in a match where my Flux Stabilizer got me decked due to 3 Yithian Scouts in my opponent's discard but that's kinda a freak situation and I can only blame myself for having no Support hate in my build. I was playing rush but the game bogged down on me so it was quite late in the game when my deck got depleted. IMHO The Key and the Gate is no more over-powered than Seekers of Knowledge and is likely less so. This doesn't mean that over time someone won't break a card from the set but I am not worried that the set as a whole will be a detriment to the game.

The Yithian cards largely require triggers for their effects. Focus on denying them A struggles or whatever trigger they need, make the opposing deck faster. Typically this type of deck will dump a lot of cards into their discard from their deck so help them out by discarding all of their deck via Blackmore Estate or Curse of the Stone.

Hi folks

Thanks for getting back to me.

@ValeS; thanks for the specific recommendations for cards we can check out. We'll have another rummage through the slush pile and see what we can dig out.

@Shub-Gyrl; thanks a lot for the tips - it's good to hear your overview of the regionals too.

I'm sure that when my partner thrashes me again, she'll feel a whole lot better about playing the game. And I'll have you guys to thank

Best wishes

Pac_Man3D

Just to add the already great advice given…

Simply being aggressive can often thwart the majority of the tricky strategies offerred by the latest expansion. Easier said than done of course as Yog is not without its' defenses, but many of the tricks offered take time to set up in order to really get going and by putting the pressure on early could disrupt some better laid plans.

It's funny that you mention it, but Silver Twilight + Shub deck should be an excellent combination against Yog with the right cards applied. Shub characters are naturally beefier and bring the best support destruction in the game which I assume would be useful. ST's bounce (aka, return to hand) effects combied with a little of investigation not only create openings for easy success tokens, but naturally disrupts Yog's intentions by not putting cards into the Yog player's discard pile.

Pay attention to Shub's acceleration (Festival, Feed Her Young, and other cost reducers) and choose your restricted card wisely. Intiate of Huan Hun is an excellent control card, but might not be the best choice depending on the strategy your deck wishes to deploy.

Hi folks

It's been a while since I checked the message boards - just got back into the swing of things yesterday - and I appreciate advice coming from the Mage himself thank you very much. Since my partner got over her anti-Yog issues, we've been enjoying the game again.

I've been having a lot of fun with my mono-Yog deck lately, particularly with Mists of Lethe as a way of ensnaring aggressive opponents by using it to commit them to a third story and then hitting them with Beneath the Mire. I also found Mists of Lethe works well with Fthaggua to stop my prized cadavers from ending up in the discard pile... in short, I think Mists is a wonderful card. I'd have nine of them if I could.

Once again, Magnus, thanks for the tips.

Best wishes

Pac_Man3D