The Deck
Commons
Champions
Events
(by Profit)
The crazy world of Deckbuilding is intimidating to say the least. Finding the right combination of cards to create powerful synergies while remaining consistent is a tough formula to crack for even the most veteran of players. I figured I'd share the deck list for the most recent deckbuilding tournament that PHG hosted.
The deck performed much better than I expected in a competitive setting - with a final record of 16 wins and 1 loss. The main theme of this deck focuses on creating value through preservation of units and board control. Deceivers help accomplish this efficiently at just 1 magic cost and becomes a nearly unkillable unit when supported by Peace.
As with standard High Elves, there's a strong emphasis on formation here still. Luckily, Valeria, Liberty, and Oblige can help ease formation requirements, allowing you to shift positions during Move and Attack phases as needed. The deck can sometimes struggle against very aggressive factions (like Cave Goblins, Wayfarers, Cloaks, etc.), that focus on rushing Valeria down before she can get her formation up. Sanctity is there to help even the odds should you find yourself facing one of these decks.
Commons
So the core concept of the deck is Deceivers + Arbiter of Peace to slowly creep value over the course of the match. Thoughts on my other commons:
- Mind witch is your main source of damage with a splash of utility, helping you bring the War aura to the front-lines while not giving it back the next turn.
- Priests are there to support and pump up Deceivers or Arbiter of Peace to trade efficiently. Mind Witches can also copy them for extra damage on turns where you don't have or can't copy an Arbiter of War.
- Arbiter of War is to bring up the damage of the deck, but you'll only need 1 if you still have Mind Witches left to play.
Champions
I chose mid-range Champions between 3-4 costs that don't really require a lot of set-up or supporting units to start returning value.
- Cassia has pretty strong synergy in a defensive deck, though there are times you don't want to play her cause of her anti-synergy with Priests or Transfuse.
- Albus is for disabling the Aura of Peace during your turn, but also great against other annoying targets (Citadel Knights/Lioness/etc.)
- Vesna is just an all-around solid combat unit for 3 costs. Works pretty well with Priests or Mind Witches copying Priests.
Events
The standard High Elves' event suite works great in this deck so I kept it mostly the same. Only noticeable difference between this decklist and the one from the base deck is I swapped both Law of Loyalty for a copy of Call Forth and a copy of Transfuse. I found that I never played Loyalty, so I decided to swap it.
- Liberty is amazing for ranged units, I often use it for lethal to end the game.
- Sanctity is a must for Valeria, since she often likes to be in battle and can spend 2 turns building up magic by using her safely as a combat unit.
- Oblige is the Epic, wouldn't replace this even if I could.
- Transfuse is a great swing event and has great synergies with Peace and Deceivers that aren't easy to one-shot.
- Call Forth can be crucial in picking the final commons needed to close out a game.
Early game strategy
Early on you'll want to make a move for mid-field. To do so, Valeria will need to have a gate in hand to support the push upwards, with some defensive units at the flanks to discourage a counter attack. An aggressive early discard strategy might be warranted to search for the second gate or Sanctity to prepare for mid-field positioning.
- Play Peace and Deceivers to control the middle of the board early on. Deceivers should almost always be in the row(s) in front of Peace. Leave a clear retreat path for Peace to avoid giving Tough to enemy units on your turn.
- Inch Valeria up slowly so she's in range for Oblige/Sanctity turns. Go for mid-field presence (4th row or above) if you can.
- Hold onto Priests for when you push up with Valeria and need to reinforce the frontlines without a gate.Be patient with using Mind Witches until you can copy a decent ability the turn she's summoned. This can include copying War or Priests to buff allied units (and herself with War).
Discard Strategy
Generally, you'll want to play most of your units and focus on discarding to search for more gates to slowly increase your board presence. General rule of thumb is to try to have at least 1 unit in your hand you can play the next turn, with enough magic to summon 2 should you draw another unit.
- Play all Deceivers and Mind Witches if you can.
- Arbiter of Peace you want a lot of, but realistically can get away with 1 or 2 on the board at once.
- Arbiter of War you only need 1 of, but with Priest in the deck, you can get away with playing none of them if you're strapped for Magic.
- Early Law of Liberty and Transfuses can probably be discarded if you need magic or to draw more cards - these cards require decent set up that could end up clogging your hand until then.
- Play all Obliges.
- Play all Sanctity cards if you can. Only consider discarding if Valeria is already pretty low health to begin with.
- Cassia is great mid to late game, but not practical early game. Consider discarding her if your opponent has a lot of direct damage, or offensive power to finish off units before Cassia can heal.