As always, I'm looking for abusive, dumb stuff to do with FW, here's the latest version after all the Necrosis changes and nerfs to Bile Zombie. It's a bit eclectic right now, but it sort of does ok? Hard to say -- I've only played about two matches with it, and only remember one. I was getting rushed on a bad map, but on the other hand, the rush was badly done and the opposing pilot made plenty of mediocre plays. I guess it did well. The idea is to use that last bastion of bullcrap in FW: Essence Devourer/Graveyard. So, it generates a nora globe every other round, and nora globes get you +6 nora from the Soul Collectors (or +1 SDZ if you use the singleton Putrid). Whoo, +3 nora/round. Game breaking. Well, it's better than it sounds, because the deck also gets to use Soul Collector with a bunch of cheap units for a discount, a la Cheap Meat, and get to use Essence Devourer, who in combination with Graveyard is its own late-game engine (I can explain how if someone needs, but will assume you see it). So really, this means the deck gets to use a bunch of mostly-alright pieces in a big combination that makes the sum a bit more than mostly-alright -- legit synergy. All the other crap works around that 3-4 rune core. Broken Bones is an MVP, the linebacker of the skeleton football team, Martyr does what he has been doing forever (carrying the entire faction, along with Tomb), the relics poop out value, and then various pieces of anti-summon, anti-standoff, and singleton disruption. I'll keep tuning it with time. Still needs work. I've tried out the new Festering Corpse, and he's ok, but with Lumbering and no threat or value beyond his stats and basic attack, it's too mediocre. I'd probably consider him at ~25 or so, but even then, it would be a long shot. 32 won't cut it.
This one is much lighter on range than previous versions, very true. It's a consistent problem with just about every deck I build, and it gets fixed (if it ever does) a different way each time. In this case, I think 55 nora Essence Devourers and the new Broken Bones can handle the brunt of the work. BB absorbs a ton of individual hits and spreads out to lock up the field, while Essence Devourer has enough raw punch to solve a lot of situations. Even so, this will probably need a more serious solution at some point, if not by adding more range, then at least by knowing how it will combat that inequality. I would not be at all surprised to see Graveyard get nerfed to summons, but I would be surprised if that was the only change made. I think making it summons might also come with something like a cost decrease, or perhaps a reduction of the generation CD. If it stayed how it was, but summons every round rather than every other, I think it would be possible to stomach that. It would make Essence Devourer much better, for one thing. Not sure, totally, though. We'll cross that bridge when it's built.
I know its probably a silly suggestion,but how about putting one aspect of death in there? With death knell being cd 3 and this bg easily generating death charges it can consistenly dish out short lived at anything from a safe distance since its global range. The soulstrike means anything cant get close without getting hit hard.
I feel like two soul collectors is a little much. Its already hard to find efficiency in an 80 nora rune that cant really make up for it by fighting . He mostly sits around and threatens, maybe ties up a ranged unit assuming he doesnt get blown up afterward. Since youre already running a few worms id sneak in a blood fiend in place of a collector or the beserker, especially since you arent running repurpose(I'd highly suggest it, 16 damage 70 health broken bones are hilarious). Ive also had amazing success with reapers blade. Im actually using one. Its tentatively okay(tentatively awesome wiping out an avatar with him and reapers scythe shenanigans). I mostly find him being deployed against IS or just decks that find ways to make runes ungodly sticky and dont or cant rush me after pending the massive nora cost but for the most part he sits around in the runedock. just my feelings after playing a bit with a similar cheap meat deck.
Its just really hard to recover from the tempo loss of actually playing him he doesnt do anything when he hits the field and he wont be doing anything when he gets there because hes far too valuable to send running into the fray and often times the closest rune is the one that will be killed before short lived is a thing. Hes got a very precise window where hes going to be very valuable and you wont always have the nora when that window comes around because you want to be abusing your low cost units I feel like some kinda of aura would really make the aspect strong. Chuck soulstrike and give him aoe buffs/debuffs, hes the reaper. He doesnt fight, he's a silent statue behind the horde of the dead and the damned. A grim reminder of the inevitable.
Whatever the hell is happening with Aspect of Death as far as abortive attempts at a redesign -- I doubt I'll run him. Might give him a try if I happen to get one. You've already mentioned that Collector costs a lot and messes with the deck's tempo, and rightly so, so there's little chance I'll find room for another ~85 bomb. He's a winmore include, from what I can tell. Or at the very least, he applies pressure only in a narrow circumstance not covered by everything else. I'll give him a whirl if I get one, but there are reasons why he would be a bad include. Maybe he works out though -- I could envision a situation where he helps grind out a game in the appropriate way, I'm just not sure that's realistic. As for the 2 Collectors, there really need to be 2. Dead Eater is just too integral to everything going on here to risk losing him for 6 rounds. If one drops -- and competent players will often go for him -- there needs to be a backup in the wings. Additionally, deploying a rune as your first or second deploy to capture fonts and control positioning can greatly mitigate whatever problems that rune may have when it comes to tempo, so increasing the early draw chances of a Soul Collector also makes it, in a subtle way, less of a tempo hit.
I actually really like the look of this deck, even though I've never cared for ED+Graveyard. It's not that I don't respect how powerful the combo is, I just have doubts about the pieces individually. ED isn't quite the behemoth he used to be, and double Graveyard can be risky before you get Tome out. I love the clever use of Putrid though, thank god those Graveyard skeles are real units. Phantasmal Creeper seems like an iffy include due to Nora Leech reducing your own Tomb gen. I assume you only drop him once Tomb dies to Backlash?
The reduction on Tomb is really minor, I'll run some public calculations later. It's worth it if the opponent does any form of nora generation, and I'll be willing to take the hit if I really need the unit even without opposing gen. For the most part, I only ever get 1 GY out. That's enough to fund a Devourer, and then you start cycling them as they die for the value. The second yard is more backup than a real gameplan, or a way to grind out a late-game stall. ED is still pretty good, but you're right, he isn't a total monster.
Im more interested in seeing it work. I feel like im playing the deck too much like i would UD with the rushing people down.
ive scoured through the checklist and as far as i can tell theres simply no "cheap" ranged units(which between martyrs, devourers and the odd behemoth melee is awful difficult). 73 nora fadewisps are the most cost efficient thing around. Risen mogas may be hidden MVP's between howling attack and disease breath in a 60 nora package with an upside of amping disease.
vendettas on the soul collector are great, making them pretty strong with all the death that is happening + Soulsift rank 2
Yeah, FW has jack for cheap ranged options. It's why, like I was saying to Tea, all variants have been in one way or another plagued by a lack of damage, specifically ranged damage. Thematically, I'm alright with that, I just wish the kind of deck was a bit more functional on its own terms. I think Risen Moga and Fadewisp are the way to go.
Elsari tomb raiders are the next best bet i think. You can also run them at 73 nora and they provide both anti equip and anti relic. You just gotta stomach the mercenary cost
