Major props if anyone gets the reference, haha. As I learn how to play PoxNora, my curiosity drags me kicking and screaming through the factions. So here I am haha. I really like the "Green" factions in games and whatnot. I love the FF KF bonus. I like a lot about KF. I even have a head-start in having 2 Aurora Investigators. (No clue how good they are, though haha.) I'm not too big on Elves, though. Not so bad I'd never play them but bad enough that I'd love to play anything else first. So that leads into my questions! 1) If I want to play KF but not necessarily Elves or Fairies, what are some neat ideas to roll with? Garu look neat. 2) If I bite the bullet and do Elves, I'd like to focus on the strategy in the Aurora line. What advice can I scrounge up for that? 3) My knowledge of KF in general is pretty limited, so like all my other question-filled posts...Any tips?! Thanks for continuing to humor my incessant questions!
A Magic Amp deck is a fun and powerful one. Elven Mages, Garu Chosens, and Wisps all have access to Amplify Magical. The KF relic Throne of the Circle is another source of Amplify Magical. With enough sources of Amplify Magical out, you can do incredible damage. Spells like Nature's Wrath and Stellar Horizon become godly when amped. Those Aurora Investigators you have work really well in a Magic Amp deck, too! Edit I: I've recently added Garu Whisperers to my Magic Amp deck and they fit in very nicely. With amplified damage the Garu Whisperers create their summoned champions whenever they attack twice. The champions they create even have a ranged magical attack! Edit II: Starting out, it may be hard to get your hands on the best runes for a Magic Amp deck but many champions with Attack: Magical perform decently.
But elves rule! xD There aren't many good non-elf themes ATM, centaur are bad, treefolk are being improved very slowly, tortuns just got nerfed, not too sure about garu. As Xirone said, magic amp is probably the best non-elf thing right now. Aurora is really just a subsection of elves.
Enough trees and related stuff have been repaired to make them work well again, though some units are still suffering from awkward builds since the last revamp. Spikewood, Fireoak, Tanglefoot, and Treecaller were all viable in the past and are now rather unattractive, which hurts deck variety. Improvements that evidence suggests are on the horizon are: Making Light as a Feather work better with Weighty Allowing Dragonbark to move the turn he transforms Two helpful additions are Spirit of Endurance and Honor Coin: SoE with Grant Flight and Soften upgrades is amazing theme support Honor Coin helps offset the lopsided Defender:Commander ratio
I'm in a similar predicament as the OP. I want to make a KF bg but I'm unsure where to start. Can anyone recommend any themes that can function on a budget build?
Elves, everyday, all day Chris threwthis together a few weeks ago (credit to him): https://poxbase.com/deck/cphCtyCJc54c1-chkc52c3FCtus5sis6Ps1as7Ts4KsLr2Yr+rUeWe31eM the five missing runes are the equip "honor coin' which you will use on your taskmaster upgraded with drive. The other 4 slots are 2 solstice archers and 2 aurora inspectors upgraded with call to arms. The only exo in here is mena and even then you can play without him. This bg is by no means fast. The dmg comes from the dots and your tanks soak up all the dmg. Soften up your opponents from afar and then wait for the right turn to do a power move. Good luck and enjoy
Garus are like the most expensive of the themes so just letting you know now. Garus are super good. I have been playing around with them lately and I gotta tell ya they can set off some mean power turns. Staples for the Garu BGs are x2Garu Shaman x2 Garu Kodiak x1 Dugon x2 Garu Whisperer x2 Solitary Garu The rest is up to you but those IMO are a must. I can go into details on how to use each one if needed. Centaurs are not a complete theme but if you feel like you might want to give them a try they are pretty cheap to come by. Ranger/Elves Battlegroups are pretty cheap as well Vashal have a very unique theme and I think they are very competetive. Could be expensive
I've used the Garu public deck and I'm not super impressed. How would you say it captures the spirit of the Garu compared to your experience with them? How does it stack up?
I would love to answer this question for you but I do not know what the Garu public deck contains as far as runes. Can you maybe post something that shows the runes?
They used to be amazing, Beasts that is. The Vashal all lost Race: Beast and the Beast theme is noticeably weaker these days. The theme has some scary beaters but very few viable ranged options. I'd like to see a few non-Vashal ranged Beasts at some point. Vashal, as a theme, are at a good to go and some of them can be splashed in a beast deck, I suppose. Edit: The ranged options include Woodland Jester, who is very easy to kill but can pack a punch, Ospryan Valkyrie, who is fast but very pricey, and Pox Renovator, who is amazing but hard to get.
You can see the runes to any public decks in the public deck section. Spoiler: Here's a picture of the deck list
That is a very decent deck IMO to start out with. Its got most of your staples such as your Garu Shamans and Solitary Garus. This BG is competetive as it sits but could use some tweeking here and there if the runes are available. I dont even know if you can edit the BG but here are some suggestions. (I wont make champ suggesitons because I know they are hard to obtain sometimes but the spells should be relatively easy to obtain.) The relics Keep both of the relics dont change them but add a Catharsis Bloom ( remove 1 Mountain Garu to make space for the Catharsis Bloom) Equipment The equipment that comes with this BG is nice. I would personally remove Withering Fern and Rejuvination Ring for a Frostcall Quiver and a Burning Oak Seed. The reason why is because this BG is lacking some alternate damage. The Shimmering Flower is good to keep because there are very many champs out there that it will shut down instantly. The Spells Remove Mend, Treefolks Blessing, Vortex, and Brambles and add Carnivorous Vines, Petrichor,Protection and Overgrowth Strategy Your main beaters will be the Solitary Garus(Run Detection 2 and Hidden: Vegetation upgrades on him). Their speed, dmg, and Self Healing make it tough to defeat. After you bring one out try to get a Garu Shaman( Run Divert and Heal Champion 2) out to support it and use Divert if needed. Use Warcaller Fiorns (Run Battle Leader and Heavy Charger). DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE HIBERNATE ABILITY. Garus kinda of crutch on this ability because Garus are supposed to be used to powerturn enemies and devastate with their element of surprise. Also if you are engaged to a champion and need to run away or make room for another champ to move in for the kill you can use Hibernate to stealth which causes you to disengage and move without having to use 3 ap to disengage. When using Hibernate to contest fonts if you feel you cant take on your opponent while contesting a font then just stay hidden and move to a different space every turn so that your opponents keep wasting AP. This should stall enough to get some back up hopefully. So most of the time you will deploy a Garu first turn and then next turn proceed to capturinging font. on your third turn (if you have enough ap only) use Hibernate and move to the middle font to contest and start the Hibernation time limit. ( If the opponent went first and deployed a detection unit there is no point in using step three.) This will force your opponent to either A. Waste AP to find your champion (Could possibly leave his champion vulnerable to multiple attacks) B. Waste a nora on a Spell or Relic to find you ( This is good because you will have a nora advantage) C. Force him to deploy a champ that has a Detection (this can totally screw up their plans for deployment of champs) This is the basics of the strategy. I will post my BG if needed.
Thanks for writing all of that up, @Cinder405 . You can't edit public decks, fyi. I have to wrangle up all of the runes myself and sort of mold that into something that resembles a battlegroup. Which is easier said than done depending on the theme. Anywho, you should post yours. It'll be good for reference and for posterity.
This is the Battlegroup im running https://poxbase.com/deck/cf4C9kC+CpUC1MCzzC9jcqvC5hs3Ws7s4ys1as7Ts8ws5Ws4Kr3nr2YrUe31e2ue29 thanks to @profhulk Alot of the Runes in the BG are hard to obatin. Garus are generally not a theme you want to try unless your committed to playing KF long term because of how hard it is to obtain some of the runes. So mess around with the Public Deck until you feel you might want to invest more into the theme.
If you're interested in trying treefolk, a perfectly functional deck can be made entirely from Rares/Uncommons/Commons. Most of the theme's exotics are in a weird state, so the only things you might miss out on by going budget are Patriarch, Menalaus, and maybe Oakthumper (who will gain a rank once Light as a Feather interacts better with Weighty). No Exotic Wood: https://poxbase.com/deck/C7MC7Ic6GC3HC3ACaYCazc8xs5S6Ns1as7Tr2Yr12R1drUe2weME1GE1T Non-KF equipment are placeholders for Gnarlwood Borderguards and Honor Coins (PoxBase not up to date). It's a relatively cheap way to try out the theme. Since the deck contains all of the major mechanics, if you don't like how it plays there's no point in adding more expensive runes. And if you do like how it plays, only a few Exotic and higher runes are needed to optimize it.
