Cry havoc, and unleash the fungi and zombie trolls of war!
HEART OF THE SWARM
-
Lotleth Troll and Rot Shamblers are the win cons.
-
Bloodsoaked Champions, Sanitarium Skeletons and Young Wolfs are cannon fodder. You need to be sure what do with them, however! Otherwise you will lose initiative and tempo--and with them the whole game.
-
If you have Lotleth Troll, or get it by turn two, do not cast Sanitarium Skeletons or Bloodsoaked Champions. It would be a drastic mistake more often than not! On the contrary, Young Wolf makes a great drop for turn one!
-
This is what you will do: Attack (or maybe block) with Lotleth Trolls and Discard a skeleton(s) and a champion(s) for a (surprise!) Counter(s). If needed, keep available for Regeneration purposes. When Discarded, rotate the Sanitarium Skeletons and the Bloodsoaked Champions back. The first one into your hand to be Discarded again for Counter(s), the latter into Battlefield to die in various different ways again.
-
Enemy will soon learn you can and will Discard cards for Counters. Now it is time to play Hunger of the Howlpack. Enemy calculates you have one card in hand, meaning one Counter max when Discarded. If only a creature died this turn, dropping the spell will surprise the enemy again with three Counters on Lotleth Troll.
-
Young Wolf on the other hand is meant to be casted and killed--all possible ways! For example, Sacrifice one (without Counters) for Eliminate the Competition and it boosts Champion of Lambholts and Rot Shamblers. Retribution of the Ancients helps you to get rid of Counters on wolfs and you can once more get it killed the way you need. Even if you have Hardened Scales or Corpsejack Menace around, Retribution of the Ancients will help you get rid of as many Counters on Young Wolf as needed and deal with an annoying enemy monster at the same time. And after first Discard, you should use Bloodsoaked Champions the same way as Young Wolf, letting them die when ever needed!
-
But remember, the Bloodsoaked Champions and Sanitarium Skeletons must be discarded first from the hand for the Lotleth Trolls; playing it from the hand would waste the potential this combo has.
-
Champion of Lambholt helps your win cons win. They are meant to grow and stop enemy from blocking your Lotleth Trolls and Rot Shamblers. Keep the champion growing and you wont even need Trample on Lotleth Troll.
-
The opening hand needs and , otherwise it is Mulligan. If you happen to draw Blessings of Nature in your hand, it is also Mulligan. That will happen every now and then, but casting Miracle with is so important you need to put the hand aside and draw new one. If possible, plan on casting Young Wolf turn one and Lotleth Troll turn two. If the first scenario fails, start with Jungle Hollow and hope to draw Lotleth Troll on your second turn. If you keep tempo up, the enemy can not get back up. Cry havoc, and unleash the zombie trolls and fungi of war!
-
With listed Sideboard the deck could have a chance standing toe-to-toe with Affinity, Elfs and Burns, for example. When moving cards in, consider removing first Increasiong Savagerys, Hunger of the Howlpacks, and one or two Blessings of Nature and so on, and then think what your enemies have got in their decks.
-
To upgrade the build, there is a plethora of cards you can throw in to make this brew faster and more effective. However, you would only see limited improvement, and cards would cost a lot more. The cost/benefit analysis tells me it ain't worth it. But if wanted, you can replace Jungle Hollows with Overgrown Tombs, and Sanitarium Skeletons with Gravecrawlers. While these improvements give you more edge, even in it's cheapest possible form the composition can stand on it's own and would still be very fun to play with.
3rd EXAMPLE OF RANDOM GAME PLAY (generated with TappedOut, a dice was cast to decide if you play or draw)
Hand (you Draw):
(1. Enemy drops Evolving Wilds; Sacs it and pulls Forest.)
TURN 1: Draw Increasing Savagery; play Forest and Cast Young Wolf.
(2. Enemy Draws; plays Plains; Casts Assault Formation.)
TURN 2: Draw yet another Evolving Wilds; play Swamp and Rot Shambler; Attack with the wolf causing one Damage.
(3. Enemy Draws; plays Sandstone Bridge Tapped; Casts Orator of Ojutai.)
TURN 3: Draw Blessings of Nature and Cast it with Miracle to give four +1/+1 Counters to the shambler; drop Evolving Wilds and use it -> get Forest.
(4. Enemy Draws and drops Forest; Casts Wild-Field Scarecrow; pays and Attacks with Orator of Ojutai dealing four Damage.)
TURN 4: Draw Lotleth Troll; play another Evolving Wilds and use it -> get Swamp; Cast Lotleth Troll; Attack with the wolf (Enemy does not Block!).
(5. Enemy Draws and Sacs Wild-Field Scarecrow; pulls Forest and Plains, and plays Forest; Casts Not Forgotten and chooses Wild-Field Scarecrow + adds one 1/1 Flying White Spirit Token; pays and Attacks with Orator of Ojutai dealing four more Damage.)
TURN 5: Draw Lotleth Troll; Cast Champion of Lambholt; Attack with the wolf (this time Enemy Blocks w/ the spirit) -> the spirit and the wolf both die, Young Wolf comes back with a +1/+1 Counter on it, and both Rot Shambler and the champion also score +1/+1 Counters, one for each (the shambler now has got 5 Counters total).
(6. Enemy Draws, drops Plains and plays just picked Wild-Field Scarecrow; Sacks it and picks Forest and Plains; pays and Attacks with Orator of Ojutai dealing four Damage again -> now your down at 8).
TURN 6: Draw Swamp and play it; Discard two trolls from your hand for two +1/+1 Counters and Cast Increasing Savagery for five more Counters -> give them to Lotleth Troll (it now has got seven +1/+1 Counters, making it 9/8 monster with Regeneration shield up and running; Attack with all you have got (the 6/6 shambler, 2/2 wolf, 2/2 champion and the troll it self) dealing 19 Damage and winning the game!
2nd EXAMPLE OF RANDOM GAME PLAY (generated with TappedOut, a dice was cast to decide if you play or draw)
Hand (you Play instead of Draw):
... so you Mulligan
The second Hand:
... so you Mulligan again!
The third Hand:
TURN 1: Play Jungle Hollow Tapped; gain one Life.
(1. Enemy Draws; drops Plains; Casts Sigarda's Aid.)
TURN 2: Draw Forest; play Forest; Cast Rot Shambler.
(2. Enemy Draws; plays Plains; Casts Topplegeist; Rot Shambler gets Tapped.)
TURN 3: Draw Increasing Savagery; play Forest; Attack with Rot Shambler hoping enemy Blocks with Topplegeist (enemy Blocks with it, both die); Drop Sanitarium Skeleton and Cast Hunger of the Howlpack with Morbid for three +1/+1 Counters.
(3. Enemy Draws; drops Plains; Casts Topplegeist; Sanitarium Skeleton gets Tapped.)
TURN 4: Draw Swamp and play it; Cast Increasing Savagery for more Counters (5); Attack with the skeleton (Enemy Blocks with yet another Topplegeist; the spirit dies, skeleton lives, yey!).
(4. Enemy Draws; plays Plains; Casts Ironclad Slayer.)
TURN 5: Draw Hunger of the Howlpack; Attack with 9/10 skeleton -> enemy is now at 11.
(5. Enemy Draws; Attacks with Ironclad Slayer -> You are now at 18.)
TURN 6: "Could there be an option to finish it?"
-
Now you can Attack with Sanitarium Skeleton and Cast Hunger of the Howlpack for a single +1/+1 Counter, but that would not be enough...
-
You can keep the Instant and Attack without Casting the Card, too. That would leave the Enemy hanging, and you get to keep the Instant.
Draw Swamp and play it; Attack with the skeleton (Enemy Casts Faith Unbroken with help from Sigarda's Aid and the skeleton is Exiled).
(6. Enemy Draws; Casts Not Forgotten picking a Topplegeist and adding a Spirit Token to the Battlefield; Attacks with the slayer -> You are not at 13.)
TURN 7: Draw Rot Shambler and Cast it (before your End, the Enemy Casts Slayer's Plate with Sigarda's Aid and Equips the slayer).
(7. Enemy Draws; drops pulled Topplegeist and the shambler is Tapped; drops Stoneforge Masterwork for the Token; Attacks with the Slayer + the Token (now +1/+1) -> You are now at 2.)
TURN 8: Draw Young Wolf and Scoop -> one Mulligan too many, it seems.
WORD FROM THE ARTIST
Please note my decks are always based on cards I have and own. I do not create 1500 euro decks of cards from the virtual database just to show off. Instead, I work with cards I actually have access to.
