Post by jeremyat on Aug 16, 2012 13:06:52 GMT -5
This is the deck I would have played had I had time to play in league. It's fantastic for grinding because it crushes just about anyone in two/three days. As with most of my good decks, I ripped this off from another player (who has two Japanese characters for a name, so I can't give proper credit to him, but he's got awesome decks) and made some improvements of my own.
Core:
Sacred Vault x 5 (an absolute must)
Assassin Library x 5
Sofia's Home x 4
With Great Power x 5
Support:
Holy Day x 5
Bitter Farewell x 4
The Discovery x 5
Architect's Sanctum x 5
Sudden Exhaustion x 4
Yerebatan Cistern x 5
The Mentor's Return x 3
Total memories: 50
This deck plays extremely simply and extremely quickly. Your ideal setup is a bitter farewell/discovery with a sacred vault and a deceptive site in your opening hand. It doesn't have to be that perfect, of course, but with fourteen ways to discard your sacred vaults (including the sanctum), nine deceptive sites, five sacred vaults, and three mentor's returns, you should be able to get the necessary cards in your hand very quickly. Keep in mind that you can play a deceptive site in the center before you've discarded your vault so that the deceptive site will replace it. This trick, unfortunately, doesn't work with the cistern (or byzantine ruins, for that matter). The sanctum is extremely helpful as it can pull any site you need (including a vault) with the added bonus of discarding a vault if you've got one handy. In tight matches, this makes the difference, as you're constantly discarding vaults to pull your deceptive sites. With Great Power often acts as an early finisher (especially if you didn't draw the library and only played a sofia's home) in case your opponent plays a site to reduce your influence in the center and you can't win by turn two. I play Holy Day to wreck decks like mine, but it's not a must.
I've lost count of how many wins I've had with this deck by (or before, by using With Great Power) the end of the second full day. It takes out virtually everything because very few decks can get the income necessary to stop the deceptive site from scoring twice (or three times by using With Great Power), and even then they need something that can't be otherwise countered by the cistern.
A couple of notes on cards I don't include:
Source of All Life--too slow and can only pull the cistern. You're almost always going to draw either a cistern or a sanctum, so you can get the cistern that way.
Byzantine Ruins--I can count on one hand the times I've gotten to ten usable income with this deck. Too expensive to really use.
Hagia Sophia--by the time you get up to eight income (that you need to save up to use), the game should probably already be over.
Lassitude--too slow and easily counterable. Sudden Exhaustion works much better to stop the darim powerboost decks (which are about the only decks that can give the speed of this deck a run for its money).
Borgia Cardinal--unlike With Great Power, the score is only in the region where the site is (even if it's deceptive). So, for example, if I played a cardinal when I've got five influence and a deceptive site in the center region, I'm scoring five points in the center region when he resolves. That doesn't help me at all.
Let me know what you think, and happy hunting!
Gamecenter ID: JATATT
Core:
Sacred Vault x 5 (an absolute must)
Assassin Library x 5
Sofia's Home x 4
With Great Power x 5
Support:
Holy Day x 5
Bitter Farewell x 4
The Discovery x 5
Architect's Sanctum x 5
Sudden Exhaustion x 4
Yerebatan Cistern x 5
The Mentor's Return x 3
Total memories: 50
This deck plays extremely simply and extremely quickly. Your ideal setup is a bitter farewell/discovery with a sacred vault and a deceptive site in your opening hand. It doesn't have to be that perfect, of course, but with fourteen ways to discard your sacred vaults (including the sanctum), nine deceptive sites, five sacred vaults, and three mentor's returns, you should be able to get the necessary cards in your hand very quickly. Keep in mind that you can play a deceptive site in the center before you've discarded your vault so that the deceptive site will replace it. This trick, unfortunately, doesn't work with the cistern (or byzantine ruins, for that matter). The sanctum is extremely helpful as it can pull any site you need (including a vault) with the added bonus of discarding a vault if you've got one handy. In tight matches, this makes the difference, as you're constantly discarding vaults to pull your deceptive sites. With Great Power often acts as an early finisher (especially if you didn't draw the library and only played a sofia's home) in case your opponent plays a site to reduce your influence in the center and you can't win by turn two. I play Holy Day to wreck decks like mine, but it's not a must.
I've lost count of how many wins I've had with this deck by (or before, by using With Great Power) the end of the second full day. It takes out virtually everything because very few decks can get the income necessary to stop the deceptive site from scoring twice (or three times by using With Great Power), and even then they need something that can't be otherwise countered by the cistern.
A couple of notes on cards I don't include:
Source of All Life--too slow and can only pull the cistern. You're almost always going to draw either a cistern or a sanctum, so you can get the cistern that way.
Byzantine Ruins--I can count on one hand the times I've gotten to ten usable income with this deck. Too expensive to really use.
Hagia Sophia--by the time you get up to eight income (that you need to save up to use), the game should probably already be over.
Lassitude--too slow and easily counterable. Sudden Exhaustion works much better to stop the darim powerboost decks (which are about the only decks that can give the speed of this deck a run for its money).
Borgia Cardinal--unlike With Great Power, the score is only in the region where the site is (even if it's deceptive). So, for example, if I played a cardinal when I've got five influence and a deceptive site in the center region, I'm scoring five points in the center region when he resolves. That doesn't help me at all.
Let me know what you think, and happy hunting!
Gamecenter ID: JATATT