The Defenders Attack
The Defenders Attack
Opening hand:Bel'al Characters:High Lord Weiramon x 2 Troops:Tear Levies x 3 Challenges:Confrontation x 3 Events:Connections x 3 Advantages:Battlehardened x 3 |
OVERVIEWThe key to this deck is sustained pressure. In any game the light begins at a substantial disadvantage - starter Rand with his 4 dice just doesn't cut it against Bel'al with his 9 dice. The object of this deck is to utilise this starting advantage and never let the light catch up. There are two primary goals: - amass as much pattern advantage as possible by challenging early and often; - force the last battle as soon as possible by playing and winning challenges which add tokens to the pattern. PLAYINGStart by playing High Lord Samon on Bel'al. Then recruit High Lord Meilan using Into the Fight and pattern if necessary. Meilan is a machine, one of the best characters in the game. With his 6 dice and bonus on rolling support and opposition he needs to be kept in the battlefield and kept healthy. Unopposed, he only needs to roll 2 opposition to win the pattern challenge. The force mix in this deck is fairly light. You want Bel'al to be in the battlefield alongside his buddy Meilan as much as possible so try and get out another character with good recruitment early - Weiramon is a good choice. Generally, the Tearan characters are fairly cheap - they will need a bit of politics and intrigue however. Don't hesitate to use pattern to bring out a heavy hitter like Liandrin or Barthanes, especially when you have an Into the Fight in your hand - this deck can amass a lot of pattern and its important that you get out a steady flow of characters to keep up the pressure. You want to be able to intimidate the light player and keep his characters out of the battleground. The only troops in the deck are 3 Tear Levies which let you draw the card back. Don't worry about throwing them in to get slaughtered, thats what they're there for. The lack of troops in your deck means your opponent will often be left with dead weight cards such as Wall of Fire or Distractions. The challenges are the heart of the deck: Prolonged Campaign, Confrontation and Gather Allies allow you amass pattern and force the last battle. Stalemate gives you pattern and slows down your opponent's recruitment. Rampage is a great card - play it early with Bel'al and Meilan in the battleground and watch your opponent's hand disappear. If the puny light characters try and oppose Bel'al he can hurt them badly. The events are designed to give you flexability while helping your card advantage: Connections and Lucky Find lets you thin out your deck. Sabotage adds to the minor card denial theme and is very good with Liandrin and Barthanes (try substituting A Murder of Ravens if you know your opponent is playing with specific cards that may hurt you such as Overrun or Surrounded). Personal Growth and Healing keep your characters strong and healthy. Save your Heroic Efforts for critical points in the game and the Last Battle (ie if your opponent has played Blood Tide and is looking to Overrun). The advantages are mainly to increase your characters effectiveness in challenges. Battlehardened lets you put damage on Bel'al and Meilan and still keep up the pressure until your ready to use Healing. Heron Marked Blade and Saidin Angreal beef up Bel'al. To the Victor is really good given the large proportion of challenges in this deck - fish it out with a Lucky Find if you don't draw it and play it early. Shayol Gul gives you a bit of a buffer if things start getting a little too hot for Bel'al to handle. On the whole this deck can be very effective - especially given a slow start from the light or if your matched up against something which takes a while to get going. With 19 rares and only about 10 being totally necessary, its also reasonably easy to build. Good luck. And don't forget you get bonus points if Bel'al can kill Moraine Sedai.  |
