ok ill check it out

2414797:

Start of turn effects are added to the chain before you ready, and readying doesn't use the chain.  In response to the triggered effect of the Ring, you complete your donation quests.

This. Learning how to use the chain to your advantage is huge.

I quite like the Horde 'fatty' version. I mean, 4 Lor'themar main is probably overkill but you can most certainly get away with 3 and 1 side for the bad match-up. Mage Control is just a very bad match-up for the big ally versions because you can't force them to use cards from hand in the early game. Instead you basically do what they do, answer Slow if it hits, then play a big ally each turn until they empty their hand. Eventually they won't have Invocation and you can pop a ring, but I don't know. I guess in Shaman you could even run nethershard in the side against Mage.

If Cannibalize really is a problem for you, just bait it. Two Greench in hand? Discard one to DMF or Bokentoe or whatever, they might panic, and then you've drawn one out. Pagatha is probably the deck's absolute worst match-up since she can hit your resource row, hand and graveyard comfortably whilst applying pressure in the early game with Dethvir.

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Zapped Giants - UK Community Site

I definitely DID NOT attend a Season 4 Realm Champs. Ever. At all. Honestly.

WTB Teresa Voidheart avatar pst.

2414797:

Start of turn effects are added to the chain before you ready, and readying doesn't use the chain.  In response to the triggered effect of the Ring, you complete your donation quests.

Technically you ready first, then any start of turn effects, as well as any that trigger off a card readying (i.e. Mikael) will get added to the chain when PPP kicks in right before the turn player receives priority.

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No quote for you!

If they have Abyss walker's boots or Undercity ready, even if you chain it at the start of turn they can insert the graveyard removal into the chain at the appropriate point to remove a guy before the ring brings him in.

1207528:

If they have Abyss walker's boots or Undercity ready, even if you chain it at the start of turn they can insert the graveyard removal into the chain at the appropriate point to remove a guy before the ring brings him in.

As mentioned by others, pagatha or other warlocks truly are the nightmare matchup. However if they only have undercity and/or boots then you aren't in terrible shape. You just have to get lucky at that point. If you manage to dump a ton of stuff into the grumper in 1 shot and/or multiple copies of a key card then they may just not have enough activations to remove everything.

The fatty version can pull this off more readily since really any 2 fatties regardless will probably manage to end the game. Granted if you don't have a totem out and they nail lor'themar or if you are alliance and don't hit a bolvar you are in trouble. They can simply untap and invoke or untap and hesriana (possibly worse) or something equally nasty.

Also to whoever was questioning 4 x lor'themar. He really is the "key" ally very often. I am running 4 of every fat ally simply to ensure you hit them. Of all the options lor'themar, greench, and doomwalker are the strongest. Lok'holar is an honorable mention for his ability to shut down their whole board of WotF dudes, or win outside the combat step, blizzard's that don't restrict your ability to play stuff are pretty good. That being said WotF isn't all that rampant outside of dethvir and odds are OTHER cards in decks that pack dethvir are kicking you in the head, not dethvir himself.

I don't want this to come across as me saying it's the only option to buld the deck. Howver I have found that it is the most "resilient" version. You are less suceptible to hate and random board sweepers, and your combo parts are mostly interchangable. Unfortunately since I have shifted away from priest you lose the ability to play battlecast pants and the matchup against varanis gets worse than it was before. You are almost exclusively relying on the varanis player being bad or that they never hit a belt until late, or both.

If they are bad you can bait them with various things and then sneak a ring in response to invocation activations, quests or something. If they don't hit a belt you can just play lor'themar's, greenches, and doomwalkers until 1 sticks. If they spell suppression it who cares? It doesn't stop it from swinging and even with rolls for healing you can hopefully end the game in quick succession at that point, or at least make them deal with it and nail a ring.

I realize both the front page article and other posters said these things, but it bears repeating. Also hopefully people aren't hiding "tech" and will share their own experiences/tactics.

Unfortunately outside of priest you rely incredibly heavily on drawing and playing you, robot at appropriate times. I am unaware of a battlecast pants equivalent for the other classes other than the previously mentioned quest.

tl;dr: Other people have said what I just did in less verbose ways.

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wingedweasel on MWS/Lackey
winged weasel on xbl

996018:

Technically you ready first, then any start of turn effects, as well as any that trigger off a card readying (i.e. Mikael) will get added to the chain when PPP kicks in right before the turn player receives priority.

We're both wrong.  Ready and start of turn effects being added to the chain are simultaneous.

501.1a   As a ready step starts, the turn player readies all physically exhausted cards in play he or she controls. Any modifiers created “as [that turn] starts” are also created simultaneously. None of this uses the chain. Next, a priority window opens. As that window closes, the ready step ends.

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Kredistus - Blood Elf Paladin
Elune.

2414797:

996018:

Technically you ready first, then any start of turn effects, as well as any that trigger off a card readying (i.e. Mikael) will get added to the chain when PPP kicks in right before the turn player receives priority.

We're both wrong.  Ready and start of turn effects being added to the chain are simultaneous.

501.1a   As a ready step starts, the turn player readies all physically exhausted cards in play he or she controls. Any modifiers created “as [that turn] starts” are also created simultaneously. None of this uses the chain. Next, a priority window opens. As that window closes, the ready step ends.

Since a priority window opens that means we can still respond to the start of turn effect of destroying the ring, right?

So we can still do this?

Ready All Cards
Draw A Card
Destroy Ring
Respond to destruction of ring with any quests for discard
Bring in graveyard

Since a priority window opens that means we can still respond to the start of turn effect of destroying the ring, right?

So we can still do this?

Ready All Cards
Draw A Card
Destroy Ring
Respond to destruction of ring with any quests for discard
Bring in graveyard

Close. It would actually go like this:

Ready All Cards
Destroy Ring
Respond to the effect the destroyed ring has put on the chain with whatever you want.
Bring in Graveyards
Draw a card for turn

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Team Seattle - Choosing to go second since Realms 1.

While people hash out the rules I wanted to add some further testing results:

1) Aggro is still an issue. Granted most decks will fold up when lionar or kil'zin gets their "god" draws, but I am not happy currently with the numbers.

2) The deck needs a pre-emptive answer to removal for the ring. Although you can't count on every warrior deck running smash it is a big concern.

I have been experimenting with several different builds and have actually switched ships to alliance for the resource acceleration in gromble. Find treasure is also pretty good :P

The recent list is this:

Zophos the Vengeful

4 A Donation of Silk
4 A Donation of Mageweave
4 You, Robot
3 The Ring of Blood: The Warmaul Champion

4 The Abominable Greench
4 Doomwalker
4 Highlord Bolvar Fordragon

4 Short John Mithril
4 Gromble the Apt
4 Grudum, Trove Guaridna
3 Modric Sternbeard

4 Renewal of Life
3 Aegis of the Vindicator
4 Thud!

The list looks stranger than it might for a few reasons:

1) Aegis is still there obviously to mitigate the pummeling you take from aggro, but it can't do things alone. Other decks are also removing opposing allies while they have aegis in play. This deck not only leans on aegis but sits it's fat backside on it entirely.

2) Thud! is there to also slow down aggro, conviniently it can tap down resources (orgrimmar) and possibly help you resolve a ring against decks with counters. That hasn't happened yet but I am hopeful.

3) Gone is overseer oilfist and he has been replaced by a suite of treasure finding drunks. I am disappoointed he had to go but there weren't really any other options. His short stint in the deck was solid sine both he and john can fetch the ring OR aegis as required. He is still on the list of reserves.

4) Bolvar took the place of lor'themar. This version unfortunately is going with the"prayer" plan. As in pray they don't have invoke or the like. That being said, bolvar does prevent hesriana from nailing greench or doomwalker where lor'themar does not. Being forced to target and attack hesriana is annoying but not the end of the world. Spending all your time to combo and then staring down a 2/3 greench is annoying, especially if you couldn't combo "hard" and hit all 3 dudes.

5) Notably glimmer of hope is absent (as is field repair bot which is unfortunate). This is not accidental, but may not be correct. I want to squeeze in both glimmer AND marksman glous. Glous gives you 8 dudes with 3 power for 2 so that potentially ups your % against varanis for example but giving you the chance to apply early pressure. More importantly it allows you to drop ring turn 4 and still be able to keep it intact from most threats via glimmer.

Point 5 really highlights the big issue with the deck, you really need to combo at the start of turn 5, not start comboing turn 5 (robot + ring). Most aggro decks have put you into a position where you are in burn range if you haven't stabilized (or answered) their threats by turn 4/5.

Paldin affords you other opportunities to stem the tide via armor (tankatronic/berserker bracers), removal (penance) and tons of other options.

Since this is again a 15 story tall wall of text I wanted to point out that www.zappedgiants.com also has a thread going regarding this deck.

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wingedweasel on MWS/Lackey
winged weasel on xbl

Rather than start another thread I figured I'd post here about my experience with the deck at realms.

Overall the deck went 2-1 beating lionar and koo'zar. It feel short against kil'zin. The field was something like 45% fizzlefreeze, 45% kil'zin, the other 10% was random stuff from the aforementioned lionar/koo'zar to obviously renewal of life and other decks that ended up being successful (blood frenzy warrior for example).

First off here is the list. I ended up going with the arena allies plan for a few reasons that I'll explain:

Shalu Stormshatter

4 You, Robot
4 A Donation of Silk
4 The Ring of Blood: the Warmaul Champion
3 A Donation of Mageweave

4 Renewal of Life

4 Short John Mithril
4 Gladiator Addisyn
4 Gladiator Boum
4 Gladiator Zi'mo
3 Rehgar Earthfury
4 Gladiator Dorn
4 Valeera Sanguinar


3 Nea Sunmark
4 Vindicator Kentho
3 Brok Bloodcaller
4 Vexmaster Nar'jo

Sideboard (what it SHOULD have been):
4 Netherbane
4 Aegis of the Vindicator
2 Gladiator Emek

What it was:
2 Netherbane
4 Gladiator Emek
2 Gladiator Kileanna
2 Gladiator Kaniya

The board got screwed up because I forgot cards and couldn't buy everything on site.

Starting with the sideboard and working up:

Netherbane: The biggest problem I found with any version of the deck was warlock. The matchup is pretty much unwinnable and my gameplan was to just hope I wasn't paired against it. I was hoping for a field full of FF and people who were unprepared and playing aggro.Still 4 netherband in testing went a long way to winning since they likely won't see it coming and if you mull for it a turn 1 netherband pretty much seals that game for you. They have a tough time removing it and you just play as aggro slivers...I mean arena allies from there. You would board out the renewals for them.

Aegis: This is because your non-koo'zar aggro matchups are abysmal after game 1. You almost have to win game one to stand a chance. Lionar has smash boarded and kentho will likely never protect a ring (smash in, then actually smash if they are smart). Against kil'zin you can you, robot a ring into play but having extra outs (you instant speed dropping an aegis) helps a lot.

Emek: He is there mostly as an additional way to break blizzard. Plus it provides an additional discard outlet if required + disruption. Really he was there primarily for blizzard.

You'll notice the deck isn't all arena dudes, but it does have plenty of dudes (and a few chicks). The set of brok, nea, nar'jo, and kentho are there to give you resilience. The deck plays like an aggro deck first a combo deck second. You only combo after they expend their options dealing with your rush, hopefully tapping out in the process. There are very few matchups/situations where you try to go combo first (jonas is an example since overkill is a beating).

Vexmaster, and brok are your anti-aggro options. The fact that they have ferocity (look ma, no boum!) is icing. They also give you the ability to combo when it isn't lethal and not risk stupid things happening, such as allowing them to recur water elemental when you don't have addisyn.

Nea is mostly to answer aegis of the vindicator but she also does great things like trade with kazamon, turn off kagella so she can crush her, etc etc. Again, ferocity inherently.

Kentho is a necessary evil. No ferocity, but at 3 power for 2 he hits hard enough plus he protects sorcery speed rings as well as helping you not die to recurred bonechewer behemoths, stops wub's from off-ing boum on the critical turn and many other uses. Unfortunately he can't swing right away but you can't have everything.

The arena allies are all standard except for maybe addisyn. She is your answer to an already on board water elemental and she also conviniently turns off things like shadow word: anguish, a lot of priest discard/removal options (touch of darkness, omens of terror), also she lets you run into a lot of allies with impunity just by naming the appropriate resistance. Blizzard and FF's flip also get eaten by the resistance.

The quests are also relatively standard. Warmaul got the nod over other options since it lets you continue playing your aggro plan while also setting up the combo. I'd like to replace it but I am not sure with what. Of course the donation quests you simply wait until the ring is on the chain. Robot is also a minor evil, but you take what you can get.

I was "forced" into shalu due to a few factors. Shouts, both of the finishing and deafening variety were a problem and of course you also get an additional out to blizzard or spell suppression.

Now for the missing cards:

Grounding totem: This may help make the kil'zin matchup much better but there isn't much to cut for it. Also it doesn't save the ring from cards you need it to (namely smash, but also munkin/yaza and others). It eventually got the axe.

Bonechewer behemoth: At one point this deck was kil'zin (then ringleader kuma, then shalu). The traitor orc lets you have "ferocity". I thougth I had the potential to swing early for some damage then recur 2-3 behemoths to burn them out but it didn't really work out.

Sha'kar: Another kil'zin option since you can flip with the ring on the chain then smash for 4 each. He is still a viable option but again I am not sure what to remove just yet.

Offender Gora: Valeera actually took gora's spot. I had forgotten valeera even existed hence why she wasn't there originally (oops...). However I am not totally satisfied with valeera due to her uniqueness. It hasn't been a big problem, but it potentially could. She also doesn't help you on the critical turn, only the turn before which means your opponent has the opportunity to prepare if they see it coming. A valeera on turn 6 pitching boum will likely give it away. Still valeera gets pumped by zi'mo so she got the nod since valeera + dorn turn 1 into zi'mo turn 3 is pretty nuts (won a game off that at RC).

Other arena allies: Skumm, Mogor, Lo'gosh, Broll, sephiron all had a place at one point. However I found the problem rarely was getting lethal damage off a ring. Basically if a ring went off you won on the spot. Since broll, sephiron, and mogor just smashed or helped others smash they got cut. Lo'gosh would be great against lionar...but unfortunately his protector (which would help as well) is his downfall due to the flip. Skumm got cut since there aren't many locations you care about, potentially eye of the storm but kentho handles that and more.

Seamus somerset: Possible mirror tech since he has ferocity.

As to matchups anyhting not warrior or warlock is winnable. Warrior you have to have some luck (opponent's misplays/poor draws) since they have instant speed answers to the ring and lionar for example just has flat out better dudes than you. Granted you can explode for a ton of damage which is how I won game 1 against my lionar opponent round 1 but it isn't always going to happen.

Warlock is a nightmare without netherbane.

Kil'zin (my loss in the constructed portion) is a problem due to the burn. Koo'zar for example is mostly a bye since you play a war of attrition then win in 1 turn while healing with dorns or resisting their removal/dudes with addisyn. Can't do that against kil'zin due to burn clearing a path.

Any other deck that doesn't have instant speed equipment removal and/or RFG effects is a good to amazing matchup. You play aggro and eventually force them to erxhaust everything to drop weldon on turn 5 (or whatever they stabilize with) and then drop a ring EOT winning on your turn.

Granted all of these matchups are subject to change if your opponent is:

1) Prepared
2) Knows what your plan is

So as time goes on the deck will likely get weaker, but there isn't much time before scourgewar anyway so things will change regardless.

I plan to play this in upcoming constructed events** so I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions. Unfortunately I missed T8 finishing 9th, 4-2 couldn't quite cut it but thems the (tie)breaks. Anyway, the deck is still hilariously fun and relatively competitive.


**check the link for anyone who goes to play in blue bell for the Battlegrounds Gauntlet, it's a great idea put together by Mr. Durkin. 'Grats on the 2nd place finish at realms!

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wingedweasel on MWS/Lackey
winged weasel on xbl

2414797:

996018:

Technically you ready first, then any start of turn effects, as well as any that trigger off a card readying (i.e. Mikael) will get added to the chain when PPP kicks in right before the turn player receives priority.

We're both wrong.  Ready and start of turn effects being added to the chain are simultaneous.

501.1a   As a ready step starts, the turn player readies all physically exhausted cards in play he or she controls. Any modifiers created “as [that turn] starts” are also created simultaneously. None of this uses the chain. Next, a priority window opens. As that window closes, the ready step ends.

Uh, for the record, no I was not. Modifiers that are created as the turns starts are not the same thing as effects that trigger at the start of turn. And I said the both go onto the chain at the same time, but it occurs right before the turn player receive priority.

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No quote for you!