Check in often, as this outline of the meta adjusts after each major event or in recognition of recurring trends in the meta.

THE TRIED AND TRUE --The Gauntlet

AMA – Azarak, Azarak, Morganis. DMF:SF Champion team. Map-reliant by most accounts.

BIG - Bolvar, Irana, and Graccus. Defensive power and offensive versatility with ABC reusability.

Hellcallers -Tripple Hellcallers or Hellcaller/Hellcaller/Arugal designed to win through tick ups.

HHT - Haruka/Haruka/Thangal. The team that spawned all other THX variants.

Killer Kialas -Tripple Magistrix Kiala with the best warlock lockdowns in the meta.

Ogres - Boulderfist Warrior and Crushridge Ogre, lately with Frostsaber Prowler.

THD - Thangal/Haruka/Daxin. DMF:Koln Champion team. 

 

THE HOPEFULLS -- The evolving meta.

Blessing of Shadow - Namrah, Namrah, Savin. An amazing new powerhouse in development.

By The Wave - BTW with Blindloc, Tidehunter, Wavecaller for powerful sea-synergy and magery.

E3 - All three Elementals with two or three Elemental Charge ABCs.

Goblin Fog -Goblin Shredder, Enraged Fire Spirit, and Harvest Golem. Fog of War, Fear Generator, and Group Synergy.

MEX - Up for a lot of discussion of late, taking Moonshadow, Elendril and a caster, typically.

MMP - Moonshadow, Moonshadow and Phadalus for druidic utility and shamanic might.

Nocturnal Madness - Rethilgore and various friends or Rethilgore and Arugal

The SIMs - Savin, Irana, Moonshadow for 1 tick 5 dice Starfires to annoy opponents.

THX - As THD above but with Omedus, Ona, or someone else as the typical 3rd mini.

 

TRIPLETS --Prevelent enough to warrent their own category.

Dizzies – No longer sees much play as trips but has returned to prominance with 1 Elendril and 2 Dizdemonas.

EFSes -- An upstart team that took Koln by surprise, knocking AMA out of the top 8.

Harukas – An extremely high-cost team but one with incredible defense and versatility.

Blindlocs- What's not to love about 3 Flamestriking mages for 12H with 3 Blindlight Murlocs?

Rubies – An explosive team featuring an amazingly good and decently cheap mage.

Mojo Shapers – Totems, Chain Lightnings, hefty physical attacks, and low-low honor.

Timmos – A challenging team with great, explosive physical power if played well.

Cheers!

-teh Sig

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Christopher "Siggie teh Sig" Nugent
Find me on facebook with liiamealone @ yahoo dot com
email me at teh_Sig @yahoo dot com

For this week's minis article contest, I deconstucted a couple teams that employ Bolvar with wildly differing strategies, both hoping to topple Haruka from her virtually unanimous status as the Core Set's best mini.  That orc princess needs to die, Die, DIE, DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE!!! And then she needs to die summore. Twice!  I don't know if they truly have what it takes to topple Haruka, but we can use this thread to really go into details about this match up.

In the other thread we left off talking about BuMP, or what I'll temporarily refer to it as XMP, as we're looking for that third character to solidify the potency Phadalus and Moonshadow.  Boris represented the quintesential character for this group at 5 honor, packing a built in dispel, and fielding a crit that heals, keeping along thematic lines with both Phadalus and Moonshadow.  Coupled with Power Word: Fort and its recharge, he was a powerhouse of low-honor mediocrity. 

The MP portion of XMP are solidly set, as Moonshadow possesses the power to Starfire/Bear Form to take up tanking for the Enlightened One himself.   His secondary ability is what makes him shine through the night, despite the 4 tick cost to activate it, but when he needs to, he _CAN_ get physical with someone.

Potential X candidates for XMP are as follows.

Vindicator Hodoon, providing Pally ABCs and a versatile--if not stellar-- main attack that can deal physical and crit for magical damage.  At 6 honor, he bumps XMP to 17, a highly manageable number.  He would be best packing Flash of Light, Cleanse, and either Blessing of Protection or Blessing of Kings--once players get their hands on one.   He makes everyone's tankability a bit better, and that will consistantly help combat the likes of Harukas--the one figure this party is designed to whittle away at. This old blue boy turns XMP into VaMP, and tell me, who doesn't love bloodsucking leeches that stick around longer than they should by sustaining themselves on the pain and misery of others?

Namrah can do some funky things for this team, and her healing ability again keeps with the thematic elements of having free heals as side effects, enabling XMP to run fewer to no healing ABCs.  her biggest drawback is the 8 honor, bumping XMP to requirements it wasnt initially designed to meet, nor should it have to just to compete.  This girl makes NaMP look more like NOPE.

Dizdemona brings some fascinating things to the table for XMP, turning DaMP into DAMN!! She's hot with 4 range for 6 honor, packs a far from stellar but playable T3R4P5(Magic) attack with a compelling crit.  I look forward to seeing Curse of Agony but believe strongly in Corruption currently.  Again bumping XMP to 17 honor, by packing Fear and Corruption from afar, she can help control the field while sapping the life from pesky Harukas.  As her third ABC, I'd forgo any pets and bring in Death Coil.  It does some awesome things when you need it to, like when you have to keep one of your opponents' minis away from the VP on tick 5 or 10 so you can seal the game.  So far, and this speaks highly to my current love of locks, I like DaMP the best with VaMP a close second but for diferent reasons.

Here's why the team works:  By keeping moderately low honor with survivable characters, you present some challenges to your opponents with devastating magical attacks and synergistic survivability to hold the VP locations.  Even Roria could serve XMP well, namely ramping up the survivability with RaMP.  Her 5 honor keeps the party at an awesome 16, and every crit she gets makes Phadalus' or Moonshadow's physical hits a bit more potent. 

Having lain all of this out there, I'll bring us back to one of my original parties for WoW Minis--team Low Blows, featuring Moonshadow with catform, starfire, and entangling roots, Timmo with Ambush, Sprint, and Cold Blood, and Victoria Jaton with Interven, Mortal Strike, and Execute.  Her attacks were pivitol in this team's success, because a crit with her was like a distract for Timmo and a Cat Formed Moonsahdow, moving a mini away before those two acted, giving them stealth at the start of their turns.  Because she would play Intervene, I'd call XMP with Victoria Jaton JuMP.

HA! All this just to talk about a cute little band that became "the little engine that could."

Phadalus packs Chain Lightning and Purge as knee-jerk reactions, but I'm not sure if he should run Magma Totem, Grounding Totem, Stoneclaw Totem, or Earthshock.  I'm honestly leaning towards Magma Totem, giving XMP yet another tick 5 action. 

Cheers!

-teh Sig

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Christopher "Siggie teh Sig" Nugent
Find me on facebook with liiamealone @ yahoo dot com
email me at teh_Sig @yahoo dot com

I play Moonshadow and Phadalus with Roria from time to time.  I guess you would call it RaMP or maybe RuMP.  It is an enjoyable party to pilot.  The weakness is an average if not low damage output.  This is partly offset by the low honor total.  I always run it with Execute for a cheap kill or two.  If you are able to victory point camp for 4 points you only need 3 kills which is definately in this party's range against most opposing teams.  I haven't played it against H/H/K but I would expect this to be a problem for this team.  I am not sure I would consider RuMP a tier 1 party but it is solid and if you can't beat it regularly than you probably aren't playing a tier 1 party either. I think it would be a good team to test against because of the versatility it brings to the table.

Just wanted to comment on the 'beastie party'.  i have played a team i saved as kitty.kitty.bones, and i play rip to shreds x2 and bestial fury x2 and then 5 priest cards.  maybe i could knock the priest cards down to 4 and put in a cornered, but i don't think i could put 2 cornereds in there.

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Master Tactician and Rexxar...

1684463:

I play Moonshadow and Phadalus with Roria from time to time.  I guess you would call it RaMP or maybe RuMP.  It is an enjoyable party to pilot.  The weakness is an average if not low damage output.  This is partly offset by the low honor total.  I always run it with Execute for a cheap kill or two.  If you are able to victory point camp for 4 points you only need 3 kills which is definately in this party's range against most opposing teams.  I haven't played it against H/H/K but I would expect this to be a problem for this team.  I am not sure I would consider RuMP a tier 1 party but it is solid and if you can't beat it regularly than you probably aren't playing a tier 1 party either. I think it would be a good team to test against because of the versatility it brings to the table.

Yeah, I adore Roria and RaMP/RuMP/RoMP to a point. Her crit is always gravy on top of anything she does with ABCs, but I don't get too excited when it comes to playing another Roria alliance band.  I mean, I love her to death, but no where near as much as Bog Elemental, so it's hard for me constantly sit down with the blue team and unpack her.  She certainly fits the XMP theme of low honor, versatility figures.  She's not super on offense with that 3 for 5 physical, but that's why better characters come at steeper honor costs.

 

2144941:

Just wanted to comment on the 'beastie party'.  i have played a team i saved as kitty.kitty.bones, and i play rip to shreds x2 and bestial fury x2 and then 5 priest cards.  maybe i could knock the priest cards down to 4 and put in a cornered, but i don't think i could put 2 cornereds in there.

Yeah, I can't deny the power of Rip to Shreds, and that card alone certainly makes beasts playable to an extent.  I wonder if we'll get a gorilla pet in april, or maybe a boar, or heck maybe both!

I had a lot of success in playing with Rethilgore, Frostsaber Prowler, and Frostmane Troll, blending the Beasty and Rethy party lines, but I can recall a party that back in december hit this boards touting the power of two prowlers and the troll shaman.

What 5 cards would you run on the Spriest that you have trouble finding room for Cornered?  Cornered is one of--okay there are only three right now--one of the best reasons the beasts are competative against HHT.

Cheers!

-teh Sig

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Christopher "Siggie teh Sig" Nugent
Find me on facebook with liiamealone @ yahoo dot com
email me at teh_Sig @yahoo dot com

There was dispels for GoFeR,
shadow form is obvious,
mind blasts for totems,
SW:P for high armor/resist dudes (haruka),
and psychic scream would prolly be the first to drop.

Cornered wasn't really keeping me alive through another attack and with all the perks of bestial fury i found myself boarding out cornered more and more, so eventually i dropped it.  RtS was always in, it is what made the team playable.

I played a kitty, kitty, hellcaller also, and right now i can't remember why i switched to the priest, but i remember i thought about it a long time...

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Master Tactician and Rexxar...

I would also add Triple Murlocs (Or any other multi-mage threat). I know it isn't necessarily "tier 1", but like the timmos, it is lethal enough that you have to take it seriously and clock some hours against it when you practice.

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My top 8 appearances are limited to bringing good players water and crabs.

Well, with Shadowform, Skeletal Priet and Bleakheart Hellcaller match up in stats, but the priet gets a leg up by one damage.  Having answers to enemy buffs and counters through Dispel Magic might have been what pushed your tecision over the top in favor of Skeletal Priest, but this is where I come back to Frostmane Troll.

His purifiction ability removes debuffs for 1 tick, making for nice plays against Entangling Roots, but Purge is free and recharges, so with the Troll you have cheap, reusable dispells. The troll's Stoneclaw totem doesnt solve all of your problems, but it presents one more threat for your opponents to play around, helping to extend the life of those pesky 1 Armour kitties against their biggest failing.  Perhaps Cornered isn't the answer, but even at the loss of a DoT, maybe the Troll shammy is.

No matter which way you take it, I hope you'll continue to keep us updated on its progress.  I dont know if the kitties can break into tier 1, but I sure like their chances.

Cheers!

-teh Sig

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Christopher "Siggie teh Sig" Nugent
Find me on facebook with liiamealone @ yahoo dot com
email me at teh_Sig @yahoo dot com

1913468:

I would also add Triple Murlocs (Or any other multi-mage threat). I know it isn't necessarily "tier 1", but like the timmos, it is lethal enough that you have to take it seriously and clock some hours against it when you practice.

People still playing the grlgkglrlgerlgelrg guys?

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Christopher "Siggie teh Sig" Nugent
Find me on facebook with liiamealone @ yahoo dot com
email me at teh_Sig @yahoo dot com

I haven't heard much of it here for a while now, but I believe it is just because it is off the radar. The Harukas hurt murlocs bad because one Haruka won't always die to all 3 murlocs attacking it and you can't poly away all the Harukas. That said, the Murlocs have a very deep ABC pool and are very controlling considering it is a 12 point list.

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My top 8 appearances are limited to bringing good players water and crabs.

Yeah, it's hard not to love Three Polymorphs, Three Flamestrikes, and Three Fireblasts or Blink or Counterspell or Ice Barrier or any combination of somethings else for 12 honor.  I do think they play better as a control team and have consistently smashed face against players that just try to rush in and drop successive AOEs on a single tick. 

But, that's why I opted to head up this thread of Minis Gauntlet, hoping to keep it alive and keep it current.   If players are often fielding a team with notable results, I'm sure we can all benefit from hearing about it and considering it for Gauntlet status.

_____________________

On that note, I think the true gauntlet to test with is currently against HHT, Elementals (with or without mechanicals), a Bolvar team, a Fillet Team, a warlocks team, and a Thrall team if a person wants to test his or her deck against a varied field without going nuts playtesting against everything.

Cheers!

-teh Sig

 

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Christopher "Siggie teh Sig" Nugent
Find me on facebook with liiamealone @ yahoo dot com
email me at teh_Sig @yahoo dot com

I like the idea of keeping the list short.  Maybe have a sub-section in the first post that is a top 5 or top 10 teams at the moment.  If you are going with top 10, I would add a tick up team, ogres, and thx to the short list you just made.

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Master Tactician and Rexxar...

2144941:

I like the idea of keeping the list short.  Maybe have a sub-section in the first post that is a top 5 or top 10 teams at the moment.  If you are going with top 10, I would add a tick up team, ogres, and thx to the short list you just made.

I think it's too early to try restricting the potential Tier 1 to just five parties, so I changed the list to reflect the serious, Tried and True contenders jockeying for Tier 1 prominance and listed those parties hoping to cross into the realm of consideration for Tier 1.

DMF:MT solidified HHT's and THX's positions as Tier 1, but enough teams give them good match-ups that it's hard to say they're the only Tier 1 teams.  They're definitely at the top of the minis totem pole, and DMF:SF will only serve to reinforce this or dethrone them.

Cheers!

-teh Sig

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Christopher "Siggie teh Sig" Nugent
Find me on facebook with liiamealone @ yahoo dot com
email me at teh_Sig @yahoo dot com

2144941:

I like the idea of keeping the list short.  Maybe have a sub-section in the first post that is a top 5 or top 10 teams at the moment.  If you are going with top 10, I would add a tick up team, ogres, and thx to the short list you just made.

Keeping the list short doesn't make it a good gauntlet list. A proper gauntlet is a representative sampling of teams/(decks) you are likely to face regardless of whether you think those lists are good or bad. If every jerk in the country is playing triple Mojo Mender Jana despite it being terrible, it should show up on the gauntlet. You may want to stop playing against it once you understand the list, but it should be represented there. Given how balanced this game is for a first set, I'm going to err on the side of more lists rather than fewer.

As for the murlocs, you don't rush in an try to bomb them out because that will get your fragile mages killed. You have to play a very guerrilla-esque game. Don't discount a gauntlet contender because it is bad in the meta of the previous big event.

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My top 8 appearances are limited to bringing good players water and crabs.

A Naga team based around something like Bloodscale Wavecaller and Slitherblade Tidehunter is a very good ranged warband.

 

Being able to reroll 2 attack dice (one from the wavecaller ability and another from High ground) can be real good with attacks such as Flame Strike and Fireblast