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OOE biomass + elites
Submitted by
creepnextdoor
, Mar 06 2016 04:01 PM | Last updated Mar 17 2016 03:39 PM
Sizer and gazgoblin like this
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Tyranids
Aggro Tournament Quality
elite heavy old one eye
Warlord
Order by: NameTypeCost
Total Cards: 0
I built this deck to try out how good/bad biomass sacrifice is. My conclusion: its awesome played at the right time.
You have several options for play here and what you look for in your first hand is heavily dependant on whom you are facing and of course the planet layout.
sometimes dropping a big body +regeneration turn 1 can do wonders and the polluter helps moving that big body around.
biomass sacrifice is still awesome, even just discarding 2 cards helps alot.
Venomthrope Polluter is great if you are playing elites, also very good at hunting warlords with your synapse if you can move a big elite to face someone wanting to kill your synapse.
version 2 changes: -3 prowlers -1 haruspex -1 ravener -3 promotion +2 no mercy +2 calamity +2 sentry +2 consumption
-calamity did a great job of refilling my hand for biomass. also was a great help against aun'shi.
-did not miss the promotions all that much since everything now has at least 1 hammer.
-no mercy did do its job but most of the time the amount of damage you can put out with an elite+hvc makes the no mercy unnecesary.
-sentry is a better 1 resource drop than the prowler due to the hammer did give me a lot of options for turn 1 deploy.
matchups with version 2: ragnar: win. calamity hit him hard, sent 2 sentinels back to his hand and 4 attachments to discard. aun'shi: win. again calamity helped but i dropped a haruspex+regen turn one and he couldnt quite deal with that. cato: win. he played cappers to 4 planets in turn 1 and 2, my first action turn 2 was to play consumption followed by 2 hormogaunts. eldorath: win. he got the first 2 planets because i couldnt take out his wraithguards. i got lucky on planet 3 which was atrox prime, i activated it 2 turns in a row and took out his warlord train, he couldnt recover and conceded. aun'shi: loss. 2 orbital cities turn 1, i had nothing gorzod: loss. went to planet 7, we had a great game where he ended up resource chocking me and i couldnt draw a biomass sacrifice to empty my hand.
Sample Hand:
Total Shields: 0
Average Shields Per Event/Attachment: 0
Total Command: 0
Average Command Per Unit: 0
Have you considered Calamity in a build like this? You can use it to bounce back cheap cappers like Ripper Swarms or your Scything Hormagaunts (which you might want back anyway to reinfest planets) and then it fills your hand back up for a Biomass Sacrifice.
Also I'd consider maybe the Harpy over the Ravener if you're running the Hormagaunts. As it is now, your only benefit to infest is the Dark Cunning. So as it is now, I'd probably go with the Venomthrope. But if you add the Calamity in, then Hormagaunts seems better for the enter play effect and the Harpy to take advantage of the infest.
Also with the Calamity build, maybe drop the genestealer for the Termagant Sentry since it comes with a hammer and you don't want to put promotion on something you're bouncing back to hand. Maybe go down to 2 Promotion since you're really putting it on 3+ cards at that point and your elites have multiple hammers.
Lastly I really think you might want at least 2x No Mercy. In a big unit deck it can be clutch. Especially with the Ymgarl Genestealers hitting for 6.
i had considered calamity but for the initial build but left it out in favor of the promotions. but you're right, i hadn't considered calamity as something working for my handsize. i thought of it as an anti worr tool.
personally i prefer the ravener over the harpy due to the straightening after killing something, which is very possible with the HVC giving armorbane. as for the dark cunning, i like it even without the planet being infested, good tool to use in tandem with the polluter moving a heavy hitter in front of an enemy warlord
no mercy wanted to be in the deck and i will put it in for my next testing.
I always prefer harpy over ravenor or Genestealer, but that's a personal preference.
Your deck seems really event-heavy (and unit-light), but it sounds like that's working out ok?
Out of curiosity: how do you find Consumption? I've never played it as the cost always seemed prohibitive, but I'm wondering if it deserves another look?
- I do like the Harpy, but i do not consistently or even actively aim to infest in this deck, so the harpy would change the way i currently run it.
- The focus in general is on the elites so most deploy resources go to them and the events are there to ensure that they can do their jobs. The first 2 turns are the most important and the strategy will depend on your opponent. Let's say I am facing a swarm (kith, AM in general, snotlings, etc.), in my first hand i will try to get a haruspex or a ravener. haruspex to get some resource back and ravener for when the opponent goes for 1st planet bullying. another option is to let them play their first turn trying to cap all or most planets and i play a calamity or consumption next turn, sure they will have the upper hand in resources and cards but it will screw up their math or future plans.
If I am facing a big guy deck (Shadowsun, chaos elites, gorzod, nazdreg, etc.), I will usually try to get a luking hormogaunt, ripper swarm and volatile pyrovore on the board to either cap or out attack their single big dude.
In a few games I have gone a completely different route because of 1st hand awakening cavern, which is good with anything that hits for 3 damage.
I guess though that the biggest reason why I dare to run so few units is the Polluter, the ability to move a unit from your warlord train is amazing and also very important.
All that said, I have considered removing a couple of the events because they are not pulling their weight. Specifically Dark Cunning and No Mercy. Dark cunning can be good if you have the resources and battle at an infested planet, and No Mercy just hasnt worked for me. Whenever I want to ensure that my damage gets through, the HVC is usually in play.
- Consumption. A friend recently said it's the first card he always puts in his nid decks... Is it useful every game? not really, but when you are being choked by cappers on each planet or single instances of big dudes on your opponents side, its awesome. The way I often play it is after deploying a ripper swarm to the planet where my elite is sitting so as not to sacrifice the big dude. another way is if you are bullying 1st planet and all your troops are at HQ play consumption as your first action. Worst case scenario its a 1-shield card.
This deck is my playstyle (Big units bullying planet 1)
Elite deployed to first planet, WL and Synapse goes out to command snipe, next round you can start with a Consumption because you do not have any units at any planet.
Ever consider a Brood Chamber to steal flying, brutal or ranged? Not mentioning the deploy stall that can help with better Consumption plays.
I really want to like Brood Chamber and on paper it seems great, but in play it's always been a useless card for me because my opponents don't want me to copy a keyword and deploy their guys accordingly. I guess in this deck, being a 1st planet bully, it could work wonders, i'll give that a try this weekend.
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6 Comments
Have you considered Calamity in a build like this? You can use it to bounce back cheap cappers like Ripper Swarms or your Scything Hormagaunts (which you might want back anyway to reinfest planets) and then it fills your hand back up for a Biomass Sacrifice.
Also I'd consider maybe the Harpy over the Ravener if you're running the Hormagaunts. As it is now, your only benefit to infest is the Dark Cunning. So as it is now, I'd probably go with the Venomthrope. But if you add the Calamity in, then Hormagaunts seems better for the enter play effect and the Harpy to take advantage of the infest.
Also with the Calamity build, maybe drop the genestealer for the Termagant Sentry since it comes with a hammer and you don't want to put promotion on something you're bouncing back to hand. Maybe go down to 2 Promotion since you're really putting it on 3+ cards at that point and your elites have multiple hammers.
Lastly I really think you might want at least 2x No Mercy. In a big unit deck it can be clutch. Especially with the Ymgarl Genestealers hitting for 6.
thanks for the comments.
i had considered calamity but for the initial build but left it out in favor of the promotions. but you're right, i hadn't considered calamity as something working for my handsize. i thought of it as an anti worr tool.
personally i prefer the ravener over the harpy due to the straightening after killing something, which is very possible with the HVC giving armorbane. as for the dark cunning, i like it even without the planet being infested, good tool to use in tandem with the polluter moving a heavy hitter in front of an enemy warlord
no mercy wanted to be in the deck and i will put it in for my next testing.
Your deck seems really event-heavy (and unit-light), but it sounds like that's working out ok?
Out of curiosity: how do you find Consumption? I've never played it as the cost always seemed prohibitive, but I'm wondering if it deserves another look?
- I do like the Harpy, but i do not consistently or even actively aim to infest in this deck, so the harpy would change the way i currently run it.
- The focus in general is on the elites so most deploy resources go to them and the events are there to ensure that they can do their jobs. The first 2 turns are the most important and the strategy will depend on your opponent. Let's say I am facing a swarm (kith, AM in general, snotlings, etc.), in my first hand i will try to get a haruspex or a ravener. haruspex to get some resource back and ravener for when the opponent goes for 1st planet bullying. another option is to let them play their first turn trying to cap all or most planets and i play a calamity or consumption next turn, sure they will have the upper hand in resources and cards but it will screw up their math or future plans.
If I am facing a big guy deck (Shadowsun, chaos elites, gorzod, nazdreg, etc.), I will usually try to get a luking hormogaunt, ripper swarm and volatile pyrovore on the board to either cap or out attack their single big dude.
In a few games I have gone a completely different route because of 1st hand awakening cavern, which is good with anything that hits for 3 damage.
I guess though that the biggest reason why I dare to run so few units is the Polluter, the ability to move a unit from your warlord train is amazing and also very important.
All that said, I have considered removing a couple of the events because they are not pulling their weight. Specifically Dark Cunning and No Mercy. Dark cunning can be good if you have the resources and battle at an infested planet, and No Mercy just hasnt worked for me. Whenever I want to ensure that my damage gets through, the HVC is usually in play.
- Consumption. A friend recently said it's the first card he always puts in his nid decks... Is it useful every game? not really, but when you are being choked by cappers on each planet or single instances of big dudes on your opponents side, its awesome. The way I often play it is after deploying a ripper swarm to the planet where my elite is sitting so as not to sacrifice the big dude. another way is if you are bullying 1st planet and all your troops are at HQ play consumption as your first action. Worst case scenario its a 1-shield card.
This deck is my playstyle (Big units bullying planet 1)
Ever consider a Brood Chamber to steal flying, brutal or ranged? Not mentioning the deploy stall that can help with better Consumption plays.
I really want to like Brood Chamber and on paper it seems great, but in play it's always been a useless card for me because my opponents don't want me to copy a keyword and deploy their guys accordingly. I guess in this deck, being a 1st planet bully, it could work wonders, i'll give that a try this weekend.