Modern Ragnar (SF Regionals winner)

Oh my goodness,I love it. I absolutely love it! 

5/5!

Great deck indeed, when allied with the AM, this is the best you can push out of it.

5/5

I would have dropped assault squad for one exterminatus or even two. Plus, they're too big to fit in a drop pod and you already have (too) many non-SM units. 

But glad to hear it works for you that way

Suppressive Fires instead of Halos, and thats very nearly the deck I ran last time I played a tourney. Nice.

Glad to see you went Veterans over 10th Company Scouts.

Also glad to see Ragnar can still do well in the Scourge meta, but this looks like a very good anti-DE deck.

In the Ragnar topic you shared a very similar deck idea three weeks ago. The only difference was one copy of Veteran Brother Maxos instead of an Iron Guard Recruits. What made you to make this exchange? Is the one resource cost difference worth losing Maxos's ability?

I noticed in testing that Veteran Brother Maxos wasn't really doing enough for me and I often wished I had another capping unit instead, so I cut him. I think Maxos is much better in Cato/Tau decks thanks to his synergy with Sicarius's Chosen and Ion Rifle.

I noticed in testing that Veteran Brother Maxos wasn't really doing enough for me and I often wished I had another capping unit instead, so I cut him. I think Maxos is much better in Cato/Tau decks thanks to his synergy with Sicarius's Chosen and Ion Rifle.

I understand what you are saying. I also have to say that Maxos is much like additional Drop Pods. Who also are "less good" with Ragnar. Nontheless I do think Maxos still works out in your favour, say over the Sanctioned Psyker. His Command presence is strong and versus DE it's a body you can always rely on. Once DAS and Maxos meet, the battle is usually won.

I'm with you on this, Kingsley.

While Maxos is no doubt a good card, playing SM units in the combat phase often means forgoing command presence that you might otherwise have played, or holding onto Resources that get Raided.

I've also dropped him!

 

While Maxos is no doubt a good card, playing SM units in the combat phase often means forgoing command presence that you might otherwise have played, or holding onto Resources that get Raided.

I can't always agree with you on that. There can be many situations where holding back that TSC or DAS make a world of difference in your opponent over-committing onto a planet, which in turn can "gain you" much more cards as Command struggles might have done. It's a corner case, but Ive had it happen quite a few times.

I've been tinkering with some changes to this deck, but ultimately decided to take it "as is" to yesterday's tourney, and went 3-1, taking the 3rd place. The first two were Eld/DE and an Ork/AM decks, neither of which I've played against.

The wins were against AM, Shadowsun and a Ragnar/Tau deck; the only loss was against another Ragnar/Tau deck, who got luckier with economy draws in the first two turns.

I also made the  mistake of playing the Fang on Ragnar in the first turn, essentially wasting 2 resources, since at the early stages it's not as easy to run into the opposing warlord when there are no obvious planets he may go to.

All the other games I either dominated economically or had enough income (in the case of Tau) to kill off their combat units and turn the tide.

In the end, I scored kills on Shadowsun and the xenofile Ragnar, for the glory of the Emperor.

The economy focus is great here, although I'll probably try to squeeze in some White Scars and maybe a single Maxos, so I can make use of all those units I draw during the command phase - drawing a bunch of pirates and psykers when you need shields or Drop Pods was the prevalent theme in games that dragged on to the later planets.

Do you consider adding any of the new cards into this deck? I am especially curious about a possible White Scar Bikers - Blood Angel Veterans substitution.

Yes, I intend to test White Scars Bikers instead of Blood Angel Veterans and replace the Iron Halos with Crushing Blows (though if Aun'Shi hunt decks are credible I may need to put the Halos back in to defend against Armorbane).

Very intersting deck, as always Kingsley. I agree with nearly all choices and the addition of the bikers and the crushing blows. However why do you choose rogue traders over 10th company scouts? Does the resource difference play a large role?

I've been tinkering with some changes to this deck, but ultimately decided to take it "as is" to yesterday's tourney, and went 3-1, taking the 3rd place. The first two were Eld/DE and an Ork/AM decks, neither of which I've played against.

 

The wins were against AM, Shadowsun and a Ragnar/Tau deck; the only loss was against another Ragnar/Tau deck, who got luckier with economy draws in the first two turns.

I also made the  mistake of playing the Fang on Ragnar in the first turn, essentially wasting 2 resources, since at the early stages it's not as easy to run into the opposing warlord when there are no obvious planets he may go to.

 

All the other games I either dominated economically or had enough income (in the case of Tau) to kill off their combat units and turn the tide.

In the end, I scored kills on Shadowsun and the xenofile Ragnar, for the glory of the Emperor.

 

The economy focus is great here, although I'll probably try to squeeze in some White Scars and maybe a single Maxos, so I can make use of all those units I draw during the command phase - drawing a bunch of pirates and psykers when you need shields or Drop Pods was the prevalent theme in games that dragged on to the later planets.

Good to see that little review. Congrats on the results.

A single Maxos would still be a great idea I think and when not running the Tau allience (because of ECT) I think dropping the Iron Halo's for Know No Fear/Crushing Blow seems like a great idea.

So far Ive also replaced the BAV's with WSB's. The results are interesting! Altough I do want to mention that for Ragnar KNF might be more interesting as Crushing Blow. Allowing you to re-deploy a potential WSB + eventually 2-3 Sentinels seems powerfull to me... Altough Id have to test it more before I can really say it's great.

Cheers,

Very intersting deck, as always Kingsley. I agree with nearly all choices and the addition of the bikers and the crushing blows. However why do you choose rogue traders over 10th company scouts? Does the resource difference play a large role?

I find the resource difference quite helpful, since I no longer have Cato's ability to provide extra resources. I think Cato can afford to run 10th Company Scouts instead of Traders, but Ragnar is better with the Traders for a little resource boost.

I dont think the Traders are needed however but again it's also part personal preference.

One of the hidden synergies that tends to come up in emergent play is that an opponent will often me more hesitant to snipe 1:1 command icon matches with Rogue Traders because of the expectation that you might do the same. Furthermore, once scooped into Ragnar's warlord train, those Rogue Traders prove quite hard to shift.

Even without that, I'd much rather run Rogue Traders than 10th Company Scouts, even out of Cato. The main thing you sacrifice are the Maxos combo and the DPA potential, but if you don't run Maxos, and if you have a decent hit rate with DPA anyway, its unlikely you'll miss that.

One of the hidden synergies that tends to come up in emergent play is that an opponent will often me more hesitant to snipe 1:1 command icon matches with Rogue Traders because of the expectation that you might do the same. Furthermore, once scooped into Ragnar's warlord train, those Rogue Traders prove quite hard to shift.

 

Even without that, I'd much rather run Rogue Traders than 10th Company Scouts, even out of Cato. The main thing you sacrifice are the Maxos combo and the DPA potential, but if you don't run Maxos, and if you have a decent hit rate with DPA anyway, its unlikely you'll miss that.

Id say it still highly depends on what you are aiming for. With a curve that has 40 cards in the 0,1,2 slot and 10 in the 3,4 slot you might find yourself not needing the resources but needing the Combat presence. Which boils down to personal preference.

I feel the difference is to little to actually say pick 1 is better over pick 2 in this case. There are more cards available that synergize with SM cards as Neutral cards (besides Maxos) which in turn can also be worth considering, like Drop Pod Assault, Indomitable, Know No Fear etc.

For sure DPA, Indomitable etc, are not fantastic on the 10th Compagny Scout, but they still are better as being unable to pick a SM unit from DPA or unable to protect the Rogue Trader with Indomitable.

I tested the deck yesterday. It worked very well, however I still have huge problems with the eldar matchup... Any strategies?

I ripped your deck off in terms of command focus for my Straken Stunner deck. Got 3 of Recruits, Psykers and Promotion now.

Then shields and character cost and amounts similar but in AM cards. If it doesn't work, then thanks for nothing.

I tested the deck yesterday. It worked very well, however I still have huge problems with the eldar matchup... Any strategies?

Well, what exactly was your problem? Depending on those cards you can change the strategy.

I still lose the command struggle, in addition i do not really have and answer for the 6 cost eldar unit that comes back with gift of isha...

The best/easiest option I can give you to increase your Command presence is allying with Tau for ECT.

I don't think that adding ECT will increase your command presence. In fact, I think allying with Tau will significantly decrease your command presence, since you will go to only having one two-for-two unit available instead of two.

I don't think that adding ECT will increase your command presence. In fact, I think allying with Tau will significantly decrease your command presence, since you will go to only having one two-for-two unit available instead of two.

Unless you get more Promotions trough ECT, which is it's main goal anyway.