Shadowsun Ranged

When Descendants of Isha was previewed I played around with almost exactly this build for a little while. Its capable of surprise bloodying and surprise combat wins, but is almost entirely dependent on that Tau'va combo. Best time is when you have command link drone on Shadowsun, and after paying the exhaust cost the effect then readies your warlord.

Don't think you need to use Tau'va for a double strike either: its also dead handy if you're coming in from HQ with some boosted ranged units in tow, then use Tau'va to have a surprise presence during the Ranged Step. 

HMD out for Auxiliary Armour in will help this deck a lot, as HMD has the annoying characteristic of being on your opponent's units while in play. Triple Promotion is also a wise choice for this deck, and this build is one of the few Tau builds where Promotion is better than Recon Drone a lot of the time. If you draw both, don't forget that Limited is bypassed by put into play, so you can always play the Drone and put into play the Promotion. 

Anyway, enough constructiveness. Here comes the criticisms!

1) ADD ECT. Seriously, drop the Void Pirates and put them in instead. A card fetched in the deploy phase is much better than a card in the command phase, even if that bonus is potentially repeatable.

2) Slide down that cost curve. Your four Unique Army unit cards are good cards, for sure, but you're already forced to higher cost curve by your Rangers and Stingwings. If you want halfway decent opening turns, and to be able to afford your Tau'vas, you've got to keep costs down, even if it means leaving out some cards that are normally solid. Now this may sound crazy for Shadowsun (who I am aware is conventionally best run at 31-34 units), but a Tau'va build doesn't want that. Lose the four Uniques and add in 2 Repulsor Impact Fields. No, they're not strong picks for this deck. They don't have to be. They're 2-shielders, and you need those to keep your Rangers and Stingwings and Marksmen alive when someone aims a Zarathur's Flamers or Plaguebeast or Barrage at you. Why not Deception then? Because this deck isn't going to win the deploy delay battle, and isn't command dominant like normal Shadowsun, and because RIField will, in a pinch, let you enable Tau'va, though normally as a put-into-play after you've used it for shields rather than paying the cost.

So wait, I just said drop 4 cards and add 2 in? Right - now add 2 neutral cappers of your choice back in. Me, I'd say Rogue Trader is your friend here. I know thats unconventional, but you  got to have resources around after the command phase to threaten your tricks.

Broadly though, while I love the Tau'va Gunline, it is a deck that has seriously variable performance, and there are much more consistent Shadowsun builds out there that are almost as scary. 

Triple Promotion is also a wise choice for this deck, and this build is one of the few Tau builds where Promotion is better than Recon Drone a lot of the time. If you draw both, don't forget that Limited is bypassed by put into play, so you can always play the Drone and put into play the Promotion. 

Just remember that Shadowsun's ability can only put into play Tau attachments, meaning that she can't help you drop in a Promotion. However, you could always use Y'varn to drop in an extra Recon Drone .... (not that you necessarily should)

1) ADD ECT. Seriously, drop the Void Pirates and put them in instead. A card fetched in the deploy phase is much better than a card in the command phase, even if that bonus is potentially repeatable.

 

I agree completely. I was purposely trying to not include the ECTs as I don't want the card to be an 'auto-include'. We probably all agree that it is for this type of build though

2) Slide down that cost curve. 

If I ever were to take a deck like this to a tournament I'd probably agree with you. For a fun deck I'm definitely keep a higher cost curve and aiming at playing fewer bigger units. 

On a related note I have definitely encountered enough Sowing Chaos in Chaos deck lately that I'm considering more 3 cost units for all my deck. Well done Brad, I guess the meta is changing in the direction you are hoping.

Broadly though, while I love the Tau'va Gunline, it is a deck that has seriously variable performance, and there are much more consistent Shadowsun builds out there that are almost as scary. 

If you want a 'good' Shadowsun build there are definitely options out there that are much more consistent than this deck or perhaps most decks focused on ranged), but then it wouldn't be the same deck

Just remember that Shadowsun's ability can only put into play Tau attachments, meaning that she can't help you drop in a Promotion. However, you could always use Y'varn to drop in an extra Recon Drone .... (not that you necessarily should)

A very good point, which I remember in play and always forget in discussions.