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I've been revising this since Omega first came out, currently have over an 80% win ratio. 1st Place Store championships 5/3, 3rd Place at Regionals 5/7
Warlord
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Total Cards: 0
Been playing Omega throughout the course of the latest cycle, and while he was a threat before the last pack, the new cards have put him over the top. Basic game-plan is to develop a solid command presence while generally avoiding battles at 1st planet until you've developed an overwhelming card/resource advantage. The deck normally starts to threaten on the third turn with a fair amount of planets covered with infest tokens and the resources to swing battles in your favor.
Synapse: Stalking Lictor is my #1 choice for this, I've played with Zoanthrope, SWP and even a few games with the Polluter. You really never have a warlord train so Polluter is rarely utilized, SWP foregoes any command presence for battles, and due to the 'combo' structure of the deck slows you down significantly from digging through the deck fast enough. Zoanthrope runs into a common problem where the 1 hammer won't steal command, and the 1-2 damage will get shielded so again, it has not been as reliable as Lictor in developing board presence.
When deploying command units, always emphasize cards over resources, you need to dig consistently in order to properly develop and the curve is low enough to get by with a lower amount of resources.
When choosing planets for warlord/synapse, take advantage of Omega's 'global' ability by avoiding 1st planet fights to avoid getting bloodied, avoid getting a train and snipe your opponents command units.
Card choices: The amounts will vary depending on what I expect to face so I'll just talk in general about the cards Gene Implantation: This card is ridiculously good, Librarians, Warlock Destructors, all can be yours and the swing cannot be underestimated. Dark Cunning: In addition to Gene Implantation is one of the few combat tricks Tyranids have access to. Obviously best with either of the Ymgarl cards. No Mercy: Because of the low curve/lack of elites, you won't be dealing excess damage very often, dealing exact damage and guaranteeing a kill is very important. Predation: Great explosive potential in combat Spore Burst: mostly used as 2-shield Sudden Adaptation: Interesting card but skips all the 'deploy' benefits because it puts a card directly into play, found it to be lackluster.
Nesting Chamber vs. Spore Chimney - I was running 3x Spore Chimney for the longest time, recently switched to 2x Nesting Chamber and haven't noticed a huge difference between the two. Not a huge amount of games with the chamber as it's so new so I'll update as I go.
3x of all genestealers save Ymgarl which is a 2x. Don't fall into the trap of ambushing every genestealer in your hand, deploy them as normal if it will help solidify your command presence. Invasive to kill a Biel-Tan, or pirate/trader is a good play, you don't always need to save them for combat. Also with Nesting Chamber, deploying them is basically mandatory. The Hunter Gargoyle helps delay your command phase and, in the late game is the perfect way to initiate a fight. The explosive power this deck can output on an infested planet needs to be respected by your opponent and I will routinely fly the gargoyle to whatever planet the enemy warlord went to to get him to either retreat as 1st action or swing into a 2/1 and thus let me control the flow of battle with ambushing units.
I regularly run this through a gauntlet of Kith/Cato/Worr/Eldorath with startlingly positive results. I firmly believe that Omega is among the Tier 1 decks currently and is poised to continue to place highly in more and more tournaments.
Sample Hand:
Total Shields: 0
Average Shields Per Event/Attachment: 0
Total Command: 0
Average Command Per Unit: 0
very interesting deck. Not much different from my Approach but I always have the problem not having enough infested planets. maybe 3 x Predation is a must...
Don't you miss Pyrovores? So strong units throughout the game, and good targets for the Sporeburst. Also the omission of the Termagant sentry had any impact on your command game? When the new pack gets uploaded on OCTGN I would like to give a try to the Devourer Venomthrope, do you have any experience with them? or the infest is still not consistent enough.
I like it. Looks similar to the place I want to get my Omega deck to once I get my hands on Final Gambit.
I agree about Sudden Adaptation: When it was first spoiled I was overjoyed at having a new combat trick at last, but in practice it just hasn't lived up to my expectations.
To me the most surprising thing about your deck, as someone else just posted, is the lack of Termagant Sentries. Given that you are running 6x zero hammer units, was this a problem?
It stands to reason of course that you have no capacity for Clogged with Corpses as a result of the above, but with so many Worr decks and Eldorath Vehicle decks seemingly running around at the moment, was this also an issue for you?
Figured I should also post the different deck lists I'd settled on:
Store Championship deck had +2 Sudden Adaptation, +3 Spore Chimney, +1 Spore Burst, +3 Heavy Venom Cannon, +2 Regeneration, -2 No Mercy, -3 Ymgarl Factor, -3 Genestealer Harvester, -2 Nesting Chamber, -1 Hunter Gargoyles.
Beat Worr, Cato, then Nazdreg
Was using the 'new' Sudden Adaptation out with Regeneration for a while, cut them due to lack of synergy and targets, this deck was heavy with 2-shields which was very strong in my meta.
Beat Nazdreg, lost to Eldorath, beat Mavros, beat Cato, after cut to top 8 I beat a different Cato, then lost to the same Eldorath.
The wins were very convincing save for the penultimate Cato in which both Cato and I were bloodied. The deck swims in resources due to the low curve and the plethora of 2-shields really stopped a lot of combat tricks that SM have. The Eldorath player beat me twice, due to the power of their command and Eldorath's ability to move planets and exhaust key units to stave of infest (Venomthrope). Couldn't develop fast enough and although I wasn't choked out, I definitely wasn't able to threaten those critical battles enough to push through the Eldar/Dark Eldar combat tricks when it came down to it.
@HidaHonk - Hormagaunts and Spore Sacs will generally go to the first 1-3 planets while Venomthrope sits on 4-5, and with 1 'middle' planet infested it is much easier to spread out horizontally at your own pace with predation if necessary. One of the issues I originally had with Nesting vs. Spore was not having the flexibility to infest 1st planet without any commitment, JUST to threaten that I MIGHT go their. Nesting requires a bit more support to get up and-running but in my recent testing as you can see I've actually reduced my infest engine by 1x card as I felt I had too many 'dead' infest cards in my hand due to the card draw.
@Szatom - Pyrovore and Spore Burst was in very early but as more and more genestealers got released I ended up cutting them over the Gargoyles. I cut them due to believing heavily that ambushing in combat units was the proper way to play Omega and that has worked out well for me. Great card and it could definitely get put back in the deck in the future. I have not regretted cutting the Sentry and do not feel like my command has suffered at all, I've had multiple games where I've drawn through the entirety of my deck and have 11-15 resources due to the strong command game that a warlord with no train and the lictor can provide. Also the overall curve is so low that paying the extra resource for a 2 drop command card hasn't significantly negatively impacted the deck either. Devourer is an expensive card that didn't offer a significant return for me, 4 resources gone in the deploy phase to exhaust a non-elite was mostly terrible and often was 'win-more' when it came down to it. The damage that an ambushed Ymgarl can put out cemented his slot as my 5-drop, venomthrope didn't bring that same output to earn a 4-slot. As mentioned above, the infest has 99% been consistent and I've actually trimmed the package down due to having too many infest cards near the end.
@Caldera Totally what I felt like "I get to replay everything!!" but in practice i've only used it to take back an invasive and then replay it to kill a unit. 2 resources in addition to having to pay for the unit that I actually wanted to play was not worth it. It works amazingly with Pyrovore's however, a lot of nice plays can come from swapping Invasive with a Pyrovore when the opponent has priority. Termagant Sentry was covered above but although everyone generally agrees that he should be auto-included, I've found him not needed in this build. Clogged with Corpses saw a few games when I was trying the Tervigon as my Synapse, but it was so hard to get up and running and the criteria needed to get it online was a bit strangling in practice.
One thing I didn't mention at all above is the importance of the action windows and priority. Read the turn structure again if you're not familiar with when/where action windows are and how initiative will effect how those play out. One game my opponent passed priority and I was able to sacrifice the Spore Sac to infest the planet when he had clearly intended to Archon's Terror it but just forgot. You can 'bait' out many combat tricks by paying attention to the order in which you ambush in genestealers and by sticking to the rule in which if both players pass, the action window closes.
I think Sudden Adaptation is really better in an elites deck. You get much more value out of it when swapping large creature. I think Dark a Cunning is better as well out of Omega.
I like this build a lot. I might drop 1x Prowler to get down to 50, but that's because I'm anal like that.
Have you found the lower number of hammers to be an issue? No promotions, Termagant Sentry, or Tyranid Warriors. I suppose as you say you can play command with both your synapse and warlord.
@Sizer Command isn't really a problem for 4 reasons,
1, Invasive kills the X/1 cappers, gives you card advantage and if deployed correctly will then take the planet in command phase. Also Virulent can neutralize planets if you can only tie on hammers and then blow up to kill the X/1 and infest
2. the 2 hammer cappers paired with the lower curve means that you can play more guys if you really need to to push through their hammers
3. With the ambushing at infested planets, honestly you can bully their warlord in what planets they feel safe committing too.
4. Because Omega plays with no warlord train he will always snipe a unit and/or combo with nesting to infest.
Also the deck is 50 cards, just the inclusion of the Synapse unit puts it at 51
Thanks for the comments! I love it and will definitely be giving it a few goes. Sorry about not noticing the synapse. I always forget the deck builder includes it!
I'm really happy to see you having succes with the deck, because it is really close to my own iteration that I have yet to test (because OCTGN doesn't have the damn images yet!). My main difference is that I have Volatile Pyrovores instead of the Hunter Gargoyles. Omega has been fun warlord to pilot and only my non-great succes in the Craftworld League with the pre-Gambit cards derived me from playing him more.
I am happy to see an Omega deck featuring Hunter Gargoyle. It's an unit that I've been trying to squeeze into my Omega deck to no avail. Yes it's cheap and got a nifty ability, but it's also got no command hammer just like Prowler so I am hesitant about it. Not having Volatile Pyrovores is also a concern because it's the best first planet bully that Nids have. I wonder if it's enough to have just the Genestealers do the bullying, particularly Invasive? Can you shed light on how you usually win a battle without a beefy units to soak up the damage?
@Dietzen - The list above is what I'm currently planning on playing this Saturday for Dallas Regionals. I will update it if I make any changes before the tournament
@Ultramarine - No problem, as mentioned above, the deck is a combo deck in that you need several pieces in place in order to bring the engine online. With that being said, around turn 3 is when I look to swing the game back in my favor and then close out the game. This can of course be an issue if the first 3 planets are the same color because you just might not get the pieces in place to turn the momentum around. How I've had success with the list is to wait for my initiative on 1st planet, and determine how many exhausted units will be present versus ready threats. Virulent Spore Sac is one of the best ways to start a fight because the 1 damage puts many units down to 3 toughness or lower which allows you to set up an Invasive or Brood kill. The Ymgarl cards can allow you to bring in a tank, however I've not played them that way and relied on their ability to output insane amounts of damage to turn battles. Ymgarl Genestealer/Ymgarl Factor ambushed in swinging for 6 at the Warlord with Dark Cunning and No Mercy backup is a play that again, has to be respected.
tl;dr I don't run a tank and sculpt the engagement on a planet where I have initiative to deal with units in the manner I need too.
Side note, People have been mentioning my lack of command hammers a lot in the comments above however I continue to find success with the 'lower' amount that I run. (Obviously, it's a card game with randomness and luck and every player is of different skill) But, last night I played and won against Kith three times in which two of those games opened with Archons Palace turn 1, and even through the choke, around turn 3 I was able to bring the game under control and found no issues with winning command for the rest of the game.
@Zygart I like the deck but I've not used Ymgarl Factor yet because it seems like such an expensive utility. Ymgarl Genestealer can already swing for 6 potentially. Toxin Sac is already in the deck and fills a similar function. Can you talk a bit about your experience with the card. Is that spike damage needed often? In my mind it's competing with Regeneration and Heavy Venom Cannon for a slot, which are both very useful cards. I guess the ambush potential in Omega will justify the price since you won't risk losing the unit before it get's a chance to swing.
Also do you think it's feasible to remove the infest support cards altogether and put something like Noxious Fleshborer in the deck to increase the unit count that can infest planets while adding a secondary utility? How often do you lean on Nesting Chamber or Spore Chimney?
Add: After playing the deck once I'm starting to understand the power of Ymgarl Factor in Omega. I guess I didn't realize that this really was a combo deck and once all the pieces fall into place it's extremely powerful.
@sikaka You can use Ymgarl Factor's ability ALL THE TIMES!!!
@philomaster I leaned away from Regeneration and HVC as I was quite literally only using them for their shields, because I went heavily into the ambush/infest play style and am not running Pyrovore I never actually had a target for HVC or Regeneration. Maybe one out of every 5 games would I actually play it as an attachment so I ended up cutting them when Ymgarl Factor came out. After some play testing as you'll see from the Regionals list, I noticed that I didn't want to use Ymgarl Factor as a shield because of how good the card was and added in some more 2 shields. Putting Ymgarl Factor on a Hunter Gargoyle with multiple planets infested is such a threatening play.
I tried Noxious for 3 games and really didn't like how transparent my commit phase was playing out. Plus again, I leaned into ambush so it was a bit awkward to make it work. Also Nesting Chamber vs. Spore Chimney, I am leaning more and more back into Spore Chimney, I keep feeling like Nesting isn't giving me the freedom I want. 1 vs. 2 resources is negligible in my opinion and then having to deploy to the planet I want to infest was just leading me to have to make worse and worse commitments with my warlord. As of last night I've removed 1 Hunter Gargoyle and added 3x Spore Chimney's back in. Still tweaking the numbers but I feel Spore is the better support to run in this deck and I feel that Spore is a necessity.
Glad that you got the chance to play around with it a bit and that it was giving you good results. I think this warlord has been glossed over but he's definitely earned a slot near the top.
Declaring 80% win ratio is somewhat funny since some of the cards you are using have been around for like 2 weeks max. What is even funnier is that you say you win commands easily and you are swimming in resources. I am really curious about the state of the meta in your community. with the list you have i can see some really strong plays but overall it is inconsistent and i am pretty sure that it is far away from 80% win ratio. Off-course it's all about your meta. Saying that tyranids with Omega is tier 1 atm os somewhat disturbing to a player like me who is being playing nids from day one non stop in small and big events. Tier 1 means consistency and i am sure that Omega lacks that big time. Infestation atm is on it's own really inconsistent plus every infest card you have at your disposal is more or less a bad card overall. Sure you will make some strong plays now and then , and when playing in local tournaments with your friends you might actually win some also but again mate 80% ratio is nowhere near where Tyranids and especially Omega is atm. I am happy that people are giving nids a shot but it would be proper not to mislead other players with strong statements with out full report backups. I hope i wasn't too offensive , keep up the good work and prove me wrong!!
tried this today and worked really well. Had some trouble finding right place/time to play Harvesters, but otherwise looked solid. Never been a fan of the Gargoyles in Old One Eye, but works really well here, both as quasi-ambush and warlord exhaustion-bait. Will test some more, but like it so far. Only change I will make for now is up the No Mercy to 3 and take Dark Cunning down by one. No Mercy is almost always usable when playing Lictor where Dark Cunning (while very strong) isn't.
I really want to run Regeneration to add some staying power to the 2 hp Genestealers, which in turn can lead to enemy warlord exhaustion, but it's going to be hard cutting anything for them.
I played the deck at the weekend in a store tournament and it collapsed against space marines where i was simply out-gunned in 2 games losing the first 3 planets in a row. They only need a meat shield combo of a Warlord + Honoured Librarian or Blood Angel veteran and the Genestealers simply didn't have the HP to soak up damage and not enough shields to survive. I made some changes to the deck and it ran far far better against Marines and against Eldorath. I did not have an issue infesting planets so i cut the Nesting Chamber. I also found that you didn't see the one digestion pool enough to make it viable. Either run 3 to ensure you get use from it or dont bother. I didnt bother and that gave me enough space to run 3 x regeneration. For one cost having it out on a unit on planet one gave me the sustain to be able to outlast my opponents at a planet where there is a battle. I also cut the Spawning Pool. Yes 2 shields is nice but id rather have cards that win me the game without worrying about shields and its an almost dead card draw a lot of the time, I added in an extra No Mercy and the Ymgarl Genestealer. I had no problem winning command and getting 5 resources and ambushing this in won me a game against Broderick Worr by Assassinating him. That extra power tipped nearly every battle it landed in once i had changed the deck around. I suspect the Genestealer deck might be up there as a viable tournament deck but it needs to perhaps give it self a little bit more HPs to be able to sustain in a fight against some of the other deck types out there.
Made a few changes to the list for the DFW regionals this past weekend. I tried -3 Hunter Gargoyles, -2 Nesting Chamber, +3 Spore Chimney, +1 Spore Burst, +1 Digestion Pool. Lost two games against Eldorath again which placed me in 7th. Biggest changes were moving away from Nesting Chamber and Hunter Gargoyle. With Nesting, I just don't like the way this card infests planets, it requires a lot to get up and running and hasn't been consistent enough for me, and Gargoyle, I felt that I could pressure properly without the 2/1 moving between planets and save some card slots for other needs. The two loses against Eldorath played out much differently than the prior two games in that I felt I had a much better grasp on command throughout the game but (being as neutral and unbiased as possible) even my opponents agreed that very few planets with +1 or +2 cards showed up. Without drawing deep and keeping multiple threats ready, you can't hope to punch through the cost effective Eldar units drawing 2 cards a turn.
@Desseas 80% came from my notes on each match I played with the deck as of 5/10. The DFW meta is all I know, (that and OCTGN) and with 7/8 of us placing in top 8 and all 4 top 4 slots taken by us at the Team Covenant Tulsa Regional I'd say we're pretty competitive. Since this is a card game, there are varying elements of variance, luck, skill, in every game player and you are correct in that the 80% and Tier 1 status probably shouldn't be on the titles and in declarations because they are hard to quantify, but, I am indeed experiencing great success with this list and have great match ups against Kith, Worr, Cato, and Mavros so I do feel that it is very well positioned to continue to win and consistently place top 8.
@palpster I play the harvesters mostly in the Deploy phase. Ideally, that planet has been infested and there are 1-2 other bodies on that planet. Definitely give me feedback on the change you made, as I might have to try the same . Regeneration, great card, but at least with the build I've settled on rarely found a target. It does provide some staying power and would've definitely been a boon in the Eldar matchup since challenging 3-4 toughness early on without the engine up is quite hard.
@martinsmudge Sorry you had trouble with the list originally but I'm glad with a few changes you had much better success. Space marines are actually one of my easiest matches. But they definitely can (if the planets flop that way) take the first three without you being able to challenge consistently. I agree Spore Burst is a dead card in most cases, just about the only target I'll recur is a Virulent Spore Sac late into the game to guarantee a win at a planet. I'll try a list with 3x Regeneration and 3x Pyrovore and see if that provides the HP to sustain fights as well as helps to stave off the early win your opponent can get.
I did try the Pyrovore. Its good but it came down to adding in extra consistency for the other cards that i just couldnt find the room for them. It was thus a toss up between the Regeneration and the Pyrovore and the flexibility of the Regeneration won out.
I am testing a similar build at the moment. The thing is that the game-play of the deck is somewhat different from what tyranids tried to do up to now.
Stacking harvesters seems to be working even if you need to go there with warlord and ensure the resources. Spore chimney seems expensive to me, i am testing with the new support but only 2 copies and added a third no mercy. In my opinion no mercy is the strongest event tyranids have access to.
I still don't know if 80% win ratio is what this deck can do since it depends of the local meta. In my country Kith is rising and causes a lot of trouble to tyranids.I would love to read a more detailed plan vs T1 decks like worr kith and ragnar - SM in general. I will test during the next 3 weeks to prepare for regionals and will report with the regionals outcome. And hell you never know maybe Jungles of nectavus will give something broken to nids!!!
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very interesting deck. Not much different from my Approach but I always have the problem not having enough infested planets. maybe 3 x Predation is a must...
Don't you miss Pyrovores? So strong units throughout the game, and good targets for the Sporeburst. Also the omission of the Termagant sentry had any impact on your command game? When the new pack gets uploaded on OCTGN I would like to give a try to the Devourer Venomthrope, do you have any experience with them? or the infest is still not consistent enough.
Figured I should also post the different deck lists I'd settled on:
Store Championship deck had +2 Sudden Adaptation, +3 Spore Chimney, +1 Spore Burst, +3 Heavy Venom Cannon, +2 Regeneration, -2 No Mercy, -3 Ymgarl Factor, -3 Genestealer Harvester, -2 Nesting Chamber, -1 Hunter Gargoyles.
Beat Worr, Cato, then Nazdreg
Was using the 'new' Sudden Adaptation out with Regeneration for a while, cut them due to lack of synergy and targets, this deck was heavy with 2-shields which was very strong in my meta.
Regionals deck had: -2 No Mercy, -2 Nesting Chamber, -3 Hunter Gargoyles, +3 Heavy Venom Cannon, +3 Spore Chimney, +1 Spore Burst.
Beat Nazdreg, lost to Eldorath, beat Mavros, beat Cato, after cut to top 8 I beat a different Cato, then lost to the same Eldorath.
The wins were very convincing save for the penultimate Cato in which both Cato and I were bloodied. The deck swims in resources due to the low curve and the plethora of 2-shields really stopped a lot of combat tricks that SM have. The Eldorath player beat me twice, due to the power of their command and Eldorath's ability to move planets and exhaust key units to stave of infest (Venomthrope). Couldn't develop fast enough and although I wasn't choked out, I definitely wasn't able to threaten those critical battles enough to push through the Eldar/Dark Eldar combat tricks when it came down to it.
@HidaHonk - Hormagaunts and Spore Sacs will generally go to the first 1-3 planets while Venomthrope sits on 4-5, and with 1 'middle' planet infested it is much easier to spread out horizontally at your own pace with predation if necessary. One of the issues I originally had with Nesting vs. Spore was not having the flexibility to infest 1st planet without any commitment, JUST to threaten that I MIGHT go their. Nesting requires a bit more support to get up and-running but in my recent testing as you can see I've actually reduced my infest engine by 1x card as I felt I had too many 'dead' infest cards in my hand due to the card draw.
@Szatom - Pyrovore and Spore Burst was in very early but as more and more genestealers got released I ended up cutting them over the Gargoyles. I cut them due to believing heavily that ambushing in combat units was the proper way to play Omega and that has worked out well for me. Great card and it could definitely get put back in the deck in the future. I have not regretted cutting the Sentry and do not feel like my command has suffered at all, I've had multiple games where I've drawn through the entirety of my deck and have 11-15 resources due to the strong command game that a warlord with no train and the lictor can provide. Also the overall curve is so low that paying the extra resource for a 2 drop command card hasn't significantly negatively impacted the deck either. Devourer is an expensive card that didn't offer a significant return for me, 4 resources gone in the deploy phase to exhaust a non-elite was mostly terrible and often was 'win-more' when it came down to it. The damage that an ambushed Ymgarl can put out cemented his slot as my 5-drop, venomthrope didn't bring that same output to earn a 4-slot. As mentioned above, the infest has 99% been consistent and I've actually trimmed the package down due to having too many infest cards near the end.
@Caldera Totally what I felt like
"I get to replay everything!!" but in practice i've only used it to take back an invasive and then replay it to kill a unit. 2 resources in addition to having to pay for the unit that I actually wanted to play was not worth it. It works amazingly with Pyrovore's however, a lot of nice plays can come from swapping Invasive with a Pyrovore when the opponent has priority. Termagant Sentry was covered above but although everyone generally agrees that he should be auto-included, I've found him not needed in this build. Clogged with Corpses saw a few games when I was trying the Tervigon as my Synapse, but it was so hard to get up and running and the criteria needed to get it online was a bit strangling in practice.
One thing I didn't mention at all above is the importance of the action windows and priority. Read the turn structure again if you're not familiar with when/where action windows are and how initiative will effect how those play out. One game my opponent passed priority and I was able to sacrifice the Spore Sac to infest the planet when he had clearly intended to Archon's Terror it but just forgot. You can 'bait' out many combat tricks by paying attention to the order in which you ambush in genestealers and by sticking to the rule in which if both players pass, the action window closes.
@Sizer Command isn't really a problem for 4 reasons,
1, Invasive kills the X/1 cappers, gives you card advantage and if deployed correctly will then take the planet in command phase. Also Virulent can neutralize planets if you can only tie on hammers and then blow up to kill the X/1 and infest
2. the 2 hammer cappers paired with the lower curve means that you can play more guys if you really need to to push through their hammers
3. With the ambushing at infested planets, honestly you can bully their warlord in what planets they feel safe committing too.
4. Because Omega plays with no warlord train he will always snipe a unit and/or combo with nesting to infest.
Also the deck is 50 cards, just the inclusion of the Synapse unit puts it at 51
I'm really happy to see you having succes with the deck, because it is really close to my own iteration that I have yet to test (because OCTGN doesn't have the damn images yet!). My main difference is that I have Volatile Pyrovores instead of the Hunter Gargoyles. Omega has been fun warlord to pilot and only my non-great succes in the Craftworld League with the pre-Gambit cards derived me from playing him more.
I am happy to see an Omega deck featuring Hunter Gargoyle. It's an unit that I've been trying to squeeze into my Omega deck to no avail. Yes it's cheap and got a nifty ability, but it's also got no command hammer just like Prowler so I am hesitant about it. Not having Volatile Pyrovores is also a concern because it's the best first planet bully that Nids have. I wonder if it's enough to have just the Genestealers do the bullying, particularly Invasive? Can you shed light on how you usually win a battle without a beefy units to soak up the damage?
@Dietzen - The list above is what I'm currently planning on playing this Saturday for Dallas Regionals. I will update it if I make any changes before the tournament
@Ultramarine - No problem, as mentioned above, the deck is a combo deck in that you need several pieces in place in order to bring the engine online. With that being said, around turn 3 is when I look to swing the game back in my favor and then close out the game. This can of course be an issue if the first 3 planets are the same color because you just might not get the pieces in place to turn the momentum around. How I've had success with the list is to wait for my initiative on 1st planet, and determine how many exhausted units will be present versus ready threats. Virulent Spore Sac is one of the best ways to start a fight because the 1 damage puts many units down to 3 toughness or lower which allows you to set up an Invasive or Brood kill. The Ymgarl cards can allow you to bring in a tank, however I've not played them that way and relied on their ability to output insane amounts of damage to turn battles. Ymgarl Genestealer/Ymgarl Factor ambushed in swinging for 6 at the Warlord with Dark Cunning and No Mercy backup is a play that again, has to be respected.
tl;dr I don't run a tank and sculpt the engagement on a planet where I have initiative to deal with units in the manner I need too.
Side note, People have been mentioning my lack of command hammers a lot in the comments above however I continue to find success with the 'lower' amount that I run. (Obviously, it's a card game with randomness and luck and every player is of different skill) But, last night I played and won against Kith three times in which two of those games opened with Archons Palace turn 1, and even through the choke, around turn 3 I was able to bring the game under control and found no issues with winning command for the rest of the game.
@Zygart I like the deck but I've not used Ymgarl Factor yet because it seems like such an expensive utility. Ymgarl Genestealer can already swing for 6 potentially. Toxin Sac is already in the deck and fills a similar function. Can you talk a bit about your experience with the card. Is that spike damage needed often? In my mind it's competing with Regeneration and Heavy Venom Cannon for a slot, which are both very useful cards. I guess the ambush potential in Omega will justify the price since you won't risk losing the unit before it get's a chance to swing.
Also do you think it's feasible to remove the infest support cards altogether and put something like Noxious Fleshborer in the deck to increase the unit count that can infest planets while adding a secondary utility? How often do you lean on Nesting Chamber or Spore Chimney?
Add: After playing the deck once I'm starting to understand the power of Ymgarl Factor in Omega. I guess I didn't realize that this really was a combo deck and once all the pieces fall into place it's extremely powerful.
@sikaka You can use Ymgarl Factor's ability ALL THE TIMES!!!
@philomaster I leaned away from Regeneration and HVC as I was quite literally only using them for their shields, because I went heavily into the ambush/infest play style and am not running Pyrovore I never actually had a target for HVC or Regeneration. Maybe one out of every 5 games would I actually play it as an attachment so I ended up cutting them when Ymgarl Factor came out. After some play testing as you'll see from the Regionals list, I noticed that I didn't want to use Ymgarl Factor as a shield because of how good the card was and added in some more 2 shields. Putting Ymgarl Factor on a Hunter Gargoyle with multiple planets infested is such a threatening play.
I tried Noxious for 3 games and really didn't like how transparent my commit phase was playing out. Plus again, I leaned into ambush so it was a bit awkward to make it work. Also Nesting Chamber vs. Spore Chimney, I am leaning more and more back into Spore Chimney, I keep feeling like Nesting isn't giving me the freedom I want. 1 vs. 2 resources is negligible in my opinion and then having to deploy to the planet I want to infest was just leading me to have to make worse and worse commitments with my warlord. As of last night I've removed 1 Hunter Gargoyle and added 3x Spore Chimney's back in. Still tweaking the numbers but I feel Spore is the better support to run in this deck and I feel that Spore is a necessity.
Glad that you got the chance to play around with it a bit and that it was giving you good results. I think this warlord has been glossed over but he's definitely earned a slot near the top.
Declaring 80% win ratio is somewhat funny since some of the cards you are using have been around for like 2 weeks max. What is even funnier is that you say you win commands easily and you are swimming in resources. I am really curious about the state of the meta in your community. with the list you have i can see some really strong plays but overall it is inconsistent and i am pretty sure that it is far away from 80% win ratio. Off-course it's all about your meta. Saying that tyranids with Omega is tier 1 atm os somewhat disturbing to a player like me who is being playing nids from day one non stop in small and big events. Tier 1 means consistency and i am sure that Omega lacks that big time. Infestation atm is on it's own really inconsistent plus every infest card you have at your disposal is more or less a bad card overall. Sure you will make some strong plays now and then , and when playing in local tournaments with your friends you might actually win some also but again mate 80% ratio is nowhere near where Tyranids and especially Omega is atm. I am happy that people are giving nids a shot but it would be proper not to mislead other players with strong statements with out full report backups. I hope i wasn't too offensive , keep up the good work and prove me wrong!!
I played the deck at the weekend in a store tournament and it collapsed against space marines where i was simply out-gunned in 2 games losing the first 3 planets in a row. They only need a meat shield combo of a Warlord + Honoured Librarian or Blood Angel veteran and the Genestealers simply didn't have the HP to soak up damage and not enough shields to survive. I made some changes to the deck and it ran far far better against Marines and against Eldorath. I did not have an issue infesting planets so i cut the Nesting Chamber. I also found that you didn't see the one digestion pool enough to make it viable. Either run 3 to ensure you get use from it or dont bother. I didnt bother and that gave me enough space to run 3 x regeneration. For one cost having it out on a unit on planet one gave me the sustain to be able to outlast my opponents at a planet where there is a battle. I also cut the Spawning Pool. Yes 2 shields is nice but id rather have cards that win me the game without worrying about shields and its an almost dead card draw a lot of the time, I added in an extra No Mercy and the Ymgarl Genestealer. I had no problem winning command and getting 5 resources and ambushing this in won me a game against Broderick Worr by Assassinating him. That extra power tipped nearly every battle it landed in once i had changed the deck around. I suspect the Genestealer deck might be up there as a viable tournament deck but it needs to perhaps give it self a little bit more HPs to be able to sustain in a fight against some of the other deck types out there.
Made a few changes to the list for the DFW regionals this past weekend. I tried -3 Hunter Gargoyles, -2 Nesting Chamber, +3 Spore Chimney, +1 Spore Burst, +1 Digestion Pool. Lost two games against Eldorath again which placed me in 7th. Biggest changes were moving away from Nesting Chamber and Hunter Gargoyle. With Nesting, I just don't like the way this card infests planets, it requires a lot to get up and running and hasn't been consistent enough for me, and Gargoyle, I felt that I could pressure properly without the 2/1 moving between planets and save some card slots for other needs. The two loses against Eldorath played out much differently than the prior two games in that I felt I had a much better grasp on command throughout the game but (being as neutral and unbiased as possible) even my opponents agreed that very few planets with +1 or +2 cards showed up. Without drawing deep and keeping multiple threats ready, you can't hope to punch through the cost effective Eldar units drawing 2 cards a turn.
@Desseas 80% came from my notes on each match I played with the deck as of 5/10. The DFW meta is all I know, (that and OCTGN) and with 7/8 of us placing in top 8 and all 4 top 4 slots taken by us at the Team Covenant Tulsa Regional I'd say we're pretty competitive. Since this is a card game, there are varying elements of variance, luck, skill, in every game player and you are correct in that the 80% and Tier 1 status probably shouldn't be on the titles and in declarations because they are hard to quantify, but, I am indeed experiencing great success with this list and have great match ups against Kith, Worr, Cato, and Mavros so I do feel that it is very well positioned to continue to win and consistently place top 8.
@palpster I play the harvesters mostly in the Deploy phase. Ideally, that planet has been infested and there are 1-2 other bodies on that planet. Definitely give me feedback on the change you made, as I might have to try the same
. Regeneration, great card, but at least with the build I've settled on rarely found a target. It does provide some staying power and would've definitely been a boon in the Eldar matchup since challenging 3-4 toughness early on without the engine up is quite hard.
@martinsmudge Sorry you had trouble with the list originally but I'm glad with a few changes you had much better success. Space marines are actually one of my easiest matches. But they definitely can (if the planets flop that way) take the first three without you being able to challenge consistently. I agree Spore Burst is a dead card in most cases, just about the only target I'll recur is a Virulent Spore Sac late into the game to guarantee a win at a planet. I'll try a list with 3x Regeneration and 3x Pyrovore and see if that provides the HP to sustain fights as well as helps to stave off the early win your opponent can get.
I did try the Pyrovore. Its good but it came down to adding in extra consistency for the other cards that i just couldnt find the room for them. It was thus a toss up between the Regeneration and the Pyrovore and the flexibility of the Regeneration won out.
I am testing a similar build at the moment. The thing is that the game-play of the deck is somewhat different from what tyranids tried to do up to now.
Stacking harvesters seems to be working even if you need to go there with warlord and ensure the resources. Spore chimney seems expensive to me, i am testing with the new support but only 2 copies and added a third no mercy. In my opinion no mercy is the strongest event tyranids have access to.
I still don't know if 80% win ratio is what this deck can do since it depends of the local meta. In my country Kith is rising and causes a lot of trouble to tyranids.I would love to read a more detailed plan vs T1 decks like worr kith and ragnar - SM in general. I will test during the next 3 weeks to prepare for regionals and will report with the regionals outcome. And hell you never know maybe Jungles of nectavus will give something broken to nids!!!
Here's a link to the most recent version I just uploaded - http://www.cardgamed...ecks/omega-r903
The deck is the same but I couldn't figure out how to just edit the strategy and teaser section so I reposted it