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Swarmlord BCL winner
Submitted by
Intolerance
, Jul 01 2017 10:15 PM | Last updated Jul 05 2017 04:22 AM
Played matches against Baharroth, Vezuel, Gorzod, Anrakyr, Eldorath, Worr, Morn, and Urien. Baharroth was the only loss and I think I suffered in this game due to my initial list having too few elites.
The Ravenous Haruspex was a Subject M17C1-1 which I think is a better choice, however I only ended up playing it in one game and it didn't matter which elite it was.
The deck stayed mostly the same throughout the league, though I started with less elites and increased the number as I got a better feel for how it plays. This is the highest number of elites I've used due to having no card draw outside of winning command. It also gives you more flexibility with mulligans to try get STC and Loamy Broodhive.
The best cards in the deck are probably Loamy Broodhive and Consumption. Few decks can deal with both elites and a swarm of units while their income is reduced by Stalking Liktor and the 1 hammer units. Playing around Consumption can lose opponents the game even when it's not played, and in several matches I was able to play it with devastating effect.
I'm not sure if there should be a third Backlash but couldn't find anything to cut. The Ravenous Haruspex could also be a Slavering Mawloc, but in general I prefer 5 cost elites for turn 1 plays with Loamy Broodhive. Against Eldorath the Slavering Mawloc increases in value and I'd switch the Caustic Tyrannofexes for Ravenous Haruspexes.
General strategy is to play elites with termagants to p1 and commit p2 if you need the added unit. Try place your capping units where your far-side termagent will be placed to protect them from consumption and sometimes kill an opposing unit if your opponent commits there. Don't risk Stalking Liktor getting killed until late in the game, it's not worth.
Thanks to the organizers and everyone who played, was great fun.
Sample Hand:
Total Shields: 0
Average Shields Per Event/Attachment: 0
Total Command: 0
Average Command Per Unit: 0
Nice deck. Surprised at the lack of Sudden Adaptation though, given the high elite count. Did you feel that you don't need it or that you simply don't have the space?
Nice deck. Surprised at the lack of Sudden Adaptation though, given the high elite count. Did you feel that you don't need it or that you simply don't have the space?
I started with Sudden Adaptation instead of Termagant Sentry but after a couple games of not having an opportunity to play one they dropped to 2x and then got removed after still no use. It could have been due to the initially low elite count but Sudden Adaptation has a fair number of constraints. Must have an elite in play, must have a different and lower cost elite in hand, and in general the elite in play needs to take and survive damage (otherwise may as well play Dark Cunning). In general I think its a card with huge payoff but statistically rare chance to play, and especially low chance when your deck is being stressed economically or with strong removal/route effects. In comparison, a 1 cost capping unit is very flexible.
Interesting. The way I see it is that, with the exception of the Spore Launcher, all of the elites are the same price and can all be interchanged with each other via Sudden Adaptation. Given 13 elites, statistically you're bound to have both one in play and one in hand, so that condition is quite safe, leaving the only other issue being the right time to use it (pref exhausted + damaged) and having the resources for it, the latter of which being the real primary concern given 4 hp is enough to survive most attacks (bar some elites).
Taking out the Sentry for it is a very bizarre choice in my opinion since they serve very different purposes. SA is a trick whereas the sentry is command. Command is desperately needed in a deck like this so the Sentries/Rippers should definitely be at 3x, and given the overall unit count being relatively low there's little reason to remove any of the other units (other than maybe 1x Tyrannofex). As such, I'd dip into a Clogged From Corpses and push the deck to 51 (ignoring the Synapse) in order to fit in 2x SA, or keep it at 50 and remove a Tyrannofex/Consumption instead. CFC is a good card in this deck but it is a defensive card, meaning it can't always be used. Since SA is an offensive card it has more versatility and as such should be useful in every match-up.
Obviously, you've taken this deck to the end of a tournament and won so the deck's clearly got its strengths, but those are my thoughts on the deck
Interesting. The way I see it is that, with the exception of the Spore Launcher, all of the elites are the same price and can all be interchanged with each other via Sudden Adaptation. Given 13 elites, statistically you're bound to have both one in play and one in hand, so that condition is quite safe, leaving the only other issue being the right time to use it (pref exhausted + damaged) and having the resources for it, the latter of which being the real primary concern given 4 hp is enough to survive most attacks (bar some elites).
One of the constraints that I'm not sure you're including is the 'different name' restriction. If it's t1 and I have a Striking Ravener in play, 6/12 (including Subject M17C1-1) elites in the deck are not valid for use with it. Starting with one of the 6 cost elites would give much better odds, but then one of 4 cards has to be in the starting hand. As the game goes on the odds of setting up a strong play may get better, but I prefer cards that are more consistently used as soon as they are drawn.
Taking out the Sentry for it is a very bizarre choice in my opinion since they serve very different purposes. SA is a trick whereas the sentry is command. Command is desperately needed in a deck like this so the Sentries/Rippers should definitely be at 3x, and given the overall unit count being relatively low there's little reason to remove any of the other units (other than maybe 1x Tyrannofex). As such, I'd dip into a Clogged From Corpses and push the deck to 51 (ignoring the Synapse) in order to fit in 2x SA, or keep it at 50 and remove a Tyrannofex/Consumption instead. CFC is a good card in this deck but it is a defensive card, meaning it can't always be used. Since SA is an offensive card it has more versatility and as such should be useful in every match-up.
The sentry was not taken out for it, but rather the deck started without it. If you mean that command is desperately needed in a deck like this because it's elites, I disagree. Unless command is contested to a certain degree, the efforts put towards it are wasted as it's so easily defeated by decks that focus on command. I think it's the 0 costness of Ripper Swarm and the presence of Stalking Liktor that makes this a viable command inclusion. Due to the presence of tokens, another 1 cost military unit is also reasonable due to the increased persistent damage of wide armies. Having something to sac to protect elites from certain effects can also be handy, but I think we're in agreement that Sentry is fine.
It's possible that an elite can be cut but that's difficult to asses, and possibly not synergistic with the Sudden Adaptation inclusion. I would not cut Consumption, and although CwC isn't strong in some matchups, it has ones where it's very helpful. Destroying TT, Barracks, Clearcut, TP, Den, etc. are big impact plays.
I would not go up to 51 cards. Tyranids start with a hand size of 6 and putting extra filler between your hand and the cards in the deck that are great is not a good idea. I do not think SA is great, though I'd be willing to try it out if I played the list further.
Obviously, you've taken this deck to the end of a tournament and won so the deck's clearly got its strengths, but those are my thoughts on the deck
Of course, and I'm glad to receive them. I certainly don't think this is the final perfect version of it. If all we disagree on is 1-2 1 shield cards that each occasionally have big impact then it sounds like we agree on a lot of other things and it could be a meta call.
Another point I didn't bring up above is that the deck has no way to mitigate duplicate STCs or its unfortunate sig support, which should almost never be played. Since it already includes dead draws that are forced, I want the rest of the deck to be as consistent as possible.
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Nice deck. Surprised at the lack of Sudden Adaptation though, given the high elite count. Did you feel that you don't need it or that you simply don't have the space?
I started with Sudden Adaptation instead of Termagant Sentry but after a couple games of not having an opportunity to play one they dropped to 2x and then got removed after still no use. It could have been due to the initially low elite count but Sudden Adaptation has a fair number of constraints. Must have an elite in play, must have a different and lower cost elite in hand, and in general the elite in play needs to take and survive damage (otherwise may as well play Dark Cunning). In general I think its a card with huge payoff but statistically rare chance to play, and especially low chance when your deck is being stressed economically or with strong removal/route effects. In comparison, a 1 cost capping unit is very flexible.
Interesting. The way I see it is that, with the exception of the Spore Launcher, all of the elites are the same price and can all be interchanged with each other via Sudden Adaptation. Given 13 elites, statistically you're bound to have both one in play and one in hand, so that condition is quite safe, leaving the only other issue being the right time to use it (pref exhausted + damaged) and having the resources for it, the latter of which being the real primary concern given 4 hp is enough to survive most attacks (bar some elites).
Taking out the Sentry for it is a very bizarre choice in my opinion since they serve very different purposes. SA is a trick whereas the sentry is command. Command is desperately needed in a deck like this so the Sentries/Rippers should definitely be at 3x, and given the overall unit count being relatively low there's little reason to remove any of the other units (other than maybe 1x Tyrannofex). As such, I'd dip into a Clogged From Corpses and push the deck to 51 (ignoring the Synapse) in order to fit in 2x SA, or keep it at 50 and remove a Tyrannofex/Consumption instead. CFC is a good card in this deck but it is a defensive card, meaning it can't always be used. Since SA is an offensive card it has more versatility and as such should be useful in every match-up.
Obviously, you've taken this deck to the end of a tournament and won so the deck's clearly got its strengths, but those are my thoughts on the deck
One of the constraints that I'm not sure you're including is the 'different name' restriction. If it's t1 and I have a Striking Ravener in play, 6/12 (including Subject M17C1-1) elites in the deck are not valid for use with it. Starting with one of the 6 cost elites would give much better odds, but then one of 4 cards has to be in the starting hand. As the game goes on the odds of setting up a strong play may get better, but I prefer cards that are more consistently used as soon as they are drawn.
The sentry was not taken out for it, but rather the deck started without it. If you mean that command is desperately needed in a deck like this because it's elites, I disagree. Unless command is contested to a certain degree, the efforts put towards it are wasted as it's so easily defeated by decks that focus on command. I think it's the 0 costness of Ripper Swarm and the presence of Stalking Liktor that makes this a viable command inclusion. Due to the presence of tokens, another 1 cost military unit is also reasonable due to the increased persistent damage of wide armies. Having something to sac to protect elites from certain effects can also be handy, but I think we're in agreement that Sentry is fine.
It's possible that an elite can be cut but that's difficult to asses, and possibly not synergistic with the Sudden Adaptation inclusion. I would not cut Consumption, and although CwC isn't strong in some matchups, it has ones where it's very helpful. Destroying TT, Barracks, Clearcut, TP, Den, etc. are big impact plays.
I would not go up to 51 cards. Tyranids start with a hand size of 6 and putting extra filler between your hand and the cards in the deck that are great is not a good idea. I do not think SA is great, though I'd be willing to try it out if I played the list further.
Of course, and I'm glad to receive them. I certainly don't think this is the final perfect version of it. If all we disagree on is 1-2 1 shield cards that each occasionally have big impact then it sounds like we agree on a lot of other things and it could be a meta call.
Another point I didn't bring up above is that the deck has no way to mitigate duplicate STCs or its unfortunate sig support, which should almost never be played. Since it already includes dead draws that are forced, I want the rest of the deck to be as consistent as possible.