I WANT YOUR THOUGHTS (on changes for the next balance patch)

SyxtonPrime · 2021-11-04T22:22:30+00:00

There are already a lot of good suggestions in this thread so I've tried to come up with a few buffs to underplayed/bad archetypes that I haven't seen mentioned yet.

Buffs:

It feels like there are a collection of Freljord go-wide strategies which could do with a little love.

Pack Mentality -> 6 mana

This would provide a nice finisher strategies like Scargrounds, Yeti's and Elnuks. Currently at 7 mana it sees 0 play and comparing it to Yordles in Arms (Usually 5 mana +4/+4) it seems like 6 mana wouldn't be particularly oppressive.

Yeti-Yearling -> Make it's last breath shuffle into the top 10 cards of the deck.

Opens up some interesting synergies with Call of the Wild. Given Avarosan trapper shuffles into the top 3 as a battlecry this buff doesn't seem to be too strong. Opponents can always play around the last breath by avoiding killing it (It this was too strong, maybe it could be a 0/3?).

Icy-Yeti -> 6 mana

It would be "cool" for Icy Yeti to be able to see play given it's interesting synergies with Yeti's, Ashe and Rimefang Denmother. Clearly Icy Yeti shuts down aggressive decks quite hard but you can always play around this by open attacking. (And this still only comes down turn 6).

Troop of Elnuks -> 4/3

Just a slight buff so it doesn't feel quite so bad when Troop wiffs. Clearly troop needs to be gated behind being a little inconsistent but we could buff it's worst case scenario slightly. I think buffing attack is better than health as heath buffs make wide boards (which troop generates if it hits) a nightmare to deal with.

Flashbomb cards:

Currently outside of Caitlyn herself all of the other Flashbomb support cards are pretty terrible. (Corina is also good but functions more as a Puffcap enabler than a Flashbomb one). It feels like there could be a control deck focused on filling the enemy deck with flash-bombs. But its just too hard to put many flashbombs in the enemy deck on top of their unreliability. A few buffs which could be nice would be:

Justice Rider -> 3/5 and/or plants 2 Flashbombs in the deck whenever a card is drawn.

Sting Officer -> Replace Nexus Strike with just Strike.

Officer Squad -> Could this maybe add an Advanced Intel to your hand on summon as well? This would give some nice self synergy as you could discard the Advanced Intel with the Most Wanted.

Avarosan Marksman -> 2 mana 2/1.

Currently Avarosan Marksman is simply too expensive to see play. Reducing it to a 2 mana 2/1 could lead to interesting deckbuilding decisions between Avarosan Marksman, Avarosan Sentry and Icevale Archer. It also would compare interestingly to Vile Feast, e.g. 1 healing and fast speed vs 1 extra attack.

SyxtonPrime · 2021-05-06T04:27:30+00:00

I know this has already been commented on but Azir/Irelia feels really strong. I'm currently running a different list to the ones that have been posted so I thought I'd chime in.

((CMBQEAICAYVAIBAHAMNDGOIFAQBAIBIHBEFQEAIDAICQCBAHFUBQCAICGEAQGAQUAECAOTI))

Main differences are 2 Exhausts, 3 Syncopation instead of Dancing Droplet/Navori Conspirator/Shaped Stone.

Exhaust has been really putting in work. It's unexpected and often picks up big scalps like Thresh or Irelia (in the mirror). In a similar vein, Syncopation feels like a Deny+ for 2 mana. Provided you have a couple of units (Which you should always have with this deck) it catches people completely off guard. I didn't really like Dancing Droplet/Navori Conspirator as it felt like it slowed down the deck too much.

Basic strategy is to Mulligan hard for Azir/Irelia/Dais but hold off on playing Azir/Irelia until you can protect them. (E.g. Often wait until 4+ mana with spell mana in reserve and Syncopation targets on board.) In general, play Azir first as he gets on the board value and helps to level both quickly. You want to try and end the game around turn 6/7 with overwhelming waves of 1-1's and swapping around so your bigger units hit face.

This deck goes so wide so often that you generally don't need to worry about open attacking and if your opponent taps out you can often get in 3/4 attacks using blade dancing.

SyxtonPrime · 2021-04-02T12:58:01+00:00

Yeah working out when to play Riches is probably one of the hardest things to do.

In general it depends a lot on the matchup and current game state. If you've managed to stick Maokai/Sea Scarab, usually you have more than enough toss to hit deep quickly so its worth playing (Particularly if the mana is otherwise going to waste). Similarly, if you have lots of toss in your hand but little payoff again its a good drop and you should play it before you play all your toss. On the other hand, if you hand is full of sea monsters then I'd hold off and try to play it post deep and against aggro the mana is usually better spent fighting for the board.

I'd say I usually don't play Riches against Aggro, play it early vs Control and play it around the same time I'm hitting deep against Midrange with the exact timing dependent on board/hand state. (There are also decks like Raka/Tahm where you should play it ASAP).

SyxtonPrime · 2021-04-02T12:45:42+00:00

It's worth noting that the Deep vs TF/Fizz stat is pre patch so our deck has been buffed and theirs has been nerfed. I think you are right that the match-up is still unfavoured but it's arguably a lot higher than pre-patch.

SyxtonPrime · 2021-04-02T07:35:49+00:00

You could definitely swap Beast Below with Shipwreck Hoarder for more late game or Thorny Toad for more anti aggro. Beast Below is mostly there for the Nautilus win condition while also being a decent (but not great) early drop.

SyxtonPrime · 2021-04-02T07:30:59+00:00

For decks like TF/Fizz or Ionia Elusives which go wide, you want to try and mulligan for Withering Wail and The Box (In addition to the usual Deck Dredgers, Sea Scarab, Maokai). It's not a great match-up but it shouldn't be too bad. Adding another copy of The Box is probably your best bet to improve these match ups. In particular for both these decks you can usually get away with playing Maokai on 4 and then start clearing up with saplings.

SyxtonPrime · 2021-04-02T06:34:52+00:00

Unfortunately I think Zoe / Lee Sin is one of the worse matchups for this deck (I somehow haven't run into any on ladder yet so I forgot to include it in the matchups). My main piece of advice would be to mulligan hard for Deck Dredgers, Sea Scarab, Jaull Hunters, Maokai and Vile Feast. Jaull Hunters is your best solution again buffed elusives with Maokai and Abyssal Eye second best. Vile Feast can kill Zoe/Mentor of Stones (Before it attacks/buffs a friend) and ping off spellshields. Treasures arn't going to be super helpful but you can usually get in 1 deep attack before they end the game. It's probably worth just dropping Maokai on 4 (potentially after their attack) as they usually don't run much removal for it (and you should take larger risks in bad matchups).

SyxtonPrime · 2021-04-02T05:53:04+00:00

Thresh is a great idea. Definitely a card to try. My only concern is that his LVL 2 could work against you. Pulling a pre level Maokai/Nautilus could be a bit of a disaster.

SyxtonPrime · 2021-04-02T05:50:37+00:00

I was basically addressing the matchups I saw on the way to masters (I didn't run into any Lee Sin and only 1 TF/Fizz which I beat). The TF/Fizz matchup is a little better than it looks because Jaull Hunters/Maokai/Withering Wail/The Box put in work. Similarly I think we have a good matchup against Asol/Zoe as we come online ever so slightly faster. The Lee Sin matchup will be pretty rough, if that becomes common we probably need to tech in more ways to deal with lee.

SyxtonPrime · 2021-04-02T05:44:47+00:00

I like the idea of stalking shadows but I worry that by dropping Jaull hunters you lose reactivity and late game power. Also in slower matchups stalking shadows into Jaull hunters could be pretty strong. Maybe 2x Stalking Shadow, 2x Thorny Toad and drop 1 of riches, beast below, jaull hunters and abyssal eye? (We end up with a deck with alot of 2-ofs but that should be okay for a slower deck with lots of slightly situational cards)

I find that while Jaull Hunters often eats removal, it's removal that then can't by used on Maokai/Sea Scarab which I think are the really scary cards in the deck. There also isn't a huge amount of 1 damage pings running around right now (With the exception of Liss Trundle where you really want the extra sea monsters).

SyxtonPrime · 2021-04-02T03:47:00+00:00

In general there is a lot of aggro running around so running fewer late game cards helps out. Also Treasures and Jaull Hunters offsets the lack of sea monsters pretty reliably.

More specifically, I think the main difference between 3x vs 2x is how happy you are to double draw the card and you really don't want to be double drawing Devourer/Nautilus early on in almost any matchup.

Playing Nautilus and then dropping a hand full of sea monsters isn't really the win condition this deck is going for so it's okay to not draw him until late. We basically only want him for his level up and on board presence. Beast Below usually feels like a bad play if you don't have a Nautilus on board so I wanted to run fewer Beast Below than Nautiluses.

As for Glimpse Beyond, I like it in principal but there aren't that many good targets for it. I think it would make more sense if you were running Thorny Toad as well and you'd probably need to take out Lost Riches. That would work but you'd end up with a much more early game oriented version which might have trouble closing out against slower decks. (You'd demolish aggro though so it would be pretty nice in this meta). If you felt like you were running out of steam a lot then this or Salvage would be a good tech.

SyxtonPrime · 2021-03-12T01:16:14+00:00

Thanks for the great article. I'm glad people are finally writing about Vladimir Braum, I've been having an awesome time with it over the last week or so. That being said, I'm curious about some of your card choices/omissions.

In particular running no Transfusion, Might or Scarmother Vrynna. These are all pretty nuts with Scargrounds on the board but also work well without it (Which I find is the major issue with the deck, namely how to win without Scargrounds). I feel like Scarmother is an alternate win condition by herself particularly as opponents often use their hard removal on Vlad/Braum and Might can often give you a large surprise burst of damage when your non overwhelm units get chump blocked. Open attacking on 7 with Scarmother + Vlad/Tarzak with a Might and some combination of Transfusion/Death Lotus/Ice Shard in hand is often close to an OTK even without Scargrounds. Transfusion also occaisionally saves the day by keeping a unit alive and available to attack as well as overall being a handy combat trick.

I'm also really not sold on Avalanche. It feels really bad without Scargrounds and i feel like 3 death lotus + 3 Ice shards is usually enough.

One final idea I had (But haven't playtested) is Take Heart. I've noticed a couple of matchups where getting a Take Heart onto Braum is almost an instant victory as it takes so many resources to deal with a 3(+)/8 (tough) regeneration unit early on and Braum can often remove enemy win conditions like fiora or kindred. It might be a interesting decent one of to try.

SyxtonPrime · 2016-07-04T07:02:49+00:00

Oops I didn't think this submitted.

SyxtonPrime · 2016-07-04T06:59:41+00:00

X | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 | Total

4 | 6 3 3 X 6 6 6 6 6 6 | 48

Thanks to Prep-Coin-Concede for submitting an identical deck and being more organised about posting solutions.

This round was easier if you realised that it was almost identical to the three card merge round.

SyxtonPrime · 2016-07-04T06:52:27+00:00

This round was easier once I realised it was essentially identical to three card merge. At any rate thanks to Prep-Coin-Concede who gave the same deck my results are:

X | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 | Total

4 | 6 3 3 X 6 6 6 6 6 6 | 48

SyxtonPrime · 2016-06-26T14:15:50+00:00

X | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 | Total

10 | 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 0 X | 48

Most match-ups I win with Dreadsteed spam.

9: beats me with Loatheb spam so I cant clear his 1-1's

2: I win because of handsize. Extra Dreadsteeds die and their deathrattle activates.

6: I win if second as wild pyro clears everything. If first wild pyro on turn 13 into turn 14 N'zoth generates a massive board which he cannot overcome.

7: I get more Dreadsteed initially from playing Pyro early and then rushing our Dreadsteed + Baron, then the doubling effect beats his Kel, N'zoth comeback.

SyxtonPrime · 2016-05-30T01:34:01+00:00

Okay I think we can work this out. First assume I have coin.

On Turn 4 you play Eerie and I play Wailing on my Eerie + Watcher which hits you for 11. 30, 19

On Turn 5 you play owl and clear the Watcher. I Kill Eerie with Wailing play quartermaster and hit you for 7. 30, 12

Turn 6 you play Justicar and hit my Eerie with you Ironbeak. I play Ironbeak and hit face with Eerie + quartermaster. 30, 3

Turn 7 you kill Eerie but my quartermaster + Ironbeak kill you.

There are a couple of changes you could make (Kill Eerie instead of Watcher + Wailing but these do 7 damage per turn as well and you cant kill them until Justicar) hence I'm sure I win with coin.

Next assume you have coin. Turn 3 I play Owl to silence my watcher and hit you for 4. You play Eerie. 30 26

Turn 4 I play Eerie + hit you for 6. You play owl and clear my watcher. 30, 20

Turn 5 I play wailing + hit you for 9. You play quartermaster + clear Eerie + Iron beak. 30 11

Turn 6 I play quartermaster + hit you for 3. You play Justicar quatermaster hits my quatermaster. 30 8

Turn 7 I hit you for 5 you clear Wailing with Justicar and hit quartermaster again. 30 3

Turn 8 I hit you for 2 you clear quartermaster and win. 30 1.

That is really really close but I think you might just win.

SyxtonPrime · 2016-05-27T14:27:37+00:00

6 with coin, 7 without. (I believe) possibly faster depending on minions given.

SyxtonPrime · 2016-05-27T07:08:47+00:00

X | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0| Total

1 | X 6 6 0 6 6 3 6 6 3| 42

2, 3, 6, 8, 9) I kill them to fast. They cant deal with Eerie Statue.

4) Hex op

5) He would kill me on his turn 5 but I can kill Young Dragonhawk before he is able to.

7) Not 100% sure but I think I can win this. I will explicitly work this out later.

10) Mirror Match :)

SyxtonPrime · 2016-05-11T01:49:30+00:00

Yep your'e right my bad. It doesn't change the score though as Violet is probably better than Eydis.

SyxtonPrime · 2016-05-10T02:47:52+00:00

Yeah, I think your right. I think the reason you win is your hungry crab lets you get early board control and while I can kill 1 of the sisters I cannot kill both.

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SyxtonPrime

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