Observations of current environment

[spiller]

I finally got a free weekend to attend another tournament. Igamespot is doing a great job supporting ME and I wish I didn't have to travel 3 1/2 hours so I could make it to more of them. I ended up in second as I got hit on the second turn with the goblin archer combo in both of my games with the player who ended up in first. It was sad to play only four or five cards in an entire match. Here are some observations.
1. The deck types played has gotten more diversified. Sutraps and Glye agro, Wizard agro, archers, Grimus, and a kind of toolbox style Lady Phe'Ronde deck (didn't see Jeff's entire deck) all were played.
2. Goblin archers rule. It is not that difficult to have a turn 2 kill if you play first. If you go first, redraw if you don't have a goblin archer, then play goblin archer. If your opponent doesn't have a kill spell in their opening hand, they are likely dead or near dead. On your second turn play either a declaration of war, sword of quickness, battlemonger, vorex, brainwashing blade, or some combination of these cards. BE AWARE OF THIS COMBO! Yes, it kills Grimus that turn but it can kill almost all the characters on turn two (with sword of quickness/Vorex) or put your opponent at a severe disadvantage. I personally think the ability to deal 10 damage on turn 2 should be addressed but if you can't beat them, join them. At least 50% of the decks in the last tournament had this combo in them and you can bet that number will only increase.
3. There are some major changes in the top ranked players. Since the tournament scene has been going on longer (and more often) in the NE, most of the top ranked players currently know each other well. Jay is shooting up to challenge Chris for the top spot. Jeff has fallen off a bit lately but expect him to come back with some new deck ideas soon. Several players outside of the top 10 made a huge impact in the tournament.
4. Magical wings on Glye or Sutraps is OMG good. Be prepared for this as those swings for 6 or 8 can no longer be chumped blocked with your average creature. It also is a great tool if your opponent drops a Peace Time. The new hidden effect killer from Dark Union will be huge to slow this power combo down.

I hope my observations help you get ready for your next tournament. Be ready for Goblin archers and flying Sutraps or Glye. I will try to post a few more tournament quality decks including the deck I played this past weekend. Good luck!

[shockyakaglye]

flying glye is easy to slow down if you play ether play bats, fairys, or wings of your own. and about the stupid goblin archers who is way to over rated just use crainial in reachion of the place of the token for pinging

[kevmo]

I think everyone knows crainial kills goblin archers but in a game involved in chance you need to have that crainial to kill it. I think everyone plays 4 cranial leeches in every deck it is the best kill in the game right now.

[shockyakaglye]

well i basicly always on my first hand get one and i am never in the scarce face of an archer

[spiller]

Flying Glye (or Sutraps) is not easy to slow down the way you stated. Bats, fairies, or wings on a creature only stop it for one turn. If playing Glye or Sutraps, you can play wings on your own character but that isn't slowing them down.
Goblin archer is NOT overrated. People are just starting to figure out the power of this card. With the right draw, Goblin archer can deal THIRTY damage on turn 2. Yes, it does do damage to you and some of that damage could be blocked but 30 points on turn 2 seems a bit overpowered to me. It can reliably do 10 damage on turn 2 by using the redraw rule. I know 10 damage only kills Grimus but if you deal 10 damage to your opponent on turn 2, I would guess that your chances of winning are around 90-95%. I will post a deck later today or tomorrow for people to playtest themselves.

[redshirt]

Can you elaborate on how this Goblin Archer combo works?

What character are you using?

If you go T1: Goblin Archers, it seems to me the best you can do is T2: Put an archery token on Goblin Archers, take one; Use the character's two actions to put out either two creatures or a creature and an item, and if the creature is Vorex, attack for 3 to 5. That obviously puts a hurting on a lot of characters (assuming they don't use a creature they cast first turn to block). But there are ways to come back from that.

How is Goblin Archers so deadly that it can possibly kill on turn two? It deals its damage randomly. Plus it needs to put an archery token on itself before it can even ping, so it would have to wait till turn three to ping something. Although Vorex allows it to do that turn 2. (And it would have to use two actions, doing two damage to your character).

[spiller]

It isn't about using it's archer ability, but abusing his 5 actions a turn. Any character will do but
T1: play goblin archer.
opponent t1: they play 2 creatures, most likely engaged. (if they draw leech, archer is nullified or cheap burn)
T2: play either, battlemonger, declaration of war, vorex, or sword of quickness/brainwashing blade on Goblin archer. Use your five actions to ATTACK 5 times for 10 to 15 damage. If you played a Vorex, disengage him after using your 5 actions and attack 5 more times for 10 to 15 damage. You take 5 damage (or 10 if using Vorex) but your opponent has taken between 10 to 30 damage (8 to 28 if he blocked with his creatures).
opponent t2(if still alive): he must draw some form of kill for your archers or he is certainly dead this turn.
Cranial leech is the only real answer most decks will have for this. If you play zycon, you could play either illusionary fighter or chain lightning. Grimus could go Vorex/illusionist or Vorex/firemonger as an answer.
I hope this helped

[Arashi]

Well, first the goblin archers archer ability hits a random creature under a random OPPONENTS control. You can't be your own opponent. Anyway, the goblin archers combo is basically playing it first turn then second turn playing either battlemonger, declaration of war, sword of quickness, Vorex, or any combination of the those. Basically since the goblin archers have 5 actions its power can multiply fast. Best case scenario would be putting a sword of quickness on it and playing a vorex for a total payout of 30 damage second turn. 5 x 3 x 2 = 30.
I personally think there a enough ways to stop it but maybe the card needs to be restricted to rare or something.

[redshirt]

OIC. Didn't read the card closely enoug 1st go-around obviously.

Why would the opposing character use both his actions knowing the Archers are on the table? It would make sense to save one to defend, and then the archers die, right?

[Arashi]

redshirt said:

OIC. Didn't read the card closely enoug 1st go-around obviously.

Why would the opposing character use both his actions knowing the Archers are on the table? It would make sense to save one to defend, and then the archers die, right?

My sentiments exactly. ;D

[spiller]

Best answer yes. The decks that abuse it the most use simple magic globe to prevent damage to Goblin archers. (I didn't want to give away everyone's tricks)

[Deleted]

Well, well. So it was Goblin Archers that caught everyone with their pants down in Mass last Saturday? It's good and well comboed, but certainly dealable. I don't think it needs restricting. You couldn't make a decision like that unless it consistently won every tournament or was overabundant and too hard to stop. I'm sure you big-timers will have it in check by next tourney. A Windy would.

Just a little friendly humor. In truth, we are currently testing against our decks and copies of some of your posted decklists. It does well but not overpowering. I think it's a healthy addition to the metagame. I wouldn't say it's the top deck, but if the top decks aren't ready for it...well, you know what happens more than I do.

But speaking of the current metagame, what do we have here? A healthy metagame is at least a triangle, with one leg beating the other beating the other. With the MEGA faceoff, coming up, I think the metagame has to be established and defined if not already, and then everybody can start working on their secret weapons. What is the shape of the current ME Constructed metagame? Is there one?

[sojomojo]

Lol who is this "Q" he is funny and I love the picture.

The thing is Goblin Archers wasn't new to IGS (iGameSpot). I think it was just surprising to a few new comers to our events that just about everyone plays one. It's a must card along with others that should be main or sideboard in just about every deck.

But regardless, as for testing against decks posted feel free. The real decks won't be posted. The ones that we're play testing that beat just about everything we've seen and even read about ;cough cough "Team Chi'blablo" will be seen only at MEGA. Oh and I'm sure thats goes for just about everyone else building their MEGA or Regional decks but I feel ours may have the edge.

Overall I think New England has this in the bag but we wish everyone luck. Because trust me me when I say your going to need it. So please don't take this as being rude or phallusy but more as a challenge. If you think you have what it takes then bring what you have to the NE Regionals and/or MEGA and see for yourselves.

Sojo out!

But then

[Arashi]

I agree with Sojo. I think all of us are building a secret deck to use at the MEGA FACE OFF! I know I'm working on mine any free chance I get. I think everyone is looking for that combo that may have been over looked or just just something solid. I think the "Challenge" Sojo suggested would be a good idea. We can see how our area's top decks stack up against each other. ;D The MEGA FACE OFF/Regionals will be interesting to say the least.

[shockyakaglye]

im not looking for any combos ijust look for a weakness for each character and put at least one combo in for each oneand that makes me able to move around any think basicly