Deck Combo inside: Barak, anneau non vivant, rage berzerker

En fait c est base sur la subtilite que sur l anneau des non vivants on pete des choses si le heros a des dommages qui lui sont infliges et non pas places dessus^^




Casey Ehlert of the UDE WoW TCG site (http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/en/) for this week looks about the new Bulkas deck. Let's take a look at what he has to say:
This week, I’m showcasing a deck that is completely left field in nature. It’s a testament to how creativity and ingenuity can lead to success in this game. This deck features a powerful combo that has been around since the introduction of Berserker Rage in Fires of Outland, and both the deck and the combo will catch many opponents by surprise. It worked for Steve Lynn, who took it to a strong Top 4 showing in a recent Michigan Regional tournament.

Steve Lynn
Top 4 Regionals, Livonia, Michigan
January 26, 2008

Hero: Bulkas Wildhorn

Allies
4 Barak the Shamed

Equipment
4 Ring of the Unliving
4 Gauntlets of Vindication
4 Platinum Shield of the Valorous



Abilities
4 Berserker Rage
4 War Stomp
4 Shield Bash
4 Salt the Wounds
4 Intercept
4 Withering Shout
4 Demoralizing Shout

Quests
4 To Serve Kum’isha
4 Swift Discipline
4 Counterattack!
4 The Name of the Beast

Side Deck
4 Puncture
4 Silent Fang
2 Valthak Spiritdrinker



The heart of this deck is the three-card combo of Ring of the Unliving, Berserker Rage, and Barak the Shamed. The way these cards interact to create a win condition is tricky. Due to the difference between taking damage and putting damage on a hero, the negative side effect of Ring of the Unliving will not trigger when you bid an insanely large amount to keep a Barak the Shamed on your side of the board. So with a Ring of the Unliving out and millions of damage on your hero (assuming your opponent didn’t bid millions plus one, of course), what’s a beaten down Tauren to do? Turn it around and drop a Berserker Rage, of course, turning that five million damage into a one million ATK. Find a way to swing into your opponent’s hero through whatever protectors he or she may have, and you win the game in one fell swoop.

Keep in mind that the combo can be fragile on its own. It is vulnerable to both equipment and ability hate, but the deck’s real beauty lies in its redundancy and the cards that are used to back up the central combo. You might have noticed that the main deck consists of four copies of fifteen different cards, with no straying from this formula. With most decks this would be the wrong thing to do, as it provides too many dead cards and duplicates. With this deck, however, it’s a perfect fit. This deck wants to be doing the same thing every game—and in a very consistent fashion. Every card in this list helps to accomplish that goal.



A subtle but strong contribution to this deck is definitely Salt the Wounds. The most important part of this card is the last sentence. The magical phrase “Draw a card” for the low resource cost of 1 effectively lets you run fifty-six cards. It makes drawing the integral three-card combo all the more reliable and has the added benefit of occasionally finishing off a troublesome ally after a timely Intercept.

Withering Shout is probably the most powerful new addition to the Warrior’s arsenal, and yes, I am aware Puncture is in the set. Withering Shout is used to great effect here. It combines with Demoralizing Shout to shut off rush strategies and the countless 2 / 1s and 3 / 1s that come along with them—Magister Ashi, Apprentice Merry, Morlug Soulslaver, Shadowfiend, the list goes on and on.

Withering Shout can also completely shut off “Chipper” Ironbane, who is a natural enemy for this deck. Without access to Chipper, most Alliance control decks will have little to no way of dealing with your combo cards. Occasionally, opponents may run Krenig Soulguard or Kavai the Wanderer, but they’ll probably have to search for them. This can buy you extra time to set up and play around them. Then, there’s the matter of what to destroy. Do they take out your Withering Shout and then go for the combo pieces, which opens them up but also allows them to play any allies stranded in their hands? Probably not, and so it ends up being a winning situation any way you slice it.



This deck takes a serious beating early on against rush decks; that’s just the way it’s designed. Once turn 3 rolls around, the deck starts going into serious stall mode, and one of the cards that helps facilitate this is Platinum Shield of the Valorous. It has the potential to prevent a lot of damage over the course of a game, and it also provides the much-needed Off-Hand restriction to use with Shield Bash’s alternate cost. The quests in this deck are numerous, but they have the advantage of being relatively easy to complete. So even if you have a quest-heavy hand, this Shield can get turned online easily and start preventing a lot of damage.

Another issue for this deck is a field full of protectors. In order for the combo to accomplish a one-shot kill, there needs to be a clear path to your opponent’s face. Oftentimes, you will feel like this is a four-card combo due to the very nature of getting around protectors. Intercept and War Stomp can both accomplish the same task, so protectors shouldn’t be an issue. If a deck is just playing protector after protector and not applying any pressure, that gives you time to dig for multiple Withering Shouts, and they should take care of the problem as well.

It may seem like a tough task to assemble all of these cards, but executing the game plan is actually a lot smoother than you might think. To Serve Kum’isha is a good place to start. This quest is an absolute all-star in this deck. Not only does it dig for all three parts of the combo, but it will also hit the “fourth” combo card, War Stomp, as well as both Shouts. It single-handedly makes this deck a lot more reliable than it has any right to be.

Swift Discipline is no slouch either. It still has its usual synergy with Counterattack! here, but its ultimate synergy is with Withering Shout. Pay 1 to draw a card with no restriction? Okay. Only on my turn? That’s fair. Thank you very much.



Before I go into matchups, it’s worth mentioning the surprise factor of a deck like this. At a tournament with dozens of people, which is usually the case with a Regionals event, maybe five people will have heard of a combo such as this one, and it goes without saying that this is a tremendous advantage. Oftentimes, your opponent won’t know what to destroy, when to destroy it, when to exhaust their resources or not exhaust them, and so on. Meanwhile, you know the matchups, and what it takes to win them. This can swing an unfavorable matchup to a favorable one quite easily.

Whether a control deck is favorable to you depends on a couple of things. The most important point is what, if any, ability and equipment destruction your opponent is running. For example, Puncture is a staple in the Warrior control decks, so the Ring of the Unliving needs to be played on the turn you go in for the kill so as not to expose it. Shadala and Silea Dawnwalker are quickly becoming the answers of choice for ability and equipment removal in Horde control decks. Shadala can be dealt with rather easily with double Withering Shouts or a Gauntlets of Vindication–pumped Intercept. It’s Silea Dawnwalker that’s the biggest problem, so try to play around her the best you can.

Keep in mind that you can play out two Ring of the Unlivings if you are facing a mountain of discard, which is another problem for this deck. Your opponent will rarely be able to deal with both of them, and the Rings will be safer on the board than in your hand. It will usually take your opponent two entire turns to get rid of both of the Rings, and he or she will rarely want to risk the investment. Warlock control has Eye of Kilrogg, which is probably Warlock’s strongest weapon against you. Save Shield Bashes when you can, and bring in the Silent Fangs from the side deck. Fangs are an effective answer to a lot of the hate you will encounter from control decks, including the sometimes crippling Hardpacked Snowball.

Against aggressive decks, the game plan is simple: Shouts, Shouts, and more Shouts. The other strong cards in these matchups are Platinum Shield of the Valorous and the duo of War Stomp and Intercept. These five cards should easily provide you with enough stall power to get the combo cards down and to take the victory in hand. It’s essentially a race, and you start at 31 health, so don’t be afraid to advance the board at the cost of your health. The Punctures can occasionally be useful if your opponents are playing more mid-range allies, such as Stone Guard Rashun or Fury. Overall, the main deck is pretty much as anti-aggro as a combo deck can get.

Innovation like this really makes me smile, and it’s a nice change of pace from the mountain of Rogue, Mage, and Priest decks being played these days. Congrats to Steve and all the others like him who are exploring the lesser-known interactions in this game to reap great rewards and provide a ton of fun along the way. So, next time you think things are stagnant, try something from left field. You’ll be glad you did.

<This article was originally posted at the UDE WoW TCG Site: http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/ … fault.aspx>

mythique je vais le monter