Training Experimentation
By James Przytulski
(59 Cards)
5x Buromil Grunt
5x Assault Squad
2x Loyalty Officer
4x Colonel Wilhelm Reiger
4x Rapid Response Team
2x Rise of the Neoburo (Bazaar is better)
5x Dangerous Experiment (The best alt power gen in Shadowfist)
5x Imprisoned (Who's the Monkey Now? Proof)
2x Neutron Bomb
1x The Golden Spike
2x City Square
2x Fox Pass
4x Diamond Beach
2x Roller Rink
2x Mountain Fortress
5x Killing Ground
5x Bandit Hideout
2x Training Camp
This is the most complete deck I've ever built. It has everything I'd want in a deck. It has speed, alternative power generation, comeback potential, recursion, and flexibility. It can either sit and play a slow defensive game with recycling Buromil Grunts and Assault Squads, or play a speed Bandit Hideout soldier barrage. When I first built the deck I would play defensively. Recently though a more offensive approach has started to pay off.
I learned when I first started playing Shadowfist that a deck built on Diamond Beaches and architect removal barely lets anything past. Hence, the Assault Squads, Buromil Grunts, and Imprisoneds are a very powerful feng shui defense with a Diamond Beach out. Either the opponent has to horde and overwhelm me, or they have to attack one character at a time and risk the imprisoned/grunt failing the attack. When I built my first version of a non colonel deck like this deck I noticed a fundamental flaw. Architects didn’t appear to have the speed of a Good Ol’ Boys deck or the raw firepower of a Lotus Walking Corpses Kun Kan build. Then I noticed the Colonel Wilhelm Reiger. At first I thought he can’t even pump himself? What good is he? Then I realized that Assault Squad and Buromil Grunts both can perform the same basic purpose, defense and offense with battlegrounds on the table. The synergy meshing it all together with Dangerous Experiment didn’t click until I played Dan Oden’s “No Mercy” Ambush deck online. After the Dangerous Experiments were added the deck became basically my Origins winning build on the chimpshack after some fine tuning.
The recycling as I originally said helps out very much in long, drawn out dueling games. This typically only happens against massive opponent disruption. The comeback and alternative power generation is just outrageous with this deck. I’ve had games where I’ve had nothing but normal sites on the board, with the opponent at four feng shui, that I’ve won. I won by playing one or two Dangerous Experiments, dropping a bunch of battlegrounds then taking every feng shui my opponent owns.
The recursion is also a critical element in this deck’s success. I play four cards for recursion. Which are two Roller Rinks and two Training Camps. Each have had a role in many of my games. The Roller Rinks usually are only good later in the game with a City Square or Fox Pass out to put some damage on. Once three damage is on them, watch out. The Colonel Wilhelm will be making an appearance every single turn. The Training Camps although not free with Killing Grounds (A) recycle soldiers to pop in front of battlegrounds being attacked and (B) pump up a soldier with the Colonel Wilhelm.
The flexibility of the deck comes from the offensive and defensive options that I alluded to earlier. It also means that this deck can be played in different ways against different opponents. Playing against a Seven Masters opponent that hurts you when you attack it? Ok, that’s fine, just drop battlegrounds till you have like ten fighting on the board and swarm your opponent in one turn. Usually, I just match the opponent blow for blow, as this deck can stand up to the fastest of them.
This deck packs a punch in multiplayer as well. I made it to the finals of the only other Gatling proving league event I played this in.