Realmsbane
by Jarod Cresswell (jarod_cresswell@hotmail.com)

Title Explaination

        This deck bases itself primarily around the principle of Abyssing Realms, with a secondary focus on discarding realms.  To do this it sacrifices much of it's combat ability, which is somewhat dealt with by the instant win champions.  Regardless, the primary focus is stopping the opponent from winning by discarding realms until they cannot possibly win because they have too few realms outside the abyss to win.  It's a pretty nasty war-of-attrition and best to play with good friends or it can really piss people off (like when they get through their deck twice and now only have 5 realms left).

Contents

Dungeon: Dungeon of the King (DU/2)
    Rule Cards:
  1. The Barbarian's Decree (1st/429)
    Realms:
  1. Avanil (BR/5)
  2. Daggerdale (1st/26)
  3. Malattra, the Living Jungle (1st/432)
  4. Menzoberranzan (1st/2)
  5. Perrenland (3rd/126)
  6. Sembia (3rd/6)
  7. Stonefist Hold (4th/24)
  8. Temple of Elemental Evil (1st/124)
  9. The Trollmoors (3rd/30)
  10. Ull (4th/25)
  11. The Vilhon Reach (4th/12)
    Holdings:
  1. Mulmaster (1st/33)
    Events:
  1. Calm (1st/400)
  2. The Caravan (1st/319)
  3. Cataclysm (1st/99)
  4. Espionage (BR/18)
  5. Good Fortune (1st/100)
  6. Map of Life (1st/413)
  7. Storm at Sea (3rd/214)
  8. Three Card Monte (NS/27)
    Champions:
  1. Cyric (H9,FR/92)
  2. Ellorelloran (W9,UD/93)
  3. Erital Kaan-Ipzirel (C7,AR/81)
  4. Gloriana (W6,1st/c2)
  5. Goldmoon (C9,AR/83)
  6. Helm (H6,FR/89)
  7. Hettman Tsurin (H2,1st/172)
  8. Iuz the Evil (M8,1st/167)
  9. The King of the Elves (H9,1st/440)
  10. Living Scroll (M0,1st/408)
  11. Lovely Colleen (H7,1st/c22)
  12. Marco Volo (H3,1st/50)
  13. Tasslehoff Burrfoot (H3,DL/39)
  14. The Undead Htimsen (M3,1st/425)
  15. Yagno Petrovna (C8,AR/82)
    Artifacts:
  1. Cup of Al'Akbar (1st/160)
  2. Ren's Crystal Ball (1st/199)
  3. The Ring of Winter (FR/61)
  4. Rod of Shapechange (1st/93)
    Magic Items:
  1. Blamblower (DL/56)
  2. Rod of 7 Parts, Part 5 (AR/25)
  3. Rod of 7 Parts, Part 7 (AR/27)
  4. Tarokka Deck (RL/56)
    Wizard Spells:
  1. Disintegrate (1st/393)
  2. Dissolution (DU/c4)
  3. Drawmij's Instant Summons (BR/63)
  4. Estate Transference (1st/437)
  5. Hornung's Guess (UD/37)
  6. Hallucinatory Terrain (FR/42)
  7. Limited Wish (FR/43)
  8. Recall (DL/74)
  9. Time Stop (FR/44)
    Cleric Spells:
  1. Creeping Doom (FR/28)
  2. Intercession (RR/48)

    Total Cards:  55 (plus Dungeon)

    Total Levels: 89

    Strategy
            Main aim of the deck is Abyssing realms.  Most important cards for this are 3 Card Monte and Estate Transferrence and cards making them more effective, or ensure they are used when they can't be countered (by looking at the opponents hand through Rod pt 5 or Hornung's Guess). Enhance Monte with Espionage or Yagno Petrovna (put 2 discarded realms on top) to maximize it's effectiveness.  Use the Cup of Al Akbar to retrieve Estate Transferrence when possible, using cards like Marco, Ren's Crystal Ball, Tarokka Deck to prevent the opponent from drawing realms to start with, and Cataclysm, Iuz, Dissolution to destroy realms which do get into play when they can't be abyssed.  Near the end of the deck, if you have Mulmaster and Illusionary Terrain out, try and set up a cycle using Recall, casting destruction spells, then Cup to pull back Recall and you can set up potentially a disintegrate/Estate Transference each turn.  Hettman, Perrenland and Barbarian's Decree minimize the opponent's ability to store cards if they have no realms (and hence no pool - if the deck is working there should be enough realm-killers for this to be a real factor).

    Weaknesses:
            Lack of Combat Ability - If you play against an aggressive combat deck, especially a recycling regent deck (with Regents (no instant killer champ), and Staff of Conjuring, Armor of the High King and Tas to recycle used combat cards) you can sometimes get swamped before you can slow them down enough.
            Immune Realms - Risk minimized though Iuz razing immune realms (then destroy when they're powerless) and getting the realm before played through Monte, Ren's CB, Tarokka, Storms at Sea etc).
            Vulnerability to Anti-Majic Rules - Nullify Magic, Forbidden Knowledge and Antimagic Cloud can cripple this deck.  Possibly adding another rule would help.
            Vulnerable to Negation Decks - Decks with recyclable negations can stop this deck being effective.  An example might be Tas/Amulet of Dispel Magic negates 1 spell/turn.  Add in Bigby for a turning and The Last Sea for a rebuildable realm turning and the offensive spells are in trouble.  Combine with all the event negaters (Limited Wish, Helm, Delsenora, Intercession, and the Medusa Throne) and this deck loses most of it's focus.
            Vulnerable to Spell Stopping - Deck becomes pretty weak if it can't cast spells.  The Dungeon protects this, and the non-mages stop normal Midnight, but is a little vulnerable to anti- dungeon cards with the avatar Midnight or Icon of Magic.  If you're getting hit by these regularly, would pay to include Hornung the Anarch and some champion killers like Assassins and Talcon (4th/341).
            Vulnerable to Its Own Combos - A smart opponent might be able to stop this deck by turning the combos used against the deck by stopping them halfway (which is less likely if you can see their hand).  For example, the Monte and Storms at Seas combos give the opponent their realms on top of their deck first (through Espionage, Yagno, etc).  If they stop the combo halfway, they've got ample realms immediately and lessen your chance of stopping them in time!
            Poor in Multiplayer - The best thing with this deck is to hammer one opponent down, keep them pool-less until they can't possibly win due to lack of realms outside the Abyss.  Against 2+ opponents though, there are too many Realms to destroy for this to work well – focusing on 1 opponent means the other guy will have a pool and probably win, and splitting between them often won't cripple either or delay them enough for you to win.  And all your realms will be
    razed near the start as you can't fight head to head against combat decks. It can still win if you turn it into a long war of attrition, but you need to be very careful playing opponents against each other, not fighting unwinable defences (even preferring to have no unrazed realms) and wary of opponents, especially saving counter cards.  You should substitute in Siege and Tarrasque at least to affect multiple players.

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