Two decks bashing seems to work well in are [Blood fire] bashing and [Bashing] Balance x (midori midband on tenderfoot/iron man/ third spec tokens)
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If people come to appreciate tech lab as a useful add-on, bashing could theoretically become a lot stronger.
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I ran three games against Eijolend with [Blood]/Bashing/Growth (Ramhorn’s Ramhorns) and went Tech Lab Bashing or Bashing-> Tech Lab other in two of the three games. I didn’t get to play the Duck, as I was just a bit too aggressive to get Tech III out in time, but it’s worth the lab right there in a Blood base-race strat: Bloodlust/Charge makes it 8 damage to base immediately, or 4 each to two buildings. To be fair, PGC is almost as good, but just a bit slower on crucial turns.
Regular-Sized Rhino is so marvelously efficient if they don’t have a way to kill a big body fast. And Stomper gives you a way to kill medium bodies fast. Hell, there’s Eggship if you need fliers, which is also amazing with haste. And Pig is a poor man’s (rich man’s?) Monkey. Harvest Reaper+Dinosize is sick, if expensive.
Bashing just gives a lot of answers that complement your other spec, especially in terms of evasion and removal. It can be hard to justify the expense as Player 1 unless you’re running a spec with some really cheap or efficient units (like Lobbers/Crashbombers) and you have money to spare. But as Player 2, why not?
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Demon/necro also pairs really well with bashing, using wither starter.
Demon Troq is huge, Bashing Tech 2 is great with Garth, and Wrecking Ball is a great complement to a Metamorph base race (2x breaks Tower before other attacks, or just to get the last 4-8 damage alongside dark pacts)
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So, I am fairly new to Codex so forgive any faulty ideas/strategies or even misplays mentioned.
Like #mysticjuicer I have been playing Law and Present, but instead of a Neutral I am using Ninjitsu currently. Any starter deck options have been meh imo, but have setled on white since it at least gives me some cheap options when going first. I have tried to test this builds various options but generally come back to abusing Hyperion ans the main weapon to lead to victiory. So, the things that I have liked running with Ninjitsu…
- Targets for TD and Warp Gate Disciple. Being able to play Hyperion, attack, and then TD into Glorious Ninja makes me happy everytime. If it’s late enough you get the bonus Hyperion play.
- Added targets for Now. Porcupine mainly to immediately remove a patrolling problem or hero, but also Flying Fox to lay out damage onto a problem spot immediately, or just close out close out the game.
- Though rare, Fox Den Students and more situational the School have got me out of a jam and closed out a game or two.
IN general I like that I have been using Ninjitsu for more than what mysticjuicer has mentioned with the neutrals. This is probably weaker…(I have no idea really, lol) but its what I’ve been enjoying a lot lately.
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I’m trying to come up with the right deck construction to really feature the Disease -1/-1 shenanigans. The Neutral starter is nice because of Bloom and Wither (and its inherent flexibility). Feral’s spells are good with Plague Spitter, but they don’t affect Orpal. Ninjitsu can also give stealth, but to heroes as well, and fuzz cuddles is good for healing big heroes (as is savior monk, though less so.) I’m really liking the idea of Oni+HH+orpal, using boot camp to make him scary, but I don’t think I want to use either the black or the blue starter, and I’m going back and forth between Discipline, Feral, Ninjitsu and Finesse as the third (or rather [first]) spec.
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I would be interested in seeing [Finesse]/Disease/Peace, it gives a srta well rounded set of heroes, though the big problem is dealing with opposing heroes, it still might be workable.
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Orpal’s not as strong as Garth for heroes, but Sickness and Spreading Plague both hit heroes. Alternatively, Carrion Curse hits spells, and once you’ve weakened a hero with runes, spells are the primary things that make heroes scary.
Orpal has decent answers to heroes, if not the best. You’ve got the sickness(or wither)/spreading plague combo to kill them, or if it’s a mostly combat-focused hero, you can just stick -1/-1’s on them and leave them in play, since those don’t heal, so heroes like Rook and Calamandra lose a lot of their combat value. If you’re mostly worried about spells, you’ve got Carrion Curse. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s at least a deterrent. I think if I were playing this deck, I’d make a point to stick a rune or two on opposing heroes as soon as possible, with the idea that if they become a problem later on, I have spreading plague as an option for true removal.
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I don’t think you want to pay the multicolor penalty. Just go with Finesse/Demon/Disease or Bashing/Necro/Disease, either of which give you versatility and a strong backup plan if Orpal gets killed at an inopportune moment.
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You’re probably right, and I considered that, but I do like the Boot Camp idea. [Discipline]/Peace/Disease seems well suited to this approach, but you’re right, that initial Heroes’ Hall is expensive, and you miss out on Bloom/Wither. I do feel like there are a lot of synergies in that codex, though.
this recent bit of conversation has inspired me to try http://codexcarddb.com/deck/finesse/disease/growth … been using Growth/Disease/Strength, using Rook/Birds as an early game plan while building up to Blooming Ancient / Plague lab finishing combo, but using neutral starter gives more flexibility with early game heroes/spells and gives the ability to apply both kinds of runes for Plague lab.
Almost makes me want to take it a step further and just go Finesse/Discipline/Disease and try to use sparring partner as another way to get +1/+1 runes and focus more tech/spells on Disease/faster plague lab… since games I have played where I go blooming into plague lab are pretty much over just at blooming. and you could get a billion focus runes, if that’s a useful thing. @payprplayn or more sword runes 
THOUGH, blooming ancient + birds is pretty broken.
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Yeah, I like the Discipline/Disease synergy alot. I tried it with Past and the purple starter initially, with the idea that Hardened mox and nullcraft are great early targets for runes, especially since plague lab isn’t a unit, so you don’t have to trash Mox if you build it. Plague lab can also add time runes to things with fading. It didn’t quite work out for me, but there might be something there. Btw don’t forget the mother of all Plague lab cheese: giving grave extra sword runes. In addition to the plague lab shenanigans, Disease has several useful cards (including plague lab) that cost 3, so you can set up TPoS as an alternate win condition. Also don’t sneeze at the value of training ground with Orpal.
Edit: It’s been a day and a half, and I just realized that I said, Finesse/Disease when I clearly meant Discipline/Disease. (Actually, it’s worse than that: I said Finnesse/Disease, which is particularly embarrassing since I was in spelling bees as a kid.)
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It’s best not to think about what those new sword runes are MADE of.
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I get why you paired Demonology with Finesse, obviously, but I’m curious: why do you prefer Bashing over Finesse to bring the neutral starter to Necro/Disease? Is it for the endgame power of Trojan Duck?
I’m curious about the answer as well. I suspect Duck is part of it, since it’s mere arrival could close out a game if they’re low on HP. But I might guess that being able to bring Stompers/Reapers directly into play with Garth is pretty valuable, too.
Bashing Tech 2 is very nice with Garth. And also Iron Man.
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I think Bashing has the better targets for Necro Hero max band ability than Finesse does. That’s why I have looked more seriously at Bashing than Finesse when trying to combo with Demon/Necro.
Yay a use for bashing!
Of course. I don’t know why I didn’t consider Garth’s maxband, since it’s one of the best things about the whole Necro spec (not to say there aren’t others-- as I’ve said elsewhere, Necro is generally one of my favorite specs, maybe my single favorite). I did think about Iron Man, but I actually am inclined to think that Finesse is a better tech 1 complement to Necro/Disease than Bashing is. Iron man makes good trades, to be sure, but while Necro/Disease lacks a 3/4 for 3, it’s already got 3 different options for a 3/3 for 2, and Plague Spitter is a 3-cost tech 1 that trades well with bigger things, though I think it’s definitely a more defensive option than a 3/4. When it comes to trading well on offense, Bone Collector gives fantastic value for 2 gold. Bashing tech 1 feels a bit like more of the same, whereas haste adds an entirely new dimension to the codex. Now that you mention Garth’s maxband, though, I do see the value of Bashing tech II with Necro, though I must say that I think Grounded Guide is a spectacular Garth Maxband grab (skeletons love global buffs, and the Virtuoso synergy is tremendous if you went with fencers in tech 1).
In general, I think Disease probably synergizes better with Finesse than with Bashing, due mostly to River’s spells (Discord + Orpal maxband seems really strong, especially if you throw an Abomination or a Plague Lab into the mix, and Two Step looks really pretty on Plague Spitters and Abominations), but also partly due to Tech I haste and Blademaster (a minor concern, I admit, but the only thing that combos better with swift strike than damage as -1/-1s is Deathtouch, and Disease has 3 things with one or the other, two of which don’t require a Tech Lab). That being said, you’re probably right that [Bashing]/Disease/Necro is stronger than [Finesse]/Disease/Necro, because the Necro/Bashing synergy is probably a bit stronger than the Finesse/Disease synergy. [Finesse]/Demon/Disease seems like it’s probably the strongest option for a black/neutral combo including Disease, though.
@Raiddinn, I have to disagree about picking Bashing over Finesse with Demon/Necro. Bashing and Necro may synergize well, but Finesse and Demonology synergize amazingly well (Harmony/Dark Pact, Discord/Terras Q or Twilight Baron, Two Step+basically any 2 Demonology units, etc.). I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here, since [Demon]/Necro/Finesse is considered top-tier (which I imagine is why you mentioned your preference for Bashing), but I’ll go one step further: if I were going to play around with that codex, I’d be more likely to swap out Necro than I would Finesse. Even if I wanted to keep it mono-colored, I think I prefer [Finesse]/Demon/Disease or [Demon]/Finesse/Disease or even [Finesse]/Demon/Bashing (in that order) over either [Bashing]/Demon/Necro or [Demon]/Necro/Bashing. The one caveat I will give to all of this is that Troq is a somewhat better target for Metamorphosis than River, but River is still fine, and a better hero in general, so the difference isn’t worth what you give up.
Edit: apologies for the wall of text. I can get a little long winded sometimes, even (especially?) when I don’t entirely know what I’m talking about, which is admittedly the case here.
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