Dark Pact is also pretty much the best spell to cast during Harmony
5 Likes
Iāve been testing [Discipline]/Present/Truth lately, and Iām really enjoying it!
Itās got the consistent early game of the White starter which I love, and itās got a good, diverse set of Tech I options, including Safe Attacking Spectral Hounds. What I really dig, though, is that its Tech II options are all viable.
Discipline Tech II is clearly value oriented, with a lot of cheap stats and utility abilities like Focus Master and Mind-Parry Monk. A Geiger maxband can generate a ton of value from a Focus Master or healing a Vigor Adept, and Quinceās Free Speech can force your opponent to play fair against solid cards.
Present Tech II generates tempo with Hyperion and Tricycloid. Temporal Distortion on either of them grants access to the utility of Discipline units and much-appreciated fliers in either other spec. Quinceās Hallucination combines excellently with Tricycloid, and making mirror copies of Hyperion is disgusting.
Truth Tech II actually gets smoothed out a lot with Martial Mastery. The board state that Truth can set up when it gets Reteller of Truths and Macciatus is hard to beat, and Martial Mastery helps get both into your hand. Probably the best Tech III option, since the others are expensive and niche.
A Quince Mirror army of either Discipline or Present helps carry into the late game, thereās a number of answers to heroes, Martial Mastery makes key cards like Temporal Distortion and Free Speech more accessible, True Power of Storms is possible - itās very flexible!
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In a similar vein to this and to the [Discipline]/Present/Demonology deck mentioned above, Iāve now played a number of games with [Finesse]/Present/Discipline, and I like the deck quite a bit. You have a pretty robust game plan at Tech 1, with Grave and the Discipline Tech 1 units being supplemented by the high quantity of interactive cards in the Neutral starter, and haste from Nimble Fencers. After getting an early advantage, you can often close out games with just Tech 1 and a Heroesā Hall by either taking advantage of Geigerās interactions with Rambasa Twin to build a beefy board or using Two-Step (+ Appel Stomp, sometimes). In addition to the known synergistic interactions with Rambasa Twins, Geiger also works really well with the virtuosos, as you can maxband Geiger for extra hasty damage, or you can Temporal Distortion a Fencer into a Star-Crossed Starlet, then replay the Fencer and attack with both for lots of hasty damage.
Because you already can get a lot of mileage out of the Nimble Fencers, Finesse Tech 2 is often a good choice. Present Tech 2 is as solid as ever, and Discipline Tech 2 is a situationally great choice, and even when you pick a different spec it can provide valuable TD targets.
Neutral starter is great for providing a decent quantity of inexpensive interaction while mitigating the multicolor penalty. Spell-wise, Finesse provides a sometimes excellent answer card in Discord, a powerful offensive tool in Two-Step, a sideways strategy in Harmony (it has decent support between MM, the starter spells, TD and Now!), and an ultimate that can just win the game if you have a board presence. Present provides the extremely flexible and abusable Temporal Distortion, as well as additional haste in Now! and an ultimate that lets you more than refill your hand, when you have plenty of cheap cards to play. In Discipline, Martial Mastery is very good at smoothing your draws and helping you make decisions, Reversal is a decent removal spell, and Versatile Style is a flexible answer to many different strategies.
Tech 3 kind of sucks though.
7 Likes
Currently mulling over [Past]/Growth/Blood as a possible multicolor. Iāve really liked the trickery that Purple can get up to, and the synergy between Hardened Mox and Blood buffs is really fun! In lieu of the traditional Peace pairing (for the Garrison engine into Nullcraft, as well as Boot Camp buffs), Iām considering bringing in the possibility of Blooming Elm and Might of Leaf and Claw, which lets Mox continue to stay in play while also gaining value. (And in a pinch, Bloodlust or Drakk maxband on an Oversized Rhinoceros can bring some hurt.) Giant Panda also works well with Drakk midband. Blooming Elm + Dinosize + Hardened Mox is also particularly nasty!
But thatās all theorycraft. Iāll need to actually try and execute that.
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Giant Panda arrives exhausted so it would glean no benefit from a maxbanded Drakk.
He said midband, so both the wisp and panda get 1 attack. This is slightly better then your average card.
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Midband buff, for the frenzy 1. With two bodies, that gains a bit of nice extra value.
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Can confirm growth disease peace was fun- canāt say how good it is because I have only played a bit, but once the combo of plague lab + blooming ancient is together you should crush the board. The turn I got to tap plague lab was GG.
I used peace mainly for the brave knights as an efficient early game to defend while I set up the combo.
2 Likes
[Bashing]/Present/Law has been fun. I initially thought it would be Law units supported by Present spells, but turns out Present units supported by Law spells is preeeeeeeetty rude! The former could still be a valid line assuming the opposing Codex is going for single large units, but I donāt know if it will ever compete with Present Tech II lines. Bashing is there purely for the neutral starter. Bloom and Wither do a lot to make Geiger and Bigby punch above their weight.
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If Bashing is there only for Neutral starter, would there be any advantages to using Finesse instead? Since Present already has Tech I units that fill similar roles to Bashingās, having a hasty Tech I instead could have its usesā¦ Of course, Riverās spells and abilities are also useful. Having Harmony give you dancer tokens every time you cast one of those rude Law spells could be nice, and Two Step makes your big Present units even bigger.
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Im a fan of the fact that two step doesnt fall off indestructible things when they ādieā.
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Imagine Two Step on a pair of Immortalsā¦ As long as River lives, theyāre 7/7 for the rest of the game!
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The problem with that is that it doesnāt vastly increase the power of immortals, They are still countered by the same cards, and if your opponent was actually killing your immortals every turn, rather then bouncing/disabling/trashing/polymorphing them, then you were almost certainly going to win anyway.
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Butā¦ but 7/7 Immortals are their own reward! 
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In that case put in Growth, MoLaC/Blooming Ancient should make those immortals far bigger then 7/7, and far less likely to lose that buff too.
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I mean, I did try [Ninjutsu]/Growth/Present once. Probably would have been better with a red spec instead of Ninjutsu, but the idea does work.
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Is there a way of giving more then one like? I feel like I need to give a least 3 for that spec combo. How did it do?
Actually I shouldnāt say itās the only thing I use the Bashing Spec for. So far Iāve also done Revolver Ocelot/Argonaut as my default first tech choice. Itās got a little more survivability than Sentry, if I donāt need something with anti-air (and I generally donāt). The rest of the tech choices are pretty prescribed as well, and while Riverās spells might be cool, I couldnāt afford the Heroes Hall + the additional hero + the cost of the spells Iād want to cast + the loss of whatever teching them would replace.
Iām not married to the neutral starter quite yet - the Green starter would actually do a lot of similar work for me, but so far I havenāt had a reason to switch it up. It will be kind of difficult to replace Neutral given that I donāt pay an off-colour penalty for Bloom, Wither, and Spark though.
Itās a work in progress. Maybe when the videos come out someone will be able to suggest something that makes more sense. Honestly the Purple starter might not be a bad fit either, but a LOT of it is auto-worker, since only Tricycloid has time runes.
Butā¦ Setsuki ult! How could anything be a better way of cashing in MoLaC than that?
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also a 8/9 swift strike hero sounds terrifying, then again, everything sounds terrifying after you apply an active MoLaC to it.
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