Wrath of the Forest [a beastmaster build]

[The Dude]

Hello friends! So I've came up with this idea while thinking about swarm attacks and how fuzzy they can be. I also noticed a shear lack of Fellella being played. I think Beastmaster has the perfect set of abilities to be able to go from aggro to control mid game. It's just a theory so far, but here is the starting plan:

Round one [19 mana]

Face down harmonize as a quickcast [17]
Move up one, cast mana crystal behind you [12]
EOT reveal Harmonize [8]

Round two [19 mana]
Quickcast battleforge in the center [11]
Move into zone with battle forge and cast mana crystal behind you [6]

Round three [18 mana]
Battle forge out a Ring of Beasts [17]
Quickcast Darkfenne Bats [13]
Cast Another Darkfenne Bats [8]

Round four [20 mana]
Sit tight with battle forge
Quickcast darkfenne Bats [16]
And Rouse it [15]

Round 5 [27]
Battle forge out Enchanter's Ring  [27]
Fullcast Valshalla, Lightning angel [6]
Quickcast nullify on Valshalla [5]

From there, you want to carefully let your opponent kill your devils while rotting him a bit. Go hard with Valshalla, and 12 mana a turn ^.^ It's a slower start, but I feel that this is a powerful start. If the opponent is soloing you, after round two prepare timber wolf as a pet w/ a bear strength, and that should help significantly.

When to cast Fellella? She is the tool box creature, and should be cast about midgame, in this scenario, one turn after you cast Valshalla would most likely be the best bet.

So, here is what the deck looks like as a whole:

Creature Suite:

1 Fellella, Pixie Familiar
1 Sosruko, Ferret Companion
1 Galador, Protector of Straywood
1 Steelclaw Grizzly (quickly becoming a staple of my builds)
1 Valshalla, Lightning Angel
3 Darkfenne Bats
1 Timber Wolf
3 Thunderrift Falcons (late game swarm that is a little hard to deal with]
2 Feral Bobcat
1 Gauntlets of Strength
1 Enchanter's Ring
1 Elemental Cloak
1 Bearskin
1 Regrowth Belt
1 Ring of Beasts
1 Staff of Beasts

Enchantment Toolbox:

1 Magebane
1 Ghoul Rot
1 Cobra Reflexes
1 Bull Endurance
1 Eagle Wings
2 Jinx
1 Harmonize
1 Regrowth
1 Block
1 Cheetah Speed
2 Bear Strength
1 Decoy
1 Falcon Precision
1 Mongoose Agility
1 Nullify
1 Rhino Hide

Obligatory hard counter package:

1 Seeking dispel
2 Dispel
2 Dissolve

One ofs that every deck could always benefit from:

1 Force Push
1 Battle Fury
1 Teleport (sdouglas has put into my head that Teleport is always good. Always :3)
1 Minor Heal (This is more for creatures than myself, but it can be used on me)

Beastmaster musts:

2 Rouse the Beast
2 Call of the Wild

And Finally, the misc.:

1 Battle Forge
1 Wall of Thorns
2 Tanglevine
2 Mana Crystal
2 Rajan's Fury

1 Arc Lightning
1 Lightning Bolt

The two attack spells are meant to help kick the mage while they are down, so that they don't get back up.

Thoughts, suggestions, comments? I've built like three terrible BM builds now, and I think this one could actually stand a chance!

[ringkichard]

I had a little luck with a similar build that played Valshalla and foxes, but I found that a prepared opponent had no difficulty picking off the weenies with ranged attacks, and could then curse/slam/whatever Valshalla to death.

I played mine more aggressively:

1. [19] Quick cast and reveal Cheetah Speed. Move 2. Ring of Beasts.
2. [21] Move 2. Bitterwood Fox. Mage Staff.
3. [21] Bitterwood Fox. Bitterwood Fox.
4. [21] Valshalla.

Generally I found that this was agressive enough to kill a few mana crystals, but the foxes had to be careful not to die before Valshalla came out, and running them into the opponent would get them killed pronto. This prevented me from using them against the opponent's mage directly. Even if I was careful, my opponent would often come gunning for them with ranged attacks from creatures, or arcane zap or something.

Once Valshalla was out, my opponent would be careful to kill more than one fox a turn, limiting Valshalla's growth. Once she was up to 5 or 6 power, he'd knock her down with a slam or a paralyze or something, and then Quicksand or focus fire until she died. For 21 mana, she's really not that durable once she loses flying.

I'm not saying I didn't win games with it, but it was vulnerable once the opponent knew how to fight it.  The problem is that I spent 15 mana and 3 actions on weenies, and they die pretty easily. I eventually decided that it was much more efficient to play Bear's Strength on Valshalla. And then I decided it was much more efficient to play Bear's Strength on a Steelclaw. And then I took Valshalla out entirely, and the book went in another direction.

Part of the evolution my book went through was just personal preference, though. I tend to prefer agro decks because I'd rather play 3 or 4 short games than 1 or 2 long ones, especially because I do not play very well around hour 6 of Mage wars.

I will say this for Valshalla, though: she potentially answers a lot of problems. Ethereal attacks, flying, and lightning (stun and +2 against Iron Golem/Knight of Westlock) are all great for a Beastmaster. If you can get this book to work in practice, let me know.