Zombie Horde

[Zuberi]

In anticipation of the Druid vs Necromancer, I've been thinking up how I might go about my first Necromancer. I am thinking of seeing how well a Swarm strategy will work with him using the iconic Zombies. Here is what I'm thinking right now:

(10) Round 1 (+10)
(20) Cast Libro Mortuos (-10)
(10) Cast Meditation Amulet (-4)

(6) Round 2 (+10)
(16) Deploy Zombie Crawler (-3)
(13) Use Meditate (+3)
(16) Cast Graveyard (-14)

(2) Round 3 (+10)
(12) Deploy Zombie Crawler (-3)
(9) Deploy Shaggoth-Zora (-7)
(2) Use Meditate (+3)
(5) Cast Death Ring (-5)

Thus, after the first 3 rounds I shall have the equivilent of 14 mana per round with my Death Ring, Mage's Channeling, and Spawnpoint's Channeling. I shall also have 3 creatures out on the field already to meet my opponent's forthcoming assault. Every round I shall use this mana to get out two creatures. One of which will always be a Zombie Crawler (at least through round 7) because they are super cheap and I plan on using them to grow my Shaggoth. The other will vary from either Zombie Minion if I want some extra mana, or Zombie Brute if I have the mana to spare. Even if I go with Zombie Minion though, I'll only have 3 mana per turn to work with, so my mage's action will most likely be to Meditate. If I'm lucky enough to get to meditate every round we're talking 17 mana each round to fuel 2 creature summons + a quick spell each round. Sounds pretty good on paper.

[Battlehamster]

I was thinking of doing something similar to this with zombies but with a secondary focus on poison as well. Utilizing my poison immunity, put out an idol of pestilence ASAP to force the opponent to come to me (combatting turtle). Also would include the only non-zombie in the build as a Malacoda to combat swarms and to put the hurt down on anyone in my zone. Drain soul will also be good to put poison on my opponent and hit him every turn with the necro poison ability.

[jacksmack]

I was thinking of doing something similar to this with zombies but with a secondary focus on poison as well. Utilizing my poison immunity, put out an idol of pestilence ASAP to force the opponent to come to me (combatting turtle). Also would include the only non-zombie in the build as a Malacoda to combat swarms and to put the hurt down on anyone in my zone. Drain soul will also be good to put poison on my opponent and hit him every turn with the necro poison ability.

You only force your opponent to put on a regrowth belt and stay away from small creatures with that opening.

And the regrowth belt he can probaly wait until round 3 or 4.

I guess its time to think about how we get poisen condition on the enemy mage with this badboy.

[Zuberi]

I would definitely include an Idol of Pestilence in the build, but I would not put it out ASAP. I'm more worried about combating early aggression than forcing it. I want to make sure I have my zombie generating machine in full gear as fast as possible and can present enough of a threat to defend myself.

Malacoda definitely would work well with the Necromancer as well, but the fact that I can't summon it with my Spawnpoints and the 16 mana cost would make me decide to leave it out of this particular build.

Drain Soul is another spell I would love to include, but I'm on the fence as to whether or not I will. I'm not sure if this build would ever have the 16 mana to cast Drain Soul, but you can bet it would have a very high priority if I ever did.

[Artemus Maximus]

I was thinking of doing something similar to this with zombies but with a secondary focus on poison as well. Utilizing my poison immunity, put out an idol of pestilence ASAP to force the opponent to come to me (combatting turtle). Also would include the only non-zombie in the build as a Malacoda to combat swarms and to put the hurt down on anyone in my zone. Drain soul will also be good to put poison on my opponent and hit him every turn with the necro poison ability.

You only force your opponent to put on a regrowth belt and stay away from small creatures with that opening.

And the regrowth belt he can probaly wait until round 3 or 4.

I guess its time to think about how we get poisen condition on the enemy mage with this badboy.

Deatlock/Poisoned Blood. Poison Gas Clouds too.

[DarthDadaD20]

anything that has shaggoth eating zombie minions early and every turn is going to be a good build 

Meditation amulet works great with the Necro- it just does.

The thing I like most about the necro is with just one build- you can deside to

A. Stay back and summon hoards of creatures

or

B. Go for the throat and keep on the presser.

Other builds can do this sure- but with the Necro its just so fluid using the same build. He is scary if he is aggro- and IMO he is REALLY scary if he has hoards that just rush and surround you late game.

And yeah- this looks like a great opening. For me personally- I stick with only one spawn point and dont often use two on the board at the same time. But I know a few that do, and it works for them.

I also prefer to get out Shaggoth as soon as possible, then have my spawnpoint summon a minion, and have shaggoth devour it ASAP. That leaves my Necro open to cast counters,conjurations,attack spells,ect.

Nicely done OP.

[DeckBuilder]

An interesting opening, Zuberi. A lot of long-term planning for a mid range strategy The Shaggoth Growth play (full action, 1 point and 3 mana for +1 malee, +3 Resilient Life) needs to stay with a source of Crawlers (slowing your threat tempo) and will soon get scary! But if you over-commit to any huge threat, a wand with Force Push could keep him out of Frenzy range. As you can't Sleep him, maybe Banish will make an appearance if he becomes popular. I do like sacrifice mechanics so I hope this works great.

But are you obsessing too much about using the Ring and Amulet? I was thinking something a bit more direct, "in your face", like...

C10: (20) Crystal (15) start corner, double move NC
C11: (26) Brute (15), Crystal (10) back edge
C12: (22) Brute (11), Crystal (6) next to start corner
C13: (19) Brute [8], Crystal (3) next to other corner
C14: (17) Brute (6), Teleport/Force Wave/Tanglevine

(I kept them all as Crystals rather than a Death Ring to keep it transferable with Warlock)

This is against the dream of no-disruption (which never happens). In reality, you should never get to Channel 14 by turn 5 and you will have to cast Tanglevine or Force Push or Stumble (so apt) to pressure the opponent early. Once you have enemy mage wounded with 4 Brutes, time to cast the Frenzies. Just focus on the mage. Evade may be useful to avoid wounding guards who will then be distractions.

It goes without saying that against a Druid, turn 2's first summon will be Lord of Fire and a relevant enchantment dependent on situation. In fact, with Krathalor available, this may be the play against any Nature mage.

That’s the problem: it’s only his 10 Channeling that’s stops me instantly switching to Warlock. Plague Zombie looks an interesting Eternal Servant as you need to leverage his abilities. Idol of Pestilence is two-edged as it will distract Zombies from threatening the enemy mage so you are committed to a slow swarm "eradicate all enemies" attrition strategy if you go that way. Obvious Poison defences (Malacoda, Gas Cloud) also create these wounded minion distractions and are useless in mirror matches. Everything commits to swarm attrition.

I think more interesting could be a Skeleton Soldier Fort build with a Wall of Bones partition, Archers on Watchtowers, Knights guarding against Flyers and Mort healing (Wraiths making sorties through the wall, also not undead vs. Kralathor). I also expect openings like...
C10: (20) Moonglow (14), Acolyte (9)
C11: (20) Altar of Skulls (11), Acolyte (6)
C11: (17) Wall of Bones x2 (5), Acolyte (0)
This triggers Altar turn 5 with Mort appearing that same turn. Reassemble (and Acolytes while they live) should prevent a breach. As vine range requires line of sight, I think Wall of Bones may prove to be a key card (additionally useful at penning up your Zombies' mage prey).

The main issue with Zombie swarm (as opposed to Brute assassination) is Bloodthirsty is poor against Nonliving (e.g. my Earth Wizard with 4 Golems and 4 Oozes), especially the mirror match which will be common to begin with. Skeletons don’t suffer that bad match-up. Still, those Brutes are sooo sexy...

I have the Warlord problem when building for the Necromancer. His army seems too ambitious, slow and long-term. Now the Druid is a control player’s dream, I’m even considering Thornlashers in Fire Wizard with Hydras (wounded are great distraction for weak Zombies like Crawlers). I love the Necromancer mage sub-class (harking back to my D&D Necromancer who searched musty tomes for ways to bring his dead love back to life) but the Druid's clever mechanics, unrealistic combos and under-costed creatures (9 cost level 3 vampire with regen?) feels so much more stronger. I really hope I’m wrong about the Necromancer but secretly I suspect it’s Warlock for the win.

[jacksmack]

They capped altar of skulls with only once per round can a priest pray to the temple.... It can collect unlimited amount of skulls....but that is never going to be relevant.

[DeckBuilder]

Oh yeah, good spot sir! Yeah it doesn't work, turn 9 is probably too long even with Mort and Archers firing at flyers (maim them).

Back to the laboratory, Igor!

[Zuberi]

Growing Shaggoth doesn't actually require any actions. I'm using a spawnpoint to deploy the Zombie Crawler, and then Shaggoth obliterates upon activation. Shaggoth still gets to take his action. Needing a source of Crawlers is a little problematic, but can be done. If I need to I could just keep my mage with Shaggoth, then with Libro Mortuos the Crawlers would appear with Shaggie and he could immediately absorb them. Moving my mage around would hinder my meditation though.

Compared to crystals, I believe the Ring and Amulet are the better choice for this build. The Ring costs 5 and provides me with the equivilent of 2 mana per turn, twice as good as a Mana Crystal. The Amulet depends on how often it's used, with the potential of being over 3x as good as the Mana Crystal if I use it every round. As long as I use it once every 3 rounds though, it remains on par. Some will argue the fact that it needs to be used at all makes it inferior, but that depends on your build. This build doesn't have a lot of plans for it's normal action. My current opening has me able to utilize 17 mana per round after round 3.

Kralathor is very scary. I fear him eating my Zombie Crawlers before Shaggie can. I'm not sure yet if I would need to change my entire strategy vs a Nature Mage or if I just need to pack a few Fireballs. I didn't consider the drawbacks of Idol of Pestilence. I may rethink it's inclusion now.

I considered Skeletons, and I may rework this to try them out as well and see which I like better, but the first way I want to try is with Zombies. They are just more thematic, lol. The Pest Trait that most of them have though is going to be aggravating.

Does vine range require line of sight?

[lettucemode]

Does vine range require line of sight?

I believe the Druid's card says that you can target the zone, a thing in that zone, or a border of that zone when using the vine markers to cast stuff. Targeting requires LoS, so the answer is yes.

[jacksmack]

Its in the codex and the wording is:

"ignoring range".

When casting a spell you check for both range and Los. When casting to a vine, you only check for LOS due to the above (see DvN codex).

[Kharhaz]

Does vine range require line of sight?

I believe the Druid's card says that you can target the zone, a thing in that zone, or a border of that zone when using the vine markers to cast stuff. Targeting requires LoS, so the answer is yes.

Yes the druid needs line of sight to cast from a vine marker.

However she does not need line of sight to place a vine marker.

[MrSaucy]

Growing Shaggoth doesn't actually require any actions. I'm using a spawnpoint to deploy the Zombie Crawler, and then Shaggoth obliterates upon activation. Shaggoth still gets to take his action. Needing a source of Crawlers is a little problematic, but can be done. If I need to I could just keep my mage with Shaggoth, then with Libro Mortuos the Crawlers would appear with Shaggie and he could immediately absorb them.

This exactly. Love it when Shaggoth is in my Necromancer's zone and ready to act and can gulp up a Zombie Walker that was just deployed that turn by Libro Mortuos