Meditation Lair

[Borg]

I like playing Straywood Beastmaster swarm but it can be somewhat fragile at times though...

So, in my neverending search to improve my Beastmaster book, I started thinking and asking myself : how can I cast (approximately) the same amount of creatures as I would with a Bitterwood Foxes swarm, but instead have some of them be Timber Wolves ? If those Wolves could come out at the rate that foxes do, that could push swarm over the top and potentially be an unstoppable force.

An ambitious project for sure but maybe it can be done after all ... with the help of ...
[mwcard=DNQ10]Meditation Amulet[/mwcard].

Meditation Amulet is a card that doesn't seem to get consideration in a Straywood book - I did a forum search and couldn't find any hits anyway - sorry if somebody else already posted a deck like this and I missed it.

Anyway, the strategy behind the book is to use the Amulet to build up for about 4 turns, build a critical mass of (durable) creatures and then go on offense en masse, including your Beastmaster, while the Lair continues to pump out reinforcements.

You will be generating 14 mana per turn early on which means the opposing Mage is falling behind further in mana generation with every passing turn.
14 mana allows you to summon a Timber Wolf + Bitterwood Fox EVERY turn.

If the opposing Mage takes some turns to build up himself, good for you, gives you the time you need to build your critical mass.

If he comes at you quickly trying to destroy the Amulet, he will probably not be equipped enough to withstand the early aggression of your animals.

Here's the build up

T1 : (19)
Don't move.
Cast [mwcard=MW1J10]Lair[/mwcard] (4) in corner zone.
QC [mwcard=DNQ10]Meditation Amulet[/mwcard] (0)

Both key cards, generator and turbo, come out on T1, just fitting into your 19 starting mana pool.
Stay home to keep distance from enemy Mage as far as possible, we don't want to waste mana nor an action on protection for the amulet.

T2 : (9+2)
Deploy [mwcard=MW1C04]Bitterwood Fox[/mwcard] Pet (4)
Activate Amulet (7)
QC [mwcard=MW1Q25]Ring of Beasts [/mwcard] (5)

Bitterwood Fox Pet provides 5 dice, 8 Life and 1 armor for only 7 mana : great early defense at a cheap cost.

You could alternatively cast the Ring on T1 and the Amulet on T2 for the same result at the end of T2.

T3 (14+2)
Deploy [mwcard=MW1C38]Timber Wolf[/mwcard] (7)
Activate Amulet (10)
QC Bitterwood Fox (6)

T4 (15+2)
Deploy [mwcard=MW1C29]Redclaw, Alpha Male[/mwcard] (1)
Activate Amulet (4)
QC Bitterwood Fox (0)

After 4 Turns we have 6 creatures who can roll 23 to 28 attack dice and who have substantially more Life and Armor than a regular Fox/Falcon Swarm.

We have generated and spent 61 mana and gotten 2 mana reduction from the Ring for a total of 63 mana.
Any way I look at it, this seems like a strong opening.

The Amulet has completed its primary job and is no longer a must to protect. ( even though you can continue to use it if the situation would favour it of course. Nothing wrong with tipping the scales even further though I think that T5 is about the right time to move your Animals forward under the protection of Redclaw)

I'd use the Amulet as a lure at this point to draw the opposing Mage in and lure him into spending an action and mana to destroy it.

Of course the enemy mage might try to Dissolve the Amulet by T2 or T3.
How do you protect against it ?
When the enemy Mage is 3 zones away play a [mwcard=MW1E29]Nullify[/mwcard] instead of a Bitterwood Fox.

If the Mage is 2 spaces away, slap a [mwcard=MW1J22]Tanglevine[/mwcard] on him instead of playing a Fox.
In any case, you should try to keep him at distance 2+ for the 4 opening rounds.

Looking forward to constructive comments.

[echephron]

its a good system. my last opponent did something similar.

I'd do a
19 1)lair->harmonize
9+3 2)mediation->meditate and a bird for distraction
14+3 3)meditate->ringofbeasts and wolf
turn4 and on

If they aren't the forcemaster, warlock, or beastmaster, i'd do the lair in the NC(and stand behind it) and consider a wall of fog directly in front of it. I'm concerned that a lair in the starting corner will have troubles with enemy stuff in the far corner(turtles, anti-swarm conjurations, breathing time, ect).

[DaveW]

Earlier this week I put a Meditation Amulet in my Beastmaster (Straywood) book, with a similar thought. I had been planning:

Lair + Harmonize (T1)
Falcon or Bobcat (deployed, choice depends on what opponent did on T1) + Amulet and Meditate (T2)

I think you get more mana out of the Harmonize on T1 than in casting the Amulet then... but you aren't Harmonizing the Lair, so I guess your opening works just as well casting the Amulet on T1.

[MageHorst]

Hm... I like the overall idea and would like to try it out myself. Thanks right away for the inspiration!

However, I don't think that an opponent who realises what you are trying to do (Lair+Amulet) and who decides to attack you early as a consequence would go for the Amulet. Hyper-aggro enemies (Solo Forcemaster/Warlock, Big Buddy builds...) go for your Mage's throat, the intention being that the game will be over after turn 8 at latest (and they can hurt you badly as early as turn 3).

[Biblofilter]

Interesting idea!

Might work with Battle Forge instead of Lair?

[Borg]

I'd do a
19 1)lair->harmonize
9+3 2)mediation->meditate and a bird for distraction
14+3 3)meditate->ringofbeasts and wolf
turn4 and on

I tried the Lair+Harmonize opening as well but that way it turns out I'm one mana short at the end of turn 4 to cast another Fox.
I end T4 with zero mana left, playing Harmonize T1 is a 4 mana investment for a 3 mana return by T4 ( thus : 1 mana short )

If they aren't the forcemaster, warlock, or beastmaster, i'd do the lair in the NC(and stand behind it) and consider a wall of fog directly in front of it. I'm concerned that a lair in the starting corner will have troubles with enemy stuff in the far corner(turtles, anti-swarm conjurations, breathing time, ect).

As I mentioned already in OP, I'm wary of being too close early on to anybody really as I want to avoid a quick Dissolve. Playing a wall of Fog may cut off LOS for my opponent but also for myself and I'd like to be able to Tanglevine at the right moment.

[Borg]

However, I don't think that an opponent who realises what you are trying to do (Lair+Amulet) and who decides to attack you early as a consequence would go for the Amulet. Hyper-aggro enemies (Solo Forcemaster/Warlock, Big Buddy builds...) go for your Mage's throat, the intention being that the game will be over after turn 8 at latest (and they can hurt you badly as early as turn 3).

I hope I can counter that early agression by throwing Foxes at the opposition while at the same time pumping out more Wolves. The book also runs a couple of Dire Wolves as a counter to solo mages.
Tanglevine and Eagle Claw Boots also help in this situation.

[Borg]

Might work with Battle Forge instead of Lair?

If your Battle Forge can summon Creatures, yes

Seriously, I don't know if that's going to work. Spending your main action on Meditating and letting the Forge Gear you up, you can only summon lvl 1 creatures.

[sdougla2]

If you want to use Battle Forge with Meditation Amulet, you'll still want a creature Spawnpoint. I do that with my Anvil Throne Warlord. I don't always get the Meditation Amulet and Barracks down, but it gives me a really strong economic game against anyone that doesn't pressure me within the first 2 rounds.

Turn 1 (19): Battle Forge -> Mana Flower (6)
Turn 2 (16): Deploy Meditation Amulet -> Meditate -> Lair (1)

Is what that would look like for a Beastmaster. Overall I don't think it works nearly as well for a Beastmaster as for a Warlord for a number of reasons, but it's an option. Ring of Beasts doesn't help Lair deploy creatures the way that General's Signet Ring does. Barracks needs more buildup anyway, and is worse at aggression. The Lair is stronger at applying pressure quickly due to a combination of it's greater action efficiency, greater resilience, and lack of a mana restriction on deploying a creature. In addition, animals tend to be better offensively than soldiers without support, particularly the cheap ones you'll want to play out of a Spawnpoint in order to maximize action efficiency. The Warlord also has in school access to more equipment, and the Anvil Throne Warlord has more of a reason to focus on equipment than the Straywood Beastmaster.

I like the idea of Lair -> Meditation Amulet. You can start spamming Timber Wolves, Thunderift Falcons, and Emerald Tegu (or wolf pack if you prefer). I wouldn't worry too much about Meditation Amulet getting Dissolved. If I get to use it twice, I've already made mana on the investment, and I should have a board advantage already, since my opponent moved 3 spaces in order to get to me to Dissolve my Amulet. Even if I can only use it once, I'm ahead of my opponent on economy and board presence. I wouldn't Harmonize the Lair in that type of opening. It makes the Lair a bigger target, and slows you down. You probably already have enough economy from Lair + Meditation Amulet, and I would rather supplement with rings than with enchantments.

[reddawn]

In my experience, the basis of most swarms should be lvl 2 creatures like Butchers, Sentries, or T. Wolves.  Those three in particular act as the backbone of a swarm, since they are all "generically good."  That is, they don't have special abilities and their cost to stats ratio is good, so they're designed to just build your board up rather than counter a particular threat. 

T. Falcon swarm (the strategy which won gencon) is an exception to this because unlike most lvl 1s, Falcons are hard to control.  Their health to cost ratio is a little worse, but that's why Etherian Lifetree is used--it puts the falcons' hp high enough to probably avoid their most efficient counters, like a mage with melee skill using a Mage Staff (5 dice), Ring of Fire/Firestorm and Hurl Rock.  I don't think the Lifetree is necessary in lvl 2 swarms as lvl 2s generally have high life totals for their cost anyway; you'd want something else like Standard Bearer, Call of the Wild, or some other group-buff effect to increase dice.

Basically, falcon swarm is faster, but still more vulnerable to hate than lvl 2 swarms even with the tree.  Alex West (deck's pilot), however, predicted correctly that most players at GC wouldn't be using zone attacks anyway, and without anyone making an effort to destroy the tree, the build didn't have much of a weakness.  Acid Ball/Dissolve/Dispel takes care of most defensive cards, leaving the dice torrent of birds to go nuts.   In an environment where zone attacks and Fireball is played, though, I'd imagine lvl 2 swarms would be more of the norm.

[sdougla2]

Timber Wolves, Orc Butchers, and Skeletal Sentries are a better basis for swarming than level 1's in most circumstances, I agree. For Necromancer swarm, I tend to like getting out 4 Venomous Zombies, then playing Skeletal Minions (not so much against Necromancers, but against most of the field). The Minions aren't big threats on their own, and they can be easily destroyed, but the Venomous Zombies do so much more damage that taking care of the Minions is a relatively low priority, and the damage that they do builds up over time. Plus they're more efficient than many other level 1's in terms of life/cost.

[kiwipaul]

Why not go for thunder rift falcons as a pet.  More difficult for the opponent to deal with as it flies
\

[reddawn]

Other than the fact that foxes have better synergy with Redclaw, the extra 1 mana for the bird could make the difference in terms of later plays; Having Redclaw around means an increase of at least 5 dice, probably more like 8-10.  You'll want that mana open to protect your dog pack from losing a lot of dice from Banish or some other control card, or a Rouse the Beast to give Redclaw the opportunity to have a turn without getting messed with. 

[Borg]

I wouldn't worry too much about Meditation Amulet getting Dissolved. If I get to use it twice, I've already made mana on the investment, and I should have a board advantage already, since my opponent moved 3 spaces in order to get to me to Dissolve my Amulet. Even if I can only use it once, I'm ahead of my opponent on economy and board presence.

Hi Scott, I tried this approach in a game vs Priest.
Sprinted out to NC and cast the Lair in NC as well (as I like to keep the Lair and Beastmaster together in the same zone so I can better defend both early on.
The Meditation Amulet got dissolved on T2 and T3 and this really took the speed out of the build up. The key to this strategy imo is to remain unhindered in the first few turns to build up the "critical mass", then let it loose. So the surest way to achieve that is to remain in the starting zone and keep the distance between you and your opponent as large as possible.

I wouldn't Harmonize the Lair in that type of opening. It makes the Lair a bigger target, and slows you down. You probably already have enough economy from Lair + Meditation Amulet, and I would rather supplement with rings than with enchantments.

Completely agree with that. The Harmonize is not necessary as you have the targeted 14 mana from Channeling+Amulet+Lair already and it consumes 4 mana which you cannot afford to spend if you want to use this build up.

[sdougla2]

I was thinking move one zone, cast Lair in FC and Meditation Amulet turn 1. That way your opponent has to go through the Lair or around it to get to you. They can still Dissolve the Meditation Amulet, but you get to use it potentially one more time, and you have better positioning if they come for your mage either to Dissolve the Amulet or to attack your mage directly.