Grizzly Priestess

[svicideking]

Hi guys, I built a Priestess based on the Divine Intervention surprise attack:

Crown of Protection      1
Dispel Wand         1
Elemental Cloak      1
Mage Wand         2
Staff of Asyra         1
Sunfire Amulet         2
Dragonscale Hauberk   1

Hand of Bim-Shalla      2
Mana Crystal         2

Steelclaw Grizzly      1
Guardian Angel      1
Brogan Bloodstone      1
Highland Unicorn      3
Knight of Westlock      1

Bear Strength         2
Eagle Wings         1
Divine Intervention      1
Jinx               1
Force Hold         1
Mongoose Agility      1
Nullify            3
Enchantment Transfusion1

Dispel            2
Dissolve            3
Minor Heal         3
Resurrection         1
Seeking Dispel         1
Teleport            2
Surging Wave         4

I always open with Intervention on the Grizzly and smash the mage or a spawnpoint in Round 2. I set up my life generation engine in Round 3 with either a Mage Wand+Minor Heal or Sunfire Amulet. If I go with the latter, I start pumping out support Unicorns from Round 4. The last trick is the Transfusion/Jinx/Nullify/Force Hold combo if I'm playing against a turtle. The mage just sits back and gains mad life. There's enough healing from the Minor Heals, Unicorns and Bim-Shalla; Guardian Angel and Eagle Wings for flyers; Brogan/Staff of Assyra for Golems. Surging Wave's cheap slam nabs action advantage.

I've only tested it twice, against a FM-Hydra and a Lightning Wizard, and it came out tops both times. I was only in trouble when the FM drew me into a walled up corner, with two Hydras and his FM-Galvitar, but I survived with armor, and Surging Waved him to death.

What suggestions do you have for this build? I think it can do well against Lair-spam builds if the Grizzly just focuses on the spawnpoint, but I don't know if it can deal with a Turn 2 Adramalech. I'm considering swapping out a Surging Wave for a more potent finisher, like Hurl Boulder. I'd appreciate any comments! Thanks.

[lettucemode]

My thoughts:

Hand of Bim-Shalla has been officially errata'd to be Unique. You can have more than 1 in your spellbook, but you can't control more than 1 at any time. You may already know this, but since you have 2 Hands in your book I wasn't sure.

When you say that Surging Wave gives action advantage, are you referring to the Daze? Slam only incapacitates until the creature activates. Then it becomes Daze. Still kind of an action advantage, if you're lucky.

What is your plan if your opponent casts Sleep on your bear turn 2? By my math, you'll be at 1 mana once you reveal DI. You could try a Surging Wave turn 3, but 2 (?) dice isn't guaranteed to get through 3 armor. And you will probably Daze the bear even if you do wake him up.

I would probably add a Sleep or Banish to the book in case your opponent brings the Lord of Fire out to play.

Looks like a fun book

[svicideking]

Hmm, I forgot about Sleep; it's not very popular in my group's meta. I'll add that in!

I added a second HoB purely as a backup if the first gets nuked; it's only one spell point.

Surging Wave is probably my favorite attack spell, not for the damage potential (which is weak), but the ability to mess with the opponent's plans. 83% incapacitating, 33% pushing iirc. I've found it to have more momentum-swinging power than a pure attack spell like Fireball, for instance.

I...I don't know what I'd do if the bear is put to sleep, actually lol. Assuming the opponent isn't aware of the Intervention trick, he probably wouldn't prepare a Sleep in Turn 2, especially if he's still consolidating his base. Hmm, I'll have to think about this one.

Thanks for the comments! The reactions to the Grizzly-Intervention trick have been amusing. "WTF, a grizzly? Lol...oh. OH."

[sdougla2]

If you can get adjacent to the Bear, you can wake it up with your Restore ability.

[aquestrion]

With my beast master and a little luck I cast a ROB and a bat turn 1 and on turn 2 after you warp in Emma rouse my grizzly and swing for the same dice you do while my bat guards. This is my solution to divine intervention works with any mage just make sure that the opponent spends his manager first

[svicideking]

sdougla2: I'd forgotten that Sleep is a condition 

aquestrion: If I have initiative on Turn 2, it's still fine, since the bat can't guard. If it guards, then it's Mongoose Agility on Turn 3. I don't mind trading blows with another fatty, since by you having to summon one, it means that I would've succeeded in making you react rather than act.

[aquestrion]

Yes and It came with a hefty price, I'm not saying it isn't a great play but the investment for you leaves you at 1 mana with no enchant on creature and the priestess is 3 zones away. You would have to move in after my INI to enchant the bear. I have (not a great idea) also walled myself in on turn 3 with fog banks to stop los. I've played against a priestess a lot and the only way i consistently stop the Uber rush is to go hyper aggressive and pray they don't teleport their investment away.

NOTE I truly hate divine intervention

I wish I could use meditation amulet on my beast master turn one to wait and see what a priestess would do

[Wildhorn]

I prefer the Necropian Vampiress for this kind of combo. She cost 1 less mana than bear and with vampirism she can survive better until my priestess arrive. Also being able to fly is a nice utility.

[Sailor Vulcan]

Can't you wake up a sleeping creature just by attacking it? Why not use a a 1 or 2 dice attack to wake him up, like sandstorm? That would wake it up as well as likely protect it from further enemy damage by pushing it away from the enemy and/or dazing them. I would suggest:

Round 1: Grizzly and Divine intervention on it
Round 2: Reveal divine intervention and send over the grizzly. Make sure to move your mage 2 zones into the middle during her action phase.

This way if the grizzly is put to sleep, you can move to the other middle zone then use a sandstorm to wake it up in round 3. After waking up the bear, cast a nullify on it for your qc.

Then round 4 you begin your retreat. If you have initiative,  QC a block or a nullify on yourself, then move and cast a block or nullify on yourself (whichever one you haven't cast yet). If you don't have initiative this round, qc force hold on enemy mage then move and cast nullify on yourself.

If you're worried about mana siphon or some other mana denial strategy, then you're probably stuck there. You're better off just using iron golem instead of grizzly. It has psychic immunity, plus It costs 13 mana instead of 17, so you'll have enough mana for a nullify on it before you reveal intervention, although you won't need it as much since sleep won't work on it anyways. You probably want to cast cheetah speed on it instead of nullify to cancel out the slow trait. Like this:

Round 1: Summon Iron Golem and QC intervention on it.
Round 2: QC cheetah speed on the golem and reveal both it and intervention. Iron golem attacks enemy mage.

Then continue your strategy as you described it from this point on.

[ringkichard]

You can't cast cheetah speed on Iron Golem. Cheetah Speed like most nature enchantments, requires a living target. Good idea, though

[Sailor Vulcan]

Oops I forgot. In that case you probably would be better off with necropian vampiress.

Have you considered Grimson and an archers watchtower? It costs less mana since he's a ranged attacker and therefore you don't need to intervention him to the enemy mage or worry about him getting put to sleep.

[svicideking]

@aquestrion: Yep, the plan is to move in just close enough to support the bear, until I recoup my mana outlay.

@Wildhorn: I did consider the NV, but she costs 4 more points than the bear, and I couldn't decide what else to remove.

@Imaginator: As someone rightly pointed out, I can use the Priestess' innate Restore ability to wake the bear. And with a bear right in their face, I'm expecting the opposing mage to react to it rather than set up his own gameplan, which buys me time to set up my Unicorn/Lifegain plan. I've had problems keeping Grimson alive in my Warlord deck, even with stone walls up; I think I prefer the fatty teleport for the Priestess.