How best to deal with Talos?

[DaveW]

Let's assume that your friendly neighborhood Warlord gets Talos out. How do you deal with him with various Mages? He really seems to have no weaknesses. Since I can't find a picture of a card to include in this post, here are his stats:

Cost to cast N/A (28, but special entrance method)
Level 7 War Creature spell
Armor 5
Life 16
Quick melee attack 6 dice, Piercing +2, Reach
Unstoppable (which includes Unmovable, Uncontainable, and can not be hindered)
Burnproof
Psychic Immunity
Nonliving
Warlord only
Epic

I guess you can:
1) Ignore him (Focus on the enemy Mage instead),
2) Attack him (Use your own creature(s), perhaps with supporting spells),
3) Use non-creature spells (Turn to Stone, Banish, Tanglevine, Quicksand, Teleport him etc.), or
4) Maneuver to minimize contact (Creature movement, walls, Teleport, etc.)

What I am trying to determine is whether (essentially) ignoring (to some extent, at least) the Warlord's efforts to bring out Talos is a viable strategy (even considering that it might be good for other reasons to destroy Outposts).

The cost to the Warlord to bring him out is in terms of the number of actions and amount of mana (for the various conjurations needed), and time (as he can't be brought into play before a certain turn). How might the opponent make use of his/her own actions and mana in the meanwhile to thwart Talos as quickly as possible once he does appear in the arena?

Please note which Mage you are considering as you discuss strategies.

[echephron]

Tanglevine, Quicksand, and such wont work cuz hes unstopable.

the new unstopables are best inhibited with banish

[sIKE]

[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC12]Talos[/mwcard]

[sIKE]

Best is to have the Warlord on the ropes in the time it took to get him out. At that point it is a damage race to the death for each mage. Teleport into a corner and wall in can slow him down for a bit depending upon the wall in question. [mwcard=MW1I01]Banish[/mwcard] as previously stated works to buy time.

[Schwenkgott]

I would consider:

Agony to minimize his damage output, because Talos is nonliving and cannot receive any strengthening enchantments. Most of these enchantments are nature and target only the living.
Battle Commands may target Talos, so beware of things like Battle Fury or Power Strike. Agony can help here too.

Enfeeble to slow him down. If Talos is only able to move OR attack, you should be able to avoid his range. Usually the Warlord does not have a lot of Teleports with him, to bring Talos in range.

Both enchantments have another advantage: Warlords usually don't use many dispels, so once Talos is enchanted, it might be forever.

Another way could be to use a cheap attack spell to daze him. Geysir or Surging Wave can do the job. With a 50% chance to miss, Talos has no fun at all.

Last posibility is stun. Bring a creature with a good stun attack, maybe Valshalla, and enchant her with Akiros Favor to double your stun chance. You could also use Akiros Favor on yourself to do some Lightning or Holy attacks on Talos.

[Wildhorn]

Staff of Asyria really hurt him.

[Drakossozh]

My favorite is Enfeeble and Agony. Slap one of the other on him, and it should be simple to just work around it.

[Arlemus]

Agony is the obvious answer I think.  Enfeeble sounds good too.

I don't really think of Talos as a viable route to go as Warlord, honestly.  Seems like more of a favor card, kindof like altar of skulls.  He just takes too much in terms of the mana/time investment I think, hoping to be proven wrong.

[sIKE]

Agony is the obvious answer I think.  Enfeeble sounds good too.

I don't really think of Talos as a viable route to go as Warlord, honestly.  Seems like more of a favor card, kindof like altar of skulls.  He just takes too much in terms of the mana/time investment I think, hoping to be proven wrong.

He is a great fit for a control style player, the type who likes to build up and then conquer. He fits in very well from that POV. Last time I got him out, I was in a fight with Valshalla and forgot that he had the Reach trait. Needless to say I was playing him wrong as a result and he was half dead when we had to call the game on time. But had I played him right I would of easily trashed Valshalla quickly and then moved on from there. The Joseph, Trueblood was out too and he was giving me pause. Talos has no means to heal so once you are able to get his HP down he becomes a bit of a liability. Hit it with Charge and then Battle Fury and he is wicked good though (if you cant tell that is one of my favorites with him).

With proper play you can get him out by turns 5 or 6.....that is not that long other than against early agro decks.

[Wildhorn]

[mwcard=MW1C31]Samandriel, Angel of Light[/mwcard] eat him "alive".

[V10lentray]

Based on math he can not become active until turn 6, that is if you do nothing to any of the Warlords outposts.

All of the outposts have Flame +2 except for [mwcard=MWSTX2FFJ05]Construction Yard[/mwcard]. And many of them can be severly damaged if not destroyed with a well timed [mwcard=FWA02]Force Hammer[/mwcard]. A strategically placed [mwcard=MWSTX2FFA01]Devil's Trident[/mwcard] gets around the 2 armor most outposts have, and roll you 6 attack dice, as well as +2 to the effect die to place burn markers.

Basic spells that should be in very book -

[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]Rust[/mwcard] or [mwcard=DNA01]Acid Ball[/mwcard] as options to take out his armor. 5 Armor is pretty ridiculous.

[mwcard=MW1W02]Wall of Stone[/mwcard] or [mwcard=MWSTX1CKW01]Wall of Steel[/mwcard]. If Talos is ever dumb enough to get stuck in a corner, or if you can lure him to a corner, then run, and cast a wall, with extend. It will only save you most likely 2 turns. But that be all that you need.

[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]Surging Wave[/mwcard] has a 75% chance of dazing him, which causes a 50% chance his next attack will fail. Surging wave is a level 1 spell so you could have up to 6 of them in a book. Based on the high probability of Slam for 90+% of creatures and mages in the game I usually run 4 of these. SLAM IS REALLY GOOD.

[mwcard=MW1E38]Teleport Trap[/mwcard] or [mwcard=MW1I28]Teleport[/mwcard] to move him away from you stalling him for a turn.

[mwcard=MW1I01]Banish[/mwcard] to be rid of him for 3 turns. If you're playing a wizard you might have more than one of these in your book.

[mwcard=MW1E09]Agony[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1E14]Enfeeble[/mwcard] are pretty good to slow him down and make him less effective.

[mwcard=MW1E27]Marked for Death[/mwcard] puts a giant bulls-eye on him.

If you're playing Forcemaster, [mwcard=FWE01]Charm[/mwcard] is a pretty good trick. Sure it costs 8 mana, but you nerf [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC12]Talos[/mwcard] which is money well spent. And it costs 9 mana for your oppponent to Dispel it.

[echephron]

cant use charm. it is psychic and non-living talos is psychic immune

[sIKE]

Can't target a conjuration with the [mwcard=MWSTX2FFA01]Devil's Trident[/mwcard].

[Sirscott13]

Use devouring jellys, constantly healing and eating all his armour

[V10lentray]

Talos just walks away from the Slow Jelly.