Straywood Canines

[Sailor Vulcan]

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Straywood Canines[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Beastmaster Spellbook[/mage]
[mage]built by the OCTGN SBB[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKA01]2 x Surging Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A08]1 x Geyser[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]2 x Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A09]2 x Jet Stream[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1J22]2 x Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1W01]2 x Fog Bank[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J03]1 x Tooth and Nail[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J01]1 x Rajan's Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J13]1 x Mana Flower[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNJ03]1 x Etherian Lifetree[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1C29]1 x Redclaw, Alpha Male[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1C04]6 x Bitterwood Fox[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=FWE06]1 x Fortified Position[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E27]1 x Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E37]1 x Sacred Ground[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]1 x Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E29]2 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E05]1 x Cheetah Speed[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE05]2 x Fumble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E31]1 x Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E16]2 x Force Hold[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1Q25]1 x Ring of Beasts[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q30]1 x Staff of Beasts[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWPROMO34]1 x Chitin Armor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q08]1 x Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q23]1 x Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI03]1 x Disarm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I06]2 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWPROMO6]2 x Clear Mind[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I03]1 x Call of the Wild[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I01]1 x Banish[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I07]1 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I28]1 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI02]2 x Earthquake[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I24]1 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I20]1 x Purify[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]


Canine swarms can't fly. They are hindered by other creatures and stopped by walls. They can be melee attacked by nonflyers. Compared to falcon swarm, canine swarm suffers from serious mobility issues. How is canine swarm supposed to even work? The clue to this is Redclaw, alpha male. Redclaw is a legendary canine that costs 16 mana, which is more than a lair, but his ability is clearly meant to support a canine swarm! It gives +1 melee and +1 armor to all friendly canines in his zone. This ability gets stronger the more canines you have.

So now you might be thinking, Straywood Swarm? Don't you need a lair for that? Indeed, if you cast a lair early then you will not be able to afford casting an early Redclaw and fox. So clearly canine swarm does not want lair, and must be built to play without it. However, without the action advantage generated by the lair, canine swarm is going to be slower than falcon swarm. Because of this, canine swarms need to either increase the rate at which they deal damage to enemy mage, or they need to slow down the opponent somehow, or a combination of the two. Tanglevine is the ideal way to do this, since it combos well with Etherian Lifetree and with Rajan's Fury (a restrained mage can't hinder your foxes, so they can move in and out of the zone for the charge bonus.) I also included a couple of force holds since they can target flying creatures.

Opening if opponent is rushing: R1 ring of beasts and summon redclaw, R2 summon two foxes.
Opening if opponent is turtling: R1 double move and ring of beasts, R2 summon redclaw and either cast nullify or armor on self, or a fox, or mana flower if they increase their channeling.

What do you think?

[V10lentray]

I played against a book very similar to this last week. I was the necromancer.

The deck collapsed under a turn 2 Idol of pestilence. and a turn 3 destroyed Lair (force hammer)

[iNano78]

I read your strategy, but I still feel like I'd want a [mwcard=MW1J10]Lair[/mwcard] in the spell book in case I successfully pinned the opposing mage with a [mwcard=MW1J22]Tanglevine[/mwcard] early on.  Then I could put the Lair 1 or 2 zones away, and the Foxes could charge in relatively easily (with bonus from [mwcard=MW1J01]Rajan's Fury[/mwcard], if that's the goal).  1 zone away means they can still charge even if there are enemy creatures in the Lair's zone.

Of course, it all falls apart if the enemy mage has more Teleports than you have Tanglevines.  Are 2 enough?

I'd also like more creatures; e.g. some [mwcard=MW1C38]Timber Wolves[/mwcard] in case all my Foxes get wiped by [mwcard=MW1A02]Chain Lightning[/mwcard] or [mwcard=FWA03]Hail of Stones[/mwcard] or something.

[sdougla2]

In my eyes, this spellbook has a few significant problems.

1) You lack the position control to reliably take advantage of all of your positional bonuses. I would run a minimum of 4 Tanglevines, 2 Teleports, and 2 Force Pushes if you want to rely on Redclaw, Rajan's Fury, Fortified Position, and Sacred Ground to get maximum value from Bitterwood Foxes. This position control will also help you deal with guards that would chew through your fox swarm otherwise.

2) Your creature base is not robust enough to survive against a decent attrition strategy. At minimum you should add 4 Timber Wolves in order to give you something approaching a mid game. As the spellbook looks now, an opponent that summoned a level 2-3 creature every turn could easily kill all of your creatures before you managed to kill their mage, at which point they've effectively won the game because you don't have a viable plan once you run out of creatures. You have some of the tools for trying to finish your opponent off with attack spells, but not all of them, and, as things stand, I really doubt you could do it efficiently enough to matter most of the time.

3) You are running too light on defense with only 1 chest piece, and no other sources of armor aside from Fortified Position. Fumble and Force Hold help a little bit, but not enough.

In terms of individual card choices, I don't see the value in running Earthquake. It's too expensive to use to kill vine markers and it's not reliable enough at killing the conjurations you're really worried about (Idol of Pestilence, Mordok's Obelisk, and Suppression Orb primarily).

[Sailor Vulcan]

i already have jet stream to deal with things like falcon swarm. If force push is added as well, is it worth adding a wall of thorns in case I run out of creatures? Maybe have only 2 or 3 timber wolves with the wall of thorns as a last resort? Also, how do I deal with vine markers then? Is there anyway to deal with them?

[sdougla2]

Wall of Thorns might be a good addition anyway because of how well it works with Bitterwood Foxes. It limits enemy mobility without limiting the mobility of your foxes. And, of course, if you strip your opponent of armor you can push them through for a ton of damage.

Having more position control will help against vine markers. It's not ideal, but I expect it to work better than Earthquake.

[Mystery]

remove the earthquakes and a or both fog banks 10/12 points

add a wall of thorns 1 or even 2
force push 2x=4
2more dissolves you don't like a demonhide or multiple supressin cloaks 4
Whom are you worried for to justify a purify? Redclaw weaks/rots? maybe not necessary hear to have
remove staff of beasts and take another weapon -> mage staff for etheral and reach, same cost
2nd marked for death for the 2nd fog bank

I'm not sure about all the attack spells if you have reach you maybe can neglect the 2nd jet stream

I think tooth and nail is not worth it better have the 2nd marked for death and take an timberwolf instead

up too know we would be spellpoint equal, the purify could be change for another timber if you want. You are action starved, and have a melee weapon some attack spells and also not with tremendously mana -> no
elemental wand which makes space for the two other timberwolfs.



Other stuffs to consider, a jinx in a deck like this could come handy at one point, a 3rd dispel maybe also, if you plan on fortified position and sacred ground more tanglevines and a second teleport maybe replace 1fumble with stumble. I had played such a deck before, you usually don't have enough actions. Don't forget your pet gets 1 die more and with magestaff you also roll 5 die, so a rhino hide+chest pice to get your hands dirty is also fine. I would go for regrowth instead of the belt, as you have more enchantments

[ringkichard]

Another line of play I've seen work well (against me) was Redclaw + Pet Timber Wolf. They both have a lot of armor, and it's tough to prioritize killing one over the other.

If you can figure a good way to make Fox Force 5 work, I'd love to see it. Mine usually get Chain Lightning'd or Arcane Zap'd.