necromancer and sardonyx

[drmambo23]

I have been trying to find some ways to make a necromancer deck centered around sardonyx but the high mana cost of 24 is making it seem impossible. Do you guys have any ideas and tips to make its somehow work?

[ringkichard]

So, I haven't found a way to make this work against non-living creatures, but...

1. (20) [mwcard=DNJ04]Graveyard[/mwcard] (6) [mwcard=DNQ10]Meditation Amulet[/mwcard] (2)
2. (12+1) [mwcard=DNC05]Ichthellid[/mwcard] (4) Meditate (7) [mwcard=MW1J20]Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard] (3)
3. (13+1) [mwcard=DNC05]Ichthellid[/mwcard] (5) Meditate (8) Probaby some armor (2)

Your goal here is to flood the opponent with the [mwcard=DNC05]Ichthellids[/mwcard]. They're expensive to get started, which is why we're using Graveyard and Meditation Amulet. But once a Bug lays an egg, you can use something like Drain Soul or Hurl Boulder to kill the creature and get another Bug. Then, once it's near death (it doesn't take much to kill them) you can sacrifice your bug to the Altar to give some other Bug a boost and add some mana to your Graveyard. As long as possible, keep meditating and swarming.

Between your 10 channeling, the Graveyard's 1 channeling and bonus mana when something dies, and meditation, it won't take that long to get into Sardonyx range. Be sure you have spells like Charge ready so the dragon can hit distant targets. People like to run from him.

If the upkeep on the dragon gets to be too much, you can always sacrifice him to the Altar, to give something melee+8 piercing+8. Preferably your Necro armed with [mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ06]Morning Star[/mwcard]. Nothing worse than getting that attack Blocked.

[Biblofilter]

Forget it - Sardonyx doesn't work. 

I tried the following book, and did really well - but I never actually summoned Sardonyx 

http://forum.arcanewonders.com/index.php?topic=14141.0

I´ll think any Necromancer spellbook would be better without Sardonyx.

[Sailor Vulcan]

Sardonyx needs arcane support to work. His main weaknesses are turn to stone, enfeeble, and banish. Main counters to these are dispel, nullify and teleport, and similar spells. Not to mention his high mana cost and the fact that he causes its controller to lose 2 life a turn makes him difficult to win with. Casting an essence drain on him and revealing it before your life gets too low might be a good decision if you start running low on life. After he's destroyed from not paying essence drain upkeep cost, you just finish the enemy off with attack spells or something.

With Sardonyx, you want to chase the enemy down and make it hard for them to get away. Walls and teleport traps are also good additions. Enfeeble, chains of agony, and other position control stuff are also good. Traps can make them hesitate to try to escape, as well as punish them if they try.

As you can probably imagine, sardonyx would work best with an arcane/dark mage. I think the sorcerer will be the go to mage for Sardonyx when he comes out, since he will be trained in dark and arcane.

[Borg]

I haven't tried Sardonyx yet but if I'd put him in play I would certainly put a [mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ01] Sunfire Amulet[/mwcard] out as well.

5 sbp's alright but losing only 1 life per turn as opposed to 2 makes a huge difference.

Getting Sardonyx out on R2 shouldn't be a problem

20 : double move to NC + FD Brace yourself
28 : Sardonyx + FD Enchantment ( Nullify )
12 : Sunfire Amulet + ...

[sdougla2]

Sardonyx would be marginally too expensive for his stats if he didn't drain your life. He just doesn't do that much damage for his cost. With the life drain, I consider him completely unplayable from any kind of competitive standpoint. For very casual builds, you should be able to do something fun with Graveyard + Meditation Amulet + Sacrificial Altar, like ringkichard suggested. At least that way you can recoup 8 mana and get an attack with melee +8 and piercing +8 out of the deal.

[drmambo23]

if sardonyx is banished would I still lose 2 life while he is? Likewise if a monster has upkeep and is banished is the upkeep still payed while it is banished?

[jacksmack]

if sardonyx is banished would I still lose 2 life while he is? Likewise if a monster has upkeep and is banished is the upkeep still payed while it is banished?

your answer lies in the text on the banish card.

[sdougla2]

if sardonyx is banished would I still lose 2 life while he is? Likewise if a monster has upkeep and is banished is the upkeep still payed while it is banished?

Yes and yes.