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Content Intro Behlial-Scourge of Open Recommended Websites |
"Behlial, The Scourge of Open?" By, Thomas A. Edwards (BreathWeapon) Wheel of Fate and Meet at the Inn both serve identical purposes in Behlial, a pseudo-Mulligan. Probability being what it is, you will have a bad draw every so often and those two cards offer you a chance to have a decent showing when you combine them with Behlial’s order. When trying to make the best of the situation, the first thing you do is use Behlial's order to look at the top five cards in the deck. If there is not a single card there that will make the hand playable, shuffle and top deck a card. By now, exactly seven cards have been seen and odds are that one of them was a Wheel of Fate or a Meet at the Inn. Now you can use Wheel of Fate to look six cards further down in the deck and hope the new hand is more playable than the last (the chance that your opponent will simply be able to win with Premonition or other such cards not withstanding) or draw two cards with Meet and the Inn and hope the nine cards that have now been revealed will turn an awful hand into a spectacular hand (the card the opponent gains not withstanding). Why is this important? If you've sat behind Behlial for three years, then you will have noticed one major flaw in his deck design, all his actions are conditional, i.e. based on what characters you see in your opening hand. Example 1: Mass Blessing, Curse of Rage and The Lady's Doom are all cards that augment characters. Mass Blessing is obviously the best of the three, being the least conditional. Curse of Rage and The Lady’s Doom are both dependent on the number of characters in your hand who can break their symmetry. Characters such as Stirges, Fire Fiends, SS-saureth, Jackals of Mourn, Degais, Vivian and Ogre are all great characters because they utilize Curse of Rage/The Lady’s Doom two to three more times more effectively than any other characters in the game. Example 2: Blood Beneath Your Wings (BBYW) is an awful card. It is a level five spend order that is worse than symmetrical because it leaves Behlial unspent and gives the opponent the initiative. The reason that people play with such an awful card is synergy, the weak force of Warlord. A BBYW player is playing a deck full of level four characters, the most powerful characters in the game, in order to break the balance of the card. Since your opponent will not be using as many characters that will benefit from the effect of the card, resolving BBYW will more than likely give you table advantage. A BBYW deck will have Johan Halfblood to retake the initiative and Helm of Kor to ready Behlial and hopefully these cards will come together to give you a dominant position. The problem is, however, that all of these cards are worthless if BBYW does not resolve or if the copies of the card are at the bottom of your deck. When you incorporate the Spring Up/Excessus combination the conditionality of BBYW is even more apparent. Example 3: Tyren or Magheline when used with Tree Walk is the best movement in the game. Both Magheline and Tree Walk need characters to be effective and the Tyren/Magheline starting lineup sacrifices Artheon (who represents immediate pressure for your opponent for Magheline and Tree Walk (a delay pressure tactics since it causes a mid-game problem for your opponent). Instead of the guaranteed hitting power of Artheon, players using the Tyren/Magheline start have created a conditional movement mechanic, which means that they are more dependant on their first hand. The good thing about Magheline/Tree Walk, however, is that unlike Curse of Rage/The Lady’s Doom and BBYW, the combination is not symmetrical (which makes it less conditional). Example 4: Avatar of Poison (AOP) / Whirlwind Attack breaks the trend as it is it's very own self supporting, internalized micro-combo in Behlial, that is literally capable of winning entire games in a single blow. Let me tell you a background story about this combination. A few times over the course of our posts and Apprentice games, Jeremy Black (Zechnophobe) has said that AOP/Whirlwind Attack is not really an archetype. Whether I made Weenie Blitz deck, a BBYW deck augmented, or a “paper cuts” Behlial deck (created by Nathan Pelson utilizing Baqbou/Light Catapults) augmented with the cards Jeremy would say that is not really an archetype. After a while, I decided to simply accept Jeremy’s proposal as an undeniable truth, which became an incredibly useful tool for generating analysis on this level since when you take the time to think about it, AOP/Whirlwind Attack is completely independent of the deck itself. As long as your Behlial deck has at least three copies of Toren Yscar, then their combined orders will consistently resolve an AOP/Whirlwind Attack by the second turn (in practice at least, I have no firm numbers to confirm this, just my three years of experience) Arguably, you can add AOP/Whirlwind to any Behlial deck and make it more dependable and if you can put it into any deck and make it better, in theory, than it cannot be it's own archetype. The stock value of AOP/Whirlwind in Behlial decks is rising considerably. The problem with that is while AOP is a flexible level five spend order for Clerics, Whirlwind Attack is useless with out it (because Whirlwind Attack is used only under very specific circumstances). Also, everyone who plays at the top level of the game already knows about this and they meta against it. Example 5: When you add the healing available in the environment with Benedric, you get one of the most powerful combinations in the game. It is important to note that in the presence of Benedric, Cure Lethal Wounds and Scourge of Dythanus operate under the same functions and principles as AOP/Whirlwind attack; however, by themselves the operate at maximum efficiency. Benedric can do his order and Cure Lethal Wounds/Scourge of Dythanus can heal wounds, even if the cards are not played in combination with each other. Cure Lethal Wounds and Scourge of Dythanus are conditional and reactive cards, which means it is impossible to make a successful deck around them, however when you add Benedric, a character that is already powerful by himself and works well with Behlial, the conditional and reactive healing cards become deadly and aggressive weapons. This is why the Behlial-Benedric was so incredibly successful across the board: it could play quietly by Healing it's characters and building table dominance with Tree Walk, or go full out by un-stunning Benedric with Magheline and turning Scourge of Dythanus into three +9 attacks. This strategy does not always work because it is completely dependent on it's board position and characters to achieve victory. With the popularity of Distrust, Beheading, Ambushed Before the Battle Imprisoned and the asymmetrical Behlial Mirror with AOP/Whirlwind Attack, the deck faces serious opposition to its game plan. The loss of playing in Garn in this archetype did has also hurt its advantage. Is Andelwick, the end of Behlial? That is the one question that should be on your mind right now, why is Andelwick so good and what gives him the edge versus Behlial. The answer is simple, it is because Andelwick has the ability to inflict 8-16 wounds (depending on if he has Bracers of Ogre Power equipped or not) in the span of two actions and if Andelwick waits until the end of the turn to strike and wins the initiative on the following turn, he will be able to inflict 16-32 wounds in only four Actions. When combined with the appropriate combination of Potion of Blurring and Amulet of Waking, Andelwick will beat Behlial very easily. The most important thing to remember is that the heart and soul of Behlial is his character pool. If you want to defeat Behlial, all you have to do is take advantage of the conditional factors that consist of a Behlial. By eliminating key cards (usually characters) you create an escalating probability that Behlial's deck will simply fall apart like a house of cards. Example 6: Black Moss and Amoudasi’s Fires/Wraths really hurt Behlial decks. One of its traditional strengths of dominance over Astral/Ethereal characters has lost significant ground because of these three cards. Jackals of Mourn was and still is a significant corner stone in Behlial's offense and by eliminating the card as a potential threats, you gain a significant advantage. Amoudasi’s Fires also double as anti-Mass Blessing starters, which is a significant irritation during the first turn. I can make some comparisons between this and some combinations in Magic the Gathering. There are some interesting similarities between Behlial (Warlord) and Keeper (Magic) from 1998 to 2001. Keeper used two symmetrical card effects to great effect versus the field, Moat and the Abyss. Combined with Keeper's toolbox of bombs, these cards dominated the field until one deck emerged with the power to take Keeper down and dominate the rest of the field. The TnT which had Artifact FAT to circumvent the Abyss, Wonder to get around Moat and used Survival and Welder to challenge Keeper for card advantage. Andelwick is to Behlial as TnT was to Keeper, an ingenious and innovative foil to Vintage's Dominant Deck that monopolized the metagame. Right now, I bet your wondering where Andelwick gets his card advantage. It is from is Potion of Blurring. This card acts as an opportunity cost to everything Behlial does. While Behlial wants to kill Andelwick and be done with him, eliminating Andlewick’s army is a fruitless strategy, because your opponent is not relying on them for his offense or defense. Potion of Blurring says, "Everything you do to me this turn doesn't mean anything." Example 7: Live by Draw, die by Draw. Behlial has always had an unpleasant, yet unspoken weakness against heavy draw (dragons and Lord Winter). An Exhaustion/Premonition proof combination has become a reality and it is ready to make upsets in Open. Behlial can no longer hold the environment in check with his trusty Premonition/Exhaustion, which means more anti-draw (from Wizard Blitz) will be entering the format and all you know how much Behlial loves Rr'gent Example 8: What do you mean by conditionality? Compare any standard Behlial deck (see the end of the article) with a Taoth deck. Set your Chain Lightnings and Powerbolts to the side and thumb through the rest of the actions and items. Notice that Acid Arrow, Blast, Ball Lightning, Amulet of Force, Rod of Roaring Flames, Energy Bow, Rod of Shattering and Red Wyrm's Egg are all redundant and non-conditional cards. They are good regardless of any other cards in your hand, on the table or in your deck. Archer Tower is irrelevant to Taoth because her innate bonuses make each of the above cards immensely powerful, all by itself. Taoth does not need to run any draw because of the redundant and non-conditional nature of her deck. Any hand she pulls will be almost always fully playable (unless she draws multiple spend order spells). The order and number of cards Taoth draws in each of her hands is simply irrelevant. Making Some Conclusions By now, it should be somewhat obvious how Behlial really works. In decks that contain highly symmetrical and conditional cards (BBYW or Weenie Blitz) attacking Behlial's draw eliminates his ability to reduce the conditionality and symmetry of the cards in his deck. By attacking his character base, you reduce his synergy significantly, robbing him of his greatest strength. Yes, Behlial is mortal, and the environment has the tools it needs to bring him down to size. Edit: Thanks Azraelana. DECK LISTS!!! Behlial A) BBYW/AOPWhirl Starting Army 3xJigoral 2xArtheon 1xBehlial Army 3xToren Yscar 3xDaedelia 3xShadowreaver 3xJackals of Mourn 3xValadin 1xBlitzer 2xJohan Halfblood 1xGrihilga Characters 3xBlood Beneath Your Wings 3xAvatar of Poison 3xWhirlwind Attack 3xMass Blessing 3xPremonition 3xExhaustion 3xBack Alley Tavern 3xMeet at the Inn Items 1xHelm of Kor [Insert Commentary Here] B) BBYW/Spring Up Same as list A with the following changes, -3xAvatar of Poison and -3xWhirlwind Attack for 3xSpring Up and 3xExcessus. [Insert Commentary Here] C) Weenie Blitz/AOPWhirl Starting Army 3xJigoral* 2xArtheon* 1xBehlial Characters 1xChildren of Yscar 3xDegais 3xStirges 3xSS-saureth 3xToren Yscar 3xVivian 3xJackals of Mourn Actions 3xAvatar of Poison 3xWhirlwind Attack 3xMass Blessing 3xCurse of Rage 3xPremonition 3xExhaustion 3xBack Alley Tavern Metagame 4x??? [Insert Commentary Here] C) Benedric Starting Army 3xJigoral 1xTyren Ruskin 1xMagheline 1xBehlial Characters 3xToren Yscar 3xDaedelia 3xBenedric 3xShadowreaver 1xBlitzer 1xBlade Dancer 3xJackals of Mourn 1xAvatar of Spirit 1xGrihilga Actions 3xCure Lethal Wounds 3xScourge of Dythanus 3xTree Walk 3xMass Blessing 3xPremonition 3xExhaustion 3xBack Alley Tavern 3xMeet at the Inn Metagame 1x??? [Insert Commentary Here] Saunginel Starting Army 3xJigoral 2xArtheon 1xSanguinel Characters 3xFreia 3xBrine Fiend 1xVereshja 3xArchter Tower 1xMyrhena 3xVivian 2xRr'gent 3xJackals of Mourn Actions 3xChain Lightning 3xGravity Flux 3xAcid Arrow 3xBlast Items 3xRed Wyrm's Egg 3xAmulet of Force 1xRod of Roaring Flames 1xEnergy Bow 1xRod of Shattering 1xWand of Negation 1xStaff of Secrets 1xSorscha's Cloak 1xRing of Vorn [Insert Commentary Here] Taoth Starting Army 3xUrg 2xMangonel 1xTaoth Characters 2xTimmuk 3xMudd'flek 3xBrine Fiend 3xArcher Tower 2xRr'gent 3xOgre 3xJackals of Mourn Actions 3xChain Lightning 3xPowerbolt 3xAcid Arrow 3xBlast 3xThe Wind At My Back Items 3xRed Wyrm's Egg 3xAmulet of Force 1xRod of Roaring Flames 1xEnergy Bow 1xWand of Negation 1xStaff of Secrets [Insert Commentary Here] Lord Winter Starting Army 3xWretched Horde 2xBlood Knight 1xLord Winter Characters 3xTemple of Lore 3xBrindle 1xMagheline 3xToren Yscar 3xDaedelia 3xVedisalaron. Actions 3xWell Supplied 3xBack Alley Tavern 3xMeet at the Inn 3xDragon's Hoard 3xExhaustion Items 3xExcessus 3xPotion of Invulnerbility 3xBlack Moss 3xVotaurr Charm 1xHavat Iahn Stance [Insert Commentary Here] Andelwick Starting Army 2xBrine Fiend 1xChildren of Yscar 2xAmoudasi's Wrath Army 3xTemple of Lore 3xTerratorn 1xAmoudasi's Wrath 2xHalo of Fire 3xToren Yscar 3xOgre 3xJackals of Mourn Actions 3xAbundant Step 3xBack Alley Tavern 3xExhaustion Items 3xPotion of Blurring 3xBlack Moss 3xKama 3xInner Spirit Bracers 1xCamel 2xMedical Kit 1xAmulet of Waking [Insert Commentary Here] |
BreathWeapon@TaKtiX.Org Thomas A. Edwards has been playing CCGs for a long time. He has placed highly in the world championships, including winning the 2004 World Open Championship. Known as BreathWeapon online, he has a reputation as a somewhat abrasive person, but is apparently much nicer in person. In addition, he has organised large Warlord Open tournaments at Origins and GenCon Indy 2004, as well as winning the famous Black Knives tournament organised by Team Misunderstood. A college student, Thomas is studying Engineering and International Politics. |
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