Simon’s Spellfire Keep

After playing a game against Gib_Ekul on CrossFire the other evening, I was inspired to try my hand at designing a thief deck for the anti-speed format. Without all the standard speed cards taking up so much space in the deck, I was free to experiment with different themes and strategies. I came up with a very nasty deck (if I do say so myself). Check it out:

General Deck Philosophy

Discard opposing champions. When all champions are eliminated, attack & raze realms. Target champions in play as well as those in opponents’ hands. Pretty much all cards are offensive. Rather than have to save a card that isn’t useful right way (like defensive counter cards), I’d rather just take any beatings on the chin, then come back with more attacks of my own.

The Cards List

Abbreviations key:
Set/Card# Title, (World/Level), Rarity
My notes

Total Cards: 55 + Dungeon Card

Champions (15)

Total Levels: 90 Mostly Thieves (not even thief skill-using champs) due to event Great Depression. Mostly AD&D or Forgotten Realms for artifacts. Non-thieves should be immune to events.

1. 1stc/13 Gib Htimsen, (AD&D/9), VR
2. CQ/046 Gib Occav, (FR/7), C
3. DRc/07 Lernaean Hydra, (AD&D/?), VR
4. DUc/14 Necba the Wrathmaker, (DL/5), VR
5. DUc/22 Chaos Lord, (BR/9), VR
6. DUc/24 Elyk the Bard, (AD&D/5), VR
7. DU/040 Skulker, (AD&D/5), R
8. MI/074 Louie the Pit Boss, (AD&D/4), C
9. 2nd/172 Hettman Tsurin, (GH/2), R
10. NSc/20 Gib Reltub, (FR/8), VR
11. NS/029 Artemis Entreri, (FR/8), UC
12. NS/031 Storm Silverhand, (FR/9), UC
13. NS/039 Donval, (DS/8), C
    He’s great for all the artifacts.
14. NS/040 El-Hadid, (BR/4), UC
15. NS/043 Uldo Dracobane, (AD&D/7), R

Artifacts (7)

1. 4th/466 Throne of the Pharaohs, (AD&D/+3), C
   Classic Combo: Use Elyk the Bard for immunity against this artifact so I can keep playing events while opponents cannot.
2. 4th/510 Throne of the Mountain God, (AD&D/+5), VR
3. 4th/520 The Winner’s Cape, (TSR/+10), VR
4. BR/046 Tighmaevril Sword, (AD&D/+4), R
5. DUc/18 Slorath’s Gloves, (AD&D/+2), VR
   Works great with Throne of the Mountain God artifact.
6. FRc/08 Ebony Cup of Fate, (FR), VR
7. NS/054 Herald of Mei Lung, (FR), C

Blood Abilities (2)

I only have two champions who can use blood abilities + Cities of the Sun that let’s all my champs use them + the artifact Tighmaevril Sword. Still, I think these are strong enough that they’re worth including. Especially with Armor of the High King to recycle them every turn.

1. BR/041 Touch of Decay, (BR), UC
   Great for setting up Ebony Cup of Fate artifact and checking to see if there are any champions in hand before attacking.
2. DU/081 Death Field, UC

Thief Abilities (4)

1. CQ/016 Framed!, C
2. CQ/014 Assassination!, C
3. DU/082 Con Game, R
4. MI/020 Gamblin’, C

Magical Items (3)

1. 4th/171 Rings of All Seeing, C
2. BR/027 Armor of the High King, (+4), C
3. FR/056 Vorpal Blade, (+3), R

Unarmed Combat (1)

1. DUc/03 Fighting Dirty!, (+?), VR

Events (10)

1. 1st/401 Discovery of Spellfire, VR
2. 1st/428 Weasel Attack!, VR
3. 2nd/312 Treasure, C
4. 4th/126 Slave Revolt!, UC
5. 4th/135 Black Bess, UC
   Save until A Sure Thing is in play.
6. 4th/159 Bess’s Revenge, UC
   Save until A Sure Thing is in play.
7. BRc/20 Blood Challenge!, VR
8. CH/052 Spanish Inquisition, C
   Save until Throne of the Mountain God artifact is in play.
9. FRc/02 Cold Cup of Calamity, VR
10. MI/053 Great Depression, C

Realms (11)

Mostly fitting with the philosophy of discarding champions.

1. 3rd/117 The Horned Society, (GH), M
   Works great with Throne of the Mountain God artifact.
2. 3rd/135 The Scarlet Brotherhood, (GH), UC
3. 4th/012 The Vilhon Reach, (FR), UC
   Raze for Age of Entropy rule to discard opponent’s realm.
4. 4th/016 Furyondy, (GH), R
5. 4th/019 Perrenland, (GH), UC
   Reducing hand size is useful because it forces more cards to be played into pool which makes more targets for me.
6. 4th/052 Rhuobhe, (BR), R
7. DL/001 Mithas, (DL), R
   Raze for Age of Entropy rule.
8. DU/029 Cities of the Sun, (BR), C
9. IQ/007 Bastion, (AD&D/7), C
   Raze Mithas or The Vilhon Reach if possible when using Bastion’s power.
10. NS/003 Mintarn, (FR), C
11. UDc/06 The Ultimate Triumvirate, (AD&D), VR

Rules (2)

1. 1st/423 Age of Entropy, (AD&D), VR
2. NS/074 A Sure Thing, (AD&D), R

Dungeon (1)

1. DU/013 Maze of the Guild, (AD&D), C

This deck will probably change as I continue to tweak things. Look for the latest version in my Decks for Download section under Anti-Speed.

What’s up with the deck name? And who’s that guy in the mask?

“To The Pain” is an homage to the classic film The Princess Bride. Our hero, Wesley (a.k.a. the man in black), bluffs his way out of a duel with some scary words strung together thusly:

(listen along with this MP3 excerpt - 500KB)

Humperdink: To the death.
Wesley: No! To the pain.
Humperdink: I don’t think I’m quite familiar with that phrase.
Wesley: I’ll explain, and I’ll use small words so that you’ll be sure to understand, you warthog-faced buffoon.
Humperdink: That may be the first time in my life a man has dared insult me.
Wesley: It won’t be the last. “To the pain” means the first thing you lose will be your feet below the ankles. Then your hands at the wrists. Next your nose.
Humperdink: And then my tongue, I suppose. I killed you too quickly the last time, a mistake I don’t mean to duplicate tonight.
Wesley: I wasn’t finished! The next thing you lose will be your left eye, followed by your right.
Humperdink: And then my ears, I understand! Let’s get on with it!
Wesley: WRONG! Your ears you keep and I’ll tell you why. So that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish. Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out “dear God, what is that thing?” will echo in your perfect ears. That is what “to the pain” means. It means I leave you in anguish. Wallowing in freakish misery forever.
Humperdink: I think you’re bluffing.
Wesley: It’s possible, pig. I might be bluffing. It’s conceivable, you miserable, vomitous mass, I’m only lying here because I lack the strength to stand. Then again, perhaps I have the strength after all.
(Dramatic music as Wesley somehow stands even though he’s still recovering from dying and being miraculously brought back to life earlier that day!)
Wesley: Drop your sword.

Admittedly, speaking from a spellfire card champion’s point of view, going to the discard pile isn’t quite as bad as Wesley’s definition of “To the Pain”. But it is quite painful for your opponent to watch all his champions assassinated via hard-to-negate thief skills and blood abilities and more nasty events than you can shake a stick at. And then watch your champions march in for easy spoils of victory against his unguarded realms. Mwa ha ha!

Download the Deck “To The Pain”

Do try this at home! Click here to download “To the Pain” in CrossFire Format. Then try your luck online against us CrossFire junkies or (if you have all the required cards) against your local Spellfire buddies. When looking at this deck in CrossFire, you will notice there are many cards in the “Considering Cards” area. Have a look to see if there are any card you would exchange.

Feedback! Feedback! Feedback!

I’d love to hear your opinion about this deck. Any ideas about cards I missed that match the themes? Please speak your mind. That’s what the comments section below is for!

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 12th, 2005 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Deck-Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.