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Deckbuilders Diary - Etienne and his Crazy Cronies So Im finally sitting down to type up a Deckbuilders Diary, or DD for short. What is this idea then? Well a DD is an article that explains the process that lead to a certain deck. It's not merely the publishing of a deck list (though it is that as well), it's the decisions that led to that list, motivating and explaining why certain cards are in and some not. But it's more than an article about how to build and play a certain deck, it's also a way for others to see into the mind of a somewhat experienced deckbuilder, to see the process layed out as a road map to guide and be of help to the newer players as they run off to build their own decks. Now Im not the best gamer the community has. Far from! But if you are new to the game and to CCGs then I have a bit of a head start and perhaps I can lend a hand. Or tentacle. In the future you'll be able to enjoy DDs from top players, but for this first one yours truly will do. Note: This deck will be built the way I often build decks, to showcase the process. The end result will probably be an almost tourney viable deck but far from top tier. More on the fun side so you don't stare yourself blind on the trees but see the forest :P I choose to abuse Let's get going then. This is for some the hardest part: the start. Where to start? I start as I usually do, by flipping through my collection and reading the spoiler lists here on the AL until a card catch my eye. Today it was a rare card that very seldom see play, but in the right deck might be real fun... Once I've picked a card, I ask myself: "How can I abuse this sneaky Etienne-Laurent de Marigny, Eccentric Dilettante (FR R37)?" So how do I abuse this card? Well the answer is obvious: Dream Messenger (AE R166). I play Etienne and disrupt it's Response with Dream Messenger allowing me to take control of any card my opponent has in play. Until end of game. Nifty. Since Etienne is somewhat expensive at cost 4 I'll start out with 3 of them and 4 DMs. Now with those two cards I've decided to go with Yog and Syndicate in the deck. I've also decided to build a domain up to 4 to play Etienne and I will have a 1 domain with a Yog resource. This combo though need some backup to get really interesting. Shining Trapezohedron (FR 104) is obvious, to recycle DMs and other nice events (I pull out the good 0, 1 and X costing ones -X is counted as zero for Shining Trapezohedron). Now for a way to "recycle" Etienne... Warded Flesh (AE R180) comes to mind. Now from experience I feel that using Warded Flesh repeatedly to bounce is costly and nothing I will be doing loads of times, so I'll only add 2 of them to start with. So what's next for the deck? Well, we need some of those events I pulled out, but lets wait and get more characters first. Moonlit Phantom (EE 217) can also use the Dream Messengers and Warded Flesh. He is also cheap (and also draws you an extra card every time you play him) More cheap stuff is Render of Veils. Etienne tells me I will be building my domains first up to 1-1-4 and then the Phantom says we should go to 1-2-4. Sitting with two 1 domains for that long means that I'm not afraid to add more 1 costing stuff, from Yog as well as Syndicate. Opium Fiend (EE C72) feels like a good choice to get Etienne out quicker. To get the Trap out quicker maybe a couple of Couriers too. Not sure yet though. I also want something a little more nasty and since we are running with Phantoms I'm thinking about Wizard of Yog-Sothoth (UT 97), but only 2 or 3. Maybe a couple of UT Yog since we might be running lots of Spell. We will wait and see with that though. Note: It may turn out that a 1-2-2 start will be better, allowing you to drop a Dream Messenger, a Phantom and a Warded Flesh. With "better" I mean "faster". Then from there you go to 1-2-4 if needed. Now we have some characters. Lets look at those events again. First off I want Double-Cross (FR R44) since it costs 0 (lets me break the soft cap of 3 actions) and works well with the Dream Messengers. With DO+DM we have a first turn combo that can remove any character on the table. Thats nice. With Phantom+DM we have another first turn combo that can remove any card on the table. Thats also nice. But it all still feels on the weak side. I've got weak characters so Im thinking Unspeakable Resurrection (AE 172) (it's also a way to reuse Etiennes ability. I wont mind going into a fight and let Etienne die in combat just so I can UR him back to steal something). Still it feels weak. We need a little more bite. Before I talk about the "weak side" (as opposed to the "dark side"? :P) lets point out a few things I did. I picked a card that I really wanted to get as much bang out of as possible, by adding some other cards that would go well with it. This is basically the "picking one strategy and adding strength to it" that you need to do in order to get a good deck that performs equally well every game. I also kept an eye on how I want to build my domains so that other cards I pick will fit. More casual What do I mean with "on the weak side"? Well in any CCG when building a deck it has strength equal to the sum of the cards. Some cards though are strong in and of themselves. Look at Deep One Assault (AE 104.) Why it is so sought after lies in it's raw strength and versatility. It's so straight forward. No trickery or weirdness, just right out destruction and at the right time card advantage. You don't need any special situation or other cards in hand to make good use of DOA. It is always good in and of itself. Note: Im not putting any moral value to certain decks and cards with my reference to "dark side". I just thought it a fun way to explain it. The trick with DM and Etienne and other cards we have in this deck are all combos and once they happen they will hamstring your opponent. But the cards in and of themselves are rather weak. Etienne will just sit in my hand until I have a DM to play. Same if you just have a DM in hand. If your decks loose a lot, ask yourself how straight forward the deck is. That is my point. And that is why I feel this deck so far is on the weak side. We need something straight out strong. Last pieces and some more bite Since I want straight up nasty fun stuff, Im adding Hatchetman. Im thinking that his ability works good with my 4x UR + Shiny Trap and adds a little more bang. His ability is a little expensive though, so Im only adding 3 of him. I only need to draw one to recycle. Something else that is a bit nasty is Fetch Stick (FR 140.) The deck doesn't have great characters so I'm thinking 4x the Stick and 4x Couriers to get Sticks and Traps out quicker. This also mean that I don't have to UR back "ordinary" characters but those with abilities like Hatchetman and Etienne. Last I'll add two Journey to the Other Side, wishing I had room for 4 to help me get the cards I need to pull off my combos... The decklist Without further ado, the decklist for "Etienne and his crazy cronies":
There is obviously much more to say in the matter. This time I only covered the actual building of the deck. The much more important part is the playtesting of it, but right now I'm to lazy to write about that. You must not forget it though. The best way to learn the game is to play it. And that's the fun part, playing! Don't just build a deck, play it twice against your friends. Since you lost both times you rip the deck apart and start over. Beep! Wrong. Tune the deck. With this deck I know I will need quite a lot of tuning. If my meta focusses a lot on decks with lots of characters running a lot of stories, then I need to rethink my strategy since this deck is about stealing that one key card they have (Ghoul Khanum, GOO, Nyarly, Phan etc). What I'm trying to say is that you should rip your deck and rebuild if you notice that 1) You have chosen to build a very weak deck with no straight forward strength, or 2) you have chosen a strategy that doesn't fit your meta well. The deck above is a fairly good example of #1 and a Insanity deck with weak Terror icon removal in a very heavy monster meta could be an example of #2. If not, then don't rip but tune. Now I know that this deck is on the weak side and more of a fun deck. With some tweaking it should win a fair few fights though. If nothing else, it should be worth the look on your opponents face once you pull off Etienne + DM and steal his precious Cthulhu. :P That's it for this time! Hope you enjoyed it and learned some. Now off to the message boards to discuss. See you there!  - xedric
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