Caranthir Ar-Feiniel / Ruehin Combo unbeatable?

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I just played against a monster player who managed to get 2 Ruehin Demons into play by using Caranthir Ar-Feiniels ability and kept eating them up over and over again with various other monster cards. I saw no chance of stopping him doing that and ofcourse lost the game. This seems to me as too strong a combo. Or ist there a way to screw things up for someone with that strategy? i'm still a beginner at gwent so maybe there is something i'm missing here.
 
Just play Yrden/Spores for the eating unit, anything that locks (lock the demon, kills it), move it around.
 
You have two options. Shut down the Ruehin's or shut down the consume units. Both need to be available to make the strategy you've described function. Which is better depends on the decks and situation.

Another option is to identify the existence of those cards in the opponent deck and force them out. Multiple Ruehin setups will ruin your day in long rounds. If you can force out Caranthir, Ruehin or Hillock in other rounds to split them up it's far less of a problem.
 

DRK3

Forum veteran
The best solution is definitely locking both Ruehins, or at least one of em.

Shutting down the consume units might not work - Barbegazi and Slyzard take one turn to have their orders ready, but Harpy, Kayran and Troll can consume/destroy the Ruehin instantly, providing value. So i would say the 2nd best option really is an Yrden at the end of the round to reset the consuming units.
 

rrc

Forum veteran
I just played against a monster player who managed to get 2 Ruehin Demons into play by using Caranthir Ar-Feiniels ability and kept eating them up over and over again with various other monster cards. I saw no chance of stopping him doing that and ofcourse lost the game. This seems to me as too strong a combo. Or ist there a way to screw things up for someone with that strategy? i'm still a beginner at gwent so maybe there is something i'm missing here.
I am at least glad that you didn't have to faced triple Ruehin! I had faced it a few times and of course I resigned. On one of the demon, MO can use Whispering Hillock to get 3!
 

DRK3

Forum veteran
I think Caranthir is one of the best AND most fun cards Monsters have and its not used very much, or people dont know how to use it - recently i saw 2 players, probably netdecking, who used it on cards with deploy abilities, clearly hoping they would trigger, but nothing happened ofc.

Caranthir is great for Ruehin and Phoenix, for Kayran, can also be used for valuable deathwish units like Miruna and Manticore, and can even be used to make cheap Speartips or other big units (yet Big Woodland players are too dumb to figure this out)
 
I once saw this guy who used Caranthir on Old Speartip and then gave it a huge buff with Bekker's Dark Mirror.
 
I once saw this guy who used Caranthir on Old Speartip and then gave it a huge buff with Bekker's Dark Mirror.

Ah, yes. The secret to a 25 point Speartip. And people thought a 23 point Ozzrel was well endowed. Unfortunately, what is big must start out small. 1 point Speartips tend to get stomped on before they can grow up.
 

rrc

Forum veteran
Ah, yes. The secret to a 25 point Speartip. And people thought a 23 point Ozzrel was well endowed. Unfortunately, what is big must start out small. 1 point Speartips tend to get stomped on before they can grow up.
Also, let's not forget that 25 (or 28) points come from 2 turns.
 

DRK3

Forum veteran
That's why the move is so good, and Bekkers Twisted Mirror is so awesome:

You use Caranthir to make a 1pt Speartip - if the opponent doesnt destroy it, you use the Mirror for a 25 pt Speartip (Mirror is only 8 prov btw), if the opponent does destroy your Speartip, you still will have 2x 13pt Speartips - one in hand, another in graveyard, not to mention the Twisted Mirror to use on an enemy, which rarely bricks.

I really hate Big Monsters, but i use similar strategy on NG and its awesome. Except Big Monster players seem to now be running removal (Chironex and that stupid Crone), which screws my plans.
 
Also, let's not forget that 25 (or 28) points come from 2 turns.

It requires finding all three cards though. Triple Crones is pretty crazy but faces a similar issue. The difference is you don't need to play them all in the same round and killing them doesn't upset the combo.

You use Caranthir to make a 1pt Speartip - if the opponent doesnt destroy it, you use the Mirror for a 25 pt Speartip (Mirror is only 8 prov btw), if the opponent does destroy your Speartip, you still will have 2x 13pt Speartips - one in hand, another in graveyard, not to mention the Twisted Mirror to use on an enemy, which rarely bricks.

True... but then your Caranthir ends up as a 4pt card with a Speartip toss to the GY. That's a pretty bad Caranthir. Whether the GY Speartip is a major benefit depends on the deck. There are a limited number of GY consumes and tall units to eat. Speartip to the GY can backfire in the event Blue Meme is played as well.

I really hate Big Monsters, but i use similar strategy on NG and its awesome. Except Big Monster players seem to now be running removal (Chironex and that stupid Crone), which screws my plans.

That'd be because the builds based on nothing but thrive spam, tall units and GY consumes started getting teched against hard. Such decks don't tend to fair well when everyone techs against them unless the opponent fails to draw the counter cards.
 

DRK3

Forum veteran
@Restlessdingo32 no, it is not a bad Caranthir, if the Speartip gets destroyed. Have you seen Caranthir's provision cost? He's 8, cheap as hell considering he can make doubles of expensive units like 15prov Speartip and 14prov Phoenix.

And if the opponent has Blue Meme, this strategy is even better - instead of enemy stealing your only Speartip, you still have another one to consume.
 
@Restlessdingo32 no, it is not a bad Caranthir, if the Speartip gets destroyed. Have you seen Caranthir's provision cost? He's 8, cheap as hell considering he can make doubles of expensive units like 15prov Speartip and 14prov Phoenix.

It's bad in the sense you're only getting 4 pts from the Caranthir on the card play. The 3 body and the 1 pt Speartip the opponent kills. 4 pts for 8p is pretty bad value.

Bekker's, Caranthir and Speartip would cost 31p and grant 28 pts and put a Speartip in the GY. This is assuming the other player doesn't blow up the 1 pt Speartip. If they do blow it up you went from 28 pts in 2 card plays down to 4 plus whatever you play when the tip gets blown up. This change in expected value could be the difference between pushing a round or getting forced out of it.

And if the opponent has Blue Meme, this strategy is even better - instead of enemy stealing your only Speartip, you still have another one to consume.

True, but a Speartip getting Blue Memed is never good :).
 
I don't bother Blue memeing the speartip, I blue meme the algoul and eat their speartip.
 
I don't bother Blue memeing the speartip, I blue meme the algoul and eat their speartip.

Kind of has to be in the graveyard for that to work though. Ozzrel probably won't be in the GY. Bribery or Traheaern (seriously, nerf this card please) on Ozzrel, on the other hand....
 
Yeah, you need to sneakely force them to have it in the GY. I try to go for it everytime i think they run it, and most of them do.
 
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