Need advice how to beat Foltest

[ardeathwinggwent]

I keep running to those copy-paste Foltest commando-draug spam decks. (rank 13-15)
Playing mostly as Skellige.
The best I can do is banish 1 of the commandos with Regis:bloodlust but this hardly makes a difference.
How do you guys counter this deck?
Lock and remove does not help, I got tons of it. Going tall also does not help bue to the dueling units foltest has. Going wide is bad vs the revenants. He is also terribly consistent, I've never played vs a Foltest that does not draw his commandos/draug/the lady that respanws them every single time.

 

[Gloomy_Coin]

I've had some success with Ihuarraquax round 1 to rip draug out of their deck, along with northern winds and Regis to stop a million commandos getting shuffled back in

 

[Breli]

hi, do whatever you can to win round one and bleed round two as hard as possible using low priority cards. Don’t mind going down a card. Pass as soon as you forced out draug or the commandos.

That usually works Quite well.

 

[rrc]

As Breli has mentioned above, against Foltest and DJ, the only damn way you can win is to go for 2-0 (even if it means you are going a card down in R1). But bleeding Foltest with a card down is very tough as he usually has very high tempo plays with Seltkirk and Prince. But if you dry-pass R2, you could very well do Esc+Enter.

I played my own Meve TridamInfantry deck against a DJ and I had to go a card down to win R1. I bled R2 and even though it seemed like there is no point in continuing the bleed, I knew very well that going to R3 was also a sure defeat. When the opponent had last 2 cards, (s)he forfeited. And the funniest thing is, the opponent got salty and didn't GG me even though I GGed. I am not playing ranked much (or at all?) in this season, but against Foltest and DJ, going to R3 is nearly a sure defeat; so do whatever it takes to win R1 and push R2.

Good Luck!

 

[williamr1024]

I use this deck almost exclusively now with the latest patch. It is insanely strong. I want from rack 15 to rank 7 in a few days. Almost nothing beats it. My losses came from me being to tired and miss played my second to last card not realizing I didn't have a leader charge (if I played my card one round earlier I would have won). And I have loss to syndicate coin spam with their broken leader twice, usually beat them if I can bleed them hard in round 2 after winning round 1 (sometimes 2 - 0 them). If I can't then I loose in round three with their leader. However, I did go to round three with them once and still one because I called up so many commandos and had draug and he didn't have enough to take the lead. That is rare though, that leader is sooo broken right now. Other than that, not much beats it. Taking out a commando or even removing them from the graveyard does nothing because almost ever single card is a human (except like 3 of them) so Draug converts everything on the board making it still very strong even without commandos. With them, not much else you can do.

 

[Mr_Mugglez]

What a surprise a tuber deck. One of FBs, saw the vid the other day. Do more harm than good them guys.

 

[BrokeCiri]

@ardeathwinggwent What Skellige deck are you using? Maybe I/we can help you optimize your build and game plan.

 

[ardeathwinggwent]

@BrokeCiri I know it's banal, by I use 'my own deck'... How can I share effectively a whole deck here?

 

[4RM3D]

How can I share effectively a whole deck here?

On the PC, in the deckbuilder, you can right-click on a deck and click on "share". It will then open a website with a unique link you can paste here.

 

[ardeathwinggwent]

On the PC, in the deckbuilder, you can right-click on a deck and click on "share". It will then open a website with a unique link you can paste here.

Is there a way I can do this online, without accessing the game?

 

[BrokeCiri]

Gwentup.com, you can do a quick build there then send the link. If you don't have a Gwentup account just Printscreen it then paste it here. That will do

 

[ardeathwinggwent]

Here is the deck. I'm aware of the current 'meta' decks posted by streamers but I'm not a fan of following one, and they also all seem too one dimentional and boring. Mine is kind of a mix of a lot of stuff.
The general idea is to flexible.
Purpose and combos:
Tall removal - Yrden and Berrek's mirror. Also in some cases Hjalmar tossing Juta.
Wide removal - lacerate, sometimes delirium
Control - Regis bloodlust, Hjalmar, Enrajed Efreet, northern wind, light longships, lacerate, delirium; additinally we have 3 locks - aguara, djenge and dorregarey (in short, a lot of control...purpose is to remove engines and win r1)
Combo 1 - self hurt - heymaey protector, light longship, svalb priest, heymaey also triggers with jutta and sparmaiden's placement, harald and his pals
Combo 2 - tall crateswords - work great with light longship, delirium, lacerate, warship and any of the control options and the leader ability
Combo 3 - around jutta - jutta + mirror + hjalmar or + Yrden in some cases. It's very flexible. self hurting jutta with priests and then berrek is also a thing
Combo 4 - finisher - the dream is to have 1 or 2 crateswords on a line with at least 2-3 enemy units, then use the leader ability and as a last card lacerate the row, does wonders on late round 3 or if i want to win a short round 2 if I pull 1 cratesword late (when the enemy has alreacy used his control stuff on my self hurt for example)

I'm quite happy with the deck in general - the mulligan options are the Marauder if I go 1st, and the spearmaidens/warship in rounds 2 and 3.
As I'm not tied to a specific combo I don't care about thinning. In general it's good to keep the lacerate and leader ability + 1 craitesword for short round 2 or late round 3. It's also nice to bleed round 2 and go short R3 if possible due to the leader point smash. The rest is usable anytime.

 

[BrokeCiri]

View attachment 11011723

Here is the deck. I'm aware of the current 'meta' decks posted by streamers but I'm not a fan of following one, and they also all seem too one dimentional and boring. Mine is kind of a mix of a lot of stuff.
The general idea is to flexible.
Purpose and combos:
Tall removal - Yrden and Berrek's mirror. Also in some cases Hjalmar tossing Juta.
Wide removal - lacerate, sometimes delirium
Control - Regis bloodlust, Hjalmar, Enrajed Efreet, northern wind, light longships, lacerate, delirium; additinally we have 3 locks - aguara, djenge and dorregarey (in short, a lot of control...purpose is to remove engines and win r1)
Combo 1 - self hurt - heymaey protector, light longship, svalb priest, heymaey also triggers with jutta and sparmaiden's placement, harald and his pals
Combo 2 - tall crateswords - work great with light longship, delirium, lacerate, warship and any of the control options and the leader ability
Combo 3 - around jutta - jutta + mirror + hjalmar or + Yrden in some cases. It's very flexible. self hurting jutta with priests and then berrek is also a thing
Combo 4 - finisher - the dream is to have 1 or 2 crateswords on a line with at least 2-3 enemy units, then use the leader ability and as a last card lacerate the row, does wonders on late round 3 or if i want to win a short round 2 if I pull 1 cratesword late (when the enemy has alreacy used his control stuff on my self hurt for example)

I'm quite happy with the deck in general - the mulligan options are the Marauder if I go 1st, and the spearmaidens/warship in rounds 2 and 3.
As I'm not tied to a specific combo I don't care about thinning. In general it's good to keep the lacerate and leader ability + 1 craitesword for short round 2 or late round 3. It's also nice to bleed round 2 and go short R3 if possible due to the leader point smash. The rest is usable anytime.

Personally, i think your build is all over the place. Arnjolf can be built as a tempo burst or long round leader. Your deck is built in the middle, it has no solid short or long round. Well for your rank it's still okay but as you rank up you will feel the lack of power especially when facing more experienced players and stronger decks.

- Marauder is weak outside of Crach unless you're just playing it for pure value (6:4). The whole point of Marauder before was to nuke down the first unit (engine) your opponent plays but since almost everything start with 4 base power now, Marauder is meh. Also, it can brick hard especially for SY matchup because they always open up with a Crime. I suggest playing Gutting Slash instead. 4 damage that can easily be 6 since bloodthirst can be easily accessed by Arnjolf.

- Playing Hjalmar without Disgraced Brawler or Veteran is also suboptimal. Veteran is actually good now especially if you have a Protector in play. It plays for 6:5 when played beside Protector and can serve as a backup target if you want to play BDM. Brawler is also nice IF you can constantly have bloodthirst 3 or your opponent lacks 4 damage.

- 3 Locks? Are you facing that many engines that are out of removal range? I suggest you change the other 2 into removal cards. You have Madman Lugos, Donar, Skjall, Champion's Charge, and Cleaver as options.

- Ifrit and Regis. Hmmm. Maybe you can fit better cards for that 20 provision space occupied by those two.

- There are cards that gets a juicy value for Leader burst. Svanrige (19 points), Madman Lugos (18 points, must have a 6 power target), Gregoire (17 points), Knut (14 points, must have a 6 power target. After damaging Arnjolf you have the option to self Yrden or BDM).

- The question is: How do you want to play your Arnjolf deck, Greatswords type (pings & long round) or tempo?

This is just my opinion and analysis. Other forum members might have different and/or better suggestions.

 

[ardeathwinggwent]

Personally, i think your build is all over the place. Arnjolf can be built as a tempo burst or long round leader. Your deck is built in the middle, it has no solid short or long round. Well for your rank it's still okay but as you rank up you will feel the lack of power especially when facing more experienced players and stronger decks.

- Marauder is weak outside of Crach unless you're just playing it for pure value (6:4). The whole point of Marauder before was to nuke down the first unit (engine) your opponent plays but since almost everything start with 4 base power now, Marauder is meh. Also, it can brick hard especially for SY matchup because they always open up with a Crime. I suggest playing Gutting Slash instead. 4 damage that can easily be 6 since bloodthirst can be easily accessed by Arnjolf.

- Playing Hjalmar without Disgraced Brawler or Veteran is also suboptimal. Veteran is actually good now especially if you have a Protector in play. It plays for 6:5 when played beside Protector and can serve as a backup target if you want to play BDM. Brawler is also nice IF you can constantly have bloodthirst 3 or your opponent lacks 4 damage.

- 3 Locks? Are you facing that many engines that are out of removal range? I suggest you change the other 2 into removal cards. You have Madman Lugos, Donar, Skjall, Champion's Charge, and Cleaver as options.

- Ifrit and Regis. Hmmm. Maybe you can fit better cards for that 20 provision space occupied by those two.

- There are cards that gets a juicy value for Leader burst. Svanrige (19 points), Madman Lugos (18 points, must have a 6 power target), Gregoire (17 points), Knut (14 points, must have a 6 power target. After damaging Arnjolf you have the option to self Yrden or BDM).

- The question is: How do you want to play your Arnjolf deck, Greatswords type (pings & long round) or tempo?

This is just my opinion and analysis. Other forum members might have different and/or better suggestions.

Thank you for the deep analysis ! I got a few good ideas here.
For marauder - you are right, usually I use it for a pure point 6 for 4, sometimes it works well vs monsters trive but that's pretty much it. I'll probably remove it.
Veteran and brawler I don't like simply because they put a lot of point passively on my board, and I'd rather remove some from the opponent if possible instead. With Hjalmar I try to toss either jutta or Djenge.
Svanrige is cool, but the combo with the leader ability leaves 2x11 on the board (quite nice scorch targets there).
madman lugos is fine but I'd not play him as a last move as it's better to use him earlier to remove engines, so this means I need to play the leader ability earlier and open the 11 point leader to removal.
Gregor - pretty much the same issues as above.
My style of play is to rather keep the leader ability for as late as possible, because there are a lot of deck that could use the 3x1 point syrens to their benefit and remove my 11 point leader easily, and a lot of the combos you listed won't work without playing him early.
The locks I keep so I have more targets for the crateswords and the lacerate. I try to clear everything from 1 row and keep everything alive in the other (thus why I got regis bloodlust and the enraged efreet...) You are right tho that maybe I can toss something better for 20 points, just can't think of exactly what. Myabe muzzle + some other 8 point card?

The bare minimum for my last move (leader + lacerate) is, let's suppose I hit a row with just 1 enemy, then I get the 11+1+1+1(the 3 sirens)+2(the one enemy) =16 points. If I manage to survive with 1 cratesword, this jumps to 23 points (3 from leader hitting the sirens, 4 more from lacerate hitting each target), and it grows more the more targets the enemy has on the row, and even more if I magically manage to keep both my cratesowrds alive. I've had easy 30 points swings with just 1 cratesword. The aguara also helps a bit here as I can remove 1 lock with her.
Whats even better is that I don't need to keep an expensive gold card for last use, but rather the 7 point lacerate and maybe 6 point crate, and use all expensive cards earlier. As a backup I can use the delirium isntead of lacerate.

 

[StrykerxS77x]

Today I was playing against Foltest as SC. In the third round I got a massive igni on his commando's transformed into KS. I think it was a 28 point igni and I still lost the game......

That's SC for ya.

 

[deckard_kaine]

Do you smell it, brothers? Can you feel it? The rise of Xavier Lemmens! The guy who used to sleep in the dusty barn, drunk and useless. But now.... now...

 

[Hassene_Gadacha_As]

Is this burnt steak I smell???

 

[The_Loon_King]

Do you smell it, brothers? Can you feel it? The rise of Xavier Lemmens! The guy who used to sleep in the dusty barn, drunk and useless. But now.... now...

Ive been using him in my Foltest deck against other Foltests XD

 

[deckard_kaine]

Ive been using him in my Foltest deck against other Foltests XD

Oh, you, sneaky B.

 

[The_Loon_King]

Oh, you, sneaky B.

^_^