SC Movement - Tempo Plays

[Cipher90]

SC Movement - Tempo Plays

In this season I tried a movement deck. It was fun to play and actually quite good. My main problems were:

1. There is no way to revive my archers so I can only play one viable round
2. It needs so many turns to prepare this strategy
3. You need decoys... Some cards which seem dangerous to trigger the removal of the enemy

The first and secound problem can be fixed by dry passing round one and hoping that my opponent will do the same in round two or by playing a really great first round with cards which are not necessary for the movement strategy - preferably a tempo play. On top of that it needs to be economical since you won't have many cards left (See Problem 3)

Do you experience the same problems? And do you know any good plays for the first round?

 

[Void_Singer]

my solution was double archetype.... Movement/Swarm... but it definitely wasn't a ranked deck. The other direction I've seen this go is Movement/GoldWeather

 

[iamthedave]

You need the longest round 3 you can possibly get, since the deck actually has some big power plays (Pit Trap is a massive, massive force multiplier, and the only 'hit' hazard that first light is a straight up tempo loss on; since it only heals 2 of its 3 damage). So what you want to do is force it into round 2 quick, and use one of those big power plays to force them out of round 2. Zoltan into Pit Trap + a single archer is up to a 29 point swing (8 for zolt, 15 for the movements, +6 from the archer). Most decks will pass after that, since card bleed might well be effective, but they're unlikely to be able to actually catch you up and sooner or late you'll be able to pass safely.

 

[Makhil]

My SC movement with Ciri nova brings me easily to lvl 19, but then it hits the wall of common netdecks. Surprisingly it's still effective against other SC decks.
Ciri nova gives me the opportunity to have a long round 1 or round 2. Wardancers and coinflip decide if i go for long or short round1.

 

[bamcatgroove]

I'm very proud to tell you that I just hit legend Grand Master for the first time - with a SC movement deck!
70-35-2 were needed for that (+ climbing for fun early with Millfguard, Relict Mo and Reaver Hunter NR with bad win rates: 47-49-1 together)

Solving the tempo problem: I have exactly on tempo play and that is Brouver into Barcleay into Sheldon Skaggs hitting 3 blue mountain elites (sorry for the abuse..). This will win me R1 most of the time.
In R2 I usually drypass.
R3 I start putting Vrihedd Dragoons to bait removals and then start putting golden weather and my precious Bowmen. I often play Yaevinn in R3 to get 1 extra card advantage since I don't care about the 13 points and to fish for 2nd weather if they cleared the first or some other combo piece.

I will then stack the rows with Zoltan and Gerald:Aard to get maximum value from Nivellen. This combo works very often since my deck is very thin and not many poeple run enough weather clear / removal. I have had dozens of games were Nivellen hits a full row with 3 Bowmen out for a 60+ points.

Matchups from good to bad (estimation):
SC decks ~80%
Monsters decks ~75%
Misc. NR decks ~70%
Misc. Skellige ~ 65%
Greatswords ~ 35%
Machine Henselt ~ 35%
Alchemy Nilfguard ~ 30%

The last three matchups are really tough even though you have the advantage to mostly know their deck and they don't know yours. Unfortunately they are all TOP5 decks I faced for the whole season but managed to feast on the other matchups because I win almost any long R3, even against Consume. I'm a bit afraid to post the deck list since if this gets popular, every one will know how to counter it. x)
Mulligan can be quite tricky but with experience, your hand will be almost ideal in 80% of the time. The other 20 % you'll have to sacrifice points for consistency.

Well, since the season ends anyways and an update is coming in May, there you go:

Gerald:Aard
Zoltan Chivay
Ragh Nar Roog
Korathi Heatwave

Sheldon Skaggs
Barcley Els
Nivellen
Last Wish
Mandrake
Yaevinn

2x Vrihedd Dragoons
3x Dol Blathanna Bowman
3x Blue Mountain Elite
2x Elven Mercenary
2x Elven Scout
3x Reconnaissance

------------
Mandrake: is very versatile and firstly introduced when Imlerith was strong. But it is so versatile that I kept it in instead of Iris.
Iris: helped a bit in buffing existing Bowman but was too much of a win more card and too often a bad draw in a short R3
Las Wish: helps with consistency in the end. I tried running another tutor but didn't like it.
Korathi Heatwave: The inclusion raised my win rate against the 3 worst matchups by approximately 15% each. They were almost unwinnable without a 2nd weather. It replaced Muzzle
Muzzle: On paper, it seems quite good against Henselt and Greatswords but there are too many machines and Greatswords don't care too much if you take one and they buff the others. Heatwave often gets me 30 points or more in these matchups. I'll try to avoid RNR in these 2 matchups.

Let me know what you think and if it works for you as well. GL for the season end!

 

[OG.laloquaint]

My best tempo plays in my movement deck are Zoltan Chivay with Blue Mountain Elites. Then using Barclay Els for an Agitator or a Dwarven Mercenary. They're both proactive plays which is good for the first round. I've been considering running Renew to use Zoltan in later rounds too.

Eventually I like to set up Pit Trap on rows with the less units and move them with Nivellen. His value increases dramatically with Pit Trap. I've been using Iorveth: Meditation too recently and sometimes he gets crazy value, especially when you can move things around. But it's kinda eh, sometimes.

The problem with this deck is that it gets completely destroyed by Imlerith: Sabbath and Alchemy. It's amazing against swarm decks, I've been considering running Schirru for late-game plays but idk, sometimes it's bricked.

It's probably my favorite ST deck. I have two versions of it.

 

[Barracuda88]

bamcatgroove

Wow, a GM with a movement deck with no bronze movement cards. Sadly, I guess maybe that's the key.

 

[bamcatgroove]

Yeah, quite strange that I don't run any bronze movement cards. It's mainly due to their reactive nature... The only few proactive plays I have are the BMEs and Elven Scouts...
I have only used Zoltan on the BMEs if it was really necessary (almost never), instead I saved him for the Nivellen combo.
I tried to run Pit Trap but it was a bit of an overkill since most of the stuff dies with my combo anyways. I can't take out any silvers for it as well because I don't want to drop in consistency for a few more potential points.

I will try bronze movement cards though since the patch for May is right around the corner and I expect the Elven Scouts to be removed.

 

[Noela]

I always liked the opening 2 Wardancers + 3 BMC + Aelirenn. Not always possible, but it is a 21 point opening with just one card and has good thinning value, very good for a low tempo deck. Sadly, they are gonna change wardancer...

 

[bamcatgroove]

Concerning the lack of bronze movement cards: I cannot include a dwarf because of the Brouver -> Barcley -> Sheldon Skeggs combo. The only remaining movement card is the weather clear elf which is ok and will replace the scouts after the update but they lack proactiveness.
Another advantage of Elven Scouts are, that they conceal my deck type a little bit more.

Wardancers / Aelirenn:
I have tried wardancers but they led to bad draws or a non-drypass R2 (or R1). This was bad because I want the longest R3 as possible. My R1 mainly conists of 2 cards played: Elven Mecrs -> BME (or BME from hand) and then Sheldon Skeggs -> Pass. Therefore Aelirenn is too slow and shorten my R3.

 

[rrc]

Coincidentally I faced a SC movement deck today. I played Eithenè Swordmaster deck. I managed to win the game, but I didn't know it is a thing now and I may face this more often. The opponent used a Gold weather card, but I had Ida and cleared. But if the opponent had the second Gold weather card, I would have been finished. May be he/she didn't draw it. It was a very close game and was fun. I am at Rand 15.

 

[bamcatgroove]

Lucky you I faced a movement deck only once last season, iirc.

A little anecdote for another tempo play: It happened like 5 times since I play this deck, that my opponent plays Hym into Sheldon Skeggs onto their row with my Bowmen shooting all of their units. I remember one particular game where my opponent killed almost all his points and conceded right after.