Mercenary Strategies

**sitnam90** · 12-01-2011, 06:41 PM

Originally Posted by iglew

And considerably less fun to play....

Touche

. I was just trying to show that the 'strategic' argument can really run both ways. There is certainly an aspect of strategy when you know what your opponent has, what you have, and trying to balance the math. But there is also much to be garnered from keep the decks a secret; even when they are a secret it is often easy to measure what kind of strategy your opponent has been leaning towards and what they have been using to accomplish it.

**Sauam** · 12-01-2011, 10:20 PM

After all said and done, I do much favor an open deck list format, and I hope one day Colby and team would make it an official way to play SW. Sort of like Five for Fighting.

I dare say, most of the fun in SW is to know what your opponent has and plan according to them, and yet players can still hide information away from your opponent by either hide in their hand or hide in their magic pile... and with open format, a 0 cost Merc will not be that bad of an idea (I still wish not to have one though)

Having a close format promote turtle to the extreme and favor some faction so much more than other (ie: JE gain so much more in close format, I lost to my first tourney to a close format because my enemy was JE and I just have no clue what to expect, and lost because I cannot push without giving my enemy huge advantage)

+100 vote for open format please

**PePe QuiCoSE** · 12-02-2011, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by iglew

it's sort of like winning because Ragnor got a string of successful Fury rolls.

Wait, but that's the best way to win a game!

You can't talk about the open/close format without linking to the type of game that is being played. For a tournament I would 100% endorse open-logged decks just to reduce the chances of cheating (swapping units depending on the faction you are playing against).
For casuals, I like open for the reasons stated above AND because if not it just gives and advantage to the one that has done some deck building. Right now, for me, there are too many factions and too many Match-Ups so it's common to just use what comes in the deck to figure out stuff while playing. Open decks mitigate that advantage (since we both know what's in deck, not just the one who is not playing out-of-the-box deck).
With MU I am familiar with I would be much happier with a undisclosed deck.

**Jexik** · 12-05-2011, 10:23 AM

That's kind of a neat idea, SAUAM. To have open and closed formats. Maybe have one event of each at GenCon and see what people gravitate to.

**WOOKIE** · 03-18-2012, 07:05 PM

This thread started with how certain Mercs did very well in certain factions. With the new decks & reinforcements out, new combos are being found.

Bounder- The best at surprise placement. Hulgorad also has 3 move but can't Leap over units. Bounders would be great with GD's Heroic Feat.

Demon Hand- Their 3 life combo well with VG's Greater Healing, Divine Strength & Healing. Why do evil units like Malevolence & Demon Hand work so well with the ultimate good faction?

Stone Golem- Their 3 life also combo well VG's healing.
A sturdy unit for the Benders. Use Telekinetic Blast to move them like gates. Could a Golem move 1 space, attack & later get moved with T. Blast?

Apprentice Mage- Everywhere!

Seriously though, they would do well with Swamp Orcs since you want cheep fodder for vine walls.

Mundol & 5 mages- Decks with A Hero is Born. BD, GD, PE, TO, VG, & even JE(Salvation). A mini team within a faction.

The Seer- A cheep champ with card control. The Filth & FK would benifit from control & certain ones in discard.

Originally Posted by Phoenixio

11/30/11 This talk about mercenaries not having 0 costers or ranged units through Reinforcement is just plain weird. I mean, ain't the deck-building all about surprises?

**thenightsshadow** · 03-18-2012, 08:23 PM