Make Holding Objectives great again!

Last weekend I participated in Dubai’s WHU Spring tournament taking place at my new home LGS “Battlezone Dubai”. I worked on my Thorns of the Briar Queen deck and thought about how to adjust it to the current meta and the fact that I am able to complete a full Bo3 game without rolling a single crit.

Eventually I came up with this deck.

The main strategy is not being attacked by your enemy while trying to sneak onto objectives through movement shenanigan ploys at the end of each action phase. Apart of that I included five objectives which are easy to score and only need very little interaction with your opponent.

As in round 2 or 3 the opponent will be after you anyhow I included some ploys which allow you to hyper jump onto the other edge of the board. Let’s take a look at the deck.

The objectives

Easy to score: Escalation, Perfect Planning, Well-Guarded, Fired Up, Keep them Guessing

Perfect planning works smoothly with the nighthaunt as Varclav’s ability gives you mobility without movement. Well-Guarded is easy to score especially in early game as there are simply so many minions hanging around which can be pushed adjacent to the Queen with a single action or ploy. Fired up can be scored with a ploy at the end of your opponent’s activation without putting your character’s in too much danger.

Holding objectives: Supremacy, Our Only Way Out, Making a Statment, Take the City, Tactical Supremacy 1-2, 1-4, 3-4

Not going into the classics here which are a must-have in this deck, but we should take a look at Making a Statement and Take the City.
Making a Statement looks pretty hard to score as you need to invade enemy territory. That is true, but you will see that we have included some cards which let you escape to the other board edge making it easy to even move three characters over there in the last turn. Importat to remember: If you see that your opponent is placing all objective tokens into No-Man’s territory place one of yours to the far end edge of their territory. In that case you can simply rob the three glory whenever you draw that card.
Take the City is a bad card. Yes, it sucks. However in our deck it has its spot and can add a simple +1 while going for your main objectives.

Gambits

A gambit a day keeps the Mollog away: Invisible Walls, Baffling Illusion, Transfixing Stare, Howling Vortex

Transfixing Stare can win you a match if played well. Frozen in Time is a viable alternative, but again I do not want to rely on dice rolls. Invisible Walls and Baffling Illusion work nice to bring your minions to the safety zone if you need more than one actication to do so. Howling Vortex feels quite broken if you are able to pull it off. Pushing all of your opponent’s models one field is like a horrible version of Great Concussion (do you still remember that card? Back then when we were young…) as you can even push them towards No-Man’s territory from any direction.

Bazinga! Hidden Paths, Illusory Fighter, Quick Advance, Drifting Advance, Sudden Appearance, Earthquake

 

Hidden Paths and Sudden Appearance will do the trick if you need to switch boards. While Illusionary Fighter only lets you jump close to No-Man’s Sudden Appearance will take you to any starting hex on both boards. Drifting Advance requires you to get closer to your opponent which we actually do not want. However if you use it after the last activation to sneak onto objective tokens it is as good as Varclav’s super hero power. I usually use Earthquake to counter Earthquake and/or pushing the opponent off objective tokens (ideally while going onto it myself).

Upgrades

More Bazinga! Shardcaller, Inescapable Vengeance, Faneway Crystal

With Faneway Crystal and Inescapable Vengeance we add two more options to our deck jumpin to where no sun is shining. The beauty of the Faneway Crystal allows us to directly move onto an objective token. With Inescapable Vengeance you need to push your queen at least one more hex. Shardcaller is a nice card, but I tend to forget I equiped it until I realise “Hell, it could have scored me two glory!”.

The Key to Success is Keys: The Blazing, Dazzling, Formless, Fractured, Hallowed & Shadowed Key, Tome of Glories

These will bring in what it takes to crush your opponent end of round 3 even if you were far behind. Obviously try to either equip these at late as possible or use one of them as Red Herring to redirect your opponent towards a worthless minion in a lonely irrelevant corner of the board.

How to…

Place the boards adjacent on the short edges if you win the roll. This way you can split up your team 4:3 on both boards leaving the opponent with three viable targets or the option to split up their warband as well.

If you lost the board placement roll: no problem! You have three objective tokens to place in that case. Make sure you have at least two objectives in hand which you can score round one otherwise you will be screwed.

Should you intend to attack back: go for the Ever-Hanged (Cleave) and your Queen who are already strong without any upgrades. Just make sure to get them inspired before attacking. You will need Varclav for his special power – do not lose him!

Read my upcoming battle report to see how my spooky squad managed this new deck!