Quick, someone claim the two farming spider farming builds when the thread is still empty!

why is AZ bounty 7 the sixth thread?
I'm really interested in vennen decks. let us see if there is something else than mill and/or big spider
*going to level my vennen to 15....*

Poor elves, picked on by the community to be the very last one for this contest D:

It's a trap! Coach wants you to pick this to prevent a vennen ranger from really competing (gonna auto dq this deck) so that he can have a better chance of winning with his own super secret OP vennen ranger!!!

/s

Some would say that you save the best for last!


I haven't been participating in the context on purpose Wouldn't have made the joke if I had any intentions of participating. I'd much rather see the prize go to other community members

So I actually deleted my Vennens to make room for other characters (mostly because I found terror mill made everything too easy)... but this work in progress is going for a different route.

Work in progress... will format when this gets more... umm... complete. Will be getting a Vennen up, but not sure of which class this would work best with. Rangers get a pet spider that can be summon for the spider synergy, Clerics seems solid for the Healing Aura, Blessings, and free Steadfast, Mage copying actions that can recur seems decent along with all of their quick speed abilities, and probably not Warrior...

I would actually have to figure out what to delete and get another Vennen up, but thinking about either Dreadling synergy or building around Tastes of Defeat.

Anywho, some preliminary ideas for dreadlings... might have to play around and cut stuff:

- Dormant One

- Insidious Exchange

- Zilth

- Nazhk Webguard (This seems crazy powerful with the gloves equip)
equipped with Webguard's Guantlets (Gloves): Your Nazhk Webguards have "If you control a Rogue, that troop can't ready during their controller's next ready step."

- Paladin of the Necropolis

- Vilefang Eremite

- Dread Botanist or Dread Driver

- Dread Factory

- Treacherous Pass

- Skittering Cultivator (maybe?)

- Jorgen's Workshop

- Cavern Sentry

- Prejudice

- Bride of the Damned
equipped with Handbook of the Fatally Found (Trinket): Your Brides of the Damned instead have, "BBBBB: When a troop enters an opposing crypt, revert it and put it into play under your control."
equipped with Blackest Veil (Head): Your Brides of the Damned have, "When you gain B, target opposing troop gets -1/-1. That troop's controller discards a card."

- Taste of Defeat (well, depending on if this triggers before or after Dreadlings come into play... will have to play around with this to see if it can be ordered that way)
equipped with Distastful Boots (Feet): Your Tastes of Defeat have, "When an opposing troop leaves play, gain 1 health."

- Brood Bounty (wonder if this will be as good as I think it would be if Mother Beatrice's passive makes this also Illuminate 1.)

- Phenteo's Gift (even though the deck isn't mill focused, landing a Terrorantula is just too good. Also with chest equip, possible recursion with Mother Beatrice's Illuminate 1, but not as consistent as Brood Bounty without mill)
equipped with Terror Tined Tunic (Chest): Your Phenteo's Gifts have, "When a Terrorantula enters play under your control, if this is in your crypt, put this into your hand."
equipped with Terror Touched Blade (Weapon): Your Phenteo's Gifts instead have, "Create three Terrorantula Eggs for each opposing champion and put them into their decks."

Hello dear Hexers!
OK, here we go :

Class: Ranger

Talents:

• Pet Training:Ferocity
  
• Pet Treats
  
• Resourcefulness
  
• Eye of a Sniper
  
• Ranged Expertise:Overwatch
  
• Ranged Expertise:Scattershot
  
• Fertile Grounds
  
• Every Piece of the Animal
  
• Survival Skills
  
• Pet Training:Stalk
  
• Bonded For Life
  
• Survival Skills
  
• Hunting Party
  

Decklist:

Resources:

• Sapphire Shard x 6
  
• Blood Shard x 3
  
• Well of Cunning x 4
  
• Sapphire Ice x 4
  
• Blood Ice x 3
  

Troops:

• Nazhk Lookout
  
• Ushul / or Dream Eagle
  

Actions:

• Chronic Madness x 3
  
• Phenteo's Gift x 3
  
• Chaotic Murmurs x 3
  
• Arcane Focus x 3
  
• Mindcall x 4
  
• Lunacy x 4
  
• Morsel of Madness x 4
  

Constants:

• Spiraling End x 3
  
• Fever Bloom x 3
  

Artifacts:

• Spectral Acorn
  

Equipment:

• Head: Spider Crown (Nazhk Lookout) / or Skittering Hood (Ushul)
  
• Trinket: Scout's Brooch (Nazhk Lookout) / or Brooch of Lunacy (Lunacy)
  
• Chest: Terror Tined Tunic (Phenteo's Gift)
  
• Gloves : Gloves of Dismissal (Ushul) / or Eagle Feathered Gloves (Dream Eagle)
  
• Feet: Sabotons of Madness (Morsel of Madness)
  
• Weapon: Terror Touched Blade (Phenteo's Gift)
  

Mercenaries:

• Spirit of the Triumvirate (Gives 3 troops )
  
• Khodh'Krih (Buries 5 cards)
  
• Corporal Hadrian (Gives 3 cards Mobilize)/ or Khafra (-1 cost on 2 troops) + a change to Feste/Hawkor/The Transcended/Mephistophelious to beat Mad Aradam ( the rest are millable)
  

Strategy:

• The game is simple here. Mill em or kill em. Our game starts and already our opponent has -11 cards thanks to our merc and Chaotic Murmurs. Our actions bury cards or create spiders or even both depending on the choise of equipment. Phenteo's Gift creates Terrorantulas which work as removal plus attack. Morsel of Madness may draw us a card in addition to milling, Mindcall helps speed thing up (ideally cast on Phenteo's Gift so we play it for free everytime it comes back to our hand, or a turn 2 Spiraling End or...anything!), Lunacy buries cards and creates spiders if equiped, Chronic Madness does not need introductions, Arcane Focus helps us with card draw and as stated above, each copy of Murmurs buries 2 cards at the start of the game plus 7 more when casted. Constants we have is Spiraling End which is most of times a win condition since it mills like crazy on a troop based deck plus it can draw us an extra card if we choose to equip it, and Fever's Bloom applies extra pressure by milling an extra card everytime we bury cards. Acorns are there for deck thinning and card draw (a good combo is Fateweave and then Acorn). Then our troops, Nazhk buries a card everytime a card is played and if equiped may summon a random Vennen everytime our opponent plays a card(I prefer Lunacy equip cause spiders are useful blockers). Finally we have Ushul who summons spiderspawns everytime our opponent draws a troop from which he can get buffed if equipped, and with his other equip buries five cards if our opponent draws a resourse. Ushul can be replaced with an equipped Dream Eagle if we choose to utilize missing cards draw. Oh, and don't forget our unblockable Spider Pet, which alone is a power tank. It does a lot of damage, stalls opponent's attacks or blocks and can carry most of the battles on it's back. In addition our ranged expertise skills can stall the opponent long enough to get our mill machine going.
  
• This deck can beat all dungeons fairly easily (Wiktor and Kraken turn 5 for example) (Siren was a bit of a long fight due to her 150 cards deck) and every encounter except Mad Aradam, where we need a lot of luck or just switch to a merc listed above. For the higher levels of the Armies of Myth you may pop an Acorn or two.
  
• To conclude, this deck is not the most original thing, since it is inspired by the Frost Ring Arena ''Spirit of Mill'' deck, but it is a very consistent and quite fast Vennen Ranger deck, plus, without being "Big Spider" or "Lone Xocoy".
  

Hello,

It looks like it's going to be the first deck inspired by big spider but probably not the last one. This one is mono-ruby.

Class: Ranger


Talents:

• Pet Training: Ferocity
  
• Pet Training: Shared Exercise
  
• Ranged Expertise: Leg Shot
  
• Ranged Expertise: Overwatch
  
• Chew Toy
  
• Pet Treats
  
• Lay of the Land
  
• Ranged Expertise: Scattershot
  
• Hazardous Terrain
  
• Hunting Party
  
• Improvised Firebomb
  
• Survival Skills
  
• Bonded for Life
  

Decklist, 61 cards:


Resources x 20:

• Ruby Shard x 16
  
• Well of Hatred x 4
  

Troops x 9:

• Hired-Horn Cutthroat x 3
  
• Construct Foreman x 3
  
• Frothfang Cackler x 3
  

Actions x 29:

• Burn x 3
  
• Seeing Red x 3
  
• Cremate x 3
  
• Crimson Clarity x 3
  
• Soul of Battle x 3
  
• Spontaneous Combustion x 3
  
• Unstable Upgrade x 3
  
• Tale of Carnage x 3
  
• Blitz x 3
  
• Boulder Toss x 2
  

Artefacts x 3:

• Spectral Acorn x 3
  

Equipment:

• Head: Molten Corona (Your cremate become quick actions): Mostly useless but the slot is free
  
• Gloves: Conflagration Handguards (your burn deal 3 damage)
  
• Feet: Hired-horn boots (Your hired-horn cutthroat get deploy: deals 2 damage to a random target)
  
• Weapon: Ritch-Ratchet Wrench (Your Frothfang cackler have: Target troop gets gladiator 3)
  

Mercenaries:

• Baxoth of Korru (start the game with a dreading in play)
  
• Clatterclank (If you have more cards in hand than your opponent, gain a charge)
  
• Sekki (If you have a card with cost 0 in your starting hand, draw a card)
  

Details:

The point is to have a very big spider, very quickly and kill your opponent in 2 or 3 turns.
Cards that need explaining:
- Well of hatred, this is used only in case your opponent sends your pet back in your hand and you need to play it again. Not many opponents do it anyway. I also tried with adding some Reginald's riposte but it ended up being mostly useless.
- Soul of Battle and spontaneous combustion are used for the finishing move only and can work very well in coordination. There seems to be a bug with spontaneous combustion when sometimes the damage dealt is 1 less than the attack of your pet. Or maybe I am just hallucinating...

Note: You can easily make that deck a new player or budget deck by getting rid of soul of battle and well of hatred and replacing it with "Rise to the Challenge" and "combat training".

Enjoy

Class: Mage


Talents:

• Spry 1
  
• Secret knowledge 2
  
• Self knowledge 2
  
• Magic barrier 2
  
• SP Buff 0
  
• Guardian golem 2
  
• Golem graft 1
  
• Concentration 2
  

(No more as they interfere with the deck's strategy)

Decklist:


Resources:

• 4x blood ice
  
• 4x diamond ice
  
• 4x ruby ice
  
• 4x sapphire ice
  
• 35x sapphire shard (edit - wrote wrong number - 31 - before.)
  
• 4x wild ice
  

Troops:

• 1x azurefang hierarch
  

Actions:

• 1x replicator's gambit
  

Artifacts:

• 3x spectral acorn
  

Mercenaries:

• Khafra (makes hierarch 2 cost and brings combo forward 1 turn)
  
• Count Davian
  
• and Mother Dawnbreeze (for a little survivavility)
  

Details:

You need a hand with 3 ice (ideally at least one sapphire ice) or combo peices.
If gambit is in hand or either card near the top of your deck you play out the combo faster, but usually you are winning t4 or 5 by burying. Multistage opponents you finish with spiders.
The turn after hierarch has been gambitted back into the deck, you fateweave it to the top, draw with soothsaying and play for the win.
It is vulnerable to quick speed removal, interupts and bury (though this can be mititgated a little bit by not fateweaving the gambitted hierarch until you can draw it with either soothsaying talent or acorn.)

Edit: Notable encounters.

I've cleared everything in AZ 2 with this except:
Mad Aradam - the mill stops the deck in its tracks.
Scraptooth Mangler - too fast for the deck.

Challenging encounters:
Scutt - helps if you go first, and risky to play out the combo if resources are available for the scrap bomb or wahtever it is called, not that you can always afford to wait.
Gallows ghast - tricky because you run out of cards and will need to draw into your third ice once he empties your hand. Also sometimes mills.
Bogberg - has lots of quick speed removal so you need to time your moves right (but before he plays a copied mastery of time.)

Milling everyone - some vennen just want to watch the world mill

Class: Cleric

Talents:
Tier 1
Enhance Blessing: Life Essence
Blessing of the Immortals
Hale
Tier 2
Enhance Blessing: Empowerment
Healing Aura
Tier 3
Discipline of the Mind
Child of the Right Hand
Blessed Birth
Tier 4
Armed against Darkness
Premonitions

Decklist:

Resources: 23
4 Well of Cunning
4 Sapphire Ice
4 Blood Ice
1 Wild Ice
1 Diamond Ice
1 Ruby Ice
4 Sapphire Shard
4 Blood Shard

Troops: 10
3 Nazhk Lookout
3 Dream Eagle
4 Lady Dev

Actions: 17
4 Arcane Focus
3 Chronic Madness
3 Phenteo's Gift
4 Succumb to Madness
3 Chaotic Murmurs

Constants: 7
1 Syzygy
3 Fever Bloom
3 Spiraling End

Artifacts: 3
3 Spectral Acorn

Equipment:
Head: Chaotic Murmers (-1 cost)
Trinket: Nazhk Lookout (10% to summon random vennen)
Chest: Phenteo's Gift (return to hand when a Terrorantula hits)
Gloves : Dream Eagle (at [SAPPHIRE][SAPPHIRE]: discard to search top 4)
Feet: Spiraling End (mill for troops in *all* crypts)
Weapon: Phenteo's Gift (make 3)

Mercenaries:
Mother Beatrice (Gives 4 actions Illuminate)
Khodh'Krih (Buries 5 cards)
Tafford (extra blessings)

Strategy:
This deck capitalizes on the reliable survivability a cleric deck gets from throwing out so much lifegain... something Vennen can take advantage of better than any other race.

The deck throws around some early plays in escalating Madness, Gifts, Lookouts, or Blooms, but the deck really starts purring with the 3-cost bombs.

Succumb to Madness effectively doubles all future blessings and escalation by cutting your deck in half. Throw in the added benefit of putting any card in your hand and you're set.

Lady Dev in a cleric deck is just bonkers. The possibility of giving your self-milled Gifts, Blessings or Madnesses copies makes things look bleak for your opponent.

Spiraling End is exactly that. It will end the game in 1-3 turns.

The cross support here is really great. Talents, Mercs and other supportive cards (Syzygy, Eagle, Focus) in the deck keep everything running smoothly. The 11 ices ensure you're getting the types of draws that you want to get.

*Some* Vennen actually care about their spiders

Class: Ranger

Talents:
Tier 1
Pet Training: Ferocity
Pet Training: Shared Exercise
Ranged Expertise: Leg Shot
Ranged Expertise: Overwatch
Tier 2
Chew Toy
Pet Treats
Lay of the Land
Ranged Expertise: Scattershot
Eye of a Sniper
Tier 3
Hunting Party
Every Piece of the Animal
Tier 4
Survival Skills x2
Bonded for Life


Decklist:

Resources: 19
4 Well of Innovation
1 Kismet's Curio
7 Sapphire Shard
7 Ruby Shard

Troops: 15
4 Thunderfield Seer
4 Construction Foreman
3 Kindling skarn
4 Lady Devonshire

Actions: 19
4 Arcane Focus
4 Shroud
4 Seeing Red
3 Arcane Shield
4 Crackling Bolt

Constants: 1
1 Arcane Alacrity

Artifacts: 6
3 Polyberry Pouch
3 Spectral Acorn

Equipment:
Head: Kindling Skarn (deploy - get a random ruby action)
Trinket: Polyberry Pouch (+2 instead of +1)
Chest: Thunderfield Seer (+0/+1)
Gloves: Kindling Skarn (let both players draw when you draw a resource)
Feet: Lady Dev (create a random action at start of each turn)
Weapon: Crackling Bolt (get extra charges for "Crackling" in crypt)

Mercenaries:
Katsuhiro (Extra charge since we're always going second)
Bebo or Baxoth (worker bot or dreadling for transforming)
Tobias Belch (for +2/+2 on first transform)

Strategy:
This is a slower, but more versatile deck than the all-out blood/sapphire version of the vennen ranger that's been optimized graveyard-farming.

Here, the spider is still key, and you do indeed want to make him as big as possible, but now you have quick instants than can help keep him safe via spellshield.

I don't want to downplay how amazing Shroud is. Because the AI never expects it, the 1-cost, quick ready let's our spider take out an unsuspecting attacker, which single-handedly wins the few games that the AI had any chance of winning.

The rest of the deck takes advantage of a slow-playing opponent or gums a fast-playing opponent down for your spider to do it's thing.

There is a transform sub-theme and an action recursion sub-theme, which support the spidery shenanigans... but they rarely have enough time to shine because Mr. Unblockable is so efficient.

So, here i'm again in a AZ2 Bounty.
This time i will present my Vennen Mage to you.
Of course Vennen are the milling heros in HEX, so my Vennen Mage milled all his oppenents to death right after Crayburn castle (yes, even Wiktor i haved milled pre-AZ2 with this char:P)

So please enjoy the Decklist


Class: <Mage>


Talents:

• Unlock: Spell Srites
  
• Learning
  
• Learn Spell: Telekinesis
  
• Learn Spell: Chaos Missile
  
• SP Boon
  
• Mental Superiority
  
• Spry
  
• Secret Knowledge
  
• Self Knowledge
  
• Learn Spell: Magic Barrier
  
• Protective Magic
  
• SP Buff
  

Decklist:


Resources:

• 9x Sapphire Shard
  
• 4x Blood Shard
  
• 3x Shard of Cunning
  
• 3x Blood Ice
  
• 3x Sapphire Ice
  

Troops:

• 3x Nazhk Lookout
  
• 3x Flock of Seagulls
  
• 2x Exarch of the Egg
  
• 3x Dementia Daisies
  
• 2x Tongue Breeder
  
• 1x The Librarian
  
• 2x Zilth
  

Actions:

• 3x Chronic Madness
  
• 3x Phenteo's Gift
  
• 3x Arcane Focus
  
• 3x Tidal Eddy
  
• 1x Blood Aura
  
• 1x Playtime
  
• 1x Yesterday
  

Constants:

• 2x Cult of the Nameless City
  
• 3x Fever Bloom
  
• 2x Spiraling End
  

Artifacts:

• -None-
  

Equipment:

• Deranged Chapeau for Dementia Daisies
  
• Scout's Brooch for Nazhk Looktout
  
• Terror Tined Tunic for Phenteo's Gift
  
• Steady Eddy Boots for Tidal Eddy
  
• Terror Touched Blade for Phenteo's Gift
  
• [End Gauntlets for Spiraling End (it's the only equipment i'm still missing, but this would fit very fine i think:)]
  

Mercenaries:

• B.E.B.O.
  
• Clatterclank
  
• Khodh'krih
  

Details:
It looks a bit like the FRA Terror Mill deck, but i think every vennen mill deck will use the same Core Compenents.
With this deck you can win more often with normal milling than just with the big spider popping out of the enemies deck
The Terrorantulas are more for keep stalling the board than for swinging for lethal with most of the times.
I think, some cards i have to explain here, first the Tongue Breeder: constantly extra card draw every turn and a 1/4 blocker is very nice for 3 i found. And the Chaostongue for the oppenent isnt really a problem: played on an empty board you can destroy it with chaos missiles or you can just give it -1 attack with the vennen mage spell!
Together with Cult of the nameless City you can draw many many cards! The other Card draw option (Tidal Eddy) not only helps good against flood/screw, it can be removal in two ways, too
The first one is easy, just give your oppennet a card back to hand with Telekinesis and cast Tidal Eddy after that! The second way is to force the oppenent to draw much cards in one round, so the chance of hitting a terrorantula egg is much bigger

Exarch and Flock of Seagulls helps survivng the critical first rounds together with your mage spells (chaos missile, weakness, telekinesis, magic barrier) Blood Aura, Zilth, and Yesterday can help later. And Playtime can most times kill there best not spellshielded troop.
If they choose to keep it nearly evertime time i got one or more terrorantulas than in response
The one and only Librarian is only in the deck because i find it funny. you dont need it and can easily replaced with another exarch or tongue breeder.

The Mercs just help surviving the start of the game with a free charge for more spellpower and a blocker (vennen mage have so little life, that you get the worker bot every time:) )

And think before playing your free cards (Spell srites, cost reduced cards from the vennen ability and the talents): Do you need them really now in the first turn? or should you keep them until turn two/three when you played you nazhk lookout for get some extra free milling

So, enjoy milling the oppenents to death and dont give up, even if it sometimes looks close, there are many many answers in the deck adn enough options to find them:P
me even milled the kraken to death with this deck!
Give it a try! Vennen Mage is the best!

Mage deck: Knowledge is a Gift


Talents:
Mental Superiority
Spry
Learn Spell: Telekinesis
Learning
Open Mind
Unlock: Knowledge is Power
Secret Knowledge
Self Knowledge
SP Boon
SP Buff
Learn Spell: Magic Barrier


Decklist:

Resources:
12x Sapphire Shard
16x Blood Shard
4x Well of Cunning
4x Blood Ice
4x Sapphire Ice
4x Ruby Ice
4x Wild Ice
4x Diamond Ice

Troops:
2x Nazhk Lookout

Actions:
3x Phenteo's Gift

Artifacts:
3x Spectral Acorn

Equipment:
Spider Crown for Nazhk Looktout
Scout's Brooch for Nazhk Looktout
Terror Tined Tunic for Phenteo's Gift
No boots
Terror Touched Blade for Phenteo's Gift
No gloves

Mercenaries:
B.E.B.O.
Mother Beatrice
Khodh'krih

Details:
I've had a blast playtesting this deck through the campaign and is is very solid. Throws in lots of random chance, but the cards themselves are so powerful that they overcome any bad luck that comes your way.

The deck is simple and plays out the same way each game....

Early Game (turns 1-2): Charges and spell power go into your Magic Barrier if your Worker Bot has trouble. Don't cast Phenteo's Gifts without Knowledge is Power this early. Soothsay any Ice'd non-resource from the top if you've got spare resources on turns 2+.

Midgame (turns 3 - 4): If you hit a doubled Phenteo's Gift, you might win this early. Otherwise, blow all your Gifts now - they'll be enough eggs floating around to get them back soon. Use chump candlekin and your Weakness / Telekinesis spells liberally - your life is all that matters until you hit a Terrorantula or two.

Endgame (turns 5-6): While ramping, always prioritize reduced cost (from starting hand or top 5) Gifts first. You'll get many more eggs that way. Then, just use your army of Terrorantulas to swarm in!

I tested the deck with 1 and 3 Lookouts and feel like 2 is the right number. The worst scenario is getting Knowledge is Power, then both Lookouts. That's the only "nightmare" scenario" that can delay your win until turn 7... but it usually doesn't

Problem opponents:
Bury from top decks (answer: don't even try. swap in a merc) - you can win these with soothsaying, but it's less reliable. Better to just use a merc since these opponents aren't hard other than that they disable Ice.
Spot creature removal (answer: swap in a Chronic Madness in place of the 2x Lookouts)

Warrior deck: Spiders, spiders, everywhere!?!


Talents:
Fury
Warlord: Agility
Warlord: Strength
Weight
Adrenaline
Warlord: Parrying
Warlord: Concussive Strikes
Never Surrender
Deep Pockets
War Preparations
Fortifications

Decklist:

Resources:
13x Sapphire Shard
12x Blood Shard
1x Zin'xith Silk
4x Well of Cunning
4x Blood Ice
4x Sapphire Ice
4x Ruby Ice
4x Wild Ice
4x Diamond Ice

Troops:
3x Nazhk Lookout

Actions:
3x Phenteo's Gift

Constants:
1x Fever Bloom

Artifacts:
3x Spectral Acorn

Equipment:
Spider Crown for Nazhk Looktout
Scout's Brooch for Nazhk Looktout
Terror Tined Tunic for Phenteo's Gift
No boots
Terror Touched Blade for Phenteo's Gift
No gloves

Mercenaries:
Katsuhiro
Mother Beatrice
Khodh'krih

Details:
This deck is fairly similar to my mage deck with a few notable differences that take advantage of the 6-12 extra spiderlings that make it into our opponent's deck in the first few turns and the extra toughness (relative to Magic Barrier) from Castle Wall.

The deck plays similarly to my Ice-reliant Mage deck, too. Instead of going for a Knowledge is Power combo, you start with substantially higher life and can overwhelm your opponent with unblockable Lookouts and Spiders in the mid-game if you're lucky.

Unless there is a very immediate threat (I'm thinking about Wiktor), always attack the opposing champion to force discard and plant eggs.

If you're facing any pressure, use spiderlings to chump along with the candlekin - if opponent has low life, keep the spiders to hammer in that last bit of damage.... while if they have lots, keep the candlekin, which will soon grow out of control.

Problem opponents:
Bury from top decks (answer: like mage, don't even try. swap in a merc)
Low damage sweep (answer: focus on pumping your candlekin early) - while it still kills the spiderlings, keeping a pair of 3/3 or 4/4 candlekin can be all you need to buy more Terrorantula time.

My Vennen mage deck: "Dark Mage Duplicity"


Talents:

• Affinity: Mages
  
• Spry
  
• Secret Knowledge
  
• Self Knowledge
  
• Mental Superiority (not important)
  
• Open Mind
  
• Learning
  
• Telekinesis
  
• Chaos Missile
  
• Destructive Magic
  

Decklist:

HEXtcg link: hex.tcgbrowser.com/#!/deck=78153


Resources:

• 12 x Blood Shard
  
• 12 x Sapphire Shard
  

Troops:

• 3 x Highlands Magus
  
• 3 x Thunderfield Seer
  
• 2 x Captain's Parrot
  
• 3 x Thunderfield Elder
  
• 3 x Cyclone Shaper
  
• 3 x Azurefate Sorceress (socketed with Sapphire of Sorcery and Sapphire of Wit)
  
• 3 x Cyclone Shaman
  

Actions:

• 3 x Contract Killing
  
• 3 x Heroic Echo
  
• 3 x Arcane Focus
  
• 3 x Morphology
  
• 3 x Elegy of Death
  
• 2 x Sorcerous Sculpting (socketed with Blood Orb of Frenzy)
  

Equipment:

• Deathly Cowl (mods Elegy of Death)
  
• Certificate of Receipt (mods Contract Killing)
  
• Heroes Armor (mods Heroic Echo)
  
• Mighty Morphing Glove (mods Morphology)
  
• Bog Walkers (mods Highlands Magus)
  
• Weapon of Choice (mods Contract Killing)
  

Mercenaries:

• Mother Beatrice (you will often play and replay actions over and over, so occasionally you might actually have a huge Candlekin army despite the only Illiuminate coming from her ability)
  
• upgraded Spirit of the Triumvirate (will super buff some mages, making them an excellent candidate for copy shenanigans)
  
• Tafford the Tireless (Blessings are nice 0 cost spells that are fun to copy and add a little resiliency)
  

Details:
The ultimate goal of this deck: Make a near infinite number of mages and swarm over any opposition.

The key combo of the deck involves Heroic Echo and Cyclone Shaman. Play Cyclone Shaman and hope its prophecy effect lands on a mage (only Parrots are non-mages, but they are too good for this deck). Then when you Heroic Echo that mage, you can retrieve the Heroic echo from your crypt and copy that mage again, and repeat for as many times as you have resources for. Sorcerous Sculpting provides as a redundant Heroic Echo, though it isn't quite as effective since it costs more. Cyclone makes this go infinite since Heroic Echo gets cost zero. In addition, with each Mage you copy, you'll get more Spell Power, essentially giving you infinite spells.

General Strategy:
In the early game, use your spells to remove/neuter troops as well as using the Thunderfield coyotles as blockers. The Elder in particular can often trade well with its three power. Contract Killing will also help you ramp up since you need resources to start doing degenerate things; I have often Contract Killed my own troops sometimes just to get the extra resource to combo off a turn earlier. Morphology is a key card here since you can remove a threat and often draw cards from its ability, especially if you time it just right. Lastly, you can use Soothsaying to discard a Mage and resurrect it with Elegy of Death for a great turn 3 play.

The late game is just figuring which mages will be the focus of your degenerate combo. You have a couple cards that will buff mages:
Highland Magus
Elegy of Death
Azurefate Sorceress

And a good coup de grâce comes from Sorcerous Sculpting. Before you go infinite with Heroic Echo, you can use Sorcerous Sculpting to make sure the troop has speed. Then all future copies will also have speed.


While not the fastest deck, this deck is definitely resilient with oodles of removal and an unstoppable late game.

Class: Cleric


Talents:

• Enhance Blessing: Life Essence
  
• Enhance Blessing: Empowerment
  
• Hale
  
• Healing Aura
  
• Aura Aspect: Good Karma
  
• Blessed Birth
  
• Premonitions
  
• Cleric Class Gems
  
• Unlock: Shrine of Briggadon
  
• Holy Hands
  
• Diligent Study
  

Decklist:


Resources (27):

• 23 - Sapphire Shard
  
• 4 - Sapphire Ice
  

Troops (20):

• 3 - The Ancestors' Chosen (Crown of the Ancient Kings)
  
• 3 - Scallath
  
• 3 - Forbidden Tomeseeker
  
• 4 - Empress of Ice
  
• 3 - Slaughtergear's Replicator
  
• 4 - Saarthu (Gem Scaled Gloves, Snug Scale Slippers)
  

Actions (7):

• 4 - Cloudwalk (Cloudfeather Fan)
  
• 3 - Replicator's Trance
  

Constants (0)

• None
  

Artifacts (6):

• 3 - Spectral Acorn
  
• 3 - Cerebral Jack-Hat (Chest of Electrical Force)
  

Equipment:

• Head - Crown of the Ancient Kings (The Ancestors' Chosen)
  
• Trinket - Cloudfeather Fan (Cloudwalk)
  
• Chest of Electrical Force (Cerebral Jack-Hat)
  
• Gem Scaled Gloves (Saarthu)
  
• Snug Scale Slippers (Saarthu)
  

Mercenaries:

• Clatterclank
  
• Scion of Uruunaz
  
• Count Davian
  

Details: While I was very tempted to post my Holy Hands-Spiraling Decay deck (it's usually faster), I'm going with this one because it's more unique and it takes more advantage of being a Vennen Cleric to do something no other race/class combo can do. To be specific: this deck's strategy is to play a turn 3 (turn 4 when not in dungeons after the first encounter, possibly faster with Cloudwalk) Saarthu (with Holy Hands, there are 12 in the deck) by means of using the cleric's charge power on the first three turns of the game (Scion reduces Saarthu's cost to 6, 3 charge power uses reduces it to 3). Use Saarthu to win by doing lots of Lifedrain damage and by stealing the opponent's best cards. Use Replicator's Trance to have more card-stealing Saarthu replicas. Use Slaughtergear's Replicator on Saarthu to steal another two cards each turn (one by hitting the opponent with the replica, one when it leaves play). Play additional Saarthus (usually after the attack) to steal additional cards when the original leaves play.

There is a card-drawing support sub-theme (which can even win the game by itself). Forbidden Tomeseeker can become huge with card draw or can shift that power to a Saarthu to get a huge lifedraining Saarthu. Blessings, Cerebral Jack-Hat, Cloudwalk, Scallath, and the Ancestral Specters created by The Ancestors' Chosen can all draw cards for you. The Ancestors' Chosen, Scallath, and Forbidden Tomeseekers all give you earlier troops that can be buffed by Blessings and help you to be in a good position by turn 3 when Saarthu hits the table (or serve as a target for Cloudwalk to give you an earlier or cheaper Saarthu). Combined with Diligent Study, an early The Ancestors' Chosen can occasionally create a flood of Specters (similar to the flood of Blessings that's also possible). Empress of Ice is most useful for keeping troops from blocking and possibly dying before Saarthu can steal them.

Options: Count Davian can easily be replaced for your favorite mercenary. Crown of the Ancient Kings could be replaced with Forbidden Mask to give an even more powerful Tomeseeker. When used outside of dungeons (or for fun in dungeons), bring in 3 Voltwrenches+weapon equipment (replace Chosen or Scallath?) to have a greater possibility of a turn 3 Saarthu if desired.

Consistency: very high - 12 Saarthus in the deck means there is a high chance of starting with one, and even if you don't, Premonitions and all the card draw should give you one quickly. Even if a Saarthu is removed, that lets you steal the opponent's best remaining card, and each Saarthu played moves all your others up one space in your deck to give you a good chance of having another immediately.
Speed: not the fastest, though there is a certain inevitability once Saarthu hits the table. It most often takes 5 or 6 turns to win.
Flexibility: good, can handle all the dungeons easily and often gets better against tougher opponents, as it can steal better troops; weakest to a poor start against fast decks; with the help of Cloudwalk, can even defeat Mad Aradam

Class: Ranger


Talents:

• Pet Training: Ferocity
  
• Chew Toy
  
• Unlock: Flamebreath Wolverines
  
• Hazardous Terrain
  
• Survival Skills
  
• Bonded for Life
  
• Pet Training: Shared Exercise
  
• Pet Treats
  
• Lay of the Land
  
• Ranged Expertise: Leg Shot
  
• Ranged Expertise: Overwatch
  
• Eye of a Sniper
  
• Every Piece of the Animal
  
• Survival Skills
  

Decklist:


Resources (23):

• 19 - Sapphire Shard
  
• 4 - Sapphire Ice
  

Troops (21):

• 3 - Forbidden Tomeseeker
  
• 2 - Jadiim
  
• 3 - Dream Eagle (Eagle Feathered Gloves)
  
• 2 - Tiaanost
  
• 2 - Zeedu (Hood of the Dragon Cultist)
  
• 3 - Malice Demon
  
• 2 - Saarthu (Snug Scale Slippers)
  
• 2 - Syyn, Etherdrake Nomad
  
• 2 - Uruunaz the Merciless
  

Actions (10):

• 3 - Tale of Insight
  
• 4 - Cloudwalk (Cloudfeather Fan)
  
• 3 - Tidal Eddy
  

Constants (0):

• None
  

Artifacts (6):

• 3 - Spectral Acorn
  
• 3 - Cerebral Jack-Hat (Chest of Electrical Force)
  

Equipment:

• Head - Hood of the Dragon Cultist (Zeedu)
  
• Trinket - Cloudfeather Fan (Cloudwalk)
  
• Chest - Chest of Electrical Force (Cerebral Jack-Hat)
  
• Gloves - Eagle Feathered Gloves (Dream Eagle)
  
• Feet - Snug Scale Slippers (Saarthu)
  

Mercenaries:

• Scion of Uruunaz
  
• Clatterclank
  
• Count Davian
  

Details: This is a Cloudwalk deck (inspired by my Vennen Cleric's deck, though I since discovered that Coach has a very similar deck). The basic idea is to cast Cloudwalk on your Pet Spider, attack with it, and bring out free fliers (usually Lifedraining dragons). Therefore mulliganing to find Cloudwalk is often a good strategy, though the secondary strategy of card draw will also help you to find a copy. Forbidden Tomeseekers, the non-flying troops, can be very powerful with the card draw - especially when combined with Tidal Eddy. The main choices of the deck are when to mulligan, and which flying troop will destroy the opponent the fastest. Note that a Cloudwalk in your hand at the start can become cost 1 and be cast on turn 1.

Options: Can replace Davian with your favorite mercenary. Can replace any expensive flying troop with another you like more (or more copies of the Sapphire ones).

Consistency: some variance in how quickly you get a Cloudwalk, but the huge pet you quickly have will still win almost every game
Speed: varies depending on whether the opponent has removal for your pet or when you get Cloudwalk, but most often 3 or 4 turns - going through the Kraken dungeon, some battles were much longer
Flexibility: with the pet, can take out almost any opponent with ease - Cloudwalk just makes it more fun

Class: Cleric



Talents

Tier 1

• Enhance Blessing: Life Essence
  
• Blessing of the Immortals
  
• Affinity: Cleric
  

Tier 2

• Enhance Blessing: Empowerment
  
• Unlock: Divine Altar
  

Tier 3

• Discipline of the Mind
  
• Child of the Right Hand
  
• Blessed Birth
  
• Cleric Class Gems
  
• Unlock: Shrine of Briggadon
  
• Diligent Study
  

Tier 4

• Premonitions
  

Troops (20)

• 3x Exarch of the Egg
  
• 4x Hatchery Malvoker
  
• 3x Tribunal Magistrate
  
• 2x Lady Devonshire
  
• 3x Hatchery Cultivator
  
• 2x Restless Fabricator
  
• 3x Brood Baron
  

Actions (10)

• 3x Heroic Echo
  
• 4x Arcane Focus
  
• 3x Sorcerous Sculpting (Cleric's Major Orb of Prayer)
  

Constants (2)

• 2x Spiraling End
  

Artifacts (6)

• 3x Spectral Acorn
  
• 3x Forgotten Triolith
  

Resources (22)

• 4x Well of Cunning
  
• 4x Zin'xith Silk
  
• 4x Shard of Cunning
  
• 2x Blood Ice
  
• 3x Sapphire Ice
  
• 5x Sapphire Shard
  

Equipment:
Head: Ghostly Wrap (Lady Devonshire)
Chest: Heroes Armor (Heroic Echo)
Gloves: Hard Hatched Gloves (Hatchery Malvoker)
Feet: End Greaves (End Greaves)
Weapon: Troika Blades (Forgotten Triolith)
Trinket: Fidget Widget (Restless Fabricator)

Mercenaries:

• Clatterclank
  
• Tafford the Tireless
  
• Sekki
  

Details:
This deck is what happens when you want to play Vennen, but are too bored to run mill. You look for other win conditions and, lo and behold, suddenly realize that Brood Baron is a strong card in a spider-generating deck. Then everything else comes together rather nicely, because the idea is neat and sound, and you can work with it.
Now, I have to admit that that I still run two Spiraling Ends in the deck, but that mostly because I really wanted to add win conditions other than Baron/Magistrate. Spiraling Ends are mostly here to generate some flow with your spiders when you don't have any Barons around.

Notable bullet points:

• Brood Baron + Hatchery Cultivator. With Cultivators in play Brood Baron produce double the amount of eggs during your turn. It's not a bug, but a rather strong feature;
  
• Brood Baron/Magistrate/Fabricator + Heroic Echo. Basically all your key cards in this deck are Cleric, and equipped Heroic Echo is very strong here;
  
• Early shenanigans with Triolith. Forgotten Triolith considerably speeds up any of your combos by providing you either with a t1 play (discard two cards and Triolith, activate it for 3 resources, pull Blessing of Immortals from your deck), or with a t2 Fabricator/Baron from hand;
  
• Lady Devonshire is here for your Blessings. A single activation of her ability makes your spider generation from Blessings that much stronger. Her head equip is mostly for Ruins runs, because she laughs at any zombies;
  
• Sorcerous Sculpting with Blessings gem has nice synergy with your talents. Buffing a troop and then hitting it with Sculpting (and with subsequent Heroic Echo) grants you a load of Blessings;
  
• Hatchery Malvoker + Blessings puts six eggs into your opponent's deck with every cast. Doesn't get much better than that.
  

The deck is very resilient and plays out in different ways.

Class: Cleric


Talents:

• Enhance Blessing: Life Essence
  
• Hale
  
• Affinity: Cleric
  
• The Righteous Path
  
• Enhance Blessing: Empowerment
  
• Healing Aura
  
• Unlock: Divine Altar
  
• Discipline of the mind
  
• Child of the Right Hand
  
• Blessed Birth
  
• Premonitions
  

Decklist:


Resources 21:

• Zin'Xith Silk x 4
  
• Well of Cunning x 4
  
• Sapphire Shard x 4
  
• Blood Shard x 1
  
• Sapphire Ice x 4
  
• Blood Ice x 4
  

Troops 14:

• Nazkh Lookout x 3
  
• Exarch of the Egg x 3
  
• Hatchery Malvoker x 3
  
• Tribunal Magistrate x 3
  
• Zilth x 2
  

Actions 13:

• Phenteo's Gift x 3
  
• Chronic Madness x 3
  
• Lunacy x 4
  
• Chaotic Murmurs x 3
  

Constants 9:

• Fever Bloom x 3
  
• Cult of the Nameless City x 3
  
• Spiralling End x 3
  

Artifacts:

• Spectral Acorn x 3
  

Equipment:

• Head: Chaotic Cloak (Chaotic Murmurs have cost -1)
  
• Trinket: Brooch of Lunacy (Lunacy: Then create a spidering egg for each troop buried this way)
  
• Chest: Terror Tined Tunic (When a terrorontula enters your hand, put Phento's gift back from your crypt into your hand)
  
• Gloves: Hard Hatched Gloves (Hatchery Malvoker: Crete 4 spidering eggs instead of 3)
  
• Feet: End Greaves (Spiralling End, draw a card for each troop in crypt)
  
• Weapon: Terror touched Blade (Phenteo's gift create 3 Terrorontula eggs instead of 2)
  

Mercenaries:

• Damioar Loathe (3 spidering eggs)
  
• Sekki (draw a card if you start the game with a card that costs 0 in your hand)
  
• Khodh'Krih (bury 5 cards of your opponent's deck at the start of the game)
  

Details: A very classic vennen strategy, the aim is to mill the opponent while stuffing his deck with spider eggs.
The vennen clerics are really awesome for generating tons of spider eggs, and they are also resilient so it can give you enough time for milling your opponent easily.

Not much to say, just have fun when you play it.