yo whats dat. (Im a returning player and im still not used to all the new stuff they added)
Improving abyssian swarm?
Looking pretty good. I’d get rid of the black solus and the shadow watchers, they’re really cool, but tragically not very good, they’re too vulnerable to removal.
I’d also drop Grandmaster Variax, unless you’re willing to run at least two plus at least two darkfire sacrifices. It can be very hard to find an eight-to-nine-mana turn where you can drop Variax without getting killed immediately, so you either need to use darkfire sacrifice to spit her out at six mana, or use darkfire to drop her at nine mana and immediately activate your super BBS, at which point you’ve probably won.
Also, drop dark transformation for ritual banishing. Much better. Dark transformation just eats too much mana. Some might say get rid of punish, and maybe they’re right, but I think once you have three ritual banishings, running punishes on top of that for extra removal can be really solid. But then, I love tons of removal in my decks.
Edit: Don’t forget, EMP’s are overpowered and unfair and you should seriously consider running them like it’s going out of style.
Was a weekly( now bi-weekly) tournament for newer/long time returned players to catch back into game. It is played in budget format ( only 1 epic and legendary card per deck allowed). Rookie brawl is no limits. The only limit you have is you can’t have been S-rank to join I believe. You should talk about this with @lel7.
I plan on running another variax and darkfire sacrifice eventually. I was utilizing the shadow watchers as removal bait mostly anyways to try and not be as scared of mass removal cards. I’m planning on dropping dark transformation once i get the spirit for ritual banishing. I was saving getting EMP’s for after I get the other cards i’m looking for since like you said he’s probably getting a nerf soon and i’d rather have my deck solidified before worrying about tech cards.
Also I’m glad we both love removal since that’s the entire reason I chose abyssian as my main. I saw they had even more removal than they did when the game first came out and chose them instantly. I’m also kind of a fan of vanar but their playstyle has gotten really cheesy and no fun compared to abyssian swarm.
Oh, oh no. I don’t think he’s probably getting a nerf soon. I wish he would. There’s a difference. He’s been like he is for a long time.
Also, whenever they change a card, they make it to where you can disenchant them for full spirit value, instead of partial, so if you bought them and they got nerfed into the ground sometime later, you could get a full refund. No danger.
But yeah, I run three in almost all my decks, they’re really good, et cetera.
Edit: EMP’s aren’t tech cards. They answer so many things. Artifacts? Gone. Buffs? Gone. Backline minions with powerful effects? Dispelled. Your opponent? Salty. A 9/9 on your side, ready to break face if not answered? Yes.
Once you’ve got one in hand and it’s late game, things can go one of two ways. Either you’re winning, and they put down some good minion to swing things back their way, and you drop this and they cry, or they’re winning, and you throw this down and reduce their great boardstate to a bunch of unimpressive vanillas that now get to have a cage match with a giant golem.
I very much enjoy the way you word things j/s. Also sounds like a plan. Im gunna pump out some games and try to get some packs to I can get spirit.
I completely agree on your Xeroloth choice. It’s very strong for a budget option.
However I question your Shadowwatcher choice. In my experience he eats removal or dispel before he is able to deal some sweet damage.
You don’t convince me with 1-of breath also. Do you feel it helps?
I’d go even more early swarm with e.g. zyx. He’s very good for any swarm deck.
But still, your deck is rather good for being that cheap.
On a sidenote, seems I miss Variax Lilithe. I realised that I should brew smth with her. Thx 
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There technically is a third, (In the case of healyonar especially) They drop a situational stat-gain minion, run everything into that EMP, and let the stats GROW. Also, EMP is IMHO only good in even-winning board states. in the case in which you are losing pretty hard, it may not stand up against 5 puny 3/3s despite having a gargantuan size advantage.
Anyways, we digress. I definitely like the new updated version, but it could do without Black Solus for now. I changed my mind on Xerroloth, since it could definitely be a fantastic budget card and value generator from the backline if not answered. The shadow watcher is and interesting choice tho, considering that there is no outstanding deathwatch synergy here, but I guess it could do well as a temporary budget slot. By the way, the BotU has to go, it’s pretty useless in swarm, and frankly you could get far more value out of Ritual if you can get your hands on it.
An interesting investment of spirit would be a Bloodbound Mentor, since it’s neutral, and can be used in some other decks as well, might as well craft it now. But save up for some good legendaries if you can, don’t stress too much on winning, just try to get the cards and spirit needed
A lot of the power is quite cheap. Legend/Epcis do not usualy mean powerful, they usualy mean unique, complicated, and or for a niche strategy. Your deck lacks direction and focus. Just because it has more expensive cards does not make it better, and you also have chosen subpar cards.
I recommend starting here for a budget and then working towards something on my master thread.
You typically want nine player one turn one opening plays, a clear game plan, either a healthy curve and or good card advantage, and almost entirely 3x copies. The exception to that being a set of three 2x cards that are each very situational, or certain lategame bombs like grandmaster variax can make a good one of.
…And then next turn you hit that growing minion with hard removal. Or dispel. Maybe even a second EMP.
And if your opponent has five vanilla 3/3’s out, then why are you dropping an EMP? You summon it when it will make your opponent’s boardstate much worse. If those five 3/3’s all have great abilities, dropping the EMP still puts you in a better spot than you were in.
You’re not trying to say EMP isn’t hilariously broken, are you? Because it totally is, and needs a nerf.
Moving away from that, bound tormentors and xerroloths can both be really solid draw sources for certain Abyssian decks, even seeing use in some high-tier decks. @judojugs, look at bound tormentors as a possible replacement for your shadow watchers. They can be really solid if you don’t already have a lot of draw cards. If you run three tormentors and three xerroloths on top of the inkling surges and spheres of darkness, that’s probably all the draw your deck wants.
And speaking of draw cards, those tormentors or xerroloths could be swapped out for bloodbound mentors later, possibly. Mentors are good too, just take a fair bit of spirit to make.
yeahhhh… just that it doesn’t work when you are hilariously behind, you make it sound like it drops a 11/11 with provoke and turns the rest of the minions into vanilla 1/1s. I realise it’s strong, just not so strong you can’t outplay it on a relatively even board state.
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You don’t blow up your own boardstate with it though, you use it to either seal the deal against your opponent, or to come back when your boardstate is much weaker than theirs. A 9/9 positioned defensively plus mass dispel has saved me a few times. Plus it blows their artifacts out. And if they’ve already got you pinned by guys with good stats post-dispel, then you’re probably just gonna die. You would have needed some other card, possibly homeostatic rebuke. Which I also think is too good, but never mind that.
…This is off topic, though. I feel like @alplod’s gonna yell at us. If you wanna talk about this further, I guess PM, but I think we’ve covered both sides pretty well. It’s too strong, but not unstoppable, is about how it shakes out, right? Although OP never actually told us to stay on topic at the start (digging for an excuse here).
I’d say something else about the deck, but I think I’m out of ammo on that front.
To add to @judojugs deck, especially when you already have a card which could fit in the deck, test it. Try to have fun with the deck and find out what fits your playstyle. There’s so many choices going on when playing swarm that almost every game is different in some way, it has a great although at times annoying learning curve.
Swarm Lilithe has a ton of good options, some of which are underutilized. My first S-rank deck back before Rise of the Bloodborn had 3 Shiro Puppydragon and 3 Inkhorn Gaze and looked like cr*p, but performed wonderfully after many rounds of tweaking. There’s never just a single correct solution to things
It’s not even a little bit overpowered. It’s a strong card that is very good if you can run it. It’s a fair card with a liniear effect, between that and being incredibly slow, most decks are better off with out it. Its far from an auto include. It’s an important counter to exist and it gives decks that can build around it a sollid win condition/recovery mechanic.
To keep it on topic in short I would much rather run Chakram and either bender or shroud in most Lilith lists.
(However from a budget standpoint it is very powerful and it’s often worth building around. But you do need to build around it a bit, like going an old school ramp route without chakram.)
I want to sincerely thank everybody on this thread for all the help. You really know how to make a returning player feel wanted. I’m currently saving up gold to enter into gauntlet(costs a lil more and even if i dont win any rounds because of unlucky draws i get spirit plus the cards and on the fly deckbuilding experience). I also want to thank everybody for complimenting me on my choice of Xerroloth. I even just recently won a game because of the combo of him plus furiosa. Every time he started gaining advantage I was able to shut it down with an army of cheap 4/4 beaters he couldn’t deal with. About the single copy of BotU it was originally a placeholder and it’s actually gotten me out of some pretty niche situations but im probably going to take it out once I get the spirit to get more cards. I’m working it towards kind of a aggroswarm where the goal is to end it by midgame but if not I can fall back on how stupid good variax + wraithling swarm is lategame and just start pumping out stupidly big minions every turn.
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also j/s but furiosa gets even better once you add on variax ability. Once to win a game I dropped variax while i had 2 furiosa on board. I basically got to summon an army of 7+/7+ beatsticks and send them out to go kill everything. Add on furor chakram? Unless they drop EMP i win the game in almost every situation if i have that combo.
Update on my build: I’ve actually given it a name and once i finish getting the last few cards I need I’m going to post it as an actual solid swarm build.
So I present a preview of my current deck: Sentinel swarm
Changes i plan on making: furor chakram does what soulshatter pact does but better in every way. I’ll eventually replace it and take out dark transformation for more another bloodtide priestess and possibly another tech card after that.
The idea of the deck is to swarm early game and get greedy with those mana tiles. I can quite easily pump out half a dozen minions turn one consistently. Midgame is all about sentinels and furiosa + cryptographer synergy. Endgame is a little complicated but the idea of it is to use wraithling swarm, variax, and furor chakram to get as much damage on the board as possible. Hopefully to the point where even an EMP drop wouldn’t phase me.
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Don’t get TOO greedy with wraithlings, or cards will drain like water out a well.
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