Sleek’s Bowl: Tooth and Applause

I am very pleased to announce a tri-author collaboration for the next Sleeksbowl series of articles.  Saxthom (host of the Underworlds Underground podcast) and Fishmode (author of Spent Glory) and myself all separately landed on the idea of playing Gryselle’s Arenai with different Nemesis decks.  

When we began to discuss our ideas, we realized this should be something we log on Sleeksbowl as it has that sort of “test tube” “never know what you’re gonna get” “if you try this you might likely lose” feel to it.  

We then decided to crank this up to 11 by running these decks and recording our wins and losses.  This includes taking them to tournaments to see how they fair against stiff competition.  And, finally, we will be doing a 3 person round robin event where we attack each other and see who has the best deck or who is the best pilot for their deck.  Below is what you can expect!

1. Sleeksbowl publishes Tooth and Applause, a Nemesis deck with Arenai and Tooth and Claw.
2. Fishmode publishes his Gladiaterrors, a Nemesis deck with Toxic Terrors.
3. Saxthom publishes Fearsome Flourish, a Nemesis deck with Fearsome Fortress.
4. We play a round robin against each other to see which player/deck is superior.
5. We share our experience from the round robin on Underworlds Underground. 

These contributions will be occurring over several months and will definitely bleed into Deathgorge and the arrival of Breakneck Slaughter.  The first entry is below.  Be ready for the others to follow!

Tooth and Applause

Ladies and gentlemen, are you not entertained?!?!? 

After winning my last local tournament with Ironsouls Condemners (see articles here) I decided to put my sigmarite armor on the shelf for the next tournament.  However, I did not want to put Tooth and Claw on the shelf.  My imaginary shelf did not have room.  I began looking for perhaps an under-represented warband that might pair well with Tooth and Claw.  After going through a few ideas, I realized that the most optimal pick was not the Arenai.  So, I promptly decided on the Arenai.  

The Warband

Here is a link to Underworldsdb so you can check out the warband cards. I will let some of my co-project contributors give you info on the character cards.

The big picture is that they are somewhat of a glass cannon. They hit a lot, but not hard, and they die to a stiff breeze. Their acrobatic ability can save them at times but it is relatively rare it makes a big difference in a game.

The Deck

I had some choices to make right off the rip.  Choice one, do I lean into the flourishes?  Choice two, do I go for low scoring consistency or high scoring bursts?  Choice Three, do I emphasize the benefits in the Truth and Claw deck for range 1 attacks or do I focus on the range 2 attacks flexibility?

As you can imagine, I took the road less traveled.  Spoiler alert:   Internal Surrender and Feral Instincts are not in my deck….  Yes two of the most powerful cards in Tooth and Claw I left out of the deck.  More on that to come.  I made the following choices:

1. Ignore most of the flourishes.  There are still two in my deck but those connect to no objective scoring and are there simply because they are powerful in and of themselves.
2. I am going for all the glory.  My objective deck is a 20 glory aggro deck.  
3. I decided to focus on range 2 attacks for flexibility over power.  
4. I focused on defensive upgrades to keep at least two fighters swinging until the end of the game.  

Seems like a recipe for disaster right?  MAYBE.  Here is the deck.  Now I will go through the cards:

Objectives

Embraced Savagery

Interestingly, this can brick my hand if I draw it round one.  Any other round its an easy score.  If its in my round 1 hand I am actually hoping someone kills Traxia right away.  This gives me four fighters and four charges and I can score this before the end of round 1.

Paragon of Ferocity

This warband is good at picking out low defense, vulnerable fighters.  As you will see, I focus on positional aggro more than blunt force.  Being in enemy territory should be no problem for these ladies, even if I get long boarded (more on that later).

Supreme Savagery

Gryselle very rarely goes down when you consider all the defensive tech in this deck.  It is likely she will bop a few enemies before she does.

Toyed With

Lots of my stuff does 1 damage.  I will be leaving people hanging around on one wound.  Should be an easy score.

Ritual Performance

This is a great faction surge and scores very easily.  Nuff said.

Storm of Blades

With their multiple attacks and weapon upgrades this is going to score even with only two fighters remaining.

Focal Point

I play these ladies positionally.  The combination of their innate movement and powercard support means this should be no problem to get Gryselle in the mix.

Fully Committed

Pairs nicely with Har Kuron Hurricane and could score me four glory in two cards if I play well.  Its not easy, and they all have to be savage (which I forgot one time) but it doesn’t care where my enemy’s fighters are, making it more controllable for me.

Hurricane Force

I fell in love with this card with Ironsouls.  While it will be difficult to do if I get longboarded in the first round, it is still not impossible.  And after round 1 it is very likely to score unless my opponent is using Starblood Stalkers or Daring Delvers.  In that case I may just toss it, but that means I still have 17 glory I can score!

Move or Die

Embraced savagery end phase.  Cheap, irresistible and will score you a glory.

Har Kuron Hurricane

Fully committed just without the savage condition.  It also has a hybrid if each of my fighters are inspired. This can happen late by accident.

In Praise of Khaine

Another end of the game, end of round score.  This is very likely to score unless you get tabled.  And if you are tabled, you probably lost anyway.

Gambit Ploys

Call to Heel

A classic.  Positional aggro requires this card.  It is too good to not have in every tooth and claw deck.

Dark Command

1 Extra damage can mean you score Toyed With or you kill the fighter you just scored Toyed With on.  It is so silly how good this card is.

Reckless Haste

+2 move on 4 move (or 5 move) fighters means even when longboarded I am going to be in enemy territory.  I will accept the stagger condition.

Savage Season

Acrobatics means I often end up hanging on with one wound.  In a ping meta, I want to try to mitigate that by using Savage Season.  It may not save me when I want but I can almost guarantee it will be used.  Nice counter to Avalanche now too.

Daring Flourish

+1 dice and when the attack lands, no draw back.  I felt that this was superior in my context to internal surrender which poached the defensive stats of the ladies for an extra dice.  This flourish likely will not do that.  If it does, I still get the extra dice.

Fatal Flourish

Risky, but I am in desperate need of damage for this deck.

Frenzied Speed

See my comments on Reckless haste, just without the stagger!

Moment of Rapture

I see this as a heal 2 on Gryselle.  I won’t need the inspire condition, but if It comes up and I do, that’s just a bonus.

Paean of Slaughter

Don’t want to miss your flourish attacks?  Try this…

Unquenchable Fervor

This card is nuts.  I am hoping for a round 1 draw.  I could type paragraphs on this card.  Suffice it to say, dropping a two damage or three damage attack to 1 and then healing with Savage Season is the best kind of rude.  Did I mention it doesn’t go away until it gets used? 

Upgrades

Feral Alteration

+1 move and wound for all my fighters but Gryselle.  Combo this with Devotee of Slaughter and Retaria has four wounds, move 5 and Knockback 1 on her range 2 attacks.  RUDE.

Stubborn to The Bone

Good in any warband, awesome combined with Acrobatic.

Blood Sigil

Damage reduction is much needed in this warband, especially nice when combined with Feral Alteration and Devotee of Slaughter.

Devotee of Slaughter

Wounds, glorious wounds!

Devotee of The Blade

A bit of a meta pick as there is much need for cleave nowadays.  But I also like the fact that whether you get a shield or dodge, it’s a positive thing once the upgrade is on.

Gifted Ferocity

+1 dice on your range 1 fighters is a quite a treat.  But on Kalexis its insanely good.

Kruiplash

My range 2 ensnare darling.  Like I mentioned, I am leaning into the flexibility of range 2 attacks and this is a decent one.

Paragon of the Arena

Best… card… ever… just read it!

Piercing Strike

My other combo range 2 upgrade.  It has cleave so it’s a beauty!

Star Performer

This can bring the Arenai accuracy to absurd.  And is one of the boogie men cards they have.

Practice

I have about 7 practice games in with the deck.  I have 2 losses and the rest wins.  I will say that it feels real bad when aggro bands play wack a mole with my tiny fighters and I fail my defensive rolls.  It stinks.  But with my big glory end phases and super star upgrades, the Arenai have pulled out quite a few wins.  

As I mentioned before their mobility is key and I have furnished their deck with even more mobility to pick my fights and have control of the board.  As with most of my decks, this is a win big deck.  I can get shut down fast if things start going my opponents way.  But the snowball effect if they go my way is severe.  

Boards

For boards I have selected The Abyssal Depths from Nethermaze if I am placing the board.  Then I have selected The Mistmarsh Tangle if my opponent is placing the board.  (See pictures for fighter deployment).

For The Abyssal Depths, I am deploying as pictured above.  This puts all my Arenai within striking distance of enemy territory and I can choose to deploy further back if I have my move cards in my opening hand.  Yet I am also immune to move 3 fighters who deploy forward or move 4 fighters that deploy back.  

For The Mistmarsh Tangle, even in a worst-case scenario where I get longboarded, only one of my fighters can’t reach enemy territory and that’s if I don’t have my speed boosts or call to heal in hand.  Or an upgrade for +1 move in Feral Alteration.  Getting longboarded is not ideal, but I can get over it, even with 5 fighters.  Keep in mind, if they don’t engage with me I am scoring fully committed, Har Kuron Hurricane and maybe even Hurricane Force.  That’s 7 potential glory if they choose to stay in the back and sit on tokens.  Plus, they can only stay away from me for one round.  And remember this deck is not designed to kill, its positional.  So I don’t need to go in and kill, I just need to go in and fight.  If I get longboarded I mulligan hard for my big end phase scores or my movement gambits.  

Tournament Expectations

I expect to win more than half of my games.  I do not expect to take the tournament, though I will play this deck and warband my best to try to do so.

Before I start the tournament wrap up I want to give you some context.

1. This tournament took place on the 22nd of October, and did not use any Deathgorge releases or rules.
2. This tournament had 12 registered and had handful of cancellations last minute leaving the field at 6.
3. Of the 6, four of the players were experienced using war bands they were experienced with.
4. The field included Hexbane with Tooth and Claw, Grashrak’s with Illusory Might, Skittershank with Tooth and Claw, Ephilim with Seismic Shock, Arenai with Tooth and Claw (me) and Da Kunnin Krew with Fearsome Fortress.

Round 1 Arenai vs. Skittershank

My opponent Trevor is really good at playing Skittershank and it showed. Trevor was a bit unfamiliar with the defensive capabilities of the deck and the first game swung hard my way after failing to kill Gryselle. Gryselle had Blood Sigil and Unquenchable Fervor and was able to acrobatic to reduce some damage. It was glorious. First game ended as you might expect with a pretty sizable victory for the Arenai.

In the second game Trevor was wise to my game and went in hard for Gryselle early. He managed to get Padpaw and one of the minions adjacent to Gryselle and charge in Skittershank. I thought for sure Gryselle was going down to vulnerable. However, he wiffed a four dice attack roll with a reroll on full supports. So Skaven. That was essentially the game as his entire round 1 scheme came to not. Another win for the Arenai.

Boards were not really an issue or problem as we both squared up to give maximum options for our fast striking fighters. I just alternated the two boards in the game.

Round 2 Arenai vs. Ephilim

While boards were a non issue in the previous game, they could be a huge issue for this game. In the roll off to see who places boards first, I won. I had him place first to ensure no long boarding for games 1 and 3.

This first game was one of the best games of Underworlds I have ever played. There was a lot of push and pull. Ephilim eventually went down leaving just two changers on the board. At the end of round 3 we were tied with 12 glory and Thrialla was on an objective. The first game goes to the Arenai!

In game 2 Hunter longboarded me which was quite devastating. His placement of objectives and starting hexes was brilliant and left me few options. I mulligan my power hand looking for my move tech and made the mistake of not mulliganing my objective hand, which had a bunch of kill surges. I did not draw my move tech, but I did draw Call to Heel. I was able to slingshot Gryselle forward to get into Ephilim’s lines and she took a shot at spawn maw and killed him… but Spawnmaw came back and Gryselle went down in round 1 with the rest of my force stranded mid board.

Play continued with him picking off a few more of my fighters. At this stage I could have kept playing the game. In fact it would be to my advantage since I won round 1 and a draw in round 3 would be just fine. But I wanted to get that decisive game 3 in. So I conceded and we went to round 3.

Again, a wonderful competitive game. I was able to double up my move tech to get Retaria on Ephilim in Round 1 for a possible kill… but Retaria wiffed on two hammers with supports!

The third game ended with Spawn Maw running away from my ladies so I wouldn’t score In Praise of Khaine. However, I didn’t realize (total noob mistake) that I had already scored Har Kuron Hurricane that was in my hand because I forgot every game that in round 3 my fighters are inspired… If I had remembered that, I would have +move and would have been able to charge Spawn Maw and the game would have been much much different. Or I could have stopped chasing spawn maw and swapped an objective to score in the last turn. That’s what you get when you only get 7 practice games in and you are pressed for time!

It ended up a win for Ephilim but it was very very close.

Round 3 Arenai vs Da Kunnin Krew

The way that Dustin plays Da Kunnin Krew is very aggressive. He had 3 of my fighters out in Round 1 and I was limping along with Gryselle and Kalexus. I did manage to turn it around in round two after taking down 3 of his fighters including Mannok and Torka. With Gryselle still alive she cleaned up the remaining minions and scored me a big victory even though the beginning was close.

In game 2 my dice were hot and my opponents were not. My card draw was perfect. I scored In Praise of Khaine, Har Kuron Hurricane and Fully Committed at the end of Round 2 for 7 glory (pictured above).

The final result of the tournament was that I placed second with my only losses being against Ephilim. I felt good about this result, though I know I could have played them better with more practice.