I’m big sad about it, but I had a family emergency and had to cancel my trip to Adepticon this year. Even though I don’t get to fly out and play with my friends, I did still cook up a deck for the Grand Clash and wrote this deck guide in advance, so you can still get a glimpse of what I would have taken and maybe even play it for yourself.
The plan was to takeKamandora’s Blades with Wrack & Ruin and Deadly Synergy. I fell in love with the warband early this year and have stuck through multiple rules updates that put a wrench in my plans to come to this final product. In full honesty, I was not expecting to win or even make the top cut, but rather the have some fun and meet new people and maybe prove a point or two about Kammy and Co along the way. If you can pick up the baton where I dropped it and play them at a competitive event yourself, then all’s the better.
Despite a more casual approach, I still wanted to share the deck because I put a decent amount of thought into it (though not as much practice as I would like) and hopefully some of you could find inspiration for your own games in the near future.
Click here to check out other Deck Builds/Love Letters on Spent Glory
Why Kamandora WnR/DS?
To make a long story short, once the Plot Lock was removed, I started messing around with double-plot combos. I saw big potential in this RS/DS deck for maximum accuracy, and decided to mess around with Kamandora’s Blades since I hadn’t played them a huge amount since release. They unite better than nearly any other warband with their round-opening push, three of their fighters are hitting on swords so they love the flank from Deadly Synergy, and they didn’t care about getting pushed away with Poor Footing from Raging Slayers since they could push back to open the next round. I was having buckets of fun and actually doing really well.
Then the Rules Update hit, fundamentally changed how RS works, and effectively invalidated that combo for Kamandora. However, I had already fallen in love with the warband and really was enjoying the ‘who should be the worthy skull’ puzzle and it made me think about deployment in a totally new way. On top of that, the Blades got a total rework to their Slashing runemark that basically meant extra damage with staggers/subsequent hits.
While it’s a buff/improvement, it changed how things were going to work and made my Blazing/Deadly pairing I had been practicing with outside of RS/DS also not the best choice. So what to pick next?
I tried DS + Countdown to Cataclysm but it felt very draw dependent and I lost really bad. Then I remembered my favorite deck of Second Edition and realized with a start that #WrackisBack. Wrack and Ruin gives you staggers, pings, some weird playlines, some surprising scoring, and with Kamandora, multiple ways to dish out extra damage. I threw something together and fell in love all over again. This one’s fun, y’all.
The Evidence
For starters, you should know that Kamandora is actually a decent warband despite what you’ve been told. When paired with Deadly Synergy, their round-opening pushes unite them very reliably, and they’ll be scoring as easily as anybody. Now that they’ve been ‘improved’ in a rules update, their damage output has increased as well. Pre-update I was 6-2 with RS/DS, and post-update I am 4-1 with Wrack/DS. How many bad warbands do you know that are going 10-3?
The keys to success boil down to one ultimate thing; You MUST select the correct worthy skull. Getting this wrong will make your game so much more difficult – you either can’t inspire or you can’t make united attacks if your target is too far away, doesn’t need to engage, or can even actively avoid you. In an ideal world you have the capacity to inspire most of the team in the first round and enjoy an extra attack die and defense die across the board, as well as +1 damage on your twins.
Some exceptions exist, but my general strategy for inspiration priority is Throkk > Antro Krast/Ghalista > Kamandora > Kannat.
As you’ll see next, the deck doesn’t explicitly require that you be inspired to succeed, but it sure helps. If you should so happen to pick a bad worthy skull, commit to being united against other targets rather than chasing them down – it will possibly fail anyway. I don’t have great pointers for how to pick the best skull, it’s very much an in-the-moment vibes thing. Considering Adepticon was a best of 3, I knew I would get the chance to course correct if I needed to.
Surge Objectives
Bloody and Bruised – a great option for nearly any wrack build and helped by the fact I only have one 2-health fighter of my five total, so chances are I’ll have a fighter or two damaged but not dead helping me score this. My inability to drop flat 3 damage also means I’ll leave targets wounded but not dead often enough.
Got Your Back – not my favorite option, but they should eventually miss, and I’ll be united pretty often with Slaughterous Pilgrimage and Kannat’s push.
Helping Hand – I roll lots of dice with swords while united and often against staggered targets. I also took two cards that let you change to flanks, so this happens pretty reliably.
Infiltrate – My plan is to invade and hit with united attacks. I might as well score a surge for it.
Tag Team – now that I’m not playing Raging Slayers and don’t feel the need to charge as often, the stocks on this went way up. Not what I want to see in round 1, but otherwise it’s totally doable since I get to push adjacent to start the round.
Low on Options – You’ll play 5 ploys eventually. Get paid when you do!
End Phase Objectives
Aggressive Unity – This is the game plan in a nutshell. I want to make 4 attack actions a round, and I can usually line it up so 3 of them are from a united fighter.
Closed Down – One of the harder scores in this deck, but 2 glory is still worth shooting for. I have Barge (lmao), Confusion, and Battering Ram to help, and can even use the Damned if you Do push to force them onto/off a token if I need to.
Hemmed In – I was having a lot of success with this in pre-update practice despite the relatively difficult condition. Unfortunately, since my target was liable to die from a ping card or from the bleed token damage (which comes AFTER the attack), they wouldn’t be dying from a united attack as often. I unfortunately still don’t have much better of an option, so I stuck to it and just have to cross my fingers or play a little smarter around leaders.
Outmuscle – Easy money. I don’t kill things in one hit. If it’s somebody I’m ok driving back (i.e. not the worthy skull) then this happens without much effort.
Ploymaster – I score this in the majority of my games, and I’m not that sad to discard it if I have to.
Stay Close – A Wrack Classic. I score this basically every game unless my opponent is really focusing on preventing it, in which case they’re not scoring their own cards and that doesn’t bother me much.
Ploys
Army of Two – sometimes, especially to open the game on an Embergard board, I need to make a charge out of Unity. It’s nice to increase accuracy and unlock scoring with this. I don’t hard mulligan for it, but I love to see it in my opening hand
Confusion – That token is mine, and so is Closed Down. Or I’m back in unity. Or you’re out of an edge hex. Of I have a target in charge range. Or, juiciest of all, the Worthy Skull is inspiring multiple fighters for me this power step.
Damned If You Do – hello sir would you like to let me drag the worthy skill around so I can inspire, or would you like to eat a damage so I can put somebody in kill range? Honestly, I’ll take either.
Defiant Duo – Dodge fighters love guard, Throkk and Kamandora love heals.
Fireproof – Possibly my favorite card in the whole game and I still don’t understand why it isn’t restricted. Maybe someday GW will learn how back-breaking this card can be to opponents when you use it right. Until then, I’m going to enjoy myself.
Ominous Rumbling – With Kamandora’s new warscroll, this card reads “Take 1 ping now, or increase the chances of taking 2 pings later” when I play it at the start of a round, or “would you like 1 ping or two?” if I play it end of round. Glorious in every application.
Out of Nowhere! – I like adding successes, getting hits, and doing damage. I also like scoring Helping Hand.
Sidestep – C’mon man, of course you take this. UUUUNITTTTYYY
Vicious Intent – +dice is always good. It’s even better against a target I haven’t hit yet and I get an extra one, which then lets me stagger them for the follow-through.
Volcanic Eruption – since the FaQ decided against all reason to say this card ‘is read from the perspective of the player who played it’, it means I get to try and ping one of theirs, and then they get to decide if another one of their own fighters gets targeted too. It’s dice-based, and maybe they’re a 1-bounty horde, but it can’t hurt me anymore so why not YOLO this? Potential to soften a target or even finish somebody off, and the bigger they are the harder they fall.
Upgrades
Barge – LOL what a pick! This card has a very special use case in this pairing despite it generally being hot garbage. I can stagger anybody, guaranteed. That can be the final damage needed to finish them off or set up a pseudo-grievous hit for later AND clear a token so I can steal it for Closed Down, push somebody into a territory for Infiltrate, and more. Once I dunked Hrothgorn into his own trap this way. Even fighters on guard can be pushed with this. Some games I didn’t use it, but it was game-winning in the ones I did.
Battering Ram – Nothing better in this game than a guarantee. This lets me drive back way more often, freeing up multiple scores and since I also get to follow up, I don’t even lose the chance to inspire if the target is the worthy skull.
Coordinated Deathblow – this upgrade actually took a step down in my priority since the warband now gets damage from bleed+stagger. 3 swords 2+1 damage is much less impressive compared to my fighters’ base profiles now, which can be better than this when inspired. However, it’s great against a target that isn’t staggered (or can’t be) and when coming from an uninspired fighter (or Kannat the trash dog).
Desperate Defense – Messing with your opponent’s damage math is the best. Scoring Living on the Edge while getting to take another activation with that special fighter is also chill.
Duellist – still the GOAT, great for this pairing. Unity, token claiming, not needing to charge your big hitter, you name it.
Great Fortitude – staple for a reason, and one of those reasons is Kamandora herself is only 3 health. Pity.
Henchman – yet another off-the-wall, who-the-heck-takes-this card. With Deadly synergy, you’re often going to have flanks be successes, and now I get to have 1+ successes with this fighter. Higher odds to hit, get a drive back for Outmuscle, or score the flanked surges in DS. Not being able to reroll is a pain because of how often my targets are staggered, but beggars can’t be choosers. This one is actually awesome here.
Keen Eye – more dice, more hits, more damage, more fun
Sundering Weapon – Cleave is KING, even more so now that Wurmspat can’t reduce damage against it. Too bad it interferes with my Slashing runemark, but occasionally it’s what you need.
Titan of Combat – Phenomenal card – offense, defense, unlocked scoring, all for 1 bounty. In a dodge and sword rich warband, this is the good stuff.
Cards That Didn’t Make the Cut
Living on the Edge – Having three 3-health fighters and a 4-health fighter means I’ll often have this be true, and I’m usually occupying enemy territory as well. Desperate Defense, Fireproof, and the heal on Defiant Duo can potentially help this along, but I don’t have a way to force it. I failed to score it enough times that it got cut.
Brother-in-Arms – what do you mean, I’m not taking the best card in the deck? Well my friend, huge chance that I’m trading an attack for an identical profile attack or near enough anyway. I didn’t find it was particularly beneficial unless I had a mix of inspired and uninspired fighters which is only true for a small window of the game.
Alone in the Dark – a staple of Wrack and a card I have enjoyed thoroughly across the whole edition for its positional play, but in a warband that pushes everybody closer to an enemy every round and a pairing that requires adjacency it was a terrible choice.
Great Speed – Yes I would in fact love to be faster. Unfortunately if I can’t reach a target without this, I also probably can’t be united for that attack. Slaughterous Pilgrimage helps me close the distance anyway, so I can’t missed this a ton in my practice games.
Sidle Up – in principle this is a 2 hex push that gets me in unity. In practice I couldn’t make it work very often in a way that actually benefitted me.
United Front – 2-3 defense is nice, less so on dodges, especially if I can’t get the united flank. I opted to maximize output rather than survival.
Wrap
There you have it! Multiple last-minute shake-ups to my plan prior to Adepticon, a mostly new deck pairing, and a fundamentally altered warband, but I decided to power through. After all, why play something safe and boring when the goal is the ‘ave a good time? Unfortunately I’ll never get to see how it would have done live in that setting, but wanted to give you the chance to read it/play with it regardless.
Hug your loved ones for me, and don’t forget what really matters in life.
Until next time, I hope you enjoy pending glory on your own slaughterous pilgrimage!
Spent Glory 
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