Hey gang! Back with another Love Letter and a deck overview of something I performed pretty well with in the lead up to the Tacoma Open and almost brought along to the Grand Clash. In the end I decided against it, but seeing as I did some work refining the deck and was very successful in practice, I wanted to share it with the class in case any of you are looking for ways to enjoy some more defensive hold, semi-passive play, or just enjoy Myari’s Purifiers.
Prelminary ES/NP Testing
I’ve been Well Documented as enjoying Take and Hold, and now that we finally have a second hold deck (though I have some reservations about whether it’s really a hold deck) I set out to find a warband that could take them both but also wasn’t Starblood Stalkers because I have played them a bunch already, and with the change to their inspire I faced a ton of risks with flipped tokens at the start of the game.
My earliest attempts with Emberstone Sentinels/Nexus of Power involved Khagra’s Ravagers which you can read about in my Nexus of Power review. While the warband has the tools to get onto tokens and stay on them, I had one disastrous loss when my opponent counterplayed well, and even with range extension it can be hard to land hits with their mediocre attack profiles. The fact that the warband needs to inspire round but I would be staggering myself to desecrate means I am more likely to get overrun and delved on, blocking that inspire, and thus ruining everything. I passed on that for competitive consideration.
Next, I tried Grandfather’s Gardeners. I personally thought (and still think) they aren’t great for the deck since their attack profiles at range 1 are few and they have no tools whatsoever to get onto tokens or stay on them. The only benefit they have is that they won’t die outright and can remain covetous even when driven back, but That didn’t feel like enough to me. I tried the worlds-qualifying deck brought to WHW by Martin Higham that ultimately landed in second place. If somebody can go undefeated at a huge event with it, maybe I was wrong? I only played it once but lost to Brethren of the Bolt of all things. I also don’t personally enjoy Gardeners, so gave up on that experiment rather quickly.
Then, I attempted Sons of Velmorn. This one makes more sense to me; I have a bonus move, the potential for guard tokens on 3 fighters if I roll crits on defense, I have 2 shields across the board (3 to start and all 5 when inspired) and everybody is hitting at range 1 so range extension is nice. Additionally, The King’s support works regardless of that range extension, so I would have a little extra accuracy there. I again scraped a competition-tested deck and used it wholesale, borrowing G’s Alberta Classic Winning deck. It was also a disastrous loss. Part of the problem was I was facing Kurnoth’s Heralds who can’t be flanked in their territory, and my opponent placed treasures very well and flipped appropriately. I also find the warband just a little too dicey to be reliable for hold these days. I might try it again but since I lost by a HUGE margin I felt a little discouraged and moved on to another warband.
I played a game with Myari’s Purifiers and won by 14 at the end of round 2 after my opponent conceded. I tweaked the deck, won by 15, and repeated this refinement and victory process some more. I’m 5-0 with it now, averaging 18 glory and winning by an average of 8.6. It’s good, y’all.
Why Myari’s Purifiers?
Let’s look at what Myari’s Purifiers have to offer and you can click here for the warband’s full review). Four fighters, all of which have the ability to reroll all dice if needed on either attack or defense once again to overrun onto a token, try for a stand fast/crit, try to survive, try to avoid getting displaced. Since the early game will focus on getting the critical tokens and keeping them, this in your back pocket is nice. You never want to burn it early, but you certainly can, and it sticks around until you lose it so you can use them to score in later rounds if needed.
The warband has 4 move on 3 of their fighters, so you can get to the tokens you need. Even if you’re charging onto a cover, 3 of those fighters have attacks at range: Bahannar has range 2, Myari has range 2 and 3, and Senaela has range 4, which inspires to a crazy good range 5. I was planning to play a hold 2 defensive build, so being able to camp a backfield token and reliably have a fighter who could hit from range 4-5 helps a whole lot with scoring ‘make covetous attacks’ conditions, even before I draw into Starmaw.
Then we get into the warscroll abilities, saving the best for last. Senaela has brutal and ensnare if she has her aetherquartz, so she’s more likely to hit, and can negate cover if her target is camping on a cover token trying to prevent you from holding it. Myari has +1 defense with no limit, which increases his ability to stay on the tokens or at least stay covetous. Ailenn gets to count her targets as being flanked even if you use range extension from the plot card, gets lots of dice and cleave so she will reliably hit and score you ‘covetous fighter hits’ type of cards. Finally, Big Ole Bahannar CAN NOT be pushed by enemy abilities while he has his quartz aglow. Once he is holding a token, he gets to keep it unless they use Confusion, are playing Spiteclaw, or are crazy enough to bring Shoulder Throw. Enemies are reluctant to attack him because they might give him an inspire, and then he’s 2 shields so he’ll survive all the more.
Long story short, if you want to hold 2 tokens in your territory and hang out there, you can. Even if they don’t engage with you, you can still reach out and hit them. If they do, you’re reasonably accurate with reasonable damage, so you can carve them up. It worked much better than expected, even against worlds-qualified competition with tournament-tuned decks.
The overall plan is to place 2 treasures in your territory, preferably farther back from midline. If you must have 3, you can make it work, but you might want to have one delved down to cover to help score Iron Grasp if it doesn’t mess with your covetous scoring. Try to have one just over the line in Enemy Territory to help score Sally Forth. Neutral Territory ones won’t help you all that much but can do in a pinch.
Surge Objectives
Aggressive Defender – Making attacks on tokens is pretty trivial seeing as you’ll be on the token, you have ranged attacks, and can extend range for Ailenn if needed. Easy surge to take, easy to score, always happy to see it. Inspired Senaela makes this laughably simple at range 5.
Calculated Strike – Critical Effort but you have to be covetous is not bad. You don’t need to hit, just roll the crit. With enough attempts this will happen, and you have the range to be making these attacks even if your opponent is coy. Worst case you can burn aetherquartz to crit fish (don’t do this)
Claimed – having three covetous fighters at once with a 4 fighter warband is a risk, but your survivability is pretty solid and unless you draw this late game, it tends to score for me. You can potentially grab this in activation 1 and there’s little they can do about it.
Sally Forth – one of my only ‘non defensive’ cards that requires pressing into enemy territory. I scored it in a handful of games but was perfectly fine discarding it when the situation wasn’t right, and in this deck I often was comfortable taking a focus action if needed to drop it earlier. You could consider switching this out for Step by Step for more flexibility if you wanted to be able to score it with a move instead, though I generally rate Sally Forth higher (and you have the range/speed to charge). I also was surprisingly not the underdog very often, so keep that in mind if you do make a card swap.
Seized – Arguably my worst surge, you need to attack a target within 1 of a treasure and it also has to be successful. Your opponent may avoid being there, you may miss, but it scores in enough of my games that it has stayed in the deck.
Unassailable – Somebody’s on a token and doesn’t get knocked off can occasionally get frustrating, but remember Bahannar stays on all day, you have two guard ploys, a defensive reroll upgrade, a defensive reroll ploy, and defensive rerolls on aetherquartz if needed, as well as Brute Momentum. Unless they simply don’t attack you, this will happen eventually.
End Phase Objectives
Close the Vice – 2 glory end phases are always nice, though this one can be a touch more difficult. You need to have three different covetous fighters attack, and in round 1 that can be hard. In round 3 you might not have three fighters left. I scored it in most games, but don’t be afraid to ditch it in an end phase or with a focus when you need to.
Hold Treasure 1 or 2 – You’ll be holding and just have to hope for the right number in your territory. Feels ok to ditch if the tokens are in the wrong spot since it’s just 1 glory. You do have hold 3/4 also, so you’ll get at least one of them. Don’t go chasing too deep into enemy territory unless the circumstances demand it.
Hold Treasure 3 or 4 – see above
Iron Grasp – Another 2 glory end phase that’s nice and easy unless you have 3 in your territory. Often the enemy will try to delve one down to prevent covetous scoring, but they’re only helping you get this one if they do. I scored it in every game.
Skin of Their Teeth – You already want to be holding 2, and odds are they’ll hit somebody somewhere. With a health spread of 4/4/4/3 you can survive a hit and score it. The tough part is your warband is actually relatively tough to hit and if you deploy defensively enough may not have many chances to do so in round 1. You’ll also potentially be making tough choices with Healing Potion. I scored this in every game but it wasn’t a guarantee
Supremacy – my beloved. Hold any 2 with any 2 friends and you’ll score it thanks to your bounty spread of 2/2/2/1
Ploys
By the Numbers – Card draw is always nice, and most games you’ll get 1-3 extra cards this way. Once I used this in desperation to draw 1 and got the ‘just what I needed’ Unearthed Treasure which was the reason I won that game. Don’t count it out!
Confusion – Amazing card – steal a token, steal a token back, put the damaged fighter on the token for Skin of their Teeth, get somebody covetous who wasn’t, put an enemy within 1 of a treasure, bring one of your fighters into charge range, you name it.
Dig In – Situationally, you get a defensive reroll. This card doesn’t always feel as useful as I would like but when the goal is hold two and hide you can do worse. Please beware, you cannot reroll a rerolled die. If you play this card and then get a bad result, you may be forced to choose between this for 1 die and burning your aetherquartz for 2. I kept it in because it may make it so you don’t have to spend your quartz token. Sometimes it also allows you to inspire by getting all successes, which you always love to see.
Healing Potion – you thought you had Bahannar down? Not yet! You’re bumrushing Myari for some kill a leader thing? Nope! Ailenn has to mix it up in the midboard? This will help. Caution that this might block your Skin of Their Teeth scoring.
Into the Deepwoods – an extra guard token can keep you on a treasure and unlock big scores, but unfortunately it only works closer to the enemy zone and this isn’t always useful. Sally Forth likes to see this card though!
Move at the Opening – Out of sequence moves are very powerful, but this one requires the token to already be a treasure. Still, getting on two tokens is the goal, and doing this one activation earlier is never a bad thing. You also only need to end within 1, so you can drag a friend into covetous to help score cards, or even bring them along during the move part of a charge to give you flanking.
Pilfer – a worse sidestep, as you’re positionally and directionally limited. It also does not help with situations where a token is on the cover side. Still, a push is a push and I use this to help score NP cards or make up for a driveback to retain the token for ES stuff.
Settle In – A fighter on a treasure goes on guard is exactly what this deck wants to see happen. No drivebacks for you! I hold 2!
Sidestep – Push anywhere, but probably onto a token. Universally beautiful card.
Unearthed Treasure – Un-delve a cover into a treasure so that you can charge onto it, be covetous for the attack, and not stagger yourself. Most beneficial for scoring Close the vice, but can be great for a handful of reasons. I wouldn’t hard mulligan for it but you often like to see it in your opening hand.
Upgrades
Agile – defensive rerolls are great – you avoid hits, you get crits to prevent driveback, you get all successes so you inspire, everyone’s happy. Same issue as before with Dig In – no rerolling rerolls so you’ll have to decide on this vs aetherquartz.
Brute Momentum – Charge onto a token, then stay there. Staple for ES that’s great for NP too. Best on Ailenn or Senaela since they only have 1 defense die.
Cautious Attitude – it’s a fun one, and has allowed me to reach out and bonk with Ailenn or Bahannar when they didn’t expect it. Flexible on or next to treasure, allows you to make more covetous attacks while remaining on treasure, and overall pretty tasty. It didn’t come in handy every game, but when it did it was golden.
Duelist – What’s not to love? Get onto or back onto tokens.
Great Fortitude – Elves can die. Don’t go without it! Also makes it easier to score Skin of Their Teeth.
Great Strength – Perhaps my least useful upgrade: Banana Man doesn’t need it, Myari won’t use it that often, Senaela can’t benefit from it, Ailenn often wants her cleave instead. 2 glory that sometimes has little payout, but it’s hard not to take a great card, you know? Feel free to cut this if you see something you like better like Mirror Shield, Driven by Pain, or Opportunist.
Inviolate – “Y’all Deadly Synergy dummies ain’t flanking me” – Mr. Mountain Cowboy
Keen Eye – Plus dice in a warband that sorely needs it, especially for Bahannar’s overhead smash. Be careful putting this on an uninspired fighter since they’ll be less likely to hit a perfect roll.
Sharp Reflexes – +1 save to a max of 2, so it only belongs on Senaela or Ailenn. It’s real nice on them though. I didn’t double up with I Like Those Odds since that one is number-related and again you only have two eligible fighters, but you could if you wanted.
Starmaw – Range 4 is the real reason you grab this – making covetous attacks becomes all the simpler when you can reach out and tough from a distance. If it hits and staggers, more the merrier, but having yet another way to camp a backfield token while continuing to roll dice makes the deck even more reliable.
Wrap
There are many ways to play ES/NP. There are many warbands who can probably do it just fine. I might even try Borgit soon. With my limited experience, I have found Myari’s Purifiers to be both among the best and among the least represented. Give them a try and see if you can’t replicate some of this for yourself, and if you take it out to a tournament, please let me know how it goes! I really did almost bring them to the Tacoma Open and think they have a shot at the podium.
Until next time, enjoy playing hold 2 with 2 hold decks and achieve perfection with buckets of spent glory.
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