To be honest, I didn’t really know how to start this article off, so I guess I’ll just come right out and say it: Offensive-heavy is the best. Now when I say offensive-heavy, I’m really breaking my rule from my previous article about Complimentary Deck Building because I’m actually referring to the good alignment. The fact of the matter is, while the term is misleading, it’s still the current term for describing heavy good. But before I get to the conclusion, I’ll overview the three types of balance (or lack thereof).
So first I’m going to debut the oft talked about offensive-heavy, which relies on a powerful good-alignment to overwhelm any defense. If you’ve been around for any amount of time, you’ve certainly seen these types of decks at the top tables. They are consistently good, and don’t depend on the local metagame. Most of the best offensive-heavy decks are ones that are also hero heavy, boasting of upwards of 10 heroes. My current offensive heavy deck uses 12-13 heroes. The deck’s goal is to rescue five lost souls as quickly as possible.
Now for balanced, which won 2012 Nationals. Now wait, how can I say offensive-heavy is the best when balanced won nationals? I’ll get there, don’t worry, but I’d first like to explain the focus of balanced. So you’re probably going to have about 1:1 ratio of good to evil, although many balanced decks are more like 18 good and 16 evil (including fortresses, not including dominants). However, the definition pretty much ends there. Balanced decks are among the most versatile, as you can pretty much just mix and match the aggro, speed, turtle, and standard styles of play. While the national winning deck was definitely aggro style, I found a lot of success towards the end of the 2011-2013 format with a turtle style balanced deck. Balanced is probably the most common deck, but that’s mostly because most people start out with balanced decks. Among top tier players, it’s probably the second most common. This deck tries to fend off the opponent while also rescuing souls.
Finally we have defensive-heavy, the undeniable least popular deck. These decks may be rare, but every now and then one pops up at the top. They are largely a meta call, which we generally call “rogue” decks. They focus on using a massive defense to immobilize your opponent’s offense, allowing yours to go in for the win. The difficulty with defensive heavy, however, is that it’s difficult to win with such a small offense, especially with a time limit, which is why they are played less.
That’s the basic overview of all three, but why is offensive-heavy the best? It’s really surprisingly simple: the point of the game is to rescue 5 lost souls, and offensive-heavy does this best. “But wait!” you say, “Don’t you have more opportunities to rescue lost souls if your defense blocks?” Yes, that’s true, but it’s a matter of consistency. In a real game, you’re going to be drawing a bit of everything, so while your defense may hold off a turn, it also may prevent you from rescuing a soul because you didn’t draw into your offense. A streamlined deck will be more consistent, and a deck that is streamlined to rescue lost souls is a deck that will win.
Now, that’s not to say that offensive-heavy is the only deck you should play. While it is, on the whole, the best type of deck, there’s also another side of things, and many balanced decks and defensive-heavy decks successfully counter offensive-heavy decks. My last two games I was beaten by (to put it simply) Judges/Prophets/Babylonian decks. Part of that was because my deck is bad, but another part of it was that it was able to provide my opponents with enough heroes to rescue against my extremely weak defense (I only got a couple blocks between the two games), and still fend me off. In the same way, defensive-heavy can hard counter both offensive-heavy and balanced decks. However, despite offensive-heavy’s disadvantage, they always have a better shot at winning because it’s more focused on winning. Defensive-heavy struggles to fend off offensive heavy early game, and often times you can outspeed a balanced deck. After all, most games you only need to rescue 3 lost souls (plus Son of God and New Jerualem).
I do want to say that this is not a “rock, paper, scissors” type thing. Balanced doesn’t necessarily beat offensive-heavy, offensive-heavy doesn’t necessarily beat defensive-heavy, etc. It’s very dependent on what type of good/evil is being played in the decks. Matchups play a big part, but so does drawing. A well built offensive-heavy is the only deck that can reliably make rescue attempts even if it draws poorly.
Now, armed with this knowledge, you can study your local metagame and decide what kind of deck you want to play. There is no right choice, but if you’re unsure, I will always recommend offensive-heavy. It is, after all, the best.
So first I’m going to debut the oft talked about offensive-heavy, which relies on a powerful good-alignment to overwhelm any defense. If you’ve been around for any amount of time, you’ve certainly seen these types of decks at the top tables. They are consistently good, and don’t depend on the local metagame. Most of the best offensive-heavy decks are ones that are also hero heavy, boasting of upwards of 10 heroes. My current offensive heavy deck uses 12-13 heroes. The deck’s goal is to rescue five lost souls as quickly as possible.
Now for balanced, which won 2012 Nationals. Now wait, how can I say offensive-heavy is the best when balanced won nationals? I’ll get there, don’t worry, but I’d first like to explain the focus of balanced. So you’re probably going to have about 1:1 ratio of good to evil, although many balanced decks are more like 18 good and 16 evil (including fortresses, not including dominants). However, the definition pretty much ends there. Balanced decks are among the most versatile, as you can pretty much just mix and match the aggro, speed, turtle, and standard styles of play. While the national winning deck was definitely aggro style, I found a lot of success towards the end of the 2011-2013 format with a turtle style balanced deck. Balanced is probably the most common deck, but that’s mostly because most people start out with balanced decks. Among top tier players, it’s probably the second most common. This deck tries to fend off the opponent while also rescuing souls.
Finally we have defensive-heavy, the undeniable least popular deck. These decks may be rare, but every now and then one pops up at the top. They are largely a meta call, which we generally call “rogue” decks. They focus on using a massive defense to immobilize your opponent’s offense, allowing yours to go in for the win. The difficulty with defensive heavy, however, is that it’s difficult to win with such a small offense, especially with a time limit, which is why they are played less.
That’s the basic overview of all three, but why is offensive-heavy the best? It’s really surprisingly simple: the point of the game is to rescue 5 lost souls, and offensive-heavy does this best. “But wait!” you say, “Don’t you have more opportunities to rescue lost souls if your defense blocks?” Yes, that’s true, but it’s a matter of consistency. In a real game, you’re going to be drawing a bit of everything, so while your defense may hold off a turn, it also may prevent you from rescuing a soul because you didn’t draw into your offense. A streamlined deck will be more consistent, and a deck that is streamlined to rescue lost souls is a deck that will win.
Now, that’s not to say that offensive-heavy is the only deck you should play. While it is, on the whole, the best type of deck, there’s also another side of things, and many balanced decks and defensive-heavy decks successfully counter offensive-heavy decks. My last two games I was beaten by (to put it simply) Judges/Prophets/Babylonian decks. Part of that was because my deck is bad, but another part of it was that it was able to provide my opponents with enough heroes to rescue against my extremely weak defense (I only got a couple blocks between the two games), and still fend me off. In the same way, defensive-heavy can hard counter both offensive-heavy and balanced decks. However, despite offensive-heavy’s disadvantage, they always have a better shot at winning because it’s more focused on winning. Defensive-heavy struggles to fend off offensive heavy early game, and often times you can outspeed a balanced deck. After all, most games you only need to rescue 3 lost souls (plus Son of God and New Jerualem).
I do want to say that this is not a “rock, paper, scissors” type thing. Balanced doesn’t necessarily beat offensive-heavy, offensive-heavy doesn’t necessarily beat defensive-heavy, etc. It’s very dependent on what type of good/evil is being played in the decks. Matchups play a big part, but so does drawing. A well built offensive-heavy is the only deck that can reliably make rescue attempts even if it draws poorly.
Now, armed with this knowledge, you can study your local metagame and decide what kind of deck you want to play. There is no right choice, but if you’re unsure, I will always recommend offensive-heavy. It is, after all, the best.
-Westy
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