I'm Compensating For Something: May Deck Doctor

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As the title suggests, I’m absolutely compensating for something this month. That something is the lack of a Deck Doctor article last month. Sometimes life comes at you fast, and it came at me fast last month, so the tournament came and went without any kind of deck building walkthrough to get ready for what was Battlefields. Even this one is coming in at the buzzer and on the heels of the good news that Warlord is coming back with preview events at GenCon this year! So who else is better to lead the charge this month than the good General Lund?

the original I’m compensating for something Guy from tOL

I’ve always thought General Lund was a cool warlord but I missed his time in the limelight in the Saga block. I was just a wee lad those days trying to figure out why people thought Summoned Skull was better than Blue Eyes White Dragon. I hadn’t picked up my first d20 until Southern Kingdoms and the open format where General Lund lived was daunting to me. An impossible beast to understand and work myself into. Campaign Edition was the safe end of the pool where I could learn to swim. Now it’s time to rectify that by taking a crack at Lund in Ancients. Let’s work through our starters!

he may be a coward, but he can cast flame waves and start in play

I thought a lot about my start for Lund this month, mostly because the deck changes quite a bit depending on who joins the General at the start of the battle. Originally, I was focused on Cal Blackborne. Being in play ready to start slinging 3rd level spells just seems good! Maybe it gets better someday, but I found that Flame Waves was probably my best choice for a 3rd level spell for him to cast, potentially alongside Shadow Bolts and Lund could ready if I drew into extras. There is a deck there, but I don’t think it’s going to hang against starters like Gunda, Danres, Llyr Militia, etc. etc. Unfortunately for Mr. Cal (or fortunately since he is a damn coward) we’re going to have to go with Ol’ Reliable.

I may have copied my homework this month taking a peak at the excellently put together General Lund that Rayne Blythewood has played in the past. That keeps two wizards in our starting formation (this will be important later) with Amoudasi’s Blaze. I think if I’d stuck with Cal, I’d have been looking at starters like Brine Fiend, Regret’s Shadow, and potentially Miserean Trader just to keep some stability in my front rank. With the Blaze and the need to get them up front to swing, Trogid is going to be our top pick so we can dare our opponent to kill one and bring an Inferno out on our next action by swinging away. Also helps to have Trogid in the start since we can’t use 3 copies of Suicidal Charge anymore.

Starting Formation

  • General Lund

  • Amoudasi’s Blaze x2

  • Trogid x3

The Mercenary faction has plenty of bangers in the card pool to choose from. Jackals of Mourn and Toren Yscar are in so many different decks and you can make arguments for plenty of others to be easy includes like Rica O’Shea, Shadowreaver, Cutting North Wind, etc. etc. I wish Ancients was a slower format because the choices for their character pool really harkens back to that old school Warlord feel where you’re trying to get a character from rank four up to rank one to wreck face as soon as possible. Here’s just a quick look at the cards I considered for the deck.

  • Jackals of Mourn: These guys are going to be in the deck. They’re nearly in every deck that I build because they can get to work quickly and create a potential headache for an opponent since they’re planar.

  • Toren Yscar: This guy and Jackals lead the pack in the blurb above for a reason. Drawing cards is good and he’s an auto include at x1.

  • Shadowreaver: 3HP. Planar. Attaches some spells if you want to splash in wizard actions to blitz harder. Auto crit fails. Just an absurd card and it easily made it’s way into my deck.

  • Venomhiss: My original pass at this went heavier on wizard actions. The idea was to start Cal Blackborne to use Flame Waves early on to put pressure on an opponent’s ranks and Venomhiss was a supporting character there being able to rush up to rank 2 and act as another back up caster.

  • Baraz: Every deck has a Toren so, in theory, every Baraz should have a target to shoot at.

  • Rica O’Shea: I love this card. My only gripe with her is that she isn’t level three, but I think she’s a solid choice and can shore up a second rank to keep Lund safe while shooting her shots.

  • Death Fog: Mercenaries are full of monsters for characters. Another use of Jackals, Shadowreaver, etc. after an opponent misses them a few times because of planar and finally get them discarded just for Death Fog to hit and bring them back to my hand is a great feeling. Maybe for just one person at the table though.

  • Amoudasi’s Wrath: I’m a Southern Kingdoms guy. It was the set that taught me how to play. I’ll always think of Wrath as an excellent addition to any deck, especially if we’re splashing some wizard spells.

  • The Cutting North Wind: Another planar monster that hits hard and can move itself or another character at the cost of wounding.

  • Amoudasi’s Inferno: Obviously finding room for this beauty. If we’re running the Blazes in our start, we’d be doing ourselves a disservice to not have Blaze’s big brother in the deck.

  • Blitzer: He lost the Reindeer trait but he’s still the PAINDEER.

those antlers are for a lot more than just attracting mates.

And that leads us to the cut and my picks for my character pool:

Characters: 19

  • Jackals of Mourn x3

  • Death Fog x3

  • Shadowreaver x3

  • Rica O’Shea x3

  • Amoudasi’s Inferno x3

  • The Cutting North Wind x2

  • Blitzer

  • Toren Yscar

Actions

Look, every fighter is doing it.

After a few months of doing these, I think a trend is starting to show itself. I really like cards that just let me hit people. When I started working through this it was much heavier on the wizard spells and characters, but I ultimately figured the strikes were too low to be worth it and I’d be better off having more beatsticks like Shadowreaver or Cutting North Wind. That doesn’t mean I gave up entirely on the wizard actions though as we’ll see when I go through the run down on the actions I considered for this deck.

  • Loyalty’s Reward: Drawing cards is always good. I have extra fighters to use Loyalty’s Reward while Lund does his thing or Lund can do it himself if it’s more beneficial to draw instead of readying two characters.

  • Final Power: A quick +5 strike that ignores planar traits. More importantly, if a wizard like Inferno or Blaze hits my 1st rank I get a shot at that pesky Nothrog / Chosen table that never seems to go out of style.

  • Fiery Bolts: A quick +4 with potential marksmanship to add bonuses to the roll. It’s not like I’ll make the marksmanship check anyway!

  • Rescue: I can lose some skills to protect my planar guys from being ganked by a spell. Or to not get stunned forever by Davaenus.

  • Exhaustion: Meta is meta and Exhaustion is the best meta.

  • Suicidal Charge: A first turn charge with a Blaze to go fetch Inferno is the reason this card got limited in Ancients. It’s still got the potential to decide a game if you pull it off early.

  • Well Laid Trap: He’s not a ranger, sure, but it’s an order Lund can perform. Potentially disruptive to an opponent and give you some movement for your own army.

  • Flame Waves: I think there is some potential here, I’m just afraid to try it. First action from Cal would see a 3/2/1 series of strikes right on the first turn. My fear is that those strikes aren’t strong enough to actually hit when the dice get rolled and I’d be stuck wounding a Gunda and not actually finishing her off.

  • Shadow Bolts: This was the other contender if I started Cal. Some quick +4 strikes ignoring planar might still be good enough to start Cal but probably not good enough to replace the Blazes.

  • Meet at the Inn!: It has it’s places in some decks and drawing cards doesn’t hurt. I just hate giving my opponent a card so it’s probably not finding space in my deck.

Actions: 14

  • Loyalty’s Reward x3

  • Fiery Bolts x3

  • Final Power x3

  • Rescue x2

  • Exhaustion x2

  • Suicidal Charge

Keeping it simple here and not trying to break the mold. I want my actions to give me cards, give me strikes, or protect me and each of these fill that role. If Ancients slows down some day I’d probably work in Well Laid Trap just as extra movement for my Blazes. Let’s head to the armory and see what Lund is equipping for the battles ahead.

Items

Kirby’s standard looks much better in pink.

My army is really determining what ends up going in my item slots in this deck. I’d love to slap a King’s Lady on Lund and start carving armies up, but he’s not that kind of general. He’s just out there to give Captain America style inspirational speeches but he’s not about to start throwing his shield around and actually fight people. Let’s make sure we get this army the kit it needs to be in fighting shape!

  • Figurine of Power: The figurines help us break a deck making rule by giving us 28 characters in a 50 card deck. It’s why they had to be made class specific back when Priam was abusing them towards the end of Campaign Edition. We’ll happily take the extra hit points.

  • Black Moss: This wasn’t in my original write up since I wasn’t starting Trogid. With Trogid in the mix, it doubles as movement for a lot of my army but especially my Blazes.

  • Bodyguard: I hate having Corn Chucked at me. It’s the worst. So those Corn Chucker decks that are cute and lob cobs of corn from rank 5? No thank you. I hired a guy to catch the cob.

  • Kerebrus’ Standard: Let our flags fly and get our guys up to the front and ready for war.

  • Stormwolf: Every good general needs a horse. Ours just happens to be a wolf and is really for everyone else.

  • Uthanak’s Ring: Turning falling forward into viable movement since 2002. This will pair nicely with our characters like Rica and Shadowreaver that aren’t going to make it the front ready without some extra help.

  • Nodwick: If you’re using figurines, Nodwick can get you more mileage out of them.

Items: 11

  • Black Moss x3

  • Figurine of Power x3

  • Bodyguard x2

  • Kerebrus’ Standard

  • Stormwolf

  • Uthanak’s Ring

The only glaring omission is my Nodwick. I opted to have 3 Figurine of Power instead of 2 and 1 Nodwick just because there isn’t anything else for that lone Nodwick to do. If I were to cut items from here, I’d probably add more actions. 3rd Exhaustion is a pretty easy addition as well as a 3rd Rescue depending on how much I like when I test this during Ancients this month. Let’s take a look at the list all put together that I totally sent to Graham a full day before the deck list was due!

Starting Formation

  • General Lund

  • Amoudasi’s Blaze x2

  • Trogid x3

Characters: 19

  • Jackals of Mourn x3

  • Death Fog x3

  • Shadowreaver x3

  • Rica O’Shea x3

  • Amoudasi’s Inferno x3

  • The Cutting North Wind x2

  • Blitzer

  • Toren Yscar

Actions: 14

  • Loyalty’s Reward x3

  • Fiery Bolts x3

  • Final Power x3

  • Rescue x2

  • Exhaustion x2

  • Suicidal Charge

Items: 11

  • Black Moss x3

  • Figurine of Power x3

  • Bodyguard x2

  • Kerebrus’ Standard

  • Stormwolf

  • Uthanak’s Ring

There you have it. A tournament ready General Lund. I’d be remiss to not mention that Rayne Blythewood has piloted Lund quite a few times with quite a bit of success so definitely poke his brain if you’re looking to put together your own list. I definitely netdecked his start when my idea for Cal wasn’t really panning out.

I also know we have quite a few new players this month joining us for our Ancients tournament so please feel free to use this or any other Deck Doctor deck that is Ancients format legal! We also have a an ongoing Deck Archive that Graham has been maintaining after events that you can find here. If a Warlord has been played in 2023, you’ll be able to find a list for it here that you can play or modify to your own playstyle! That’s it for this month. Next Ancients tournament, I’m going to take a crack at an old Southern Kingdoms favorite

Warlord Deckbuilding: Free Kingdoms Starting Armies

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The Free Kingdoms! The best, or at least the goodest, faction in Warlord—no, I'm serious, of all the factions, they have the fewest evil characters. So of course you want to know how to build a deck with them. Well I'm here to give you the low-down on their options for starters. For almost all of the following, I'm only the messenger, passing on what I've seen and heard over the years in person, on the Temple of Lore, in online play at Untap.in , and discussion on our Discord server. My thanks to all the other great FreeK players who figured out most of this. 

Before we get into the characters, let’s recognize the unavoidable luck factor to Warlord. Besides hand draw and D20, there’s also the matter of matchups versus specific opponents. Some starting armies have undeniable advantage over others: this means that, in a format like Ancients where games are often won by turn 2, starters are critical, and being able to change your starters for game 2 or 3 can make all the difference in winning a game. Because FreeKs have some of most diverse level 1 and 2 characters of any faction, it is almost always worth considering alternate starters when making a FreeK deck. We’ll expound a bit more later. 

Now buckle up and let’s peruse these starters! 

AGGRESSION 

The easiest, most obvious thing for the FreeKs to do is attack--they can start several characters capable of multi-striking. Every opponent groans a little or a lot when they see these bad boys pop out: 

Arguably the best level 1 cleric (heck, he even blesses his enemies if they're in range. Some Ar'tek decks throw him in play stunned!) helping out one of those rare evil characters, because Spencer slices and dices with 2 swings per attack. Spencer also likes gambit-ing like a hero. 

 A more versatile aggressive start is the Triumvirate: Dominy, Jal Forsyth, and Kylia Smythe. Jal triggers Dominy's bonuses, and he gets an additional swing from Kylia. On her go, Kylia gets to do a ranged strike to pull someone forward THEN melee. POW! ZAP! BANG! Kylia is also fun as a starter in a deck when you want to move your warlord forward, as she can target your 3rd rank with her ranged strike, then do her melee strike at an enemy. 

 

DIDN’T NEED HAIR, ANYWAYS

A rarer aggressive start is Xiantha, Centaur Soldier, queen of the bad cropping jobs. 

She's risky, because to optimize her potential you need a cleric warlord (someone who can help keep her alive) along with a bunch of level 4s to guarantee she’s as buff as possible. Alternatively, you could earn bonus style points and theme it up with Xerxes, who despite appearances is level 2, and guarantees you access to the 4th rank on the first action.



 If you want aggression in your second rank, the default is probably Glenn the Blaze and Scarlett. One decree with a guaranteed two, possibly three strikes? Tough to beat. Out of Captain Dukat though, you might want two Glenns. But really, any ranged striker with Scarlett is decent--like Josef Krieg, who people always forget about if he goes to the discard. Josef is also helpful if you’re running a deck with ranged strikers but your Warlord does not have in-built ranged strikes—he guarantees your Farglass won’t be a dead draw.  

Finally, decks that need bonuses to their melee strikes should consider the two cleric ladies who inspire those closest to them: Novice Ruth and Dreiga. Ruth can get insane with a large front rank, and Dreiga guarantees a little attack bonus even if she dies. 

DEFENSE 

"I DON'T LIKE FIGHTING, BUT IF YOU HIT ME I'LL RUN BACK AND TELL DOMINY!"  "AND I'LL TELL SPENCE!" 

On the other hand, if you need to start an army that will slow down your opponent, the FreeKs can do that too, though not as well as the aggro. For level 1s, the popular choice is Llyr Militia.  

It’s a bit different than having a level 1 with 2 HP, but definitely annoying to your opponent.  One fantastic aspect of Militia is the ability to go get answers when he dies. Remember what I said earlier about alternate starters? Well, you have some if you’re starting Llyr Militia, so dig ‘em out and flip the tables on your opponent, going from defense to offense with Brother Dominy and Spencer, for example. On the other hand, if you really wanted to farm dragons out of FreeKs (or drop Xaxxon if you’re nutso), you could use the Militia to fetch Felens Rowan to build your ranks. A fun combo with Militia is Black Moss, so you slap a wound on an opponent and dig out another Level 1 to keep the pressure on or shore up your ranks. (Do be aware, though, Militia’s react cancels his death, so you can’t Hero’s Gambit with him, but you can also use the react to prevent his death and stop your opponent from triggering From Dust to Dust or No Prisoners!)

Before the Militia (or if you don’t wan to run other level 1s), if you wanted to shut down strikes, your best choice was the only "Pacifist" in the game, Kun Davill--MVP of Sir Tython-defeating decks since 2003. 

A sleeper in this category is Leigh. Odds are if she dies, she's spending or stunning an enemy. Or, Sacrifice with her and move your just-played Temple of Lore back one rank. Led by Arden Tide, her magic save can result in wounds if the target rolls low enough. With Warren Brood, she can turn Captain Alera into Ar’tek. Lots of possibilities here! 

For your second rank, I'm in love with Darso the Mad (the best non-illusionist with illusionist mechanics). That DC 14 is tough for most opposing level 1s or 2s to make. If you must have HP in your second rank, you can also choose from Bradley (whom I love because I roll 1s), Jethro, or the always-available Sakarian Bloodknight. 

BALANCE 

What if your deck wants a little of this and a little of that? You don't need to aggro aggro, but you don't want to turtle up. Probably the best option for this in a level 1 is Haden Rhys. The party begins when the opponent starts swinging. 

There are solid options for your second rank. Farrel Wadreth can make your opponent suffer for killing one of your level 1s, and the reacts get super spicy if he's next to Scarlett and a Leigh in front of them gets offed. Or second turn, if he's alive in the front, he can react to you killing a character in the opponent's front rank. 

Rosalie doesn't have to spend to hand out additional melee strikes, so she really loves reflecting things too. 

For causing chaos, it's hard to beat Za'beth Candlebane. As if moving ANY level 1 or 2 in the game wasn't good enough, the FreeKs have many ways to give her additional levels. Mwahahaha... 

SPECIAL CASES 

Of course, depending on the warlord, you might find other starters better than the ones I listed above. Or, you might want to main deck some options for games 2 and 3 if you run into something more difficult to handle. Here are some to consider. 

"AND THAT'S WHEN I KNEW I WAS GONNAHAFTASHUTTERDOWN"

Ryan Mornington: Say goodbye to pesky characters like Gunda,  Danres,  Amatria,  Javvyn,  Genecourt Initiate, opposing Llyr Militias, Trogid—the list goes on. Best part is, he doesn't have to wound, just hit (yes, it pays to pay attention to these things!). 

Bring along Kun Iacob when Stygian Wraiths or Regret's Shadow get too popular.  

Jiyacin Fret needs consideration in every cavalry deck. Some players will start her in a Jaqueline Windson deck with two Brothers so it's difficult for your ranks to break, but if they do, you can move up a big boy and probably ready 'em with Jackie. 

In a Captain Dukat deck, you definitely want some pew pew. Snuff and Percy are your men here.  

If you run Laird Jon Hawthorne, you can upgrade his machine gun by either making his strikes bigger (Tonvan) or making him strike more (Sestian).  

If you're playing the Beastmaster, you need Yscarite Sentry. AC bonuses the first turn if he dies, and after that, everyone in the army gets Eladric's bonuses. 

Obligatory Peasant Queen reference. It's illegal to talk about FreeK level 1s without mentioning Adarymy. 

For your second rank, a lot of people like Aroch Knights in Adarymy. One action, two characters in play, and more bonuses!

“YES I HAVE TWO SWINGS, BUT YOUR GAME PLAN MAY BE IN THE TOILET IF I'M ATTACKING" 

Although the strength of the FreeKs is in the lower levels, some decks (ahem, Robert the Vigilant) like moving big boys up. In that case, Baqbou is option A and Borgen Ferris is option 2. 

Kiras Yscar is useful in a Warlord-centric deck like Uriel, Trevaine Cartwright, Albrecht, Iam, or Eiael. 

Llyr Veterans need to be considered in weenie rush decks like Adarymy or The Lady of Mercy. I probably should have put him in my March 2023 Rabinus the Elder deck to move wounds to, then go dig out Dominy or Xiantha. You'll want to consider I Have Your Back or Rally to the Cause, but those are decent FreeK cards anyway. 

Here's a fun one. Taya Cooper lets you drop your multi-striking level 2s in the front rank ready to swing. Try it with Samuel dishing out mighty bonuses to Tacus, Corbas, and Kato.  Or, run your aggro level 1s then bring in Colter Arden to do a million +0 range strikes (he enters in the second rank because of Taya). 

So, for reference, we have: 

Attack 

1s: 

Brother Dominy/Spencer 

Jal/Dominy/Kylia Smythe 

Xiantha, Centaur Soldier  

2s: 

Glenn and Scarlett 

Josef Krieg and Scarlett 

Dreiga / Novice Ruth 

Defense 

1s: 

Llyr Militia 

Leigh 

Kun Davill 

2s: 

Darso the Mad 

2HP boys like Bradley or Jethro 

Balance 

1s: 

Haden Rhys 

2s: 

Farrel Wadreth 

Rosalie 

Za'beth Candlebane 

 Special cases 

1s: 

Ryan Mornington 

Kun Iacob 

Jiyacin Fret 

Percy/Snuff 

Sestian 

Tonvan 

Yscarite Sentry 

2s: 

Aroch Knights 

Baqbou and Borgen Ferriss 

Kiras Yscar 

Llyr Veterans 

Taya Cooper 

 

Disagree? Did I forget something? Let me know in the comments!