Helping My Group - Zul'tan Bloodletter

[CanadianBacon5014]

I'm not entirely sure how to run this guy. But here is my interpretation:

Zul’tan Bloodletter
2x Tass’daesh
2x Trugg
1x Grukth

characters 19
3x Sir’kan
3x Qar’Dak Stonerender
3x G’rith Firefist
3x Green hag
3x Ac’Vuk
3x Muddflek
1x Elan the Wiley

Character’s 16
3x Incinerate
3x Teleport
3x Viper Whip
2x Disintegrate
3x Illusionary Form
2x Confound


Items 9
1x Bracer of Deflection
2x Necklace of Spell-Storing
1x Teufeltiger’s Mask
1x Shroud of Lost Souls
2x Ring of Vorn
2x Axe of Fury

[Bach]

There is no one way to run this guy. He's a tough cookie on his own, seemingly meant to exist in the front rank. But his supporting cast is excellent, so he could easily do cavalry. There's also the possibility of sniping with some multi-wounding fighter weapon and Viper whip.

You look like you're running closer to a defensive cav set-up, so let's work towards that.

-2 Ax of Fury: crap card. Much better weapons. And anyways, just because these wizzies CAN equip fighter weapons doesn't mean they HAVE to.
-1 Teuf Mask: Zultan isn't going to the front in a Cav deck style.
-2 Necklace of Spell Storing: I'm iffy on this card - the check is an 11 for Zultan. Let's take it out to make room for movement.

+3 Phantom Steed: Movement, prime ditch card if not needed.
+1 Bracers of Deflection: best Wizard defensive item.
+1 Camel: Ring of Vorn synergy

-3 Ac'Vuk
-3 Mudflek: we're a cav deck now!

+3 Judge Aaecus: good multi wounder, high ATK.
+1 Dar'rak: Hero. Epic. Pwnage.
+2 Pelanth: ATK bonus and healing.

[Aarrow76]

Nice deck! How is it playtesting?

I agree with Bach, get rid of the axe... put in staff of storage or even Bardich...
In my playtesting, Stonerender hasn't been all that great... I would replace with some range strike abuse... Gozas with Disabling or Ballista, Ivory ring...

Maindeck a Trugg for a late game sneak attack from rank 2!
Mirage potion can help running that close to the front...
Yes, Dar'rak.

I'd keep Ac'vuk & Muddflek instead of the slower cav characters... A well timed quick strike will win games! Although, I like Pelanth more than Elcan...

[Bach]

Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about Stonerender either. He's good, not sure if he is worth it for a level 4 yet. Haven't done any playtesting...I have a lot of ideas for Zultan, but dunno which way to go yet.

He is very likely to get his react off in this deck with the Illusory Forms, however.

[Rayzer730]

I built a spell weeni blitz version for kasey starting Gush, and it seems to work similar to Yahia. However, it seems to hit a wall on occasion when it runs out of good STRONG offense to kill beefy guys with.

[Bach]

You're running Ivory Ring in her deck, right Ray? It's a necessity.

Rely on the character base for punch. Even at low levels, Ballista Crew, Ac'Vuk, and Skisk Soulfire (I'm determined to make good use out of him with Zultan ) can provide you with big strikes and multi wounding...just not necessarily in the same card.

Item based damage like the Shroud and Ivory Scepter can back the spell blitz up.

[Bach]

Been doing some more general ruminating...

I think 2x Counterspell is a good idea in any Wizard deck right now. Why? It's the only thing that cancels Lift Up Your Voices. Even against non-LUYV decks, it has great utility. It's only a react, has an extremely low DC, and cancels a really wide range of action cards, including the SoO cards that are multi-classed.

My only issue is I'm not sure how much Zultan should be worried about a LUYV deck. Nin-Gula doesn't particularly scare me, but Dimitr does. None of the other clerics worth noting are likely to run it (I believe).

Anyone faced a tuned Dimitr deck? How would you say a blitzy Zultan's chances are if Dimitr gets LUYV on the first two turns?

[Rayzer730]

I had Kasey play her Zultan (which I've been modifying like crazy after each game) and he consistently slows against anything with more than 2 HP per character. He needs some sort of SUPER kill shot, since Hungry Spirits is only a DC 15 check.

[Bach]

I am not bothering with any of the high-level spend orders. None of them do it for me (not even Chain Lightning).

3x Lightning Bolt and the many many Nothrogs who do 2 wounds should do the trick. G'rath is just a must imo. I'm seriously considering running Skisk Soulfire if I have enough Air actions. Combined with Ivory Ring, you get a +9 2 wound range strike by ditching an unneeded Teleport or Phantom Steed.

[Bach]

So, after some playtesting, I have come to the conclusion I was horribly, horribly wrong.

Zultan-the-Cav-Wizard is an extremely poor substitute for Scyrax. His support characters are not nearly as good as I had suspected at first glance. Paticularly G'rath. I found I rarely had a spell worth ditching to him, and worse, when I did, not the time. His tempo loss is a killer. I haven't played with Qadrak, but I see no reason to. Pelanth, however, is quite nice. Though he is a bigger boon to Krenthor than to Zultan.

I've also found that the new start is a glass cannon in the extreme. If you win initiative, it can knock some heads. If you don't, you're likely going down fast. Even if you do win initiative, and get both your strikes off, the low AC's of your army get ripped to shreds later in the round. Gunda is still better in my book, Ryan and Kinnel be damned.

I'm currently trying a new tack with him (spell blitz) but having trouble getting the offense/defense mix quite right. Yes, I could say 'screw defense', but I'd die damn quick. 4hps does not make up for a 13 AC. I love the idea of working Confound in, anyways (can double as offense in some situations).