Koth decks

Plastic

I'm seriously regretting that I got this guy. Going over all the cards accessible to him, I just can't see anything that synergizes with his abilities.

Anybody have suggestions?

Edit: As of patch 1.5, Koth is in a much better place and viable.

madwren

I'm struggling to put together something competitive with him. I always run out of red gems, which then hamstrings his ability to do anything, even with cheap creatures. Of course, the best (only?) way to create red gems is through supports, but they don't last against the plethora of Chandras out there, which means after turn 2 or 3, it's just a frustrating experience.

Plastic

Exactly my frustration. I wish his first and second PW abilities were switched. Or his mana bonuses adjusted. Something needs to be done so that he isn't just sitting there racking up cards in hand that you'll never be able to pay for.

ROYGBV00

Try the cheaper creature cards; 10-11 cost cards work OK for efficiency. I have some of the rare spells that kill creatures, so it sort of maintains the board while you try to find red gems. I wished I had better Rares and Mythics that were cheap...

Boggart Brute
Mage-Ring Bully
Volcanic Rambler
Seismic Elemental
Blazing Hellhound
Prickleboar
Skyraker Giant

Exquisite Firecraft
Ravaging Blaze

Smoldering Marsh

UniQ_77

Bellows lizzard
Belligerent whiptail
Akroan sergeant
Valakut predator
Akoum stonewalker
Zada, hedron grinder

Fiery impulse
Titans strength
Infectious bloodlust

Ghirapur aether grid


I ve been running this deck for 2 days now and i can assure you it can be devastating. Its not 100% but it wins most games ( even from high level chandra). Just would love to replace the ghirapur aether grid with a red mana creator (nissa's pilgrimage for red mana) . That would tune the deck up a lot .

Plastic

How about that card that destroys 6 gems for 6 mana?

Oddly enough, I don't have as many commons and uncommons for red to try this out. Blah

How long is your average game lasting?

EDUSAN

Plastic wrote:

How about that card that destroys 6 gems for 6 mana?

i did try that card for a while. At 6 mana its too costy for an effect that might as well do nothing.

In the testing i was doing it did give me a match a couple times, but if they were not red matches then i couldnt even pay the cost of playing the card

it should cost 2 or 3 mana. 6 gems in the whole board is too little of an effect.

to me, at least

UniQ_77

Most battles last about 4/5 minutes

Most of the times i can match three reds in the first turn which allows me to lay down akoum stonewalker right away. When the opponent starts with landfall i already have 1 or more elementals in turn 2. Most of the time i succeed in playing zada in turn 2 also (with landfall it even boosts the elementals more) and sometimes its possible to play infectious bloodline in round 2 also on zada. This results in heavy damage in only turn 2.
lateron in the battle the result can be devestating when you play 3or 4 infectiois bloodlust and/or titans strength on zada at once. I managed once to do more then 50 damage in 1 round. Its a killer. And koths first ability is a great table clearer if you need to get rid of opposing creatures, but most of the time i take the damage.

My koth is now lvl 46 so his reshape ability is lvl three and already destroys 9 non-red mana, no i really want a red mana creator.

ROYGBV00

@UniQ_77

I actually tested your deck, and it was pretty good, but I found that I needed more creature control, so I switched a couple things out (Exquisite Firecraft and buffing the creatures + Beserk to kill off opposing creatures).

I'm using Smoldering Marsh and Sword of the Animist as mana generators, since they often lead to cascades, thus resolving some of the mana deficits that Koth runs into when there aren't any Red gems.

Chandra is still an uphill battle, since she needs Red gems also, and often triggers cascades of her own.

It runs a bit more efficiently for me now. Here's my modified version of your deck:

Belligerent Whiptail
Akroan Sergent
Akoum Stonewalker
Zada, Hedron Grinder

Titan's Strength
Infectious Bloodlust
Exquisite Firecraft

Smoldering Marsh
Sword of th Animist

This is with Koth at Level 60.

UniQ_77

Koth's ability's should be cheaper to cast. That would make him so much more powerfull.

HomeRn

I *might* be on to something with the deck I currently have for Koth... currently I'm only in the 40s with Koth for levels - but I do have the mana bonuses maximized at this point which is extremely important. What I'm pondering is if Ingest is a valid strategy for Koth since the update a certain new Mythic dropped: Crumble to Dust. Here's the deck so far:

Creatures (4):

(13) Pilgrim's Eye (4/4 Flying) - Converts 3 gems to your color upon entering battlefield
(13) Forerunner of Slaughter (4/3 Devoid) - Allied Colorless creatures have Haste when played
(13) Herald of Kozilek (3/5 Devoid) - Your Colorless cards cost 1 less
(11) Blight Herder (5/6) - Process 2 to spawn a 3/3 Eldrazi Scion with Defender

Spells (3):

(3) Demolish
(11) Crumble to Dust (Devoid) - INGEST ALL AND GEMS
(14) Serpentine Spike (Devoid) - Deals 4, then 5, then 6 damage to 3 creatures

Supports (3):
(6) Shivan Reef - Adds more and gems
(15) Looming Spires - 3 mana every turn it's out plus gives +1/+1 and first strike to a friendly creature when played
(5) Shrine of the Forsaken Gods - 3 mana every turn AND 3 gems give 2 mana to a colorless card in hand

This deck probably needs some refinement as it needs some help against Chandra; ingesting gems isn't the best idea in the world as Koth and it's slow! However... this deck is hard to stop once it gets going. Devoid is a nice way to get around that annoying -1 mana penalty that isn't a red gem match!

Plastic

HomeRn wrote:

I *might* be on to something with the deck I currently have for Koth...

I've thought of a similar idea, but honestly I feel like he shouldn't be pigeonholed into a colorless deck just to be viable. Also, some of the cards for the colorless to work are extremely rare.

I'm really hoping the devs work on him and they aren't just saying they're keeping an eye on his gameplay statistics.

HomeRn

Plastic wrote:

HomeRn wrote:

I *might* be on to something with the deck I currently have for Koth...

I've thought of a similar idea, but honestly I feel like he shouldn't be pigeonholed into a colorless deck just to be viable. Also, some of the cards for the colorless to work are extremely rare.

I'm really hoping the devs work on him and they aren't just saying they're keeping an eye on his gameplay statistics.

I'm with you on that. Gameplay statistics alone doesn't tell the whole story.

ruvik

i run something like zoo deck. https://imgur.com/a/KXVYX
first hero power + first strike helps to get the board early on, and then you kinda snowballin' with you high attack creatures dealing 10-20 dmg per turn.

UniQ_77

Koth goblins

Goblin glory chaser
Subterranean scout
Lavastep raider
Goblin piledriver
Zada hedron grinder

Fiery impuls
Fiery conclusion
Infectious bloodlust
Demolish

Sword of the animist


Fast deck with good mana gain
Just try it

alextfish

I'm quite happy with:

Akroan Sergeant (9) first strike
Belligerent Whiptail (5) sometimes first strike
Prickleboar (11) first strike
Bellows Lizard (7)
Blazing Hellhound (10) berserker
Volcanic Rambler (8) generally efficient

Call of the Full Moon (13) grant berserker
Sure Strike (1) grant first strike
Demolish (3) because I always face loads of supports
Scour from Existence (12) because it's more reliable than burn

Obviously built around the synergy between first strike and berserker from Koth's first ability, which is the only one worth using.
Try it quick, before v1.5 nerfs the berserker ability by pushing the cost up to 12 loyalty

madwren

So, um, wrecking house with the new Koth. This deck is better than the old Chandra, for me.

Creatures
Avaricious Dragon
Abbot of Keral Keep
Mina and Denn, Wildborn
Volcanic Rambler
Conduit of Ruin

Supports
Cinder Glade
Smoldering Marsh

Spells
Exquisite Firecraft
Stonefury
Volcanic Upheaval

madwren

Actually, even better now.

Abbot of Keral Keep
Mina and Denn, Wildborn
Embermaw Hellion
Flayer Drone
Scab-Clan Berzerker

Devour in Flames
Exquisite Firecraft
Rolling Thunder

Cinder Glade
Smoldering Marsh

Mainloop25

Koth is pretty savage now. With enough leveling up, you can get +10 mana with each red match, that means most heavies you can have on the field within 2 turns... Reshape the Land really helps with getting red matches a lot of the time. Couple that with his Strength of the Mountain ability, you can quickly get many creatures doing a lot of damage really quickly.

Morphis

Mainloop25 wrote:

Koth is pretty savage now. With enough leveling up, you can get +10 mana with each red match, that means most heavies you can have on the field within 2 turns... Reshape the Land really helps with getting red matches a lot of the time. Couple that with his Strength of the Mountain ability, you can quickly get many creatures doing a lot of damage really quickly.

It is actually 9 mana.

I bought Koth today and as I thought he is at least on the edge of being OP.

He can have explosive starts where you unleash mega beasts in the first couple turns...

If he gets stuck(no red mana or red mana when your hand has nothing you can actively play) things can go badly beyond belief.
Overall performing greatly and as soon as they fix back Chandra first skill he will dominate the red mana spot... Until next nerf at least

Malcrof

Official Thread is now up, please continue discussion here: viewtopic.php?f=37&t=47645