Trial Of Zeal - strategies

julianus

For the Cast Out strategy, a lot of people in our coalition seem to have been having success using the Totem Guide.

hawkyh1

Fedaykin said:

hawkyh1 said:

maybe try
 
supports:
cast out
aether hub(empyreal is expensive to cast)

creatures:
empyreal voyager
war oracle

spells:
floodwaters(draw this instead of cast out, not a problem)
fragmentize
glimmer of genius(draw this instead of cast out, not a problem)
skywhaler's shot(draw this instead of cast out, not a problem)
alchemists vial(draw this instead of cast out, not a problem)

add one additional suitable card, maybe vizier of deferment
or anchor to the aether.

strategy would be to cast and draw cards as they come along
with the help of aether hub. it's ok to kill embalm creatures as
zombie versions don't stack with their original versions. avoid
reinforcing creatures. instead keep charged cards in hand.
keep on delaying you opponent until you can get out dovin's
3rd ability.

(glimmer of genius can be replaced by that cycle and heal 5
card. preferred dovin level 46 and above)

HH

I tried your deck out with Hieroglyphic illumination as the 10th card: on Node 2.3 it worked like a charm, and I got all 3 enemy creatures locked down with cast out. Never needed skywhaler's shot, even though I had one ready to use. 
Then when I tried it on node 3.3, cast out never shows up, or only shows up once in 20-30 cards, 3 times in a row !!! I think there must be a weighting factor in that node's programming to slow down the use of cast out.  ;-)

you managed to beat node 3.2 without even a single
rare+ in your deck? nice win.

HH

Fedaykin

hawkyh1 said:

you managed to beat node 3.2 without even a single
rare+ in your deck? nice win.

HH

I beat node 3.3 FINALLY using your deck... thank-you ... it works like a charm with only 2 creatures (war oracle and empyreal voyager), as long as you get Cast Out to show up. I was down to 12 HP left and only 1 of his 3 creatures locked down, when I was able to employ a 2nd Cast Out and lock down his creature with Reach (i wasted an empyreal voyager to that creature earlier by inadvertently casting him too early) and I brought out a War Oracle at the same time. His 3rd creature did only 3 damage, so with war oracle I was able to hang in there barely until I cast my 3rd cast out (locking down his 3rd creature), and then when I brought out empyreal voyager with aether hub already on the board, started the process of filling up the board with energized gems, and thus casting more war oracles and more empyreal voyagers, and more aether hubs, and more cast outs, etc.

SUP:  Cast Out
           Aether Hub

CR:     War Oracle
           Empyreal Voyager

SP:     Floodwaters (never used it but to cycle for new card)
          Glimmer of Genius (used it at first, tossed it later on)
          Alchemist's Vial (never used it, just tossed it every time)
          Fragmentize (needed it a lot until he was all locked up)
          Hieroglyphic Illumination (either used it or cycled for new card)
          Talent of the Telepath (used it a bunch then tossed it later)

watman

I beat all the nodes in third stage using Sorin (lvl 60):

Cast Out

Tidy Conclusion
Unlicensed Disintegration
Final Reward

Regal Caracal
Sacred Cat
Enlightened Ascetic
War Oracle
Visionary Augmenter (Edited after reading all the comments - changed to Totem-Guide Hartebeest already!)
Marionette Master

The last two creatures are the weakest and I would gladly replace them with something else, but have no idea what to use... The strategy is easy, albeit slow - lock out the opp's creatures with Cast Out, live through to the third PW ability, proceed to regain life, kicking butt at the same time, more and more with each turn...

hawkyh1

watman said:

I beat all the nodes in third stage using Sorin (lvl 60):

Cast Out

Tidy Conclusion
Unlicensed Disintegration
Final Reward

Regal Caracal
Sacred Cat
Enlightened Ascetic
War Oracle
Visionary Augmenter (Edited after reading all the comments - changed to Totem-Guide Hartebeest already!)
Marionette Master

The last two creatures are the weakest and I would gladly replace them with something else, but have no idea what to use... The strategy is easy, albeit slow - lock out the opp's creatures with Cast Out, live through to the third PW ability, proceed to regain life, kicking butt at the same time, more and more with each turn...

feels like all your creatures are fighting for the 3
creature slots. I would swap out a creature or 2
for something like renewed faith(card draw and
heal 5 for 1 mana ... bargain). maybe cartouche
of ambition or another support that buffs your first
creature.

(you haven't got any destroy support amongst
those)

HH

arNero

I currently run a general-purpose GW Ajani sustain for Node 3, with somewhat so and so result

CR:
Enlightened Ascetic
Sacred Cat
Arborback Stomper (may substitute for the rare cat breeder once I have it)

SP:
Forsake the Wordly
Skywhaler's Shot
Nissa's Revelation

SU:
Scattered Grove
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Cast Out
Oath of Ajani

The strategy basically hinges on getting Cast Out (via Revelation), failing which just use Oath and Ajani's 2nd ability to constantly buff up my lifelinkers (and in the case of the Stomper, heal me for every energy match). Cast out is absolutely mandatory for Temmet, while except for Sandwurm Convergence the healing cats sometimes suffice in dealing with Samut.

julianus

[arNero] said:

I currently run a general-purpose GW Ajani sustain for Node 3, with somewhat so and so result

Have you considered adding more card draw/cycling/to help you get to Cast Out faster? Maybe not for Sammut, but with Temmet and the Gods; they both usually ramp up the threat level pretty fast. Maybe Renewed Faith instead of Nissa's Pilgrimage?

If you have Dovin, I'd suggest looking at the cards you have for him. Blue options seem  generally better than Green for node 3.

G_pretender

Mono white Gideon battle forged to beat 3.1 and 3.3. 

Cast Out
Panharmonicon 

Skywhaler shot 
Djeru's Resolve
Aproach of the Second Sun

Sram, senior Edificer 
Oracle of War
Visionary Amplifier 
Knight of the White Orchid 
Oketras Attendant 

Ideal draw: Panharmonicon into Cast Out. After you play the first Cast Out, Panharmonicon imediately fetches the next one, rinse and repeat. 
Failing that, find Cast Out using the cicling cards. 

Aproach of the Second Sun is a nice way to get the last points of damage in case his vindicates come out late and kill all your creatures. Happened to me just now. 

Would tike to have at least one more good embalm creature and one cicling card to improve consistency. 

Any suggestions are welcome. And no, I have no other white PW. 

Mistalve

I did the whole event with a Sorin deck using Hixus.  That card makes the whole event reasonably easy, as observed in other posts.  My deck for what it's worth, the only mythic in my base deck is Hixus.

Hixus, Prison Warden
Suppression Bonds (in case Hix doesnt come out early)
Gifted Aetherborn > becomes Despoiler of Souls*
War Oracle > becomes Erebos Titan*
Sacred cat
Final Reward
Unholy Hunger
Eliminate the Competition
Forsake the Worldly
Cradle of the Accursed.

Basically get your life linkers out, cast hixus and protect it, get to lvl 3 Sorin ability and win.

*I change out two creatures for the final nodes in 2 and 3.  Those nodes have a lot of repeatable creature removal, so I use the regenerating creatures instead.

julianus

G_pretender said:

Mono white Gideon battle forged to beat 3.1 and 3.3. 

Cast Out
Panharmonicon 

Skywhaler shot 
Djeru's Resolve
Aproach of the Second Sun

Sram, senior Edificer 
Oracle of War
Visionary Amplifier 
Knight of the White Orchid 
Oketras Attendant 

My thoughts on Node 3 for white decks is that there are 4 key priorities:

1. Cast Out
2. Draw/cycle/fetch to get Cast Out faster
3. Support destruction
4. Lifelink or healing

Almost all of the cards you pick should ideally help with at least one of those four priorities. Especially the creatures, since once you get the AI deck locked down, you can kill it with just about anything. So the first cards I'd consider replacing are Sram, Visionary Augmenter, and the Knight.

You're lacking support destruction, which is especially important in 3.3, since it has Cruel Reality. I'd put in Forsake the Worldly if you have, as it also has cycling; Fragmentize or Consulate Crackdown are also options, but less efficient (and Crackdown can be very slow to cast if you don't have Baral).

As mentioned in a prior post in this thread, Totem Guide Hartebeest is very useful here, it fetches the next support in your library, giving you an extra chance to get Cast Out. Not a great creature otherwise, but it doesn't have to be. Another useful card is Renewed Faith, which gives you healing and cycling.

arNero

julianus said:

[arNero] said:

I currently run a general-purpose GW Ajani sustain for Node 3, with somewhat so and so result

Have you considered adding more card draw/cycling/to help you get to Cast Out faster? Maybe not for Sammut, but with Temmet and the Gods; they both usually ramp up the threat level pretty fast. Maybe Renewed Faith instead of Nissa's Pilgrimage?

If you have Dovin, I'd suggest looking at the cards you have for him. Blue options seem  generally better than Green for node 3.

True, having reread this thread again, I think I may give Totem Guide Hartebeest a try. But in that case, I may have to limit my support to ONLY Cast out, then rely on Animist' Awakening for mana ramp. I mean, what's the point of having the Hartebeest when it fetches my Pilgrimage?

And having that Lifelink vehicle (Aethersphere Harvester, if I'm not mistaken) might have been nice; then I can run GW Ajani energy deck with Harvester, Servant of the Conduit, then Hartebeest and Arborback. Or something.

And Samut strangely is the more dangerous one to me; That Convergence + Doublestrike tend to be far more lethal than Angel of Sanctions, though yes, Cruel Reality tends to be much worse.

hawkyh1

I've been trying my sorin spawning defenders deck with
some success(so far) at nodes 3.1 and 3.3.

key cards used are

knightly valour
murder investigation
cartouche of ambition
trial of ambition
final reward

on 3.3 I've tried including
smuggler's copter(back from dead scrapheap scrounger
triggers crew. also helps to discard scrapheap scrounger)
scrapheap scrounger(destroyed smuggler's copter triggers
back from dead)
(a decent defence versus cruel reality while you wait for a
support destroy card)

the strategy is to have a lifelink spawning defender heal you
as you gather enough loyalty to use abilities 2 and 3.

(adding cast out might be good if I had it)

HH

G_pretender

julianus said:

G_pretender said:

Mono white Gideon battle forged to beat 3.1 and 3.3. 

Cast Out
Panharmonicon 

Skywhaler shot 
Djeru's Resolve
Aproach of the Second Sun

Sram, senior Edificer 
Oracle of War
Visionary Amplifier 
Knight of the White Orchid 
Oketras Attendant 

My thoughts on Node 3 for white decks is that there are 4 key priorities:

1. Cast Out
2. Draw/cycle/fetch to get Cast Out faster
3. Support destruction
4. Lifelink or healing

Almost all of the cards you pick should ideally help with at least one of those four priorities. Especially the creatures, since once you get the AI deck locked down, you can kill it with just about anything. So the first cards I'd consider replacing are Sram, Visionary Augmenter, and the Knight.

You're lacking support destruction, which is especially important in 3.3, since it has Cruel Reality. I'd put in Forsake the Worldly if you have, as it also has cycling; Fragmentize or Consulate Crackdown are also options, but less efficient (and Crackdown can be very slow to cast if you don't have Baral).

As mentioned in a prior post in this thread, Totem Guide Hartebeest is very useful here, it fetches the next support in your library, giving you an extra chance to get Cast Out. Not a great creature otherwise, but it doesn't have to be. Another useful card is Renewed Faith, which gives you healing and cycling.

julianus said:

G_pretender said:

Mono white Gideon battle forged to beat 3.1 and 3.3. 

Cast Out
Panharmonicon 

Skywhaler shot 
Djeru's Resolve
Aproach of the Second Sun

Sram, senior Edificer 
Oracle of War
Visionary Amplifier 
Knight of the White Orchid 
Oketras Attendant 

My thoughts on Node 3 for white decks is that there are 4 key priorities:

1. Cast Out
2. Draw/cycle/fetch to get Cast Out faster
3. Support destruction
4. Lifelink or healing

Almost all of the cards you pick should ideally help with at least one of those four priorities. Especially the creatures, since once you get the AI deck locked down, you can kill it with just about anything. So the first cards I'd consider replacing are Sram, Visionary Augmenter, and the Knight.

You're lacking support destruction, which is especially important in 3.3, since it has Cruel Reality. I'd put in Forsake the Worldly if you have, as it also has cycling; Fragmentize or Consulate Crackdown are also options, but less efficient (and Crackdown can be very slow to cast if you don't have Baral).

As mentioned in a prior post in this thread, Totem Guide Hartebeest is very useful here, it fetches the next support in your library, giving you an extra chance to get Cast Out. Not a great creature otherwise, but it doesn't have to be. Another useful card is Renewed Faith, which gives you healing and cycling.

Followed your advice and swaped some of the creatures and added the heartebeast. The deck is much more consistent now. I only bring in fragmentize for 3.3 though. For 3.2 my mono green Rhonas deck is better. 

Fedaykin

okay, I think everyone can win on the first 2 nodes with their own PW/deck preferences. I use Koth (lvl 60) for first node and for node 2.1 (crafting individual decks for each battle, obviously). I did use him for 2.2 also, but I lost a couple times with him, and so I switched and have won 2 straight times on node 2.2 with Liliana 2 (lvl 60):   (cr: fleshbag marauder, guardian automaton, lawless broker, filigree familiar)  (sup: trial of ambition, cartouche of ambition)  (sp: final reward, stir the sands, read the bones, supernatural stamina).   That's 6 common and 4 uncommon cards and it works fine (cast supernatural stamina on the same turn as fleshbag and you get your destroyed creature immediately back on the battlefield) (also, when you use trial of ambition, then cast cartouche of ambition as quickly as possible to get trial of ambition returned to your hand).

(Edit: since this post I won a third straight time on node 2.2 with above mentioned deck, and each of those 3 wins achieved all objectives for 25 ribbons each time.)(Second edit: 4 straight wins on that node, same deck.)


For nodes 2.3 and 3.x, I have had limited success with Dovin Bann (currently lvl 48). The last 6 or 7 attempts have only produced ONE win, however, so I decided to try Nahiri (lvl 56), and have won 3 of the last 5 attempts on those nodes. This deck has my only masterpiece card, but it is not critical for the win. The one mythic card I use in this deck is really helpful, but still not critical. The critical thing is obviously to use Cast Out enough times to lock up opponent's creatures, and thus his hand also when it gets jammed up with 6 cards.

Nahiri (lvl 56)

sup:  Cast Out

cr:     Totem-Guide Hartebeest
         War Oracle
         Vizier Of Deferment
         Pia Nalaar (mythic card)
                (each turn, summon a 1/1 thopter and fabricate 1)
         Platinum Angel (my one and only masterpiece card)
                (takes -1/-1 damage instead of PW taking damage)

sp:    Demolish
         Violent Impact
         Unlicensed Disintegration
         Magmatic Insight

This deck does not have a great ability to draw cards, but it has TWO cheap cards to kill enemy supports. I only have cast out for support because I want to be sure to grab it when I cast a totem-guide.
And only 4 spells are allowed, so fill up the creature slots with your own choices. Obviously, totem-guide is a must have. I am thinking of trying sacred cat in place of war oracle (cheaper to cast and has embalm, although a 2nd creature slot is needed to cast another sacred cat if it has already been returned zombified via embalm).

(Edit: since this post I have won 5 more consecutive battles with Nahiri using deck listed above: nodes 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.1 again.)   :-)    (Second edit: I then won 2 more times with same deck on nodes 2.3 and 3.2, then I lost twice on 3.3, then played on 3.3 just as the event ended, and won the battle but didn't get credit for it.)

[Deleted User]

Alright first time winning 3.1 node on trial of zeal.

Using only starting Gideon

Creatures:
Oketra the true (doesn't take damage using Gideons first ability to give vigilance and defend)

Totem Guide (fetch cast out)

Vizier of Deferment (early lockdown to delay)

Aviary Mechanic (bounce Vizier or Totem for reuse)

Winged Shepherd (only for cycling)

Oketra's Attendant (cycling and random embalm from it)

Support:
Cast out (do not want totem to fetch something else)

Spells:
Forsake the wordly (cycling and potential need basis use)

Renewed faith (cycling life gain)

Alchemist vial (early disable with card draw)

First time playing this deck and winning so not sure of consistency. Also difficult to get all points, but mainly for people who are new and atleast want to win the node.

Oketra is the rarest card. Unfortunately its mythic but perhaps another first/double striker will do? All others all common or uncommon.

So prevent white and blue breaks from the opponent and get cast out to disable creatures otherwise delay until you get it out. Gideons 1st ability to give vigilance on oketra to defend until creatures locked down. Then Gideons 2nd ability to pump up army for damage. Then use Aviary mechanic and totem combo to fetch more cast outs and keep everthing locked down. Keep cycling to get needed cards and keep a few emergency cards in hand, usually an alchemist or vizier. Also keep a cast out or at minimum a totem and aviary ready. Cycle or discard all other cards as necessary.

Enemy only casted approach of the sun once so.. not sure how devastating it is later. Also never casted forsake the worldly, alchemists, or vizier. Might have gotten really lucky with the enemy being pretty mana stalled.

arNero

I've decided to try the Ajani GW Haartebeest Cast Out tactic, and so far I've done well against Temmet (1st try win) and Samut (2nd try due to bad draw)

Creatures:
Arborback Stomper (lifegain)
Servant of The Conduit (mana ramp)
Enlightened Ascetic (lifegain)
Totem-Guide Haartebeest (Cast Out tutor)

Spells:
Skywhaler's Shot (emergency kill spell)
Animist's Awakening (mana ramp)
Dissenter's Deliverance (anti-support)
Renewed Faith (draw + lifegain, but I may switch this for something else; not a fan)
Nissa's Revelation (draw)

Support:
Cast Out (main removal and MVP)

As mentioned, I'm still considering what card may be more worth adding than Renewed Faith, seeing that with Ajani, Arborback and Ascetic, that extra lifegain which costs mana to use despite giving card draw just doesn't seem worth it. Maybe Gather The Pack to further speed up getting the Haartebeest. And yes, I have only Cast Out for my support; as I mentioned somewhere in this thread, I do NOT want to draw Nissa's Pilgrimage via the Haartebeest.

Monkeynutts

3.3 is still ao ridiculous!

julianus

[arNero] said:

I've decided to try the Ajani GW Haartebeest Cast Out tactic, and so far I've done well against Temmet (1st try win) and Samut (2nd try due to bad draw)

Creatures:
Arborback Stomper (lifegain)
Servant of The Conduit (mana ramp)
Enlightened Ascetic (lifegain)
Totem-Guide Haartebeest (Cast Out tutor)

Spells:
Skywhaler's Shot (emergency kill spell)
Animist's Awakening (mana ramp)
Dissenter's Deliverance (anti-support)
Renewed Faith (draw + lifegain, but I may switch this for something else; not a fan)
Nissa's Revelation (draw)

Support:
Cast Out (main removal and MVP)

As mentioned, I'm still considering what card may be more worth adding than Renewed Faith, seeing that with Ajani, Arborback and Ascetic, that extra lifegain which costs mana to use despite giving card draw just doesn't seem worth it. Maybe Gather The Pack to further speed up getting the Haartebeest. And yes, I have only Cast Out for my support; as I mentioned somewhere in this thread, I do NOT want to draw Nissa's Pilgrimage via the Haartebeest.

I like this deck, but I agree you could probably remove Renewed Faith. I'd advise against Gather the Pack, since you're not guaranteed to get the Hartebeest with it, and if you didn't could easily cause a longer wait to draw the next one.

I think more draw is the way to go - Oketra's Attendant might be a good pick, if you have it. Or maybe borrow @jimpark's clever idea of using Aviary Mechanic to get a second use from a Hartebeest you've already cast. 

Monkeynutts

Why should it be this much bloody effort really !?!? ive lost 4 time a row due to the Ai getting out the same creature over n over or cascading i to a shed load off mana and wrecking me. Come on !!

Fedaykin

this time around in this event i have won every single battle on node 3 using Tezz2... i just got him a week ago, and i think he is now my favorite, or at least in my top 5, along with koth, kiora, dovin bann, and nahiri.