Hope Mason Decks

[oienoien]

Today is the start of a huge change in meta. In particular, 3 great cards became immediately available to players today: Hope Mason, Credo Master, and Rift Fabricator.

Just entered a Standard and all the decks looked completely different. I got the need achievements cards too, so I wasn't really sure how to use them at first and lost a lot. 

My strike deck that typically easily place in the 25% became obsolete with the inclusion of these 3 cards. People thought Eviscerator was good against strike, but I still beat decks with 2 of them easily. But any righteous deck with Hope Mason or Credo Master is much tougher, since there's plenty of righteous heal and protect support. My strike deck was not able to stand up to these new decks. The only matches I won with my strike were fast Herc decks and noob gold/enclave decks. Fast Herc with Pantheon Shard is a poor choice for standards now, since I put Rift Fabricator in my deck. When alive, it chaoses Helidusters to destroy its own support. When dead, it summons Enclave Warp Gate, which out flanks Herc, then kills the pantheon shard and Svet. Since Pantheon shard was the only protect card used, I was also able to strike down some Helidusters and Hercs as well. But I died immediately to Atelier spams with all the new support cards and smartly built large Herc decks with Dracorex and some strike mixed in.

The solution was to counter these problems was to build a completely new deck from all the new cards I received. I faced a variety of decks with it and was able to make it to 25%. It was close to 10%, but I wasn't going to get it. I faced DarkBlood1's fast Herc deck and won the first time, and lost the 2nd time. Both times were very close. 2nd time I lost due to him playing Longshot first, so I had to waste my IM early.

Deck: http://tyrant.40in.net/kg/deck.php?nid=RLFgL5hDKPIfgfgvHxJwJe

It's pretty wack and uses some subpar cards. I believe with Monarch, Credo Master, and Pods, it would have been much easier, maybe even #1 potential. Pantheon Progeny makes the most amazing combo with Flare of courage. I have used that combo to take down beasts like Thunder Crag, protected Herc, and Longshot in one hit. I'm also considering some sort of fast protect all card. Heph is too slow, maybe Radiance.

Pods Valor deck: http://tyrant.40in.net/kg/deck.php?nid=SigvL5I0+jHxvphDIOKL 

Goal of this deck is to achieve valor and flurrie the hell out of your opponent to win fast. Laird is used to counter sycos due to only 1 wall and allow you to be not afraid of being outflanked. Dalia or Dracorex might be better. I don't have Theo though, so I'd replace that with another Pod or Avatar.

Slow alternative: http://tyrant.40in.net/kg/deck.php?nid=QVgvL5I0+jCIgfLMKvI0

Here the goal is to outflank your opponent, so Longshot in this deck might be better replaced by Sabertooth, Theo, or another Monarch, Pod, or Credo Master. Or perhaps Acropolis/Shuddering Keep to counter Sycos.

[oienoien]

Looks like I went off topic and did not discuss the epicness of Hope Mason. I was not used to play him, so he died by my stupidity this tourney a few times. Make sure he survives for at least 2 turns after activation. The extra rally from the summoned structures give your cards insane attacks. Also have some sort of cleanse, because you want the structures to heal him. When his structures rallies himself or Rhino, you can often beat the opponent when outflanked. 

[Aszyre]

Two weeks after I stop playing, cards are released that rebalance Herc, standard meta changes and I no longer know anything about the game. Ahhh... power creep. C:

In all seriousness, thank you for making the first post about this. If I were still playing today, this is exactly the kind of thing I would want to know and read about. Props!

[oienoien]

Come back! It's fun! :D

Another fun idea:

http://tyrant.40in.net/kg/deck.php?nid=R1gOF5hDfbgJvq 

Plan is too Rally Vengeant to super high levels and hope that it flurries to win by turn 9 or 11. It's like playing speedy achievements in tournament! Although winrate might be as low as the typical speedy achievements, but it would be fun to see a top rated Herc or summon deck go down to this.

[OmegaGuardian911]

To be honest, I guess Hope Mason might be the Righteous equivalent of Vengeant to an extent: you don't use Tabitha as Comm for the rally, but instead use Gaia for the heal.  Once Hope Mason gets active, it can build a possibly limitless line of Marks of Hope, and once the damage reaches levels good enough to match Vengeant, once the Flurry kicks in, it might be enough to flatten even some of the most durable Commanders.  At least, that's how I see this card...

[Hunter Hogan]

I haven't cared enough to play many standard tournaments lately, so I can't say if Hope Mason is going to revolutionize tournaments the way Heracles completely redefined tournaments, but I feel confident that Hope Mason will be extremely important in Faction Wars.