Shadowfist Deck: "Holy Manchus, Batman!" by Jeff Tang

Home > Decks > Decks: "Holy Manchus, Batman!" (CCG Workshop online Proving Ground Fall 2006 league winner)
[posted 4 Sep 2007]

Posted with permission. Thanks Jeff!

Jeff Tang won the final Final Brawl of the Fall 2006 Proving Ground league on CCG Workshop with this deck.

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2x General Senggelinqin
5x Manchu Officer
8x Manchu Soldiers
2x Red Bat
2x Wu Man Kai

1x Paper Trail

1x Beneficient Tao 
2x Bite of the Jellyfish
2x Faked Death
5x Kunlun Clan Assault
5x Mole Network
5x Moonlight Raid
5x Operation Killdeer
1x Pulling Strings
1x Realpolitik
1x Secret Pact

1x Devil's Mountain 
1x Disco
1x Festival Circle
1x Jade Palace of the Dragon King
1x Mah-Jongg Parlor
3x Mobius Gardens
1x Petroglyphs
1x Stone Dolmens
1x Temple of Celestial Mercy
1x Temple of the Angry Spirits
1x Waterfall Sanctuary

3x Manchu Garrison
1x The Bazaar
1x Training Camp

1x Fortune of the Turtle
3x Shadowy Mentor

As I look over the decklist now, I realize that it has way too many cards - I was worried about getting "decked" in a four-player game. (Note to self: In 4 hours, I went through 30 cards...)

The Manchu deck concept is an "oldie but goodie", and the ability of the Manchu Officers to unturn should not be underestimated; it allows this deck, like all good Ascended decks, to accelerate nicely in the early/mid-game. Also, it's always fun to drop hordes of Manchu Soldiers at 2F when there's a General on the board. Of course, the usual Ascended staples are present: Op. Kildeers, Mole Networks and Shadowy Mentors.

However, the card that elevated the Manchu deck design from "viable" to "brutal" is ... Moonlight Raid. Event-based Stealth is useful and the power gain is very nice, but the kicker is that these effects last until the end of turn. Hmmm, is there anything in this deck that unturns characters? ;-) I've found that the following sequence happens quite a lot: play Manchu Officer for 3 power (no power left in pool), attack FSS with Manchu Officer, play Moonlight Raid, Stealth around intercepter, damage FSS, gain 1 power, play Manchu Soldier, unturn Manchu Officer and attack again with Stealth (and probably gain another power, not to mention possibly burning the FSS).

The success that I'd had with the Moonlight/Manchu deck led me to strongly consider taking it into the Finals. On the other hand, I'd also had good results with a Red Bat deck, which becomes disproportionally more powerful as a game goes on. Since I couldn't figure out which deck to take, I decided to take them both...!

The Final was a highly entertaining game, against three fine opponents: Matt Wooley (whose ever-growing horde of Redeemed Gunman took down 3x FSS and a non-FSS, all by themselves), James Przytulski (whose Uprising deck stalled for a long time, until he dropped 11 Fighting and gained 2x FSS in a single turn), and Robin Parmar (who seemingly always gets hosed by a Gatling draw, but always recovers skillfully, and proceeds to kick serious butt).

As it turns out, I managed to pull off a pair of Moonlight Raids, and on my ninth turn (turn #36 overall), I burned a FSS with a Manchu Officer, and then dropped a 10F Red Bat and a couple of Manchu Soldiers, and went back in with everyone to take the last FSS for the win. (For added insurance, I had both an Op.Kildeer and Moonlight Raid in hand, while an unrevealed Devil's Mountain had given me a measure of calm during other players' turns.)

It was a fantastic, hard-fought game, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks again to Robin, James and Matt, and especially to Jacob Hawkins, who tirelessly organized an entire Proving Ground season online! (If you're a Shadowfist player, you should really check out the Gatling engine at CCG Workshop...)

[writeup by Jeff Tang]

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