Faction Breakdown: Filth Part 2

We continue with our Faction Breakdown of the Filth. Our last faction post covered the summoner and his events. This time we will be looking at the commons and the champions for the Filth.

The Commons

I find that Cultists can be quite useful even without being mutated. They are great for finishing off units at range, while staying towards the back of the board. Remember that every common you lose that wasn't mutated denies you an extra mutation that you could have summoned. No commons, no mutations. 

Because Zealots are only melee attackers, they are much harder to use safely when not mutated. I also find their negative ability, Bloodlust, surprisingly restrictive. All in all, when I want to summon a common and immediately mutate it, a Zealot is what I use. However, Shield of the Hopeful works well with Zealots, as it gives you a blocker or an extra attacker than you can protect from being killed.

Anointed come in the Filth's re-enforcement pack and they are the only Filth common that doesn't cost zero to play. I have yet to use any Anointed, as I find they are a bit expensive in a deck that has so many summoning options at all times. On the other hand, a ranged unit that can heal off a wound every turn might be powerful. I can see Shield of the Hopeful being very powerful with the Anointed. Use it to save them from being killed off before they can heal.

Champions 

What a fun champion! The abomination is all about the extreme. A high cost of 8 magic, for 7 life, and anywhere from 1-6 attack per turn. Try not to rely on getting a high attack value roll every turn, as it is unlikely. The Abomination is also sure to get focused on by your opponent. Use this to your advantage by placing Abomination where he can lure out enemy units. This should also give your other more fragile units more freedom to more and attack without getting focused down. Also if you only have the base deck this is the only champion for the Filth that you will have available.

Her is the first of two champions that come in the Filth re-enforcement pack. Her is a very powerful champion that is frequently seen in Filth decks. The strategy here is simple, summon her in the back and sit tight while you ping off the enemy commons or finish off champions every turn. At 6 magic and only 3 life, you need to protect her for a couple of turns to be able to get value out of her. It is much easier to gain back the magic used to summon her against an enemy with a large amount of 1 life units. 

I don't typically run Vomitus in my Filth decks, as I find Abom and Her more fun. At only 5 cost, he is a cheaper option in a champion spot then the other two, and he works well with the typical Filth strategy of sitting back and attacking from afar. Like with Her, you are going to want to summon Vomitus in the back of your board and pop out to get line of sight for a long range attack. However, Vomitus can handle direct combat much better than Her can, since he sports 2 attack and 5 life.

Well that covers all the commons and champions available for the Filth, part 3 will cover all the Mutation units that are unique to the Filth Faction. Check out the previous faction breakdown on the Sand Goblins and be sure to leave a comment.  

Faction Breakdown: Filth Part 1

The masses have spoken through the polls, and our next faction breakdown is the Filth.

The Filth were one of the last faction decks I added to my collection, and I wish I had bought them earlier. They have quickly become Flavid's favorite faction. They are among the most complex factions when it comes to the amount of different units they can field in one match. This makes them one of the most unique and fun factions to play.

Lets jump in and take a closer look into the lair of The Demagogue.

With two ranged attack and six life, The Demagogue has a standard stat-line. It is his ability that defines the entire deck. Mutagist is an ability you want to use as much as possible. Since it limits you to only two attacks, this entices the Filth to play a more defensive game then most other factions. The big draw of the ability, beyond simply searching for cards, is that you can take cards back out of your discard pile and reuse them.  This means you can search for some mutations units early in the game, build them as magic, use that magic to summon either a champion or a different mutation, and then use mutagist to bring the spent mutation card back to your hand. This gives the Filth excellent flexibility and even better magic economy.

Events:

Possessed wall is a great card to draw early in the game, or when your opponent only has one wall. It forces them to burn two cards to be able to summon units again which can completely screw up their game plan. Even when your opponent has multiple walls out, you can deny the best summoning spot which will help keep your defenses secure. Great card.

Shield of the Hopeful is a great card to keep your commons alive for one more turn before mutating them. Because you only have a limited amount of commons to mutate, you cannot let your opponent pick off your common units before you get to mutate them. This event card also allows you to summon a mutation deeper into the opponents territory, as you can move up the common, play shied of the hopeful to avoid damage, and then next turn summon a full health mutation. Just remember that you can't play this card on a mutated common (how crazy would that be?)

Channel Corruption is a very straight forward card, and it is very powerful. Try to use this card on a three or four cost mutation to maximize your value on this card. This card can create an extremely powerful turn if you save up to play a champion like Abomination, and then also summon a strong mutation for free.

Heretic's Rebuke is my favorite card in the Filth deck. Extremely powerful against factions with strong, expensive commons, as you can make them waste so much magic by stealing them. Four spaces (not clear spaces) is a very long range from your summoner and gives you tons of options to pull this card off. Again, as with most Filth cards, try to maximize your magic economy with this card, which in this case means targeting high cost units that your opponent just burned a lot of magic to summon. Hopefully you can time it so that you leave him with a powerful mutation to deal with in a situation where he has little magic left to summon units to fight it.

Well that is all for part one of our faction breakdown. Check back soon for part two where we will be going over the commons and champions, and then later part three will cover the mutations. If you missed our last faction breakdown of the Sand Goblins be sure to catch up.