Faction Primer: Oratek

Oratek is the home of leveling extra cards and flexible mobility effects. How can we make the most of these two unique mechanics.

(Mouse over section headings for definitions.)

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Archetype: Late Game Defender[]

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I think the defender archetype still has some viability in the current format despite limited access to animating effects. You just have to be a little more creative to use every part of the pig.

The main drawback of creatures with defender is that they don't apply pressure. Their big bodies make them great at beating other creatures in combat, but if you don't have any other tricks, that 8/2 Steam Sentinel is just going to sit there, ignored by your opponent. Traditionally, animating effects such as (old) Vault Welder, Flamerift Instigator and the classic Jet Pack were used to turn left over defenders into threats. But with just one rare enabler in the current pool, that's not a reliable strategy. Alternatively, you can move your damaged walls around the board to make a second block, essentially getting a 2-for-1 trade. There are a few cards that do this, the best and most common of which is Windcaller Shaman. Zephyr Mage, Borean Windweaver and Blizzard Shaman (depending on his mood) can also help reposition walls for additional blocks.

And there are a couple more subtle advantages to playing defenders. Since they will frequently win a trade, it's common to have damaged walls sitting around occupying lanes. This makes your opponent's Death Currents riskier and more likely to hit a low value target. It also annoys mobility players since they can't move about the board quite as freely as they wish.

The difficult part about playing this archetype is knowing how committed to be to the defender plan in both drafting and playing the deck. Steam Sentinel and Avalanche Guardian are defenders that are fine in regular decks, so I don't mind picking up a couple if I don't have any Sparkstones yet. Forge Guardian Alpha is ok sans Sparkstone if you have some mobility tricks to move it around but I won't pick Cinder Colossus until I have an animator. Once you do, this guy becomes an incredible win condition. Even with a bunch of support cards, picking too many defenders can be risky. One fifth pick Glacial Crush from a Tempys opponent can ruin your match. Instead, it's a good idea to diversify your late game, picking up at least one Tech Explorer and a couple high power mobility creatures like Cloudcleaver Titan or Skyknight Glider. The deck works best when it can use its giant walls to get 2-for-1 trades allowing your other win conditions to freely apply pressure. But you have to make sure that you actually have other win conditions for that to work.

A side note about mobility creatures...while defenders can put a cramp in an opponent's mobility strategy, they can also limit your own creatures. A normally strong creature like Ionic Warcharger becomes mearly average when it's not allowed to move and Kadrasian Stoneback can be nearly unplayable. Try to pick creatures with scaling mobility like Cloudcleaver Titan, Skyknight Glider, or Umbruk Glider since they will be able to move around a clogged board later in the game. In some cases, you may still need to overwrite damaged defenders to open up lanes for your mobility creatures.

This deck wins in one of two ways. If you have a Sparkstone Elemental in your deck, you consistently win trades and amass a wall of giant defenders then eventually draw Sparkstone and hit them for half their life total. If you don't have a Sparkstone, you use your mobility tricks to either make a good trade with a wall or push a chunk of damage with a level 3 Tech Explorer, as the board allows. It's chippier and requires more careful planning of current and future turns. Compared to other late game decks, AT generally has a better early game against aggro than AN and a better late game than AU (more ways to push damage). It can struggle against a stream of Gluttons if the game goes long since Oratek has a difficult time ending the game quickly.

Archetype: Midrange Mobility[]

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The mobility deck plays quite a bit differently than the defender deck. It's a true midrange aggro deck. It's midrange in that it is equally strong at all phases of the game and aggro because it would rather push damage than sit back and make trades. It can play a decent defensive game, moving around mobility creatures to set up favorable trades, but I think it is more successful when being aggressive.

The core of the deck is the suite of high quality mobility creatures from both Alloyin and Tempys: Ionic Warcharger, Kadrasian Stoneback, Skyknight Glider, Cloudcleaver Titan, Arc Wurm, and Umbruk Glider. Ideally, you will be able to pick up one or two Windborn Hellion, which is probably the best growing creature in draft right now. It starts with average stats and becomes quite large with just one or two move triggers. In rank 1, I don't try too hard to protect it and let it snowball, I just want to get it leveled. But, the level 2 version has the potential to run away with games. It grows quickly and soon gets out of range of other on level creatures.

Even without a Hellion the deck can still get by. Pummel Pack is a little harder to use these days but can give you free wins. It's especially hard to deal with on mobility creatures that can avoid blockers and get in the buffed damage. And Frostshatter Strike is a fantastic combat trick in this deck. It can fix two trades for board control, help take down a single buffed creature, or push lethal damage late in the game with the mobility creatures providing the flexibility to set it all up.

And yet...this archetype seems to be missing something. Something that can push it up among the top decks. For example, NT decks play very similarly but also get real removal, allowing them better board control and more ways to push damage late in the game. And UT is a better aggro deck, with harder to answer threats and pump spells to back them up. One thing missing from the current Alloyin pool is quality attack buff. Matrix Warden is the poster child for these abilities but Ironbound Reinforcements, Oreian Fieldmarshal, Alloyin Strategist, and Battle Techtician are all good examples. The only thing that comes close is Torrent Acolyte but you have to invest in it early and it slightly reduces your deck quality. The great thing about all of those other cards is the potential to use them as underdrops to change trades, which you can't do with Acolyte. Adding some of these to the pool would help other factions, too, but I think AT would benefit the most since they pair so well with Tempys' mobility creatures.