Challenge #3 (contains spoilers)

[jatill]

I just finished this one. IMHO it was easier than the first two. I beat it with a simple elves deck with some white cards. There are only few decks which can destroy Worship which has been my triumph card for the last match.

You got a little lucky, maybe. The last deck has 4 Disenchant and 4 Demystify.

[Reid]

I just finished this one. IMHO it was easier than the first two. I beat it with a simple elves deck with some white cards. There are only few decks which can destroy Worship which has been my triumph card for the last match.

You got a little lucky, maybe. The last deck has 4 Disenchant and 4 Demystify.

I had The Tabernacle At Pendrell Vale (and Gaea's Cradle) in play before casting it, so AI was just been able to keep alive its creatures (well it could have let all the ones except the shadow die to cast Demystify but I was pretty sure AI wasn't going to do it ). I was more lucky to have been able to cast Wren's Run Vanquisher in the first round to block Isamaru and stall the game for a couple of rounds (and that AI didn't play any shadow cards in the first three rounds).
I still think that Akroma has been my toughest battle so far. ^^

[monopoman]

Well none of the decks on here have given me any help at all into this. I can get to the last round but I never seem to get the nutso hand in the last round to win right away.

I have been using the vise deck most of all and that one can't stop the shadow creatures from killing me even if I happen to get a hand of enforcer/frogmite/sculptor/cheap artifacts out on turn 2 at the latest.

If other people have had more success please share this one is giving me far more trouble then challenge 1-2. Jatill was a bit too vicious with that last deck yes a burn deck there would have been even more lame. But with shadow creatures its just about as bad.

[aww1979]

Another deck I tried but ended up abandoning was a monowhite deck full of lifegain, removal, and my secret weapon, the Avatar of Hope. I forget the exact list but it was something like:

4x Path to Exile
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Kitchen Finks
4x Avatar of Hope
4x Knight of Meadowgrain
1x Balance
16x weenies, honor of the pure, spirit link, whatever
23x mana

I forget what all else it had (I must've deleted it) but I think it might've had Spirit Link and then just some random weenies or honor of the pure or something. I might've had Battlegrace Angel, too, but I would use Baneslayer Angel now. Ajani Goldmane would also be nice, but Elspeth is probably too slow. Perhaps a few shadow dudes, too, or else rely on the removal/lifegain. Baneslayer Angel would probably be a beast if you could get him out in time. Soul Warden might be a good addition, too.

edit: Just beat the challenge again with this deck:

Ajani Lifegain
;
;#oldgames
;
;09/09/2009
;1
;4th Edition
;

.1935 4 Kitchen Finks
.581 4 Soul Warden
.1414 4 Knight of Meadowgrain
.240 4 Swords to Plowshares
.588 4 Path to Exile
.1585 4 Baneslayer Angel
.10 1 Balance
.694 1 Karakas
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.230 1 Sol Ring
.807 4 Ajani Goldmane
.1453 4 Spectral Procession
.188 18 Plains
.17 1 Black Lotus
.1239 1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
.1562 4 Honor of the Pure

The last match was the only really hard one. It took me 3-4 tries to get there, and then I mulled down to 5, and I was history. The next attempt I made it to the last round again and got Soul Warden, Knight of Meadowgrain, and Black Lotus in the opening hand. By end of game, I had 29 life. I think this deck did a lot better than my Master of Etherium deck did.

With Ajani, I found that I was using it every single turn for counters/vigilance, unless I had no creatures or Ajani had only 1 counter (even then, if I had a 2nd one in hand, I'd use it, play it, and use it again) so don't worry that the last ability is locked; I never used it a single time, nor did I ever even have more than the 4 original counters on Ajani at any time.

I'm pretty sure Baneslayer Angel isn't locked, but if it is, use Battlegrace Angel instead.

[monopoman]

Cool thanks for the help I tried my own version a little more controlling that didn't work so well.

Anyone can play with Baneslayer even if you haven't done a single challenge.

[Systral]

I tried beating this Challenge with an Oath deck and made it to the last round a couple of times, but even first turn Oath into second turn Platinum Angel wasn't enough to stop the AI's removal and wheenies, so I decided to try to turn the tables on him and become the beatdown myself. It went surprisingly well and pretty much breezed through the round (and died horribly on challenge #4, but that's another story). Lo and behold the power that is little red men:

4 Goblin Lackey
4 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Tattermunge Maniac

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
3 Incinerate
1 Wheel of Fortune

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Ruby
18 Mountain

I tried fancy stuff like Fireblast and Skullclamp in there but they sucked (esp. the latter since it's bugged). All you want is a starting hand with Lackey + Bolt for their blocker, don't be afraid to mull away hands without a first turn drop in the later rounds. Piledriver is pretty much your MVP since the CPU is notouriously bad at calculating how much dmg he will take next round and merrily swings away with everything he has.

Good Luck

[aww1979]

Piledriver is pretty much your MVP since the CPU is notouriously bad at calculating how much dmg he will take next round and merrily swings away with everything he has.

I found the same thing with the weenie lifegain deck just above, only in reverse (lifegain rather than damage). I'd be sitting on two Knights of Meadowgrain and 4 life, for instance, and the AI would attack me with four 2/2s, or that sort of thing. I was able to do a lot of tricks like plow Field Soldier after blockers were declared and watch all his creatures die in combat.

[monopoman]

Wow I must be the unluckiest person on earth lol every time I get to the final match I get my worst hand by far and taking a mulligan or two doesn't help at all.

The shuffler sometimes is quite cruel.

[grinnin]

Thought I would post a nice picture of what happened after I beat challenge #3 w/ the Ajani deck, and then tried it on the first battle of challenge #4

[jatill]

Wow I must be the unluckiest person on earth lol every time I get to the final match I get my worst hand by far and taking a mulligan or two doesn't help at all.

The shuffler sometimes is quite cruel.

Not to the AI. Challenge mode secret: the AI always has at least 2 lands in their opening hand.

[Professor]

Is it another challenge mode secret that the player will always get exactly one land, regardless of how many mulligans?

[jatill]

Is it another challenge mode secret that the player will always get exactly one land, regardless of how many mulligans?

No, I don't mess with the player's hand at all.

[Professor]

My bad. It's not too hard to get a persecution complex fighting the challenges.

Keep up the good work!