From: someone called JK [howcomeim@hotmail.com] Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2001 12:42 PM To: hpccg@pojo.com Subject: Starter Choices and Deck Ideas - me Okay let's get started... -=Starters=- For your starter you want a wizard/witch who gives you an advantage(duh), so let's look at the potentials. Professor Filius Flitwick: Text: "Once per game, you may trade 2 cards from your hand for 1 card that requires [Charms] power from your discard pile. Provides 1 [Charm] power." This card is...well...amazing. Obviously, this guy gives a pretty giant advantage, namely not needing any Charm Lessons in your deck! AND his power is good for end-game kills when all your spells are used up. I don't think there's anyone better. Recommended for any deck with Charms as a starter. As an ally would be more risky, but using the Sorting Hat can fix that. Hermione Granger: Text: "If you already have 2 or more Lessons in play, the whenever you use an Action to play a Lesson card, you may play 2 Lessons instead of 1." Hermione boosts your Lesson production, giving you an edge in speed. How to use this? 2 words: "Beat. Down." Fill your deck with direct damage spells-Magical Mishap, Vermillious, Stupefy, Noxious Potion, Malevolent Mixture etc. Use her Lesson production to your advantage and run over your opponent before he/she can stop you. Professor Minerva McGonagall: Text: "Once per game, you may discard the adventure your opponent has played(you don't get the reward). Provides 1 [Transfiguration] power. Professor McGonagall is like Flitwick, but for Transfiguration. However, her power has a different practicality. Using her power, we can get rid of early 4 Privet Drives and In The Stands and counter-attack. McGonagall would be a good choice for a deck using Steelclaw, allowing you to load up on CMC Lessons a la Flitwick, but instead of direct damage spells, focus on creature removal and Lesson denial. As an ally McGonagall is useful but more for her power than the Lesson provided. Draco Malfoy: Text: "During your turn, you may use an Action and discard a card from your hand to look at your opponent's hand. You may then choose one card from his/her hand and discard it." Draco would be useful for a control or lock deck. His ability allows you to blast away any cards you don't like. Play him with Meet The Centaurs or Mrs. Norris for added assurance. Fill out your deck with denial and control cards. Decks: Charms/Transfiguration Harry Potter: Text: "Whenever you use an Action to draw a card, you may draw 2 cards instead of 1." Ahhh, the Boy Who Lived. Personally, I hate this card. Sorry, but I do. The drawing power can be matched by Delivery Owl and he has no other useful abilities. However he can be used in conjunction with Unicorns to yield better results. Ick. Well, I think that's basically it for potential starters. Now for potential decks... -=Decks=- Charming Creatures Charms/Care of Magical Creatures Offensive Characteristics: Lots of direct damage charms, 3+ damage creatures, Hagrid Charming Creatures is one of those decks which seem to win all the time. It has a good balance of offence and a little defence, with Creatures to attack and Charms to blow away enemy creatures and for extra damage. 4 Privet Drive would probably be the best Adventure card for this deck. Recommended cards for inclusion: Vermillious, Stream of Flames, Toe Biter, Cage, Baby Dragon, Vicious Wolf, Cunning Fox, Norbert/Mountain Troll, Rubeus Hagrid Starter of choice: Flitwick Ally of choice: Rubeus Hagrid Potions/Charms(no name...Poisoned Beauty?) Potions/Charms Offensive with healing Characteristics: High-powered Potions Spells, Creature kill Charms, Some healing Potentially one of the most damaging decks, P/C...) has a BIG weakness in 4 Privet Drive. Sorry, did I say big? I mean HUGE. So, I would recommend playing McGonagall as an ally or starter if not Flitwick. Hermione is a good ally for this deck. The general strategy is to use high powered potions to pound your opponent while using Charms to kil enemy creatures and support while keeping yourself in check with a few healing spells. A good adventure would, again, be 4 Privet Drive. Recommended cards for inclusion: Malevolent Mixture, Bloodroot Poison, Dogbreath Potion, any cauldron, Noxious Potion, Stream of Flames, Toe Biter, Vermillious, Burning Bitteroot Balm, Start-of-Term Feast, Accio Starter of choice: Flitwick/McGonagall Ally of choice: McGonagall(if not starter), Hermione Swarm Care of Magical Creatures/Transfiguration Offensive Characteristics: Weenies as well as bigger creatures, Steelclaw and Swarm, Hagrid The Swarm deck is one mean beatdown deck. It concentrates on playing a lot of creatures while holding off opponent's creatures. Then it stacks up damage with Hagrid and finishes off with Steelclaw and Swarm. This is probably one of the only decks I would play Harry in. 4 Privet Drive (peanut butter =P) fits in nicely. Try to keep your highest cost to 6 or less-more creatures, less lessons. Reccomended cards for inclusion: Vicious Wolf, Cunning Fox, Giant Tarantula, Curious Raven, Cobra Lily, Boa Constrictor, Incarcifors, Desk Into Pig, the Lesson kill Transfiguration spells Starter of choice: Professor Minerva McGonagall/Harry Potter/Hermione Granger Ally of choice: Hagrid, Hermione I have yet to find a decent lock deck, but I think there's one posted in the Deck Garages on Pojo Thanks for reading all the way through my rhetorical pontification. me howcomeim@hotmail.com