Hello! Michael here. Today, we are continuing our Dexamples series, this time focusing on the new Deadly Synergy deck paired with EVERY SINGLE deck pairing possible! As usual, a different warband will be used for each pairing for more options.
Since we do have the new no plot lock rule, I have included decks for all plot combos as well – so have extra fun!
With that, let us begin!
BLAZING ASSAULT – THE EXILED DEAD
The Exiled Dead are leading this article! Despite getting instantly nerfed upon release for the second time in history, the nerf actually made them more susceptible to running this pairing!
First of all, the objectives see us take Strike the Head, which is rarely ever played but the minions from Exiled Dead can make it quite easy (same with Go All Out). Got Your Back is great, as more often than not you are being united. Helping Hand is also great because of your Dynamic Rerolls allowing you to rig the dice in your favor. Inflitrate basically reads attack an enemy in enemy territory so it is a Get Stuck In clone. Aggressive Unity is really easy for the Exiled. Beatdown might be a weird pick, but the glory ceiling is quite low so I felt like I had to take some desperate choices. Same with Closed Down, as your minions can no longer hold, but a Marcov + Regulus charge combo should usually secure this objective card for you if your opponent does invade you. Finally, despite Outmuscle sometimes being counterintuitive (as you don’t want to drive your opponent back), it’s a pretty easy two glory.
We take a LOT of Blazing Assault ploys and not so much Synergy stuff, but at least we have room for Out of Nowhere, which is double good on Exiled Dead since accuracy is a slight problem. Take One of the Team is also really funny here, because you can divert attacks to your Raised Minions and get to see your opponents cry when they waste a Twist the Knife + Determined Effort + whatever else to kill an uninspired Ione (though I’m pretty sure that the ploys mentioned are actually played after Take One for the Team timing wise?). Finally, Unified Front is really good because it takes all minions to 2 Shields but more importantly Deintalos to 3 Shields.
We do take a lot of Deadly Synergy upgrades, which may or may not be due to the fact that half of them overlap between the decks. Battering Ram is here to help deny Emberstone Sentinels stuff as well as score Outmuscle. Coordinated Deathblow is REALLY good for this warband and it’s low damage on attacks. Duellist is nice to have but not a requirement, it does help keep Flanked/Surrounded mid-Danse though. Entangling Strike is here for some extra accuracy, which your zombies desperately need. Titan of Combat (and Hidden Aid) may seem like a bit extra but if you just slap them on Deintalos and Marcov it’s a pretty decent Save buff.
EMBERSTONE SENTINELS – SONS OF VELMORN
Maybe Velmorn isn’t the best warband for this but with their high Save dice they might just be able to pull it off.
We take Got Your Back because with two Shields it’s likely you will score it. Helping Hand is also here because if you are hitting something on those two swords you will probably score this as well. Infiltrate is here because even though Velmorn’s Command Counter doesn’t unite you, it does flank the enemy! Aggressive Unity is actually pretty hard but if you are getting invaded it should be child’s play. Closed Down fits well with what your deck is trying to do anyway, so it’s a must. Finally, Outmuscle is really nice because you do pretty low damage on your skellies outside of Jedran, and you want to driveback in order to get enemies off of tokens, so this is actually pretty easy.
The ploys from Synergy are maybe not as synergetic with ES as we would like, but all good. Army of Two is really good as it also applies to Save rolls, so we can get pretty tanky with it. Brother-in-Arms is for when your Grave Guards had enough and decide to steal Jedran’s club. Keep in mind, Morlak DOES Flank the enemy when doing this combo! Defiant Duo is here for the Guard token but the heal is also nice when you want to keep Morlak/Velmorn and Jedran alive for longer. Out of Nowhere is busted and helps with early inspiration. Unified Front is also really good as you can all get to 3 Shields!
Upgrades see us take Battering Ram, which is insane when paired with Emberstone Sentinels. Coordinated Deathblow allows for the Grave Guards to do a decent bit of damage on their own. Duelist allows you to take tokens easier, as does Rush to Aid, albeit it is a little harder to set it up. Finally, Titan of Combat is really nice here as it amplifies your two Shields even further while giving your accuracy a much-needed boost.
PILLAGE & PLUNDER – THE GRYMWATCH
Grymwatch have a fun time being united as they can randomly come back to life in edge hexes, making uniting them very easy.
Anyways, in the objective department we don’t run a lot of Synergy cards and instead focus a lot more on Delving. Still, we have Closed Down because we have a lot of ways to get onto enemy tokens and we are likely to be united with our two unite-power cards as well as Outmuscle because everyone other than Gristlewel and Valreek and the boss hit like a wet noodle so odds are enemies are surviving the attacks. Might as well get rewarded for the driveback. Infiltrate is here because Grymwatch are very invasion heavy. Inflitrate is here to reward aggressive Raises in enemy territory and Got Your Back is great with your two Save dice and re-roll from your Delusions.
For ploys I took like every single card from Synergy pretty much. Some highlights include Out of Nowhere, to make Gristlewel VERY accurate, Take One for the Team because you have many raised ghouls to divert attacks to, and Brother-in-Arms, because of Exhibit A: Gristlewel. Defiant Duo is also great as going on Guard is fantastic in a mainly two Save warband, and with some of the new boards being very aggressive, the heal will be nice on the Duke.
In the upgrades section, Battering Ram is BUSTED for PnP decks. Forced driveback + Overrun is generational stuff. It guarantees Broken Prospects if an enemy denies Strip the Realm! Coordinated Deathblow is a nice Gristlewel-esque attack. The other upgrades (from Synergy) are all pretty self explanatory.
COUNTDOWN TO CATACLYSM – THE SHADEBORN
First of all, massive shoutout to GW for removing the plot lock JUST as we were writing this article which doubled it in size. Jokes aside this is a great change and creates some cool combos like this one! Shadeborn are great for it as they like the passive glory without needing to invade but also can leverage the United mechanic with their Save re-rolls and high dice amounts.
In the surges, I took Got Your Back because of your decent Save (and with United it’s even easier), Infiltrate as you have some very good accuracy as well as teleports to set this up, and Tandem Assault – because odds are, you are killing something. The end phases see us take Aggressive Unity which is arguably the best card in the deck, and can be made even easier with the large amounts of Range 2 Attacks. Closed Down is also pretty easy with some card support and has good synergy with Outmuscle, which might actually be a little hard with the high damage you have. Still, a couple of Range 3 shots from Sylarc make it easy.
The pings from Countdown make inspiring very easy. The other cards are also nice. Army of Two is great for when you YOLO a fighter into the middle of enemy lines. Brother-in-Arms is also really enjoyed by Shadeborn, because you can pick either accurate attacks (Slythael) or damaging attacks (Drusylla). Defiant Duo is also nice, the Guard token works really well on Slythael or your Utterly Convicted fighter especially. Out of Nowhere is genuinely one of the best cards in the game, and can’t be skipped. Finally, Unified Front is especially good on Shadeborn because they all have Save re-rolls making it really effective.
Upgrades from CtC I want to highlight are Hurled Weapon for easier United Attacks and Utter Conviction which is bonkers with the Flanked and Save rerolls that this warband and deck get. Battering Ram is just an all around good card, worst case it’s a good Emberstone Sentinels counter. Coordinated Deathblow may seem like an interesting pick especially with Desperate Rage already in the deck but keep in mind only one of your fighters does a consistent 3 damage so they are both necessary. Duellist is fantastic on Range 2 demons like Slythael, and so is Rush to Aid. Finally, Titan of Combat is here to enable the deck as well as to just get massive accuracy buffs.
RECKLESS FURY – MOLLOG’S MOB
Mollog, despite being changed, still unites very well with Reckless Fury. He also plays Deadly Synergy extremely well mainly due to Nasty Critters and Tag Along!
We take a lot of Synergy surges here. Got Your Back is actually not the easiest on one Save dice, but at least you do count pretty much every symbol as a success so as long as your opponent doesn’t have like 3 dice per roll it should be doable. Helping Hand is fine, it’s basically a worse Critical Effort, but at least you are pretty accurate so you will score it someday. Infiltrate is free – simply charge with a minion and there you go, a free glory. Tandem Assault is also really easy mainly due to Tag Along uniting your fighters as well as Mollog doing quite a bit of damage. Aggressive Unity is taken because odds are you will be attack a lot of times. Outmuscle is here because even though you will be one shotting a lot of fighters, you always have your little guys to score it for you.
In the ploys department, Army of Two is here in order to help setup YOLO charges (as usual). Brother in Arms is slightly diabolical on the minions stealing Mollog’s club. Defiant Duo is here mainly for the Mollog heal. Out of Nowhere is here because you have permanently Surrounded minions, so you can flex on your opponents by changing the symbol to a Surrounded instead of a Flanked. Selfless Parry is here to divert attacks to and from Mollog, allowing inspiration or longer lifespan. Finally, Unified Front is here because it doubles everyone’s Save!
Battering Ram is great in any deck so here it is as well. Coordinated Deathblow is also fantastic especially on the minions. Duellist and Rush to Aid allow Mollog to zoom around the board getting free hits in. Finally, getting Titan of Combat out on Mollog is absolutely nuts and enables your whole objective package (from Deadly Synergy, at least).
WRACK & RUIN – ELATHAIN’S SOULRAID
Elathain and his Soulraid are pretty good with Deadly Synergy as they have their Ethersea Predators to unite them as well as have some funny interactions with some Wrack and Ruin cards.
In the objectives, Got Your Back is quite nice in a warband who is on 2 Save for an entire round. Even then, Comrade Duinclaw and Furiann are both on 2 Save base, so this card is quite easy. Helping Hand is here cause the other options suck and you roll quite a high amount of dice as well as have Cleave so rolling a Flanked isn’t too bad. Infiltrate is really easy especially with stuff like Titan of Combat. End phases see as taking the usual Aggressive Unity as we do have lots of melee attacks and Tammael is even Range 2 making this easy, Closed Down is fine because of your minions and their push, and Outmuscle is pretty easy as well as you do have some sources of 1 Damage to make sure you don’t kill and only drive back. A surprise to some may be Hemmed In, which requires us to kill a leader, and this is here only cause all the other options are atrocious. Still, if you draw it in Round 2, your inspired stats make it very easy to kill an enemy leader.
The ploys see us take Army of Two for a more forgiving positioning. We also take Brothers-in-Arms literally only so the fish can stab someone with Elathain’s inspired attack – it’s quite funny when it happens. Defiant Duo is great especially when we consider Furiann benefits a LOT more from the heal than most fighters do. Out of Nowhere is busted so it’s in this deck. Unified Front is also great, and you can never hit over 3 Save anyway in this deck so the limit is fine for us.
In the upgrades, we take Battering Ram for denying enemy Emberstone Sentinels, Coordinated Deathblow for a source of three damage (as we don’t have one in this deck), and Duelist to dance around enemies better. Great Fortitude is great on Furiann as she does have infinite Stand Fast, and Keen Eye and Titan of Combat are great accuracy buffs. Shoutout to Unstoppable and Desperate Defense on Furiann making her immune to 2 or 3 damage attacks! This is actually the entire reason behind the deck combo, and it is really fun when you pull it off 🙂
EDGE OF THE KNIFE – THORNS OF THE BRIAR QUEEN
Reworked Thorns make this deck pairing really fun!
In the objectives, we only take two Deadly Synergy surges. Got Your Back is quite easy with every ghost’s 2 Save, and Infiltrate is easy with your Mugging capabilities. The End Phases see us take the ‘default 3’ Deadly Synergy cards. Aggressive Unity is quite easy with Mugging, Outmuscle is easy because uninspired you aren’t killing much with the ghosts so might as well get rewarded, and Closed Down is easier with many fighters, as you get much more board control. Plus, one of the Mugging conditions literally asks an enemy to hold, which makes this a lot easier.
We have a lot of Synergy ploys. Army of Two might actually be too much with Thorns but it does give you some nice flexibility. Defiant Duo is great if you ever get in a position to heal someone, but at least the Guard token part is fantastic. Out of Nowhere is busted and is therefore in this deck. Timed Strike might be difficult to setup but once you run out of Mugs and fighters it could be a nice bonus. Finally, Unified Front is REALLY funny because 3 dodge on every fighter is slightly insane.
Battering Ram is once again here just cause of Emberstone Sentinels but also because it makes Behind Enemy Lines really easy! Coordinated Deathblow is also REALLY good for the Thorns, as they lack sources of three damage. Finally, Titan of Combat allows solo fighters to be united as well. It’s maybe a bit excessive but nice to have.
REALMSTONE RAIDERS – THE SKINNERKIN
The (reworked) Skinnerkin aren’t the first warband you may think of ‘accurate’, which is necessary for Raiders to work. However, with Deadly Synergy, their high dice Sword attacks become not too bad and then you can factor in their warscroll re-roll for something not too shabby!
We take a lot of Synergy surges, as the RR ones aren’t very fun to play with. Got Your Back is nice once inspired and you go onto 2 Dodges with three of your guys, you also have 2 Guard ploys for some extra ease. Helping Hand is here cause of the high amounts of dice you roll, odds are you will roll a Flanked someday. Infiltrate is great, and you have some Range to set it up too. Tandem Assault is here cause it has good synergy with your Haunch generation. We also take the default 3 end phases from Synergy, as all of them are fairly doable. Closed Down works nicely with Roused Violence (the delve card) and Hoarder’s Hovel (the hold card). Outmuscle is great with your low damage and on-demand Grievous. Aggressive Unity is fine, might be hard to set up in practice but on paper it’s doable.
Army of Two is especially great here as you don’t have much movement tech so often times your fighters will be isolated. Defiant Duo is also very fun, giving you some nice survival tech and Skinnerkin actually benefit from both the guard and the heal. Out of Nowhere is still mega busted so it’s in this deck. Unified Front is amazing as it gets all your guys a bonus, going to 3 dodge is great but so is 2 Shields. The RR ploys aren’t too spectacular but they aren’t bad either.
Upgrades wise we do take lots of Synergy stuff. You may immediately notice the lack of Coordinated Deathblow and that is due to one of the haunch abilities giving your Grievous. Battering Ram is good as usual but it also helps with Hoarder’s Hovel. Entangling Strike is here in order to maximize accuracy for Haunch and for Raids. Titan of Combat is in a similar place to Army to Two where it is amazing for this warband giving lots of buffs and is actually not niche either.
RAGING SLAYERS – SKITTERSHANK’S CLAWPACK
Skittershank is back for some more leader stab-stab! This deck pairing makes them quite accurate which is necessary for killing enemy leader-things. However it does rely a LOT on Skittershank not die-exploding, so keep that in mind.
In the objectives, we take Got Your Back, cause Skaven are very helpful and hard to hit, yes-yes. Helping Hand is here cause many dice rolled+re-rolls = high chance of rolling a specific symbol. Infiltrate is here cause Skaven are the best at getting into unexpected positions, however they don’t really like working together so you will rely on Army of Two and Titan of Combat here. Tandem Assault rewards us for the mission of stabbing-killing leader-thing (or anything really). Aggressive Unity is fine and we do have two melee weapon upgrades to make it doable with the Ranged Skaven as well. Closed Down is really nice as we get rewarded for steal-plundering enemy treasure (but it is difficult to get the Skaven to unite or hold as they do have Poor Footing in this pairing). It can also be scored by shoving an enemy leader off a treasure with your warscroll! Outmuscle rewards us for doing what we already know, that Skaven are the strongest of all mortal and immortal races (ignore the fact that we don’t actually have to kill anything). Notably we don’t have a single card that needs us Enraged so we can comfortably not take the Rage counter if we don’t want to!
The sneaky-ploys here are made with the help of Skritch, the Ploymaster himself. Army of Two is great because Eshin Skaven are great at working alone so a shadow clone to unite with is always nice. Defiant Duo proves that Skavens don’t give up (but the heal and Guard are both great on a warband with 2 Dodge and 4 Health fighters). Out of Nowhere rewards the unexpectedness of the Deathmasters by making a miss very unlikely. Timed Strike shows how skilled-talented the Deathmasters are by YOLO-charging without uniting and rewards them for it (jokes aside it is nice for a YOLO charge into enemy lines if you need that one attack to land). Unified Front is to make the assassins harder to hit, which is always very good-great.
Battering Ram allows Skaven to Outmuscle anyone and get into sneaky-sneaky positions with Skittering Blur making them unnattackable. Coordinated Deathblow is very good for Skulck and Krowch’t because they are aspiring assassins and need to learn to kill things. Titan of Combat belongs to the Deathmaster himself but sometimes he lets others use it too, however he enjoys it the most with his 4 Swords inspired.
(if you don’t understand Skaven-speak, first of all shame on you and second of all just let me know on Discord so I can clarify anything for you 🙂 )
HUNTING GROUNDS – THUNDRIK’S PROFITEERS
First of all, even if you already read the Dexamples for Hunting Grounds, don’t leave!!! This is a different deck 🙂 Thundrik does really nicely with this pairing as their many ranged attacks allow them to pepper the enemy from safety while United.
The objectives see us take a couple of easy attacking surges in order to quickly inspire. Got Your Back is great, as often times you will be getting rushed early so a missed attack is extra painful. Late game, you will be having 2 Shields on Thundrik so he scores it well himself. Infiltrate sounds hard considering you don’t want to invade but it’s easy since only the target must be in enemy territory. Tag Team is also a weird pick, but it’s similar to Infiltrate as you score it with your many Ranged stuff. Closed Down makes sense with the high accuracy and low damage, and Outmuscle is made easier through your warscroll push. Notably I didn’t take Aggressive Unity, I don’t think it is a consistent enough card here to warrant a slot, so instead I took Bloodscent (don’t call me a hypocrite pls).
We take a LOT of Synergy ploys. Army of Two makes sense in a lot of unity decks and here too, if you need that extra Save or Attack accuracy on an isolated Duradin. Brother-in-Arms allows you to play safer with Balloon Guy or make a very accurate attack by borrowing Thundrik’s cleave attack. Defiant Duo is nice and has Thundrik on the card art so it’s a double pick. Out of Nowhere I explained about 10 times this article and it’s even stronger with 3 Damage attacks from Khazgan. Timed Strike is also here for Khazgan doing YOLO stuff, and finally Unified Front makes your ‘don’t get hit’ surges much easier.
Battering Ram makes Closed Down trivial so it’s here. Coordinated Deathblow gives you a second Khazgan. Titan of Combat is always great in a deck that cares about being united. Hidden Aid is an important highlight as it makes all your surges very easy, so it’s here for a double up effect on the Flanked bonus.
And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed this instalment of Dexamples, if you want to read more of them, check this link out! As usual, if you have any feedback/comments/questions please do shoot me with them on the Staggerers Discord Server!
A quick note on the next couple weeks, we might be in a small content drought (but Ben might have something planned for you) as I am going to Worlds so if anyone is there I’d love to meet you! With that, I do hope you enjoyed this article, and hope to see you again soon! 🙂
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