Guide for The Shadows of Viros against The Corpse of Viros
Noah Redmoon does a fantastic job of looking the part of the evil, sword swinging wizard. Which is good, because he very much is, if you look into his lore (which can be found elsewhere on this wiki). You also might have noticed that he's labeled as the "Phoenixborn of Viros" on his card, which means that he and the Corpse of Viros share a stomping ground. But, "there can be only one" and if you're struggling with Noah fighting the Chimera invader, hopefully, this article will help.
My assumption with this is that you only have access to the Master Set and the Corpse of Viros. This guide will only specifically cover the Shadows of Viros deck.
Preface: rules interactions
The Shadows of Viros has a few rules interactions that you need to understand before proceeding. The first one is around Noah's ability, Shadow Target. The Corpse of Viros - and all other Chimera so far - has only 1 Ready Spell: the Ultimate. The rules for an exhausted Ultimate are in the Chimera rulebook on page 12, or the Red Rains rulebook on page 17. Of importance to note is that this happens before red rains tokens are placed during the Recover phase.
Another interaction is that of Firebelly and Summon Sleeping Widows. As per the rules on page 17 of the Master Set rulebook, playing Summon Sleeping Widows after the Red Wrath 1 ability has triggered means that the new Sleeping Widows are not affected by the ability, and will stay around.
Stormwind Sniper is the last card that has any sort of tricky rules interactions, and he has several. The easiest one is that the Chimera counts as a Phoenixborn for the purposes of Ambush 1. The remaining interactions regard Concealed. If the Sniper is exhausted, Concealed is no longer in effect, as per rules on page 15 of the Master Set rules (or page 19 of the Red Rains rules). While unexhausted, however, abilities like Dark Descent do not affect the Sniper, nor does Whiplash, and attackers will skip over him and go to the next unit, or the Phoenixborn (Noah) if there are no other units (Red Rains, page 16). In contrast, Stormwind Sniper will be affected by the Firebelly ability regardless of exhaustion, as it does not target the Sniper.
Starting Off
The Corpse of Viros plays everything to the battlefield, boasting a solitary ready spell, and no conjurations or alterations. His base form is just aspect units from either of its two Aspect decks. This means it puts a heavy emphasis on the battlefield, but the Corpse does have a fair number of abilities that target the opposing Phoenixborn's life total directly (often called "burn" if you're new to card games).
The Shadows of Viros is in a somewhat unique position compared to the other Master Set decks, as all of its units have a 2 attack value. However, most of the units in it are fragile, like with The Mist Guardian (Aradel), and it shares many of the same vulnerabilities.
One of those vulnerabilities is Noah's low life. At 16, he's just a mere 1 life point higher than the lowest allowed for a Phoenixborn, and he doesn't boast any healing in his original deck. This puts him in a position of needing to guard infrequently, which, fortunately, is just fine. His ability, Shadow Target, is situational in both PvP and PvE; more often than not, you'll find yourself not using it against a Chimera, but when you do, it can stave off an Ultimate for just long enough to prepare for what happens after that Ultimate resolves.
In a stark contrast to The Bloodwoods Queen, The Men of Iron, and The Corpse of Viros player deck, Noah's ceremonial package is rather light on allies, bringing just the Stormwind Sniper. He is a decent ally for his cost, not outstanding, but thanks to his Concealed, can make for some interesting play lines, such as blocking a Dark Descent while he's the only unit on the field.
False Demon bears special mention here. The Nightmare 1 ability has a lot of utility in picking off wounded or 1 life aspects. Using its ability is somewhat circular; if you're doing well, then you'll have no trouble finding a target for it, making it easier to keep doing well, but if you're struggling, then the ability will often do nothing, and you'll lose the False Demon before you get a chance to do anything else with it.
His remaining spellboard cards are utility cards. Resummon works well with False Demon to serve as a heal, an exhaustion removal, and an additional trigger for Nightmare 1, but that's the peak Noah can do with it before he imports cards. Given how many of Noah's conjurations are 2/1/0s with no abilities, more often than not, you're simply removing the exhaustion for 2 class die - which is slightly more expensive than the "standard" 1 class, 1 basic costs to unexhaust. Small Sacrifice works as a way to deal a single damage, which is very useful, but unless you hit a False Demon, you're trading your unit for that 1 damage, which is not ideal. If you must use it that way, try to plan so that the unit is exhausted first, maximizing the value of the dice spent to get that unit.
Beyond his spellboard, he brings two actions spells: Bound Soul and Sleight of Hand. Bound Soul is very similar to the ceremonial dice power, but suffers from a lack of targets in the base deck. Due to this, it is possible that you'll draw a Bound Soul before you ever see a Stormwind Sniper. Sleight of Hand is often considered a bad card, but in Shadows of Viros, it helps Noah to get the cards he actually wants, since he will likely be looking for more units or more removal. Two dice for it is a hefty price, but for Standard 1, it will work.
Speaking of, his removal is actually pretty strong. Shadow Strike is a reaction that will take out most aspects for a single die, and Fade Away is similar, but slightly harder to use since it won't trigger until after the Chimera has placed red rains tokens for the round. Shadow Strike should absolutely be used to handle problem aspects when you draw it.
Channel Magic and Shadowblade
Let me be very clear: there is no easy choice on these.
You should absolutely run all 3 Channel Magics, the question is what cards to pull from them. Jayson, in his article, calls out Resummon, Sleight of Hand, and Bound Soul, stating "None of those three cards are gonna win the game for you, and Noah is going to be best with all 3 copies of Channel." He's not wrong, and I'd personally like to add Fade Away to that list due to the Ultimates clearing them out before they trigger.
Here's where my preference comes in. I actually think Bound Soul and Sleight of Hand are fine in the deck, if you shift your first five away from what's listed in the core rulebook. I'll get to my preferred first five after talking about Shadowblade, but for now, it's sufficient to say I don't think either of these cards are the best choice to cut. No, for me, the best cards are Resummon #3, because you will never use it (and probably won't use Resummon #2 for anything other than playing it to your board as a main action stall turn), and 2 of the Fade Aways. Yes, Fade Away is amazing when it triggers. But it has to trigger, and the higher in difficulty you go, the harder it gets. Noah's Shadow Target isn't good enough to make Fade Away reliable.
Alright, so what about the Shadowblade/Masked Wolves mix? This is another tough one, and I think this one is more a matter of preference. Shadowblade is absolutely amazing removal, and it draws you cards as a perk. But in Shadows of Viros, it fights for your other reactions' opportunity windows, and also takes away from Noah's ability to produce units to the field. Both of these are detrimental in my eyes, but I also see the value in having it, as I'm less likely to pull it in the campaign than I am the Wolves. My recommendation is to have at least 1 Summon Masked Wolf, and then have it be your call how many more you include. I typically either run all 3, or run 2 and 1 Shadowblade. Since Noah can't control when he'll draw Summon Sleeping Widows or additional spellbook cards, having more of books in the deck for the first go is of higher importance to me.
First Five
The Master Set rulebook suggests Small Sacrifice, Summon Masked Wolf, Summon False Demon, Sleight of Hand, and Resummon as the starting first five. This makes sense in terms of setting up the spellboard, but I find it to be a bit awkward against the Corpse, as you're relying on Sleight of Hand to draw into your other needed cards. This can lead to situations where you see Bound Soul before you draw any of the Stormwind Snipers, or draw multiple Resummons without enough units to Resummon. It also consumes 9 dice (10, counting Shadow Target) while only providing you with 2 units to block with - all the Chimera units deal at least 2 damage, so you won't even have a chance to Resummon. This would actually mean you're only using 8 dice (7 if you don't Shadow Target), but I don't trust the 3 new cards to give you the right outlets for those remaining dice.
All these issues lead me to adjust the first five by two cards: first, swap Small Sacrifice for Stormwind Sniper, and second, swap Sleight of Hand for Summon Sleeping Widows. This gives you 5 units in round 1, with 3 main actions (more if you attack) to stall out the Chimera so your False Demon can be your Resummon target. It also consumes all 10 dice without a single power side, and you don't really need Shadow Target round 1, barring unlucky rolls. It also provides you with a target for any Bound Souls you draw into; something I mentioned earlier as a potential issue with Noah's deck.
My recommended first five
The Corpse of Viros
The Corpse of Viros has 2 aspect groups meant for preconstructed play: Fury and Shadow. Each one has certain aspects that bring trouble, and I tend to break them down into the following categories. If you've read my other guides, note that Noah's breakdown is a little different than the other Phoenixborns'.
Grunts: these aspects are ones that you can hit last. None of the aspects will make you happy to see them, but these are the least troublesome if left alone for a while. For Fury, this is Rampage and Whiplash. I'd put Constrict and Regenerate in here for Shadow. Whiplash falls into here due to its ability only triggering once; it's basically a single unit removal that sticks around to remove another one.
High priority: these aspects are ones you should focus resources into removing, or they will quickly kill whichever Phoenixborn you're using, and Noah is more fragile than most. In my opinion, the high priority target for Fury is Firebelly. For Shadow, it's Dark Descent and Stormcall.
Annoying: this is kinda where everything else goes. They're more obnoxious than the grunts, but not demanding of attention like the high priority aspects. All of Fury's two bloods are here, while Shadow has two: Lurk and Glare.
I feel the need to call out that Lurk's placement is due to the rules interactions it has. Since you should be familiar with how Concealed and exhaustion work thanks to the rules section above, you've probably realized that things like Small Sacrifice and Nightmare 1 can take out an exhausted Lurk with no issues. And, since your units are disposable, letting it hit an exhausted leftmost unit is no big loss. Now, you don't want to leave it unblocked very often, as it takes a mere 4 hits to down Noah, but it's still not a big threat.
Now, what is a big threat is Firebelly. Only False Demons will survive the ability, and they'll die when they block (but it's worth the block, barring circumstances where you'll lose if you do). The only upside to Firebellies is that they are great for putting Widows into play, but really, all the Chimera's attacks are good at that, since Noah's units are so fragile. If you see a Firebelly late in the round, it can be worth using Shadow Strike on it to make sure you have units for the next round. That 1 "wasted" damage is a better loss than losing the game because you have no units available following the Firebelly's attack.
Next in line is probably Dark Descent, then Stormcall, then it's down to the annoying ones like Hunting Instincts, Glare, and Iron Scales, with Frozen Fear and Lurk taking up the rear before you get down to the grunts. The Descents will cause issues since Noah has very few units until you get his spellboard running, or luck into a lot of Widows, but you still don't really want to see them. Stormcall eats through Noah's sparse life total, and Channel Magic can only mitigate so much of that.
Hunting Instincts places fourth on the list due to adding red rains tokens that accelerate the Corpse into the 1 and 2 damage Ultimates. These tend to wipe Noah's board clean, and, unsurprisingly, you don't want that.
Everything else, you'll get to.
Handling these aspects is almost entirely a matter of blocking or attacking, then using the 1 damage effects from Nightmare and Small Sacrifice to clean up. You only have 3 Shadow Strikes, with no guarantees you'll draw any of them (but with Sleights and Channels, you have a good chance), so combat is your most reliable source. When able, use Small Sacrifice and Resummon on False Demons; this preserves your units as long as possible while still dealing that damage.
A key strategy in a lot of illusion decks is to go for your opponent's exhausted units. Shadows of Viros is no exception, but you want to be strategic about which units of yours you exhaust and when. I alluded to it before, but if you see a Lurk about to attack an unexhausted unit, there's no reason to not exhaust that unit before the Lurk attacks, even if you're just attacking the Corpse itself (while it has no Defenders). Get value where you can; my typical advice for campaigns is "try to spend 1 die per blood, or 1 die per 2 unit damage" so if you can make your units punch up, do so. And don't be afraid to lose any of them. Shadows of Viros is a lesson in disposable units.
Round 2 and beyond
As mentioned before, a lot of Noah's difficulty comes from surviving past round 1. Due to the high unit volume I've assembled in the first five for round 1, you should be able to make it into round 2 with 1 or 2 units left on Noah's board, and this is crucial, since, also as mentioned before, he only has 2 reliable units per round. You can ceremonial power a Sniper back into hand, and should if needed, but you also want to get his Summons onto his spellboard as fast as you can. You'll likely never use the Wolves' focus ability, but having another 2/1 for 1 class is still useful enough. The rest, then, becomes a matter of managing the damage output you have and bleeding the Chimera down.
Once you've beaten Standard 1, you have a lot of good options for imports. If you want allies, all 3 of the other ceremonial decks have good ones to pull, and the Corpse of Viros player deck also has a good spellboard card in Chant of Transfusion (most likely replacing Small Sacrifice, since you have to pay attention to spellboard size). Even Saria's deck has good allies, but they're more 1 life units, so you don't fix your Firebelly vulnerability there. For more conjurations, you can look to Aradel's deck, but they, too, are 1 life units. On the other hand, they make building your board back easier, and removing 1 wound here and there is also helpful. And Root Armor can help almost any unit it gets placed on; Firebelly won't damage a Sniper with an Armor, and he'll survive any of the 2 attack aspects. Massive Growth can also make one of your units much bulkier, letting it tank a Lurk and something else (but you'll probably want to kill the Lurk with a ping damage instead of the Massive unit, so don't counter). There's a surprising amount of options.
Below here, I've included a sample round 1 using the deck and first five modifications above (so, 3 Channel Magics in, with 2 Fade Away and 1 Resummon removed - not that you see it with only 1 round). Other than that, best wishes!
Example game (vs Shadow)
First five: Summon Masked Wolf, Summon False Demon, Resummon, Stormwind Sniper, Summon Sleeping Widows
Cost requirements: 4 illusion class sides, 4 ceremonial class sides, leaving 2 basics (1 illusion, 1 ceremonial)
Starting roll: 1 illusion power, 2 illusion class, 2 ceremonial class, 5 basics (3 ceremonial, 2 illusion)
Since I'm choosing to have the Chimera go first, it opens with a power side and an 8, forcing me to lower 2. I opt for the illusion power, since I only need class, and one of the ceremonial class. I need to meditate anyways, this is just one more card.
And I get a Stormcall right off the bat.
This shifts my plan; normally, I'd want to hold the Sniper for later, but I want something to ensure I kill the Stormcall if it happens to attack. This means I play him now, resulting in the first damage of the game. I also meditate 4 cards from my deck: Shadow Strike, Summon Masked Wolf, Sleight of Hand, and Fade Away give me 3 ceremonial power and 1 illusion power. This should be enough to last me through any more spin downs and still get me the dice I need.
Noah takes 1 from the Stormcall, then has to lower 2 more dice due to a 9 roll. I opt for 2 ceremonial, before the Chimera reveals a Lurk.
Back to my turn, I use the illusion basic to play Summon Masked Wolf to my spellboard, and follow it with Summon False Demon.
Noah takes the second damage from Stormcall, and the Chimera gets a red rains token. It then rolls a power side and an 8, so there go my other two power sides, and it reveals a Dark Descent. This is looking to be a tough fight. I play the Resummon, and summon a Wolf. I do that here despite the Dark Descent because of probability; I'm guessing that the Stormcall will attack before the Dark Descent, which means the Wolf will counter the Stormcall and die before the Dark Descent can attempt to exhaust anything. The last aspect could be another Dark Descent, and the Corpse could roll a "reveal and attack," but I'm gambling on the probabilities of both of those happening being low.
The Chimera rolls a basic and a 10, so spins that basic into the 3rd power side, before revealing a second Dark Descent. Well, I was half right; it didn't attack yet.
Again, this is off to a very rough start; I think Noah's going to take a bit of damage. Looking at what I have available, it looks like I can deal 14 total damage, and need 9 to clear the board. Unfortunately, the pair of Dark Descents is going to remove 2 of that in the best of cases.
Scenario 1: The Wolf is attacked by the Stormcall, and both die. I could Widows there. Then, the Lurk would attack a Widow on the next turn, killing it and leaving me with the Sniper and a Widow on the field. I could then play the False Demon to kill the Lurk, and have 3 blockers for the Dark Descents - and the Widows would be exhausted by the first one, while I block with the Sniper. Next would be using Resummon on the False Demon to remove the exhausted Descent, and the second Descent would then attack into said False Demon, killing it and staying alive at 1. This would leave Noah with an empty board.
Scenario 2: I let the Stormcall take out the Wolves, and skip the Widows for now. This forces the Lurk to attack Noah (which is probably fine), and the Sniper can then block the first Dark Descent, at which point, I could Widows. That means the first Descent is at 1, the second Descent only exhausts the 1st Widows instead of discarding it, and I still have the False Demon and Resummon available - which would let me use the unexhausted Widows to block the second Descent. At this point, before using the Demon or Resummon, there's 3 aspects with 1 life left, and, after I play the False Demon, I would have 1 unexhausted unit capable of attacking twice, thanks to Resummon. This would give me a chance to clear out the Chimera's board - and Nightmare 1 on the Demon would trigger twice, too.
I'm opting for scenario 2, so my sequence is to pass my next turn, let the Stormcall and Wolf kill each other. The Chimera didn't spin up any dice on my pass because all aspects were revealed.
Lurk attacks, and Noah's taken 5 damage. I pass main again.
Dark Descent attacks, but since its ability has no valid target, I don't exhaust anything. The Sniper blocks, and the Descent is heavily wounded. I use Summon Sleeping Widows here, dropping myself down to 1 ceremonial class, 2 illusion class, and 1 ceremonial basic.
On my turn, I play the False Demon using an illusion class and the ceremonial basic and kill the exhausted Descent. It's higher priority than the Lurk. I have 1 ceremonial class and 1 illusion class dice left - enough for the Resummon. Even if they were both basics, I have the space to meditate again.
Now, the second Descent attacks, exhausting my leftmost Widow. The other Widow blocks, because I want the Demon for Resummon. I could use the Demon to block and then Resummon the Widow, but this way, I'll have both the Widow and the Demon going into next round, so it's the better choice. It also gives me that chance to use Nightmare 1 again.
After that attack, it doesn't matter which one the Demon goes for; I have two attacks to get around the Chimera's guard. And if it does guard, I destroy the higher priority aspect (the Descent) with the Resummon. Regardless, I go for the Descent with the attack, and - the Chimera guards. Well, now it's taken 6 damage, and on my next main, I Resummon the Demon to kill the Descent and deal 2 more damage, for a total of 8. The turn after, the Chimera fails to guard the Lurk.
At the end of the round, I have a Widows and a Demon, with Noah at 5 wounds and the Corpse at 10 wounds and a single red rains token. But that's also half of the Chimera's high priority aspects out of the way.
Thanks for reading, and may your games go well!
