Creature Class Critique #5: Ogres

I was going to save Ogres for a while since they're one of the more obvious deck concepts based on class. But since a deck using Ogres was posted to the mailing list, let's go for it now.

There are five Ogres, with vitalities ranging from 8 to 13: Ice Ogre, Polar Ice Ogre, Great Fanged Ogre, Ancient Ogre and Tree Ogre. (That last one is from Drifters Nexus). All are large non-flying Mortals, bribable by Babes. None can be channelled against. Additionally, the Ancient Ogre prevents your opponent from channeling for the rest of combat. (Normally, secondary attackers can accept channeling against Ogres.)

Ogres are also Vitality boosters: Great Fanged boosts other ogres; Ice and Polar Ice are +2 in Mountains; Tree is +4 in Woods.

Putting all this together, your supporting cards should be of two or three varieties: anti-channeling, anit-Babes bribery, and to a lesser extent, Mountain bonus cards.

Choice of terrain:

If you can get them, Rocks of Rhuadan, from Necropolis Park. They are a combo Mountains/Dry Heaps with the following restriction: only Guardians can channel and at -3 CMP. Your opponent can only channel against your non-ogres or as secondaries. This further restricts him. You can get around the -3 by playing a Channeling Flux.

S.S. House of Babes, from Drifters Nexus. No bribery by Babes. The downside is that you none of your creatures get bonuses in Rivers and Lakes.

Spirit Mountain. Huh? Why? Because of one of my choices of secondary classes.

Other creatures:

Ogres can make up the bulk of a deck, but there Vitality numbers don't lend themselves to easy stacking under Shields. You'll need some supporting creatures. The choice you make depends upon whether you want a dedicated anti-channeling deck or a dual-class deck that attacks on two fronts.

In either case, the first cards you want to add are Ugly Wart Fiends (to prevent bribery) and Shadow Panty Raids (ditto).

If you don't want your opponent to channel against you only, you can add in: Lorg Mole (demon), Energy Toad, Moon Spirit and Disc of Siin. Also Brom's Skull 21, Energy Eater, Magic Feedback and Longshot Louie.

If you don't want any channeling at all, then consider adding Energy Leech, Monolith of Power and Siin as your Guardian. (And skip Louie, you won't have need for him and as a channel receiver, you'll be tempted to channel to him.)

If you choose the Lorg Mole and Moon Spirit, you may want to add a few more Demons & Devils or Spirits, but don't try adding both classes. Ugh!

For Demons & Devils: add small guys like Yandrax, Gorgal Skag and Doogoop the Greedy (for vitality bonuses). Devil Hedgehogs and Devil Dogs optional.

For Spirits: Add Ice Spirits and Moon Daughters. Both get bonuses in mountains and can be channeled to in Spirit Mountain. (See, I'm not *totally* insane.) Medicine Man is the Yandrax for Spirits. Arwyddyn is another possibility if you choose not to channel much and want something else to do with your stones. Koset of the Light is a little counter-productive. Stinking Spirit prevents little guys from ganging up on your Ogres, but be careful -- it works on *your* creatures, too!

Summary: I've got to put one of these together. Just writing up the possibilites has got me thinking about it. Ogres are a strong class to build a deck around. And either dual-class or all-out anti-channeling are good strategies for them.

C. J. Burke
Keeper of the Flame

Eager Ogre: Mortal, Vit 8, OCB 1, Large, Babes, Ogre, CMP 0, Red bar.
No channeling against Ogres. +4 Vitality when used as a primary attacker.