Something Wicked This Way Comes

Combine the healing aspect of blue magic with the damaging potential of red magic in this deck strategy featuring the character Stormwind.

Monsters:
4× Slime
4× Wild Boar
2× Jr. Necki
2× Lioner
2× Bellflower Root
2× Zombie Lupin
1× Lucida

Items:
4× Red Apprentice Hat

Tactics:
4× Resting
4× Energy Bolt
4× Side Quest
4× Magic Claw
1× Thunder Bolt

Strategy
This deck combines the healing aspect of blue magic with the damaging potential of red magic! Use the Slimes to level up Stormwind. Once Stormwind is level 40, the Slime’s character action allows you to gain +10 HP per turn. You’ll want to level up with a Red Apprentice Hat or a Wild Boar in the first four turns. Both the Hat and the Boar allow you to play your remaining Apprentice Hats. Here’s the cool thing about the Red Apprentice Hat: every time you level up, you gain +10HP! Combine that with however many Slimes you’ve leveled with and that could be even more HP per turn! One final thing about the Red Apprentice Hat, whenever you play the hat, it lets you draw a card! Instant hand regeneration!

Now that we’ve covered the aspect of leveling up (and how best to increase your potential HP) we’ll look at the monsters in the deck. In addition to being a constant beacon of health, the Slimes also have the amazing power to eliminate your opponent’s items. This makes for a terrific card play in the later stages of the game. Wild Boar, Jr. Necki and Bellflower Root are decent mid-level creatures to help delay your opponent’s advance while you get Stormwind to level 70. Zombie Lupin can be useful late game as an instant HP generator from his level-up ability, but he is more useful to retrieve a tactic from your discard pile. Lucida is a tremendous creature with an amazing ability! Whenever you gain +HP, your opponent loses the same amount of HP!

Continuing the card drawing and HP-gaining trend, Resting is an amazing card to allow you to cycle through your deck faster. Even better, its Spawn / Think Fast 90 ability is the best way to drop your Lucida in the late game. Side Quest is a level-40 tactic, which you can start using with Stormwind’s Think Fast X character action. The ability to draw two more cards allows you to see more cards from your deck. Damaging tactics such as Energy Bolt, Magic Claw and Thunder Bolt allow you to eliminate all but the strongest of your opponent’s creatures. (Use your monsters to finish off the strongest ones.) Remember Zombie Lupin? Need a tactic you used previously in a pinch? Play Zombie Lupin and retrieve a tactic of your choice from the discard pile!

Keys to success

Level early with Slimes and at least one Resting.
Get your Red Apprentice Hats in play.
Eliminate your opponent’s stronger creatures first using your tactics.
Once you reach level 70, use your remaining opportunities to level wisely.

Don’t worry about your current number of HP. I’ve been taken down all the way to 30 HP left (and my opponents character still had 300!) and battled back for the victory. Your ability to regenerate HP will swing a game in your favor.

Good luck!

Article by: Charles Hickey
http://ww2.wizards.com/maplestory/news.aspx?doc=strategy_stormwind