I personally like Burn It Down in DE more than any other deck. You have so many tools to hit units in Kingdom/Quest that you don't want to give them an out when you hit the nuts removal draw. Withering Hex is pretty good, too... running just two, you very rarely draw it without a target. Also, you almost always want to run Soul Stealer or Warpstone over Innovation, so putting developments in the battlefield isn't a huge deal. You might even want to toss the first one there to turn on Naggaroth Spearmen. There are a *few* DE builds that might want to run Innovation to play combat tricks on opponents' turns, but I don't think they're really the best builds right now. 

Malekith is interesting... I haven't tested DE post-legends. One thing I like about him is that loyalty is not too much of an issue for DE compared to some of the other races.

Vitamin T said:

1) Hate is a nice card when played on first turns (to slow down your opponent) or as a combo breaker (Will of Electors + Verena and so on).
But it becomes a total coaster in the mid/late game. Im stil unsure of its usefulness tbh. 

2) Numberless Graves is working perfect in this build. It gives you a decent card draw (since unit killing is a main focus in this deck), but
with Thief of Essence in play it becomes even more usefull.

3) There is no use for Burn it Down in this deck since I have Innovation, and it forces my to develop Kingdom most of the time. 
After some playtesting, I figured that DE resource boosting mechanism is very weak at the moment (compared with Empire or even Chaos combos) - so replacing Innovation with Warpstone Excavation isn't a big deal. Only one thing stops me from doing that - majority of local players are Empire players.

4) Burn it Down - great card, and without Innovation in deck, its obvious choice to pick up. I'll think about it.

5) I used to play Mortella in almost any DE deck that i've build on. But again, after a long playtesting i figured some big disadvantages of this naked lady:
First - Zone specific action - Its funny how this card becomes useless, when its moved to the other zones. Since most of my games was against Empire players - Mortella was the main target for Force march/ Wilhelm. 
Second - Not so great output when played against non-Empire players (most of the tactics cast by you doesn't give the same advantage / some of them are race specific / or even facing a deck with lack of tactics)
Third - Loyalty cost (Yes, I know that loyalty isn't a huge problem for DE, but i had some bad hands where extra loyalty cost ruins a day)
Fourth - psychological effect. After the first game against this deck, most of skilled players end up developing their tactics, just to prevent them to be used by Mortella. And since "Long Winter" tactic, this trick becomes a reliable choice.

6) I'm still thinking about adding 3rd Malekith - it needs some playtesting.

7) Clan Moulder's Elte gives a nice aggro generation, but this deck focuses on total unit slaughter (using all known combos).
Weak offence in this deck is compensated with massive unit destruction, In most cases, I win not because of destroying opponent's capital, but when I have 2 Hekarti's quest on the table. The main idea of this deck is to kill enemy units as fast as you can, play some Wight lords and Alluring chosen, and methodically damaging opponent's capital.



 

 Definitely agree on Hate: it ranges from amazing to the worst card in your deck depending on when you draw it. I like it a little bit better in builds that *really* try to put the screws on early resource/draw. Or that have one-cost tactics to play with the barrel.

I can see Innovation being more useful with the Lengend in there. Without the legend, it hasn't been a super card for me in DE. You have a lot of cheap stuff and often don't want to develop every turn. If you want to go as far as running Dwarf Slaves and Treasure Vaults, maybe. Warpstone has not been a bad card for me against Empire: it almost always comes down to who can shut down the opposing Quest zone first, and Warpstone helps you win that battle. Corrupting guys in the battlefield doesn't usually matter that much (especially if Malekith is the finisher, I would think). Still, I can see how Innovation might be needed for getting Malekith out. 

Mortella is a close call... she was always on the bubble for me. I like her a bit better if you have Chillwind to get extra activations, but it usually just comes down to the drawn and matchup. Although, if players are purposefully NOT playing tactics because they know you're playing her, I would probably keep a single copy in there. :) 

Clan Moulders seem like a decent idea, but they just don't represent a fast enough clock without other cheap, aggressive units to complement them. You also really want all of your guys to be able to go to Quest in a pinch. They're a bit better if you're running Soul Stealer, as that gives you a way to get another aggro unit...

 Why is no one running Dark Visions?

Aside from chittering hoarde this is the best search in the game. It is an automatic 3 of in any dark elf deck I play.

 I do frequently play "Dark Visions".  I think that it is a pretty solid card and in many games a card like that would be a auto include.  In W:I it is easy enough to just use your resources to play something allowing you to draw an extra card every turn that it sometimes doesnt make the cut.

TL

I only run it when I try to max Plague Monk's effect. Although it is not a bad card in turn 1 where I usually have 1 resource over if I'm unlucky with Contested Village, there more attractive cards for the tactics section when playing DE. Also agree on the points that Vitamin T listed.

In a "basic dark elf control deck" I can see lots of different choices for a 1/2 cost card...Dark Visions is a strong card, I like it a lot, but I quit playin' it in my last versions of DE decks when I realized that it's a lot better in decks where you need particular sinergies...Normally, I prefer to put in a removal or something that grants some more board control...Dark Vision is "one card for one card", no real card advantage, just a nice search engine to get quickly the cards you need to lock down the oppo.

In a control deck like the one I'm workin' on on this thread (thanks for every single post and for other version posted!) I can't really find a slot for it (I usually play with 53-56 cards dark elf decks and I cannot find room for it :)).  

The version of the Dark Elf control deck that I was running ran Orc and Dark Elf for things like the Lobber Crew and Easy Pickens, in combination with three Offerings to Hekarti and three ancient maps. The way I saw it, if you can get one quest down you can get a permanent lock on units with one HP, two quests gives you a lock on two, and so forth. Since very few people will have more than 3 HP, and most have 1 or 2, a couple of quests is usually sufficient to lock the board and between ancient maps, dark offerings, and the quest it self you usually have a good chance of getting two out fairly quickly. With sacrifices and a couple of other cheap units,  you can populate the quests, and use cards such as the lobber crew to "prime" the quests and get some initial tokens on them to start things moving. 

The deck works fairly well but the problem is that against the current empire monster, it is just too little and too late. Against other decks, it fares a little better, though churches completely shut the deck down unless can also find room to run pillages and burn it downs. 

Zeruul said:

Your idea seems interesting but I think Burn it Down is mandatory for any competive DE deck. The use of Easy Pickings seems a bit limited if you are running cheap units on the quest. I think Pillage would be better if you want to play DE/orc. A DE/chaos version with Sorcerer of Tzeentch/Savage Gors/Burn it Down was also good until Zealot Hunter reappeared recently ;)

Well the nice thing that I like about Orc is that Easy Pickens and Lobber Crew have no targeting requirement, and nothing is destroyed, so it prevents things from keying off that. However, I am at the point where I think burn it down and Pillage almost is a requirement in the deck. I'm almost at the point where I think it is mandatory in ANY destruction deck. I have considered throwing those in, and maybe the Sorcerer, but that is for a future build, and hopefully more cards in the future that help build it up some more.  

Additionally, I was originally running the Dark Elf support card that gives a penalty to HP in zones without developments, in addition to running the Orc development destruction tech to help some against Judgment decks, though that still feels a little weak.

Now play such build:

3 Innovation
2 Lash the Prisoner!
3 Walking Sacrifice
3 Whip the Slaves
3 Alluring Chosen
2 Armoury
3 Crypt Ghouls
3 Dark Elf Infiltrator
3 Dwarf Slaves
2 Har Ganeth
3 Sacrifice to Khaine
3 Seeking New Slaves
3 Slave Pen
3 Thief of Essence
3 Seasoned Corsair
3 Wight Lord
2 Countess Iseara
3 Malekith

The main problems:
Not enough killing.
No support removal.

The build that I prefer for the moment is this one:

3 Walking Sacrifice
- easy loyalty is needed in every DE deck + obvious synergy with Warpstone Experiments and Slave Pen
3 Clan Moulder's Elite
- cheap firepower is really needed with DE
2 Dark Elf Infiltrator
- quite needed against Chain Lightning, Knights Panther, Pistoliers, Stand your Ground, Order in Chaos, Grudge Thrower where opponent wants to keep resources
3 Dwarf Slaves
- expandable unit, helps against Verena and speeds up Burn it Down when needed (still not sure between Innovation and Warpstone)
3 Thief of Essence
- the "cardgetter", amazing unit when unit removal kicks in. you want to spread unit removal into seperate phases for most effect. only drawback is the 1HP
3 Seasoned Corsair
- can kill a wide spectrum of units, usually they help to get the first token for Offering to Hekarti
3 Blood Dragon Knight
- Great unit and is needed for firepower and further synergy with the unit removal theme. not sure yet between this one or Wight Lord

3 Hate
- can make your opponents good starting hand/1st turn into a bad one. otherwise same as Infiltrators as it kind of forces the opponent to spend all resources.
3 Warpstone Experiments
- I think destructions best card from legends, great Thief/Slave Pen synergy + overall usage for resource/cardboost and helps the firepower problem from DE
3 We Need Your Blood
- needed against rush, can sometimes be played within the opponents 1st turn after succesful Hate. also helps to get tokens for the quest
3 Sacrifice to Khaine
- easy token for quest when needed, most succesful when the enemy board is cleared from cheap units using the other HP reduction effects.
3 Burn it Down -
support removal is mandatory in nearly every deck and this is the only way other than going crossfaction with orc. essential against Church of Sigmar

3 Warpstone Excavation
- Innovation is also good but not sure yet. a substitute could be Har Ganeth for good Walking Sacrifice/Thief of Essence synergy
3 Contested Village
3 Witch Hag's Curse
- good against a lot of key units (Wilhelm, Sorcerer of Tzeentch, True Mage etc.), when there is no worthwile target use it on Clan Moulder for solid defense
3 Slave Pen
- great synergy and usually decides the game when the opponent can't get rid of it quick enough

3 Offering to Hekarti
- same description as above only in this case it's the unit. when the token engine gets fueled you have great unit lockdown. if played correctly together with other effects you can get some kind of mass removal.

#50

Good all around deck that has some slots that can be adapted to other local meta. A small drawback is still a lack of firepower when your attackers get removed or damage is canceled. Malekith is also an option but in recent games I couldn't get him into play or didn't have him out for long. In an earlier version I also had Corsairs of Ghrond in it because of Warpstone Experiments and Slave Pen synergy but I couldn't find place for them when going for 50 cards.

Also note that you can play DE really kingdom concentrated with Har Ganeth, Walking Sacrifice, Thief of Essence and Whip the Slaves (Zdravovich also has them in his list) because of the controlled card draw.

http://deckbox.org/sets/13384

I would take in Wight Lord and Har Ganeth.

I used Countess Iseara to bring back Walking Slaves to quest or Corsairs to trigger it. She is expensive but fun. Anyway you need a way to ensure you got units on your quests. Har Ganeth always keeps a Walking Sacrifice in your hand and you can lower your own units HP and play them again to trigger "enter play" effects (Corsairs). The Wight Lord has necromancy so you can not loose them and they trigger the quest. They are more expensive than the Blood Dragon Knight, but they ensure a kill triggering the Quest.

Seeking New Slaves is another possibility. A dead unit will trigger Offering twice when steal it and when you sacrifice it. A stolen unit makes sure that you have a trigger ready and you can get 2+ power units for just 2 resources.

- 3 Blood Dragon Knights + 2 Har Ganeth (limited) + 2 Wight Lord (expensiv, necro) + 3 Seeking New Slaves means something would need to go and i am not sure what I would take out. But great deck!

Wichtel said:

Did you already played with Blood Dragon Knight? He basically does the same like Wight Lord every turn (not just by entering play) while still earning a token. I also thought that Wight Lord is better with DE until I actually played Blood Dragon Knight. It went better than I thought. There aren't much units that survive his effect and left HP can be drawn with questtokens or We Need Your Blood. Most times I just try to keep up Sacrifice to Khaine for the big guys while going for the units that I can kill with the other effects. Another thing while I switched to BDK is that I always want to attack and when I want to kill a unit in Q-zone or K-zone than I need to play Wight into corresponding zone which isn't always what I want to especially when I already built up these zone enough.

Iseara is nice but I'm totally away from using big guys other than in a reanimator deck. Most decks I play against always have cheap ways to remove them.

Regarding Seeking New Slaves: It  was basically a 100% slot with DE until recent time but that card is not constant. It tends to be good against destruction but often it's just mediocre and I'm sitting on that card waiting for a chance. When this happens I also have enough card in hand that I would like to play instead but that just happened in the last 4-6 games or so. Nevertheless it's a great card. The problem is that are too many great cards now but it's more the economy and cheap damage that needs to be improved. The general census seems like unitcontrol DE is the way to go or does somebody has success with playing the cardcontrol tools? In theory I had something in mind but while playing it always lacked actual control over the board and I was overrun by the opponent.