Sealed Deck

[FoxBat]

OK, is 10 PM EST on Sunday good for everyone? We will go then if so... Arch can't do earlier than that.

Wyrm should be able to sub for one if needed.

[Seijin]

As long as I'm correct in assuming that's 7pm PST, then it should work well for me.

Do we have our set of skills yet? I thought we were getting them 1 day in advance.

[FoxBat]

We finally got our skill set.... I'm going to post it here. Any allies in sealed teams that might be reading this, please leave this topic and not cheat.


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A shadowArts Return
D Rending Touch
D earthPrayers Armor of Sanctity
D mysticism Zealous Renewal
D scytheMastery Mystic Sweep
D windPrayers Featherfoot Grace
D windPrayers Harrier's Haste
D windPrayers Lyssa's Haste
E airMagic Teinai's Wind
E earthMagic Eruption
E earthMagic Stone Striker
E waterMagic Conjure Frost
E waterMagic Frozen Burst
E waterMagic Ice Spear
Me dominationMagic Shatter Delusions
Me illusionMagic Ethereal Burden
Me inspirationMagic Extend Conditions E
Me inspirationMagic Mantra of Signets
Mo divineFavor Divine Spirit
Mo divineFavor Holy Haste
Mo divineFavor Spell Shield
Mo healingPrayers Heal Area
Mo healingPrayers Infuse Health
Mo healingPrayers Signet of Rejuvenation
Mo protectionPrayers Pensive Guardian
Mo protectionPrayers Shield of Absorption
N bloodMagic Jaundiced Gaze
N bloodMagic Life Siphon
N bloodMagic Touch of Agony
N curses Meekness
N curses Weaken Knees E
N deathMagic Animate Bone Minions
N deathMagic Putrid Explosion
N deathMagic Putrid Flesh
P command "Brace Yourself!"
P command "Go for the Eyes!"
P leadership Anthem of Flame
P leadership Enduring Harmony
P motivation Finale of Restoration
P motivation Leader's Zeal
P spearMastery Barbed Spear
P spearMastery Swift Javelin
R beastMastery Bestial Mauling
R beastMastery Charm Animal
R beastMastery Maiming Strike
R beastMastery Poisonous Bite
R beastMastery Strike as One E
R expertise Glass Arrows E
R expertise Marksman's Wager E
R expertise Practiced Stance E
R expertise Whirling Defense
R wildernessSurvival Barbed Trap
R wildernessSurvival Storm Chaser
Rt channelingMagic Cruel Was Daoshen
Rt restorationMagic Generous Was Tsungrai
Rt restorationMagic Soothing Memories
Rt spawningPower Wielder's Remedy
W axeMastery Penetrating Blow
W hammerMastery Backbreaker E
W hammerMastery Crude Swing
W hammerMastery Mighty Blow
W strength "I Will Survive!"
W tactics "Watch Yourself!"
W tactics Gladiator's Defense E

[FoxBat]

Some thoughts:

It looks like we can build an OK healer, and also nice hammer warrior. A ranger seems to be our third choice with so many skills. Probably the fourth would be a necro with a bit of ele for melee hate. A paragon also seems like a possibility with barbed spear spam.

With the monk, it could just as easily be rit or monk because I don't think we can abuse the DF bonus much.

Signet of Rejuvination, Shield of Absorption, Heal Area, Generous Was Tsungrai, Renewing Memories, Infuse Health, Pensive Guardian, Res Sig

I think the only other alternative would be to split up healing duties, though that seems difficult. Generous + Infuse is a relatively nice combo after all.


For the necro, something like this:

Eruption, Frozen Burst, Meekness, Life Siphon, Jaundiced Gaze, Weaken Knees?, Animate Bone Minions/Conjure Frost?, Res Sig

Curse and death specs don't need to be that high... nor the ele stuff. Alot of attributes to juggle but we don't need high in any of them really, except maybe blood.

W/D ideas; (or maybe D/W)

Backbreaker, Crude Swing, Mighty Blow, Rending Touch, Harrier's Haste/Lyssa's Haste, FreatherFoot Grace, Watch Yourself, Res Sig

Most of the reason to pick this guy is backbreaker, also should be able to proc weaken knees with the run boosts, and a bit of enchant removal in case of bonders or such. Dunno if he will need the energy from lyssa's or not. You have to be careful with crude swing, but it's still extra damage.

The last spot is espeically iffy and needs some thought.

R/P

Charm Animal, Bestial Mauling, Maiming Strike, Poisonus Bite, Strike As One, Barbed Spear, Go For The Eyes, Res Sig

One of the pet attacks could be dropped for barbed trap. The other way to do this guy is arrows instead:

Charm Animal, Bestial mauling, Maiming Strike, Poisonus Bite, Glass Arrows, Barbed Trap, Conjure Frost, Res Sig

Notice we don't have comfort animal... that means judicious use of pet controls to retreat, and we have to heal the pet. (He's got 80 AL so not horrible but...) If we don't want to risk that, I think this would be another take.

P/E

Conjure Frost, Barbed Spear, Swift Javelin, Go For The Eyes, Anthem of Flame, Finale of Restoration, Brace Yourself, Res Sig

Those are some thoughts, you guys may want to post at this stage some alternative character ideas if you see any, we can discuss exactly what to use just before the tourney. Obviously what I listed has flaws but keep in mind what we have to work with!

[Roland]

This should prove interesting, at the very least. With a little more Faction, I can be good to go with the W/D.

With the R/P, Barbed Trap could prove a little tricky to use, no? I don't know where we'll be fighting, but it may prove a little tough to pull that off reliably. I'm really not sure, though. Damage, Cripple, and Bleeding all in one go sounds nice. I'm just not sure if we can lure them into it often enough for it to take the space away from something more constant, like Barbed Spear.

Unsure about whether to take R/P or P/E with Conjure Frost. On the one hand, the R/P would add a Pet for added damage and tanking, and would combine well with the W/D. It would also add some nice Conditions (Poisoned, Crippled, Dazed for anti-caster), in addition to Bleeding from Barbed Spear spam. On the other hand, a P/E would have some nice +damage from Conjure Frost, in addition to Burning from Anthem of Flame (which also combines nicely with the W/D spamming Hammer attacks). Personally, I'd probably take Ice Spear over "Brace Yourself" for some cheap, spammable damage, but that's me. Not sure we'll see enough Knockdown to need "Brace Yourself", but then look at what we pulled.

I like the Ranger for the added tanking of the Pet. Whether we take Glass Arrows + Conjure Frost on an R/E, or Barbed Spear + "Go for the Eyes", I don't know which would work out better. GftE gives us some nice spike damage, and Barbed Spear gives us constant Bleeding to keep pressure on their Monks. Conjure Frost gives some reliable +damage, though, and combined with Glass Arrows you're gonna be hurting them no matter what, and Glass Arrows gives an option to break through "Block" stances and spells. Tough call, IMHO.

I don't know what else to add for the others. I haven't played spellcasters enough to really know what to comment about, but I like the build. I think it will work, dependant on our own skills versus our opponents. It may not be the most optimal build around, but that's the point of Sealed Deck. Should be fun in any case.

[KingOfPain]

What, no Blazing Finale and work off a low/zero attribute Watch Yourself?

I think, in a sealed deck, take advantage/gamble that the other team might not have sufficient healing; and in this case not enough condition removal and use heavy condition degen. It's going to come down to spiking down the opposition right from the beginning.

You have some good sources to put heavy pressure on the other team (even with a split. 2 on 1 or 1 on 1) - Keep them constantly burning and poisoned (and bleeding in the mix too). Even a good monk will be hard pressed to keep alive a whole team that is under max degen all the time.

But that's just the PvP noob speaking

KoP

[FoxBat]

After talking with moo I'm thinking more of this:

W/D

Backbreaker, Crude Swing, Mighty Blow, Rending Touch, Harrier's Haste, FreatherFoot Grace, Watch Yourself, Res Sig

P/E

11 + 3 + 1 Spear, 8 + 1 Command, 7 + 1 Leadership, 8 Water

Conjure Frost, GftE, Barbed Spear, Swift Javelin, Finale of Restoration, Frozen Burst, Brace Yourself, Res Sig

Skills: OQalsglrJeao38MoGAZ8tFmEniFA
Equip: Pk5RRNTYSjgMp6cFIMPpnGZMPpYZTMP5IKDMP5YNNMPZZB

N/R

11 + 1 + 1 Blood, 5 + 1 Curses, 12 Beast Mastery, 4 Soul Reaping

Meekness, Weaken Knees, Life Siphon, Jaundiced Gaze, Charm Animal, Poisonus Bite, Bestial Mauling, Res Sig

Skills: OAJUQWDdKLP2M25+qNMLrlbGBAA
Equip: Pk5RRPHoBTawjJVnrygJa906iJaFLHiJa1QJgJaHrbhJa5A

Rt/Mo (Mo/Rt?)

10 + 1 + 1 Heal, 12 Resto, 10 Prot, 1 Divine Favor

Generous Was Tsungrai, Soothing memories, Sig of Rejuv, Infuse Health, Heal Area, Pensive Guardian, Shield of Absorption, Res Sig

Skills: Owgk0oPKUEuDJ5uFNJY3VMykWAA
Equip: Pk5RRNTYSjgMp6cFIMPpnGZMPpYZTMP5IKDMP5YNNMPZZB

When rune-ing I would consider condition reduction since we have no removals for that. I'm thinking +armor while holding item may be favorable over health with the modest healing and hopefully less spike-y damage we will face. The necro can probably get away with tormenters. (Or not? This is sealed, we could face some smiting...)

[DamadmOO]

Also with conjure on the para you have an unblockable spear attack going twice as fast (swift javelin).

[FoxBat]

We managed to get our full original team together (shocking!) and played against Arch team 2 Including Sciros, in the back area of their Uncharted Isle. Roland took the warrior, Seijin played the necro, I used the Paragon and Vort monked for us. Went 2-0, the first match was flawless, the second they got a kill on the monk. Good games and the build performed fairly well. Now onto the finals!

P.S. Sciros sent me his script, he pretty much laid at all the generation rules in his post on ZoS boards, so the selection is otherwise even more random than Anet with their rank 2 and 3 skills.

[Roland]

We managed to get our full original team together (shocking!) and played against Arch team 2 Including Sciros, in the back area of their Uncharted Isle. Roland took the warrior, Seijin played the necro, I used the Paragon and Vort monked for us. Went 2-0, the first match was flawless, the second they got a kill on the monk. Good games and the build performed fairly well. Now onto the finals!

I liked some of their comments after the first win:
"I don't think we need a 2/3."

That had me laughing.

Basically, it came down to them having too little offense on their Warrior / Elementalist and absolutely not enough healing on their Ritualist / Monk. It was pretty a done deal after the first win, but very fun, and they did very good for themselves.

I won't get too cocky about our chances against the other finalist. We did very good, but we saw our weaknesses in that first AB game. Granted, that was stacked heavily against us, but it still proves that we could very well lose.

Having said all that, I think we'll put up a solid fight and probably win. :D Gogo Power Realms Beyond!

Err... yeah.