5V5. If you haven’t played with this yet, it can be a mental beatdown. Some players have a hard enough time keeping track of 6+ minis on the board, depending on pets involved in the game. Throw in 4 more minimum, and make it 10+ and it can be a wild ride. I recently played a game at a local Battleground and this was the set up:
Me:
My Opponent:
Daelas Firewing (With a Soulseeker)
Warchief Thrall (With a Soulseeker)
Conqueror Aluna (With Master Tactician)
Daxin Firesworn (With a Soulseeker)
At the end of tick 2, with Master Tact and both of us missing triggers left and right, I literally called it and said, “man, this is not fun at all”.
It was my first 5V5 match in person and it was mentally exhausting and it only lasted like 15 minutes. I had played 5V5 online before and it was nowhere near as stressful to keeping up with things at a tournament pace. Now, with Realms around the corner, I wanted to take a look at two different teams. One idea is to take a good 3v3 team and add the optional characters people splash in for effectiveness. The other, is something completely different and unexpected.
First, let’s look at one of the most popular 3V3 teams…
As expected, this was a big team in the tournament scene last year everywhere you looked. We all know the benefits. Now, let’s splash a bit and add in:
This brings us up 10 more honor to 39 total (assuming the Boots of the Crimson Hawk and the Soulseeker are always included). This seems high, but when you think Velen Wall was 31 with 3 minis, this isn’t that bad in a 5V5 environment.
So what do we get for this splash? Well, we get to bring Wrath of Air Totem and more Shaman healing cards with the Troll. We get Lycanthropy with Rethilgore, and we get more potency out of Vashj. She STILL lacks the protection of a green Paladin or solid Warrior, but this could easily be a 5V5 team seen, as many mid tier players crutch to Vashj, and in the format, the obvious choice seems to add those two minis that are mostly played along with her in other tournaments.
Surely there are other options with Vashj, and there should be. While this team is good, it is soley centered on the Medusa-like Mollusc. If she's Poly'd or killed, it could be game over man.
So now, what is something new we can do with 5V5?
Well, I am concerned with focusing the 5V5 around one mini, while I think it's good, unless you have counters galore, you risk losing that main link in your chain and everything falling apart. So let's look at something interesting:
38 honor of monster love! First, if you haven't played against any combination of PEX, shame on you and your BG. My first big tournament team consisted of Prince K, EFs, and EFS. It was then modified with some help to Prince K, EFS, and Razaani Nexus Stalker, and either combination is brutal. If you don't believe me, as my Shaggy friend from Lousianna, he has piloted it to some good success as well.
Now, the Bleakheart is there to tick up some folks and help with DPS. Shadowburn, potentially Santuria, and a host of other corruptable Warlock cards makes him a valueable asset. Curse of Weakness goes quite well with Shock Barrier!
The Talon lord meanwhile also has some tricks up his sleeve. Warriors are slowly coming into their own. As people start to see the power of Heroic Leap and Mocking blow, they are slowly realizing that Warriors are more finesse and timing pieces, who work well in combination with others. In this instance, Taunt is on the table, and tick up crits (because they happen!), as well as the bevy of bust'em up Warrior cards that you have to use.
So what's your playtests been like? Seen anything you like/dislike about 5V5? Is it something that could have legs post Realms or is it a one time scenario to bide our time until whatever god above brings us Souls? Let us know, but be prepared if you haven't played. It's a mindcrime of a format that will test the best combinatoin thinking cranium out there!
