Barracks?

[Xyx0rz]

Barracks has a lot of play to it and I was wondering what people's favorite strategies with and against it are. Here are various musings:

The speed bump
Put Barracks in front of a big enemy. Assuming you play at least one human every turn (which is easy), you keep that enemy occupied forever. It is perhaps best placed on the front line for this purpose. That way you can put a shooter behind it to chip away at the enemies while the tokens protect the shooter. Good defensive strategy? Or a waste of Barracks' potential?

The finisher
Put Barracks on an open row and try to grow a stack that's so big that it's hard to block effectively. This appears to be the preferred use but also the hardest because by now everyone seems to have caught on that Barracks should not be allowed to develop. I like Barracks on the back line for this purpose. That way I can throw a blocker in front of it to shield it from melee creatures and flyers, but that doesn't work well against shooters. Good general strategy that needs to be forced? Or just something that you have to luck into?

Blinding Light
I like to put Blinding Light on creatures pressuring my Barracks. Especially nice if you manage to block the entire row, but even if your opponent has another creature there it's difficult for that one creature to exert sufficient pressure (especially if it can be blocked by your melee creatures). Is putting Blinding Light on 2/0/4 shooters totally worth it? Or is it best reserved for big scary threats?

The switch
This Barracks starts out as a speed bump, but at some point (due to Blinding Light/Town Portal/melee blocker/shooter backup) the pressure gets taken off and it develops into a finisher stack. Worthwhile strategy to pursue? Or just something that occasionally happens?

Bloodthirst
Barracks has a nasty habit of feeding Bloodthirst, which is not a good place to be in today's meta. Bloodsnake Shaman is especially nasty because it not only chews through tokens with its triggered ability, it also hits you in the face for a million while it's at it. And it keeps shrinking your stack even if you put Blinding Light on it. There's no convenient answer. I suppose I could play Void Ripple or Disintegration in my Kieran deck, but their cost and requirements are horrible. Go big for removal (and possibly Time Jump)? Or just cross fingers and hope not to run into too much Stronghold?

Vampires
I occasionally run into a vampire deck and that seems to be a terrible match-up. My creatures are terrible against vampires. Especially once Death Lord shows up; suddenly every vampire attacks twice, killing half my board and healing my opponent like crazy. Almost impossible to recover from since, again, Blinding Light and Town Portal are not much of an answer. Get real answers (in the form of Void Ripple/Disintegration)? Run bigger creatures? Or just ignore this tiny slice of the meta?

Imperial Crossbowman
Some builds (Kieran in particular) run Imperial Crossbowman, which looks absolutely terrible to me (which is why I haven't even tried it), but I could be wrong (especially since I haven't even tried it). Totally worth it? Or just as bad as it looks?

Mulligan for Barracks
Barracks deck needs Barracks. And since the deck is loaded with cheap creatures it's fairly hard to get a bad hand anyway, so I generally throw away all opening hands that don't include Barracks. Aggressively mulligan for Barracks? Or keep reasonable hands without it?

Non-Kieran builds
If the previous Road to Paris Gold Cup finals are any indication, the de facto best Haven deck is Alia with only 2 Barracks. Kieran didn't even show up. Variance? Or is Kieran indeed not the Empire's Chosen?

[jkk89]

Non-Kieran builds
If the previous Road to Paris Gold Cup finals are any indication, the de facto best Haven deck is Alia with only 2 Barracks. Kieran didn't even show up. Variance? Or is Kieran indeed not the Empire's Chosen?

I dont know if Avkall's deck was any good, but since I never actually played Alia in Standard I can never know for sure. I played both Kieran and Morgan tho. Kieran seems always way inconsistent to me, while Morgan could easly build up the board with easy access to Income creatures which are supert important for Haven. Also Morgan's access to water magic is what makes him the best Haven hero in my mind. As Haven suppose to be play as somewhat control deck its good to have access to control magic, such as Water has became. Some could argue that Alia with Fire and Charity with Earth are also viable (and in fact, they see play). But Kieran I dont like at all. I think he is actually one of the worst choice for a hero for Haven deck.

Also I do agree that playing Imperial Crosbowmens in any deck is just bad decision. Going "all-in" is never good option, if U are aiming at consistent wins. Deck need to have solid strategy and a back-up plan.

[npavcec]

I dont know if Avkall's deck was any good, but since I never actually played Alia in Standard I can never know for sure.

I bought Alia from Herald few days back and was doing 20 wins achievement for banner with her for the last few days. The first thing I tried Avkall's deck and all I can say that it is completely, utterly BAD. Had one win in 7-8 tries at ~1750 MMR. :)

p.s. I eventually made her work in Open with 4x Barracks and rushy 441 deck with 4x fireball, 4xsuneblaze, 4x firebolt and darkward. 18 wins in 40 games.

[LurifaxB]

I dont know if Avkall's deck was any good, but since I never actually played Alia in Standard I can never know for sure. I played both Kieran and Morgan tho. Kieran seems always way inconsistent to me, while Morgan could easly build up the board with easy access to Income creatures which are supert important for Haven. Also Morgan's access to water magic is what makes him the best Haven hero in my mind. As Haven suppose to be play as somewhat control deck its good to have access to control magic, such as Water has became. Some could argue that Alia with Fire and Charity with Earth are also viable (and in fact, they see play). But Kieran I dont like at all. I think he is actually one of the worst choice for a hero for Haven deck.

Also I do agree that playing Imperial Crosbowmens in any deck is just bad decision. Going "all-in" is never good option, if U are aiming at consistent wins. Deck need to have solid strategy and a back-up plan.

The all in Kieran deck I built and posted had a huge advantage in being a big surprise. People didn't deal with the barracks at first. That is why it was effective and also why it made sense - at the time - to use imperial crossbowmen. Now, people start to block fast with shooters, which makes it really hard to get the barracks rolling. I changed my deck to include 4x elite squires JUST to get the barrack stack rolling by protecting it from ranged shooter. This is also the reason why I don't play with Imperial Crossbowmen anymore. I am happy to see how much it actually got played initially - since it seems it was due to my deck it saw play time (for the first time ever?).

Now, it is just a bad card, as JKKK points out.

Having said that, I don't play the deck very much anymore. Stronghold bloodlust and waters spells are devastating for the deck. I also use 2x benevolent angels for spell protection. In effect I changed to all-in rush deck to a more stabile mid-game surprise damage deck with utility cards. It is more versatile now.

Bloodsnake Shaman also makes the idea of using barracks to block really bad.

Btw, JKKK, I have not seen a Morgan really work and I have tried many versions. I am a bit sceptical that it is as good as you say. I still think that Kieran is the best choice for Haven (which is sad really). I have not seen any other Haven decks do better in standard.

[superktro]

One thing i like to point out is that ambush creature infront of a barrack can really work like a charm

[Xev5]

Sure, I'll drop some Sayama Hunters to cover my barracks up.

Oh wait I'm playing MMDOC, not some mind game, so I wont.

[Xyx0rz]

If Ambush triggers on Barracks tokens, I bet Sayama Hunter does a good number on it. Is Barracks a thing in Open?

[defunkt99]

Playing barracks in open can be terrible....put simply one ambush guy in front of it (no matter what) and its shut down. Especially gated demon is nice.....you can simply surrender in round 3 if you have nothing to remove instantly

[superktro]

barracks are quite playable in open, and i can say that cause i dont play standard