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Traitors-objective

Introduction


Traitors is the daily mission of the The Grim Crusade:Battle Cry campaign package. It is, by far, the most difficult daily mission to defeat with a speed deck. There are 2 dragonbane portals, at opposite ends of the battlefield, that continuously spawn black creatures (Acidic Imps for 3 turns, Soot Imps for 2 turns, then Fleshcrafters thereafter) until deactivated. There are 2{{Verify}} Boggart Loggers which start on the board, blocking each path to the portals. The Boggart Loggers take 2 turns for your planeswalkers every 1 turn, due to their high initiative. To top that off, there is a goblin planeswalker with a very efficient goblin deck, behind a barricade, free to cast while you are distracted by the immediate threat of the portals.

A combination of a focused deck, higher level, and good luck of the draw is needed to defeat the Traitors daily mission. The deck needs to have both speed and creature control aspects, while the player must first have urgency to close the portals, then patience to defeat the goblin planeswalker.

Once the Soot imps start spawning, playing without a black deck becomes problematic. Fortunately, black offers speed through Shadow Step and some creature control with Disfigure and Death Wish. A red/black multi-color deck is a good choice with the speed of Burning Wish and Threatening Lunge, as well as creatures with haste (Raging Goblin and Goblin Striker), and burn spells for creature control (Lightning Bolt, Incinerate, and Pyroclasm).

Since the deck needs to be so focused on speed and creature control there is almost no room for life generation or card drawing. This can be made up for with creatures such as Child of Night (also has a 5 movement for speed) and the black talent Undying Gambit, which can trade speed spells for dead creatures once the portals are closed. Note that the special care should be taken with the black talent Demonic Army since the loss of life can be a factor.

The below walkthrough is a perfect luck of the draw, with good cards, and good skill selection. Normally, your planeswalker will have a much harder battle with less life remaining after the portals are closed. Even though the draw is "perfect" the principles remain the same and as long as your planeswalker can survive the portals, the mission should be winnable. Note that this deck type can lose as much as 3 out of 4 tries (uncommon) and knowing when to leave a lost game to expedite completing the mission is a good thing.


Walkthrough: The portals


The initial mana generation gives 1 red which goes perfectly with the Lightning Bolts and Raging Goblin. While it might be tempting to cast a Lightning Bolt and avoid some damage by the Boggart Loggers, it is best to reserve damage spells for the Acidic Imps since they are flying and can't be proactively attacked.

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Turn 1


Casting a Raging Goblin will not only take care of one of the Boggart Loggers, but also pave the way to shut off the dragonbane portal on the right side of the board. Attacking the Boggart Logger on the left is the quickest way to destroy it, even though the counter attack will be quite damaging. The highlighted square shows the only place that your planeswalker can go where the Boggart Logger on the right can't reach on its first turn (if a Raging Goblin is not available). Note that the Raging Goblin must move/attack on the extreme right of its movement to avoid the Boggart Logger on the left.

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In the aftermath of your planeswalkers attack, the Raging Goblins kill, and the Boggart Loggers turn with your counter attack shows two ally figures free and clear to head off to the dragonbane portals. However, two Acidic Imps have spawned ready to defend the portals and attack your allies. On the right side, the Acidic Imp has spawned behind the portal, out of the path of the Raging Goblin. If the Imp were to spawn within the path, the best target for a Lightning Bolt would be the right side Acidic Imp since the Raging Goblin wouldn't survive an attack and your planeswalker can.

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Turn 2


Your planeswalker can't do much more than target the left Acidic Imp with a Lightning Bolt and move 3 more spaces toward the left dragonbane portal (not shown). The Raging Goblin has enough movement to reach the dragonbane portal on the right. Using its extreme right movement to do so, shown with the highlighted square, will keep the right Acidic Imp as far away as possible from your planeswalker.

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Turn 3


Given the good initial draw, there are several options available at this point. The best option is keeping the Lightning Bolt for the Acidic Imp on the right while casting the Goblin Striker will take care of the portal on the left. Putting the Goblin Striker in the correct spot will force the Boggart Logger to engage against its first strike ability.

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Turn 4


After destroying the Acidic Imp on the right with the remaining Lightning Bolt, your planeswalker can take advantage of the weak AI and keep the enemies "penned in" behind the barrier by only providing a target directly on the opposite side of the wall. The Goblin Striker follows suit so that any enemies aren't attracted to it as well.

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Walkthrough: The enemy


The focus shifts from speed to patients once the portals are destroyed and the AI is stuck behind the barrier. During this phase, the lack of card generation is made up for by passing to gain cards. Speed cards can be switched out with creature cards by using the black talent Undying Gambit if there are any ally corpses.

The nature of the enemy deck is also self destructive with Mogg Fanatic and Goblin Pyromancer. Patience is paid off by gaining cards and allowing this negative aspect to come to fruition.


Turns 5 through 12


The waiting game is about to come to an end with Shadow Step to leap the barrier and seven cards in hand when a Mogg Fanatic comes into play. This makes the decision to wait longer, discarding speed cards and keeping creature and burn cards.
Once a Goblin Pyromancer shows up, there is only to wait until all goblins are destroyed on its first turn. Using the last turn before leaping the barrier to summon a Daggerclaw Imp which can fly over the barrier and wont be effected by the Goblin Pyromancer.

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Turn 13


Using Shadow Step, leap the barrier and cast enough creatures to activate either the black talent Demonic Army or a sister talent from a different tree such as Fiery Army. Attacking the enemy planeswalker with both your planeswalker and, in turn, the Daggerclaw Imp.

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Turn 14 and 15


Attacking the enemy with every availible ally and burning any enemy summoned creatures will bring the "patience" phase to a quick end.

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