I have been focusing on MF lately and have concluded to deckbuild elsewhere. There are some key points that limit Mountain Folk that are now very clear after much play.

The biggest issue with them is domain, they are the worst clan at gaining there domain status. Only 3 of there buildings grant domain.
The basic
Heart of the Mountain,
Hadrack's Throne

Heart of the mountain has an awsome ability, but it costs 6, and can only be played on mountains, a much larger drawback then one would think. I will play one in a deck, and its in there for the power boost and base functions, the domain it grants is nice, but ive im trying to aquire domain, theres too much work involved.

Which brings us to our only other alternative. Hadrack's Throne. Which at 4 flux and granting domain is great, except, its rare, good luck getting them in trade, there too esential for attempting to build MF to give up, even though, they have only 2HP, which means even though you can race them out, hellcat laughs at you for even trying. Any early exploration is going to be aimed at taking this out, and even if they lose the guy for the effort its more then worth it.

MF just don't have any reasonable choice for gathering domain, and while yes you can play the diplomat, he requires (for some awfull reason) two domain to play, so hes not helping get your second domain anywhich way, and they only have one building with vision 2 so your usualy building in the wilderness.... four turns later.... you are now overrun, have a nice day

Next we have limited terrain options. MF don't have hover, they don't get aloft, they have 3-4 move usualy, there slow, and have no edge on movement and whats more they have very little in the form of terrain manipulation, gnome trickster, which is temporary, and the bugger must stay by his lonesome, and KMFDM guys which can turn oceans into fields. The problem is if your MF, and your stuck in forest, your really stuck in forest. They just don't have the ability to travel thru terrain, and few of them have the mountainstride which seems neccisary for them considering, Heart of the Mountains, Volcano, Avalanch, seems like you'd want to be in mountains. They just have a real hard time getting around.

No removal. All the other clans have ways of just getting rid of guys, cloudburst, teleport, lysis, icy encasement, entangle, cards you can just count on to get rid of pesky guys. Now if your sharp eyed you still have some nice tricks, horn to hide to nix out attack, or save your guys, training to save and beef your troups, and horns to hide, excelent for taking the threat out of flyers and seems to be my only recourse of action, lacking blunderbuss squads. Rune of shielding which gives it to a Figure, it can be played on buildings (at least by the wording, i havent tried it yet) which alows you to get clost to obolisks and thru elves. These are all usefull, but they dont take the guys out. Volcano is great, very versitle, if you wait for it, you usualy can take out one or two guys and weaken a building, but its not the same as teleporting a guy into water, which has a much higher kill rate then dealing 4 damage, Avalanche is also good, but your sinking a lot of flux into it to kill something, and its limited by terrain, and doesn't hit flyers.
There are however two cards it does get on that par. Negate, which is usualy best to hit buildings with, but alas, is usualy a day late dollar short, its good late game if and when your in there face and can see them play it. Fissure is our other great one, but alas is rare as well, as to date, I've only seen one in existance.

The fact Hadrack's throne is rare is a huge thorn in the side of building a MF deck, I believe 2 HP is a big enough drawback that it can constutue being an uncommon, considering the construction site for it is more durable.


So these are some of the issues i've noticed when building with MF, just putting what i've noticed out there so if you've got 2 cents for getting around these complications of playing MF please post, or if your having an issue with MF speak up. We need to get discusions on strategy play and building going so we all can play better.

Having played almost exclusively MF, I have to say that you are right on most counts. You did, however forget what I consider to be the MF's saving grace. Earthworks and Blueprint. Then again, I am doing very poorly in the standings so that may not be saying much. It is nice to throw down four or more earthworks in the late game, surrounding their corner base and trapping new guys in there... it happens very rarely, but when it does, it is a beautiful thing. LOL

Also, for the record, you can use Rune of Shielding on a building or a construction site.

I'm Mf player too. And i agree with all of above. MF is very slow. While there're some of the toughest creatures in game (Epic veteran,Blunderbuss squad,Dag cannon and so on) other domains can outmaneuver you every day of a week. So direct aggresion ain't best choice. Playing MF is all about turtling and control. You got some of the best buildings and bunch of useful spells. It's pretty hard to drive MF of flux well by destroing their structures. Flash powder and volcano will quickly teach your opponent that crowding ain't too good idea, and negate can neutralize their winning cards right at the dock.
Heart of the mountain, though powerfull and synergetic, can be great burden, especially if you stuck on domain (it's subject to autodraw,so i often was forced to discard , only to draw it again on next turn)
Also, craig scout is must have for MF deck, coz he got so rare high sight and move, 2 hp,mountainstride and costs only 2 flux. So you can kill their early drop, take 1 damage, and still save him for coordinating your negate later.
Iron gate is other card that epithomizes MF strenghts. 7 hp is lots, especially in early game.
Oh, and cards like living monument and hill giant contractors are just nuts

"Hadrack's Throne [has] only 2HP, which means even though you can race them out, hellcat laughs at you for even trying."

That's hilarious.

I haven't played MF too much -- in this and other CCGs, I tend to enjoy playing faster-paced decks. But Hill Giant Contractors, Apprentice Timesap, Ord Stone, and Negate all cause me nightmares when I play against these decks.

I think the best thing about MF right now is that everyone who uses it regularly has quite a different take on deckbuilding. It's not like playing against Sylvan, where you see the same cards over and over again. With these guys, there always seems to be some new threat during the endgame that I didn't properly take into consideration. It's one thing to lose a game to a Magnetite Beacon or a Tales of Yore. But then Jed will beat me with a freakin' Griblarnock, or someone will cast a Line Shift that I was *completely* unprepared for. I think ivandubina even beat me once due primarily to an early drop of Galom's Prospectors. Not my finest hour.

When the next expansion comes along, I'll be shocked if they don't address the lack of strong building options. I think this might end up being the most fun race to play.

I really enjoy playing Mountainfolk, theres a lot of fun stuff you can do with them but these little hinderances i brought up, seem to cost me game after game with them. When building with mountain folk i find that while creature choices tend to be straight foreward for the most part, your buildings, magic, and enchantments you REALLY have to think about, there usefull in ways that aren't face value apparent. I think Horns to Hide is really underplayed, as it is an excelent way to not remove, but nullify threats, ive used it on dozens of thristal falcons and other aloft creatures, a stalking spirit, lepourous loves getting hit by it. anything with 2 atk or less becomes a nusance rather then a threat. As well as saving my own guys time after time, oh stone mauler is alive, and continues to smash face, veteran doesn't even notice the drop in attack power either. Its one of the fastest ways to null a creature, only issue is, its still there, seeing things, blocking paths.

I strongly suggest anyone messing around with MF give it a try for a few games, its suprissingly usefull little trick.

ROFL. Well put. Which brings up one of my pet peeves.. I hate losing a Mercenary to a Leper because it did it's little preemptive strike... battleready units should know better

But that's neither here nor there...

Yeah, yeah, hes a suicidal prick that one.....