For the first A.W.O.L. tournament after the release of Trial by Frost, I brought the tempo Gulrang list I’d been tweaking since the previous set, updated with some of her new goodies. The deck ended up going 4-2 on the day for 30th of 113.
Changes
The last time I played Gulrang during Beyond the Gates.
Geyser (F) is the biggest upgrade that tempo Gulrang received in Trial by Frost. The defender line on her hero ability is a serious downside, so turning it off a whole turn earlier is massive. It being a catch-all removal spell that you’re incentivized to keep means you can afford to include fewer situational spells such as Sticky Note Seals (C), one of the problems with the earlier iterations of the deck.
Ramp from Geyser is important, but it’s not worth going 0-2 for. It’s a better keep when you’re the second player on D2, since there’s a reasonable chance you can only go 0-1 while setting yourself up for the rest of the game. The overstatted 1-drops make it easier to weave into D3, but you’ll often have the easiest time playing it on D4 with 6 mana, when you can jump directly to 8.
The other key card Gulrang received is Mobile Armory (R). As a straight-up 2/2/2 for 1 mana, this makes her much more competitive in the early days of the game. Turning off defender for other cards doesn’t come up as often in the tempo build
I also brought Charge! (C) back in at two copies. Before Gulrang had access to ramp, these would too often clog up your hand. Now that she can leapfrog to 8 mana, it’s easier to combo with Open the Gates (C) or my Open the Gates-style uniques.
I added in Ordis Overseer (C), Sunisa, Dedicated Ensign (C), and Field Reinforcements (C) but after a bit of testing whittled them down to 1 copy each. These are situational cards: Ordis Overseer and Sunisa are poor D1 plays, while Field Reinforcements is only guaranteed to be good on D1 in the tempo variant. That said, their ceilings are high for commons and are great to have if the circumstances are right.
Uniques
Athena: 5/7
Quetzalcóatl: 5/7
Amelia Earhart: 5/7
This unique provides card advantage while hardly sacrificing any stats. Though it doesn’t put you ahead a full card, it lets you cycle towards the strongest cards in your deck. The low cost means you can put a 1-drop or 2-drop in reserve to be played immediately, preventing your reserve from overflowing.
Takeaways
I’ve listed this as a takeaway many times before, but it continues to be true: there’s a very high cost to expensive/situational uniques. Keeping them in hand will limit the plays you can make and can get you into a situation that even they can’t help you recover from (see R3 and R4, where I kept Quetzalcóatl (U) in my opening hand).
Among the 1-of when-behind cards I was testing, Field Reinforcements (C) felt the best, Ordis Overseer (C) was close behind, and Sunisa, Dedicated Ensign (C) was a distant third. See R4 and R5 for a lucky D1 Field Reinforcements, R4 and R5 for the Ordis Overseer (C) fail and success cases, and R3 for the only time I played Sunisa.
The games
Link to the tournament on BGA.
Featured game: Round 3
Round 1 (B): Subhash & Marmo
I received the win by default. My opponent was playing Subhash & Marmo and suffered from an unfortunate bug where they were unable to place the Brassbug from their hero ability.
Round 2 (W): Teija & Nauraa
I had a card-draw heavy start, with Baba Yaga (F), Ordis Attorney (R), and Amelia Earhart (U)
Geyser (F) let me ramp while removing a key threat.
On D3 as the starting player, Mobile Armory (R) let me pass priority with 4 mana up to be able to Geyser (F) when my opponent dropped an anchor-on-boost Spindle Harvesters (U) that would likely have re-anchored their Aloe Vera (R).
Amelia Earhart (U) let me draw a card by putting the second Geyser (F) into reserve, threatening to remove anything my opponent could anchor out with their Spindle Harvesters (U). I could have played an Ordis Spy (C) to 2-0, but it was much more important to hold onto it so I could sabotage the Spindle Harvesters (U) on the next day.
On the following day, my opponent had little choice but to play their Aloe Vera (R) into my face-up reserve Geyser (F) while I ramped even futher.
Teamwork Training (R) was devastating on the following day, letting me win both sides while removing their next Aloe Vera (R).
Early game ramp helped me take advantage of my Open the Gates unique as a powerful finisher.
My opponent assembled their unique anchor combo a little too late, and I was able to overwhelm them with my Quetzalcóatl (U).
Round 3 (L): Fen & Crowbar
Being the second player on D1 (and therefore the first on D2) left me unable to keep Geyser (R) in the opening hand. Amelia Earhart (U) and Mobile Armory (R) let me 2-1 while staying up on cards.
My opponent’s Eat Me Energy Bars (F) earned them a huge swing by winning the opposite expedition while blocking but not advancing in the expedition it was placed in.
Even the 1-of Sunisa looked awkward in the tempo variant.
Sunisa, Dedicated Ensign (C) was slightly awkward but acceptable here. My early lead meant she had to be played as a defender. The fourth stat point was critical to block one side, though, and she at least turned on my Monolith Legate (C)’s sabotage; my opponent could have spent their reserve to 2-0, but the sabotage would have let them very low on cards, so I was able to only go 0-1.
Sunisa was defender-less on the hero side on the following day, but the fact that I had less of a choice as to which side I played her on meant that I handed my opponent an easy win on the other side. This gave them space to draw with both sides of a Magical Training (F).
The possibility of drawing into multiple finishers at once means that keeping Quetzalcóatl (U) in the opener might have been too greedy.
Being tempted to hold both 6 mana uniques in my hand while drawing into two copies of Open the Gates (C) meant I felt pressured to deploy my Athena (U) on 7 mana. I was able to 1-0 thanks to a Mobile Armory (R), but I would have preferred to wait to threaten both expeditions.
I was able to 1-0 with Open the Gates (C) on the next day to take a 1-expedition lead.
On the following day, my opponent had the sabotage for Open the Gates (C), but I had an even better option in the form of Quetzalcóatl (U) to 1-0 yet again and go up 1/3.
The condition on Quetzalcóatl (U) means it will always be vulnerable to sabotage.
Here’s where the “three or more characters” condition on Quetzalcóatl (U) hurt. Even though I was the first player and could lead with Ordis Gatekeeper (C), this presented my opponent with a window to sabotage it with a second Tanuki (C), leaving me with much weaker plays: the 1-of Ordis Overseer (C) was abysmal here since I was ahead in both expeditions, neither of which required water.
My opponent 2-0’d and drew with their Mighty Jinn (U). On the following day, I had to fight to 1-1 while they had no trouble taking me to tiebreakers. Their Mighty Jinn (U) and Lyra Chronicler (U) each drew them another card, which let them outresource me in the arena.
Round 4 (L): Fen & Crowbar
On D1, the 1-of Field Reinforcements (C) let me draw while going 1-0 when paired with a Mobile Armory (R).
I kept a 1-expedition lead throughout the mid-game while finding a window on D4 to deploy the 1-of Ordis Carrier (C) without costing me an expedition.
Holding Quetzalcóatl (U) from the opening hand cost me on D5. My opponent had sabotaged and given enough of my characters fleeting that I was put in a spot where I had only the unique left in hand with no way to spend 4 mana, giving my opponent an easy 2-0.
I played the wrong unique here.
I drew into Athena (U) and played her over Quetzalcóatl (U). My thought process was that I’d have the Ordis Carrier (C) to easily fulfill Quetzalcóatl (U)’s condition on the following day, but I came to regret this when my opponent discarded the Ordis Carrier with a Cloth Cocoon (C).
I didn’t draw into a token-generator on the following turn and wasn’t able to activate Quetzalcóatl (U)’s three or more characters trigger as a result.
Round 5 (W): Kojo & Booda
Note: Screenshots from this game are from my opponent’s perspective due to an error with the BGA logs.
My opponent set up their Haven, Bravos Bastion (R) on D1, but I was able to 1-0 against their Tiny Jinn (R) and Booda with Field Reinforcements (C) and a Mobile Armory (R).
We traded on D2, but my opponent came out ahead, ramping with Tiny Jinn and setting up an Icebound Peak (R).
Early ramp puts you way ahead, and 1-drops make it much easier to Geyser (F) advantageously.
On D3, my opponent sabotaged my Amelia Earhart (U), but I was relieved they didn’t hit my Mobile Armory (R) instead; I ended up being able to pass priority with it to force a Helping Hand (C) on their Booda, only for me to Geyser (F) it, going 1-1 while ramping.
Unfortunately, drawing a few too many token-generators and removal spells meant I had to Open the Gates (C) on 7 mana. My opponent’s Arcolano Milk (C) let their reserve Ordis Spy (R) give Icebound Peak (R) two counters at once, so they were able to overwhelmingly 2-0 me. At least I made them work for it, and I could draw with my Ordis Attorney (R).
Now on 8 mana, I was able to run the turn back, replaying the Ordis Attorney (R) and Open the Gates (C) from reserve.
Teamwork Training (R) results in some truly unbelievable swings.
Teamwork Training (R) flipped what would have been an 0-2 into a 1-0 and let me tie the game up. On the following day the common Teamwork Training (C) me trade once again on a turn when they had an Arcolano Milk (C) in each expedition. I was able to play Ordis Overseer (C) on two consecutive days for a non-defender 3/3/4 in my behind expedition, which felt great.
Thanks to my opponent being stuck in a mountain-only region, I squeaked into tiebreakers by blocking with an Ordis Gatekeeper (C) despite my opponent’s character-discard Haven Warrior (U).
Once in tiebreakers, I drew into Quetzalcóatl (U), which single-handedly won the game with its 12/12/11 in stats.
Round 6 (W): Kojo & Booda
Amelia Earhart (U) and Ordis Trooper (R) let me draw while going 2-1 on D1.
Geyser (F) as the second player on D2 ramped me while keeping my opponent to 1-0.
My opponent set up their second Haven, Bravos Bastion (R) on D3, but I was able to play an Ordis Spy (R) to sabotage the Lady of the Lake (U) that they resupplied into, letting me 2-1 against their Haven Seiringar (C).
Teamwork Training (R) or Mobile Armory (R)?
I used Teamwork Training (R) to remove Booda and block the Ordis Spy (U), turning a The Magic Sleigh (F) 0-3 into a 1-0. In retrospect, it’s possible that going 1-1 with the Mobile Armory (R) and getting the sabotage on the Haven Seiringar (C) would have been better, but I was afraid of giving up a progression with the incoming Magic Sleigh.
This put me ahead 2/4 going into my 8 mana day, when Open the Gates (C) let me 1-2 against The Magic Sleigh (F). I replayed the Open the Gates on the following day to close out the game.