This was the sealed deck I built for my first Trial by Frost pre-release.
The pool
First impressions:
- Fen & Crowbar are the generically strongest hero in my pool. Lyra is very light on playable characters, however, so I would need to support her with two other deep factions.
- Axiom is very deep. The quantity of strong 2 and 3-drops mean this is a faction I’m always including.
- The pool has four copies of The Nilam, Withered Tree across Axiom and Yzmir, and they synergize with each other. Along with the other gear and icebound permanents, Sierra & Oddball become a legitimate option.
- If I’m going Fen, my Bravos pairs naturally with her due to having several cheaper 2-drops and cards that play well with your reserve like Haven Seiringar (C), Bravos Trailblazer (C), and Arcolano Milk.
- Ordis isn’t quite as deep as it looks, but it has several strong cards, including a few strong 1-drops and two copies of Ebeneezer Scrooge (C).
I saw two directions I could go:
- A Fen deck with an Axiom base, including only the few best Lyra cards. This could tap into either Bravos for Arcolano Milk and cards that care about fleeting or Ordis for support abilities and cheap cards to make use of Fen’s resource advantage.
- a Sierra deck built around The Nilam, Withered Tree out of Axiom and Yzmir. Ordis is likely the third faction since the 1-drops smooth out curves with 3+ cost permanents and some of the if-behind triggers are more likely to be met. There’s an argument for Bravos as well, since Arcolano Milk plays well with tokens.
The deck
I landed on Fen & Crowbar out of Axiom, Bravos, and Lyra. I was curious to see how the Bravos gear and landmarks played.
I like that the deck has a high concentration of cards that are better when resupplied, especially Daring Porter (C), Haven Seiringar (C), and Lord Kelvin (C).
The biggest issue with the deck is its high curve. There are several expensive cards I’d prefer not to be running, such as Heimdall (C), Eros (C), and Lord Kelvin (C). Especially with the number of cards that resupply and the two copies of Gericht, Revered Duelist (R/F) that can be repeatedly replayed, I expect to have more cards than I can afford to play.
The pool is also severely lacking in removal. The best way for this deck to interact with my opponent’s gameplan is by exhausting cards in their reserve.
Takeaways
There were situations were exhausting cards in an opponent’s reserve felt as strong as sabotage. It was most valuable when:
- my opponent was low on resources (e.g. R1: exhausting Akhlut (C) prevented them from spending their mana)
- I could disrupt my opponent’s plan for the turn (e.g. R3: exhausting Sunisa when she would clearly have been played into an expedition with no defender downside)
- a card needed to be played on this particular day (e.g. R2: exhausting Flutter of Moths (R) with The Yeti (R) in play)
Gear is very flexible. I like that it can be used to pass priority or to set up for the following day.
There are two clarifications I’d suggest TOs announce during early Trial by Frost limited events to reduce confusion:
- “If my expedition is behind” refers to the positions of the hero and companion markers on the adventure track, not your characters’ stats.
- Demeter being eternal is relevant at night, which is after expeditions move forward at dusk. For example, if Demeter is played into a non-forest region in the afternoon but moves into a forest region at dusk, she will not go to reserve that day.
Overperformers
- The Nilam, Withered Tree (C/F): This generated 2-4 2/2/2s worth of value in each of my games. It’s critical that it can contribute stats on the turn you play it.
- Arcolano Milk: The common was able to pass priority while threatening one expedition with a one-turn Haven-like effect. It seems especially powerful for heroes that are playing from reserve anyway, like Fen, Treyst, and Subhash. It was useful to be able to set up the rare on a turn when I wasn’t doing anything in order to make the expedition nearly uncontestable on the following day.
- Magpeng Hoarder: Fen loves this as a way to exchange her card advantage for tempo.
- Daring Porter (C): This provided solid stats and excellent value. It was much better with Fen and The Nilam.
Underperformers
- Gericht, Revered Duelist (R/F): This still felt solid, but Fen’s resupply gives her so many cards that the fact that this can be replayed repeatedly wasn’t relevant in any of my games.
- Winter Outfits (R): This is far from the optimal deck for the card, but I found it was easy enough to line my skewed-statted characters up with appropriate regions that it wasn’t worth the mana and the card to patch up their holes.
- The Little Match Girl (C): This isn’t great for Fen, who’ll won’t often have an empty hand and doesn’t want to pay 3 mana for a 3/2/0.
The games
Round 1 (W): Arjun & Spike (Bravos-Ordis-Muna)
My Gericht, Revered Duelist (R) was able to 1-0 against my opponent’s 2/3 2/2/3 non-defender Chrysalis (U) that would make the 2/2/2 Mana Moth only if it left while fleeting.
Playing The Nilam, Withered Tree (F) as the first player prevented their Chrysalis from being replayed, but they were still able to 1-0 me.
My opponent opted for a setup turn on D3 with their Yeti (R). My Daring Porter (C) generated a Mana Moth due to its exhausted resupply, and I was able to 2-0 against their boosted Chrysalis (U) thanks to a Magpeng Hoarder (F).
This time, their fleeting Chrysalis (U) created a Mana Moth upon leaving, which got boosted from the Yeti. I was able to force them to commit some cards, but with their characters coming in boosted, I resigned myself to an 0-2. The Yeti looked excellent here thanks to my opponent’s token generation and cheap characters.
Bravos Rescuer (C) into perfect regions felt great.
On the key turn where my opponent replayed their Yeti (R) from reserve, I resupplied into Lord Kelvin (C) and exhausted the Moth to a Flame (F) in reserve that they were planning to recast, all while making a Mana Moth. My opponent could only follow up their Yeti with a single character from hand, meaning I was able to 2-0.
On the next day, I piled all of my characters on one side to close out the game.
Round 2 (W): Kojo & Booda (Bravos-Muna-Yzmir)
My opponent and I traded for the first three days. I eventually let both of my Gericht, Revered Duelists overflow from reserve, drowing in cards due to Fen’s resupplies. I didn’t want to play The Nilam, Withered Tree (F) as the second player on D2, since my opponent was able to immediately replay their only card in reserve.
On D4, my opponent led with a Fire Rabbit (C) to boost Booda. I thought this was a perfect window to drop The Nilam to exhaust their Akhlut (C) and potentially make their afternoon awkward. Magpeng Hoarder (F) was looking like it might have been able to get there until they played an Eat Me Energy Bars (R) in their companion expedition to make their 3/3/3 Booda gigantic. They took a critical 2-0 here.
The next turn was looking grim thanks to their Akhlut (C) threatening to exhaust one of my reserve cards and let them at least trade. Luckily, Fen resupplied into Gibil (C), which let me activate The Nilam’s arrow ability to exhaust their Akhlut while creating a Mana Moth. My opponent’s Jack Frost (C) from hand made me turn slightly awkward, since I would have to play two more cards from hand in order to win both sides. Still, I was happy to nearly empty my hand in order to 2-0 and tie the game back up.
My opponent’s Akhlut and Booda made one side nearly uncontestable on the following day. The upside was that I was able to win the other side easily, which gave me a window to drop an Arcolano Milk (R) in the losing expedition to set up for the next day.
At 1/1, I resupplied into Lord Kelvin (C), which I immediately played out to exhaust their Jack Frost (C), triggering The Nilam to create a 4/4/4 Mana Moth in the Arcolano Milk (R) expedition. The Arcolano Milk forced my opponent to ignore that expedition and dump their characters in the other, but I was able to block exactly and 1-0 for the win.
Round 3 (W): Basira & Kaizaimon (Bravos-Ordis-Yzmir)
Being the second player on D1 let me play diagonal to my opponent’s Sunisa, Dedicated Ensign (C) for a 1-0. I held onto The Nilam, Withered Tree (F) and opted to instead replay Gericht, Revered Duelist to trade on D2 as the first player. My opponent got down an early The Nilam, Withered Tree (C).
I pulled into a 2-expedition lead on D3 and D4. My Daring Porter (C) effectively blocked a mountain-only region. I got out my The Nilam to exhaust Sunisa on a turn where it would have been an appealing play into the region where I was ahead.
My opponent’s Amarok (C) and two copies of Chrysalis (R/F) looked solid in the mid-game but awkward together. I had played a 2-drop and used a Will-o’-the-Wisp (C) support ability to play a Gibil (C) and spread out my threats. They couldn’t play to their Amarok expedition without sacrificing, and their Chrysalis expedition was under no threat of moving forward.
They were able to exhaust Gibil and a Daring Porter (C) from my reserve with their Chrysalis (R/F) support ability and a Rime Frost (C) while making a Mana Moth. I passed priority with an Arcolano Milk (C), then played out my Bravos Rescuer (C) and The Little Match Girl (C) into appropriate regions for their stats.
I needed to win just one expedition, so they tapped out to barely block. I still had 2 mana left and an upright The Nilam, so I was able to play The Machine in the Ice (R) to exhaust itself and make an Arcolano Milk-boosted Mana Moth to secure the last progression I needed.