I played a tweaked version of my spell-centric Fen deck at the Monday A.W.O.L. weekly on 2024-12-09, going 4-2 for 15th out of 56.
The deck
The last time I played this deck.
I cut the Mighty Jinn (F)s from the previous build. There’s tension between wanting to play them as soon as possible for the ramp and sometimes not being able to go for a 0-stat character without letting your opponent through. As long as the build is running The Hatter (C) as another 4-mana mountain-forest character, I’ve decided there are better ways to use a rare slot.
One of the slots goes to the third Tinker Bell (F) for a 2-drop that sabotages. The other slot goes to a Studious Disciple (F) as I found that additional after-you style cards play well with the deck’s reactive gameplan.
Since Treyst and Afanas both rely heavily on low-cost characters, I swapped to uniques that can deal with them.
I accidentally registered a version of the list with The Sandman (C) instead of an Ouroboros Trickster (C). There are spots where The Sandman (C) is powerful, but I’m moving away from it for curve reasons and so as not to overlap with Twinkle, Twinkle (C).
Uniques
Cernunnos: 7/7
Alice: 7/7
Amahle, Asgarthan Outcast: 5/7
I still like having a card in the deck that can deal with any object. Unfortunately, expensive removal effects have gotten worse with the meta shift away from Waru & Mack and The Monolith, Ordis Bastion (C) and towards cheaper characters and Haven, Bravos Bastion (F). Though if removal isn’t worthwhile in the matchup, Fen can always make use of the support ability to recycle a card from reserve.
Takeaways
The deck runs much smoother without the Mighty Jinn (F)s.
I’m reminded that reactive uniques with high mana costs have the downside of making opening hands trickier. Holding onto one compromises your early turns while putting it into mana has you playing without one of strongest cards in your deck.
This spell-focused build struggles against Sigismar & Wingspan. Removal plays badly against tokens, and your premium 3-drops are fewer and farther between, so they’ll often have a Teamwork Training (C) by the time you go for one. Fen’s best route to win is by running them out of resources, but that’s not practical if they see enough Baba Yaga (F)s and Ozma (C)s.
The games
Round 1 (L): Sierra & Oddball
The deck's opening hands aren't typically this awkward. Even as the first player, I regretted not keeping the Off You Go!.
I started this game with an unusually awkward hand, but that comes with the territory of including 4-drops, reactive spells, and expensive uniques. Failing to draw into low-cost cards meant my opponent was able to trade or better with their Foundry Armorer (R)s and Brassbug Hub (C) when Fen really wants to be winning the early-game. My 0-stat characters made blocking especially difficult.
They deployed their Brassbug Hive (R) on T4, which I returned to the top of their deck with Amahle, Asgarthan Outcast (R). This is one of the cards where the Paint Prison effect is significantly worse than discarding something outright. They’re happy to draw the best card in their deck again, and Sierra’s hero ability ensures that she won’t go down on tempo by replaying it.
I went out of my way to engineer a push here but didn't stop to consider whether I'd rather have traded instead.
Starting on the back foot this game had me approaching the game defensively. When they replayed the Brassbug Hive (R), I went to great lengths to go 0-0 with an Anansi (C) when going 1-1 would have taken fewer resources and perhaps given me a better shot at closing out the game before their inevitability kicked in.
With Cloth Cocoon (C) nowhere in sight, my best option was to use Amahle (U) to put the Brassbug Hive on top of their deck a second time.
Against the odds, I was able to go from 3/2 to 1/2 when they played the Hive for the third time: a combination of Ouroboros Inkcaster (R)’s support ability and The Sandman (C) let me flip an expedition where they had 5/5/5 and I had nothing.
I missed the sequence that wins the game from here.
On the second to last turn, I made a misplay that cost me the game. I played Cernunnos (U) at the first opportunity in order to play around sabotage, despite my opponent’s first action being a Brassbug Hub (C). I assumed Off You Go! could handle anything my opponent would have, but they slow-rolled an Axiom Salvager into a 5-cost Ganesha (U) that trumped the side I had prematurely committed to.
The winning line would have been to after-you with a companion-side Martengale (C), chip away at a Brassbug on each expedition with both sides of a Flamel-discounted Off You Go! (F), then Cernunnos (U) the remaining Brassbug in the expedition they didn’t commit their last card to.
Instead, my opponent managed to 1-0 me here and easily close out the game on the following turn.
Round 2 (W): Sigismar & Wingspan
Ordis Trooper (R) plus a 1/1/1 lines up very well against Tinker Bell (R), which meant my opponent was able to 2-0 me on T1.
Already fighting from behind, my opponent’s Anubis (R) hit the Anansi (C) I was planning to anchor on the turn I thought I was going to turn things around.
I caught a break when my opponent forfeited T5 to drop a Grand Endeavor (F), but since they were only two expeditions away from victory, I would have to 2-0 them the following turn or lose to the Grand Endeavor. Fortunately, I was able to anchor an Aloe Vera (F) to set up for the final turn.
Fen can turn an entire game around with a single Anansi.
My opponent forced me to sacrifice the Aloe Vera with Anubis, but it had already done its job of fueling a +4 Anansi (C). Alice (U) kept them short of the three characters required for Teamwork Training (C) on the Anansi (C), and a reactively placed 2-drop off an Ouroboros Inkcaster (R) discount won me a decisive 2-0.
Round 3 (W): Treyst & Rossum
Flexibility on T1 is often more important than keeping powerful plays for later.
I kept an opening hand with A Cappella Training (C), Hathor (C), and Tinker Bell (F). My thinking was that Tinker Bell (F) would be the default play as a stronger blocker, but I wanted to leave the door open on Hathor (C) to get an extra cast of A Cappella Training (C) - the key card in the matchup - if my opponent led with exactly Axiom Salvager (R).
My opponent’s T1 Haven, Bravos Bastion (F) resupplied into another Haven, which made me glad I kept the Tinker Bell (F), since I could prepare to sabotage it as the first player on the following turn.
The sabotage and A Cappella Training (C) prevented my opponent from accumulating scrap counters while I pulled ahead on board. I pressured them with anchored Aloe Vera (F)s; my opponent was able to Kelon Burst (C) and Boom! (C) them, but it slowed their setup even further.
Returning Ouroboros Inkcaster with Hathor puts you in the best position if Treyst is able to 2-0 you this turn.
By the time they found and deployed their last Haven, they were able to make one big push to 2-0 me and keep me from victory. This left them out of resources, though, and with 9 mana to their 7, I was able to win on the following turn.
Round 4 (W): Teija & Nauraa
Looping a Magical Training (F) on T1 with an Ouroboros Inkcaster (R) along with the free draw from my opponent’s Daughter of Yggdrasil (R) gave me access to the cards I needed to get my reserve engine online.
Early card draw gives you freedom to sequence the rest of your plays for maximum value.
Off You Go! (F) hit their anchored Aloe Vera (R) on T2, and reserve Hathor (C)s let me cast it a total of three times this game. They got down The Spindle, Muna Bastion (C) on T3, but I had the Cloth Cocoon (F) in hand to discard it. From that point on, the threat of removal prevented them from anchoring anything meaningful.
Cernunnos (U) off the resupply dealt with a Spindle Harvesters (U) that would anchor on boost, and two Anansi (C)s helped me close out the game.
Round 5 (W): Subhash & Marmo
In the early turns of the game, I made sure to play for max-tempo. Subhash runs low on resources by nature, so as long as you don’t fall too far behind, you can usually choke them out of late-game plays with A Cappella Training (C) and sabotage.
It's worth fighting not to go 0-2 against Subhash in the early game.
On T2, this approach had me forgoing an anchored Aloe Vera (F) or looping an Off You Go! (F) with an Ouroboros Inkcaster (R). Instead, I played the Off You Go! (F) to juice up an Anansi (C) which I was confident would go 1-1.
By T3, my opponent was already empty-handed. My Tanuki (C) hit the card-draw Coppélia (U) they had resupplied, and Alice (U)’s after-you forced them to dedicate extra resources to guarantee a progression. Looping the Tanuki (C) with the Inkcaster (F), then again with a Hathor (C) kept them low on resources for the entire game.
Having Amahle, Asgarthan Outcast (U) to answer their Brassbug Hive (R) win condition let me close out the game.
Round 6 (L): Sigismar & Wingsspan
I went 0-2 on T1 to my opponent’s 2/2/2 Kadigiran Alchemist (U) that made an Ordis Recruit in each expedition.
Two early A Cappella Training (C)s and the potential to recur them with an Ouroboros Inkcaster (R) had me working towards a gameplan of starving my opponent of resources. Unfortunately, they played two Baba Yaga (F)s from hand to draw right back up.
The nail in the coffin for the resource war came when they dropped The Sandman (U), who would sleep a character and draw two cards upon leaving the expedition zone, all provided my opponent was under 8 mana.
Even with my opponent already at four cards in hand, there's an argument that I should have sabotaged their double-draw The Sandman (U).
I gave up fighting on cards here and opted to sabotage their high-tempo Ratatoskr (U), but it’s possible that preventing them from replaying The Sandman (U) would have done enough to keep them low on resources.
Cernunnos (U) and Alice (U) chipped away at their board state and resources to let me manage a 1-0 but left me in a bad spot.
I don't think I win from here without anchoring the Aloe Vera, but the mana costs and regions would make the rest of the turn very awkward.
A hand of medium-cost characters and no way to after-you allowed my opponent dedicate minimal resources to trade this turn, then overwhelm me on the following turn.