The deck
The last time I played Nevenka & Blotch, I tried a midrange approach, but the deck was sorely lacking in ways to interact with my opponent’s gameplan.
This deck maintains the midrange gameplan but includes more disruption in the form of sabotage and giving fleeting. I’ve cut nearly all of the expensive characters and focused on lower-cost characters supported by several sources of card advantage.
As a result, the deck is still aggressive enough to trade early but can plan to out-resource the opponent and stack several low-cost plays for stronger turns in the late-game.
Card choices
- Ouroboros Inkcaster (R): The rare costing 2 mana is critical, as it makes for an excellent T1 play alongside A Cappella Training (C), Magical Training (F), or Martengale (R). This goes a long way to giving you value for the late-game. It also makes me feel better about playing the common Tanuki (C) and The Sandman (C).
- Magical Training (F): The “after you” effect helps give you windows for anchoring characters or going All In!, all without putting you down on cards.
- Martengale (R): Preventing the failure case of Nevenka & Blotch’s hero ability enables you to use it on turns you otherwise wouldn’t be able to. It’s great as an unsuspecting All In! target.
- Aloe Vera (F): This is a flexible card that can provide card advantage and persistent stats while still being a tolerable T1 play if needed. When anchored, this is a great target for All In! or a Nevenka boost. In that respect, I’ve decided I prefer this to Coniferal Coneman (F) in all cases except against factions with access to Off You Go!.
- All In! (C): This spell often results in a blowout when you can safely land it in the late-game, ideally on an anchored character. It pairs well with any of the deck’s three uniques. I like that it turns any 1 or 2-drop into a massive threat. The only reason I’m not at three copies is because it’s usually a dead draw in the first few turns of the game.
- Loki (R): This is a key tech card against the heroes that can outgrind you, in particular Fen & Crowbar, any Yzmir hero, and Treyst & Rossum. In most other matchups, I’m content to put this into mana. You want to play this as the first player when your opponent has a larger hand and/or reserve than you. It gets better when you have a Martengale or Ouroboros Inkcaster (R) in reserve to cash in their support ability so that you have enough mana for a follow-up play.
- Studious Disciple (R): This plays very well with the 1-mana spells and All In!.
- Kadigiran Mage-Dancer (R): This is on the edge even as a 1-of. It’s great if you can anchor it, but I observed last time that there aren’t quite enough cheap dice-rollers to easily trigger this twice or more per turn. My uniques are dice-rolling payoffs, but the situation could be different if you have 3 dice-rollers.
Uniques
Kadigiran Mage-Dancer: 7/7
This Mage-Dancer abuses the fact that the from-hand die roll self-triggers the already busted “when you roll, anchor” line: when this comes down, it immediately anchors another 3-drop. Even if your opponent is packing removal, they have to decide whether to target this or your now-anchored threat. If they deal with this, they’re taking minimal stats off the board and you have an anchored character for the following turn.
If they instead remove the anchored character, you can continue to anchor two more characters by using Nevenka’s hero ability, then playing an Ouroboros Trickster or an All In!.
The Hatter: 6/7
The The Ouroboros, Lyra Bastion effect stapled onto a well-statted character means that you can fix your dice rolls without going down on tempo. At first, I thought this unique was cooler than it was powerful, but the fact that it has a decent chance to anchor itself with Nevenka’s hero ability means that you can reasonably anchor it over several turns, especially if you pair it with a Martengale (R). The lopsided stats can make this a powerhouse in the right regions, though anchoring it into an upcoming water region can be awkward.
Lyra Navigator: 6/7
The games
Round 1 (L): Teija & Nauraa Hydracaena ramp
I got off to a very strong start, going 2-0 thanks to a Martengale (R) + 2-drop curve, where a risk-free Nevenka roll let me beat a boosted Spindle Harvesters (C). My opponent was able to get down a Bountiful Meadow (C) for early ramp.
Favorable regions for The Hatter (U) let me 2-1 on T2, but my opponent set up a Parvati (R). Re-anchoring the Harvesters offered minimal value, but it let my opponent blow me out when played from reserve on the following turn by anchoring their boosted Daughter of Yggdrasil (R).
On T4, the Meadow let them play a Hydracaena (R) while their 6/6/4 in anchored stats made me work just to trade.
They led T5 with The Spindle, Muna Bastion, which effectively ended my chances of dealing with the Hydracaena. Magical Training (F)s let me blow through my deck, but Twinkle, Twinkle (C), The Sandman (R), and Cloth Cocoon (C) were all dead draws at this point.
The best-statted characters I had access to were multiple Aloe Vera (F)s, but the non-Hydracaena side had consecutive non-water regions, where their replayed Daughter of Yggdrasil (R) did wonders for them.
I was able to get within one advancement of victory, but the steady progression of the Hydracaena was too much to overcome.
Round 2 (W): Kojo & Booda
This game, I saw The Hatter (U) fairly early on and was able to immediately anchor it with a 6 from the Nevenka roll. The following turn, the Ouroboros effect chained into another anchored roll on an Ouroboros Croupier (C), which itself high-rolled for a card.
While I wasn’t always able to block, I advanced quickly enough that by the time my opponent landed their first Haven, Bravos Bastion (C), I was pushing to close out the game. Anchored Aloe Vera (F)s for persistent stats helped get me over the finish line.
Round 3 (W): Basira & Kaizaimon
I kept an A Cappella Training (C) alongside an Ouroboros Inkcaster (R) to get extra value out of it. Since I drew into a second A Cappella Training (C) early on, I was effectively able to give fleeting to every character my opponent played. My spending half of my turns on spells meant we mostly traded early on, but by the mid-game they were already resorting to top-decking their plays for the turn.
In the late-game, they were able to pair a Bravos Tracer (U) with a gigantic Atlas (U) that removed fleeting.
I drew into The Hatter (U) and was able to combo it with an Ouroboros Trickster (C). After the Trickster luckily received anchored from the Nevenka roll, I dedicated an All In! (C) to it. Unfortunately, I low-rolled a 2 and a 1, which prevented me from going 2-0 that day.
Replaying The Hatter (U) on the following turn let me try again with All In!, and this time I was able to high roll, putting me at 2-0 for the win.
Bonus game (W): Akesha & Taru
On T1, my opponent and I got into a Magical Training (C) duel: I led with one as the first player, they responded with theirs in turn, and I cast another one from my opening hand. They played a 1/2/1 Muna Caregiver (U) that returned a spell to hand, but because I was the winner of our little Magical Training-off, I was able to play a Martengale (R) and succeed at the 5/6 chance to boost it and go 2-1.
I played my Lyra Navigator (U) which Akesha bounced with an Off You Go! (C), then returned to hand by replaying the Muna Caregiver (U). My deck is so weak to Off You Go! (C) that I figured I needed to get it out of their hand, so I decided to just replay the Navigator on the following turn, despite knowing it would get me 0-2’d.
Despite making solid expedition progress, my opponent amassed a full hand of cards, so I was thrilled to draw into my one-of Loki (R) on T4. I knew I would be the starting player next turn, so I played out my Ouroboros Inkcaster (R) to have a cost reduction support ability in reserve to combo with it.
The following turn, I led with Loki, which devastated my Yzmir opponent by hitting their five cards in hand and two in reserve. Adjusting to their new hand, they played a character to the opposite expedition. I drew into an A Cappella Training (C) to give their play fleeting and keep them low on resources, all thanks to the extra mana from the Inkcaster support ability.
The Loki had also drawn me into my Kadigiran Mage-Dancer (U). I drew out another Off You Go! (C) by playing an Aloe Vera (F) unanchored, then played it from reserve and anchored it with the Mage-Dancer roll.
I was about to try to set up a completely anchored board by replaying the Mage-Dancer (U) on the following turn but remembered my opponent was likely on Small Step, Giant Leap (C). Instead, I played for max stats on board and kept them at 2 expeditions.
My opponent asked me to mana first on the previous turn - they were very courteous to remind me about the possibility of Baku - so I kept my full hand going into this turn with us at 2/2 on expeditions.
I again played for max-stats. With all of our mana exhausted, their Dorothy Gale play tied them on one side while I was winning on the other. I went for the risky Nevenka die roll for a 2/3 chance to win and a 1/6 to go 1-1. Luckily for me, the die roll gave me the boost I needed to end the game in my favor.