One of my local game stores ran its first constructed event today. I felt a little guilty bringing a tested deck for a strong hero tricked out with uniques, but I was really curious to see how the deck would run after making the changes from last time.
The deck
The last time I played this deck.
My updates to the deck are all in line with the Fen philosophy that I want every card to be something I’m happy to see at any point in the game, whether it’s in my hand or in reserve.
Most importantly, I went down to a single Paint Prison (C) after getting flooded with too many removal spells against Sigismar last time.
Despite liking how the Mighty Jinn (F) played, I cut it after remembering that it made more than one opening hand awkward. Its regions also overlap with the 3-of The Hatter (C), which is a higher priority.
While I’d ideally like a tad more sabotage than the 3 Tinker Bell (F)s - especially more immediate sabotage - the Tanuki (R) makes for just a few too many cards I’m not thrilled to see in my opening hand, or my reserve for that matter due to the die-roll. I toyed around with adding an A Cappella Training (C) as another way to deal with high-priority threats, but I decided against it since there will be turns you can’t afford to draw a play that doesn’t add to the board.
I also opened a stellar Alice (U) which let me run a third Aloe Vera (F) at rare.
Uniques
Amahle, Asgarthan Outcast: 6/7
Alice: 7/7
One of Altered’s promises is that you could open one of the strongest cards in existence that only you’ll be able to play with. This past week, I got to live that dream by pulling a premium unique for my favorite faction that fills the final unique slot in my deck. I can’t emphasize enough how cool that felt.
This one’s eerily similar to - and in some ways better than - the Cernunnos (U) above. It doesn’t occupy the Cernunnos (F) slot, it doesn’t compete for resources from reserve, and it can be a huge advantage to put a The Hatter (C) or Kodama (F) directly in reserve to trigger their support ability for free.
The games
This event was three rounds of BO3. As a more invested player, I enjoyed the format, but I’d still recommend four rounds of BO1 for events that aren’t ultra-competitive. Some of the rounds did drag on, and it seemed like people would have preferred to see more different matchups.
Round 1 (2-0): Waru & Mack bureaucrats
In G1, the Waru player got off to an especially fast start, getting down a Bountiful Meadow (F) and using an Ordis Trooper (C) to beat my Paper Herald (F) to trade expeditions while ramping.
On T2, they played a Quetzalcóatl (C), which was rough for me both because Fen’s hero ability would give them an extra Ordis Recruit at noon, and because two of my uniques couldn’t touch it at a hand-cost of 4. Their Ordis Trooper (C) did a lot of work here, winning another expedition.
I did draw Amahle, Asgarthan Outcast (U), which I used to send the Quetzalcóatl back to the top of their deck twice. Both times, my opponent chose to redraw and replay it because of how key it is in the matchup.
I was keeping pace until my opponent played an Issitoq (R) to lock down an expedition where my 3-drop had been anchored. I fought its expedition on the next turn while my opponent slept a bureaucrat in the opposite expedition. I’m not sure I could have dealt with it a second time, so I was very fortunate to resupply a Tinker Bell (F) to sabotage it from reserve.
The one thing I had going for me at the point was card advantage; my sabotages and uniques with discard abilities even forced them to skip putting a card into mana on one turn.
They got within one region of victory by pressuring me over three turns with a 4-cost The Council (C) that I couldn’t deal with. The turn it overlapped with the Issitoq was a huge problem, since it blanked my Ouroboros Trickster (C)s, Anansi (C)s, and uniques in the only expedition that mattered.
On the final turn of the game, I miraculously resupplied a Cloth Cocoon (C), which I led with to discard their awoken but fleeting Council. This turned one of my uniques back on and let me play both sides to edge out a double-advance. While the Cloth Cocoon (C) at the end was the only one I saw, I was definitely lucky to dodge all three of their Robin Hood (R)s.
I got off to a much more aggressive start in G2, securing several early advances while they ramped with Bountiful Meadow (F) then slept a bureaucrat on T2.
They saw two Robin Hood (R)s but I drew into the answers this time: I topped the first one when it woke up by playing Amahle (U) from reserve for 7 mana, to which they responded by playing the second one asleep. They replayed the one from the top of the deck the following turn, and I was content to pay 5 mana to get rid of one for good, though the tax from the other made me unable to play either of my 3-drops to win an expedition that day. By the time they replayed the second Robin Hood the next day, I fortunately had access to another Cloth Cocoon.
Despite the taxation, I was able to maintain a large lead throughout the game, in large part due to two opportune support ability anchors. Drowning in cards, I considered sabotaging their The Frog Prince (C) from reserve, but instead decided I could afford to use Alice (U)’s after you. This forced them to dedicate mana to their Frog Prince, allowing me to land a big swing with my Cernunnos (U). This along with another large character closed out the game for me.
I was incredibly lucky to see all three of my uniques in some form in both games. Cernunnos (U) and Alice (U) were slightly awkward since my opponent wasn’t running Quetzalcóatl (R) or The Council (R), and I only saw one Thoth (C), but the times they sniped a Monolith Legate (C) and Ordis Attorney (R) still felt amazing.
Round 2 (2-0): Subhash & Marmo permanents
I kept a very fast start of 1-drop + 2-drop + Anansi (C). I opted to play both early drops even though the second was unnecessary for progression. It made my Anansi (C) a 5/5/5 which even as the first player traded against their hero ability Brassbug and Foundry Armorer (C) from reserve and gave me a window to sleep a Kodama (R).
The reserve Anansi (C) alongside a Cernunnos (F) handily won me T3 while they started to run low on resources from their hero ability usage.
On T4, they reserved a Brassbug Hive (R), then played it immediately. I had a Cloth Cocoon (C) at the ready and came out ahead that day after trading up on mana. After that, they were empty-handed, and my Cernunnos (U) and card advantage closed out the game.
In G2, my opponent had a much stronger start, getting down a Brassbug Hub (R) and Kelon Cylinder (R) after reserving them with Subhash’s ability. It was tough to keep pace, as I had to make sure that my plays would still be good whichever side they decided to add the Kelon Cylinder boost to.
Across the following turns, they reserved two Coppelia (C)s, then boosted them and the Brassbugs with an Ogun (C), putting me behind on expeditions.
Again, they ran low on cards, but this time they drew the solution: a very strong Athena (U) that was a 3-mana 5/3/5 from reserve which loses fleeting if you control two or more landmarks. It was problematic for me that its hand-cost of 5 and loss of fleeting made it immune to my unique and Cloth Cocoon, both in hand.
The regions were awkward for me here too, and while they replayed their Athena (U) for value, I had to pile on everything I could to achieve a draw on one side.
We ended up moving to tiebreakers, where fortunately I top-decked my Amahle (U) which dispatched the Athena (U) and paired with a The Hatter (C) for a victory in forest and mountain.
Round 3 (2-0): Akesha & Taru big spells
My opponent this round was playing a fun but less competitive deck, though they seemed to be performing very well with it.
In G1, I had what seemed to be an awkward hand of mostly 3-drops. For the first two turns, I dropped one per turn to get single advancements. I landed some pretty large Anansi (C)s, fearing cheap removal, but it never came, so I felt more confident making plays like paying 4 mana for an anchored Aloe Vera (F) as the last play of the turn.
When they spent their 8-mana turn to drop The Kadigir, Yzmir Bastion (R), I had the Cloth Cocoon (C) in hand to end their fun before they could use it, and I double-advanced for the win.
In G2, my opponent seemed less than thrilled with their opener. I led with a 1-drop, they passed, and I played a 2-drop to advance on both sides.
The mid-game mostly involved trading advancements on each side. They dropped a Grand Endeavor (F) which allowed me to move within an advancement of victory, but they bounced back the following turn with a Sakarabru (U) that self-boosted from controlling a landmark in addition to moving the expedition backwards. I felt pretty good about my chances for the next day after anchoring a 3-drop while still getting back within one advancement.
After making me commit to the board, they cast a Celebration Day (F), negating both of my characters and leaving me with nothing productive to do with the rest of my mana.
By this point, I had resupplied a Cloth Cocoon (C) so they knew they couldn’t safely play out their Kadigir on 9 mana. Instead, they played a Tooth Fairy (C) to sabotage the Cloth Cocoon, then played a Sakarabru (C) to keep victory out of reach for me.
The next turn, no Cocoon in sight, they went for their Kadigir after making me play first. Unfortunately for them, I had my 1-of Paint Prison (C) in hand which sealed the game for me.
Takeaways
I believe Fen & Crowbar is very well-positioned in the Beyond the Gates meta. This is in large part due to the catch-all removal of Cloth Cocoon (C), which just today dispatched with slept bureaucrats, a Brassbug Hive (R), and even a The Kadigir, Yzmir Bastion (R).
My three uniques spent more time sitting in hand today than I expected they would, especially the two with the restriction of targeting characters with a hand cost of 3 or less. I want to chalk some of that up to build/matchup variance, but I’m willing to consider that it might be worth diversifying my conditional removal and/or making one of my uniques more proactive rather than reactive.
Going down to a single Paint Prison (C) felt right. Though, to be fair, this is in large part because all three of my uniques fill a similar role. There were only a few scenarios where I felt myself really wishing I had access to one, but I never felt too bad working around its absence with more proactive plays. It’s certainly worse to have too many Paint Prisons than not enough.
Overperformers
- Anansi (C): No complaints today, this was always between a 4/4/4 and a 6/6/6 (full reserve alongside an Aloe Vera (R) resupply) and a premium anchor target. I always put this into mana if I saw it in my opener unless it was specifically alongside two cheap T1 plays to set up a T2 3-mana 5/5/5 alongside a 1-drop.
- Paper Herald (R): I really like the third copy. Today, this did each of the things it advertised it would do: it advanced me on T1, it acted as an after you, and its support ability tipped the scales with a free Ordis Recruit.
Underperformers
- Amahle, Asgarthan Outcast (C): I do think there are some matchups and sequences of draws where the card advantage of this as a 1-of could be crucial to sustain you into the late game, but they never came up today.