beyond-the-gates

This week, I brought Atsadi & Surge to the ACE Week 5 tournament, where the deck went 4-1 in single-elimination for 2nd place out of 22. The deck The last time I played this deck. The deck has the same philosophy as last time: you can afford to play fast and loose with your resources since Atsadi’s hero ability will help you recoup the cards and then some. If you’re able to ramp enough, you can use your mana advantage to pass priority and play your large characters once your opponent is unable to react. ...

I’ve been gradually tweaking my spell-centric Fen list, but it received a massive upgrade when I took notes from some of ElWiwi’s innovations. I took this list to the Monday A.W.O.L. weekly where I went 5-1 for 3rd out of 60. It was especially exciting to practice the Lyra mirror in the semifinals against Gamanight’s Nevenka & Blotch, which went on to win the entire event! The deck One of the most attractive things about Lyra is how versatile the faction is. Since they have access to efficient answers for just about every situation, what they need most is card draw so that it can piece together those answers more reliably. This makes Magical Training (F), Ouroboros Inkcaster (R), and card advantage uniques invaluable. ...

At the end of my last outing with Gulrang & Tocsin, I speculated that some of the hero’s fundamental issues could be solved by thinking of them not as a defensive late-game hero, but as a tempo hero whose finishers come online at 8 mana. I took the end-result of that experiment to the Wednesday A.W.O.L. tournament on 2025-01-08, where the deck went 3-3 to finish 18th out of 36. Disclaimer: I’ve lost a ton on BGA - and I mean a ton - while playing this deck. I’m happier with it than the previous iteration, but I think Sigismar and Waru are both better able to make use of Ordis’s current toolset. ...

I brought Akesha & Taru to the Monday A.W.O.L. weekly where I went 1-4 (after a first-round bye) for 30th out of 46. The deck feels solid despite today’s disappointing performance, which I attribute to playing against strong players and getting a couple of tough matchups. The deck This an attrition-style control deck that plays for the long game by gradually running your opponent out of resources. Large 3-drops alongside Akesha’s after-you ensure that you can trade in the early-game at worst, threatening to go 1-0 if your opponent can’t contest both expeditions. ...

It’s been a while since I’ve played Bravos, so a new Dracaena (U) seemed a great excuse to bring Basira to the Monday A.W.O.L. weekly. I ended up finishing 3-3 for 18th of 47. The deck The last time I played this deck. This build is very similar to my last one. I haven’t been playing the deck much, so I can’t vouch for all of the cards I’m running. ...

Over the holidays, I ran a private sealed event with five other players, each of whom had somewhere between zero and five prior games of Altered under their belt. All of them have experience with light/medium eurogames, but Altered is their first trading card game. As refreshingly simple as Altered’s core mechanics are, I knew deckbuilding would be a step up in complexity, so I did my best to prepare so that the event would run as smoothly as possible. ...

I played an updated version of my Rin deck at the Monday A.W.O.L. weekly on 2024-12-23, where it went 3-3 for 30th of 58. The deck For a detailed breakdown of the deck list, see the last time I played this deck. The biggest change is that I acquired another Coppélia (U) that plays itself when it goes to reserve. Going down a copy of Coppélia (R) was a downside, but I included a second Cernunnos (R) in its place to make it more likely the deck can progress on T1. ...

I recently participated in the 128-player sealed tournament held by Altered Aces over Discord. I didn’t make it out of the group stage, but I thought it would be worthwhile to review the games and how I approached my pool. The pool Here are the first things I noticed when I looked over my sealed pool: No Sigismar & Wingspan or Kojo & Booda, but I did have Teija & Nauraa All three heroes are generically strong, though Sigismar & Wingspan are in a class of their own since their token threatens to win an expedition by itself if not contested. Three copies of Hydracaena Hydracaena is a one-card win-condition if your opponent doesn’t have removal. Three copies means I can craft my gameplan around drawing one of these. Alarmingly few 1 and 2-drops My deck will not be able to reliably 2-0 in the early-game. It also won’t have the luxury of passing priority to see where my opponent plays. Bravos and Ordis are more valuable just because they provide 2-3 on-rate 1 and 2-mana characters. Axiom is shallow and weak This is a blessing, since it made me feel comfortable discounting Axiom entirely. Bravos is very deep Including Bravos gives me access to well-statted 3-drops, reasonable removal spells, and my pool’s best 1 and 2-drops. A healthy amount of sabotage Sabotage is strong in limited. 2x Tanuki (C), Haven Bouncer (C), Ordis Spy (C), and Tooth Fairy (C) all let me attack my opponent’s resources. Lyra + Muna anchored characters Lyra and Muna offer four cards that self-anchor: Aloe Vera (F), Coniferal Coneman (F), Dracaena (C), and Coniferal Coneman (C). Each of them gets double value out of the Teija & Nauraa boost. Two copies of The Hatter across Bravos and Lyra The Hatter’s support ability can turn my pool’s excess of 3-drops into a positive. It’s even better if any of the 3-drops have a Teija boost when they’re anchored. The deck I settled on Bravos-Lyra-Muna. Muna allows me to use Teija & Nauraa as my hero and gives me access to three copies of Hydracaena. Bravos is my deepest faction, which helps ensure that my 28th and 29th cards are still playable. A splash of Lyra gives me access to more sabotage and premium self-anchoring characters to boost with Teija’s hero ability. ...

I brought this Afanas & Senka list to the Monday A.W.O.L. tournament on 2024-12-16, where it went 6-0 for 1st place out of 55. R6 featured one of the most exciting games I’ve played since launch. It had the high stakes of a finals match while also containing the kinds of tense turns and massive swings that make Altered so engaging. The hero Afanas & Senka make use of Yzmir’s card draw and disruption tools in a spell-based tempo deck that only gets stronger as it gains access to more mana. Their gameplan is to stick an unassuming character in each expedition, then cycle through cheap spells to apply boosts towards whichever expedition the opponent commits to. ...

Where fellow Yzmir heroes Akesha & Taru pass priority with an explicit after-you, Lindiwe & Maw exemplify the Yzmir ethos in different way: Lindiwe plays out her turn, then only once her opponent has revealed their hand does she sacrifice characters to juggle stats around such that she comes out ahead. The deck While you could arguably build a stronger deck by importing the strongest sacrifice cards into a standard Yzmir control shell, I’ve gone the route of building around Baba’s Isba (R). It provides you with an explicit after-you in addition to the implicit after-you of shifting around stats, letting you get the most out of your removal spells, including the 5-mana Kraken’s Wrath (R). ...