beyond-the-gates

I was very impressed when I took Arjun & Spike for a spin in constructed. Being aware of their key synergies made me more receptive to the idea of pivoting into a 3-drop-centric deck when I saw them late in P1. The end result far surpassed my expectations and has me wondering if they’re a stronger hero than Sigismar & Wingspan, albeit less generically powerful. The draft A P1p1 The Sandman (F) made it very easy to start in Ordis, and a P1p2 Baba Yaga (F) did nothing to change my course. I took a P1p3 Anubis (C) despite it not being the strongest card in the pack because I wanted to cut Ordis and build towards Sigismar & Wingspan. There wasn’t a compelling Ordis pick for P1p4, so I followed the rares with a Thoth (F) and continued into Yzmir with a Kadigiran Alchemist (C). Kuwat, the Dissenter (R) looked nice if I did end up in an Yzmir Sigismar, and another Thoth (C) had me considering whether I could go bureaucrats. ...

I’ve been tinkering with this Fen & Crowbar list since Altered’s release, so I was thrilled to be able to take Lyra into the top cut with it at Gamers Guild Arizona’s Altered Grand Tournament. The deck The last time I played this deck. This build positions Fen & Crowbar as a midrange tempo deck. The goal is for your well-statted characters to fight for early advances while using efficient removal to trade up and close out the game. Fen & Crowbar’s hero ability offers staying power against late-game decks while being able to flexibly convert value into tempo by spending resources from reserve. ...

I was planning to build another deck before today’s event, but I forgot my Axiom uniques at home, so I ended up bringing out Fen & Crowbar again. This ended up working out, since the games I played over the weekend had me reconsidering my anti-Small Step, Giant Leap stance, and I was curious to test it out as a 1-of. Previously, I had written off the card for being useless until the final turn of the game, like a burn spell in Magic: The Gathering. What I had missed is that Small Step ends the game before progression at dusk. I’d liken it more to a free spell where just having it in hand reduces the number of progressions you need to achieve by one. At its best, it invalidates your opponent’s plays on the final turn and substantially changes your win condition. ...

The deck This is my first stab at an Arjun & Spike list. The deck’s goal is straightforward: to tempo out beefy characters and effectively double their stats and/or abilities with Arjun & Spike’s hero ability. Harvest (C) is the card that makes this deck work. It spots you two hero ability activations that you’re able to use immediately. I was happiest to spend my rare slots on premium 3-drops and effects that put cards into your reserve. ...

The deck The last time I played this deck. I’m pretty happy with the build overall, but I’m considering whether my crusade against situational cards may have caused me to overlook strong spells for the deck. In particular, I wanted to test one copy of Twinkle Twinkle (C). Cost reduction abilities are deceptively powerful, so I’m not unhappy if this gets resupplied. Even if it can’t win me a critical expedition, playing it to sleep my own character in a losing expedition gives it enough utility that I’m happy including it. ...

The deck This is a midrange dice-rolling deck that aims to line up multiple rolls for mid-game tempo turns with cards like Kadigiran Mage-Dancer (F). To close out the game, it attempts to go All In! (C) on either an anchored character or an already large character to make an expedition difficult to contest. Martengale (R) feels like the most important card in the deck. 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. ...

The deck There are two ways that I considered building Auraq. One was a more control-oriented build that runs expensive spells and tries to time your unevenly statted characters to block optimally. In some matchups, this deck will only get one ability activation, so you have to make it count. I opted instead for an aggressive build that aims to activate the hero ability as quickly and as many times as possible (usually twice). Sometimes you’ll hit a 1-drop, but it’s fine: at least you’ll get to try again in a turn or two. ...

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. ...

Since Altered’s release, every game I’ve lost has been to Sigismar & Wingspan, across draft, sealed, and constructed. I’ve internalized a lot of what makes the hero feel so powerful from the opposite side of the table and so went into the draft biasing pretty heavily towards Ordis. The draft Note: this draft was run with Kickstarter boosters. I started with a Bravos Bladedancer (F) as a cheap, on-rate play that would get a lot better if I ended up in a boost-heavy deck. I followed this up with an Ordis Cadets (R), a premium go-wide card that leaned towards Ordis. ...

Today I attended my first Altered constructed event. I decided to bring the strongest-looking Lyra deck I could come up with, which had me looking at Fen & Crowbar. The deck I think the most broken thing that Fen & Crowbar have access to is that their hero ability can get characters with the “anchor target character with hand cost 3 or less” support ability directly into your reserve. Whenever you resupply one of these, it’s as though your hero ability were Arjun & Spike’s minus the cost of a card from reserve, or (optimistically) “At Noon - Create a 4/4/4 in target expedition”. ...