This is the Lindiwe list I brought to the Monday A.W.O.L. weekly on 2025-02-17, where it went 5-1 for 5th of 124. The deck The last time I played Lindiwe & Maw. Trial by Frost give Lindiwe access to Moth Lantern, a strong tempo play and late-game win-condition all in one. Alongside Baba’s Isba, she’s now a lot closer to the critical mass of worthwhile sacrifice outlets to make the sacrifice archetype a serious contender. ...
I pulled a very cool Mighty Simbi (U) from my Trial by Frost opening that ramps when one of your expeditions moves forward due to forest. Not long after, I came across a Cernunnos (U) with the exact same line of text on the Discord Marketplace, and I thought I might have a shot at building around the effect with some consistency. I took this list to the Monday A.W.O.L. weekly on 2025-02-10, where it went 4-2 for 16th of 125. ...
For the first A.W.O.L. tournament after the release of Trial by Frost, I brought the tempo Gulrang list I’d been tweaking since the previous set, updated with some of her new goodies. The deck ended up going 4-2 on the day for 30th of 113. Changes The last time I played Gulrang during Beyond the Gates. Geyser (F) is the biggest upgrade that tempo Gulrang received in Trial by Frost. The defender line on her hero ability is a serious downside, so turning it off a whole turn earlier is massive. It being a catch-all removal spell that you’re incentivized to keep means you can afford to include fewer situational spells such as Sticky Note Seals (C), one of the problems with the earlier iterations of the deck. ...
I brought a mostly unchanged version of my Fen spells list to the A.W.O.L. Season 1 Invitational. It’s my favorite deck to play and the one I’m most comfortable with, but I also think it’s well-suited against most of the decks I expected to see: Treyst & Rossum: An early A Cappella Training (C) can grind scrap counter progress to a halt, and Cloth Cocoon (C) can shut down the late-game Haven plan. Afanas & Senka: Fen’s spells can pass priority as well as Afanas, and sabotage and removal can prevent him from chaining spells with boost targets. Off You Go! (F) is especially helpful here. Teija & Nauraa: Fen’s best matchup. Cloth Cocoon (C) and Off You Go! (F) make it very hard for them to anchor characters. Waru & Mack: Your removal can make it a difficult for them to safely sleep characters as long they can’t stick a Quetzalcóatl before you draw into an answer for it. Unfortunately, the deck’s worst matchup is against Sigismar & Wingspan, who were unsurprisingly the most represented hero: ...
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 it 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 they 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. ...
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. ...