Hex: Highlander

Confession time: I'm pretty poor when it comes to money that I can spend on recreational activities, so despite the fun I'm having with a full playset of Set 1, I'm pragmatic on what I'll be able to afford with limited resources.  Many of the cards I'd like to build decks around are rare or legendary, so grinding my way to a tier 1 constructed playable deck will quickly drain my wallet.  So maybe it's too soon to be having this discussion with only one set out, but among the options I have for playing PvP on a budget, Highlander is always a fun option.

The long, swingy games of Highlander can
benefit from the boosts the Shrine provides.

For those unacquainted with Highlander formats, the decks have to be at least 100 cards, and can only have one copy of every card, excluding basic resources.  This makes it particularly attractive for cards that aren't quite powerful enough to be playable in competitive constructed.  Magic has an Elder-Dragon Highlander (also known as Commander), where a General is chosen from the deck and can be played at any time, also dictating the colors that can be included in deck construction.  Since Hex already has a Champion mechanic, I'm not sure if we'll see an EDH format per se, but an option for Highlander would appease many cash strapped players with a modest collection assembled mostly from booster drafts.  I also think this would make an interesting Heroic Difficulty for beating certain dungeons in PvE, but I'll talk about that more once they begin implementing PvE. 

So with a limited card pool, what sort of cool Highlander deck can you make?  Inspire seems like a good start!  Any Inspire troop will automatically buff your troops, so while Protectorate Clergyman is likely too weak to make the cut in constructed decks, the boost to your bigger creatures matter more when you stick him on the field.  Lord Benjamin is also pretty solid in a deck with all the Inspire Humans, despite the number of cards in your deck being greater.  One out of every twenty or so games you might also get lucky enough to assemble the Triumvirate and get to make one of the most satisfying attacks in the game at this stage.

While shard-fixing is minimal at this stage, a domain deck (runs all five shards) that runs Lixil and Midnight Shepherd is also intriguing, since the latter's ability is very powerful if you hit domain, and the former becomes near unkillable.  Shin'hare and Robot-Dwarf decks have the advantage of champions which allow them to play consistent chump blockers every few turns, and with Induction Coil, perhaps at an accelerated rate.

Some cards that are great in competitive Constructed are also strong in Highlander. Living Totem and Xentoth's Inquisitor are cards that can have a presence on the board by themselves.  But the lengthy nature of highlander also allows more... kitschy cards so see the light of day.  The Kraken is a behemoth (and game-ender) in Highlander, and just plain cool.  Giant Caterpillar is often too clunky to build a deck around, or even include in a deck, but Highlander might give him the time to evolve into a beastial powerhouse.  Ascetic Aspirant might actually reach his ultimate transcended form in Highlander also, allowing you to tutor up the single copy Escalation card, or anything else you managed to squeeze into your hundred card deck.

Some cards, namely artifacts, will be staples of a nascent Highlander format.  Bottled Vitae and Adaptable Infusion Device are colorless cards that cycle through your deck, the latter fixing the two or three shard colors you are probably using as well.  Shrine of Prosperity is another solid addition: while it often gets cut in place of a more efficient card when you're playing with sixty, the long, swingy games of Highlander can benefit from the boosts the Shrine provides.  Secret Laboratory is also very strong, giving you the advantage of card quality turn after turn.

The first preview card from Set 2 could easily
find a home in niche formats like Highlander.

Cryptozoic has also been keen to make cards with specific deck building criteria, or cards that might find strength outside of traditional constructed formats.  Servant of Shathak offers a deckbuilding challenge for constructed, but is an easy, efficient addition to Highlander decks. Jank Bot, the Set 2 preview card from Cory's most recent blog post is much more powerful in Highlander, where you only need to increase the deck size by 50 cards than by 90 in order to find a home.  His effect is also much more interesting when you do attack with him, since it's really just throw three random cards out there.

One problem that has the potential to arise for Hex is if a particular Gem becomes powerful to the point where it is worth it to run every socketable just to have this troop: all the Minor Gem troops get Spellshield in a Nature deck, or Flying in a Sapphire deck.  While this is generally how constructed will work, it seems out of flavor a bit for Highlander.  Even though the troops won't be quite the same, I think the zany one-copy-only quality of Highlander should be preserved in this aspect, so that each Gem can only be used once.  This restriction could force innovation: instead of an Eldritch Dreamer and a Battle Beetle with the card draw gem, the Dreamer might get to make an army of Rhinos instead.

Since the rules of a game are imposed upon the players, Cryptozoic would have to support the format in some way.  Two major considerations regarding Highlander would be starting life total and mulligan rules.  Mulligan rules in Highlander and EDH vary: official Commander rules start life at 40, though I've played at 30 and even 20 life before--this could make cards like Sentinel of Light more effective since you are more likely to be above 20 life when you trigger your Incantation of Righteousness.  They also have a special mulligan rule, a debate I don't want to get into with regards for standard constructed play (which I think is fine as is), but I should remark at least that the rule is changed when dealing with a large deck and the larger variance involved.

No crazy Highlander deck list or anything this week.  There's another Developer Draft this Sunday, March 30th at 3:00pm Eastern Time, which I'll hopefully get the chance to participate in.   Also hoping to log in some time on GW2 this Thursday and watch Seven Samurai over the weekend, among the mounting piles of schoolwork I have as the semester wraps up.  Next week I'll hopefully have a draft deck, or at least some opinions on some of the cards that have come out in the most recent patches.  In the mean time, I'd love to know what you guys think about Highlander.  Would you like to see it implemented?  Is it the card pool too limited right now to really consider it?  Are there any other cards you feel would be absolutely amazing in this format?  Comments and likes are appreciated.

Until next time...