Hex: Skald Tempo

Patch v825 brought some pretty strong cards into the mix.  One that caught my eye is the adorable Kindling Skarn, which can quickly turn games in your favor if played right.  While I think this little guy can easily find a home in mono-Ruby decks, the idea of abusing him in a deck that can run him out quick and plays tons of action cards before your opponent can adequately respond tempted me. 

Skald Tempo

Champion: Wyatt the Sapper

3 Archmage Wrenlocke

4 Buccaneer

4 Eldritch Dreamer (Prime Ruby Gem of Intensity)

4 Kindling Skarn

4 Ruby Pyromancer

4 Burn

2 Countermagic

4 Peek

4 Ragefire

4 Time Ripple

9 Ruby Shard

10 Sapphire Shard

4 Shards of Fate

Strategy

As of patch v825, Skarn's transformed
versions deal more damage than listed.

This is a tempo deck, meaning your general strategy involves making the most of your resources every turn and keeping up with your attacks to swiftly run your opponent's life total down to zero.  However, unlike the speedy mono-Ruby decks which throw card advantage to the wind, Skald Tempo actually has some ways to create massive amount of card advantage in the form of seven bulky 4-drops.

Archmage Wrenlocke has natural synergy in a deck that runs lots of actions, so he and Skald pair up quite nicely.  However the true shining power of the deck is the Eldritch Dreamer. After you bounce or kill all of your opponent's early plays, you can reset the board with a single, unblockable attack, dealing three and equalizing each player's hand.  In decks where you already have card advantage on board, this is devastating.  

Weaknesses

Your biggest weakness is a Ruby-Gemmed Xentoth's Inquisitor.  The three damage kills any of your creatures, meaning you'll be unlikely to stick Wrenlocke or Dreamer unless you have another dude to soak up the blow, or you plan on hitting seven resources and protecting it with Countermagic.  Your bounce spells are also notably weaker with that gem since returning them will re-trigger their ability when they cast it again.

The giant creatures of Wild Magic can also reach critical mass much sooner than you.  Where you have evasion, they have brute force.  Bounce effects will be your friend to ensure your crew can punch through, but its important to conscious of how resilient some of the wild guys are, particularly the Spellshield Sprite and possibly Bramble Legion. 

Archmage Wrenlocke, combined with your
eighteen actions, can generate massive
card advantage in the late game.

Modifications

While most of these cards I feel justify their place quite well, the two weakest cards are Ruby Pyromancer and Countermagic.  Arena Brawler and Gem-Crazed Berserker were both options in my initial version, and the latter actually made it into the first version of the deck, but having a 2-drop to curve out is important since, sparing a Skarn into double Burn, you are going to want to establish your board until you hit Wrenlocke or Dreamer.  I opted for Pyromancer since she buffs Dreamer into a Kenny Loggins-esque "Danger Zone," where a couple connections actually puts your opponent in burn range.  Arena Brawler is fine, but can be stymied very easily whereas the Pyromancer will continue to have a presence on the board--occasionally she will boost a Skarn that was Rippled or Buccaneered itself.  Thunderbird is also a live option, but getting to two sapphire threshold on turn two is impossible if you also plan on playing Skarn turn one, and you would like to each game ideally.  Savage Raider is also an possible addition if you want to have multiple one-drops, 

As for Countermagic, it seems like a necessary evil in the maindeck for dealing with board-sweepers.  Arcane Shield might be better for protecting the lads you really need to, but Countermagic actually stops Xentoth's and Extinction, and it is an excellent card to draw after an Eldritch beatdown since you can run it a bit indiscriminately due to the hand resets.

There's also a chance you may want to run a different Champion.  Poca gives you extra damage on the turns you're able to clear the field, and Feather Drifting Downriver can actually turn your Skarn into a Dragon (or Charizard if you prefer).  Wyatt seems to make the deck more consistent in getting Skarn to max-level and in your transition from tempo into your late game card advantage machine, but for competitive play one of these other champions may be a better option for damage (if you change the Ruby Pyromancers to Arena Brawlers, I'd probably switch to Poca).

That's it for the tempo deck.  Cory posted an expanded look at the development of the Shin'hare, which is worth a look if you like bunny samurai.  Leave a comment if you get the opportunity to try the deck out and what modifications, if any, you make.