The last few patches have been interesting for Hex's flagship race of demonic samurai rabbits. The inclusion and subsequent cost reduction to Oath of Valor made diamond shards a viable partner for Battle Hopper aspirants. The bug fix to Bun'jitsu, the Abomination creating champion, has paved a tempting path for Blood drafters to build their own bomb, and the rarity rework to the now common Concubunny makes it even easier for the Shin'hare race to create an ever growing army of fur-ocious warriors.
Patch v829, the most recent patch, nerfed many cards prevalent in the constructed metagame like Eye of Creation and Xentoth's Inquisitor, while offering sizable buffs to cards that have been underplayed, and perhaps that the developers thought would have a greater impact then they've had. The Shin'hare in particular got nothing but love, with most changes targeted at strengthening the archetype in limited play, as with the aforementioned Concubunny. Despite these changes making the troops more appealing, the Shin'hare have some deeper functional problems holding back their ability to really shine, but now seems like as good a time as any to examine the race that constantly toes the line between adorable and deplorable.
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| Conbunny was reassigned as common in Patch v829, making the rabbit proliferation engine easier to craft in limited formats. |
In draft you really have to craft your deck around these cards, but unlike with Dwarves where most of your picks are isolated to only other Dwarf drafters, many of the cards in Shin'hare are equally good outside of the archetype. Sensei of the Golden Petal, particularly after its cost reduction, is a fine addition to the curve of any Wild Deck, and Moon'airu Sensei drawing a card is a solid tempo drop. The Shin'hare are also much more xenophobic than the Dwarves when it comes to what they need to fuel their engine: while cards like Concubunny and Shin'hare Eulogist require it be a fellow Shin'hare to trigger their ability, the Dwarves vary as to whether or not the need artifacts or robots to help generate a particular ability, giving them a much wider pool for deck design. Dwarves also have access to Volcannon at Uncommon as a legitimate win condition, where Shin'hare traditionally have to deal all 20 points of damage in the red zone.
Shin'hare also suffer from a crippling lack of evasion. Wild generally relies on crush to power through damage, and while Onslaught does include this, it's both a temporary effect and rare, so you can't guarantee you'll see it in drafts, and even if you get it, you won't be guaranteed to draw it every game. There will be times when your army just has to watch as a Thunderbird or a Spearcliff Cloud Knight mercilessly assaults your life total from on high. Wild's typical answer to troublesome fliers is to just make something bigger to assault back with, but the Shin'hare really require the assembly of an engine to amass itself, and this engine is almost entirely reliant on other troops. This makes our furry friends more vulnerable than most to mass removal, and their size makes it difficult for them to recover after they've been ousted once. Extinction is bad for everyone, but Heat Wave thrives on eliminating a modest army. Still, these are rares, so solace can be taken that you won't always run into them. However one card that is particularly devastating to the Shin'hare is Sorrow, which can reduce your entire army to shreds on its own. In fact, this may have been the impetus behind raising the toughness of Eulogist and Cottontail Ronin to two, so that some troops can remain from this occasional one-sided wrath. These are two of the more aggressive Shin'hare, and now running a Sorrow into the Eulogist can be particularly deadly as he absorbs the power of his fallen friends.
So how does the rabbit army get around their shortcomings, and when and how should you draft them? Certain rares can push you in the right direction. Hop'hiro is a pretty strong early drop on his own, but with an army to fuel him he can be downright deadly when he reaches his final form, and is certainly worthy of a first pick since you can draft around him. Diamond in particular has trouble with him since neither Repel and Inner Conflict fail to stop the ability. Ritualist of the Spring Litter is also a fine first pick, and now that Concubunny is common, you can snag them up in multiples to grow the litter early and often. Uzume is fantastic also, but doesn't necessarily restrict you to draft Shin'hare, since she's independently strong from her subjects.
Shin'hare decks are generally best build Wild-Blood to take advantage of every Shin'hare, but Wild has the main Battle Hopper proliferation engine, and the deck can survive without Blood shards. An alternate strategy is getting a Battle Hoppers engine with some utility and a decent mass pump action: I've seen a couple Sapphire-Wild Shin'hare decks that just clog the ground and beat with flying troops, or use Monkey of the Nine Tales to transform an errant hopper into a more menacing mammal. If you're on the hunt for mass pump actions, Evolve is probably the most sub-par of the bunch, since it only affects troops currently in play and will rarely create enough pressure to end the game on its own. Command Tower has more staying power, but doesn't give the boost to toughness to survive the common snipers like Bombsmith and Sorrow. Bucktooth Commander is great since he has a body himself, but is also a huge target for removal. Oath of Valor is solid if you can generate a lot of Hoppers, but forces you to go Diamond, so you generally need to establish this strategy in pack one. Gore Feast is equally nice, and Ruby can offer a decent complement of removal and reach with burn actions to punch through that last bit of damage. If you are the only Shin'hare drafter, you may be able to snag Burn and Mortar Strike early and scoop the straggling bunnies when they table. Onslaught is probably the best finisher for you since it usually wins the game outright if your army is sizable enough, but it should be noted that this all-in strategy with Gore Feast and Onslaught can be countered by cards like Blinding Light, though with Gore Feast your hoppers will keep their rage. Even though the ones mentioned earlier aren't nearly as powerful, you generally want to have a few of these pump actions since an ill-timed Inquisition, or just a poor randomization could leave you high and dry, and with a bunch of near-useless zero-power troops.
What about Champions? It's difficult to predict every shard combination Shin'hare can go, since Wild-Anything is truly viable. The three Shin'hare champions are Kishimoto, Bun'jitsu, and Monika'shin. Kishimoto is pretty bad in draft since the utility of pump effects generally comes from their ability to be played as combat tricks. A temporary boost of +2/+2 at basic action speed is only sub-par, and works best on troops that have some sort of evasion, like flying. Maybe once in a handful of games the pump will actually be relevant, but since it can't be used re-actively it loses a lot of utility. She would probably be a relevant option if instead or the clunky +2/+2 she created a copy of Wild Growth and put it into your hand, allowing you to play it when it is most advantageous, though the information could give your opponent room to play around it.
Between the other two it's kind of a toss-up. Monika'shin is a great addition if you already have a strong engine. You will probably get a least two extra Battle Hoppers throughout the course of the game from her, and more if you snag Spring Litter. If you have expensive bombs in your deck, those Hoppers are essential to helping you stall the game until you can play them, however unlike Bertram's Worker Bots assembling Construction Plans and threatening one-toughness groundlings with those cold, metallic eyes, your Battle Hoppers aren't exactly prodigious workers. But what they lack in work ethic the Shin'hare make up for in heart, and there's another champion who can put those hearts, and any other left over organs, to good use.
I haven't really looked at Bun'jitsu before his bug fix, but he's a very solid champion even outside of Shin'hare decks. The ability causes you to sacrifice two troops and merge their combined power and toughness with a base 3/3 Abomination (so sacrificing two 1/2 Shin'hare Militia would make a 5/7 Abomination). The Abomination itself suffers from the same frustrating lack of evasion and weakness to spot removal like Murder and Inner Conflict, but this giant monster can swing games in your favor on its own, especially if paired with Blood Aura, giving it another +1/+1 power boost and Lifedrain. I had a painful experience in the last round of a draft with someone who did this in the finals with a Darkspire Priestess and Enforcer, making an 8/6 Abomination that grew to a 9/7 Lifedraining monstrosity the following turn! You can also trigger the Abomination ability in the second main phase to make pump actions twice as effective, giving one of your Battle Hoppers a Wild Growth or another pump effect during the combat phase, and then transferring that bonus permanently onto the Abomination. It's not exactly great card advantage in theory, but sometimes a gigantic troop will just win you the game.
That about wraps up my thoughts on the Shin'hare. My friends are eager to play with them in PvE, and between their backstory and relation to the shroomkin (seriously, what is Monika'shin doing to that poor little guy) I'm also eager to see what sort of PvE content is themed around them. Until then hopefully the long-ears will serve you well in your next booster draft or sealed deck. Depending on whether we see Patch v830 this week, I might try to assemble that Tetzot deck for Highlander again. Otherwise I might just pick another race and to a draft strategy around them. If you have a preference, let me know.
Until then: Eat a rabbit. Save a shroomkin.
Edited: This article mistakenly noted that Bun'jitsu sacrificed troops instead of exiling them, triggering effects like Darkspire Priestess.
So how does the rabbit army get around their shortcomings, and when and how should you draft them? Certain rares can push you in the right direction. Hop'hiro is a pretty strong early drop on his own, but with an army to fuel him he can be downright deadly when he reaches his final form, and is certainly worthy of a first pick since you can draft around him. Diamond in particular has trouble with him since neither Repel and Inner Conflict fail to stop the ability. Ritualist of the Spring Litter is also a fine first pick, and now that Concubunny is common, you can snag them up in multiples to grow the litter early and often. Uzume is fantastic also, but doesn't necessarily restrict you to draft Shin'hare, since she's independently strong from her subjects.
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| If your opponent can't answer Eulogist he will eventually grow to gigantic proportions |
What about Champions? It's difficult to predict every shard combination Shin'hare can go, since Wild-Anything is truly viable. The three Shin'hare champions are Kishimoto, Bun'jitsu, and Monika'shin. Kishimoto is pretty bad in draft since the utility of pump effects generally comes from their ability to be played as combat tricks. A temporary boost of +2/+2 at basic action speed is only sub-par, and works best on troops that have some sort of evasion, like flying. Maybe once in a handful of games the pump will actually be relevant, but since it can't be used re-actively it loses a lot of utility. She would probably be a relevant option if instead or the clunky +2/+2 she created a copy of Wild Growth and put it into your hand, allowing you to play it when it is most advantageous, though the information could give your opponent room to play around it.
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| A great addition to an already strong engine, Monika'shin can... wait... that poor shroomkin!!! |
I haven't really looked at Bun'jitsu before his bug fix, but he's a very solid champion even outside of Shin'hare decks. The ability causes you to sacrifice two troops and merge their combined power and toughness with a base 3/3 Abomination (so sacrificing two 1/2 Shin'hare Militia would make a 5/7 Abomination). The Abomination itself suffers from the same frustrating lack of evasion and weakness to spot removal like Murder and Inner Conflict, but this giant monster can swing games in your favor on its own, especially if paired with Blood Aura, giving it another +1/+1 power boost and Lifedrain. I had a painful experience in the last round of a draft with someone who did this in the finals with a Darkspire Priestess and Enforcer, making an 8/6 Abomination that grew to a 9/7 Lifedraining monstrosity the following turn! You can also trigger the Abomination ability in the second main phase to make pump actions twice as effective, giving one of your Battle Hoppers a Wild Growth or another pump effect during the combat phase, and then transferring that bonus permanently onto the Abomination. It's not exactly great card advantage in theory, but sometimes a gigantic troop will just win you the game.
That about wraps up my thoughts on the Shin'hare. My friends are eager to play with them in PvE, and between their backstory and relation to the shroomkin (seriously, what is Monika'shin doing to that poor little guy) I'm also eager to see what sort of PvE content is themed around them. Until then hopefully the long-ears will serve you well in your next booster draft or sealed deck. Depending on whether we see Patch v830 this week, I might try to assemble that Tetzot deck for Highlander again. Otherwise I might just pick another race and to a draft strategy around them. If you have a preference, let me know.
Until then: Eat a rabbit. Save a shroomkin.
Edited: This article mistakenly noted that Bun'jitsu sacrificed troops instead of exiling them, triggering effects like Darkspire Priestess.
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