Season 3 Rockbrews

I don't have the most competitive collection for Constructed, but I do have a plethora of commons and uncommons from all the drafts I've done.  So the Rock League, which begins its third season this February, is perfect for when I want to scratch the constructed itch without running into a wall of Stubborn Foliage and Imperial Shogun!  This is because deck construction rules for Rock League limit you to only use commons and up to 4 uncommons.  Those four uncommon slots tend to be very key when determining what sort of deck you want to make.  Cards like Throat Cutter and Bucktooth Commander can act as miniature lords for an Orc or Shin'hare themed deck, where Cerulean Mentalist and Daring Swordsman are begging to be built around and abused.

Unlike the past two seasons of Rock League, this season will be the first where players have access to Shattered Destiny cards for their decks.  With players competing for points, alongside special achievements like the Diversity Challenge (which encourages players to play with different champions), the field is wide open for some new and innovative decks.  Here are a few uncommons from Shattered Destiny that could serve as a fun centerpiece for your Rock League deck. 

Stink Troll
While many decks still have some forms of removal, there isn't a mass-removal option like Extinction looming around in the format.  This means that massing a huge chunk of troops on the field isn't really much to fear, since the Murder your opponent has can only pick one target.  This bodes well for aggro decks, and a Ruby-Wild deck that focuses around crush Troops and Stink Troll might just overwhelm your opponent before they can mount a reasonable defense.  Wreckasaurus combos incredibly well with the troll, and if you run Fuzzuko you can mount buff after buff on your troops, making them all huge until you can quite literally crush your opponent.  Going Wild with the Troll also gives you access to the Spellshield Gem on the bulky Boulder Brute, which can become near impossible to deal with.

Support Cards: Wreckasaurus, Crackling Sprout, Crushing Blow, Feral Ogre 

Paladin of the Necropolis
Paladin has synergy with incremental health gain effects, which are actually pretty easy to find on commons.  Neophyte of Xarlox and Gozzog have very minor health gain effects that you'll activate multiple times per game.  Branching into Diamond offers more options in the form of Adamanthian Scriviner and Prophet of Wren.  The problem is gaining health doesn't bring you any closer to victory if you never play your paladin, however if you do, he is a fairly obstinate target for you opponent to deal with.  Four defense will withstand most conditional removal like Burn and Crackling Rot, and even cards like Inner Conflict won't negate the effect of Paladin.  The Paladin also has Lifedrain himself, meaning if you manage to give him a buff with something like Bunoshi or Noble Citizenry he might be able to just carry you to victory.  There are probably a few different Paladin builds that will vary depending on how much you want to rely on him, but the Blood-Diamond gives you the most health gain options to slowly bleed your opponent to death.

Support Cards: Adamanthian Scrivener, Giant Mosquito, Prophet of Wren, Blood Aura

Exalted Victory
Okay, it ain't no Gore Feast of Kog'Tepetl, but in a human deck it's pretty damn close.  This gives all your troops a +2 Attack Boost for the turn, and any of those that are humans get Swiftstrike and Steadfast as an added bonus.  It's incredibly difficult to block this on turn four, and it has even more snowball potential considering Sir Giles Rowan's ability will usually be activated around the same turn you play Victory.  Giles puts you in Ruby-Diamond, which might be all you can safely manage using just commons.  Royal Herald will help a bit with resource management while the rest of the inspire team helps stack these incremental buffs on top of each other.  Adding Sapphire gives you the incredibly efficient Buccaneer though, alongside a good array of Flight troops.

Support Cards: Human Troops like Ruby Pyromancer, Vanguard of Gawaine, Wounded War Hero

Timestep Magistrate
There's a really nice array of "enters play" abilities attached to humans, particularly at the common slot.  Buccaneer, Noble Citizenry, Bastion of Adamanth all work excellently with Timestep, and when they return to play you not only get their effect, but it will also trigger any Inspire effects.  One-Shot abilities are also tempting targets for reversion effects like Reversion and Fish Hands.  As Quick Actions these can be used in tandem with Timestep or on buffed opposing troops as a makeshift combat trick.  One of the benefits of this strategy is that while the deck runs around Timestep it doesn't need it to be effective, as many of the Diamond-Sapphire troops you will want to run are solid in their own right.

Support Cards: Buccaneer, Noble Citizenry, Bastion of Adamanth, Fish Hands  

If you want to try your hand at Rock League match I'll be prowling around the Proving Grounds in the Eastern Time Zone evenings, looking in chat for matches.  Speaking of chat, it's going to be getting an overhaul soon in an upcoming patch, alongside a mail overhaul designed to make trades via mail easier and safer.  You can check out all the details in the Friday Update, along with some PvE cards from the upcoming Frost Ring Arena!

They Love Me In That Tunnel

It's difficult to talk about Shin'hare without first talking about their two new champions, since most decks will likely utilize either one of Warmaster Fuzzuko or Bunoshi the Ruthless.  Fuzzuko puts Palamedes to shame; for only a single charge more, you get to Evolve all of your troops currently on board.  While Giles has reach beyond what you have in play, Fuzzuko not only boosts defense, but also can hit multiple types of troops instead of just your shin'hare.  Making a massive army of Battle Hoppers and other mid-range troops and just overwhelming your opponent is where Fuzzuko shines.  Bunoshi is on the opposite end.  He only needs three charges to use the power, but he also needs a willing sacrifice (usually in the form of the aforementioned Battle Hoppers) to make one of your troops massive.  This tends to work best on troops with utility abilities like Corrupt Harvester or Manti Ranger.  And with all the cards that grant extra charges, it's very possible to use this ability multiple times throughout the game to make an unstoppable troop later on.  Deciding which of these champions to use with your deck generally depends on how you plan on winning.  If you have a good chunk of evasion troops like Tormented Ritualist, you might want to consider Bunoshi since the +2/+2 can make the turns you gain a charge all the more damaging for your opponent, and also allows it to survive run-ins with removal actions like Burn and Crackling Rot.  If your deck has a good chunk of early game troops that fall off in terms of board presence later like Battle Hardened Pa, Fuzzuko is a card that will keep them relevant later in the game.

To fuel either strategy, you're going to need a front line (or a blood well), and for that, the Shin'hare have you covered with some new cards that create Battle Hoppers like Blossoming Concubunny and Wretched Wrangler.  While these cards will provide you with some early Shin'hare, it's notable that they go to your hand and not directly into play, meaning you have to play them on turns where you have spare resources available.  This interaction can be a decent "drawback" though, since the uncommon Keeper of The Wounded Petal grows permanently stronger for each Shin'hare that enters your hand, either from your deck of from effects like these.  Shin'hare also get some bunny love in the removal department with Feeding the Young Ones and Wakizashi Ambusher.  While either can be used in a non-Shin'hare blood deck to off troops of two defense of less, both can become much more powerful with a concert of rabbits to support them.  While Ambusher is underground it gets stronger for every Shin'hare that dies under your watch, giving an opposing troop -X/-X equal to its attack power when it surfaces.  Feeding the Young Ones puts two Hoppers into play before making all your Shin'hare troops nibble a troop for one damage apiece, allowing you to destroy even the most formidable of troops with enough shin'hare on the field. 

Aside from the Ambusher, there are a host of Shin'hare tunneling troops in Wild and Blood to ensure that you'll always have a play on two.  While the Dwarves typically have big effects the turn they emerge, most of the Shin'hare do their plotting while they are underground.  Grave Nibbler is a simple 2/2 for two resources, but it you choose to tunnel him instead and a troop dies (any troop) while he is burrowing, he becomes a 4/4 instead, which in this format can be difficult to deal with.*  Rune Ear Burrower is similar to Rune Ear Commander in that he gets stronger the more troops you have in play.  However, this ability only triggers the turn he enters play, so timing your plays to maximize the amount of troops you have out when this guy finally surfaces is key to using him to his full potential.  
*At the time of writing, Grave Nibbler is bugged where after he becomes a 4/4, he ignores any power or toughness changes unless he is reverted.  So Crackling Rot and Wild Growth will have no effect on him, but Fish Hands should.  This is one of the more well known bugs, and as a (good) common card it is the one most frequently encountered bugs by me so far.

One of the scarier (and in my opinion, under-drafted) Shin'hare is the Underfoot Commander, which stays underground for three turns, but permanently buffs any other troop (not just shin'hare) that goes under while he's tunneled.  I understand the downside to tunneling multiple troops; since they aren't in play you are sacrificing your board in the short-term, allowing your opponent to punish you with aggressive two-drops like Arena Regular and Field Tactician.  But I've had multiples of these guys in a couple drafts, and combined with Fuzzuko even your modest tunneling troops get ridiculous in a hurry.  In one draft I was actually able to buff a Minion of Yazukan that took a Zared activation to the chin and was in a perpetual cycle of death and retunneling due to his 0 toughness.

Cards to Build Around

Many of the Shin'hare in Shattered Destiny are good outside of a dedicated Shin'hare deck, meaning you'll probably be fighting Blood players for Tormented Ritualists and Killblade of the Milky Eye.  The shin'hare rares are all great to open and to build around.  Minion of Yazukan enjoys having a sacrifice outlet like Bunoshi or a Blood Cauldron Ritualist  so you can slowly boost his power over time.  Cottontail Recruiter turns your Battle Hoppers into Shin'hare Militia, making cards like Blossoming Concubunny much more appealing (though she still pales in comparison to Construct Foreman, which is a lot more bang for a 1-drop).  Finally there's Bucktooth Roshi, which gives an incredibly powerful +2/+2 to all of your other shin'hare.

One of the downsides to dedicated Shin'hare decks, particularly the Recruiter/Roshi variants that want lots of Hoppers is you are really rolling the dice on your Shards of Fate pack having some Concubunnies of their own, since none of the Shattered Destiny cards is capable of making a continuous stream of them turn after turn.  Its entirely possible that the two Concubunnies you hope are tabling in pack three are instead two Sorrow, which can be a devastating reserves card against Shin'hare.  The plus side is that Shin'hare--the ones that make you want to play other Shin'hare--aren't typically in high demand, so if you are drafting Shin'hare aggressively in pack one, there's a good chance Concubunny and maybe even Bucktooth Commander will make it to you late in the pack.  Hell, maybe you live the dream and get Recruiter and Ritualist of the Spring Litter.

This is also the only situation I could see playing one of the old Shin'hare champions.  Kishimoto is laughably inefficient providing only a temporary buff, and Bun'jitsu suffers from the drawback that the "materials" he uses in his Abomination creation get voided instead of sacrificed.*  Monika'shin is the only one that offers something I could reasonably see the Shinhare player wanting.  Passing on Fuzzuko or Bunoshi is just so difficult considering how much the Shin'hare want to be buffed.  Even is Fuzzuko's ability cost 6 charges, that's a free Evolve versus two 0/1s.  Maybe in some edge cases where you have Ritualist/Recruiter or you have enough buffs but not enough troops you run Monika'shin, but in a strong majority cases I think Fuzzuko/Bunoshi are the two best choices.
*In my previous Shin'hare article I incorrectly noted that Bun'jitsu sacrificed his intended targets, which would have made the champion much stronger. 

Overall the shin'hare are a much more forgiving race when it comes to drafting them.  Many of them are fine in a multitude of decks, and the new champions allow you to make use of Battle Hoppers when you have them on the field.  Most of the time you will take them because they are good on their own, but every once in a while you will get the cards that push you towards visions of a field soaked in blood, viscera, and fluffy little ears. 

Auction House & AA Numbers

Some Community News to finish off this week.  New Auction House Data and AA Numbers were released by Chark on the forums in the past week (full links above).  Counts of Alternate Art cards included Kickstarter Rewards like Replicator's Gambit and Pack Raptor, alongside VIP Tournament Rewards Xentoth's Inquisitor and Menacing Gralk.  Also included were Shattered Destiny release promos Filk Ape and Darkspire Punisher, highlighting the 1390 tournaments played over release weekend (which isn't shabby for a four day run).  The rarest of the rare cards were Ozawa and Jovial Pippit, which until now have only been given out at GenCon.

Upcoming Tournaments

The HexTechs Open (HTO-Oberon) is being held Saturday, January 17th.  This is the first third-party tournament (to my knowledge) with an entry fee attached to it at 500 Platinum, however the winner gets a guaranteed reward of 10000 Platinum, so if you are confidant in your constructed skills, it's definitely worth looking into.

HexPrimal is hosting the Budget Cup 2 on Sunday, February 1st.  Entry into the event is free, but deck constructed is limited to $10 for the maindeck and $2 for reserves based on a list aggregated Auction House Prices.  If you don't have that much money invested into the game, but still enjoy deck constructed and want to try a unique format this is definitely worth checking out.  First prize includes a primal pack and 16 boosters.

Upcoming Videos

I've been messing around with Blender and OBS, and I should have the State of the Game video coming out sometime soon.  I've been stalling a bit in the hopes the some PvE news gets released this month, though the tenor from Hex since launch seems to be focused on fixing the Shattered Destiny bugs.  I'd like to finish up my draft strategy with the last race, Orcs, but it's such a loose archetype in Shattered Destiny I might end up passing on it altogether.  I have a few articles I'd like to do, including some decks for the Budget Cup I've been working on.  In any event, enjoy your weekend!

Card images from HexTCG Browser

Drafting Dwarves II: Robo-Remix

One of the first articles I wrote for this blog was about Drafting Dwarves during the first few weeks that draft was introduced.  Dwarves was one of the first decks I heavily drafted in Hex, and in my opinion it was one of the strongest archetypes of that draft format.  Uncommons like Volcannon and Elimination Specialist were incredibly powerful if you got them early and could build around them, while champions like Bertram made assembling construction plans and triggering cards like Researcher Adept more consistent.  The inclusion of the Royal Uncommons and Sir Giles's raw power with Shattered Destiny have allowed humans to emulate a similar space to that held by Dwarves.  The underground engineers have gotten their fair share of love in Shattered Destiny too, though the design of these cards have changed the archetype from one that can simply dump a few Pterobots on the board and ride them to victory.

The first major change dwarves get in Shattered Destiny is tunneling.  Dwarves get some nice utility troops in their commons.  Launchpad Specialist requires a long time investment, but when it emerges it gives a free Sapphire Aura to one of your troops.  Mesmeric Hypnoscientist is a five-power dwarf that prevents one of your opponent's troops from blocking the turn it enters play.  Cards like this allow the Dwarf deck to plan big attacks in advance, and picking these early in the pack don't commit you to a dwarf deck.  This is particularly true of the Launchpad Specialist, which is an excellent turn two play for any Sapphire drafter.

On the other side there are tunnelers that are specifically geared for the Dwarf-Robot Archetype.  Subterrenean Saboteur stays underground for three turns, but while underground he lets you play a Robot at quick speed before emerging himself.  This can trick your opponent into making confidant attacks that wind up poorly when they run into a surprise Charge Hulk (or Slaughtergear).  Underground Overdriver can be devastating when combined with robots, allowing you to pump extra resources into a permanent buff.  This is most efficient on troops with evasion like Inductocopter Bot or Hornet Bot to finish out games, but even just having a ground troop that can slam into your opponents line turn after turn can be enough to earn you a win.

Dwarves can also play very aggressive with cards like Construct Foreman and Electroid.  Getting an early line of three power troops on the board can be very intimidating when you are bashing in with them as early as turn two!  Reactor Bot can add to the pain attacking for three (or five if you have a Crackling Bolt or Wit in your hand) while most players are still developing their board.  They can also play a very control style game where they grind out card advantage and rely on late game finishers, with cards like Augmentation Bot and Bot Shop compounding small advantages turn after turn.  Between the utility of their tunneling troops and variety of aggressive and defensive cards, dwarves require a bit more attention when drafting and deck building than they did in Shard of Fate.

What cards should I look for when considering Dwarves?

Reese the Crustcrawler and Tectonic Megahulk are the two legendary troops that have "dwarven combat" written all over them.  Invest some turns into a tunneled Reese and Bertram can be firing out Jank Bots for three charges apiece.  Ingenious Engineer gives all of your Dwarves and Robots the ability to ready the first time they exhaust each turn.  You can either use this to attack with a de facto steadfast ability or to exhaust the same bot twice for Construction Plans or another exhaust effects like Dwarven Ballistics Training.  Samson allows you to get crazy with non-combat damage done by artifacts and dwarves, making any War Machinists that are lurking in the Shards of Fate booster all the more threatening.

Odds are you won't open one of these particular cards in your rare slot (if you're like me it will be a Talisman of Vitae).  Electroid is a high potential uncommon that sends a strong signal Dwarf-Robots are open if you get it third or fourth pick.  A late Bot Shop or Underground Overdriver can signal it's open as well, and unless you open a bomb or are determined to draft Dwarf-Robots from the second you join the queue, it's often best to look in the middle and end of pack one to get a feel for how open the archetype is.  Many of the cards that are incredible in Dwarf-Robots are a little to risky to windmill slam (metaphorically) if the cards don't show up or someone else is keen on drafting it.  If I had a choice between an Electroid or a Crackling Bolt I would definitely take the removal action since it doesn't require that I build around it.  The same is true of uncommons like Cannon Volley, Mentor of the Song, or Royal Cutblood; cards that more often than not will make a Dwarf deck but won't hamstring me the way an Electroid will if I can't get support for it.

Which Champion should I run?

The easy answer is Bertram, since he's never bad, but I think a case can be made for Giles or Fahrny.  The best way to approach this is to ask yourself to imagine a scenario where you wouldn't play Bertram, a scenario that doesn't require you to have Worker Bots in play.  This should throw out any deck that have multiple Electroids or early Construction Plans, since you want to get those cards online as soon as possible.  Worker Bots also give you good targets for Construct Foreman and Flak Scrapper, so any decks where these cards play a key role should probably be also wary of shying away from Bertram.  

Fahrny used to be an exception to the rule when my draft looked more like a big artifact deck with lots of removal than a traditional Dwarf-Robot deck.  His charge power is very strong if you get some expensive artifacts on the board, but the 5-charge cost and double threshold requirement was a bit restrictive in the previous limited metagame.  In Shattered Destiny however, charges are easier to come by.  Charge Hulk and Crackling Bolt can help you ramp into you five charges by turn four fairly consistently, and the Hulk serves as a powerful resource cost on the board when you want to fire Fahrny off, dealing four damage to getting rid of fairly sizable threats.  During the release weekend the first deck I won a Filk Ape with had a full set of Reactor Bots and three Charge Hulks.  I'd often lead with a Reactor Bot on turn two or three, then on turn four play Resource-Hulk-Fahrny their blocker-Attack for 7.  War Bot Bunker is another card that works well with Fahrny, coming out on a timely turn five and will avoid nearly all removal allowing you to clear troublesome blockers like Turreted Wall or Dragon Guard Stalwart.  In many ways this is a much stronger version of Zared, but does require a bit of synergy to pull off.  If your deck just has some big artifacts and a lot of spare charges, consider Fahrny over Bertram.

Giles is the final option for this archetype, and I should note there is a bug associated with Giles at this time that causes it to give troops other than Robots +1/+0 when it's used targeting certain robots (I've never encountered it myself, but it's referenced in here).  Ignoring that, Robots can actually benefit quite a bit from the Giles pump if you have enough of them, particularly because Charge Bot and Hulk allow you to abuse the power a few times per game.  This can mean giant Pterobots and significantly scarier utility bots like Armitron and Overtime Bot.  While Bertram and Fahrny are good at supporting your deck to ensure it achieves its critical mass of artifact awesomeness, Giles can create that mid/late game pressure your deck might be lacking.  This is really more of a testament to how good Giles is in tribal decks than a criticism of the other champions; he makes good decks great and bad decks decent if enough troops share a trait.  So if your deck is tribal enough and you're feeling short on finishers, Giles might be able to create wins where none existed.

Can we get a quick run down?  I'm kind of just browsing this...

You really should read the whole... okay fine!

• Dwarves aren't as deep as humans, so try not to commit to them too early unless you get a bomb; stick to cards that are good in multiple decks like Crackling Bolt or Launchpad Specialist and commit later in pack one based on what is available.
• Consider your champion while drafting.  If you are getting a lot of cards that grant you additional charges or expensive artifacts, consider Fahrny.  If you are light on finishers and have a good chunk of robots, consider Giles.  In a majority of cases, Bertram will be the champion you should go with.
• Much of the individual card evaluations from Shards of Fate are still relevant in the 2-2-1 format.  For my thoughts on those cards please see the March article Drafting Dwarves where I discuss those cards in more detail.
• Below is a general list of Shattered Destiny cards that will make up the backbone of most Dwarf-Robot decks, or cards that I would keep an eye out for if this seems like an archetype you would like to try out.

Bombs (First Picks that prompt Dwarf-Robots)

Reese, the Crustcrawler (Finisher, Bertram)

Tectonic Megahulk (Finisher)

Ingenious Engineer (Utility)

Samson, Lead Ballistics Engineer (Utility)

Forge of Cadoc (Cha-ching!  I mean... Acceleration)

Safe Picks (You can draft these early and not commit to Dwarf-Robots)

Royal Cutblood (Evasion, Finisher)

Cannon Volley (Removal, Card Adv)

Mentor of the Flames (Removal, Card Adv)

Crackling Bolt (Removal, Charges)

Boulder Toss (Removal)

Mentor of the Song (Card Adv)

Launchpad Specialist (Evasion, Utility)

Signals (Picks that commit you, signals Dwarf-Robots is open if late in pack)

Robotic Rapture (Card Adv)

Construction Plans: Tower Hulk (Finisher)

Electroid (Aggro)

Underground Overdriver (Utility)

Construct Foreman (Aggro, Utility)

Construction Plans: Bot Shop (Card Adv)

General News

On the blog I'll be posting a general State of the Game article and video sometime within the next couple of weeks (hopefully), and another draft overview next week (most likely Shin'hare).  This weekend is also the Five Shard's Diamond Cup, presented by Technophi.  The format for the Diamond Cup is Shattered Destiny Constructed (no cards from Set 1 Boosters).  Good luck to everyone who enters, and have a great week!

Card Images from Hex TCG Browser.