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