Hello again internet, it’s stormguard798, and with the Hour of Glass campaign dropping, you know what THAT means. It’s time for another Craft or Dust set review, where we take a look at all of the new cards that just dropped. Now, with a couple days’ worth of brewing under my belt, I have some very strong opinions with regards to all the cards. Not that I needed to play with all of them to form an opinion. I’ve also changed the format of the set review a little to organize the information more helpfully. Now let’s man-handle these cards.
League Explorer –
Expedition: When I first saw this card, it just seemed like another innocuous little Fire 2 drop. Boy was I wrong. In the Skycrag Tandem decks, it’s a charge unit capable of triggering tandem effects from out of nowhere – and the heaps of damage that come with it. That deck also has an incredibly low curve, which means it’s pretty easy to dump out your hand to trigger the Depth Charges – I have thrown many an Explorer to their death just to pick up another Charge to bonk my opponent’s avatar. In other decks, it’s of course an Explorer, which means it synergizes well with what some of the Sentinels decks have got going on; making relics on-demand to synergize with the likes of Vulk or Rocketblaster is just another way to give that deck a pinch of extra reach. The interaction between this and Promenade Patrol is also terrifying. I expect League Explorer to form a huge part of the Expedition metagame, and all decks should be prepared to fight it.
Throne: You’d think that Throne would have a significantly higher power ceiling and more powerful units alongside it, but when you look at the quality of 2 drops available for Fire Aggro decks…League Explorer is definitely at the top of that list, especially combined with Houndmaster and Amaruq as in Expedition. The variants of Fire-based aggro aren’t as populous in Throne as compared to Expedition, but I still expect to see this card pack quite a punch there.
Awakened Arsonist –
Expedition: I have enjoyed playing this card in exactly 1 deck: Stonescar Moon. Stealth units are plentiful enough in the format that you can afford to play some mind-games with your opponent, and the Deadly from Moon not only disincentivizes blocks, allowing you to poke through for cards, but also gives you additional options with its entomb ability. We’ve seen inklings of Moon decks pop up from time to time in Expedition, and I think this could be another pretty powerful tool in that deck.
Throne: On the other hand, I can’t see this making waves in Throne. There are significantly fewer Stealth units, particularly those that don’t have an ultimate at the beginning of the turn, so it’ll be obvious as to what the unit is. The removal is incredibly plentiful, which is why suiting things up with Flying or massive Weapons is much more of a liability. On top of that, those decks tend to lean fairly aggressive, and while getting additional cards is nice, the statline on the Arsonist is pretty atrocious for a 3 drop, considering the rest of your Fire 3-drop options. (Hot. Mug. Of. Milos.) There could be some bizarre interaction that I’m missing, but it just seems like way too much work for not enough pay-off.
Test of Mettle –
Throne & Expedition: I’m just going to combine the 2 formats here and simply outright say that I don’t think this card is playable. You can get away with 4 cost do-nothing relics in some Control decks because you can keep the board pretty clear so you can take a turn off. The pay-off for this relic is that it deals 10 damage to your opponent: an aggressive effect. While the payoff is pretty powerful, it can be easily blocked by Face Aegis, and even if it isn’t, there’s still a decent chance that it just does…nothing. Your opponent can simply play cards, which is something that they will absolutely do, which means you could very easily waste a whole turn doing nothing. The pay-off isn’t there for all the things that could go wrong with this card, which unfortunately means I don’t think there’s a world where I can include it.
Repel Darkness –
Expedition: Let’s break this down mode by mode. I’m not a fan of non-factionless ways of finding power since it only helps you find double, not single, influence, but it’s an OK option to have. The invulnerable mode is neat to have, but without any kind of stat boost the effect is rather niche. The void-hate effect is also really helpful considering A Life for a Life and Davia are both still in the format, but I’m not sure how necessary that will be considering the mere existence of Steyer’s Eyes. (more on that in a bit.) It is nice to have the option, however, in Time non-Justice decks. Overall, while all 3 modes have the potential to be pretty powerful in the right spots, they’re all so narrow that I can’t imagine playing this in the maindeck. You could take it out of the market if you’re expecting a void-based strategy from your opponent, but even then, it’s such a narrow application that I don’t expect it in huge swathes.
Throne: On the other hand, I expect this to be pretty powerful in exactly 1 niche application – Yeti Combo. For those unfamiliar with the combo, it’s in 3 pieces: Belligerent Yeti, Stained Honor and a way to stop your Yeti from dying. With all 3 combo pieces on board, you infinitely twist your Yeti to ping your opponent to death, 1 damage at a time. Like with Autotread Combo, make sure your Smart Autopass is off. The deck used to incorporate Curtain Call into the list, but with its cost increase to 3, the build was no longer all-Even and fell apart. Now, without a fair game plan and many other proactive decks competing with it, I’m unsure if the strategy is even remotely viable, but it’ll be amusing to see how it pans out.
Lucent Guide –
Expedition: It is a stealth unit, and there is a semi-viable Stealth deck in Expedition. Double Time is a little rough, but the deck might play Frontline Healer as well, so who knows. Deven with the synergy, I still don’t know if the card is playable; Waystone Elemental is a similarly statted unit that saw close to 0 constructed play. While having the option for an activated ability is nice as a power sink, it costs 7 and doesn’t really impact the board – Lumen Defense sees zero play for a reason. It might be fine as some Stealth deck top-end, though I imagine the rest of the 5-cost options (Entratius, Azindel, etc.) will probably outshine it.
Throne: If it’s likely to be underwhelming in Expedition, it’s certainly not going to be playable in Throne. A 5 cost card that does nothing upon entering the battlefield, and that is easily taken out? Easy pass.
Waystone Core –
Expedition: I have tried this card in Elysian, in Xenan, in Combrei, and in some dubious looking 3F builds. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to piece together a build that works consistently well. To be clear, I think that it’s a powerful effect that works particularly well with the likes of amplify cards or Sketches. Unfortunately, it’s still a 5 cost do-nothing relic, even if it is at fast speed, and even with some pretty potent spot removal in the format, the lack of strong board wipes without stretching your powerbase quite a fair bit (either 3F or Triple Shadow) or sufficient things to do while holding up the fast relic was problematic. The payoff for sticking the relic is there, but considering the amount of time it takes to actually have an impact compared to everything else you could be doing at 5-cost, it just doesn’t seem particularly worthwhile.
Throne: On the other hand, Throne certainly has some more controlling tools from Defiance to Saber-Tooth Prideleader to help manage the board early on top of being options to play at fast speed, but even then, I’m not sure if a 5-cost do-nothing relic is effective against the tempo Elysian/Kira decks who will prey on that in a heartbeat. Still: with cards like Perilous Research and Equalize to take advantage of the card draw and ramp in the form of a relic, there might be something there.
Steyer’s Eyes –
Expedition: The versatility on this card is absolutely incredible; just know that you’ve got 2 modes on this card that you will end up using frequently and that when you do use the 3rd mode, it’s going to be hilarious backbreaking for your opponents. Unlike some of the modal cards we’ve seen, you’re happy with all the modes, and you’ll use each mode often enough for it to qualify as one. It flies, which means it’s great for being both aggressive and defensive, and discards as well, enabling Discard synergies with cards like Iron Priestess. Though not often appearing, the ability to generate a relic on command means it synergises well with Clear The Way and Vulk. It’s wild. Expect to see way too much of this card in every Justice deck imaginable in Expedition.
Throne: Unlike in Expedition, Throne does have some unitless control decks, so I wouldn’t expect Steyer’s Eyes to slot in with the same level of ubiquity as it does in Expedition, but it’s still a ridiculously powerful card. I certainly expect to see it in aggro/tempo decks in swathes, and probably a good chunk of midrange decks as well.
Auren Condemnation –
Expedition: There certainly exists some form of Justice Control deck, particularly with the likes of Final Confrontation, so I could see Condemnation slotting into some of those decks. However, it does have some reasonable competition with Smite and Just Desserts for the fast-speed removal spot. If we extend that to other removal options, it also competes with the likes of Manacles. My biggest concern that the card is entirely reactive, and I’m not sure if there’s a slow enough deck in Expedition to warrant such a card; the armor boost is great for survivability against aggro even if you don’t have any armor synergy, thus justifying the extra cost. Right now, I’m unsure if there’s a deck that can support Condemnation, but if there is, then this card will be a solid roleplayer there.
Throne: With Throne, you have a much larger array of removal options with Defiance, Vanquish, some other cards I’m surely forgetting, and so forth, so I do think you’d want some armor-based synergy to include it. The problem with that is that Armory typically requires more proactive removal to clear the way for their massive relic weapons to attack, which means it probably doesn’t want a purely defensive spell like this one. Having said that, I’ve never played Armory before, so I’ll leave it to the experts to let me know what I’m doing wrong. 🙂
Jada, Peacekeeper –
Expedition: It’s got 5 health, so even if its strength does get debuffed, most units won’t be able to push through this unit without a trick of some kind. And if they don’t have anything that gets in the way, then you’re attacking for 4 with a 3-cost unit. That sounds pretty worthwhile to me. I think a lot of people are getting hung up on the fact that your opponent gets the choice to either ramp you or let it through, and that it’s bad to offer them that choice. That is true. However, we’ve got some pretty strong power sinks in the format – Builder’s Decree or Daru Lee, anyone? – and you certainly have the tools in decks like Soldiers to deny them the choice altogether. Remember, if your opponent’s units have been hit by the Greek God of Stunning, then they can’t block. 😛 It’s unlikely to fit into the 3 faction decks due to its double Justice influence requirement and the general inability of those decks to run a lot of Justice Sigils, but it’s been popping up in all the 2F decks to great effect.
Throne: In Throne, where you’ve got a wide-enough card pool where you can’t classify most decks in the format into some variant of midrange, I do think you can only include it in a deck that has a more proactive way to use the power or the Justice influence, for instance, a KTE deck or some variant or Kira. It’ll be a lot less ubiquitous in Throne, but you’ll still see the card pop up reasonably often, even if the Soldier unit type is less relevant.
Dazzling Revelation –
Expedition: I’m not a fan of this card in current Expedition for 1 glaring reason – Lay Siege. Due to the popularity of Permafrost and Manacles, most decks have started ways to counter ones units from being stunned, from Lay Siege to Xumuc Whisper. This also means that players will likely be using these cards proactively as well to completely nullify Dazzling Revelation. While I think the card does have some potential considering how aggressive leaning most of the decks are, the meta is really hostile towards Revelation at present, so we might need to wait a couple of months for it to be good.
Throne: Well, I suppose that’s another potential tool for Turbofog – it doesn’t get around Endurance, which means it whiffs on a bunch of Kira units and Sandstorm Titan, but it does stop Yetis and Skycrag Aggro pretty dead in their tracks in the early game – or at least until you find your board wipe. This probably shoos in over Telekinetic Shackles, but I’ll leave it to AlexFiero to figure that one out. I could perhaps also see a few copies of it in more general Primal Control decks to buy you a little bit of time, but since the card is card-disadvantage, you need to have plenty of card advantage or board wipes to recoup.
Iron Ursa –
Expedition: Skycrag Aggro was an extremely strong archetype before this new campaign dropped, and Iron Ursa could fit there, disrupting any board wipes and packing Overwhelm. Crucially, unlike cards like Daring Gryffyn or Daring Pioneer, Iron Ursa doesn’t need to sacrifice itself to negate the spell. It does have some form of evasion, but with its reckless ability, you have to time the card exactly right, which might be tricky to pull off. Even if the unit is intrigued, when it doesn’t reveal itself at the beginning of your turn, it’ll be fairly obvious as to what it is, and your opponent can line up blocks accordingly. I think the opportunity to blow out a board wipe will certainly be there, but whilst you remember the 1 time it panned out perfectly, the many times where playing it was awful might end up being lost on you.
Throne: While Throne might have more cheap spells with which to proc the ultimate from Iron Ursa – from the bevvy of Kira spells to Snowballs, making it easier to disable if you can see it coming – the board wipes and haymaker spells are stronger. Countering a Hailstorm or an Honor of Claws could be pretty devastating. On top of that, Throne is arguable a faster format, giving your opponent less opportunity to play around the card. That being said, there aren’t many playable Stealth units in Throne, so this is going to stick out like a sore thumb in aggressive leaning Primal decks, but I’m excited to see how it plays out.
Ulixa, Unspoken Terror –
Expedition: I love Davia, but oftentimes the mirror devolves into whoever drops Davia first, and being a 6/6 Aegis, it’s rather tricky to remove once it’s on the board. Fortunately, many players haven’t quite adopted employing Eilyn’s Favor to protect their beautiful faces, and with Transpose not in Expedition, nullifying their Davia before it even hits the board is very nice. Nice Cyber Hyena you’ve got there, and knocking out Fall to Ruin from their hand so it doesn’t sweep up your board is a bonus. The ping effect isn’t terribly efficient without Waxing Moon out on the board but does give you a pinch of extra reach to close out the game – or stop you from losing to a Stonehammer once you think you’ve stabilised. I’m very proud to say I have managed to slowly ping a DRuin opponent to death from 40+ health before. 🙂
Throne: If it’s a Primal Midrange unit that doesn’t trigger Sling, then it’s probably not going to see much play. Ulixa’s one Throne application is probably Feln Moon, where we can use it like a Blitrok to just mow down our opponent’s board with Moon out. Whether it beats out actual Blitrok remains to be soon: with Throne being a much leaner format, I doubt people will be playing many 6+ cost cards main deck, so the summon effect isn’t particularly useful.
Sinister Rumors –
Expedition: First of all, this card realistically has 2 modes. In case you haven’t heard it enough already: you shouldn’t be playing the spell discard mode unless you’re confident it’ll do something, for instance, reduce the density of a combo piece, or minimize their outs by taking a board wipe. Otherwise, it’s just card disadvantage. Contrary to the belief of people in the DWD Discord whom I definitely will not name for any reason, it’s not that good. (We’ve also had to sadly disown 1 of our teammates for their continued stance on this card. Rest in pepperoni.) Sinister Rumors is really not that powerful of a card; it’s a worse Suffocate or a worse Dark Return. To me, the Dark Return mode is the mode that you’ll most likely be using given the current state of Expedition – most cheap units have already gotten plenty of value by the time they’re exhausted, and those that don’t you are unlikely to hit. i.e. Houndmaster. I think it’s a versatile card that will see play in some Shadow Midrange decks, but it’s a role-player rather than a format definer.
Throne: First of all, I don’t think Shadow Midrange is particularly good in Throne, which is part of why I can’t see this card being played at all. Combo isn’t really a concern there either, so it’s not as if the discard mode will getting much mileage. The other reason is that you have far better removal/recursive options that while don’t have the same flexibility, are much more efficient. From Last Chance to Annihilate, you’ve got plenty of better options where I think you can probably shave this.
Mimicry Vine –
Expedition: A lot of Stealth cards have pretty powerful ultimates that trigger at the start of your time, so Mimicry Vine seemed like a great option to double-down on those powerful effects, whilst still being mediocre if it does get revealed. When I have this in play as my Azindel gets to ultimate…now that is quite the intense rush. Unfortunately, as to be expected with the majority of Stealth units, a lot of interactions with it are currently bugged, from not triggering on certain Summons to letting your opponent copy their ultimate instead. It can also be argued that it is a bit of a win-more card and you need a fair bit of help to support it, but the potential to do some ridiculous things is certainly there. Once all the kinks of this card’s interactions are fixed, I’m sure we’ll see plenty more of it.
Throne: **repeat spiel about how Shadow Midrange isn’t really an archetype in Throne, at least non-Even iterations.** You do have access to much more polarising summon and ultimate effects, however, in Throne – imagine doubling up on an Helio summon – but being a 3/3 that does nothing until then is quite the liability.
Inevitable Corruption –
Expedition and Throne: I think the card is atrocious. It’s an extremely expensive slow spell that doesn’t affect the board in any way, and most of the time, by the time it drops, you’re not going to hit much. It is a pretty conditional spell, so I think you’d pack it out of the market at most. You could go Exploit T4 into this on T5 to have a better grasp of their hand and therefore which mode to pick, but that seems like a rather unlikely set-up. In Expedition, you maybe traded 1 for 1 with their Davia instead of pressuring and killing them – assuming no Obstructive Flicker is there to interrupt your plans. In Throne, any decks that this might have a meaningful effect against are chock full with Face Aegis and cheap negation spells. At least Toll of Warfare also hits cards from their market and deck. There are just so many things that could go wrong playing this card that I believe the best bet is to just not play it at all.
Varbuk, Hand of Anarchy –
Expedition: Dovid. Azindel. That’s already plenty enough reason to be running Varbuk in most decks. Even if you don’t have a target to kill, a 4/3 Charge Valor is a lot of damage slamming out of complete nowhere, with Valor making it rather tricky to contest in combat. My biggest problem with the card is double Fire and Justice influence – that influence requirement is tricky to pull off consistently in decks other than Rakano. Even in Rakano, the curve of the deck is so low that some games I don’t even reach 4 power to play the Hand. When I get blown out by the Hand, it destroys me pretty badly, but it does feel you do need to get some mileage out of the summon for it to be consistently worthwhile
Throne: I’m very glad that we get more tools to deal with Sling; I always feel like that deck is way too populous on ladder. However, once again, I do feel that we need to get mileage out of that summon ability for the card to be good; Charge is certainly nice coupled with some extremely fast decks, but with Torch being fairly ubiquitous in the format, I do feel the card is probably better relegated to the market.
Hexdriver –
Expedition: So you need 2 things to make this work – plenty of spells, and a pretty clear board from your opponent. Just because it’s Expedition doesn’t mean that this relic weapon isn’t going to die to a single Swing. That typically means that you need to be able to keep the board clear with your spells, which is just not happening in any capacity. There’s a reason why everyone is flocking to Permafrost and Manacles as removal in this format. As such, I just don’t see Hexdriver being much more than a Reinforced Baton in most spots, which is definitely not constructed playable.
Throne: On the other hand, we do have a greater assortment of removal spells in Throne that are capable of killing things, but considering how removal in general doesn’t necessarily line up great with the Kira and Elysian decks, I do still think that you’re going to have a lot of trouble keeping the board clear for Hexdriver. Relying too heavily on spells against these decks is never a winning proposition. The payoff for doing so also isn’t really there – if it’s not there for the likes of Kalis, it probably isn’t great for us either. 
Kehanya, Skilled Caster –
Expedition: Endurance is nice to get around the slew of stunning effects, and 4 health is pretty solid for dodging most removal. Really, the mode that you’re trying to get the most mileage out of is the silence mode, and with cards like Houndmaster and League Explorer, there is an assortment of various characters to hit. There is also the possibility of hitting an Amphitheatre in those Praxis Aggro shells. However, there remains the problem of what shell this fits into. There isn’t really a strong enough Elysian midrange shell right now – and believe me, I have tried. Having access to Mandatory Retirement is nice, but there aren’t any good top-end haymakers in Elysian, which means it’s hard to find a reason to not be in Feln instead. If you end up dipping into 3F, then you just end up having better anti-aggro options at 3. The potential for the card to be a multipurpose anti-aggro hoser is certainly there; I just have no idea which deck this fits into.
Throne: Here, you also have the option to hit Thudrock’s Masterwork as well, and you once again have the option to just be a general nuisance towards aggro decks. In addition, you also have a couple additional options to hose down haymaker 2 drops without summon effects, such as the Ascending Cycle or W&M. However, you have plenty more powerful 3 drops that, while may not hose Aggro as hard, are overall much more versatile and powerful. Master Conjurer, Tocas, and so forth. I think it could be a fine tool if you’re planning on targeting a specific meta, but I probably wouldn’t sleeve it up to play on ladder.
Azindel, Mastermind –
Expedition: I’m still torn if this card is good or not. On the 1 hand, if you’re able to hit some powerful haymakers off of it, perhaps a Davia or a D’Angolo Might, the game is pretty much over on the spot; even if you don’t high-roll, a 8/8 Lifesteal will swing a race in your favour in a jiffy. However, the Azindel is pretty obvious – and pretty easy to counter. Particularly in Expedition, considering the popularity of Permafrost and Manacles as removal, your 5 drops really need to have a relevant Summon effect – or Endurance. While I have seen the card adopted in quite a few Xenan shells, I’ve not been a massive fan of that build since the deck is really rather underwhelming if your Azindel Ultimate gets interrupted. High ceiling but low floor, but given how high the ceiling goes, it still might be worth including.
Throne: On the one hand being multifaction with 4 health is a solid boon in Throne, and Permafrost is less populous. On the other hand, it’s still a 5 cost unit without a summon effect in Throne, and compared to other fantastic options like Worldbearer Behemoth or Moonstone Vanguard, I don’t think the potential to high-roll incredibly well beats out the better stats and more consistent snowballing that the other cards have to offer.
Final Confrontation –
Expedition: We’ve seen a more unit-oriented build of Control in Expedition, so I think Final Confrontation has a place in JPx Control. Your top-end haymaker in Davia is strong enough to contest most boards especially if your opponent only has 1 unit left, so if you’re able to drop this on 5 and buy it back on 7, you should be in pretty good shape. Granted, depending on what the unit they keep is, it could be pretty problematic, particularly if it has Endurance like a massive Vulk, Autoforge or a Valiant Guardian, but for the most part, you should have enough assorted spot removal that such situations should arise fairly often. Granted, I do think you should still be running a couple of non-Davia units to take advantage of you playing this on Turn 5 – Jada, Peacekeeper or a chonky Sentinel off of Builder’s Decree come to mind.
Throne: Unfortunately, the removal is cheaper, the creatures are better, and there’s more Endurance/recursive units in Throne. Oh, I need to sacrifice these Rosts? Sure thing, they’re coming right back. Against the more aggressive decks, I think that letting them keep a buffed up unit is probably too dangerous – granted, that unit is probably an 8/2 Amaruq as in Expedition, but I expect your life total will be significantly lower by Turn 5. I haven’t seen a Hooru ‘plop all your attachments onto me’ strategy in Throne in quite a while, but this could be reasonable in the market of a deck with the likes of Aniyah, Arctic Sheriff or Kosul Battlemage.
Waystone Alignment –
Expedition and Throne: There are a lot of problems with this card. 1. It triggers at the beginning of your turn, which means your opponent has an entire turn cycle with which to deal with it. Send an Agent is still pretty ubiquitous. 2. It’s a symmetrical effect, and since it hits units, relics and sites, it’s probably still going to affect you pretty badly. 3. That is an expensive amplify cost, and it only hits U/R/S of a single cost, not all of it and under. This means it’s rarely going to get rid of many things. You might get a cute 1-time amazing blowout, but most of the time, you’re not going to be able to align the cost of the Waystones well enough with what your opponent is doing – and what you’re doing. I can’t imagine wanting to run this card.
(Sort of) BONUS:
So instead of plopping down my set review immediately, I spent the 1st 3 days of set release down the rabbit hole endless playing various hastily put together decks. It got so bad that I went into team meetings murmuring ‘Undercover Operative…’ over and over again, so all my friends hosted an intervention and threw me in the swimming pool. In any case, here are a few of the least awful decks that I came up with in the dark times that should hopefully be a solid reflection of what you might end up seeing in the upcoming Expedition Open. (And hopefully make things easier for the upcoming Misplay Meta. Possibly. I haven’t check the public decklists on EWC in aeons.) They’re still in pretty rough shape – I’m not just going to hand all the answers to you – but I think they’re reasonable starting points if you have no idea what you’re doing. Enjoy!
Skycrag Tandem Aggro:
https://eternalwarcry.com/decks/d/A9kQAjYvyCg/day-0-skycrag-tandem-aggro
The archetype that I used for my Masters climb this month is still incredibly potent and powerful, and the addition of a charge unit with plenty of upside leans into the tandem attacking a little more. The fact that the deck can also empty out its hand incredibly quickly helps too. I’ve swapped out the all-in Berserk package for a more consistent, slightly bigger Tandem package instead, though it’s certainly possible that the former is correct.
Rakano Aggro:
https://eternalwarcry.com/decks/d/WK3TyZNPuIY/day-0-rakano-relic-aggro
League Explorer and Steyer’s Eyes are perhaps objectively the 2 strongest cards in the set, so jamming the 2 of them into a deck together just seems like a good idea. Both cards generate relics, so we have also have some light relic synergy and payoffs with Phoenix Stone and Rocketblaster.
Hooru Soldiers:
https://eternalwarcry.com/decks/d/ZifjwSF0UcQ/day-0-hooru-soldiers
Look, I like my fruit the way they are; incredibly low hanging. Jada is an incredibly powerful card and a Soldier, so this is where it slots in. You’ve got the Argo at 5 and the Amplify of Daru to take advantage of the ramp, as well as the Hooru Heirloom in a pinch. As it turns out, Dovid is still an incredibly powerful card to build around. Of note: I do think Tradition Soldiers is still incredibly viable, but double Justice influence on a 3 drop is a little difficult on the powerbase, so that deck mostly looks the same.
Stonescar Moon:
https://eternalwarcry.com/decks/d/siNMHGqtgGM/day-0-stonescar-moon
Applechips’ Menace Moon deck was a hit for a few moments after they made the Finals of a TNE with the deck, and though it didn’t quite pan out in the face of all the Davia decks, perhaps the addition of League Explorer and Awakened Arsonist might be the shove over the edge to make it fantastic. There are also Menace versions, running the likes of the Whispering Wind/Krull package, Grenahen and Prowling Amaruq, trading some early-game consistency for a massive punch of sustain and late-game power.
Xenan Midrange:
https://eternalwarcry.com/decks/d/UbvCkPovcOU/day-0-xenan-midrange
You’ve got your pick of power dorks in Expedition, some Xenan Midrange deck can’t be too far away. I must say, flipping a Might off of a Turn 3 Azindel once it ultimates is truly a wonderful feeling. Other than your ramp to 5 plan, you’ve also got a handful of cheap interaction and some early-game disruption so that you don’t fall too far behind while getting set up. My biggest problem with the deck is the lack of counterplay in the mirror: with your only realistic answer being Express Route either in the main or market, it does feel like it boils down to who’s on the play just a bit too much.
Feln Midrange:
https://eternalwarcry.com/decks/d/-OxsIVtBVAs/day-0-feln-midrange
All the powerful Feln Cards with none of the Davia: Feln Control with Davia is still very powerful, but with the massive uptick of aggro with Steyer’s Eyes and League Explorer, waiting until 7 power might be a touch too slow. You’ve still got plenty of cheap interaction with Frost, Defile and Rumours from the Control deck, but are switching out the card draw for well-statted units instead. My biggest concern for the deck is definitely counterplay against Manacles – it could be worthwhile looking at Devour main deck to counter that.
Creation Clear the Way:
https://eternalwarcry.com/decks/d/-1hnheuOz_I/day-0-creation-clear-the-way
So this might be more of a stretch than some of the other decks, but League Explorer and Steyer’s Eyes both make relics, so why not use them in a deck that cares all about making relics? We might not always be able to drop a Goldplate Goliath on Turn 3, but a pair of 3/6 Endurance units is still really problematic for fire-based aggro decks to deal with in general. I’ve included a more fair gameplan of Vulk and Sanitiser in case we can’t drop an expensive Sentinel early, but it might be correct to bring the Pisto main instead and be more all-in for the ‘combo’.
(I may or may not update the EWC descriptions later, but right now, EWC is being a little testy for me and keeps 404’ing. Remind me if I don’t?)
Do you entirely agree with my opinions? Or do you think that I’m spouting complete nonsense? Chances are that we’re all largely incorrect – what’s a new campaign for besides wildly incorrect hot takes? I probably won’t be very responsive since I’ll be busy testing decks for the Open, but following that, hit me up on Twitter @stormguard798, or find me lurking in the FE, TEJ or Misplay Discords. Thank you very much to the team over at the Eternal Wiki for getting all the cards up very quickly. Until next time. 😉
Friends of Eternal:
https://discord.com/invite/MYh7hUs
The Misplay:
https://discord.com/invite/7Qk6HXq
Eternal Journey:
Careful Considerations - Ramblings of an Aspiring Azorius Lawmage 