Developer Karol Ruszkiewicz reels in decklists that made a splash over the past weekend, and breaks down what makes them such a catch! Let’s dive in!
Silver Age decklists are starting to converge, with Briar, Oscilio, and Enigma coming out on top of the competition. The competition was fierce. The behemoths of Flesh and Blood, such as Jacob Clements, Sam Sutherland, and Justin Cu, chose Oscilio as their hero of choice. Other giants of the game, such as Nova Chan, picked Dromai, Eugene C chose his trusty Rhinar, and Colin Li chose Enigma – showing personal preference continues to play a strong part in hero selection.
I want to give massive congratulations to Chanon Putaree for masterfully piloting his own take on Briar to a decisive victory.
Calling: Bangkok welcomed Mastery Pack Warrior, bringing a whole new bag of tricks for the Warrior class… but not just for enjoyers of the blade. Step aside, Blade Beckoners, because ye Olde Leather suite is here to steal the show. These new generic pieces of equipment are important to be aware of for any Silver Age enjoyer, and they have already made a splash across a range of top Calling: Bangkok decklists. These pieces provide a real alternative to Blade Beckoners and ask an interesting question of any deck looking for defensive equipment – am I expecting more weapon attacks, or am I expecting more go-wide decks?
Chanon was quick to adjust his Briar decklist to include the Olde Leather suite, utilizing Olde Leather Gloves, Olde Leather Helm, and Olde Leather Plate in his loadout. These are a great way to tackle the challenging aggressive mirrors. Both Briar and Fai can go down to the wire, with the final chain ender often being the biggest blowout play – especially when the final attack is Snatch (red). Like never before, Olde Leather equipment can cleanly defend these out.
Another great inclusion from Chanon was the Evergreen and Fruits of the Forest package, which gives him a strong out against fatigue decks. We saw this play out in the Top 8, where running out of cards was a real threat and the main strategy of his opponents. While Fruits of the Forest is there as a blue to pitch for Evergreen, it also offers up instant speed life gain, that can work just as well as a combat trick and is easy to convert on turns with low action points.
There were a few brave souls who decided to take on the challenge of turning up with a brand-new build of Warrior, mere hours after the official release of Mastery Pack Warrior. The first was Xincheng Hou on Olympia.
Internally, when the dev team worked on Silver Age, Olympia quickly became a crowd favorite. This is why now many devs are excited to see this Warrior get the buckets of support needed to make the most of the wager strategy. It’s a pleasure to see Xincheng pick up that mantle and commit to playing Olympia at a Calling-level event.
What I like about this list is that Xincheng committed to the Golden Grail build, heavily focusing on all the new common and rare cards from Armory Deck: Olympia, and the new wager cards from Mastery Pack Warrior. Golden Grail is arguably one of the strongest weapons to come out in the last few years – turning spare Gold into a full weapon swing for 3 is just the baseline of what this sword can offer. With wagers, it comes to that critical breakpoint of 4, making each wager just a tad more challenging to defend every time it attacks.
In terms of equipment, Prizeworn Pathfinders reward winning wagers in the form of a recurring defense value in the boot slot. As long as you keep winning wagers and have a resource to spare, the boots are there to defend again.
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Belly Buster, Check-Raise, and Donkey all aid in making sure there are ways for you to wager turn after turn, while also pushing those attacks over the top. Courage tokens also help create momentum and set up future wagers to connect.
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The deck also gets some utility upgrades in the resource base. Shove Off is an incredible attack reaction that gives the impact of Rout in Silver Age. Drawing Dead can put the opponent in a bind, as even over-defending can be a risky strategy. Golden Company closes out the additions in the form of an incredibly flexible defense reaction. In a format where anything close to Sink Below (red) is an absolutely premium defensive piece, Golden Company offers something on par with that… for the small price of a Gold coin.
Olympia is a compelling choice in Silver Age, especially after seeing how decisive Xincheng Hou’s victory against Briar has been. And this build is just the beginning of Olympia’s exploration of the additions from Mastery Pack Warrior.
Excel in close combat – both in presenting offense and parrying defensively.
Rely on extensive equipment to withstand aggression.
Ingkarat was the single brave soul to pick up a Zenith Blade and showcase what Hala has to offer, and even made it on stream to give us the rundown. One of the biggest advantages Hala has is the ability to convert 3, 4, and even 5-card hands extremely well, while also presenting respectable offense with a single Edict of Steel and a blue pitch. Toe the Line and Deadly Display are also there to make sure the Flurry tokens keep coming turn after turn.
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Flurry is at the core of Hala’s gameplan. Any sharpen effect combined with Flurry enables multiple Zenith Blade attacks that start to get out of hand when stacked with additional sharpen cards. Swordmaster’s Path creates huge attacks, Sharp Incline makes the resources work, while Cut ‘n Carve can be game-ending at the right time.
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But Ingkarat pushed this list to be able to go even wider. Scar for a Scar and Life for a Life offer good breakpoint attacks to push through the opponent’s defenses, while Chest Puff offers a modal attack on the turns Flurry isn’t available.
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This core gameplan simply presents good numbers, but it isn’t all. Once the game gets to the tail end, with both players getting to the low life stage, attack reactions like Puncture, Silverdrop Downpour, and Shove Off are there to seal the deal and secure the win. I expect Hala to continue to grow in popularity as players get their hands on the freshly released Mastery Pack Warrior.
Combo your opponent off with a string of Snap Shots.
String together never-ending turns thanks to Lightning cards.
Disrupt your opponent when it matters with Ice cards.
There’s no denying the raw power of Lexi – she has access to all the nimble Lightning attacks, the disruption offered by Ice, all backed up by the efficiency of Death Dealer and arrows. The tricky part is combining all of these distinct areas into a cohesive whole. Piyarat managed to combine all of these into a well-oiled machine that took down Briar after Briar to end up in 19th place.
The first thing that allows Piyarat to create big turns or disrupt the opponent is Lexi’s hero ability. Any Lightning attack in arsenal virtually has go again, while the free Frostbite from Ice cards like Winter’s Bite, Arctic Incarceration, and Weave Ice turns into a big problem for redline aggro decks.
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The deck has all the Lightning tools that aggressive Briar decks have – Lightning Press, Second Strike, and Lightning Surge are all there to pump out damage and present raw numbers. Piyarat supplements Lightning Press with Razor Reflex, giving him access to not only more ways to push damage, but also much-needed go again to continue his turn.
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However, the star of the deck has to be Snap Shot. Because Death Dealer has go again on activation, each time you use it as an instant, you draw a card and get your action point back. This can result in ridiculously long chains of Snap Shot after Snap Shot, loading more arrows, drawing more cards and continuing the cycle. It’s not the easiest combo to pull off, but when the stars align, even the staunchest of defensive decks can crumble under the pressure.
I highly recommend this deck as an alternative take on an aggressive deck that has a strong matchup into other aggressive decks. It’s a highly skill-intensive decklist that offers lots of room to challenge your decision-making and reward good sequencing.
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On the Horizon
If you want to see the impact of Mastery Pack Warrior, head out to your local Skirmish events happening right now – from August 8-23. There are lots of amazing prizes to compete for and put those new Warrior cards into practice.
While you’re playing, keep in mind that we have the Silver Age vote coming up in September to completely shift the makeup of the format. Kayo, Ira, and Kano are coming back to join the fray, while the heroes that get the most of your votes will be departing for a short while. Every vote counts, so make sure to lock in your pick for the hero you want to see benched the most.
Keep your ears to the ground for Calling: Hamburg and Calling: Kansas city. With several heroes close to Living Legend, and a whole bunch of new Warrior support, we might see some interesting developments in the Classic Constructed metagame. If anything spicy emerges, I’ll make sure to let you know!
is just the baseline of what this sword can offer. With wagers, it comes to that critical breakpoint of 4