Hexploration – Doombringer Top Ten

Hello everyone and welcome back to Hexploration. Ali Aintrazi here, and this is column is where we explore new and exciting decks and ideas for HEX! What’s more exciting than a brand-new set with brand new cards?! Nothing, that’s what! It’s like Christmas time for all of us card flippers, and I can’t wait to brew around with all that doom. Today I will be going over the top ten cards that I can’t wait to start building around. Grab your coffee / beverage of choice and your Cerebal Jack-hat, and let’s look at some of the sweetest cards Doombringer has to offer.

#10

This is a Deathcry enabler that not only draws you a card when you use its ability but which is also resilient to removal spells. Rapacious Rootworm, while slow as molasses, will provide your Deathcry deck a fantastic way to trigger Deathcrys at will on your turn. Mid to late game you can even start swinging in for four or five points of damage and chipping away at your opponent’s health. This plant can even hold the fort if that’s what you wish. Again though, the best thing about it is just having a powerful way to trigger your Deathcry troops without having to splash for Lazgar’s Bloodsworn or play a fragile troop like Giant Centipede. Hopefully Rapacious Rootworm is enough to give Deathcry decks that little extra push.

#9

Yes, yes, Scour the Archives is great and all, but have you seen Treacherous Search? Its Power level is not as strong as Scour the Archives, but it should see as much play if not more play than Search the Archives. Treacherous Search fills that hole that Sapphire has been lacking ever since it lost Arcane Focus. You can easily play it for one or two early in the game to find that shard you need, or wait until late game to find your Psychic Ascension. It is flexible and powerful search all at quick speed. You’ll even have some number of games where you’ll play Treacherous Search for 0 just to reduce the Psychic Ascension in your hand and sneak out your Psychic Ascension that same turn. Treacherous Search isn’t flashy by any means, but you don’t need flashy to get the job done. It does require you to invest resources, but the versatility it provides is well worth it.

#8

Falling Fangs is a powerful troop that is going to kill many players… especially socketed decks since they play Emsee, Etcher of Nulzann, Altar of Nulzann, and Animus of Nulzann. You can even double down later in the game with Zomboyz or Deathdozer. Being patient in certain matchups can be very rewarding too. Waiting for your opponent to play the Merry Caravan, Dark Heart of Nulzann, or Journey Into Nightmare before deploying your kamikaze gnoll will be backbreaking. Falling Fangs has solid stats to boot, so when you bring in Bestitched from your Reserves, you can make a pretty nasty abomination!

#7

Can we just take a moment and appreciate this artwork? It’s gorgeous, and HEX just keeps knocking it out of the ballpark set after set. We don’t know who D’endrrah is yet, but her voice is powerful. This chaostouched gives you a way to fill your crypt and draw cards for no additional resources. She’s solid in a Blue Sparrow Mordrom’s Gift deck, and she’s a great troop to have access to in Sapphire/Blood midrange or control. In those decks she can just filter away dead cards while attacking your opponent and drawing you new ones. Voice of D’enrrah plays beautifully with Scribe of the Flayed Man, who can put your discarded cards onto the chain or onto the battlefield. Discarding a shard even allows you to accelerate your resources. Just pay three to play it with Scribe of the Flayed Man and zoom straight ahead to those big plays. This additionally gives Voice of D’endrrah +1 [ATK] / +1 [DEF] so she can draw more cards at the start of your turn. Talk about some card advantage!

#6

At first, I thought this Piper wasn’t good. Then someone pointed out to me that Rowdy triggers off any card, not just troops. This is how Rowdy reads:

“Rowdy powers trigger every time you play a card with cost higher than the Rowdy card’s cost. Then, the Rowdy troop gets its cost increased.”

That’s MUCH better than just troops triggering your Rowdy. Now you can play Eyes of the Heart and set up even more for your extra turn. Eyes of the Heart into Wildlife? Good game opponent, good game! What about playing Absolute Power, drawing however many cards you please, and then replenishing your resources? Why stop there? Play that Arcane Soil to make a ton of Dreadlings to kill your opponent. Rowdy Piper is going to allow for some insane turns and combo decks. You can even pair it with Raucous Revelry to keep that party going!

#5

I’ve been waiting for this action, and I’m so glad it’s here. Frostlock doesn’t always get the job done and it can backfire. Dark Heart of Nulzann, Disruptor Drone, and Into the Unknown are all cards in the meta that punish you for playing Frostlock. Now, you can just reset everything with one card! No longer do you need an active Dark Heart of Nulzann and a Clash of Steel. With just one card you can wipe it all clean and have a fantastic look at the Battleboard you bought from the Chark Mart! Annihilate is a great card, but it does have its weaknesses. Watch out for troops with powerful Deathcry abilities or troops that have Rebirth since they will just come right back to life!

#4

What a troop! I’ve always wanted to reanimate The Triumvirate, and now we basically can. This is overall the best troop to bring back to life because it just does everything.

Void anything on the board? Check!

Deal twenty to your opponent in two swings? Check!

Draw cards? Check!

Playable in case we don’t draw the Mordrom’s Gift? Check!

Seven is a lot of resources, but it’s still very doable, especially in a deck that is slowing down the game. You don’t even need to reanimate Doombringer Kha! Sapphire/Diamond Control could easily splash some Ruby producing shards to play one or two Doombringers. The same is true for Sapphire/Ruby control just playing a few Diamond producing shards. Control decks can now put away Psychic Ascension and play more troops if they wish. Doombringer Kha is an excellent win condition for any control deck, and having more options is exciting!

#3

This card is just dripping with flavor. With Oinkers the Party Pig on the board, you’ll never know what gift you’ll unwrap at the end of your turn.

Will it be a Psychic Ascension?

Oinkers, you shouldn’t have!

Maybe you’ll unwrap a Gargalith to protect Oinkers and the rest of your troops?

Your mother wishes she could give you this kind of protection!

What about an Eyes of the Heart to do it all again?

Heck yea! What’s better than unwrapping a gift? Unwrapping two gifts!

Oinkers is a party I can get behind! Just make sure to be a professional HEX player and don’t ever reveal three shards to the Party Pig’s ability. That’s the quickest way to kill all the party hype, and we don’t want to be doing that!

#2

Can’t be talking about sweet cards without mentioning Sugarpuss and, more importantly, his Sugar Rush! Replenishing your resources and drawing cards is an extremely powerful combination. Traditionally with cards that replenish resources, that’s all they do. You usually need to find a way to draw cards or abuse those freshly renewed resources… but not with Sugar Rush! Sugar Rush does it all. The trick is going to be building a deck that balances both troops and ways to abuse Sugar Rush. A well-built Sugar Rush deck could draw all its deck in one turn if built correctly, which is a wicked combo with Arcane Soil. It also plays well with Eye of Winter, since you draw the cards first, triggering Eye of Winter and then replenishing your resources.

Legendary actions are so wonderful in HEX. Cards like Psychic Ascension, From The Ashes, and Sugar Rush are such unique and powerful cards.

#1

Have I mentioned how awesome HEX art is getting yet? This is another fantastic piece that I’d love to have as my wallpaper. On top of having awesome art, it has a powerful ability that I’ve never really seen before:

“Void each duplicate in decks.”

This means Eternal Curator is going to go through your deck and your opponent’s deck and scan each card one by one then void any copies of cards in their respective decks. Yes, even Shards! WOW! You can do so much with Eternal Curator. You could build a deck with two copies of everything and Eternal Curator. When you play Eternal Curator, you should have double the number of cards in your deck compared to your opponent if not more. And, by playing two of everything, you can abuse Locket of Reflection and Eternal Curator at the same time! How about a combo bury deck? Build your deck with Eternal Curator and one Food for Thought and a couple of Howling Madness / Demented Whispers, then destroy your opponent’s deck after deploying your Eternal Curator.

As if that wasn’t enough, Eternal Curator does more! It’s very hard to kill since it’s invincible, and it also gives you information on your opponent’s deck and what you should watch out for in future games. Looking at the void to see what was voided will give you a ton of information on what your opponent is trying to do and how you should Reserves. This is easily the coolest Eternal we’ve seen yet!

So much excitement and so much hype! I’m going to be messing around with a ton of these cards and brewing my heart out. Be ready, because the next time you read Hexploration you are going to see some sweet, sweet decks! If you want to see me trying the new cards in action, then make sure to follow my twitch channel.

Doom might be around the corner but we’re sure as hell going to have a ton of fun before the Enders gobble up everything!

As always, thanks for reading!

Ali Aintrazi

@Alieldrazi on Twitter

My Twitch Channel

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