[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t’s 2:30 in the morning, set 2 is just around the corner, 250 brand spanking new cards are about to be introduced, yet… I feel the urge to brew some Set 1 decks . The reason? The mysterious unknown tier 1 decks that have been cheekily dangled in front of us for months by the Hex Ent employees. Yes, apparently there is more than one!

How in the world could there still be an undiscovered Tier 1 deck after nearly 8 months of players having very little to do but actually figure this stuff out?! Is that superhuman AI Chris Woods is rumored to be working on the one that came up with it??! Is this a sign of an impeding robotcalypse???! Are we even being told the truth or is this some “Lost” type of mystery that never will see any resolution?

My mind races trying to think of what this deck could be, and as threads in the forums show, I’m not the only one.

So join me as I try to crack this case – or better yet, lean back and laugh at my feeble and frankly desperate attempts at solving one of the great mysteries of Hex.

Attempt 1: Bitterbunnies

My investigation into the matters begins where any detective worth his coat would start to look: where no one else has looked, of course. The premise here is that for this to be a new tier 1 deck, a core piece of it would need to be a card that has not been used in other decks in the current meta. A quick look at the junk rares list yields me to a specific card of interest. It has a powerful ability on the surface that under the right circumstances could find room to shine. The card in question: Wretched Brood.

This card even gets passed by KS Pro Player rare drafters so what makes me think it has any business being in a tier 1 deck? Well it’s BASICALLY* Bitterblossom from MTG (*it’s really not) – a card that was considered powerful enough to have been banned from competition until very recently. Unfortunately our spawned bunnies seem uninterested in battle with their 0 attack so we must somehow turn them from Mogwai to Gremlins. Command Tower allows us to do just that through a Constant that is hard to remove. In case we don’t draw Command Tower, I decide to add a Hideous Conversion which instantly and quite beautifully converts our bunnies into resources for a giant Life Siphon to the face.

This deck needs some time to get going so why not add all the usual removal/disruption cards like Murder, Extinction, Inquisition – and Terrible Transfer to negate some of that life loss from Wretched Blood. Of course adding Necessary Sacrifice is pretty much mandatory at this point so we have the card advantage nicely covered.

Just for the heck of it I decide to add a Shadow Rend to potentially clean out an opponent’s stacked hand the turn where we drop Command Tower – a great tech in control mirror matchups. I contemplate adding The Mushwocky but just the fact that I’m considering it tells me I mighty be on the wrong trail so I decide to cut my losses short and move on.



Bitterbunnies



Troops (4)

4x Darkspire Priestess

Spells (30)

4x Wretched Brood

1x Hideous Conversion

4x Life Siphon

4x Command Tower

4x Murder

3x Extinction

2x Necessary Sacrifice

1x Pact of Pain

2x Inquisition

4x Terrible Transfer

1x Shadow Rend

Shards (26)

26x Blood Shard 26x Blood Shard Champion: Zared Venomscorn

Reserves (15)

4x Giant Corpse Fly

4x Sorrow

2x Chaos Key

1x Boltpaw Wizard

2x Zombie Plague

1x Blood Bearer

1x Curse of Oblivion





Attempt 2: Blessing of Gawaine

While I couldn’t take the Shin’hare to the promised land, I refuse to give up and decide to turn my attention to a combo that most players have spotted since the first spoilers were released but never bothered dared to fully commit to bringing to life: Blessing of the Fallen and Legionnaire of Gawaine. Some old fashioned Google police work reveals to me that the CZE forums were full of bug reports around these two cards when they were initially introduced. Could this be a ploy by the master AI, I begin thinking, to throw players off the golden combo? I feel excitement and slight dose of nervousness as I feel I’m in the midst of unraveling a great conspiracy. I look over my shoulder to make sure Princess Cory isn’t prying on me, and run a virus scan to make sure DataDragon hasn’t installed some Trojan inside the Hex client.

Having confirmed I’m not trailed, I begin figuring out ways to bury inspire cards and somehow fetch the Legionaire of Gawaine and Blessing of the Fallen combo. Luckily for us, someone decided to make a terrible card called Crazed Rummaging that not only draws us into the combo but simultaneously fills our graveyard with Inspire troops. Never thought I’d say this, but I almost wish I could play more than 4 copies of Crazed Rummaging.

Time to add Inspire troops, in goes Ruby Pyromancer, Protectorate Clergyman, Lord Alexander the Courageous and one-ofs of a few other inspire cards. But wait, Cerulean Mirror Knight is sorely missing –do I run a third color or simply include him anyway – getting its value through the afterlife (graveyard)? I decide to make it a three color deck which also allows me to play Dream Dance, another great way to cycle through the deck, fill up the graveyard, and get rid of unnecessary duplicates (like Blessing of the Fallen and Dream Dance – wait so I’m playing a card so that it can cycle itself…erm, kinda).

Since I’m going all in with the graveyard filling, I consider adding the Sniper of Gawaine – the Legionnaire’s younger brother (probably not, don’t tell Loregoyle I said that) – but decide against it since I want to have diversity in the inspire troops I use instead of just +attack granting Clergyman and Pyromancers. I do add a couple of Royal Falconers in there for good measure as they seem like they could do major work under this setting. Even our champion power of Poca can put the hurt on with all the goodies that’ll hopefully be stashed in the graveyard. The final secret sauce is to add two copies of Plan C – mainly for when we have Blessing of the Fallen in play and Lord Alexander in the graveyard for an alpha strike (or would it be a kappa strike in this case?).



Blessing of Gawaine



Troops (23)

4x Legionaire of Gawaine

4x Cerulean Mirror Knight

4x Royal Falconer

3x Ruby Pyromancer

2x Protectorate Clergyman

2x Lord Alexander the Courageous

1x Princess Victoria

1x Ruby Enchantress

1x Cerulean Mentalist

1x Phoenix Guard Trainer 4x Legionaire of Gawaine4x Cerulean Mirror Knight4x Royal Falconer3x Ruby Pyromancer2x Protectorate Clergyman2x Lord Alexander the Courageous1x Princess Victoria1x Ruby Enchantress1x Cerulean Mentalist1x Phoenix Guard Trainer Spells (11)

4x Blessing of the Fallen

3x Crazed Rummaging

2x Plan C

2x Dream Dance

Shards (26)

9x Ruby Shard

7x Sapphire Shard

6x Diamond Shard

4x Shards of Fate 9x Ruby Shard7x Sapphire Shard6x Diamond Shard4x Shards of Fate Champion: Poca, the Conflagrater

Reserves (15)

4x Countermagic

4x Burn

4x Solitary Exile

3x Yesterday



As I look at the deck list I’ve spent time putting together, I realize this is a poor version of Gore Knights with its best card (Gore Feast) taken out, replaced by a unreliable and clunky combo (consisting of some of the worst cards in the game) requiring a 3 color resource base. Turn 2 Mirror Knight, turn 3 Blessing of the Fallen is amazing…but is this the holy grail deck that we’ve been looking for all this time? I’m not convinced it’s consistent enough or that all that graveyard filling is at all necessary – opponent will probably do that for you at the cost of his cards, and if not well I win anyways. It seems my desperate attempts at trying to shake things up has resulted in another terrible failure.

I proceed to facepalm myself, let out a deep sigh, and start questioning my ability to tackle this case. I grab a glass of whisky lean back and start questioning my life choices. My Hex career flashes in front of my eyes – not backing at Grand King tier, that time I cracked open 10 Primal Packs within 10 minutes in clear full-tilt mode, shamelessly putting the first ever Jovial Pippet on the AH for $50…and getting a sale. As I am close to conceding and admitting defeat, I am reminded of every good detective movie ever made – what you’re seeking has probably been under your nose the entire time.

[quote_center]”My Hex career flashes in front of my eyes – not backing at Grand King tier, that time I cracked open 10 Primal Packs within 10 minutes in clear full-tilt mode, shamelessly putting the first ever Jovial Pippet on the AH for $50…and getting a sale.”[/quote_center]

What does this mean exactly? Well to create a tier 1 deck I simply needed to create a deck that matches up well with Gore Feast, Blood Diamond, and Mono Sapphire – no need to try to reinvent the wheel. Against Gore Feast you need a way to deal with their early game aggro, against Mono Sapphire you need a way to put pressure on them without allowing them to get their control loop on you, and against Blood Diamond you need to outclass their troops and removal. What’s a deck that accomplishes all 3?

After peering through the cards one last time, I come away enlightened and renewed with energy and hope. I’m finally ready to catch this missing Tier 1 deck that has terrorized the Hex playerbase for far too long.Here’s what I come up with..

Final Attempt: Wild Sapphire Tier 1 Killa



Tier 1 Killa



Troops (19)

4x Moon’ariu Sensei

4x Buccaneer

4x Battle Beetle

2x Storm Colossus

2x Stargazer

2x Cerulean Mirror Knight

1x Wrathwood Colossus 4x Moon’ariu Sensei4x Buccaneer4x Battle Beetle2x Storm Colossus2x Stargazer2x Cerulean Mirror Knight1x Wrathwood Colossus Spells (15)

4x Crash of Beasts

4x Countermagic

3x Polymorph Dingler

2x Sapper’s Charge

2x Chlorophyllia 4x Crash of Beasts4x Countermagic3x Polymorph Dingler2x Sapper’s Charge2x Chlorophyllia Shards (26)

11x Sapphire Shard

11x Wild Shard

4x Shards of Fate 11x Sapphire Shard11x Wild Shard4x Shards of Fate Champion: Running Deer

Reserves (15)

2x Sapper’s Charge

2x Stargazer

1x Polymorph Dingler

3x Wind of Change

4x Time Ripple

2x Yesterday

1x Chaos Key



The Cards

2x Stargazer – With Wild/Sapphire being one of the least played color combinations and the incessant presence of Zared Venomscorn looming over players deckbuilding choices, Stargazer has barely gotten ANY play in set 1 constructed but his value is undeniable. Part card advantage, part speeding up finding necessary answers, Stargazer will guide you to stardom as he fetches answers you need and dumps the things you don’t. He can even filter himself out making running multiples a real breeze. He can block Ruby Pyromancer and Poca in Gore Feast decks while outdrawing Mono Sapphire decks – a great 1 drop, probably among the top 3 in Shards of Fate.

2x Cerulean Mirror Knight – If there’s one card that has earned ‘kill on sight’ status in the first Hex set, it’s without a doubt Mirror Knight. Here our purpose is not necessarily getting card advantage through his Inspire ability but instead making our opponents waste their second or third turns removing him. Once again he’s got a good enough body to block the aggro deck troops and if left unchecked can draw your way to a win.

4x Moon’ariu Sensei – What can be said about Moon’ariu that hasn’t been said already. He draws you a card, trades with Protectorate Defenders and Ruby Pyromancers and chump blocks when you need him. He even gets inspired off the Mirror Knight for extra value.

4x Buccaneer – Buccaneer while lacking the card advantage of the previously mentioned cards, is purely about tempo and frustrating your opponent’s plans. He sends back inspire cards, delays aggro alpha strikes, and leaves behind an able body for blockage.

4x Crash of Beasts – Crash of Beasts starts as a nice big beast to clog up the ground, but fast turns into a win condition all by himself. With the different card draw mechanics at our disposal, we can speed up that process considerably. He synergizes extremely well with Mirror Knight and also puts considerable pressure in control matchups.

– A 5/5 flyer with Spellshield for 6 makes this bug superior to probably any Dragon that will come out for a while. It trumps Blood/Diamonds money cards in Angel of Dawn and Vampire King and often requires an Extinction to be dealt with.

2x Storm Colossus – For an extra resource we get perma-flight and a body boost that somewhat deals with Uruunaz and Soul Armaments boosted Angels and Vampires.

1x Wrathwood Colossus – A useful one of that’s there to win you those long games.

4x Countermagic – Whether it’s Gore Feast, Soul Marble, Pact of Pain, Menacing Gralk, Life Siphon or Extinction – Countermagic is at our disposal to deal with opponent’s biggest threat.

2x Sapper’s Charge – Exclusively in there to address Cerulean Mirror Knight, Living Totem, Ancestors’ Chosen, and Royal Falconer.

2x Chlorophyllia – Maybe not too exciting, but essential to help us cast our expensive troops.

3x Polymorph Dingler – Last but certainly not least, Polymorph Dingler helps us combat the lack of removal available in Wild/Sapphire. It’s expensive resource requirement is offset by the fact that we use it exclusively to deal with very troublesome troops like Wrathwood Colossus, Fist of Briggadon, Flock of Seagulls, Xenoth’s Inquisitor, Eldritch Dreamer, Eternal Guardian, Argus, or an overly buffed troop.

Verdict

After going something like 18-2 in Proving Ground games, I’m at least convinced this deck is consistent and powerful. Unfortunately the matchmaking system never got around to matching me up with an actual proper Tier 1 deck (well played AI, well played). While it remains to be seen what this deck can really do against the aforementioned Tier 1 decks, it’s certainly an option and is versatile enough to morph its way into more or less aggressive/controlly versions depending on the meta at hand. While I haven’t exactly locked this mysterious Tier 1 deck behind bars, I conclude my investigation satisfied at least that I managed to come up with a possible suspect. Until next time, don’t chase the Tier 1 decks, let them chase you…