Spoiler season! The most magical time of the Hex calendar for all brewers is here! I grew up in a small town, and every once in a while, my parents would take us to the huge toy store in the closest large city. Those trips were euphoric, and I'd spend the following months eagerly waiting for the next visit. Spoiler season is like the grown-up version of that. Infinite possibilities, and imagining what could be done with all these toys can be even more fun than actually playing with them!

In this article, we're going to take a look at how to approach spoiler season as a competitive player. Which new constructed cards are real, and which are a mirage? What is the new meta going to look like? What cards do I need to prioritize picking up? I'm not claiming to have perfect answers to these questions, but here is a framework that worked pretty well for me when it comes to evaluating new spoilers in Four Easy Steps! Step Four will blow your mind - Doctors hate it! Kidding, kidding. There are four steps though.





Players who saw how strong these cards were early had a huge competitive advantage.





Step one is to look at what is likely to be strong without much help from the new set. For the first time ever, the new set will shrink the Constructed card pool, as the first two sets, Shards of Fate and Shattered Destiny, are rotating out as the sixth set, Scars of War, is released. This makes step one quite an interesting challenge. The place to start, I think, is with decks that are already good and either don't lose much, or have losses that can be fairly easily replaced. It's important to note that decks will on average likely have a bit lower power level than they do now, as we'll only have four sets of cards to work with rather than the current five sets.

The decks to start with, in my opinion, are Mono-Ruby Aggro, Blood/Wild Mid-Range, Mono-Wild Mid-Range, Ruby/Wild Valor, and Sapphire/Diamond Control. Of these, Blood/Wild Mid-Range is almost certain to be good. Rune Ear Hierophant and Underworld Crusader are just great, great cards, and we can start with four copies of each and go from there. Whoever figures out which champion to use and what the best cards to fill in around the Hierophant/Crusader base are is likely to do very, very well in the next Cosmic Crown Showdown.

Mono-Ruby Aggro and Mono-Wild Mid-Range both lose critical pieces to rotation (Psychotic Anarchist, Burn, and Crackling Bolt for Mono-Ruby and Wrathwood Mastermoss, Chlorophylia, Howling Brave, Oakhenge Ceremony and Succulent Cluckodon for Mono-Wild). However, they both have enough power left to keep them in mind as options going forward. Ruby/Wild Valor and Sapphire/Diamond Control are a bit more speculative, and will need some help from set six in order to get there, but have intriguing potential.

Step two is to look out for any spoiled cards that could fill holes in, or otherwise strengthen, the decks we identified in step one. So we'll be watching for any Blood or Wild Underworld troops that could upgrade one of the ten Underworld Troop slots we have in that deck, any direct damage actions or potent two-cost troops to help Mono-Ruby, and good four-cost troops, life gain, and resource acceleration for Mono-Wild. Sapphire/Diamond Control and Ruby/Wild Valor will need a little more help, so there we're mostly looking for raw power that fits the deck along with a replacement for Countermagic.

Step three is to look for cards that look like solid potential role players, even if there is not a currently existing deck that fits them well. Here, I think Totemic Elder, Intrepid Conjurer, Typhoon Skyshaper and Cerulean Sage are all interesting (watch that last one in a possible Sapphire/Blood aggro deck with Gorn as the champion). The card Scars of War is a potentially interesting tool if Ruby based control exists. We want to keep cards like this in mind when building our decks, but probably don't want to build decks around them.



This little guy looks pretty frightening when you add Rage 1



Step four is to identify cards that just drip with raw power. Examples from Herofall, the most recently released set, are Mightsinger of Ages, Matriarch of Flames, Dark Heart of Nulzann, Silver Talon Adjudicator, Moonrise Elder, Satyr's Roost Bard, and the card Herofall. This is the fun part - the cards likely to define the new meta. They almost demand that you brew decks around them. So far we've seen one card that may fit in this category, and one card I'm confident will be a constructed cornerstone.

We'll start with the maybe - Absolute Power.





The first thing to note is that Wrenlocke looks awesome in the art here. The second is that drawing as many cards as you want is an incredibly powerful ability. The third is that drawing cards does not immediately impact the game board, and that eight resources and triple Sapphire threshold is a huge cost to pay. This looks like a potential combo enabler, but I don't think the right pieces exist yet to justify its steep cost as a main deck card - though it could be a potent reserve card for control mirrors if Sapphire control is a thing. The raw power is here, though. Keep an eye on this one - it will likely find its day in the sun, even if that's a set or two away.

Next, it is time to get hyped, as we've had one awesomely powerful card spoiled so far, and this beauty is it - meet Daughter of the Poet!





So far, a lot of players' initial reaction to this card is that the art is awesome (true) and that she is good, but not as good as Mightsinger of Ages (not so sure on that one). I think Daughter of the Poet is an incredible card, and unless even stronger set six cards are yet to be spoiled, she's where I'm going to start my brewing. If you'll indulge me, I'll go on a slightly long-winded explanation of why I believe this little 2/2 for two resources is so very, very, good.

A characteristic weakness of aggressive decks is that if they can't win a fast game, they're going to lose a slow one. Aggressive decks prioritize cheap cards, a low cost curve that allows them to get in under decks doing slower (but ultimately more powerful) things. However, cheap cards usually can't fight more resource intensive cards head to head, and if the opponent can stabilize, those efficient, low cost threats end up outclassed and bullied around by Mid-Range monsters like Crocosaur, Heart of Embers, and Dark Heart of Nulzann. Or they run out of steam against Control decks packing lots of targeted removal, then fall behind in card advantage as the Control deck draws more and more cards.

Two things that can greatly help aggressive decks work around these intrinsic problems are evasion (ways to attack past opposing blockers) and card advantage (cards that either cost your opponent more than one card to answer or that are worth more than one card to you). Obviously, card advantage and evasion are wonderful things to have, but generally we need to sacrifice the potency of our initial attack to get them. Card advantage and evasion don't typically come stapled to a two cost troop. But Daughter of the Poet is not a typical card.

Looking at her as a two turn play, she's rock solid for an Aggro deck: Aggressive, evasive, fine stats, and a removal magnet. Her evasion and life-gain potential make her a much more efficient attacker than even Mightsinger in the early turns of a game. The remarkable thing is that she's a fantastic late game play as well in an aggressive Diamond deck. Aggro decks that aren't losing their troops to the crypt are almost certainly winning. By the time you've played five shards, you're likely to have one or more troops you'd love to have back, and an opponent who has lost quite a bit of life already. Getting an evasive 2/2 that demands removal, along with your best troop back from the crypt, is just what the doctor ordered.

So how can we build around her? I think the place to start is Mono-Diamond Crusader Aggro. I want to build a deck that is aggressive enough to apply genuine early pressure, while also having resilient threats and the ability to brawl with Mid-Range or Control in the long game. In my opinion, the perfect Champion for the job is Ada the Apparitionist.







While a charge cost of five is a big ask for an aggressive deck, and a triple diamond threshold requirement is steep, the charge power is perfect for this deck concept. If we are capable of applying early pressure, two phantoms are likely just what we need to close out a game. Better yet, Mono-Diamond offers a number of cards that fit this deck concept.

Here is a list that is my starting point:

4x Valiant Escort

4x Daughter of the Poet

1x Wise Magistrate

1x William Rowan

1x Warparty Guide

1x Pious Paladin

1x Hero of Legend

4x Ardent Crusader (Minor Diamond of Protection)

4x Elder of Lost Ages

4x Totemic Elder (Minor Diamond of Wind)





26 Diamond Shard

9 everything else (cards to consider include Totem Trap, Bring to Justice, Ozawa's Wish, Inflict Doubt, Pride's Fall, Martyr, Moonrise Elder, Righteous Vanquisher, Ardent Phalanx and Benediction.)

This is more shards than most aggressive decks play, but with a cost curve that goes up to five, a charge power that costs five, and Daughter of the Poet wanting five diamond threshold, I think we want to err on the side of hitting our shard drops each turn.

Take a few moments and ask yourself how whatever deck you're playing most often now would like playing against this list. It's heavily resistant to single target removal, has efficient, versatile early troops, and evasive, resilient threats at four and five cost. On top of that, we've got a healthy starting life pool of 23 along with life gain and recursion thanks to Daughter of the Poet. A 4/6 Crusader on turn three is no joke, and will stonewall a great many opposing aggro decks. Elder of Lost Ages and Totemic Elder are quick, flying clocks (a clock is how many turns an opponent has before losing the game) that are difficult to get rid of and great to bring back with Daughter of the Poet. Finally, we've got our Phantoms from the charge power to turn up the pressure later in the game. One reserve card to keep in mind is Fallen Singularity. This works just beautifully with our Charge Power, and a lot of decks could have a hard time answering it. Another interesting reserve option is Grievous Phantom - it's expensive, but may well just end the game immediately.





I'm a kid in a toy store when I think about how to use Daughter of the Poet. I just cannot wait to try it!

May Brewing Season be just as much fun for you, dear reader!