HEX Update – Stress Test Wrap Up

Hi HEXers. It’s Friday, and we’ve had some big events happen this week. So, let’s get to it!

Titania’s Majesty

First, on Tuesday we added Titania’s Majesty to the Constructed PVP banned list. If you didn’t catch it earlier in the week, you should read the explanation from lead developer Dan Clark.

Stress Test Decklists

Over 700 of you spent your Saturday playing in our stress test tournament across 10 rounds with a cut to top 8. From our end, it was very successful. We saw a few players mention in-game messaging delays– like games taking 30 seconds to start– but overall, everything went smoothly. Plus, during that time we had players in arena and playing the game in other ways and that went smoothly as well. This is huge for the game, as we can now reliably hold much larger tournaments than previously possible. Our teams also identified a few bugs that need fixing, primarily one with the way that tiebreakers are done and standings are displayed in very specific, corner-case situations.

If you want to take a quick look at the top decks, we’ve posted the top 32 finishers on the website. For those of you looking for a complete picture of the event, we’re hosting a TXT file (Right-mouse-click, Save Link As..) with all decks from the tournament. Note that the lists are scripted for use on our website, but it’s easily readable for anybody looking into a deep dive on what people are playing in Constructed.

You’ll notice that the Titania’s Majesty deck was overwhelmingly successful, taking 7 of the Top 8 spots and 23 of the Top 32 decks. With that card now on the Constructed PVP banned list, we expect a healthy metagame filled with a greater variety of deck options. The lone dissenter in the Top 8 was a Diamond/Blood control deck piloted by Galwen. The classic HEX archetype is specifically tuned for this metagame, dropping the Living Totems and adding in hand control like Withering Touch. It also changes the traditional hero of Dimmid and goes with Prairie Meadow to make blockers immune to Walking Calamity for a turn.

Player: Galwen

Champion: Prairie Meadow



Kranok was the most popular non-Cressida deck in the top 32, with three players piloting it to a pile of packs. Two went with Blood shard alone, while one decided to mix it up with Diamond just like the deck above. The two mono-Blood control decks feature the same cards for the most part in varying numbers. Beowulf ran Exarch of the Egg against the quick beatdown decks while Grumpy ran Xentoth’s Inquisitor. Rusty’s build showed a lot of ingenuity in response to the metagame. Her Majesty, Queen Grace along with invincible royalty were great against Walking Calamity, but the 1/3 herself was great against the quick beatdown deck’s 2/1s as well. By making lifedrain troops invincible for a turn, she demands a quick answer from the opponent. In the future, you’ll probably see a lot more players tinker with HEX’s aristocracy. This Kranok deck also packed Frost Wizards main deck, which Galwen had in his Reserves. This was likely in response to the Winter Moon decks that players predicted would come into the metagame. Only one of those Wild/Sapphire decks made it into the Top 32, but you’ll likely see more in the future.

Player: Rusty

Champion: Kranok



Beatdown was certainly there as well, with Urgnock notching two appearances. Both decks are very straightforward; burn your face! Mars brought the Emberspire Witches into the main deck, while Silverwood decided to go with Psychotic Anarchist. These decks are basically a can of NOS with no regard for the lategame. It has yet to be seen how these decks will adjust with Titania’s Majesty out of the format, but it’s likely they’ll start dabbling with Gore Feast of Kog’tepetl again.

Finally, let’s take a look at the Cressida deck that won the tournament.

Player: CaptJack

Champion: Cressida



No longer can the deck slam 8-drops into play at a discount, but it’s possible that players will find that ramp is still a viable threat. While the key card in the deck is gone, it would be foolish to count out Cressida in Constructed. So long as Crocosaur is at the top of the food chain, players will be tinkering with Ruby/Wild.

That’s the breakdown for last weekend’s VIP tournament. For those of you looking to this weekend, we have ESL Beta Cup as usual, as well as a FiveShards tournament.

FiveShards Sapphire Cup Sponsored by The Dragonborn, September 12th and 13th

The fourth tournament in the Shard Cup tournament series (Season 2) starts Saturday morning, September 12th-13th. You can participate in this constructed tournament (all sets are legal) by signing up here. Full rules, regulations, deck submission form, and prizes can be found on the fiveshards.com website. The Sapphire Cup is awarding 250 Armies of Myth boosters with a few random door prize AA Duplicitous Dukes and Cloud King Sleeves. Join us Saturday and try taking home a cup in the largest and longest-running community tournament series in Hex! Good luck!

That’s all for this week. Please leave any questions or comments in the forums, and don’t forget to Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitch, and register on our forums.

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