Primordial Knowledge – Rocket Rabbit

By Varranis

While safe at home, you comfortably play your favorite Tier 1 deck. Things are going swimmingly. You’ve already achieved three wins in your Constructed Gauntlet without a single loss! You’ve got this in the bag. Nothing can stop you. And what is this? Your next opponent is limited roleplayer Boris Blastforge? Clearly your opponent chose the wrong Champion or brought a misguided brew. You chuckle at the dwarf’s cocksure grin and malfunctioning jetpack. You shrug when he starts with Howling Brave on turn one. A better turn than you hoped. Your lips curl in a scowl as he exhausts the Howling Brave and slams a Rune Ear Hierophant on turn two. Not like this. You play an Exarch of the Egg. Boris’ grin widens. His charge power sends the rocket rabbit hurtling over your lethal Vennen to begin the unending stampede of rhinos. Boris’ visor covers his eyes, yet still you know there is no mercy to be found in them.

This may have been you a few weeks ago, before Boris Blastforge took over the meta. But how did this particularly jovial dwarven deviant so quickly overwhelm the meta? The case of Boris Blastforge is an interesting one. To help answer it, let’s dive right into today’s primordial brew.

OUR PRIMORDIAL BREW

The Wild/Sapphire Boris Blastforge Tempo deck (or as I like to call it, “Rocket Rabbit”) was originally created by Isengard and refined and popularized by JadiimJedi. The list below is one of JadiimJedi’s most recent 5-win gauntlet lists.

CHAMPION: Boris Blastforge

4 Rune Ear Hierophant socketed with Minor Wild Orb of Conservation and Major Wild Orb of Dominance

So why is this a deck we’re interested in playing in the current meta? The primary reason is that this is the best Rune Ear Hierophant deck. Rune Ear Hierophant is one of the pillars of the current format, and arguably the meta’s most defining card. Bringing the best Rune Ear Hierophant deck to the table differentiates you from all the other decks also looking to play the vicious hare. While that is fine and well, one cannot simply claim to be the strongest Rune Ear Hierophant deck without some modicum of proof. Well, Boris has that covered.

Just take a look at Boris Blastforge’s Charge Power. Giving a troop flight for one turn doesn’t seem all that powerful in a vacuum, however, enabling the first hit from a Rune Ear Hierophant socketed with Major Wild Orb of Dominance is often all you need to snowball the rabbit to a size that forces unfavorable blocks. In fact, our Charge Power is arguably the cleanest way in the game to give Rune Ear Hierophant flight. Both W/D Warmaster Fuzzuko and W/S Winter Moon look to do the same, but Warmaster Fuzzuko requires an extra card and resource investment with Grace of Tiaanost or High Infinitrix while Winter Moon sacrifices Spellshield. Boris Blastforge gets a flying Rune Ear Hierophant with no extra card or resource investment while keeping the all important Minor Wild Orb of Conservation. Having consistent access to Flight also makes Artisanal Cheesesmythe and Exarch of the Egg poor answers to Rune Ear Hierophant.

Did I mention you also get to play your Rune Ear Hierophant on turn 2? While the combination of Howling Brave and Rune Ear Hierophant is nothing new, the duo fit this deck especially well. Other Rune Ear Hierophant decks like Kagulichu and Winter Moon play a more controlling game which doesn’t particularly benefit from the tempo Howling Brave generates. Rocket Rabbit on the other hand is an aggressive tempo deck that can leverage Howling Brave’s extra resources to snowball a victory. Not only that, but the deck packs a large number of other Coyotle, giving us access to Howling Plains Bluegrass and Wakuna Crowfeather.

The other reason this deck shines in the current meta is that it can effectively main deck hate for Flight troops. Flight has become increasingly popular with old staples like Vampire King and Vampire Princess losing little market share and new fliers like High Infinitrix and Flickering Gobbler eating up a large chunk of the meta pie. Not only are Flight troops popular, but opposing Rune Ear Hierophants are moving toward Flight over Spellshield as a way to dodge popular lethal troops and break open stalemates. Both Vine Lash and Turbulence can answer essentially all the meta’s popular Flight troops while remaining high quality removal when combined with Boris Blastforge’s Charge Power.

LEARNING TO FLY

Successfully piloting this deck is largely predicated on proper sequencing and use of the Reserves. Tempo decks thrive on efficient resource usage, making it critical for you to understand what you should play when. It isn’t always intuitive how you should play your Shard of Instincts and Arcane Focuses or when you should hold resources open for Countermagic. Prophecy can also complicate your sequencing. Do you want to dig for an action with Arcane Focus and then strengthen your next troop with Wakuna Crowfeather? Or do you want to play Wakuna Crowfeather first and then search for the Prophesied troop with Arcane Focus? Neither of those sequences is necessarily right or wrong – it all depends on the current game state.

Several lines are fairly obvious. If you can play to a turn two Rune Ear Hierophant or Lanupaw’s Sight, you go for it. Others aren’t always so obvious. For example, it is usually correct to play Arcane Focus on turn one if you have a Brown Fox Scout on top of your deck. Brown Fox Scout gains a lot of its value from being an effective extra draw when played from the top of your deck. Putting it back into your deck with Arcane Focus is a good way to ensure you gain that value later in the game rather than drawing a mediocre two drop. Since you play Brown Fox Scout, it’s also important to set a stop in your Ready phase to allow you to play a Brown Fox Scout on top of your deck before you draw.

The deck is generally powerful due to the extreme efficiency of the majority of its troops. Cyclone Shaper is somewhat emblematic of this efficiency. While we don’t play an extensive number of spells, a reasonable flier which allows you to play Vine Lash for free is incredibly powerful in this deck. We can gain significant tempo just by resolving a Cyclone Shaper and Vine Lash on turn three. In fact, it’s rare you will Empower the Cyclone Shaper in this deck due to the deck’s aggressive nature. That is unless you happen to Prophesize the Cyclone Shaper with Young Seer. Young Seer both increases the deck’s overall efficiency and allows for crazy turns with Cyclone Shaper or Greenpaw Emancipator.

As a tempo deck, your primary goal is to resolve a threat and protect it with Countermagic and removal. The way in which you use this removal is critical to protecting your threats. You need to identify which of your opponent’s plays will actually influence the outcome of the game. For example, say you resolved a Rune Ear Hierophant before your opponent and have the opportunity to counter their own Rune Ear Hierophant. Is playing Countermagic here correct? It may not be. Despite the power of Rune Ear Hierophant, you should be ahead if you resolved one first and your opponent resolving one won’t change the course of the game much. You may find saving the Countermagic will save you from a more relevant threat or answer later on in the game. Similarly, it’s important to save your Vine Lashs and Turbulences for when they matter most. While it may be tempting to float a Succulent Cluckodon and cause a little Turbulence, you may need that removal for a more powerful troop like Eternal Sage later. As a side note, it is often as important to save your Charge Power to activate your removal as it is to give your Rune Ear Hierophant Flight. Be mindful of how you spend your charges so that you’re not left with a useless Vine Lash later in the game.

THE COMPETITION

Let’s take a look at how to use the deck’s Reserves.

BRING IN:

TAKE OUT:

The Morgan McBombus match-up is all about the race. Bring in cheaper removal and life gain and take out more expensive answers like Countermagic. When bringing in Succulent Cluckodon it is generally correct to remove Wakuna Crowfeather since Prophesizing a Cluckodon will break Wakuna’s Prophecy chain. Making this switch also prevents you from overloading on four drops.

BRING IN:

TAKE OUT:

How you change your deck for this match-up depends somewhat on their specific build. Vine Lash is stronger if they are playing Vampire Princess in addition to Vampire King, otherwise Turbulence allows for versatility against non-vampire threats. Verdict of the Ancient Kings gives you another answer to Extinction while Greenpaw Emancipator allows you to rebuild the board after an Extinction.

BRING IN:

TAKE OUT:

This match-up is generally good for you despite your removal lacking targets due to high defense and Spellshield. Bring in the Greenpaw Emancipators to increase threat density and upgrade your Vine Lashes to Turbulence.

BRING IN:

TAKE OUT:

Remove your Prophecy cards as the Prophesized cards will just be milled. Verdict of the Ancient Kings and Greenpaw Emancipator come in for the same reasons we brought them in against Kagulichu. Turbulence gives us more answers to Phenteo the Brood Priest.

BRING IN:

TAKE OUT:

Countermagic and Windsinger, Master of the Hunt tend to be too slow in this match-up. You have great targets for Turbulence and Lullaby helps in the Rune Ear Hierophant mirror. Greenpaw Emancipator increases your threat density and helps you keep up with their game plan.

BRING IN:

TAKE OUT:

Wind of Change gives you a huge edge in this match-up assuming they are the constant build. Additional life gain and counters allows you to interact with their linear strategy. Removal is weak here and Wakuna comes out for the Cluckodons.

BRING IN:

TAKE OUT:

Generally, your opponent should re-gem their Rune Ear Hierophants with the Spellshield gem, making Vine Lash very weak. Upgrade it to Turbulence and bring in Verdict of the Ancient Kings for their Countermagic and Mass Polymorph Dingler.

BRING IN:

TAKE OUT:

The mirror will likely be a popular match-up. Tempo is the name of the game here and Rune Ear Hierophant will decide many of these matches. Take advantage of your opponent’s lack of board clear and situational removal by taking out your own removal and increasing your threat density. Lullaby provides huge swings and is one of your few ways to interact with Rune Ear Hierophant. Verdict of the Ancient Kings gives you a slight edge against their Countermagic.

LIFT OFF

Rocket Rabbit is a unique deck built to attack the meta. As it rises in popularity, expect decks to target it just as it targeted the decks before. How do you plan to combat the Boris menace? Let me know in the forums!

Be sure to tune into my stream tonight at 3:30 PM PST to see the deck in action in the Constructed Gauntlet. As always, there will be Primal Pack and free Draft, Sealed, and Evolving Gauntlet code giveaways.

See you in the gauntlet,

Varranis | Twitch | Twitter | Team Fade 2 Karma

Varranis is an analyst for professional gaming organization Fade 2 Karma. He has played countless TCGs over the last eighteen years and brings a unique lens to HEX theory crafting and deck building based on his historical experience. Varranis has numerous tournament wins and top finishes to his name across several popular TCGs and has coached and supported players in world championship level events.

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