Card Spotlight – Party Time

Varranis here! I’ve got two Frostheart spoilers for you today, and they’re both ready to party. They’re also both cards that fit into one of my favorite archetypes – Tempo. Tempo decks generally rely on leveraging temporary advantages for a greater gain in the long term. Our first spoiler gives our deck more consistency while also acting as an evasive threat.

There’s a lot going on here with Vision of Zeota. First, she’s a powerful threat. She will often be a 3/2 Flight troop or better for two. She pairs exceptionally well with cheap Sapphire cantrips like Thunderfield Seer and Arcane Focus. She also adds consistency to your deck by allowing you to Fateweave every turn. Not only does this mean you will never miss a shard drop, but it essentially allows you to select which of her two buffs you want to guarantee an activation of that turn. Being Quick is also critical since it mean you can benefit from her passive Fateweave first (note it lets both players Fateweave), and it allows her to double as removal in the combat phase of your opponent’s turn by blocking a weak threat. Vision of Zeota is the embodiment of those temporary advantages I mentioned Tempo loves to leverage. She is also incredibly versatile, serving as threat, card selection, and removal.

Zeota does have three distinct drawbacks. First, she lets your opponent Fateweave. Personally, I don’t find this disadvantage too appalling since we also benefit from the Fateweave and I feel her other strengths outweigh this specific drawback. Second, she requires double Sapphire thresholds as a two drop. This makes her very difficult to effectively play outside of a mono Sapphire deck. Lastly, she is unique. Zeota is a powerful enough threat that I would easily play four in nearly any mono Sapphire brew. Being unique potentially makes four copies a liability and means you’ll have to consider complementing her with other two drops if you want to go wide. Who knows, maybe Tale of Destiny means unique will be more positive than negative. Overall, despite all these drawbacks, I think Vision of Zeota will be a near staple in a lot of Sapphire decks due to her power and versatility.

So she’s a party… but a party needs friends. And what would a HEX party be without a Pippit or two? Meet Brosi Buk:

This crazy Pippit is another fascinating card which is likely to find a home in tempo decks, and possibly other archetypes as well. Again, being Quick allows Brosi to double as removal. He’s a much worse threat than Zeota, being a five cost 3/3, but his Deploy ability is back breaking in some match ups. Brosi Buk, Mischief Master is likely to be the top end of some tempo and aggro decks and possibly a one of in the 75 of some control decks. In an aggressive deck, the Deploy ability allows you to gain significant card advantage against control decks. Control decks frequently hold a grip of reactive actions late into the game while aggressive decks unload a swarm of troops. If you play Brosi against your opponent’s grip of six to your hand of two, you not only get rid of what are likely six very powerful cards in your opponent’s hand, you net plus four card advantage by evening hands out to five a piece. In a comparable way, a single Brosi in a control mirror is a great way to come back if you find yourself in a losing position.

Double Wild thresholds and unique are not nearly as detrimental to Brosi as they are to Zeota either. Brosi is not a card you want to slam four of in your deck, and it’s much easier to hit double thresholds on turn five than on turn two. Spellshield on Brosi is interesting, but ultimately unlikely to be meaningful. Spellshield is one of the best keywords on a powerful threat, but protecting a 3/3 is not terribly exciting. That said, it could lend itself to tempo variants which look to buff troops or give them evasion. It also may make the random cards you get more meaningful since there are many actions which buff that gain significantly more value next to Spellshield.

Both Vision of Zeota and Brosi Buk, Mischief Master are likely to make a splash in the new Frostheart standard. How do you envision utilizing these new tools? Let me know!

See you on the ladder,

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.

Got any questions? Want to chat with other players? Then discuss this article in our Forums! You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook, or enjoy regular streams on our official Twitch channel.