Written by Zachary Gable

  

  

  

Preface

After Starvo (Bravo, Star of the Show) hit the stage with the release of Everfest, players were scrambling to find decks that could compete against him. One player in particular named 'Firstworld', who I discovered through the Flesh and Blood discord, posted a Lexi deck-list for Classic Constructed that could stand up to Starvo. Firstworld placed very highly in a ProQuest and to everyone's amazement, the Lexi deck had almost no Elemental Fusion cards.

Their list ran Ridge Rider Shots and Eye of Ophidia, alongside Art of War. Utilizing the opt and extra card draw to dig through their deck and get to their Three of a Kind's as quickly as possible. Once drawn, a set up turn with a two card arsenal alongside Rain Razors and Endless Arrow, was enough to close out the game against any hero.

I loved the idea of this list and took the list (without the Eye) to two ProQuests in my area. I didn't manage to get Top eight in either of them - I placed ninth and tenth respectively. However, its power against Starvo and Oldhim was definitely real. After ProQuest I knew that I wanted to bring a Blitz version of my own into the Skirmish season.

  

   Our hero of choice.

The Deck

This deck primarily revolves around gaining tempo early on through the inherent card advantage provided by New Horizon and dishing out a seemingly never-ending onslaught of attacks until your opponent is at zero life. Three of a Kind and Art of War help us keep up this tempo, and dig deeper into the deck to find more copies of themselves. 

The pitch ratio, as well as the amount of arrows in the deck, are both very important. The deck runs twenty-two reds, ten yellows and eight blues. All of the yellows are irreplaceable in this list - but Ranger in general (and particularly this Lexi list) really likes yellows anyway, so we're not too bothered by it. In this list, one yellow allows you to fire two arrows almost all of the time, as three quarters of the arrows are zero cost arrows. The eight blue cards help to make sure that you are drawing a blue pitch card at least every other turn, allowing you to set up two cards in arsenal for the next turn, if you happen to draw a low-pitch hand.

On a side note, if I knew that I was going to be facing a lot of Wizards, I would most likely drop the Snatch and Pulse of Volthaven for two blue Heaven's Claws.

The list also runs twenty four arrows - over fifty percent of the deck. I've found that running any less arrows than this causes Three of a Kind to whiff way too often. With this version of the deck, Three of a Kind seems to only draw less than two arrows about five to ten percent of the time.

   

Your ticket to success

   

Card Choices

Bolt'n Shot - Irreplaceable. This card works amazingly with Voltaire and supports our go wide strategy very well. Quite often the reload effect goes overlooked, and it can help save you a few resources during an otherwise lackluster turn. Additionally, threatening a reload during a Three of a Kind turn can be insanely powerful. I have reloaded a second Three of a Kind after playing the first one earlier in the turn a few times since I've started playing the deck. One of these times was even during the Top 8 of Skirmish! We run two yellow Bolt'n Shots as well.

Dazzling Crescendo - Irreplaceable. Although the deck has only nine Lightning cards, probability means that we will most likely see one lightning card in each hand, especially given how much we draw cards. This card shines the most when going second, loaded on your opponents first turn. It becomes a zero for five with go again right from arsenal, with the only condition being that you have a Lightning card in hand.

Endless Arrow - I shouldn't need to say much here. This card is phenomenal in combination with Voltaire, Rain Razors and Bullseye Bracers. This is the card your opponent will most likely stare down as they change their life total to zero. It is a must-block. It also has four attack and costs zero.

Fatigue Shot - The first 'flex' slot in the deck. Depending on the meta, this could be Sleep Dart, Remorseless or even Head Shot. A great, all round card (if only it worked on weapons)....

   

A fantastic versatile card for this deck.

   

Lightning Press - Works with every single attack we run, costs zero, pushes us over heavy blocks and fuses Lightning? I'll take two, thanks! This can also be used to pump up attacks that are defending (i.e to block Phantasm). I've never been in this scenario, though.

Lightning Surge - Helps us go wide through its inherent go again when played from arsenal, plus gives go again to our next attack when flipped with Lexi's ability. Pushes breakpoints with four attack. Amazing card in general. We also run blues for pitch and fusing purposes - they aren't bad to attack with from arsenal either.

Pathing Helix - A relatively new addition to the deck. I'm still not sure why it has all of the text it does considering it just reloads on hit, but anyway - I view this card as an extra yellow Bolt'n Shot, given that it does the same thing, but has one less attack than a red one. That's all a bonus though. It costs zero and shoots for four, what's not to love?

Pulse of Volthaven - Still questioning the inclusion of this card to be quite honest. When it's good, it's really good; but when it's bad, it's really bad. With so little Elemental and Lightning targets, it can sometimes get stuck in your hand or arsenal. Conversely, you can use Bullseye Bracers to play an Elemental Arrow and Pulse for nine, with zero pitch, which always feels great. I'll be testing replacing it with a red Electrify.

Searing Shot - zero for four, and maybe five? Yeah.

Snap Shot - Irreplaceable. The only reason that huge Three of a Kind plus Art of War turns can work is because of this card. Voltaire is limited to two uses per turn, but with Snap Shot, this can easily increase to three or even four uses in a turn. We run two of all three colours. Also, zero for four, gotta love it.

  

In almost every match-up, going second is the game plan.

   

   

   

Snatch - The one-of Snatch is easily replaceable, but I'm loving it in this list. It quite often gets go again from Lexi's ability, which can make the start of a turn quite intimidating for the opponent, especially if you are floating a Lightning Press. If you don't have any way to give it go again, ending your turn with it isn't bad either.

Three of a Kind - Irreplaceable. It's power level alongside Voltaire, Snap Shots and Bullseye Bracers is exceptional. In more traditional, fuse-heavy Lexi lists, it's common to use Three of a Kind at the start of your turn in order to find more cards to fuse with or more arrows to shoot. However, in this list it's rarely a bad idea to hold on to your Three of a Kind until after you shoot one or two arrows. Generally, your opponent will block differently if they don't see a Three of a Kind initially, and coming in with one right after attacking twice can be devastating and very unpredictable.  We can only do this because we play so many non-Elemental arrows.

Art of War - Super versatile. I used to severely underrate this card, but it has proved me wrong in this list. You are almost always wanting to choose the plus one mode, and the draw two mode. It gives Bolt'n Shot go again (if you had one in arsenal already). On our really wide turns, Art of War can present an additional six to seven damage from the first mode alone. Very rarely you may be in a situation where using a tunic charge or pitch on your opponent's turn to play Art of War defensively - defending a dominated attack from a Guardian with an attack from hand and up-to two from arsenal as well. I surprisingly pulled a win after making this exact play against a Guardian at my local Skirmish recently (it helps to follow it up with a well-drawn Three of a Kind).

Light It Up - It's not the worst when you're only shooting this unfused for four with go again, or five at the end of your turn. Usually though, you want to be putting this into your arsenal for next turn, or pitching it with a Rain Razors or Lightning Press so it can hit with a fuse later. This card is a must-block if fused.

Rain Razors - If I could foresee any Ranger card being banned at some point in the future, it would be Rain Razors. This card is the nuts. In a deck like this, Rain Razors can present upwards of fourteen extra damage in a single turn, at the cost of.... well, nothing. It also pitches for two. Don't use Rain Razors if you are only attacking with one or two arrows (unless you're closing out a game). Ideally this is used prior to Three of a Kind as an attack buff for a huge turn. Just remember to play it out of your hand before playing Three of Kind (The same goes for Pulse of Volthaven).

Electrify - Replaces itself (sometimes into a Three of a Kind) when played from arsenal, gives us a little extra chip damage and fuses Lightning. It helps that the on-hit works on any attack as well, not just Elemental or Lightning attacks. We run these in blue for the pitch.

Sleep Dart - Another flex slot. Can be replaced with blue Fatigue Shots or even blue Head Shots. Voltaire being able to give this plus one attack, making it four, is still pretty good to end a turn on, given that it's a blue. Against some heroes this is almost a must-block.

   

Allows for two arsenal slots.

  

Skirmish Wins and Losses

    

Main Event
Kassai	Win
Dori (Dawnblade)	Loss
Bravo	Win
Bravo	Win
Prism (Aura)	Win
Top 8
Boltyn	Win
Bravo (A great Bravo player)	Loss

   

A great piece of equipment.

   

Budget Options

New Horizon - Unfortunately New Horizon is borderline irreplaceable in this type of deck. If I had to though, I would definitely run Honing Hood instead.

Fyendal's Spring Tunic - Easily replaceable with Vest of the First Fist. I've even contemplated testing it out myself. The 1 block on Tunic tends to come in handy more often than not, though.

Art of War - Not really replaceable. Again, if I had to, I would probably replace these with yellow Electrify. Invest in the Art of Wars, they can go into so many decks!

Three of a Kind - Sorry, you need these!

 

  

An irreplaceable card in the deck

   

Matchups

Please note: These match ups are based on personal experience alone.

Favoured

Prism (Aura)

Boltyn

Dash

Rhinar

Chane

Levia

Azalea (I'm just making sure I don't exclude anyone, okay?)

Neutral/Skill-based

Kassai

Dorinthea (Axes)

Oldhim  (I want to put this into favoured, but I know it ain't true)

Bravo

Viserai

Kano

Iyslander

Briar

Unfavoured

Dorinthea (Dawnblade)

Ira

Katsu

Prism (Herald)

Heavily Unfavoured

Valda (Yes, it happened - it sucks)

Benji (Help)

Ice Lexi (I don't want to talk about this matchup….)

  

  

 

 

Another irreplaceable card in the deck.

   

First or Second? 

In almost every match-up, going second is the game plan. You want to use Voltaire to put in two arrows and set up for a six card hand next turn. Don't worry about taking one to eight damage if you have to - you will, in the majority of cases, be swinging back for way more and gaining tempo. 

The best arrows (in order) to arsenal on Turn one are:

• Dazzling Crescendo 
• Any other zero-cost arrow
• Any one-cost arrow 

Dazzling Crescendo is at the top of the list because it saves you from needing to use Snapdragon Scalers on your first attacking turn. If you don't draw a Dazzling Crescendo, don't worry too much - I almost always use Snapdragons on my first attacking turn, so I can fully utilize my six card hand and begin the pressure. 

Heroes I would definitely consider going first against:

• Rhinar
• Kano
• Iyslander
• Aura Prism

 

   

Decklist by Zachary Gable

   

Conclusion 

I hope I've covered most of what people would like to know regarding this deck. If you're reading this, I appreciate that you've found this interesting enough to read it all the way through! Thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll have the opportunity to write something up again in the future (hopefully for Azalea - my forbidden love).