UPF Nightmares: Chane Refrain

In honour of Round the Table hitting shelves at Local Game Stores across the world this weekend, we’re back with another awful decklist from the bowels of hell. Perfect for a family-friendly bout of Ultimate Pit Fight!

Today we’re bringing back the ultimate edgelord, the original scene kid, the bane of Blitz - Chane! But not in the way you think! This spicy meatball isn’t designed to build staggering combat chains, plussing off free value, combined with bursts of arcane damage. In fact, there are NO blood debt cards in the entire deck.

No, this time our little shop of horrors extra is going to be playing a little reverse psychology to guilt trip our opponents into leaving us alone while we amass a recurring loop to carry us to infinity and beyond…

(Disclaimer: Legend Story Studios will not be held responsible for any table flips that result from playing this deck)

Decklist - ‘Chane Refrain’

Inventory

Duskblade

Crown of Providence

Dyadic Carapace

Grasp of the Arknight

Ironhide Legs

Pitch 1

2x Drowning Dire

2x Warmonger’s Recital

2x Enlightened Strike

2x Fyendal’s Fighting Spirit

2x Give and Take

2x Runic Reclamation

2x Sink Below

2x Fate Foreseen

2x Sigil of Suffering

2x Sigil of Solace

Pitch 2

2x Good Deeds Don’t Go Unnoticed

2x Sink Below

2x Fate Foreseen

Pitch 3

2x This Round’s on Me

2x Warmonger’s Diplomacy

2x Whisper of the Oracle

2x Sift

2x Shrill of Skullform

2x Spellblade Assault

2x Oath of the Arknight

Playing the Victim Card

Our goal first and foremost is to stay alive and empty our deck through blocking. When you slap Chane and Duskblade down on the table, you’ll immediately have enemies who want to keep you in check. But unlike normal Chane decks, we aren’t touching Soul Shackles until the time is right. We simply block, pass, and only attack if it’s part of a deal that benefits our survival.

Throughout this you’ll want to be preserving three key cards in your deck: Drowning Dire, Warmonger’s Recital, and any blue. You only need 1 of each in your deck, but we’re playing two just to be safe. Over time, the others will realise you’re not actually the big bad monster they made you out to be, and will inevitably turn to infighting.

Once the table is weak, one or two players have kicked the bucket, and everyone has spent their reactions and armour, it’s time to unleash your true intentions. If you timed it right, you should have the three cards above in hand, and no more cards in deck. Play Warmonger’s Recital, make a Soul Shackle, then play Drowning Dire for 8 dominate, putting both cards on the bottom of your deck when it hits. Draw them up again before the Soul Shackles trigger, and you have yourself an infinitely recycling loop of damage.

(Pro Tip: since Drowning Dire will have go again, you can also use your fourth card in hand to make a Runechant and swing with Duskblade every turn!)

Heavy defense is key to surviving long enough to pull off this loop. Cards like Sink Below and Fate Foreseen allow us to tuck our combo pieces on the bottom of the deck while defending against the anti-Duskblade coalition. If you have spare blues on your turn, just make Runechants and swing Duskblade, making sure to loudly remark every time how useless it has been in the game thus far.

Not everything goes according to plan, and if we draw heavy fire from multiple players, there’s a chance we could see our life deplete rather quickly. This should be a great arguing point for why people should stop picking on you and start leaving you alone, but just in case, we’re running several life gain cards to survive long enough to convince the table they’ve judged us too harshly.

Drawing the combo pieces too early and losing them to equipment blocks and damage prevention, or an unlucky Soul Shackle banish are huge risks, so in the early game we want to avoid using these cards or the hero ability unless absolutely necessary. We have several cards to help us filter through our deck so we can defend and attack with other cards, while keeping the secret threat stashed inside. If you would be forced to block with a combo piece, you can use Ironhide Legs, Crown of Providence, or Give and Take to preserve them.

Nobody can win an Ultimate Pit Fight without hustling the table at least a teeny bit. Look for opportunities to provide assistance, or shut down threats to the whole table, in exchange for favours. One classic move is to offer yourself as a target for an attack in exchange for them not attacking you the following turn, then block with a bunch of cards you didn’t need anyway. Make sure to ham up how much of a noble sacrifice you’re making by having to defend with your whole hand.

While this monstrosity does have a clear gameplan, anything can happen in Ultimate Pit Fight and you may find yourself in situations where working towards the infinite loop isn’t going to work. In those cases, just like with any other deck, don’t be afraid to switch tactics and adapt, using the powerful engine pieces at your disposal.

But if you do manage to tug some heart strings after taking a beating, only to flip it around in a surprise villainous plot twist, the world is your Demonastery. All aboard the Chane Train! Chane Forever! A Thousand Years Chane! Chane Season 2 Electric Boogaloo! Chane Again and Again and Again and Again…