Florian Blitz Deck Tutorial

Florian is an Elemental Runeblade empowered by Earth! He patiently sends cards to the graveyard, then decomposes their remains to fuel raw arcane power with near unlimited potential!

How to Play Florian

Early in the game your main goal should be to stay alive and work towards getting your hero ability online. Defend heavily in order to fill your graveyard with Earth cards. Earth cards can be identified by their green border pattern and Earth symbol in the card text. Keep an eye out for cards with the keyword decompose as these are crucial for moving Earth cards from your graveyard to your banished zone.

When you play a card with decompose, you choose 2 Earth cards and 1 action card to banish. You have to select exactly 3 cards. It doesn’t matter what types the Earth cards are, nor does it matter if the action card is an Earth or not. For example, if you have defended with Helm of Lignum Vitae, it can be decomposed as an Earth card. Florian’s ability requires you to have 4 or more banished Earth cards, so you will need to decompose twice during the game at the very least. This is why it’s a good idea to choose a non-Earth card as your action card, rather than a third Earth card, because otherwise you risk not having enough Earth cards in graveyard for future decomposes.

Once you have 4 banished Earth cards, it’s time to bring the pain! Each time you create 1 or more aura tokens, such as a Runechant or Embodiment of Earth, Florian will net you an extra one. Note that this applies to each event of creating a token(s), so a card like Deadwood Dirge (“Create 3 Runechants”) would instead make 4 Runechants (3 + 1), while a card like Arcane Seeds // Life (“Create a Runechant token. Create a Runechant token”) would instead make 4 Runechants (1 + 1, then 1 + 1). Block with your non-attack actions, which can gain increased defense from Embodiments of Earth, while creating vast amounts of Runechants to fling at your opponent alongside your big attacks, and you will quickly outvalue your opponent.

Arcane 101

Florian is a hybrid fighter with access to both physical and arcane damage. Arcane damage is a special form of damage that can’t be defended by regular means. Florian mainly deals arcane damage through Runechants, which are special tokens that stick around until you attack, then they self-destruct and each deal 1 arcane damage to the opponent. Arcane damage is often difficult or inefficient to prevent, so Runechants are a strong way to win a game once you get your opponent’s life low enough.

Stopping your opponent’s arcane damage is a little trickier. You start the game with Sanctuary of Aria, a special token that allows you to pitch 2 resources to stop 1 point of damage, regardless of type. You can activate this multiple times in a turn, but once that turn is up, your safety net is gone! Due to the high cost of preventing arcane damage, most of the time you’ll want to use Sanctuary of Aria on the very first turn when you’re going second, or as a last resort. Other cards, like Fruits of the Forest, can discard themselves to gain life as a counter measure. Often, the best solution is just to take out the opponent before they get the chance to deal lethal damage.

You’ll notice that both Embodiment of Earth and Runechants are auras. Auras are a type of card that stay in the arena when played or created, until an effect makes them leave. Florian represents decay, which is shown in his willingness to sacrifice his own auras. Arcane Cussing is a prime aura to be destroyed either through its own effect or manually through other means, such as Deadwood Dirge, Bloodtorn Bodice, or Splintering Deadwood. Make sure to check each aura card to see what effect causes it to leave the arena.

Tricky Stuff

Understanding the timing of aura token creation and destruction is key to playing your deck correctly. Runechants you already have in play will automatically be destroyed when you attack and are no longer in the arena, while Runechants you create as a result of attacking will stick around until your next attack, and can be targeted by your attacks that have aura destruction effects. Some examples of plays involving aura timing you may come across in the Florian Blitz Deck are:

• You have Malefic Incantation in play from the previous turn. You play Runerager Swarm. Malefic Incantation triggers, creating a Runechant. Runerager Swarm gets go again. You attack with Rotwood Reaper, which now has +2 power, and the Runechant is destroyed, dealing 1 arcane damage.

• You have a Runechant and Arcane Cussing (red) in play, and 4 Earth cards in your banished zone. You attack with Splintering Deadwood, intending to use both its ‘on attack’ and ‘on hit’ effects. The Runechant is destroyed and deals 1 arcane damage. Your opponent doesn’t prevent the damage, which causes Arcane Cussing to be destroyed, creating 4 Runechants. Now Splintering Deadwood becomes an attacking card and you can use its ‘on attack’ effect. You are not able to destroy the original Runechant or Arcane Cussing, because they no longer exist, so you destroy 1 of the 4 newly created Runechants. Because of Florian’s ability, you make 2 new Runechants instead of 1, giving you 5 total. Your opponent doesn’t defend or prevent Splintering Deadwood, allowing you to use the ‘on hit’ effect. You destroy one of the 5 Runechants. Because it’s a separate event from the ‘on attack’ effect, you make 2 new Runechants, giving you 6 total.

Now let’s talk about that weird sideways card in your deck. Split-cards are a new type of card introduced in Rosetta, which are essentially two cards in one! You are allowed to play either half, or if it has the keyword meld, you can play both. If you choose to play both halves, you need to pay the resource cost separately for each half. Luckily, Arcane Seeds // Life costs 0, and paying 0 twice is still 0!

When you play both halves of a split-card, they resolve right-to-left. This means if you play both halves of Arcane Seeds // Life, the Life happens first, then the Arcane Seeds. Note that while the Life half is an Earth instant and the Arcane Seeds half is a non-Earth action, they are still considered to be a single card for the purposes of decomposing.

Lastly, each half of a split-card can only be activated if the game rules allow it. This means that even though Life is an instant, you can’t play Arcane Seeds during your opponent’s turn because it’s an action that needs to be played during your action phase.

How to Win with Florian

Survival is key to success. Don’t be afraid to toss cards in the bin to keep your life total high while you wait to see those precious decompose cards. 1-cost auras like Strong Yield and Arcane Cussing play nicely with Rotwood Reaper, an efficient 2 card play while you wait for a bigger turn. After all, it’s one thing to get your hero ability online, it’s another to still have enough life to do something cool with it.

Once your hero ability is online, start hunting for sheer value plays. Cards like Arcane Seeds // Life, Malefic Incantation, Oath of the Arknight, and Runehold Release are much more impactful with Florian’s hero ability online and are often worth saving. Pitching a blue, playing Arcane Cussing, then using Bloodtorn Bodice to destroy it, regain the 1 resource you spent, and follow up with a 3-cost attack is a massive power play. Where possible, try to sacrifice auras that net you a bonus, like Arcane Cussing or Sigil of Sanctuary, rather than Runechants.

Beware of arcane damage, which can kill you before you get a chance to reap what you’ve sowed. There are a lot of cards in your deck that set up payoffs for the following turn, so sometimes it pays to save instant speed protection such as Well Grounded, or holding Sigil of Sanctuary or Arcane Seeds // Life in your arsenal, in order to prevent lethal damage. Remember that arcane prevention is also limited for your opponent!