Rolling in the Deep

Iain Kenderdine is a day 1 player, brute enthusiast, and the master behind Ritetime Gaming. He’s a renowned commentator, a veteran of the Lifetime XP leaderboard, and has a reputation for taking high risk/high reward decks to major events.

Skirmish is in full swing and one of the highlights for me is seeing some unsung heroes finally have their moment in the sun.

We saw newcomers Riptide, Uzuri, and Arakni, Solitary Confinement trying their hand, but perhaps the biggest news from week one was Data Doll MkII picking up their first Living Legend points! Data Doll proved on this day the old wrestling adage “High risk, high reward”.

Often this phrase is used to describe the tactics of the smaller high-flying wrestler as they climb to the top rope, ready to dive through the air, landing on their opponent before picking up the 3 count win, and the crowd going wild at what they just saw. Sadly this is all too often followed by the other phrase “Ouch… crashed and burned”.

So why would you ever take a high variance deck along to a Skirmish event, when you could take a more consistent hero with an established winstreak?

Hear me out… what if your goal isn’t just to win?

Crazy I know, but what if I told you there is fun to be had setting your own unique goals and targets. I’m not saying I don’t want to win, but sometimes the drive is to win with style points.

If your Skirmish is sealed, why not buck the trend of playing an Uzuri or Riptide pile, and trust in the blind power of Azalea, and push your luck with some dominated arrows? Got a bunch of attacks that would normally fit well in Katsu? Why not try to catch your opponent off guard with Benji, don’t be afraid of starting with 17 life when you can steal wins outta nowhere.

While I admit it can be more risky to take chances in sealed, Blitz is totally made for the big time risk takers.

Blitz is a faster pace than Big Brother Classic Constructed, starting out with half the life totals means that games can be swung during one big turn. This means lots of heroes have a chance to win when you least expect it. You can also set yourself a goal to pull off some crazy combo, even if you have to lose several games in a row to do it.

If you have the guts to build your deck in a way that rewards a high variance strategy, you have the chance to not just to win, but to be the talk of your event!

Kayo, Berserker Runt is one of my personal favorites to play in Blitz, and perhaps the epitome of variance, with the highest of highs and lowest of lows. I have first turn killed many a Wizard with an opening play that usually goes like this:

Roll Scabskin Leathers for 2 action points, play Wild Ride, drawing and discarding a 6-power attack to get go again, roll a 5 or 6 for Kayo’s ability, coming in for 12 damage. Next, break Goliath Gauntlet for +2 power, play Swing Big, roll another 5 or 6 for Kayo’s ability, and coming in for 18 damage - for a total of 30 on the first turn!

However this exact same line of play could just as easily be 0 damage.

Often with Kayo you will find yourself in situations where you have your foot on your opponent’s throat and all you need is to land the final blow, only for the dice to run cold and you end up swinging for just 3 damage, until they are able to claw tempo back. This is the downside every Kayo player has experienced at some point, and it can hurt just as badly as it feels good to win.

The thrill comes from those moments where you’re down and out, forced on the back foot, desperately defending with everything you have… then, with only one card left in hand you crack your Barkbone Strapping, roll a 4 which nets you 2 resources, just what you need! You smile as you slam down Command and Conquer, rolling a 5 on Kayo - but wait, your opponent is using their Gamblers Gloves, oh no, not like this…you use your own Gambler’s Gloves, it’s all or nothing, here comes the reroll… it's a 6! You swing in for 12, your opponent’s defense reactions are powerless to stop you, what a glorious win, that both you and your opponent will tell tales of - the stuff of legends.

While Kayo relies on somewhat putting your faith in the dice gods there are a number of other options that are often considered high variance, but if built correctly will more often than not work in your favour.

Some have shunned Rhinar as far back as the Welcome to Rathe days, due to the number of random discard effects in the Brute card pool. However once you start to play Rhinar you begin to realize that if you play your hands out correctly, you can make these random effects work for you instead of the other way round.

Using Sand Sketched Plan to search for Beast Within and then discarding it as the only card in your hand not only gets you 2 action points, an intimidate from Rhinar's ability, but also nets you an additional card to follow up with a weapon swing. Highly efficient when combined with other risk/reward type cards.

Blocking with two cards, keeping a blue to pitch and a 6-power to discard, just to play a Bloodrush Bellow stashed away in arsenal let’s you guarantee 10 damage with Mandible Claws at the very least, even if you draw 2 red cards that you can’t play out.

I can recount several times my opponent has had 2 or less life left, then I defend with Reckless Swing and they bemoan the fact that I got lucky, when they ‘randomly’ picked a 6-power attack from the cards in my hand after I had blocked with the whiffs.

High variance decks are a great equalizer if you’re new to the game or if you don’t have all the high end cards needed for a meta deck yet - plus you often have an edge against players who haven’t had reps into these fringe characters. To quote former Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World Mike Tyson, “Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth”.

The more practice you put in, the luckier you get. An important part of being successful with these high rollers is you have to put in the reps to know how and when you should take the big risk in a game. While it can be fun just to pick up any deck and YOLO it for the first time in an event, if you want to see success with a fringe deck you have to commit, just ask the League of Levia.

Variance decks are not for everyone, but I do employ you to at least give it a go, if not at Skirmish maybe just at your next Armory. There is lots to gain from trying out something completely bold and new, like Bravo with Crown of Dominion and Cash In, or Riptide with max copies of Promise of Plenty.

There will probably be many losses along the way, but it’s worth it for those days when everything just goes right - when all your dice rolls are 6’s, all your boosts hit items, and you dodge Blood Debt every turn with the perfect graveyard hits.

Those rare days do happen - and they are pure gold.

There’s nothing better than the look of relief on your opponent’s face when you reveal your hero at the start of a game and they think it's going to be an easy win, only for that look to swiftly change to confusion, and then horror, until at the end they are left thinking “How did I just lose to Data Doll?”

Best of luck to you all for the rest of Skirmish season and may the odds be ever in your favour.