Web of Deceit Blitz Deck Tutorial

Arakni is a Chaos Assassin, lurking in the darkness while puppeteering an underground network of masked killers. Fang and Cindra are hunting you, but one wrong step within your web of deceit and they might find themselves trapped... the hunters becoming the hunted.

How to Play Arakni

Arakni always has a trick up their sleeve, the main one being marking. There are a variety of cards in your deck that will mark the opponent, and once they are marked, they will stay marked until you land a hit! While the opponent is marked, you become a lot more dangerous. Your attacks with stealth have increased damage and threaten to get go again, and you also have the opportunity to become an Agent of Chaos (more on this later). It’s important to manage the opponent’s marked status carefully - sometimes it’s better to wait and arsenal instead of attacking and removing their marked status.

Stealth is a keyword you will find on several of the Assassin cards in your deck. Stealth doesn’t do anything by itself, it changes depending on the Assassin using it. Arakni, Web of Deceit has the hero ability mentioned above that applies to your stealth cards while the opponent is marked, and you’ll also notice a number of cards in your deck with effects that check if an attack has stealth.

Attack reactions are played (or activated) by the attacking hero during the Reaction Step after your opponent has decided how to defend. Typically they will push the damage of your attack over the top of your opponent’s defenses, and will often tag a nasty on-hit effect onto your attack. They don’t need go again, since they’re not actions. You can use any number of attack reactions in a turn.

Inversely, your deck also contains defense reactions. These are played (or activated) by the defending hero during the Reaction Step after you have decided your initial blocks. They bolster your defenses against your opponent’s attacks and attack reactions. All of the defense reaction cards in your deck are traps that will mark the opponent if they defend a specific type of attack. You can play any number of defense reactions in a turn, and they can be played from arsenal as well.

Agents of Chaos

At the end of your turn, if the opponent is marked, you call upon your sprawling underground network of masked killers. There are 6 Agent of Chaos tokens that you keep separate to your deck. Roll a 6-sided die to determine which one you become. At the end of your next turn, the Agent of Chaos returns to the brood and you revert back to Arakni, Web of Deceit. On the turn after that, if your opponent is still marked, you become a new Agent of Chaos. Note that if you are marked, becoming an Agent of Chaos or reverting back will not remove the marked status.

Each Agent of Chaos has a deadly special ability to disorient the opponent, and are also a consistent way for you to add damage to your attacks. Black Widow and Funnel Web can disrupt their hand and arsenal, Orb-Weaver and Tarantula manipulate daggers, Redback stretches your turns wider, and Trap-Door bolsters your defensive capabilities by giving you an extra trap to play directly from your deck. It’s worth reading each Agent of Chaos to familiarise yourself with how they work.

Tricky Stuff

You may have noticed “Graphene Chelicera” mentioned on some of your cards. Arakni begins the game with dual Mark of the Huntsman, but these are typically destroyed quite quickly. Luckily, there are hidden daggers you can whip out from your dark cloak. Graphene Chelicera is a special token dagger, you cannot start the game with it, you have to create it through a card effect while you have an empty weapon zone to equip it to. Note that this dagger has stealth, so it works with many of the Agent of Chaos abilities!

‘Flicking’ refers to card effects that allow you to essentially throw your dagger at the opponent mid-combat. It typically deals undefendable damage, and destroys the dagger. If you ‘flick’ Mark of the Huntsman, it is considered to have hit, and you can choose to destroy it with its own effect in order to mark the opponent before the ‘flick’ effect destroys it. This is a great way to force an opponent to become marked even if they defended your dagger.

There are a range of sneaky effects in Arakni’s equipment. Leap Frog Vocal Sac can hop in to save you during the Reaction Step, and you can even move it from a previous attack across the combat chain to a new one (as long as your opponent plays or activates a reaction). Red Alert Vest defends once, but gets higher defense if the opponent activates an attack reaction.

Danger Digits can be used during the Reaction Step (after the opponent has decided blocks), to ‘flick’ a dagger. And lastly, Starting Point allows you to continue your turn with another attack if you haven’t been able to get go again, provided you have played or activated another attack reaction during the same Reaction Step, such as Danger Digits or some of the Agents of Chaos.

How to Win with Arakni

The Agents of Chaos are the best way for you to output damage and disrupt your opponent’s turn, and you should aim to mark the opponent in order to become one whenever the opportunity arises. This means planning your turn out in advance to ensure you’re not removing their marked status for a weak attack. Destroying a Mark of the Huntsman early is a great way to both set up an Agent of Chaos and free up a weapon zone for Graphene Chelicera.

Unknown information is your best friend. Holding a card in hand is sure to make the opponent squirm, as they will be unsure if it’s another attack reaction, a card you plan to put in arsenal, or even something like Reaper’s Call, which you can discard at any time to mark the opponent. That being said, you shouldn’t take extra damage just to hold a card that you can’t do something useful with. Defend carefully, because the other two heroes in The Hunted can be quite aggressive, while your goal is to drag them down to your speed.

PRO TIP: You can attack with Mark of the Black Widow or Mark of the Funnel Web while the opponent is unmarked, then discard Reaper’s Call or Tip-Off during the Reaction Step to catch them with a surprise +1 power and nasty on-hit effect!

Arakni wins through playing or activating a large number of attack reactions to deal lethal damage, or by stretching the opponent’s defenses thin with dagger attacks, or by dealing unpreventable damage with ‘flick’ effects. Some games with Arakni tend to go long, so it’s a good idea to pitch a card like Bite or Razor’s Edge so that you can draw it later in the game when your opponent is at low life totals and their effects become deadly!