OVERVIEW: This deck combines the
First Flame and
Dramatist's Mask combo pieces with the
Kenna, Shaman of the Scale and
End of Hostilities. The result is a highly flexible and difficult to pilot combo deck.
Current W/L:
total 34 - 33
Gold 1: 16 - 20
Gold 2: 13 - 8
Casual: 5 - 5
INSPIRATION: I noticed that both the Mask and Kenna decks shared a similar pattern and reliance on the tribute mechanic with cards like
Assembly Line and
Manufacture.
STRATEGIES:
(in order of how quickly they are usually achieved)
1.) Attach
Dramatist's Mask to a token, guaranteeing a tributed
First Flame from your deck on the next turn dealing
24 damage. But that's standard for all the masks decks, here if you have
Mirror Image you can add another 15 damage to that with a second copy of
First Flame's 3
Infernus for
39 total damage! Not enough you say? Well if you have 6 power (which
Combustion Cell will help you get to) you can get two extra copies of
First Flame with
End of Hostilities for a total of
54 Damage!
strengths:
Boy that's a lot of damage
Can happen as early as turn 5
Even if the combo fails, if you develop
Combustion Cell you're set up for future combos
weaknesses:
Tough to guard against early removal (unless you happen to have
Unseal in hand)
2.) Recursively cast
End of Hostilities on
Kenna, Shaman of the Scale (whose tribute ability lets you draw
End of Hostilities from the void).
strengths:
provides removal in the form of
Kenna, Shaman of the Scale's killer ability
Creates a board while generating card advantage (with
End of Hostilities giving you an extra Kenna to draw a second spell from your void)
weaknesses:
Takes multiple turns to go off
Weak to counters and fast removal (unless you happen to have
Unseal in hand)
3.) Use
Mirror Image and/or
End of Hostilities to generate 3 copies of
Tamarys, the Geomancer. This then lets you do "Combo 2" in one turn with
Mirror Image costing 0.
strengths:
Easily defended with 0 cost
Unseal
A board of 4/4 flying overwhelm units is great on its own
weaknesses:
relies on other combo pieces (Kenna or First Flame) to finish the game reliably
PLAYING THE DECK:
Our decks major determining factor is what
Dramatist's Mask gets us. Unlike other Mask/Flame decks ours doesn't always hit the big elemental man himself. When it lands on Kenna or Tamarys we'll want to follow up with
Mirror Image to solidify them on the board and with any luck we'll get another roll of the dice with the Mask next turn.
In exchange for this uncertainty we can survive having our
Dramatist's Mask play cleared and often our opponents will go to great lengths (i.e.
Harsh Rule) to do so. This clears the way for Kendra to build her board a few turns down the road.
We're free to spend
End of Hostilities early, as it's the spell we'll most likely get back when we cast Kenna later. Often times it'll snag 2 copies of whatever the opponent's best unit is.
Consider saving
Strategize to put
First Flame on the bottom of our deck in most games. However, in some late game situations
Combustion Cell will allow us to hard cast it.
THE MULLIGAN:
Assuming our influence and power are in order we'll want to keep hands with token generators (
Assembly Line,
Manufacture and even
Granite Waystone).
Dramatist's Mask is also usually a keep especially with draw spells (
Wisdom of the Elders,
Strategize) to get us the tokens we'll need.
META CONSIDERATIONS:
The
Hailstorms help us against the aggro decks I've been seeing recently. If you'd prefer to counter control, I'd recommend
Rain of Frogs,
Honor the Ancestors and
Backlash. You might also consider swapping
Torch for
Permafrost in extreme cases when looking at more specific counter builds.
*If you try the deck please comment with your win/loss ratio and I'll update the one listed at the top of the description, thanks!*
Pros: It's Kennadin that's even more fun! If the stars line up and they can't answer mask it delivers an awesome haymaker.
Cons: Basically I feel that it falls into the realm of jank. It's fun when it works but there are a lot of sacrifices for the extra win con, especially not having a merchant and having to use Manufacture. In the end I don't think the loss of consistency compared to a more standard Kenna list is really worth it.
Verdict: Thumbs up, but only spend shiftstone on the Masks and Flame if you love jank or have extra stones.