Turbo Rebuild OTK with In-depth Guide (Masters viable)

My take on Rebuild, tuned for for high consistency and resilience against hate.

Game Plan Summary

If you've never played a Rebuild deck, the idea is pretty straightforward

1. Get 4 T influence and as much F influence as you can
2. Cast Rebuild, generating tons of power
3. Draw a ton of cards, refreshing your power with more copies of rebuild or recurring rebuilds with Excavate effects
4. Kill your opponent by spending all of the power you generate. In this deck, it is a super amplified Pyrotech Explosion. Dealing 999 damage is not uncommon

The deck can combo off as early as turn 5, but more commonly does so on turn 6 or 7.

General Tips

- 18 power deals 32 damage with Pyrotech. That is your power goal in most games.
- Try to accrue 8+ fire influence before casting the first rebuild
- You should be constantly evaluating how much time you have before your opponent can kill you. The longer you delay your rebuild combo turn to generate more fire influence and accrue more draw spells in hand, the greater the chance of a kill.
- During the combo turn, you have to balance generating more power and drawing more cards. As a rough guide, play more rebuilds with <15 power and draw more cards otherwise.

Mulligan

A simple rule is to keep any hand that has rebuild in it and mulligan any that doesn't. Some hands with a really good power start (3 praxis influence generators + grand builder) are also fine and probably better than going -1 for the 2nd mulligan.

On the other end, an atrocious opening hand with only 1-2 depleted power but also rebuild is probably still keepable in a lot of situations, but you are definitely gambling on how fast your opponent will be playing.

Strengths and weaknesses

Like most combo decks, this deck feasts on any medium to slow speed deck and has poor matchups against aggro. Most of the unit removal in your opponent's decks have low impact since your units don't matter much. Pyrotech goes through aegis so it is a reliable win condition. The deck doesn't completely fold against fast aggro deck though as chronostorm, chump blocking, and the various sources of life gain can buy you a surprising amount of time.

The main specific counter cards would be Combrei Lawmage and negates. Void hate hurts a lot too, but if the opponent isn't pressuring you much, you can simply keep building F influence and wait to cast a huge rebuilds to generate 18 power without having to recur the rebuild.

I've reached Masters a few seasons with this deck, but it is heavily dependent on the number of aggro matchups you run into and requires a solid understanding of different lines.

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Deck construction

The deck can be broken into 4 main parts: the win conditions (rebuild + pyrotech), Influence generation, card draw, and utility.

Win Conditions

Rebuild: The namesake of the deck is unsurprisingly the most important card. 8+ F is what I consider a comfortable spot before casting it as that allows you to cast two copies of Surveying the Rift or at least 1 Wrath of Caiphus, but more F is always better if you can get away with it. Of course, often times your opponents won't give you the luxury to building up to ideal conditions so you have to go off with what you have.

Once you've gotten the destiny proc, recurring rebuild with Excavate and a draw effect to keep the combo going. Avoid using Deeptrail Vanguard unless you have multiple rebuilds in the void or can generate enough power to kill immediately.

Generally, you prefer to cast rebuild on a turn you can combo off on. However if the opponent is pressuring you, you may opt to cast it to deploy blockers or prepare a Chronostorm and then try to slow draw back to the rebuild while accruing more F influence.

Pyrotech Explosion: The way to convert all the excess power into a win. Do not be afraid to use this on a high priority target like a Combrei Lawmage as you can easily recur this with excavate.

Influence Generation

Praxis Stranger: This card is the best "glue" card in the deck. Influence for rebuild, cheap blocker, and fodder for Lured Away. I prefer praxis stranger to Horus Traver for the extra influence and Trail Maker for the disposability.

Grand Builder: Mostly used to generate 3 fire influence and leaves a body that helps keep you alive. If you have a heavy fire power start like a couple fire symbols and you feel under pressure to win soon, do not be afraid to use this to get TTT to be able to cast rebuild and go off.

Card Draw

As a reminder, revenge puts rebuild back into the top 10 cards of your deck.

If you have multiple ways to draw cards with the same efficiency, prioritize casting the cheaper ones first as doing so keeps you more flexible on what you need to do next. eg. Draconic looting, Surveying the rift, and Wrath of Caiphus all draw cards at a rate of 1 power per card, so you prioritize looting and rift first.

Lured Away: Card draw and dealing with severe threats. A common play is to use this on a praxis stranger or temple scribe to chump their biggest attacker while drawing some cards - look out for Tocas, Waystone Harvester though! Severe threats include high attack units that will kill you in 1-2 turns and hate cards like Combrei Lawmage, Kickflip Monk, or Katra, The First Seal.

Temple Scribe: This guy can chump block (bonus if you combo with lured away), gain life, and draw a card for excavated rebuilds. The impact of this card is quite subtle, but all of these little things add up to being quite good for the deck.

Draconic Looting: Usually a straight draw three on the turn you combo off and rarely cast otherwise. There will be some desperate situations you need to cast it to dig for your first rebuild or others where you can use the cards that would be discarded like with Auralian Merchant. Playing a power every turn is important in this deck so don't hesitate to play this as a power.

Surveying the Rift: Like draconic looting, you generally don't want to be using this outside your combo turn. This one is a bit more playable since the point where you consider casting it outside the combo is usually when you're desperate to find your first rebuild.

During the combo turn, your hand can get too clogged with power cards and you can lose cards to over draw. The hard hand limit is 12, so if you are close to that limit, casting Rift can help keep your hand size down.

Wrath of Caiphus: The big draw spell. Early game you are shuffling it back into your deck for power. This is also usually the last draw spell you cast if you have other forms of draw. If you end up with multiples of this card during your combo turn and something like 20+ power, you can exchange one of them for power to put them back in your deck to be drawn again (and technically thin the deck, but this is incredibly marginal). As with draconic and surveying, wrath can also be used to find your first copy of rebuild, but try to only do this if you have no other options.

Demand Death: Despite having less raw upfront card draw efficiency than the three previous spells, the ability to play a unit for free can be huge deal. If you draw rebuild and a grand builder or stranger, they give you the influence before the rebuild is cast off revenge. If you hit a temple scribe, you achieve the same draw efficiency.

If you don't have a rebuild yet this is a risky spell to use, but you'll find yourself in situations where you'll be dead anyway if you don't try to go for it. It's also fancier way to concede if you whiff.

Utility

Excavate: Primarily a recursion piece for rebuild after it has been activated for the Destiny portion. Can also be used to bring back your pyrotech explosion or even a draw spell when needed. I've also had games where the 2 life gain has saved me from lethal and I was able to kill the opponent on the next turn.

Tight-Lipped: Meta choice depending on how much discard you see, usually Exploit and sometimes Ziat, Steelwarren Reeve. However, this deck's redundancy can usually fight through a bit of hand disruption without it. If the meta is ever heavy on negates, consider Dissociate or Edict of Grodov in this slot instead.

Market: Spindown and Deeptrail Vanguard for more spell recursion. Unmake to deal with problematic relics, like Adjudicator's Gavel from Steyer's Eyes or Dean's Chamber. Chronostorm is great for buying you a turn and can be the last T influence in a pinch. Reset the Day for another draw 7.

If you feel like you're facing a fast match up, cast delivery for Chronostorm on turn 2 to try to draw back into it by turn 4.

Cards to try

Turn Back Time: Basically a better Deeptrail Vanguard now that the aforementioned card got nerfed to also give voidbound.
Final Moments: Probably bad, but seems funny to try. Another inscribe is kinda neat to have.

Cards that didn't make the cut

Shavka Evangel: I used to run this card, but found that it doesn't quite do enough on non combo turns.
East Annex Smuggler: The +1 power from Auralian merchant has been generally more useful.
Shavkan Dogma: This card can lead to huge F influence, but it is too one dimensional. It can't be combo'd with lured away for draw, is an awful card to draw during the combo turn, and the life gain block is quite significant when we have paintings, temple scribe, excavate, and grand builder.
Catalyze: Arguably sketchy at 2 power draw 2, but the nerf from 2 to 3 power completely killed the card.
Auralian Supplier: This card would be the best against in a control matchup where your opponent has a full hand and sparse board. That matchup is already quite good for Rebuild and this card ends up being a liability in most other situations.
Solfire: This deck doesn't really need another win condition with so much card draw and recursion. This is decent with 6 power to remove some stuff, but in most cases I would rather play Hive Delivery + Chronostorm. It's also just way more annoying to cast.

Campaign Card Priority

Wrath of Caiphus (Shadows of the Spire) > Grand Builder (Stormbreak) > Chronostorm (Valley Beyond) > Deeptrail Vanguard (The Devouring) > Demand Death (Homecoming)

Some budget substitutions include Nahid's Distillation, Turn Back Time, and Hold At Bay, or any of the other cards in the cards that didn't make the cut section.

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Match Ups

In low pressure match ups, you'll aim to build as much influence as you can and try to pop off on a single turn. In faster ones, it will make often sense to cast the rebuild to deploy blockers and set up while slowly redrawing into the rebuild.

Non-primal control and most ramp decks - Heavily Favoured
You aren't under a lot of pressure so can take your sweet time building influence and stocking up on card draw. They don't have negates to stop your combo and sizeable threats they do play can be bounced with a Chronostorm. Some cards to be aware of are Subversion of Nature and a 9+ power Builder's Decree

Primal Control - Favoured
Mostly the same deal as above, but you just need to be wary of negates and hard disruption like Scourge of Frosthome or Rain of Frogs. The way to play around negates is waiting until you have multiple rebuilds or a way to recur the rebuild immediately. Luckily you aren't under much pressure so you can build up enough power to do it all on the same turn.

For tips for playing against rebuild, negating the first rebuild or the final pyrotech are fine options. You should consider holding up multiple negates if I have 6+ power and definitely do so if I have 9+.

FTJ The Creation Project piles - Slightly Unfavoured
This deck usually applies just enough pressure to make you combo off earlier than you want to, but chump blocking and chronostorm goes a long way in buying you enough time.

Stonescar Mid - Heavily Unfavoured
Applies tons of pressure while being hard to chump against. However, getting a chronostorm off can buy you a ton of time.

FPS The Throne Room - Heavily Unfavoured
This deck can have some absurd starts and apply a ton of early pressure. Chronostorm is too slow to deploy and doesn't do enough, they go too wide to block effectively, and many lists run negates out of the market. The only saving grace is that sometimes Rift Siphon can help dig to find your first rebuild to be recurred with an excavate.

Hooru Kira - Heavily Unfavoured
They apply moderate pressure, but have a ton of roadblocks to deal with. Combrei lawmage is the worst and they unfortunately have ways of protecting it. Chronostorm does little against all of their aegis and they often have a negate in the market. Versions that run Steyer's Eyes or Vanquisher's Blade provide even more headaches to deal with.

Sling of the Chi - Heavily unfavoured
We're pretty reliant on summon effects for getting value and they run negates. They smack really hard with their units. Easily the worst matchup along side fast decks.

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Credits

Heavily inspired by other lists such as
FTDE ep6 - Agreement - Rebuild Combo
Rebuild Again
ItzAutin Weekly Brew - Praxis Vanguard Storm v2 [Masters]
【MASTERS DECK】Rebuild+Pyrotech Explosion=WIN

Shoutout to IronMan on the Discord for some tuning suggestions.