10/2 Stonescar Event

Well we all knew Buhton was gonna have a power high ceiling and when you can throw all 4 copies in the top half of your aggressively slanted Stonescar list, you can have some truly explosive games. What sets this list apart from some other list that I have taken inspiration from (shoutouts to ManuS and Jedi_EJ in particular) is forgoing a market and "top end," for a faster ground plan with bigger reach. Keep in mind while strong, this list can definitely stumble and while the reach is real, opponents can and will stabilize against you with enough 2 for 1s and stalling. Let's go over the cards. This is my first deck tech so forgive me if my insights aren't particularly insightful. I'm a much better pilot than theorist or brewer (despite my own inclusions in this list).

Akko, Inspired Artist - Not currently popular in a lot of Stonescar lists at the moment, this familiar face is a great one drop that can really begin the start of some absurd scenarios. In an event where I can push my aggro strategy even further, I really want 1 drop that wants to be answered or threaten to get in for damage over the course of the game.

Flame Blast - I think this is the most important change I've made and one I make frequently in Fire decks. The reach can get so huge over the course of the game, winning many unwinnable games where you're flooding out. Even if you aren't, it isn't uncommon to naturally run out of gas with an opponent sitting on a Flame Blastable life total. You'll probably use this equally as much as early removal however, because it's great utility will pave the way for your small attackers when you don't have your other removal in hand or something is just too big. Also notable is the extra influence at the start of the game makes this much easier to cast as early game removal than it normally is.

Open Contract - Fantastic removal and in speedy deck like this, you won't mind them getting down units slightly faster most of the time. At 1 mana you will frequently find yourself in positions where you can go Contract + Charge quite early in the game, dealing a ton of damage. Funnily works really well in multiples. Only happened rarely, but it's pretty fun to hit them with an Open Contract, then they play their 5 drop a turn early. Then you go Open Contract on their now 4 cost unit along with a Milos or Queen and yeah I like this card.

Two Drops - Nothing special to see here other than I am running max amounts of the staples, you want as many good targets for Bandit Queen as possible. Argenport is a fat 2 drop that can get incidental damage off. Ripknife often gets in for more than should be allowed, setting up devastating Milos, Bandit Queen and to a lesser extent Buhton turns. Blackhall Warleader is probably the weak link here but pulled her weight more than enough times to ensure I never considered cutting it. The deck would definitely work if you needed to replace it for budget reasons though.

SearThere is a strong argument that this should just be Torch, but I found that my curve was low enough that I could afford to be fast. Being able to pick off a unit on the end of turn and going into a charge unit full swing is VERY strong.

Three Drops - Again no surprises. Jekk is a must run in any deck that runs fire, especially when you get a free fire influence. Milos is fantastic and fast. Champion of Chaos is great here, easily reaching the influence requirements to get your big bonuses.

Unseen Longbow - Another small addition of my own, this further justifies Akko's inclusion and the increase in Ripknifes. The Pledge saved my butt more than I'd have thought, letting me keep otherwise extremely sketchy hands. First Strike works really well with many units in our deck as well. Ripknife becomes a massive warcrying pain, Jekk steamrolls boards and Champion of Chaos becomes a nightmare (not literally, yet).

Bandit Queen - The reason the deck works, you want at least 1 every game, sometimes 2. One of the few cards in the deck aside from Jekk and Flame Blast that can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Kaleb's Persuader - A great piece of equipment that can find you sigils for Jekk, get your smaller units over their bigger ones, and trigger some on hit abilities like Warleader, Milos, and Jekk, as well as accelerating your mastery for Akko. This weapon really is doing it all in this deck and the only reason I'm not running 4 is that I just couldn't bring myself to cut a Bandit Queen or slow the deck down any more.

The Power Base is lifted whole-sale from Jedi_EJ's tourney list and I see no reason to change it. Unseen ups the shadow requirements a little but fire is still really heavy and everything is much easier to cast due to the even anyway. Maybe you could cut a few banners for some more sigils, Jekk is always hungry.

This deck seems to have good match ups but it's very far from unbeatable. A tight control or even mid-range list with some good interactive answers will spell doom for your chances pretty quickly with no way to generate card advantage other than some very expensive Jekk hoop jumping. Danica, Diana, and Katra decks all seemed to be able to outvalue me pretty easily while still being proactive or reactive enough to slow me down. Marley and Rolant decks were troublesome at times too, but mainly because they could carry Harsh Rule and Hailstorm, which, frankly, made the matchup seem near unwinnable. That said, if you are curving out, the pressure you can put on is immense and backbreaking. Your own removal is flexible enough that it can clear early to mid game threats, getting through some mucky defenses until you go over their head with some Flame Blasts or Sears. Rindra lists were close but I felt favored. If I stuttered, or got 2 for 1d one too many times, GG. But a consistent curve out (which is not so hard to pull off in this event) seemed to be enough. Didn't see a lot of Roshi and I believe that was to my beneift. My list seemed to do pretty well vs similar lists, if only because mine seemed a little faster and me a little luckier.

All in all this list is really strong but not completely tuned and I don't think it's the best event deck in the pool right now despite its' explosive power. Thanks for reading and I hope it helps!