A Lesson in Lava: Kano in Blitz

In the wake of Skirmish Season 6, the ice age is finally passed. Iyslander and Oldhim ascended to the ranks of Living Legend, joining Viserai as the much-anticipated 2nd wave to exit Blitz.

With only Lexi left representing Ice, many people are wondering just where the Blitz meta will go next - and some, wondering where they will go next. Frostbite's diminished role will undoubtedly open the door for more aggressive and midrange strategies, such as Fai, Briar, Kassai, and Dori. Prism also takes a backseat as her two best matchups depart - allowing for Bravo, Arakni, and Chane to return to fight for their places on top. But one hero in particular is poised to take up the throne as the dominant deck that every other hero has to warp their strategies around.

Even though Kano has seen more bans and nerfs than any other deck in Blitz - with 20 health the norm, his combos were becoming too deadly too quickly- in my opinion they haven't done enough to knock Kano off his perch. Kano is by far the fastest and most threatening hero in Blitz; and if you aren’t prepared for what he’s trying to do, he's going to burn everything in his path to the ground.

Blitz Kano lacks some of the insane, over the top, explosive combo spells like Aether Wildfire, Stir the Aetherwinds, and Snapback, but still has  access to some extremely powerful tools and combos. Because of this, Kano functions  best as the fastest midrange deck in the format, blocking a little on the opponent's turn and volleying back a threatening spell on his turn until he has his opponent in kill range.  He then waits until the precise moment his opponent has over extended or left a vulnerable window open before striking with arcane precision, usually on his opponent's turn and often in the middle of a life-threatening attack. If you're not packing plenty of arcane barrier (and the blues to pay for it), spells like Sonic Boom and Swell Tidings can leave you in a pile of cinder by turn two or three.

For those unfamiliar with Kano, allow me to introduce Flesh and Blood’s original Wizard hero. Kano hails from the kingdom of Volcor and was introduced in Arcane Rising. His hero ability is uniquely flavorful and honestly feels like it truly embodies the spell mastery that a Wizard would possess by letting you play off the top of your deck. This can be done any time you have priority, either on your turn or your opponent's. Many Kano faithful refer to the opponent’s turn as "our turn".

Equipped with his signature Storm Striders, Kano gains the ability to essentially take an additional turn in a format where heroes start at half life. Storm Striders enable Kano to once per game play a card either from hand or arsenal at instant speed. This is so powerful that it justifies Kano’s deficit in health - starting at 15.

Flesh and Blood is a game of combat, and while most heroes prefer to use physical melee attacks to defeat their opponents, Kano prioritizes spells in the form of  difficult-to-prevent arcane damage. While most Flesh and Blood cards can be used to block physical damage, arcane damage requires special armor and abilities to prevent it - usually by pitching resources to do so. This makes the Wizard class play on a slightly different axis than most other classes.

This deck has been serving me well both at local Armories and online, and exemplifies the sort of gameplay I'm talking about.

I run 2 different weapons, but my primary wand of choice is Crucible of Aetherweave.  Crucible lets you pay 1 resource at instant speed and buff the next arcane damage card you play by 1 point of damage. With Blitz being so fast, every point of  damage matters. Turning a Swell Tidings into 6 damage instead of 5 is extremely powerful, both for turning on the Surge mechanic and getting over higher arcane barriers.

The other staff I keep in my sideboard is Waning Moon. Anyone familiar with me and my playstyle is well aware of my love for Moon. 2 or 3 damage at instant speed is super powerful; but with Kano, I bring it in only a handful of matchups. Primarily, Waning Moon comes in handy for the Wizard mirror because we run Alluvion  Constellas on our chest, making Waning Moon free to use.

Because Blitz is such a fast format, my primary chest piece of choice is Spellfire Cloak, which offers you a free resource  at instant speed. In a format that rarely lasts more than a couple turns, we can’t rely on Fyendal’s Spring Tunic always ticking up to 3 before we desperately need that resource, so I use Spellfire to get it as early as I want.

Tunic plays an important role in the sideboard, however; the 1 block on it isn’t nothing, and comes in handy against Benji for stopping crucial breakpoints we can’t block from hand. I also use Tunic in any matchup that I expect to go the distance, such as Guardians with heavy arcane barrier - which is pretty much all of them. My typical Bravo game goes to 3rd or 4th cycle as they try to fatigue me, so I get plenty of resources from Spring Tunic.

It might come as a surprise that my primary helm is Crown of  Providence. I run CoP in just about about every single matchup, except the Kano mirror.  We start the game at only 15 health, which is very low compared to everyone else. Just because we can play at instant speed on “our” turn doesn't mean our health is any less precious. Crown gives us an extra two life and lets us filter out an extra red in hand, or possibly something useless stuck in arsenal. The first attack that really seems threatening, I chuck that crown in front of it. Sometimes I do it just to fix my hand!

The Kano mirror is the only matchup where Crown is pretty useless, so I bring in Ragamuffins Hat. Ragamuffin combos are still incredibly powerful, even in Blitz - but I genuinely value the life and filtering CoP offers more. Don’t @me till you try it.

For my gloves, the only pair I run is Metacarpus Node. This can be used for as many spells as you play in a turn, but the gloves break at the end of the turn you use them, so wait until you know you can get the most value out of it.

Storm Striders has returned to Blitz after a short hiatus, so they are the only pair of boots we should ever be wearing. Being able to play that red Emeritus Scolding from arsenal on your opponent’s turn is one of the most powerful things that we can do. Change my mind.

When deckbuilding for anyone - but especially Kano - it's important to consider ratios. What I mean by that is how many blues, yellows, and reds are in the deck and what functions do they  serve. Going a step further, we need to know the ratios of our threat density and cost curve.

Kano has a very unique and extremely powerful hero ability, but that comes at a steep cost. 3 resources mean we typically need a blue pitch just to activate his instant ability. Playing that card is also gonna cost us. Knowing this, I’d recommend at least half of the 40 cards in the deck are blue.

Using a  hypergeometric calculator can help us identify some crucial ratios. In a deck of 40, including 20 blues ensures us a chance of drawing 2 in every hand at 69.8%. If we go down to 18, it's 61.7% - which is still more than half, but in 2 out of 5 hands, we’ll only draw 1 (or less) blues on average, meaning activating Kano and paying for the spell becomes more  inefficient. I like the odds of 3 out of 4 hands having at least 2 blues, so I've settled on 20.

Beyond simply pitching, you want your blues to have some kind of utility - and ideally, be free to play if you hit one off  the top. To those ends, I’ve settled on several 0-cost spells that, if pumped, have decent Surge abilities; and then added a couple potions that can benefit our strategies, such as Energy Potion and Potion of Deja Vu.

Gaze the Ages is one of the strongest blues in the deck for its versatility. It allows you to Opt 2, and then Gaze comes back to your hand if you’ve played another Wizard card before it resolves.

Aether Dart is the only spell in the deck that can target an ally; this is to deal with the stray Kyloria or Ashwing getting in your way of victory.

While Emeritus Scolding is one of the rare blues that has a cost, 2 resources for 4 arcane damage can be just the thing you need late game to close out a grindy game.

Kano runs a hearty portion of yellows, which is simply because some of the most powerful cards he has access to are yellow. In Blitz, I run 8 yellows, and every single one must be respected by your opponent.

Sonic Boom is a powerhouse. Coming in at 3 damage for 2 resources, it’s bad economics on the surface; but if your  opponent lets it hit, you can then reveal the top card of your deck and play it at a  discount. Pumping it with Crucible and sending it over for 4, turns out, must be respected unless they want to potentially be on the receiving end of more damage, for free.

Mind Warp is a very interesting card, and it doesn’t get enough discussion in my opinion. Mind Warp basically says, if Surge is active, “you must interact with me!”. It forces blocks in a format that doesn’t like to block, or it strips a card and rearranges their hand randomly. I love it and it’s an over-performer in this deck.

Chain Lightning can lead to some crazy combos. It’s definitely a tricky card to use correctly; but if you learn how it interacts and resolves - and play it out of arsenal with a Striders activation - it can let you play another card from hand to deliver a burst of damage to win the game.

Lesson in Lava is a card that hopefully every opponent  knows, fears, and respects. Lesson is Kano’s tutor; when it deals damage, it lets you search out a card and topdeck it, so you can access it with Kano’s ability.

All told, I consider these yellow cards to be on the same power level of any red card in the deck, but have the added benefit of  pitching for 2 resources so they can pay for any other card in the deck. Accordingly, I've made sure none of the cards cost more than 2 resources to play; and along with that, a single blue pitch can cover the card being played and a Crucible activation.

We round out the deck with 14 reds, or your power cards.  These are the cards meant to be played.

Big beefy arcane damage actions like Swell Tidings and Voltic Bolt help get over even the toughest of defenses.

Aether Spindle is secretly one of your strongest spells in  the deck, even at the 2 resources for 4 damage stats. Opting is one of the strongest abilities Kano can take advantage of. By knowing what’s on the top of the deck and manipulating what he will either draw into or hit off the top after a Kano activation, you can truly be the master of your deck with a pumped up Spindle.

Aether Quickening is the only arcane action in the game that can gain go again when Surge is active; and Aether Flare  pumps up the next spell you play by X, where X is the damage dealt by Flare.  Maybe there’s a small combo there?

Drawing cards is one of the most powerful things you can do in a card game. Drawing 2 cards for 0 cost is so strong, it gets the slot as the only 2-block red in the deck. The trickery of Tome of Aetherwind is too vast to list here, but rest assured you’ll have a hard time running out of uses and combos with it.

The deck is streamlined and balanced to where you want to be blocking a little bit and playing out your red and yellow spells on your turn, with a Crucible activation to buff them up. Arsenal-ing blues is something you want to avoid, as you should prioritize putting red Emeritus in arsenal and wait until you have them in the 12-ish life range. Red Emeritus - if played off Striders with a Crucible and Metacarpus trigger - comes in for 8. Setting up the top of your deck with an Aether Flare or a Chain Lightning can really get you into some high damage ranges. Red Emeritus pumped up into Blazing Aether is 17 damage with a double Metacarpus trigger.

The biggest piece of advice I can give anyone starting out with Kano for the first time is… Practice. Practice. Practice. As I mentioned before, Kano is a very complex and intricate hero to learn and master. The combos are there to find, and the only way you’re gonna learn them is by practicing - and probably losing a lot at first. Knowing what your opponent wants to do and how much arcane prevention and reactions they typically have is also very crucial to knowing what speed you want to set and what cards you should be prioritizing. Goldfishing is also a useful tool for learning the basics of the deck. Starting there might help.

The final piece of advice I’ll leave you with is this: know when to use Kano’s hero ability and when not to use it. Playing off the top of your deck is extremely powerful, but it’s also expensive. Playing off the top of your deck should be done sparingly, and primarily on your own turn with some exceptions. Knowing what’s on the top of your deck is crucial to be the most successful with his hero power, so cards like Eye of Ophidia, Aether Spindle, and Gaze the Ages are key to opting and setting up the kill. 

This deck is a highly tuned competitive deck and isn’t budget friendly, I’ll admit.  Investing in Kano without being completely confident that it’s a playstyle and hero you will enjoy can be a big ask. Given this, I’ve made a video on how to begin your journey with the HP1 Starter Blitz deck and upgrade from there, that I hope you’ll check out. My your hands be blue and the top of your deck be red! 

Yours truly, Mooner.