There seems to be a particular era of FAB that produced incredibly popular and competitively reliable heroes, and one by one we're watching them take their seats around the hall of Living Legends. Tales of Aria occupies the heart of this dynasty, flanked by Monarch and Uprising. As of writing this, all 3 ToA heroes have left CC; 2 of 4 from MON; and 2 of 3 from UPR. Bravo, Star of the Show, is the only other hero to have rotated, and he hails from an expansion set also released during this span.
But while many of those heroes reached their full potential relatively quickly, the ascent of Dromai was a gradual affair. Uprising released Dromai into a meta that had Oldhim, Briar, Iyslander, and Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light to contend with. These forces worked to hold her back - in no small part because Frostbite prevented her from going as red as she'd like to, and in part because Briar and Prism could outpace and out-damage her dragons with relative ease. Dromai was also a complex hero, and it took significant development before the player base began to get a good handle on the ratios that brought consistent success.
I've always felt that underdogs breed loyalty, and the Dromai faithful pressed through months of being disadvantaged in the meta before hitting their stride. Dromai appearances at major events were met with curiosity and skepticism; she was someone you could root for, and that mixed well with the inherent appeal of 'flooding your board with dragons'.
In time, two major camps developed along lines drawn by deckbuilding theory. On one side stood the Big Dragons, and with it decks built to take advantage of the upper limits of draconic power; they accepted poor rates of return on many cards in search of major payoffs on the top end. On the other side, Redline Dragons - of which the most famous build was Mara Faris' Empress Dromai; adherents to this style focused on getting great value out of every card they played, while maintaining a delicate balance of ash production and consumption.
As Dromai's worst predators slowly left the format and devoted players honed their expertise to a razor's edge, her star began to rise. In time, Dromai became a constant consideration in sideboards everywhere. It took nearly 2 years for the Draconic Illusionist to finally climb the summit, but on April 13th, 2024, she finally closed the book on this chapter.
As always, we're here to talk about what comes next. Where can you take the skills you've developed and, perhaps, the cards you've collected and find a new home? How can you rekindle the feeling of building a board and overwhelming your opposition? Or is it the wide combat chain you're after? We'll consider all the angles and point you in the right direction.
The Light At The End of the Tunnel
When moving on from a retiring hero, the obvious place to start is with the heroes they share a class with. Prism, Awakener of Sol is the only other Illusionist available now (though there's a promising prospect in the upcoming set: Part the Mistveil's Enigma), and she brings many of the same strategic elements. Prism can also summon allies to fight on her behalf - though their default defensive posture will take some getting used to. Prism also cares about the cards you're pitching, though her preference is for the Light's yellow instead of Draconic red.
As the meta goes, Prism is primed to fill the void that Dromai is leaving. Decklists are already shifting in response to her newfound success - you'll be targeted in much the same way, and should have a realistic idea about what to expect in the way of resistance.
This is, by no means, a quick and easy changeover - while there are similarities to be found in the mechanics at play in both decks, the playlines are incredibly dissimilar and Prism's lower life total gives you little room for mistakes as you learn. And the importance of each hero's talent leaves little room for card transference - as you can see by comparing last weekend's Battle Hardened: Atlanta Top 8 Prism to Dromai. You'll be starting fresh as you assemble the card pool necessary to support your new decklist. But if you've found that allies and color-focused design resonates with you, Prism is an obvious follow-up.
Keep It In The Family
If you were keen on the aggressive redline build for Dromai, you might consider moving your Draconic card pool over to Fai. With an aggressive strategy that goes wider than basically anyone else, Fai can imitate the attack patterns of a board of dragons - so long as he isn't forced to defend.
Compared to Prism, Fai is an extremely easy and relatively inexpensive move from Dromai. For the moment, Ninja is a niche class, and Fai the alternate option to the mainstream Katsu. But that doesn't mean he's without potential.
Fai offers the opportunity to explore some of the Draconic corners Dromai didn't let you get into. Rupture, for example, is a core part of Fai's gameplay; if you've ever wanted to play Dromai's specializations, Fai can give you that chance. Were you on Flamecall Awakening and Phoenix Flame? Fai's so much better at that trick.
But jumping over to the other end of the Draconic spectrum is truly jumping back to an earlier time, to when Dromai was an underdog. If you're a late joiner, you might be accustomed to the powerful position she's occupied recently; Fai once commanded that respect, but several bans slowed him down and the decklists haven't fully recovered. A Dromai refugee feels precisely qualified to reawaken that dragon.
Building Toward the Future
Maybe what you enjoyed about Dromai was the on-board presence that build up strength as the game progressed. You can find similar engine-building across the Mechanologist class; but to really replicate the flexible answers that dragons brought to the table, the I/O variant of Dash stands out for her diverse and customizable use of items.
Within the items pool available to Dash, you'll find targeted answers to most heroes in the format. And because of her instant-speed hero ability, you're able to drop those counter-cards at the worst possible moments to maximize their impact. Of course, this requires the items find their way to the top of your deck - which you'll always know but won't always have control of. One way to move the deck along is by boosting - which brings us back to that go-wide attack pattern that Redline Dromai specialized in. It's fascinating gameplay that will quickly grow on you.
Dash I/O's position in the meta looks fairly similar to Prism, Awakener of Sol, but about a month behind. Which is to say, there's a ton of potential, but the path forward is obscured by divergent perspectives. In general, Bright Lights as a set is under-explored but full of promise. If you were an early adopter of Dromai and helped shape her into the tyrant she became in her final days, you may want to get in on the ground floor with Dash I/O and make sure the end result bears your mark.
A New Kind of Burn?
Prism was a fairly direct comparison, and Fai was a safe pivot with minimal reinvestment. Dash I/O came recommended by Mara Faris herself. But for this last one, I'm sticking my neck out a little bit...
Vynnset evokes the inevitability of Burn Them All in her unavoidable arcane damage engine. And storing up Runechants for small bursts of damage has some similarities to Ashwing gameplay. Add in the cards you store in your banished zone, and it all amounts to a different sort of board state.
Vynnset can be a complicated character to learn, but likewise she's a complicated character to answer when piloted well. Runeblades have a long history of finding competitive success, and the current climate is sleeping on them. With armor playing an outsized role in the gameplans of many dominant decks (Guardian, Warrior, Brute) and equipment abilities essential in others (Assassin, Ranger, Ninja), arcane might be an opportunistic angle as you demand they compromise their equipment of choice in favor of simple Nullrunes.
Somehow, the Empress Returned
While Dromai is leaving Classic Constructed, her reign in the Living Legend format is just beginning. You can also reconfigure Dromai for Blitz. But I think most of us will simply mine the deck for useful generics and Illusionist cards that might suit Enigma, then put the dragons away until Dromai's inevitable return. And with an entire suite of marvel dragons that currently have no home, there's no doubt Dromai will be returning. Will she add the Royal talent to her resume? Will pitching reds still fuel her ash generation? And when she does return, will it be to immediate meta relevance?
We'll have to wait on answers until we once more turn to Volcor.
