The last time I wrote an article focused on Blitz was last year in the lead-up to Worlds. I was prepping my Chane deck to combat a field full of Iyslander, Oldhim, and Prism, and trying to figure out ways not to just fold to a Hypothermia.
As it turns out, a whole lot can change in 10 months. Hypothermia was suspended until Iyslander hits Living Legend - which she then proceeded to do - and then Oldhim hit LL too, all but removing Ice from the Blitz metagame. Drone of Brutality, the 'OG' of banned cards, was unbanned. Dusk till Dawn gave us a new Shadow Runeblade hero in Vynnset. And possibly most important, Skirmish Season 7 introduced sideboarding to the Blitz format - a change that seems to have been well received and hopefully becomes standard for Blitz going forward.
The format still has a few familiar faces at the top though, as Kano, Kassai, Dash, and Ira have proven format mainstays and each represent a different challenge to overcome. The Prism duo also finds itself putting up solid results, fueled by the immensely powerful Luminaris. Even full fatigue Yoji has made his presence known, thanks to the inevitability provided by Drone of Brutality. So, what's a Shadow Runeblade to do in the face of such a format?
Admittedly, Chane himself remains one of the top dogs in the format, and I only excluded him from the preceding paragraph since he's the subject of this article. Chane's power comes from innate card advantage and access to go again, and he's only gotten more upgrades with the release of Dusk till Dawn.
Chane
Weapons
- Flail of Agony (1)
Equipment
- Carrion Husk (1)
- Crown of Providence (1)
- Dance of Darkness (1)
- Dyadic Carapace (1)
- Ebon Fold (1)
- Grimoire of the Haunt (1)
- Spellbound Creepers (1)
- Vexing Quillhand (1)
Loadout
- Deathly Delight (Red) (2)
- Deathly Wail (Red) (2)
- Deathly Wail (Yellow) (2)
- Deathly Wail (Blue) (2)
- Dread Triptych (Blue) (2)
- Envelop in Darkness (Red) (2)
- Envelop in Darkness (Yellow) (2)
- Envelop in Darkness (Blue) (2)
- Mauvrion Skies (Red) (2)
- Mauvrion Skies (Yellow) (2)
- Oath of the Arknight (Blue) (2)
- Oblivion (Blue) (1)
- Pummel (Red) (2)
- Read the Runes (Red) (2)
- Revel in Runeblood (Red) (2)
- Runeblood Incantation (Red) (2)
- Shadow Puppetry (Red) (2)
- Vantom Wraith (Red) (2)
- Vantom Wraith (Blue) (2)
- Widespread Annihilation (Blue) (2)
- Widespread Destruction (Yellow) (2)
- Widespread Ruin (Red) (2)
The core of this deck is still the same: Belittle/Minnowism package, a pile of blood debt cards, non-attack actions to give go again, and a pile of busted power cards in Soul Reaping, Art of War, and Plunder Run. The most interesting changes come in the equipment suite.
Previously, against Kano, Chane would run either Arcane Barrier 3 + Spellvoid 2, or Arcane Barrier 2 + Spellvoid 3. It wasn't enough to make Kano a favorable matchup for Chane, but it was all we could reasonably do. But now that we have Dyadic Carapace and Dance of Darkness, we can run Arcane Barrier 3 + Spellvoid 4, with the added bonus of allowing us to block out a Nourishing Emptiness, if need be, thanks to the flexibility of Dance of Darkness's prevention effect.
This new equipment doesn't just improve the Kano matchup; it also lets us coalesce sideboard slots! Reducing the number of equipment we need to run to fit all our primary loadouts is great, as it allows you to run some more niche equipment as well, like Gambler's Gloves, Reaping Blade, or Aether Ironweave. Under Season 7 rules, this becomes even more valuable, as instead of running extremely niche equipment (Gambler's Gloves), we can run extra cards for our deck. Oasis Respite (to give Kano fits) and extra poppers will likely be the most common sights in Blitz sideboards, while a few other decks will just take it as an opportunity to run extra cards. But for Chane, the sideboard is all about the Eclipse package.
Eclipse and Seeping Shadows come in whenever we think our opponents might try to fatigue us, which is really any matchup where our opponents can't keep up with our aggro game plan. Invert Existence is in the main deck rather than sideboard, but it's a concession to facilitating the Ursur plan as easily as possible, as it's the one Blood Debt card that doesn't require an action point to play.
The only other spice in this list is my inclusion of Runic Reclamation. It's a tech card that is good into the Prism pair and opposing Runeblades, but it's also just a fine card on rate. Back when Chane was new, people ran E-Strikes and/or CnCs as solid rate attacks that would pull cards from opposing hands and buy time for the Soul Shackle engine to get going. Playing Runic Reclamation as a vanilla attack is like playing an E-Strike for seven, which is fine even without factoring in our ability to give go again to the Runic Rec.
The last slot in the list up for debate is Aether Ironweave, which currently is serving as an Energy Potion that starts in play for the Yoji matchup, but it's possible that it should instead be Reaping Blade to put a damper on Yoji's healing (and since Carrion Husk is an important safety valve to stop Spinal Crush anyway). It is also possible that I am giving too much credit to the Yoji deck, and that neither Reaping Blade nor Ironweave is necessary to consistently beat Yoji, in which case it could just be another popper like Cryptic Crossing.
Notable Matchups
Against Kano, we are sprinting to the finish line. AB3 lets us play the most effective defense we can, and Spellvoid 4 lets us use our resources aggressively without leaving us completely shields down.
Against Kassai, the clock you're racing is the fully juiced Blood on Her Hands + Courage of Bladehold turn. Getting some solid value blocks in to prevent Copper accrual while you build up your shackles is important, but not as important as your own aggression. You need to be demanding cards from their hand as quickly as possible, and Rosetta Thorn should be able to push you across the finish line.
Boost Dash in Blitz is like the inverse Chane. They start with Teklo Pounder and Talishar, but all that damage starting in play has a shelf life. Meanwhile, Chane tends to start slower and build up to his giant turns. If you can withstand the early onslaught and get good value out of Carrion Husk, I like our chances.
Luminaris is a helluva card. Chane tended to be favored into Prism, and I don't think it's likely that has changed (for either version of Prism). Maintaining pressure is important, as you don't want Prism operating with full hands. Keeping your Blood Debt at a safe level is also huge for avoiding painful blowouts via Arc Light Sentinel. Save your equipment blocks for key Heralds (namely Erudition) and avoid breaking combat chains unnecessarily, as it can allow them to get extra value out of Phantasmal Footsteps.
Yoji is a special case, as he is the one deck in the format fully dedicated to fatiguing every opponent he comes across. You can expect them to be playing all sorts of defense reactions, Steadfasts, Oasis Respites, and a handful of the stronger Guardian attacks (Spinal Crush is the one we're most concerned with). Knowing how to pitch stack your final turns is paramount in this matchup, as you'll need to threaten huge amounts of damage on the final couple turns. The good news is, an adequately prepared and disciplined Chane player should be able to consistently dispatch the fatigue Yoji pile. Being able to bring in Eclipse and summon Ursur will help close things out, but make sure you threaten a lethal amount of damage on your Eclipse turn so your opponent can't just hold a Drone to throw at Ursur to kill it and undo your hard work.
This version of the deck I came up with when trying to incorporate Widespread Ruin, the one Rune Gate card Chane can play with any amount of consistency.
The changes to the overall list are subtle, but they're there. Blue Shrills are now blue Spellblade Assaults, Captain's Call and Nimblism have been replaced with Yellow Mauvrion Skies, and Vexing Quillhand is now our default arm equipment for the deck. Given the lack of ability for Chane to damage himself to self-banish with Widespread Ruin, I don't think this version is better than the aforementioned, but if you're looking to try something a little different in Chane, look no further.
Vynnset
Overall, Chane remains a force to be reckoned with and is still incredibly fun and challenging to play. Sounds like Chane's got this whole format right where he wants it then, right? Why should anyone bother playing Vynnset?
Well, Chane can be shy at the start of some games. It takes a couple turns to ramp up the Soul Shackles, and sometimes Chane finds himself looking at hands filled with Bounding Demigons and blue Minnowisms. On the other hand, Vynnset can show up ready to absolutely throw down from the first turn, or can effectively arsenal two cards on turn zero if she's forced to play first.
Due to the lower starting life totals and correspondingly shorter games, Vynnset's equipment suite really gets to shine. It allows her to apply some incredible pressure early, getting the opponent on the back foot and letting the inevitably of her unpreventable arcane damage finish them off.
I mentioned it in my Brewing Vynnset article, but Vynnset makes Vexing Quillhand look absurd. Heartened Cross Strap is banned in the Blitz format, and Vexing Quillhand is substantially better for Vynnset, all while leaving our chest slot open to continue running Carrion Husk, another equipment that is all the more powerful in Blitz. Grimoire of the Haunt can let our Read the Runes do a great Revel in Runeblood impression, giving us damage and resources for our trouble. The Blood Debt on Husk and Grimoire are very problematic when a game goes longer, but when we're pushing to end the game quickly from the start, the downside can* be irrelevant (*your mileage may vary).
Vynnset's matchup spread should be fairly similar to Chane's. Kano should be more favored since Vynnset can run Arcane Barrier 4 + Spellvoid 4. Kassai and Dash are still the same races, except this time your damage is probably more frontloaded. Prism might be even better for Vynnset than Chane, due to the unpreventable arcane to destroy angels and a naturally higher popper count. Yoji is probably much better against Vynnset than Chane, largely due to the life gain. This is a matchup where you'll need to be very patient and set up a double or triple Rune Gate turn to overwhelm them in a single turn.
Interestingly, it's possible that Vynnset has a good matchup into Chane! Vynnset bested a pair of Chanes in the Top 8 of the recent Salt Lake City Battle Hardened, so it's clear that there's something to this whole Shadow Runeblade thing.
Does the Blitz format belong to the Demonastery? There's plenty of Skirmishes left for us to find out.
