Briar has existed in many forms during her time in Classic Constructed. The earliest Earth-focused builds quickly gave way to the Cheerios Briar builds that rose to prominence and dominated the 2021 Nationals season. The Cheerios builds were more focused on Lightning, leaning into the power of Ball Lightning and the synergistic suite of Lightning Surge, Arcanic Shockwave, and Entwine Lightning.
With effective card advantage from many of its turns operating off of zero resources, a full rainbow of Plunder Runs, and the second strongest hero ability ever printed in the game, Briar was a lean, mean aggro machine.
After her outstanding Nationals performance, it was unsurprising to see Ball Lightning and Plunder Run feel the wrath of the ban hammer. But in that same announcement, something truly unique happened that we will likely never see in FaB again: Briar received an errata, permanently nerfing her hero ability.
Briar's original ability allowed her to generate an Embodiment of Earth each time one of her attack actions dealt damage to an opponent, which meant that a Sting of Sorcery followed by a pair of Ball Lightnings could generate 4 Embodiments all on their own. Believe me when I tell you, blocking a dominate Crippling Crush with one card from hand and coming back with a 20+ damage turn was just as absurd as it sounds.
Then came the versions of Briar most strongly associated with this Classic Constructed staple: Channel Mount Heroic Briar.
Channel Mount Heroic (CMH) is an incredibly powerful card, and Briar's builds featuring it alongside Ball Lightning did start appearing before it was banned; but after the bannings and errata, it became the way to play Briar. While it wasn't quite as heavy on zero-cost cards as the old builds, it was still capable of pumping out some 20+ (and sometimes even 30+) damage turns off the back of a CMH. Pro Tour Lille in 2022 was won by a CMH Briar build that also focused on Belittle/Minnowism, but the baseline CMH builds that were heavy on 4 power attacks remained the most popular versions, all the way up until Briar had accrued 998 Living Legend points.
Rosetta, By Any Other Name...
Rosetta Thorn, Briar's signature weapon, was a revelation in damage efficiency. Spending a single resource to "Thorn for 2 and 2" is a level of efficiency unseen on a weapon in FaB before or since. Duskblade was nuked before it ever got to have a reign of terror in Classic Constructed, and perhaps it would have challenged Rosetta; but Nebula Blade, Reaping Blade, and Galaxxi Black all quickly fell by the wayside in favor this new weapon.
Rosetta Thorn rewarded Runeblades for doing something they already wanted to do: play a combination of attack and non-attack actions. It also offered something that was actually a bit lacking for Runeblades after the series of bans that hit Chane and Briar, and that was the ability to close out a game. Vexing Malice was a big deal when it was first printed in Monarch due to it being the first time Runeblades could do more than a Runechant's worth of damage, and Thorn just gave them all the ability to do that that ad nauseum. By the end of its time, the sentiment in the FaB community was that people were actually more eager to see Rosetta Thorn leave the format than Briar. Briar went into the 2023 Nationals season with 998 LL points, so naturally, Briar and Rosetta Thorn would be able to snag at least one more Nats win before she goes...
Unless...
Charles Dunn didn't have a Guardian he could play Crown of Seeds in anymore, so he made it Briar's problem. Armed with the trusty trio of Tunic, Crown, and Reaping Blade, Charles sent Briar on her way to LL status by doing his best Guardian impression. (There were also a few more Nationals events won by traditional Briar lists globally during the same season, but Reaping Blade gets credit for the memes).
Where to Next?
So then, where does a newly hero-less Elemental Runeblade fan go now that Briar has departed? There are a few options, but it really depends on why you gravitated towards Briar in the first place.
Unfortunately for fans of Aria, if the call of the Elements was what lured you in, Classic Constructed is down to Iyslander as its lone Elemental representative, and even she is living on borrowed time.
Synergistic Aggro
If fantastic aggression that relies on a specific combination of cards is what floats your boat, you've got options old and new. Dash I/O is a Bright Lights newcomer, and has some ferociously explosive potential off the back of High Octane and a suite of Boom Grenades. If instant speed combat tricks and card advantage sounds good to you, look no further than new Dash.
The addition of Descendant Gustwave, Bonds of Ancestry, and Dishonor have added some impressive new power to the OG Ninja, allowing him to focus on single combo line that helps keep his damage output consistently high. With Lexi not long for CC and Dromai set to take over as format boogeyman, Katsu is poised to act as her foil in the future meta.
Runeblades
If the mix of actions and non-attacks is what drew you to Briar originally, it's hard to go wrong with the other remaining Runeblades. Vynnset is a bit of a bruiser that is still working on making her mark, with a much more go tall identity than previous Runeblades.
With the exit of Rosetta Thorn, Viserai is currently going through a bit of an identity crisis, but there are 1-cost focused aggressive versions utilizing Nebula Blade and old-school setup builds trying to attack with huge Arknight Ascendancies.
If either of these are your next hero of choice, they also have the added bonus of sharing the most equipment with Briar; and with no Runeblades currently at the top of the meta, Vynnset and Viserai are both probably near there price floor for the near future.
Beefy Briar
If the Beefy Briar iteration of the deck struck a chord for you, Bravo with his trusty Anothos and Dori wielding Decimator Great Axe are your best bets. Both heroes grind down their opponents while playing great defense, eventually closing out the game with their excellent rate weapons. And with Heavy Hitters on the horizon in 2024, I'd expect at least one of these decks will score some major upgrades.
Goodbye - For Now
As we say goodbye to Briar, take solace in that you can still play the Elemental Runeblade in both Commoner and Blitz, as well as the brand-new Living Legend format! While she still retains her errata, being able to add Ball Lightning and Plunder Run back into the deck should make her a very real deck in the new format.
