Pummel Protocol: Old Teklo, New Tricks

It has been a long while since I've written a piece about everyone’s favorite underappreciated Mechonologist (sorry Maxx). However, the continued work and diligence of the avid Teklo fanbase have come up with something new and exciting for Teklovossen, unlocking new potentials in skill expression and game-winning strategies. Before we dive head-first into what is new and improved, I feel it is important we look back at where Teklo was when we last spoke about him: in the pre-Rosetta meta.

In the last article, the meta was still firmly centered around Mistveil, just before the release of the all-arcane set heralding the return to Aria, Rosetta. At the time, I was hopeful for Teklo. Sure, he was no longer in his prime Heavy Hitters meta, farming fair gameplay by Guardians and Warriors, but with maybe just a few things in the meta shifting in our favor I believed we had a real shot post-Rosetta. 

Sadly, that was not really the case. While we were given the new base - Adaptive Dissolver - which allowed us to finally start the game with arcane barrier, the meta truly never looked great for us. Mistveil was still running rampant, and Aurora was quickly starting to show up as the deck to beat, playing more like a split damage aggro Ninja deck and not really a Runeblade - and as you may recall, aggro was something we could never effectively solve.

Control Teklo was still arguably the best and most “viable” form of the deck available, defending and preserving life until you resolve your Singularity and blow out the opponent from there. While there was really no reinventing the wheel when it came to the overall plan of the deck, Rosetta did help us enhance the gameplan some with the generic card Count Your Blessings, a rare that gained life proportional to how many copies were in the graveyard. We don’t need to do much math to realize the incremental value it gave over the course of the long game, and long games are Teklo's favorite. 

While Teklo blocked well, we as Teklo players have run into some iffy hands that couldn’t quite convert well, be it with 2 blocks, all attacks, or an opponent setting up and leaving us with a 5-card hand that we're unable to convert in an effective manner. Count Your Blessings allowed us to convert 5-card hands, as well as give us a life buffer in the event of awkward blocks. If we were forced to block with our last equipment points in an effort to live, usually that leds to equipment breaking - and as you all know, that runs counter to the Singularity plan. CYB added non-blocks to the deck, which made it pretty punishing to draw a handful of them; but despite its flaws, it was a nice addition to Teklo’s control toolbox.

While CYB was a solid card to use for Teklo to help further cushion himself until he became Mechropotent, in my experience at least, all it seemed to noticeably do was help him win more in those matches he was already decently favored in. Nothing wrong with winning more or solidifying a hero's good matchups, but in Teklo’s case it did little to address the elephant in the room: how do we stop aggro? It was already very unfavored for the Teklo side of the board, and in some regard it made the matchup worse, as drawing an all-CYB hand against an Aurora with a 5-card hand might as well be the signal to concede and get lunch. 

To make matters worse, CYB was eventually banned in its entirety: first the blues, then eventually the red and yellows as well. LSS would cite the reasoning as there not being an effective counterplay to the card, not to mention how polarizing the card was - players either loved it or hated it, and there did not seem to be an in between. 

So now Teklo was back where he was pre-Rosetta, trying to deal with Mistveil shenanigans, with the added bonus of the towering terror of Aurora to contend with. 

It was at this point that I stepped away from Teklovossen, took the deck apart, and let him rest in my binder. There was always the urge to play him, but in my eyes there was no point in doing so. To put it bluntly, I gave up hope, embracing the belief that he would not get meaningful support and he would be relegated to the D-tier. 

Which basically sums up where Teklo is in the current landscape of the game.

The follow-up set The Hunted offered up more aggro and disruption with the return of the Draconic talent. Unfortunately, it did not offer any new tools for Teklo in consolation. The highly-anticipated High Seas, despite sporting a brand new Mechanologist in Puffin, once again did not offer anything new. So why am I writing this?

Lets fast-forward to today and look at the game as a whole.

Mistveil is gone, and Aurora like lightning itself flashed brightly but briefly. What does the meta represent now, you may wonder? While the game is admittedly a lot less powerful, there are still some tough matchups. The ones that come to mind immediately would be Slippy, Gravy Bones, Ira, and to a certain extent Cindra and Katsu.

In theory, this lower level of overall power - and a more proactive approach to monitoring the meta by LSS - is better for Teklo to deal with, it still begs the question "What can he do against those heroes?" The 3 Ninjas are, well, Ninjas; and Slippy is not only an effective disruption deck, but also a rather aggressive one.

This is where the collective mental power of the Teklo Discord really came out in full force, rejuvenating my love for Teklovossen, my desire to play the deck, and the enjoyment of the game itself.

About a week ago, I was doing my day job ritual of looking through the Flesh and Blood Reddit instead of doing actual work when I noticed a Teklo post. There had long been a decrease in activity on the Teklo channel, so any time I saw a new post I was compelled to read it. And while this post turned out to be nothing more than, "What's new with Teklo, guys?", the response that caught my eye was three hyperlinks for different Teklo lists: a boost-centered one, a control-centered one, and something new to me: Liquid-Cooled Mayhem + Pummel.

My mind was blown. I nearly broke the sound barrier pulling out my phone to head to the Teklo Workshop Discord server to see if I could find more, and sure enough there was a section of the server dedicated to Pummel deck discussions. While there were many lists and insightful conversations about the playstyle from gamers much better than I,  The list that seemed to have the most traction to me was posted by a user called THESPIRITOFLIFE (aka Tim), and not only did he have an extensive sideboard and strategy guide included, he also has his own Youtube channel Deckbuilders Anonymous, which showcases the list in action. Fascinated by the decisions and complexity of it, I reached out to him and asked how the idea came about and how it was affecting his matchups.

Tim said he originally liked the evil Iron Man aesthetic, and while he thought Singularity was a cool card, he was not sure it could win games on its own. Once he found out that it did, he went all in on the deck. He has since been trying new things and exploring the deck - along with others - to help reach its full potential. Trying unorthodox cards like Enlightened Strike to make it more aggressive, he discovered that the more aggressive he made the list, the more games he was winning. The list grew and evolved from there, eventually landing on what the list is known for now and what attracted me to the list in the first place: rainbow Liquid-Cooled Mayhem, Pummel, and a sprinkle of Quicken.

Liquid-Cooled Mayhem was a staple in Teklo decks, but primarily just in blue. A 0-for-4 with go again when you're Mechropotent is a great extender to close out games, and at worst it's still a blue block 3, which Teklo can’t have enough of. Tim’s thought was simple: at red, we have a 0-for-6 and yellow we have a 0-for-5, and most decks are not going to care about the vanilla damage. In my experience, it's usually not blocked. Well now, let's add red Pummel to the mix. The 0-for-6 is now 2-for-10, with an on-hit of discarding a card, making the line essentially a 3-card 13 just on the offensive side. Pretty impressive numbers for a deck that essentially was defense reactions and blocks for 90 percent of the game!

Now the aggro deck has just eaten a big chunk of damage and lost the 5-card hand they were saving for the crackback. With the instant speed Evos that came from Mistveil, Teklo can effectively switchboard from the classic control Singularity build to a disruptive aggro powerhouse of his own without altering the tone and style of the deck.

We mentioned the great baseline stats of Liquid-Cooled Mayhem, but let's look at Pummel a little more. A simple attack reaction from the very beginning of the game, a true oldie but goldie that shines in Teklo, helping his disruption a little more. Teklo, depending on the meta, typically ran some 2-for-6 attacks to help him throw some offense as he suited up. Command and Conquer, Weakest Link, and recently even Humble is being tested against Slippy - Pummel plus a Humble spells no go again on those stealth attacks. It was all meant to target the opponent's gameplan and stop the bleeding as best Teklo could. We all know Command and Conquer is great, but as a Guardian player will tell you, Pummeling a Command and Conquer is even greater. 

Once they disrespect that first unblocked LCM or even CnC only to find Pummel attached to it, they will respect it for the rest of the game, leading the aggro deck to make some potentially incorrect plays.

We have gone over the disruption of Pummel, the raw damage and value of Liquid-Cooled Mayhem, but one last topic I want to bring to your attention is the simple Quicken - a token that gives your next attack go again. A very nice addition to have for Teklo, especially since we are trying to be more aggro-slanted in the aggressive matchups; but how can we get them without the deck losing its identity and falling apart? Along with the LCM and Pummel combo, Tim had an answer for that too: Evo Charging Rods.

This is where the skill expression of the deck truly shines to me. At instant speed, you can destroy an item underneath the equipment and make a Quicken token exactly when you need it. Depending on how suited up you were before equipping the Evo, you can get some great value off of it. Also, did I mention that it's also a 0-cost Evo? The Quicken tokens allow for some incredibly explosive turns that even the most headstrong aggro deck will want to respect. Let's take a look at an example play pattern with Quicken.

I hope this shows you and inspires you to try out this style of Teklovossen. Is it going to smash the meta and fill the Top 8s of Callings and Pro Tours with Teklo mirrors? No it will not. Will it give free wins to someone just picking up the deck? Again, no. However, what it does and does well is show true innovation, and answers what used to be a borderline impossible matchup. Furthermore, it also reaffirms that this hero has barely had the surface scratched on the deckbuilding possibilities - and that makes Teklo one of the most impressive and exciting heroes of the game. Ever-evolving and always adapting, just as the Esteemed Magnate would do.

Until next time, dear readers - and enjoy the look on a Ninja player’s face when you Pummel a Command and Conquer for the first time. It’s a beautiful sight.