Revisiting Volcor: The State of the Hunted in the Wake of Pro Tour

There's no question that The Hunted has been a success for the game. Both in limited and constructed, the four heroes have captured the hearts of players with their unique identities and playstyles, and have given us some of the most interesting designs the game has ever seen.

But a lot has changed in the months since The Hunted debuted. Where the meta was heavily skewed towards the new heroes in the wake of its release, they’ve fluctuated in and out of the forefront as time has gone on. While all of them have proven they’re here to stay, their place in Classic Constructed has been hard to define.

Now that the sole Pro Tour of The Hunted season is past us, it’s a perfect time to look at the defenders and destroyers of Volcor to see how they’ve been holding up. If you want to join the hunt yourself, look no further! Here’s your guide to visiting Volcor, courtesy of the Rathe Times.

The Hunted was released on January 31st, 2025. Since then, we’ve had 4 Callings, several Battle Hardened events, and a whole Road To Nationals season for the four Hunted heroes to prove their worth. All of the heroes from The Hunted have accrued some Living Legend points, with Cindra, Dracai of Retribution taking the lead at 250.

The Road to Nationals season was a strong showing for Cindra, coming fourth in wins across all heroes in the whole season. Arakni, Marionette was just behind, Arakni, 5l!p3d 7hru 7h3 Cr4x (or Slippy) barely made it out of the ‘Other Heroes’ category with 7 wins, and Fang, Dracai of Blades was only two wins behind Slippy - but ultimately had the most disappointing RTN performance.

Similarly, Cindra came out ahead at two Callings in February, winning both Calling: Memphis and Calling: Christchurch. She also top 8’ed four of the nine Battle Hardened events in that time, with three top 8 finishes at Battle Hardened: Barcelona.

However, Cindra had one of the worst showings in Calling: São Paulo - three Day 2 conversions at a rate of 14%. Slippy had a 25% conversion rate at 1 out of 4, and Mario had a 20% conversion rate at 1 out of 5. Fang didn’t make Day 2 whatsoever, which put him at the bottom of people’s HTN rankings going into the Pro Tour metagame. The story was similar at the two Battle Hardened events before London: no top 8s from any HNT heroes whatsoever. 

To put it in basic terms, things were not looking good for the dagger gang, for sure.

World Tour London quickly arrived, and while I was sleeving up my Vynnset deck in preparation for the Sink Below event, the Pro Tour had commenced early on Friday morning. Looking at the initial metagame, one thing stood out: who in the hell registered Boltyn?

But in seriousness, Cindra had made her way to the bottom of the representation of the Hunted heroes. While nowhere near the level of Aurora, both Marionette and Slippy had double-digit showings, and even Fang was at nine total registrations. Obviously, with her shaky results in the post-RTN world and the meta looking to beat Aurora, people simply weren’t confident in even registering Cindra. But the Hunted heroes all definitely made a showing here, proving that they’re at least worth considering in the wider game. This is even more apparent in the Pro Tour: Day 2 conversion rates.

As expected, Cindra has a 10% conversion rate, and Marionette follows with a 13% conversion rate. But both Slippy and Fang are closer to a 50% conversion rate - at 38% and 44% respectively - putting them both into the higher end of conversion rates for the weekend and showing that these two heroes can perform at the top end.

In the Calling, Cindra had 40 registrants, while Fang had 39, and Marionette had 27. But even more incredibly, Slippy had 44 entrants, putting them in the top 5 most represented decks in the whole Calling. Looking at the Day 2 conversion rates of all of these, both of the Draconic heroes performed pretty poorly, with Cindra having a 0% conversion rate and Fang having a 2.5% conversion rate. The Assassins were at the higher end of conversions, with Slippy having a 13% conversion rate and Marionette having an 11% conversion rate.

In a sea of Auroras and Enigmas, a singular Slippy did slip through the cracks into the Top 8, losing in the quarter finals versus Enigma, who would go on to win the whole Calling. So, not too bad for the format’s best underdog.

But all of this gets even more interesting when looking at the win rates of each deck over the weekend. This incredible spreadsheet was compiled by Even K/eyelax on Bluesky and can give us an even better look at how each of these heroes did over the weekend in both the Pro Tour and Calling.

Cindra, Dracai of Retribution is the biggest surprise in all of this. After starting ablaze with The Hunted’s release, seeing her fall to the lowest of the four was one of the least expected results of the past few months. But, as discussed previously, there are a few reasons why this is the case.

• The metagame is poised to deal with her right now, with Aurora running rampant and a lot of decks looking to beat aggressive decks, meaning she takes collateral damage.
• People understand how to block against Cindra, which makes it far more difficult for her to get Mask of Momentum triggers and make the most of her turns.
• Ninja is poorly positioned, with Zen having a similar disappointing turnout throughout the metagame.

All of these are less of a problem with her deck and more a problem with her current position in the metagame. Great players have proven that Cindra is playable in rooms filled with the best players - if the metagame allows. So don’t get discouraged if you want to play the deck; there’s a good chance that, once Aurora leaves the metagame, Cindra will have a much better time fitting in, and she’s still one of the more skill-expressive decks in the format due to having to leverage abilities such as Flick Knives.

So how do you actually play her now?

Unsurprisingly, being a Draconic hero, Cindra runs incredibly redline to try to utilize her efficient attacks to leverage Mask of Momentum triggers, as well as a flurry of 'Head Jabs' like Ronin Renegade and Hot on Their Heels to keep the pressure up.

In that sense, she plays a lot like Fai, Rising Rebellion, but with a few key differences - mainly, in her ability to utilize Flick Knives to force Mask of Momentum triggers, as well as being able to use her daggers at the start of the chain instead of using them in the middle of the chain to extend their damage output. This is also high-risk, high-reward, as playing your daggers wrong can make the game swing out of your favor, especially if you start a turn daggerless with no way to get them back.

Importantly, unlike the lists from the earlier Cindra lists, the deck I'm providing above is running a copy of Mask of the Pouncing Lynx for matchups where you primarily want to be finishing your opponents off with a big turn that ends in a Salt the Wound, rather than whittling them down turn by turn. This gives you far more reach against decks like Vynnset and Florian, who can simultaneously fly over your head while also being able to dictate the pace of the game by turning to a more defensive strategy.

Otherwise, it’s still just, "chain attacks, flick daggers, and look for Mask triggers" to keep gaining value and drowning your opponents in Draconic chain links.

Where Cindra fell, Fang rose from the flames. With a 49.15% match win rate at Pro Tour: London and a 42.2% win rate at the Calling, Fang is a contender and shouldn’t be ignored even if he doesn’t have the event wins to back it up - which should be expected, considering how low Fang has flown under the radar until very recently.

I genuinely think that Fang might be one of the best decks in the format when Aurora disappears. Losing two of his worst matchups (Aurora, where he has a 28.21% win rate, and Enigma, in which it’s 38.10%, both in the wider Calling metagame) will mean that his lack of disruption will become far less relevant, as he beats down on the slower decks that will presumably take the mantle at the top of the format as the format gets fairer.

Unlike his Draconic counterpart, Fang blocks incredibly well due to being able to keep low-card hands if he can get enough Fealty generated early on. He also has a high roll due to the aggressive nature of his deck, with cards like Long Whisker Loyalty extending the brutality of his daggers in classic Warrior fashion. 

Fang is the most aggressive of the Warriors in the game, which is no surprise with his Draconic talent. However, his reliance on Draconic cards is both a blessing and a curse here, as Draconic cards tend to be pretty powerful in general, but his specific Draconic inclusions are a little under rate to make up for the boost his daggers get from their ability.

Ultimately, being able to play attacks like Blaze Headlong and Oath of Loyalty gives him another attack vector, and helps fuel his aggression to continue the Draconic onslaught of daggers ‘til it's over.

However, there is another way. On the morning of the Pro Tour, as everyone was settling in for three days of action, the World Champion - Grzegorz Kowalski  - took to the stage with a deck that made so much sense, but had fallen out of memory for most. In the days of Lexi, Livewire and Dromai, Ash Artist, a Dorinthea Ironsong deck briefly emerged utilizing more of a control gameplan and Decimator Great Axe to slam every turn with an attack that’s near impossible to block correctly.

While most people had forgotten about this deck, Kowalski and his group had been keeping their secret weapon under wraps - practically the same deck, but Fang-flavored. The primary appeal was to give them access to Loyalty Beyond the Grave, a defense reaction that could net them another card at some point in the game. On top of this, the Dorinthea deck didn’t have access to Count Your Blessings, turning a controlling deck into a full-fatigue monster.

The most important thing about this deck is the element of surprise. Most people will see Fang and try to prepare for the standard aggressive Fang gameplan, leaving you to whittle away at them and fatigue with ease. However, if your opponents know you’re going to be playing Decimator, they can prepare, and you’ll lose that edge. So this might not be the best to build for your locals or for smaller events where people will know what you’re on - but it’s worth knowing about it so you can have it in your arsenal.

Arakni, Marionette has probably had the quietest time of all four of the heroes in The Hunted. While the other three heroes have had a lot to talk about regarding their reputation and their development, Marionette has simply fallen to the wayside in comparison. Even with a near 50% win rate in the Calling, Slippy’s play rate is just so much higher.

While they are incredibly interesting as a hero, the chaotic nature of their build and the lack of real upside to it - along with the reliance on marking - means that their deck is simply just less appealing than the other two Assassins of the format (Nuu and Slippy). There are a lot of moving parts, and when the other two decks have the same outcome without having to deal with the chaos, Marionette becomes a tough sell.

That doesn’t mean that Marionette isn’t good, though. While Slippy had a far higher win rate at the Pro Tour, Marionette had a similar win rate in the Calling and had an especially tough time against Enigma, who is now a Living Legend. There is a good chance that, especially as time goes on and Aurora leaves the meta - and when the competing Assassin Nuu hits Living Legend - Marionette will have its time to shine.

Marionette is incredibly similar to Slippy, but with a bit more of a midrange element to it, with more defensive options in the sideboard. Ultimately, the biggest issue with this deck is just an identity problem: there’s no reason to play this over the other options, unless you’re truly passionate about wanting to play the hero (in which case, you still can).

Interestingly, if Slippy does become a relevant part of the metagame, then Marionette is a great counter: Slippy’s effect is symmetrical, meaning that Marionette also gets free go again, where they’d usually have to work for it. It goes to show that it does just depend on where the metagame goes from here.

Possibly the most surprising deck of London, Arakni, 5L!p3d 7hRu 7h3 cR4X, or Slippy, is a powerhouse of a deck. Being able to pile on damage while also playing the disruption that Nuu is famous for, people have really taken to the hero, weird name and all.

With an insane 54% win rate over the Calling and a 50% win rate at the Pro Tour, Slippy is obviously a contender in the current metagame. Their Aurora matchup is pretty strong, as was their Enigma matchup (at 55% and 54% respectively). They also prey on a lot of the decks that are sitting at the edges of the format to counteract Aurora, with a positive win rate against all of the decks that have a positive win rate against Aurora.

Slippy is definitely worth your time in this metagame. If you’re interested in playing them yourself, our editor Alex has written about Chris Iaali's build just a few weeks ago. Go check it out!

With all of this, it’s obvious that The Hunted has had an incredibly complex time in the CC format so far, and I’m sure that will continue as time goes on. But one thing is sure - all four of the heroes have had relevance, and have the potential to continue to make waves in the metagame as it evolves past Mistveil and Rosetta. Take, for example, Cindra and Marionette's breakout performances in Minneapolis this past weekend!

With Dromai hailing from the region and being all but confirmed to return eventually, I’m sure that we’ll see Volcor again very soon. But, for now, the hunt is approaching its end, and as we look towards new horizons and get ready to sail the High Seas, all four of these heroes look like they’re staying right where they belong.