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Shattering the Meta with Ice Lexi

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Shattering the Meta with Ice Lexi

Narrated by Mark Chamberlain

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This article is narrated, but requires a Rathe Times subscription to experience.

In Isaac Jessen's first article for the Rathe Times, he discussed why he brought Lexi to the National Championship in Orlando. Now, he returns for an in-depth discussion on the deck, how he's refined it since that time, and how to navigate every matchup.

Ice Lexi is a very versatile, very powerful deck if you are able to deploy the right lines of play. Most games will play out in the midrange, as even the most aggressive decks will be slowed down by your crippling hit effects and forced to block. Against decks that deploy a defensive strategy, you have the ability to switch gears and build up larger combo turns with Voltaire and Three of a Kind.

The Decklist

Your core deck boasts the following ratios:

  1. 53 cards
  2. 20 Blues
  3. 27 Arrows
  4. 30 Threats
  5. 23 Ice
  6. 24 Weave & Pulse targets
  7. 6 non-elemental arrows
  8. 12 non-elemental, non ice-cards

Gameplan

In almost every matchup, you will prefer to go first, setting up a six card hand while not giving your opponent a free mulligan. If you are forced to go second, and are not threatened with an oppressive amount of damage, consider paying for Voltaire as an instant to load an arrow on your opponent’s turn. This still allows you to start with a five card hand- which is quite powerful- while beginning the game holding all of the tempo.

In aggressive games, you may find yourself using your life as a resource to gain tempo. You will likely go down in the early game, chipping away your opponent’s armor while setting up for later. Once your opponent has no armor left and no arsenal, you will be able to seize full control of the game and win out. The amount of pressure Lexi can apply in a turn is astounding, especially once your opponent has exhausted their armor blocks.

In the midrange, it is important to recognize if your opponent is mostly choosing to block out, as that may repeatedly be their best line of play. If this is the case, carefully manage your sources of dominate and build bigger turns in order to force through damage. By managing your resources efficiently and building combo turns, Lexi can actually be very difficult to fatigue, despite having no weapon.

Set up turns can be very important. If you notice that you might have an extra resource, sometimes the best play is to pay for Voltaire to load an arrow, and then arsenal an ice card to set up a 6-card hand for next turn. This deck is the king of managing tempo, which is why I enjoy it so much.

You have a number of tools against fatigue. A Frostbite token every turn ensures that playing a defense reaction will cost your opponent two cards, and with patience and planning you can still force damage over your opponent’s defenses. This is no small task, as Rangers can't fall back on their weapon to attack; you have to carefully manage the threat count in your deck.

You will find that there is a certain degree of redundancy in your deck. If you’ve already given your opponent 2 Frostbite tokens, then attacking their hand with Chilling Icevein will be a more threatening play than piling on even more Frostbite. The opposite is also true; if they have pitched a blue card and have two resources floating, then Blizzard Bolt will be more effective at hampering their next turn. 

You will need to read your opponent’s motives continuously. If they are trying to keep their hand and have a big turn, dumping your whole hand to attack them may be the right call. However, if they have been happy to block, leave that last card in their hand in favor of setting up for a bigger attack next turn. Ensuring your future turns will be sufficiently threatening is the key to winning with this deck, and taking a single turn off can lose you the game.

Notable Cards

Shock Charmers is a great tool because of the constant threat it presents. Every turn, your opponent must decide whether to block an arrow for 5 or 8 damage with go again. If they do not block, you can dump your hand into pumping Shock Charmers and doubling down on your hit effect. If they do block, then you can simply present another threat on the chain. The ability to duplicate hit effects is very powerful, as well as the ability to pay for damage without it costing you cards out of your deck.

Card image of Heart of Ice
Card image of Shock Charmers

Heart of Ice is only used to combat Oldhim, Prism, and for its arcane barrier against Kano. Most often a Frostbite will be enough to make it uncomfortable for your opponent to play defense reactions, but Oldhim has so many ways to spend resources for defense that using Heart of Ice can really shut out defensive options. It is a difficult piece of equipment to use, as it ups the resource curve of your deck, but its effect pays for itself.

Three of a Kind (ToaK) is a high skill card. It can get you out of a jam by repopulating your hand off of a Tunic resource, but it is important to not get too greedy. It might be a better line to block, play out your Frost Fang, and then arsenal ToaK or pitch it for later. Try to always weigh the risk vs reward when considering this card. If you have a blue arrow, a red pitch card, and a ToaK in hand, pitch the red to play ToaK and save your arrow. ToaK also draws you plenty of resources and fuse cards.

Card image of Endless Arrow (Red)
Card image of Three of a Kind (Red)

Endless Arrow is extraordinarily versatile. If they allow it to hit, you can fire it at them again or use it to pitch, making it essentially free. You can also arsenal it, threatening a free arrow and free arsenal card turn after turn.

Seek and Destroy is one of my personal favorite cards. It is important in the more aggressive matchups for increasing your hit effect density, while I prefer Lightning Press against more defensive builds. Neither card helps out with any ratio in your deck, but each fills a very important role. Because of the pressure that this deck presents, your opponent will often choose to block out and arsenal a card in order to set up for a better pivot turn. Seek and Destroy addresses this tactic beautifully, making your opponent will be unable to play or arsenal on their turn. Against the hyper aggressive decks, this card attacks your opponent’s ability to arsenal Plunder Run and other crucial combo cards.

Card image of Channel Lake Frigid (Blue)
Card image of Seek and Destroy (Red)

Channel Lake Frigid is a very powerful card at your disposal; but you will most often be presented with the option of either playing it out, or presenting more damage on your turn. Understanding the impact of this card against your opponent can be key to knowing when to prioritize it.

Beyond those key cards, I would encourage anyone piloting this deck to make their own personal adjustments. Everyone’s playstyle is unique and everyone’s meta is different; cater to your strengths.

I would only caution that there are a lot of ratios to consider with Lexi, and trading efficiency for power is a delicate balance to strike. Always remember to consider your number of arrows, number of attacks, number of ice cards, pitch vs cost ratio, and number of cards that synergize with Weave Ice and Pulse of Volthaven.

Lastly, it is important to not have too many of your ratios overlap in some cases. If all of your blue pitch cards are also your ice cards, you will find it hard to both pay for your turn and save an ice card to arsenal. Oftentimes, your ice cards stay in hand through your turn and get played out from arsenal on the next turn; they might as well be red!

Matchup Guide

Before we get into specific matchups, let's talk about general archetypes and how we want to approach each of them.

Anti-Aggro (60 total):

  1. +2 Blizzard
  2. +2 Seek and Destroy
  3. +3 Remorseless

This sideboard prioritizes hit effects over going wide or trying to leak damage. Blizzard works wonders against aggro Katsu and aggro Briar when played correctly, and Seek and Destroy prevents your opponent from being able to build up five card turns effectively. Against decks that go extremely wide, Remorseless can be very cost effective.

Midrange (63 total):

  1. +2 Blizzard or +1 Amulet of Ice and +1 Weave Ice (blue)
  2. +2 Seek and Destroy or +2 Lightning Press (red)
  3. +3 Remorseless or +3 Snap Shot (red)
  4. +3 Take Cover (red)

This is the sideboard you will play most often, and you'll make those card choices based on your opponent’s most likely strategy. Take Cover is a uniquely powerful card in that it is not a sacrifice to arsenal it; use it to stop your opponent’s powerful hit effect, and then reload an ice card or an arrow without giving up any momentum.

Control, aka- Oldhim (63 total):

  1. +1 Amulet of Ice
  2. +1 Weave Ice (blue)
  3. +3 Lightning Press (red)
  4. +3 Snap Shot (red)
  5. +2 Lightning Surge (red)

Your anti-control strategy is primarily for countering Oldhim. Snap Shot and Lightning Surge lower your cost curve, increasing your ability to have bigger and wider turns. Lightning Press is a very affordable way to sneak in hit effects and make your opponent leak damage.

Vs. Brute

The amount of damage that Levia can present can be impressive, and her cost curve is not as vulnerable as some. Your disruption should be enough to hamper her big turns though, and towards the end of the game she will become more and more vulnerable to disruption. Try to pressure the Carrion Husk early, and keep your life total higher than you normally would. This will allow you to have the wiggle room to pressure her later in the game. She will have to choose between taking massive amounts of blood debt damage or Frostbite.


==========

Rhinar can be a surprisingly tough opponent. A more defensive Rhinar build will be happy to block for 9 or 12 and swing back with the club. You need to make sure to keep up the pressure, but also build for bigger turns to get over their defenses. Make sure to utilize your dominate attacks and Three of a Kind turns effectively, and not waste your powerful cards by just swinging for 9-12 damage per turn. If they are on a more aggressive build, you should have an easier time crippling them with your hit effects to carry you through.

Vs. Guardian

Bravo is a tough foe, but once again, with every defense reaction costing him two cards, it becomes much easier to get damage and hit effects through. Bravo also relies on a large hand size and specific cost curve to pivot, so it is important to present enough crippling hit effects every turn so that he cannot successfully play a dominated Crippling Crush or Spinal Crush. If you do get on your heels, block as much as possible, and wait for them to have a more mediocre turn to pivot back. If your opponent is running a more defensive strategy, the inefficiency of their defense reactions along with your ability to build bigger turns should carry you through to victory.


==========

The matchup against Oldhim is certainly your toughest. Oldhim has the ability to pivot with very powerful attacks if you give him any breathing room, so maintaining pressure here is key. In addition, he is very good at mitigating damage with Crown of Seeds and Rampart of the Ram's Head. Giving him a Frostbite every turn helps make his defense reaction cards more expensive to play- but with so many defensive resource sinks available, this will not be enough.

ο»ΏYour gameplan needs to be a constant balance of maintaining pressure to maintain momentum, building bigger combo turns in order to leak damage through, and pitching for your second cycle. In addition, it is important to maintain a high enough life total that you are able to play out your bigger second cycle hands when the time comes. Heart of Ice and Channel Lake Frigid can be crippling to Oldhim’s game plan when you can afford them, but it is important to be able to capitalize on these abilities by pushing damage on that turn.

Vs. Illusionist

Attacking Prism’s cost curve is effective enough to give you an edge in this matchup, and your ability to go wide makes her auras manageable. So long as they don’t draw really hot with an aggressive Herald build, you will be able to have favorable damage exchanges while attacking their cost curves. Use Heart of Ice at the beginning of every turn in which you can afford it; this way, if they are forced to respond by playing out an aura, you can then destroy it. It is important to take note of the unique interaction between Merciful Retribution and Frostbite tokens, and prioritize destroying this aura above all else.

Vs. Mechanologist

This is one of your hardest matchups. Your Frostbites help mitigate their defense reactions, but oftentimes you will find it hard to threaten enough Frostbite tokens and card strip effects to truly cripple their turns. Dash plays a lot of blues, a very consistent weapon, and above-curve attacks with the boost mechanic. You will need to carefully manage your life exchanges throughout the match and capitalize on your bigger turns to gain momentum.

Vs. Ninja

As with many of the heroes, you could face several different archetypes of Katsu. Against a more aggressive build, you should have no trouble blocking their Mask of Momentum triggers and seizing tempo. Attacking their hand and cost curve is particularly crippling for Katsu, and Frostbite makes their defense reactions inefficient to play. Blizzard works wonders in this matchup. If they are playing a more defensive build, your Frostbite will become even more effective, making their defense reactions cost two cards out of their hand. Try to identify which archetype your opponent is playing early and adjust so as not to waste your resources. You should be able to present enough damage to leak some through every turn if they need to pay one every time they need to use a defense reaction.

Vs. Ranger

Ranger vs. Ranger matchups are always scary. Having no armor on either side means that you are both very vulnerable to every hit effect. In general though, Lexi has more consistent ways to dominate, go wide, and threaten on-hit triggers. Azalea also tends to run a fairly red line deck, so Frostbite will really hamper them. Vie for tempo, and when Azalea has a less threatening turn (i.e. Hamstring Shot or Searing Shot) use your life as a resource to come back at them with a more devastating turn. Lexi’s ability to present constant pressure will allow you to maintain momentum throughout the match.


==========

Try to take the 2nd play. Going into this matchup, you will not know whether you are facing a Lightning Lexi or an Ice Lexi. Lightning Lexi is similar to your other aggro matchups and is pretty straightforward. Ice Lexi can be very tough, as your hit effects can be very crippling to each other and neither of you have any armor. Maintaining momentum in this matchup is paramount, as even with a significant life lead it is very difficult to have a turn if you have no momentum. Channel Lake Frigid can be particularly potent against Lexi, as her machine requires a lot of activations to be effective.

Vs. Runeblade

This match is straightforward. You will likely go down on life while working your way through their armor and hampering them as best you can. Once you have a window (i.e. their armor is mostly gone, they have no arsenal, you have a particularly powerful hand set up, they don’t have many Embodiment of Earth tokens, etc. ), you can use your life as a resource and pivot. After this point you will have control of the game and be able win, as their deck does not block well once they are unable to create Embodiment of Earth tokens. The hybrid Briar builds are a little bit more resilient to your pressure, but you still have more than enough pressure in the deck to make this a favorable matchup.


==========

This can be a difficult matchup. Chane is very powerful in this meta, and more resilient than Briar to your forms of pressure. Their card advantage can give them an edge, but mixing up your hit effects can still apply enough pressure to dampen their turns. Since the ban of Seeds, however, Chane’s banishes every turn- as well as cards like Shadow Puppetry- are less threatening. As the Shackles build up, Chane will become more powerful, so constant pressure is a must in this matchup. Try to race and win the match before Chane can build up to his full power.


==========

Viserai can play a variety of tempos, but odds are you will be facing some sort of midrange gameplan. Take Cover works wonders here, as stopping a Mauvrion Skies + Meet and Greet with one card mitigates a lot of damage. Try to take note of how many discounted cards your opponent is running, as sometimes you may want to prioritize stripping cards over giving Frostbite. Your attacks will be more threatening than theirs, and you should be able to seize tempo.

Vs. Warrior

Whether your opponent is playing the combo build or a more aggressive one, your hit effects and constant pressure should be more than enough to shut them down. The aggro match plays out like most do, and you may have to take some early damage to set up, work through their armor, and seize momentum. If they are playing the Lumina Ascension combo build, you should be able to cripple them enough so that they are not able to pull off their combo once they have built up to it. If this is the line they are taking, it is important to prioritize constant pressure over big turns, so make sure that you set up your next turn appropriately.


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Dorinthea can be a very intimidating opponent, and will likely give you trouble in the early game. However, once you have worked your way through her armor, your attacks will become very detrimental to her gameplan. This is the rare matchup where you want to take 2nd. You will be forcing her to play a midrange game with you, and her attacking power will go down drastically. Whenever calculating your blocks against Dorinthea, remember that she does have a fairly low damage ceiling compared to some other heroes, especially with reprise turned off. After the early game, it will become more important to trade damage and hit effects than to try and block her out. Once you have momentum, Dorinthea will find it difficult to block out enough of your hit effects and still have a productive turn.

Vs. Wizard

This is a very favorable matchup for Ice Lexi. Giving Kano a Frostbite every turn attacks their already horrendous cost curve. They will have to decide whether they want to top deck on your turn in response to the Frostbite, or face even more debilitating hit effects before going into their turn.

Discussion (14)

Reader

Bo Skarvil

2 years ago
Awesome article, loved itπŸ˜ŠπŸ‘πŸ‘ More of those..
Author Isaac
Author

Isaac Jessen

2 years ago
Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. One last note: 2x Lightning Surge red could easily be 2x CnC, depending on what matchups you will most likely face. However, CnC and Frost Fang may compete for slots in any given sideboard.
Reader

Derrick Cantu

2 years ago
Ah, great work by the "Prince of Precision"! Keep up the great work!!
Reader

99chi

2 years ago
Hi Isaac, I want to let you know that I subscribed to Rathtimes just because I want to see your Ice Lexi article. Being a FAB newbie and a Lexi fans, I have been playing Blitz events in the past 2 months. I started playing FAB using Ice Lexi and people keep telling me that Ice Lexi is not as good as Lightning Lexi in Blitz. May I ask you some Ice Lexi questions? 1.. Do you consider head shot (red) good in CC or Blitz for Ice Lexi? 2. Do you feel it is hard to find sufficient good blue cards for Ice Lexi too? Are those blue arrows just for pitching/blocking? Do you think blue Winter's Grasp is useful? 3. Do you also agree that Ice Lexi is not that good in Blitz? Regards Newbie Lexi
Author Isaac
Author

Isaac Jessen

2 years ago
Hi, glad to hear it! Blitz has a very different game plan than CC, so the strategies for one don't often correlate to the other. I consider Head Shot red good in blitz, bad in CC. If you are looking for pure damage, then head shot is 2 for 7 essentially. If that is your strategy, than obviously Lightning Lexi is the way to go. Ice Lexi trades a higher damage ceiling for the ability to control the game. Arrows with hit effects will essentially be 2 for 5 with go again, or 2 for 6. If your strategy is hampering your opponent, I believe trading a hit effect for one less damage is reasonable. That said, there is a world where you play an ice quake into a chilling ice vein, and follow it up with a head shot for 7. In this scenario the 7 breakpoint is excellent, with the previous effects applied. However red head shot only contributes to the ratio of arrows in your deck, so I would be careful to not include too many non-elemental, non-ice cards. This means that Weave Ice also doesn't synergize with it. Lastly, Headshot is not good to arsenal, as it loses its bonus. I actually find ice blues quite good, as many of them are very playable. The blue arrows are only to up my ratio of arrows, especially when drawing off of Three of a Kind. They do not contribute to Channel Lake Frigid however, so it is a trade off. This deck has a higher blue count than some, due to the constant threat of Shock Charmers. I do not like blue winter's grasp unfortunately. Pros: blocks 3, is an Ice card, pitches for 3. Cons: Not an arrow, and I don't want to arsenal it. This last part is especially important. If you would like to use a card to fuse with, then ideally it is also a card you are happy to arsenal. If you are looking for more threats, I think that Icy Encounter blue is better, as it offers a hit effect at a good break point (4). I have no experience with Ice Lexi in blitz, but I did an interview with Yuki, who won Canadian Nationals, and she said she had been running a very effective Ice Lexi deck in blitz. Good luck out there!
Reader

Howard Brody

2 years ago
Thanks for this writeup! After your performance at US Nats I was really looking forward to seeing how your list evolved. I've been playing a bunch of Ice Lexi variants and falling in love with Amulets of Ice and red Frost Fang. I had a chance to play the Oldhim matchup last night and it was tense, but winnable. Late game, managed to scrape together an amulet activation after a fused Chilling Icevein with a Lightning Press to drain their hand, and then a Lightning Surge for lethal.
Reader

Cornelius

2 years ago
Any thoughts on any of the cards from Everfest making an appearance? Battering Ram in the sideboard for Phantasm Prism was a consideration I had for my local meta.
Author Isaac
Author

Isaac Jessen

2 years ago
Glad to hear it Howard! Yes it's a really tough one, and the cards strip abilities need to be utilized effectively. Amulet of Ice is definitely the card I slept on the most; I'm currently running 3!
Author Isaac
Author

Isaac Jessen

2 years ago
I've been looking at Everfest cards lately, and it's tough with Lexi's ratios being so fragile. I think Battering Bolt is definitely a sideboard option, and Fatigue shot is very powerful. At worst it's just a great damage exchange. At best it cuts a big Bravo attack in half!
Reader

99chi

2 years ago
In my local area, more than half of the players are now using the new Bravo. Now Bravos also know that rangers are going to use fatigue shot and unmovable against them. When I managed to gain a lead against them by my frostbites, sleep darts and fatigue shots, they can still use a 0 cost lightning attack (which they will side in) and awakening to cancel my lead. From the results of Pro-Quest, it is certain that Lexi is still very competitive, just that less elemental arrows are needed. For me, I still stick with 9 blizzard bolt and 3 frostlock, and I have a few cold waves and chilling icevein in side board. Battering bolt is good against warriors but there is no warriors nowadays I guess? And with Rain Razor, going wide with more bolt'n' shot and pathing helix seems to be inevitable. Anyway, I still love the way Lexi annoys her opponents. Frostbite! Go Again! Fatigue/Sleep! still not giving up your hands? Ok, I'm gonna my Winters Bite XD
Reader

99chi

2 years ago
Any chance that Issac will release a version of Lexi decklist soon?
Reader

Peter Marrable

1 year ago
Updated list with everfest would be sweet :)
Author Isaac
Author

Isaac Jessen

1 year ago
Here ya go! I took this list to a 2nd and a 9th place finish and two ProQuest events. Prism is a tough matchup, but Oldhim is out of the picture. I might take out the Smashings for 2x more Searings just to try to flex aggro in the Prism matchup. https://fabdb.net/decks/build/EdqGkjoA
Reader

Peter Marrable

1 year ago
Thanks alot for the new list :)

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