Solar Plexus: The Future of Boltyn as a Combo Deck

The recently-released Armory Deck has supplied Boltyn with a broad range of new gear options; and while some have quickly shown themselves to be worthwhile additions to the deck, others are lying in wait to be proven as workhorse options in the Light Warrior’s arsenal. At the center of these pieces of armor lies Solar Plexus: an unassuming chestpiece when compared to its Armory-line predecessor, Savage Sash. It lacks a block value and has a bit more of a cost - but it still accomplishes something incredibly powerful in a hero with a lower-to-the-ground cost curve and a considerably wider use discount. When you can have multiple resources on the board and on demand, things break very quickly. Solar Plexus especially shines brightest in a metagame (like the one we’re currently in) where a singular large turn is considerably more important than the consistent output that Fyendal’s Spring Tunic might allow.

Today, I'm giving you a list to get you started with a new kind of Boltyn.

Solar Plexus demands a specific setup of the wielder, asking you to use all 3 of the other new pieces of armor to maximize your soul count as quickly as possible. Ironsong Versus remains a powerful option in the arms slot, but Bracers of Bellona’s Grace does just what we want in order to support our chest piece’s game plan. Blocking with armor and charging aggressively sets us up to ‘go off’ and present a powerful combo turn as soon as the right cards align. In matchups where you’re threatened with disruption, Soulbond Resolve is here to save the day and allow you to play a more value-oriented game while supplying you with a truly staggering amount of on-board life. And as always, the ‘Kano tax’ is paid in full, with respect in the form of Halo of Illumination, Radiant Flow, and Nullrune Gloves. (Another popular approach to the Wizard matchup is to consider including an old favorite, Snapdragon Scalers, to increase how consistently threatening you are.)

A more aggressive metagame - combined with a lack of Fyendal’s Spring Tunic - informs some differing card choices. Notably, Take Flight is nearly completely absent from the list, favoring 0-cost charge attacks to allow for more blocking as well as smoother, pitch-less aggressive play. Banneret of Gallantry has also seen a return to my deck; while previous approaches I’ve taken to the hero have lacked this card, its power truly shines in conjunction with the aforementioned Bracers. The surplus of soul granted to you by the Light Warrior’s new clothes allows some options that fell flat on arrival to truly shine now. Lumina Lance is no longer a card to be neglected, allowing you to trade ample soul for reaction-speed damage and a replacement card; and Spirit of War can supply an extra turn-wide buff effect, increasing your density of powerful offensive options.

The deck takes a different approach to a typical Raydn plan, mostly focusing on its proactive combos and presenting some copies of Snatch, 3 Art Of Wars (to take advantage of Solar Plexus’s discount ability), and typically filling its last few slots with Steelhands for opponents that enjoy blocking or Saving Graces to protect the combo.

The route to victory involves playing your hands for value early, blocking where you can to preserve life, charging on the offensive to play efficient hands, and cashing in equipment to build up soul while generating tokens that improve your own turn. 

In the turn-to-turn scheme of things, not much has changed. Lumina Ascension remains an incredibly powerful card and you’ll still want to play them as you can. It even serves double duty now, loading up your soul to cash out for action points when you crack Solar Plexus. 

Your more long-term plan with this configuration is to line up some combination of Art of War and V of the Vanguard or Spirit of War - or multiple copies of Art of War - then lean on Solar Plexus’s effect to get 2 or more free resources out of it. Playing a pitchless Art of War and/or V of the Vanguard is powerful, but isn’t the entirety of what the deck wants to do with Plexus. To that end, the deck also includes cards like yellow Valiant Thrust and yellow Battlefield Blitz to leverage the discount ability and maximize your output when you finally take your chest armor to the bank. 

The combo turn allows you to push colossal amounts of damage through, punishing bad blocks with Snatch-type effects; or force their hand to make them keep you from drawing cards, then push through with huge attacks for 6 and 7 and take command of the game. In the case of fatigue or control decks, Soulbond Resolve in conjunction with attack reactions and Celestial Cataclysm in place of your combo plan allows you to edge out opponents in a longer game.

Your sideboard is flexible, allowing space for adaptation against some of the staples of the meta. 3 copies of Snag is fantastic for hedging your Nuu matchup, allowing you to blow out her combat tricks and fire back at her with more cards than she’d like you to have at your disposal. Zen remains a bit of a natural predator for the Breaker of Dawn, but options exist to slow his assault. That All You Got? has proved quite useful for stemming the bleeding on powerful Zen turns without actually losing cards in hand, and Stonewall Gauntlet is considerably more effective  (as well as easier to use!) now that he only has 3 copies of Bonds of Ancestry to work with. Not to mention, it’s a fantastic choice for the mirror. Additional defense reactions like Sink Below and Soul Shield can help out against some meta outliers like Azalea and Victor, and cards like Bolting Blade are fantastic against Illusionists. One of our hero’s greatest strengths is his versatility, and Plexus opens new horizons to him.

At the end of the day, Boltyn’s greatest strength is his flexibility and his ability to adapt to any meta to overcome new challenges, and the Armory Deck armor reflects that. Solar Plexus has massive synergy with some very abusable cards like Art of War and V of the Vanguard, as well as working incredibly in tandem with the new equipment pieces. By giving Boltyn some extra life, accelerating his soul buildup, and enabling explosive offensive turns, the Grace armor and the Solar Plexus combo plan represents an inflection point for Boltyn to re-enter the metagame, and a bright future ahead for the Breaker of Dawn.