The Rising Tide: Why Riptide is Suddenly Everywhere

Rejoice! After the first week of this season’s ProQuest, Dromai, Ash Artist LL’d. As everyone settled into the new meta, I knew one thing: Riptide just got a whole lot better.

For context, I’ve been grinding Riptide since his release and I have never won a game against a Dromai in CC. Not at competitive events, not at Armories, not even against random players on Talishar. That’s how challenging I found the matchup. On a fundamental level, Dromai gatekeeps Riptide, devaluing our traps to vanilla block 3’s and demanding our limited offensive tools to clear dragons. 

But now she’s gone! And sure enough, the next PQ weekend Riptide took home 4 wins. Prior to this, Riptide only had 2 LL points from a Road to Nationals won by Mink last summer. In fact, Riptide is doing so well that, right as we’re about to publish this article, one secured a Top 8 spot at Battle Hardened: Valencia! By the time you’re reading this, Riptide could have his first BH win!

With Riptide’s biggest predator gone, newfound success, and a recently teased specialization, where does that leave our favorite bloated corpse?

Let’s take a look at where he sits in the present, and then we’ll take a peek forward about what Part the Mistveil has to offer…

Riptide’s hero ability has two lines of text. Naturally, we see two main lists playing to the strengths of each of these lines: Aggro and Hybrid. While other decks certainly exist in the fringes - full fatigue, aim, Nourishing Emptiness - these are the two that are seeing the most competitive success.

Aggro lists are nothing new for Ranger. Without an offensive weapon, the class fundamentally struggles once your deck starts running low. Of course, the trade-off is above-rate attacks with terrifying on-hits. Lexi was able to exploit that, in large part due to her bow activating twice. Similarly, Riptide’s first ability allows him to easily load arrows into arsenal. This bypassed the need for the once-per-turn bow activation, opening a lot of offensive play lines.

Aggro lists capitalize on this by running plenty of 0-cost pumps with on-hits (Premeditate, Lace with Bloodrot, Seek and Destroy), and 0 cost arrows (Falcon Wing, Drill Shot, Bolt’n’ Shot).

They’ll also run a few choice 1-cost arrows (Infecting Shot, Remorseless) and Rain Razors to set up some truly gnarly turns.

On the trap side, they tend to pack it a little lighter, preferring the most high impact options like Tarpit Trap, Pitfall Trap, and Collapsing Trap.

Most importantly, aggro lists run both Death Dealer and Dreadbore. Death Dealer can be a big part of the deck’s biggest turns, which helps when racing other aggressive decks. It can also fix hands, letting you pitch an unplayable card for a potential pump off the top. Meanwhile, Dreadbore offers evasion and consistent extra damage when trying to survive longer, fatigue-oriented games.

The playlines for Aggro are deceptively complex. At first glance, you play a pump, load an arrow with Riptide’s ability, and fire. Where the true skill expression comes in is the sequencing of these turns. What do you fire first? How do you best utilize New Horizon? How do you factor Rain Razors or Codex of Frailty into a turn? 

While there is a bit of a learning curve, I think it’s one that will be familiar to experienced players. A good example of this is Nathan Crawford’s PQ win - he notoriously played the list just three times the night before the event. While he is an extremely skilled player in his own right, his success with the hero was largely due to the months of practice put in by Jeff Stamm (Alithos) and Damien (The Mage Master). The two of them refined the latest rendition of the aggro list, passed it onto Nathan, and briefly coached him on how to pilot it. And if you think Nathan is stealing their spotlight, don’t worry: Jeff also won a PQ on the list the very next day.

The aggro lists are explosive and fast-paced, with tons of fun sequence-based decision points. The list also performs well into Prism, Awakener of Sol, which continues to see popularity as Dromai players shift to the (currently) only remaining Illusionist.

The list, however, does have its weaknesses - mainly, that it can struggle into block-heavy decks. Most lists can block 12 every round, outlast the onslaught of pumps and arrows, and close out the game with an efficient weapon. Unlike Azalea, Riptide doesn’t (currently) have any good evasion tools. Additionally, as many Runeblade players can attest, an awkward hand full of pumps is always a possibility.

If you like fast-paced games and have lots of Prisms or Kanos in your local meta, then you should consider running aggro Riptide. It’s also a good starter list, as it plays to the fundamentals of Riptide and is cheaper than the hybrid variant. If people aren’t prepared for aggro Riptide, you can easily clean up a tournament and finish your rounds in time for some lunch!

The hybrid list was born out of the fatigue deck I’ve written about a few times here, all a result of extensive testing and discussion in the Riptide Collective discord server, particularly with fellow Rathe Times contributor Joseph Cicchini. While full fatigue was fun, it ultimately struggled into the same lists as aggro. Any deck could just block out our recursion arrows, demand more cards on the swing back, and whittle down our deck without triggering any traps. To help compensate for that, we’ve steadily added a suite of efficient go-again attacks that help us leak damage into decks like Victor or Decimator Great Axe Dori. The end result is a list that still plays a full suite of traps while also being able to present larger damage turns if given the space.

Hybrid runs most of the traps available, including Tripwire Trap. Because of an errata, the Crucible arsenal-only traps always trigger Riptide’s ability, even if the opponent doesn’t pay the resource. This means Tripwire is a guaranteed 0 for 5 so long as you can get it in arsenal. This is a fairly easy task with all the d-reacts running around, especially Take Cover. Staples Sink Below and Fate Foreseen make appearances as well, bringing the list to 12 0-cost, block-4 cards. If a list triggers traps, you’re suddenly running around with 31 defense reactions that all cost 0 and all offer at least 4 points of value, often more with trap effects.

As you can see, this list is extremely value-oriented, and that’s reflected in the offensive cards. Hybrid eschews Death Dealer altogether, leaning fully into the consistency of Dreadbore. Dreadbore shuts down d-reacts from hand on any arrow, not just those loaded with the bow. This means breakpoints are extra valuable. Every 3 points of arrow damage demands a blocking card or damage is leaking. Sure, opponents can still arsenal a Sink, but that could just as easily end up as a dead card in hand.

To push these breakpoints, hybrid runs cards like Head Shot, which is a 2 for 7 when loaded with Dreadbore, and Sic ‘Em Shot, most often a 1 for 4 with go-again that leaks damage. Battering Bolt is another arrow that synergizes extremely well with Dreadbore. Not only does the +1 present a 7 breakpoint, but it can also severely punish a hand full of d-reacts. Even a lowly yellow Sedation Shot becomes a 2 for 5 with an on-hit, demanding two blocking cards even with a sink in arsenal.

The enemy might try to play around this by arsenal'ing d-reacts, but that’s where Command & Conquer truly shines. Remorseless is another great anti-d-react card.

Where the true “hybrid” nature comes into play is the 2-block cards. This decks wants to block well, and we try to avoid 2-blocks like the plague - but some cards are just too damn good. The most obvious example being Codex of Frailty. The value on this card is insane and this list can easily play 2 cost cards off a Codex, grabbing a CnC or Battering Bolt. When combined with Sic ‘Em Shot and New Horizon, Codex can set up some incredibly explosive turns.

Premeditate is a Riptide staple. He can load any attack with it and the ponder is always well used. Ravenous Rabble is a later addition and a bit confusing at first as the card is usually an aggro staple. However, this list is surprisingly redline, meaning Rabble is coming in for 4 more often than not. Even the occasional 3- or 2-powered Rabble can be annoying when followed up with a larger attack. Where it gets really crazy is with Codex. You can pitch to load any arrow face up, play Rabble, Codex to close the chain, grab Rabble, send it again, then send whatever arrow you have loaded. If you already have a 0-cost arrow loaded face up, this can be a 3-card hand you play off the heels of blocking with another 3 cards.

The final 2-block is a one-of Virulent Touch, purely as an inevitable late game Codex target. Get into graveyard when you can and profit once your opponent hits 4 life.

While the hybrid list is less common, it’s still seeing success for those that choose to take it on. Alyssa Carden went undefeated across 9 rounds of CC to take down a PQ, even beating Rhea Adams’ Prism in the top 8. The hybrid list has been my personal poison of choice and I’ve ran it at every AGE Open so far, where I currently sit 5th place in total series standings. 

Hybrid has some unique strengths, primarily its consistency. The most common “worst” hand you draw is all traps, which will still allow you to block out whatever is coming your way. If your opponent doesn’t swing, bow and Trench of the Sunken Treasure are excellent tools to cycle cards. Most turn cycles will see you blocking with 2-3 cards and playing with 1-2. For examples…

• A yellow to load and fire Headshot for 7
• A blue to load and fire Battering Bolt for 7
• Rabble followed Codex or Endless
• A blue to codex a CnC

Because the deck plays so well with 1- and 2-card hands, it’s easy to regain tempo. You can block a power turn with 5 cards and still stabilize to take it back. If the enemy deck ever slows down, you can utilize all the go-again to present some fairly punchy turns without sacrificing much of the defensive capabilities of the deck.

The learning curve is steeper with hybrid and it will change hero-to-hero, player-to-player, and game-to-game, but once you get the reps in things start to feel inevitable.

The deck has its weaknesses, particularly one big, ever present, glaring weakness: Command & Conquer. This card can unexpectedly kill a Riptide, especially when paired with Pummel. Because our disruption is more tied to our traps than our arrows, it’s fairly easy for the opponent to send un-buffed, non go-again attacks while they set up for a big CnC play. This room for set up is also why decks like Prism, Teklovossen, or Nitro Mechanoid can be troublesome. And of course, Kano will just beat you 99% of the time. With all that being said, Some of my former toughest matchups I now consider free wins, Danwblade Dori being a perfect example. I’m confident that with more practice, this list can see more success into the tougher matchups.

If you’re looking for the fantasy of playing tons of traps, methodical play, and an impending sense of inevitably, then I highly recommend the Hybrid lists. It’s a steeper learning curve, but the list rewards practice and patience and is more resilient to counter play.

So if that’s the current state of Riptide, where does he go from here? Well lucky for us we got our absolute dream specialization coming in the Part the Mistveil expansion slot: Murky Water.

This card checks everything I was hoping for in a Riptide card. We get actual aim payoff, much needed evasion, and the highly requested trap recursion. This is all put together in our 2nd ever two cost, 6 powered arrow meaning A) this hits the 7 break point with Dreadbore and B) We get an extra popper!

Dominate with a must block on-hit is a huge aim payoff, but is it enough to make aim decks a thing? Maybe! Cards like Dead Eye, Immobilizing Shot, and Fletch a Red Tail have extremely powerful effects. Melting Point and Barbed Undertow also look appealing going into a ninja/assassin set with a heavy focus on pitching blues.

I’ll be keeping my eye on aim, though I don’t expect it to take off without a better way to dole out aim counters. Instead, I think Murky Waters will fit perfectly in our current Dreadbore lists. While we lose the dominate, that is still a 7 powered arrow that can’t be blocked by d-reacts from hand. The on-hit is applicable to any non-Kano deck and gives us access to play our most impactful traps. Even just grabbing Pitfall or Tripwire traps could lead to an extra 3-6 damage over the course of game. Personally, Murky Waters will be my dream Codex Target going forward. With 20+ traps, hybrid builds can use each cast of Murky Waters to add cards back to the deck, a great boon for our already value oriented game plan.

If we were feeling extra spicy, we can add Point The Tip.

On its own, this card doesn’t play well with Riptide. Normally, we use our pumps to load arrows but because this needs to target a face up arrow, we have to load it with the bow to cast the card. Luckily, Hybrid lists are already loading with the bow roughly 80% of the time to make use of the Dreadbore +1. While the pay off for Murky Waters is obvious, this also turns any red disease arrows into 10 damage: 5 base, +1 from Dreadbore, +1 from the Aim Counter, +3 from Point the Tip. All this with a relevant on-hit and another win for value decks!

I’ll need to test more before running that particular variation. While the ceiling is high, PTT can lead to some awkward hands. Can we afford that? Is the payoff great enough? Time will tell!

Either way, the combo is splashy enough that every Riptide list should consider it. With tools like Remembrance and some clever pitch stacking, this might be a way for aggro lists to close out those tough-to-navigate fatigue matches.

One thing I find fascinating as we look at the current and potential future lists is the direction LSS seems to be moving Riptide. Every expansion slot card for Riptide has been playing in big resource numbers: blues and 2 cost arrows. They care about traps and defending. As I mentioned above, Rangers have always skewed aggro, but it looks like Riptide is being nudged further and further into the defensive. As more traps are inevitably released, we could see him slide even further in that direction.

All things considered, things are looking up for ol’ Riptide, and that’s really saying something considering we’re going into a new illusionist set. Whether you go aggro, hybrid, or build your own spicy brew— be sure to share!—  I’ll hope you join us Riptide mains in the Pits.

If you want to talk to lots of great Riptide players and the minds behind these decks, consider joining the Riptide Collective discord server!