What We're Playing: Talon's Riptide

Back in November, I wrote about my fatigue Riptide list and — surprise, surprise— I’m still playing fatigue Riptide! Of course, there have been some updates as we refine the list and adapt to new metas.

The biggest changes have been to make the deck more consistent, especially against Guardian or other decks that can block out and swing with their weapon to fatigue us faster than we can fatigue them. In order to compensate, we want to:

• Prioritize consistent recursion and

• Swing with as many 7-power attacks as we can to either chip damage or strip 3 cards on block.

On the recursion side, I’ve actually cut Salvage Shots since they are easily blocked out, but cards like Give & Take offer more complicated decisions for your opponent and can lead to infinite loops if you can get them low enough. I’ve also added three copies of Remembrance to really help shore up our Guardian gameplan.

For 7 power attacks, we already run E-Strike and Battering Bolt (which pumps up to 7 when loaded with Dreadbore). The other exciting addition is Head Shot, which also pumps up to 7 with Dreadbore. All the arrows also deny defense reactions due to Dreadbore, making sure you demand extra resources.

But now for the real spice: to help fuel both sides of this, I’ve added Warmonger’s Recital. If you can pull it off, all those 7 attacks now come in for a new breakpoint at 10; and if they hit, you’ll get to come in for 7 again later. Playing Recital on a Give & Take means you are most definitely getting a card back into your deck, whether your opponent blocks or not.

As far as new Heavy Hitters tech, Balance of Justice is a stand out. Not only does it help defend against the Art of War or Bloodrush Bellow-fueled power turns, but you can also theoretically trigger it against any deck with a lucky Collapsing Trap.

Standing Order is another card worth keeping an eye on for Riptide. Losing only one card from your deck to cover 5 damage or a cheap 4-6 damage are both great options late game. I don’t have the space for it in my current lists, but it’s worth keeping an eye out for.

But now we come to the question I'm sure you've all been asking: what about Reel In? I speculated wildly about this card before, but so far I have been severely underwhelmed. Even with 20+ traps, the math is rarely worth it and 99% of the time I’d wish it was just about any other card.

This list is by no means final. I’m still in the process of fine tuning for the Road to Nationals season, Calling: Los Angeles, and the AGE March open.

Overall, fatigue Riptide is in a solid spot for those willing to put in the work to learn it. We still need a few pieces to really shine, but until then, I’ve landed on something I’m quite fond of.