Why is Boltyn Succeeding this Pro Quest Season?

The meta of Rosetta has been full of surprises. Shaped by the combined forces of a new set and a significantly impactful banning, the Classic Constructed format has been completely unpredictable. New heroes Aurora, Verdance, and Florian have found early footing, while already known quantities like Enigma, Azalea, Nuu have continued to make plays for the top.

But in the midst of all this, other heroes are claiming unlikely spots at the top tables too. And over here in Wisconsin, Boltyn is making a name for himself.

Alex Tyler piloted Boltyn to a 3rd place finish last weekend at Battle Hardened: Milwaukee. He then proceeded to bring the deck out to a Pro Quest at Flying Phoenix Games in Oshkosh, where he claimed the gold foil - appropriately, a Cintari Saber. On Sunday, his compatriot ran the same deck and made Top 8 at a Pro Quest at Oddwillow's in Mukwonago. Here's the list:

Do you see anything surprising in there? Because I certainly don't. It's just - yeah, that is Boltyn, all right. No new Rosetta cards, no spicy tech, no brave new direction. And yet, out of nowhere, it's putting up the kind of consistent results you'd typically need a hot new addition to see.

Where did the rise to prominence come from? Is Alex just a specialist who's honed his craft? Or is there something about this moment that's prime for the Breaker of Dawn?

When you've got a question about Boltyn, who better to ask than Elly Bird? So I reached out to ask her, and here's what she had to say:

"I think a lot of Boltyn's success at the moment has to do with the banning of card draw effects, actually. The ceiling on a lot of the more degenerate players in the meta has fallen some, and Sabers combo has crept its way into a niche as one of the most powerful setup combos available in the game."

This was an interesting point, because I could definitely see how the lowering of card draw options could level the playing field a bit more, closing the gap between 'good' decks like Boltyn and 'great' decks like Zen used to be. But Art of War was a staple in Boltyn decks, and contributed to some of his most powerful turns; it astonishes me to see Boltyn shed the card without missing a beat!

Perhaps more egregiously, Alex Tyler's build doesn't use the Sabers combo at all! So yeah, maybe Lumina Ascension is the most bombastic combo turn that remains in the game, but if so Alex wasn't putting his eggs in that basket. Yes, Lumina Raydn is nothing to trifle with, but it's not a combo kill, it's just a power turn cycle.

Elly continued,

"I also think there's some amount of stability in hybrid lists lending him points into a pretty fresh meta; the deck typically does what you need it to, which is huge for people who are just looking to outplay their opponents." 

This one held more water. There's a conventional wisdom in TCGs that, in a new meta caused by a fresh release, consistent decks that just press go tend to do well into the chaos. Typically, those decks are aggro - but Flesh and Blood has always been a little bit unconventional, and I could just as well see stable, predictable play as the aggro-esque value that Boltyn brings.

What often goes underappreciated about Boltyn is just how much control he exerts over the opponent by penalizing their blocking his attacks at all. Not only are those 3s primed to climb to 4 with the wrong blocking card, they're also forwarding his gameplan by getting modified. Similarly, whenever Boltyn charges, Raydn threatens 3 damage beyond whatever attack is currently on offer. If this disincentivizes blocking, you're ultimately just letting Boltyn skip the steps in between - it's damage that wins games, in the end.

Seeing as we run in the same circles - and as he claimed the title at my home venue - I figured the next step was to reach out to Alex Tyler himself and see what was going through his mind when he tied his fortunes to Boltyn. After he wrapped up casting with The Second Cycle for the Pro Quest at Oddwillow's, he got back to me with this:

"So I think Boltyn is very tier 2 in this meta. In general, I don't think he's amazing in this meta unfortunately; but very high skilled pilots should be able to push a lot of matchups to the edge and into a winning state."

Wait, what?

"The deck causes a lot of degenerate scenarios to occur - which is where it's strong - but you have to be very aware of how to play out those hands. The deck is extremely hard to play at a high skill level because you really need to fully understand - inside and out - how your opponent's deck operates and what they want to do."

So Boltyn is succeeding because... Alex Tyler is one of the Boltyn Faithful and has worked hard to acquire a level of skill that overcomes the deck's expected position in the meta?

That's so much cooler!

"I would never pivot off Boltyn unless another deck really caught my attention; I'm just an addicted one-trick pony at this point."

And I admire that, Mr. Tyler. Well played.

Cycling back to the start of this piece, it's clear that Rosetta's meta is incredibly open right now, leaving room for a wide array of heroes to find paths forward. Such is the case with Wisconsin's Boltyn: driven to repeated success by sheer dedication and refined skills, thanks in part to a competitive landscape that no longer pushes Tier 2 out of contention. After the exaggerated differentials between tiers during Part the Mistveil's era, Rosetta is a welcome change of pace.