Dusk Till Dawn Hero Discussion pt.2

Vynnset, Iron Maiden part 2

Previously, I covered my first impressions on Vynnset and showed a couple of decklists based on them. After some feedback from my friends and readers, I’m going to cover more on some of the play patterns from one of the decks I made.

Decklist

After some tweaking, this is the decklist I landed on if I were to play Vynnset in the first week after Dusk Till Dawn releases. There have been quite a few edits from my first draft, but I think this is a better version of the initial deck I had in mind.

Equipment

Starting from the top, I think the equipment set is pretty standard for Runeblade. Crown of Providence continues to outperform every other headpiece, and even though Ebon Fold has some synergy with Shadow Runeblade cards in general, I don’t think anything can replace Crown of Providence in the meantime.

Next up, we have Fyendal’s Spring Tunic. The resource gained every 3 turns on the tunic is extremely valuable, considering we have a few 1 cost cards. With Vynnset’s ability “eating” a card every turn, sometimes it’s impossible to pitch a card to pay for them. Tunic helps to solve that problem, as well as sometimes enabling us to play 3 cost cards with a yellow pitch. Aether Ironweave is not as good here, as unlike Chane and Viserai that relies quite heavily on NAAs, Vynnset can sometimes do without. Another equipment that can fit into this slot is the new Dyadic Carapace. Not only does it have Arcane Barrier 2 for matchups like Wizards or other Runeblades, it is a 2 block Temper equipment which means you effectively have 3 additional life.

For the arms, the pretty standard Grasp of the Arknight. I don’t think much can be said about this Runeblade staple, and I don’t really see this being replaced by anything anytime soon. However, in builds that rely more heavily on Runechants, perhaps Vexing Quillhand would be better, as it would instantly enable a 3 cost Rune Gate card to be played in the same turn with no cards in hand (1 from Vynnset’s ability, 2 from Vexing Quillhand’s ability).

Spellbound Creepers rounds out the leg piece for equipments. As I have covered previously, Vynnset’s ability to sometimes dish out unavoidable arcane damage means that Spellbound Creepers can become a very sticky piece of equipment even after initial activation.

No Rosetta Thorn?! What Runeblade is this?

The obvious lack of Rosetta Thorn is apparent here. So here’s my reasoning for why we’re running Flail of Agony and Grimoire of the Haunt instead of Rosetta Thorn. Flail of Agony’s activation cost requires 1 life instead of a resource. In combination with Vynnset’s hero ability of banishing a card, effectively you are paying 1 life to deal 1 arcane damage, and threaten 1 more physical damage with an on-hit effect of creating a Runechant for the next turn. Sometimes if you are required to block with your entire hand, you can even trade 1 hp to threaten 1 damage that enables some of your Rune Gate cards the following turn. The utility on this weapon is much better compared to trying to get maximum value from the Rosetta Thorn. Grimoire is there as the offhand, since you have the luxury of having Flail of Agony as a 1H weapon. Eloquence has more upside in the deck, which I will explore more in depth as we go into the main deck.

Rune Gate

The core of Vynnset, Rune Gate. On first glance, Rune Gate cheats on resource as it allows you to play cards without paying resource. The main restriction however, is that you are unable to play rune gate cards from banish UNLESS you have equal or greater number of Runechants to the cost of the rune gate card. Rune gate cards generally have a resource cost of 2 and above, which means unless you control 2 Runechants, you are unable to play rune gate cards from banish. Interestingly enough, this means cards like Widespread Ruin can effectively be a 1 card for 8 damage, representing 2 from Runechants and 6 from the card itself, costing 0 from rune gate. As long as we can keep up the Runechant generation to match the cost of our rune gate cards, we can also play less blues in order to support them.

Another thing to note about rune gate cards is most of them have an effect that says “When the combat chain closes, do something equal to the number of heroes who have lost life this turn”. If you can somehow get 2 rune gate cards out on the same turn, you will have both effects. Notable effects are creating Runechants, banishing card from arsenal and banishing card from hand.

Enablers

These cards are there to ensure that you can upkeep the rune gate costs. Funeral Moon can be used on your off turn when you attack with a Flail of Agony, or during an offensive turn where you play a Shadow NAA to enable Vynnset to deal unpreventable arcane damage, allowing you to play Funeral Moon as an instant. Cards like Revel in Runeblood and Read the Runes generates a large number of Runechants, which in turn enables expensive rune gate cards to be played. Envelop in Darkness is a Shadow (Runeblade) NAA that not only creates a Runechant, but in combination with cards such as Deathly Wail, allow you to follow up with a second rune gate attack with all the Runechants you generate. An added bonus is also granting the next rune gate card played bonus attack.

Some other enablers are cards that give other cards go again, like Art of War and Shadow Puppetry. Art of War has the added upside of letting you dig deeper for Read the Runes or Revel in Runeblood and Envelop in Darkness. Shadow Puppetry does the same thing, with less pitch but at 0 cost. On top of being 0 cost, Shadow Puppetry gives +1 to your 6 power attacks letting you hit the breakpoint power of 7 making it very difficult for your opponent to block the mixed arcane and physical damage coming at them.

Oblivion

Vynnset’s Eclipse. Like Eclipse, this is an instant that lets you summon Nasreth, the Soul Harrower, and similarly there is a requirement to play this card which is to control exactly 6 Runechants. Interestingly enough, there are a couple of ways to hit exactly 6 Runechants.

The simplest way of hitting exactly 6 is with Runeblood Incantation, having 1 Runechant the previous turn, gaining 1 Runechant with Vynnset’s ability and Read the Runes. This is where our Eloquence token comes in. Remember our Grimoire? If we pay 1 resource, we can Read the Runes with go again which allows us to also attack with Nasreth! Alternatively, Requiem for the Damned is also another way for us to gain the Eloquence token. Interestingly enough, if we were to be able to play Requiem as an instant, you can also use Spellbound Creepers to play Read the Runes after Requiem to give Read the Runes go again as an instant, gaining 1 action point in the process.

Not Ursur

So what’s up with Nasreth and how does it fit in here? While Nasreth has no inherent go again, or ways to let it have go again, allies attack do not trigger Runechants. This means that if you somehow want to store up enough Runechants for a big turn, you can simply just attack with Nasreth for no cost at all, while keeping your opponent on their toes for your big turn.

Vynnset Gameplay

Let’s go over some sample hands to see how Vynnset plays.

Obviously not a very ideal hand, but still very interesting. Assuming this is the first turn of the game, there are a few ways to play this hand,

1. Banish Funeral Moon, play Funeral Moon and arsenal Requiem for the Damned

2. Banish Funeral Moon, pay 1 life to attack with Flail of Agony, play both Funeral Moon and Requiem as an instant, then arsenal the other Requiem

Why are we not activating Grasp, because Vynnset’s ability generates a Runechant at the start of the turn, so it’s not very good when we draw so many reds. The first play saves us a life, prevents the opponent from filtering out his hand by blocking with his worst card, while also letting us hold 2 Runechants to begin the next turn with. The second play is more aggressive, but lets us end the turn with an Eloquence and 2 Runechants at the cost of 1 life. I personally think the 2nd option is the better choice since it lets you setup more awhile filtering out your hands, at the cost of only 1 life.

However there is yet another line, which will set us up for potentially an explosive 2nd turn, which is to Banish Deahtly Wail, pay 1 life to attack with Flail of Agony, play both Funeral Moon and Requiem from hand as instants, then arsenal the other Requiem. We take 2 damage on turn 0 here, and let our opponent filter, but here if our second hand permits, we could have a double attack going the following turn.

This hand is interesting. In the mid game, there are a few ways to play this

If blocking is required

1. Block with Deathly Wail, banish Vantom Wraith for 1 Runechant, pitch Read the Runes to play Envelop maybe triggering Vynnset’s ability, then playing Vantom Wraith for 2 arcane damage from Runechants and 9 from the Vantom Wraith

2. If Tunic is active, block with Deathly Wail and Read the Runes, do the same play as above

3. If Tunic is active, starting with 1 Runechant, instead of blocking with Deathly Wail block with Vantom Wraith

4. Block with Deathly Wail, Envelop in Darkness, Read the Runes if you have a single Runechant before your turn

5. Block with Vantom Wraith, Envelop in Darkness, Read the Runes if you have 2 Runechants before your turn

6. Block with everything, attack with Flail of Agony

If blocking is not required

1. If you have no Runechants, banish Vantom Wraith, pitch Deathly Wail to play Envelop in Darkness, Rune Gate Vantom Wraith for 2 arcane damage and 9 from the Vantom Wraith, arsenal Read the Runes

2. If you have 1 Runechant, banish Deathly Wail, pitch Vantom Wraith for Envelop in Darkness, Rune Gate Deathly Wail for 3 arcane damage and 8 from Deathly Wail, creating 2 Runechants if you paid 1 life for Vynnset’s ability, arsenal Read the Runes

Either way, you will notice that Vynnset is more than happy to block, and even if your opponent decides that he can give you more cards to play with, you are more than able to utilize most if not all of the cards you are given.

Afterthoughts

I think Vynnset is an extremely powerful hero with a unique playstyle from other Runeblades so far. If anything, I feel that Vynnset plays very similarly to Guardian, now that there is a gap to be filled with Oldhim achieving Living Legend. The recent ban to Bull’s Eye Bracers also brings down the overall damage of Lexi in any given turn, as well as removing a crucial piece of Arcane Barrier. Given that I am still a Prism player at heart, I hope to have the time to also explore Vynnset this upcoming meta.

Thanks for reading this! Do leave me a comment or pm me if you have any feedback! Till next time!

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P.P.S. Also thanks to everyone who have given me feedback as well as the local community for giving me some ideas!

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