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BP11: Bullet of Fate Primer

A primer on the currently and future playable cards in Bullet of Fate!

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BP11: Bullet of Fate

Welcome to BP11: Bullet of Fate! This set is a meta defining one, with the introduction of the Wasteland trait and its queen, Nahtnaught, Cursed Queen. Nahtnaught introduces a new mechanic in being able to Box enemy followers. (A follower being Boxed means that it loses all abilities and it doesn't refresh at the start of its owner's turn.)

Additionally, we get the introduction of Mount tokens, with the neutrals in Dutiful Steed, Bullet Bike, and Arcane Personnel Carrier, while we also have class specific ones in Val, Trusty Getaway Car and Magitrain.

Finally, we have the new mechanic Maneuver. This allows an amulet, until the end of the turn, to turn into a follower. Val, Trusty Getaway Car and Magitrain are the only two with this mechanic so far, but the amulets with Maneuver tend to be extremely difficult to remove, either requiring amulet removal, such as Execution, or Quick timing removal such as Rimewind. Amulet removal tends to have far too high of a deck building cost, so the only class that reasonably removes either of these tokens is runecraftRunecraft.


neutralNeutral

Before we take a look at any of the class specific cards, let's take a look at some of the more commonplace neutrals. These are mainly played in the upcoming Wasteland forestcraftForestcraft, swordcraftSwordcraft, dragoncraftDragoncraft, and havencraftHavencraft decks.

The neutralNeutral Mount tokens have a lot of interactions with the Wasteland cards by allowing them to bypass the traditional stat curve, and potentially being able to gain Rush with Bullet Bike or Ward from Arcane Personnel Carrier.

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Wasteland

  • Rivaylian Bandit: One of the strongest payoffs for the Wasteland archetypes, being able to use the buffs from the three neutral Wasteland mounts to convert into damage, while its evolved form is one of the better removals, dealing 2 damage if you have 2 Mount tokens on your field and/or in your EX area.
  • Wandering Chef: While its base form is a marginal amount of healing, its evolved form is one of any Wasteland archetype's consistency cards: Look at the top 4 cards of your deck. You may reveal a Wasteland card from among them and add it to your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order.
  • Vagabond Lizard: Vagabond Lizard is one of the archetype's generics, either being able to put a Bullet Bike into the field or EX area. The card is similar to Colorful Cook in that every Wasteland deck wants to run at least 2, leaning towards 3.

Future Support

  • Embodiment of Cocytus: Given that an upcoming restriction to 1 has been announced for Planetary Fracture on release, running Embodiment of Cocytus to tutor it would be the primary way to enable Planetary Fracture. Additionally, having a secondary mode of being able to destroy an enemy follower at the cost of defense3 is certainly nothing to scoff at.

Tokens

  • Dutiful Steed: Dutiful Steed is the least generic Mount that we have, specifically only being able to buff Wasteland followers with attack+1/defense+1. While cheating the stat curve is impactful, Bullet Bike and Arcane Personnel Carrier both have applications outside of the Wasteland archetypes.
  • Bullet Bike: Rush is a powerful keyword not given to every follower, but with the Bullet Bike, you can give it to followers that traditionally wouldn't have the keyword, such as Noble Fairy. This can additionally help strengthen some of the more non-traditional strategies by letting followers trade where they traditionally wouldn't be able to!.

forestcraftForest

Wasteland forestcraftForestcraft is a very aggressive combo deck, utilizing cards like Varmint Hunter and Giant Pastures to reclaim the board while setting up for strong swing turns using Loxis, Homestead Pioneer.

Alongside the Wasteland support, Shamu & Shama, Posh Felines is one of the few forestcraftForestcraft cards that have Storm while not needing to evolve.

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Generic Support

Wasteland

  • Cactus Cowboy: Cactus Cowboy is Wasteland forestcraftForestcraft's in class 1 drop which both helps enable the deck's primary gameplan and helps with incidental removal if you progress your Mount quantity far enough.
  • Varmint Hunter: One of the stronger ways to interact with the board that Wasteland forestcraftForestcraft has. A notable interaction that you have to be mindful of is that if Vagabond Lizard's lastwordsLast Words activates, Varmint Hunter doesn't do damage if it is during your opponent's turn.
  • Giant Pastures: Giant Pastures is Wasteland forestcraftForestcraft's top end card, providing on average a much needed 4 to 5 damage to your opponent's board and leader.

Existing Support

  • Corrosive Thorns: While not for the primary Wasteland forestcraftForestcraft archetype, it gives Fairy based archetypes the ability to engage: Select an enemy follower. Deal 3 damage to an enemy followers and 1 damage to its leader. The deck tends to not have ways to interact with enemy followers, so Corrosive Thorns enables Fairy decks the ability to respond to the strong boards that are present while dealing a little bit of chip damage.
  • Scavenge: A new spell to help the to the Puppet archetype. While this card does require a Puppetry card in your cemetery, it does allow you to add some of your stronger Puppetry cards back from your cemetery such as Orchis, Puppet Girl and Heartless Battle.

swordcraftSword

Wasteland swordcraftSwordcraft is the strongest deck to come out of BP11: Bullet of Fate, and with that comes a number of strong archetypal cards. Nahtnaught, Cursed Queen and Tyrant's Order together make up the deck's main source of consistency, while Naht's Henchman and Val, Trusty Getaway Car together help the deck keep drawing cards.

Additionally, Nahtnaught, Cursed Queen sees support in most other swordcraftSwordcraft archetypes, as she is a generically strong card - being able to Box an enemy follower is a unique method of interaction that most decks don't have a way to deal with with.

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Generic Support

  • Nahtnaught, Cursed Queen: The defining card of Wasteland swordcraftSwordcraft, Nahtnaught, Cursed Queen introduces a new mechanic of being able to Box an enemy follower (Boxed followers lose all abilities and don't refresh during the start phase). Furthermore, on fanfareFanfare, she tutors any 1 cost swordcraftSwordcraft card and puts it into the EX area, allowing you to do one of the following: Remove a follower and tutor out another Wasteland card with Tyrant's Order, summon a free 2/2 and draw a card with Naht's Henchman, or push damage with Radical Gunslinger. There are also plenty of non-Wasteland targets for her, so make sure to design your decks with her flexibility in mind!
  • Naht's Henchman: 1 cost 2/2s are always well statted, and Naht's Henchman has the upside of being able to cost 0 if tutored off of Nahtnaught, Cursed Queen, while also drawing a card if summoned while she is on the field.

Wasteland

  • Radical Gunslinger: One of the plenty of tutorable Wasteland 1 drops that Wasteland swordcraftSwordcraft has, but she also allows you to translate Mounts that you wouldn't want to bury into 2 damage chips that eventually allow you to end the game.
  • Outlaw Gunner: Outlaw Gunner sets up a Bullet Bike on fanfareFanfare while dealing 2 damage on lastwordsLast Words, she helps you both apply pressure and potentially interact with the opponent's board if you want to spend the Bullet Bike immediately.

  • Desperados' Shot: One of Wasteland swordcraftSwordcraft's weaknesses is not being able to deal with standing followers very well outside of Nahtnaught, Cursed Queen, and Desperados' Shot helps shore that up while also providing chip damage if played alongside Bunny & Baron, Specter Duo.


runecraftRune

The most eye-catching runecraftRunecraft cards this set are Vincent, the Peacekeeper and his evolution - especially the ability to do 12 damage if you have 12 cards with different base costs in your cemetery. With Magical Gunslinger, the deck is able to cycle through cards with relative ease.

Despite this, the strongest runecraftRunecraft cards this set do happen to amplify some of the already strong runecraftRunecraft archetypes, namely Earth Rite and Dimension Shift.

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Wasteland

  • Magical Gunslinger: Given that Vincent, the Peacekeeper's archetype needs to be able to cycle through cards quickly, Magical Gunslinger helps to achieve this goal while pinging enemy followers in the process with her ability: During your turn, whenever a Mount card is put onto your field, select an enemy follower on the field. Deal it 2 damage, draw a card, then discard a card. Her on evolve effect does require you to have 6 cards with different base costs in your cemetery, which should be helped by the rest of the deck.

Existing Support

  • Rapid Fire: A 1 cost Quick spell that deals 2 damage has been a staple of Spellchain runecraftRunecraft decks since Angelic Snipe was released in the starter decks. Since Rapid Fire is a 1 cost deal 2 damage to an enemy follower that can scale up to 3 damage once you have 3 in your cemetery, it is sure to see play in both present and future versions of Spellchain runecraftRunecraft.
  • Crystal Fencer: A massive boost to any runecraftRunecraft decks that want to cast 2 or higher cost spells, given that his fanfareFanfare is Draw a card. Discard a card, and his evolve lets you cheat out a runecraftRunecraft spell for 3 less. One of the strongest interactions that Crystal Fencer has presently is that you can place Dimension Shift in your EX area, and it will cost 4, effectively making Crystal Fencer a 1 cost (or 0 with an Evolve Point)
  • Artistic Arcanist: One of the most adaptable cards for Earth Rite, Artistic Arcanist has some synergies with being able to give any other allied follower Rush, Bane or Drain, and she can also do the same with Riley, Hydroshaman. This ability is not once per turn, so as long as you have the Stack, you can repeatedly give followers Bane, Drain, or Rush. Her evolved form is also a nice soft removal, being able to put an enemy's follower into the EX area.
  • Terra Nova: With the introduction of Artistic Arcanist, Earth Rite becomes even more Stack hungry, and Terra Nova helps by generating 3 Stacks for 2 mana, setting up for being able to get both tokens from Ceridwen, Eternity Hunter on the next turn, or simply accumulating more Stacks for the rest of the game. Additionally, floating 2 play points would allow you to bluff other quick spells such as Rimewind.

dragoncraftDragon

Reggie, Peerless Artisan defines an aggressive Wasteland dragoncraftDragoncraft archetype, leaning off of the existing facets of an aggro dragoncraftDragoncraft deck that previously existed due to Dark Dragoon Forte, and the deck always needs additional sources of damage in order to help finish the game.

Most of the other dragoncraftDragoncraft cards from this set are listed because of their applications in future sets, primarily with Draconic Duelist's future support in Drache, Fiery Dragonlord from Set 13 and 7 cost dragoncraftDragoncraft's primary win con in Burnite, Anathema of Flame from Set 16. But, most of these 7 cost cards do have a potential application in an off-meta strategy in Ramp dragoncraftDragoncraft.

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Wasteland

  • Reggie, Peerless Artisan: Reggie, Peerless Artisan's fanfareFanfare has a number of valuable targets, with the strongest typically being Rivaylian Bandit due to the fact that she gains Storm off of Reggie's on evolve effect. Additionally, if you simply plan to flood the board, or have a second Reggie, summoning Balefire Wrenchsmith may be a valuable option as well.

Existing Support

  • Georgius: Being the only Draconic Duelist card released in Bullet of Fate, Georgius is often run at only 1 copy, due to either being able to search him out of your deck with Pure-Voiced Dragoon, or in Set 13, using Drache, Fiery Dragonlord to summon Georgius to help clear the board with his evolve effect.

Future Support

  • Draconic Call: Draconic Call is one of the strongest consistency cards for 7 cost dragoncraftDragoncraft. It is, as of the time of writing, one of the very few cards that goes positive in hand size within the archetype.
  • Thunderous Roar: Running a lot of high cost cards means that removal is few and far between, and despite Thunderous Roar not being a 7 cost or higher card, being able to partially cycle through them early while also acting as removal is extremely helpful.
  • Resplendent Phoenix: While Fennie, as she as known as, seems like a 'casino' card of sorts, she tends to perform better in dragoncraftDragoncraft decks that run on the higher cost side, with one of the more notable 'fun' hits being Jabberwock.
  • Azureflame Dragonewt: Azureflame Dragonewt serves a similar purpose to Thunderous Roar, while actually being a 7 cost card. His fanfareFanfare and evolve effect tend to not be used very often, but the actcost01effect tends to be strong enough to include in every 7 cost deck.
  • Pumpkin Dragon: Pumpkin Dragon as a name seems a silly dragon, but its effect is no laughing matter. Being able to restore 5 defenseto your leader in both modes, while potentially being able to actcost02to restore 5 defensefor the simple cost of discarding Pumpkin Dragon and a 7 cost dragoncraftDragoncraft card.
  • Dragon-Devouring Dread: Ramp in dragoncraftDragoncraft tends to often be at least playable, but Dragon-Devouring Dread synergizes immensely with the gameplan of 7 cost dragoncraftDragoncraft, while being for only actcost03. The fanfareFanfare tends to not come up outside of very specific matchups.
  • Wavecrest Angler: In the recently released Set 17, Disrestan, Ocean Harbinger defines Marine as a very viable deck, and Wavecrest Angler is one of the deck's standard look at top 3, and effectively 'draw' one.

abysscraftAbyss

abysscraftAbysscraft this set supported a wide variety of existing archetypes, not limited to Sanguine, Necrocharge, and 2 cost abysscraftAbysscraft. Additionally, with the introduction of Illganeau, Horror Astray and Wretch, the core of a Wasteland abysscraftAbysscraft archetype begins to form.

Additonally, Iceschillendrig, Gilded Autocrat is one of the most powerful generic cards abysscraftAbysscraft gets, especially since he has an innate synergy with Chris, Beyond the Patch from Set 13.

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Generic Support

  • Iceschillendrig, Gilded Autocrat: Iceschillendrig, Gilded Autocrat is the strongest abysscraftAbysscraft card released this set. He has the persistent effect of forcing each opponent to discard a card when he becomes engaged - something easily achievable with Magitrain. Additionally, Dead to Rights helps your Magitrain remove enemy followers long after Iceschillendrig has been put into your cemetery. His on evolve effect is very powerful as well - Discard a card: Select 2 followers in your cemetery and add them to your hand. On evolve, after using the Magitrain acteffect on him, he engages two enemy followers, which makes removing boards significantly easier. Icey, as he is often called by the community, sees even more play in set 13 and beyond with the release of Chris, Beyond the Patch.
  • Dead to Rights: Dead to Rights is the newest defensedefense reduction effect at quick timing that we have. Additionally, as a Quick effect, you can give an enemy follower attack-2 while it is attacking you, potentially saving you defense2. The acteffect of Dead to Rights also allows you to engagean enemy follower, which either has synergies with Iceschillendrig, Gilded Autocrat or simply allows you to swing into standing enemy followers.

Wasteland

  • Illganeau, Horror Astray: Illganeau helps two specific abysscraftAbysscraft archetypes, the Necrocharge and Wasteland archetypes. Her lastwordsLast Words effect, at least in Bullet of Fate, has two primary targets - Greatpick Corpse for removal, and Wretch to evolve it and give it Storm
  • Skeleton Dreamer: Wasteland abysscraftAbysscraft has few ways to definitively push towards ending the game, and Skeleton Dreamer being able to gain Storm, mainly from the neutralNeutral Mount tokens, helps the deck end the game as effectively a second Rivaylian Bandit. Its lastwordsLast Words effect also helps you progress any gameplans involving Necrocharge.
  • Greatpick Corpse: Greatpick Corpse is one of the most versatile cards that abysscraftAbysscraft received this set - a 3 cost 3/3 that deals 4 damage to an enemy follower, at the cost of burying any other allied card - including the neutralNeutral Mount tokens. A notable synergy, if a Dutiful Steed is in play, is that you are able to bury the Dutiful Steed and then actit to give the Greatpick Corpse attack+1/defense+1.
  • Wretch: The other notable target for Illganeau, Horror Astray's acteffect, Wretch helps by either trading into enemy followers and burying the top 2, or with its evolved form dealing having 5 damage to an enemy follower and having Storm, Wretch is another one of Wasteland abysscraftAbysscraft's stronger Necrocharge payoffs.

Existing Support

  • Grudge Teller: Being aggressive Sanguine support, Grudge Teller is simply a solid card to help reduce the enemy's defensedefense to zero, with one of the stronger activators being Blood Moon - there are plenty of sources to activate Sanguine though, so be wary of how much more damage the deck gets with Grudge Teller.
  • Hazhan, Demonblade Knight: One issue Sanguine decks tends to have is not being able to interact meaningfully with some of the scarier boards that get put out by a number of decks, but Hazhan, Demonblade Knight is able to, with his evolved form, he is able to push 2 damage per turn while removing two enemy followers and restoring defense2 , given that he has Assail, Bane, Drain, and the ability to swing twice per turn.
  • Spiderweb Array: While Spiderweb Array seems like a not very impactful card, the primary abysscraftAbysscraft deck that would run it would be 2 cost abysscraftAbysscraft - the deck desperately needs solid 2 cost cards that help you draw towards Crimson Rose Queen, and engageengaging an enemy follower also helps you trade into enemy followers with cards like Tsukuyomi.

havencraftHaven

Wasteland havencraftHavencraft is introduced this set as an aggressive, Storm heavy archetype, with its standout cards being Selena, Sugarkiss Assassin and Anvelt, Judgment's Cannon. Additionally, Control havencraftHavencraft gains some powerful tools in Benevolent Blight, Holy Sanctuary, and Set.

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Wasteland

  • Selena, Sugarkiss Assassin: Being the primary engine for Wasteland havencraftHavencraft, Selena, Sugarkiss Assassin is effectively a 2 cost draw 2 that also deals 2 damage to the enemy leader. Her fanfareFanfare targeting one 2 cost or lower follower and a Wasteland follower casts a large enough net for cards that you're sure to have a card that can be played alongside her, depending on the amount of playpoints you have remaining after swinging with her. Notably, 2 or less cost Wasteland cards can satisfy either of her fanfareFanfare conditions, which would leave the other selection open. At 2 play points remaining, Revolver Eagle is a strong target. At 3, Vengeful Sniper is powerful as well. At 4, you can even play another Selena, Sugarkiss Assassin.
  • Anvelt, Judgment's Cannon: As Wasteland havencraftHavencraft's top end, Anvelt, Judgement's Cannon acts as both removal and chip damage. His on evolve effect is a repeat of his fanfareFanfare, which allows him to deal up to 12 damage to an enemy board. The condition to deal 2 damage (4 damage if you evolve him) is almost always active as long as you hold onto a Mount token or a Wasteland card from Selena, Sugarkiss Assassin's fanfareFanfare, so Anvelt helps chip for usually 4 damage while clearing most boards.
  • Shady Priest: While Shady Priest seems like a simple re-hash of Quixotic Adventurer, he does offer a way to banish enemy followers by paying cost03 whenever a Mount card you control leaves the field.
  • Sacred Stone Apostle: Sacred Stone Apostle is a very simple card that has a high amount of synergy with Wasteland havencraftHavencraft's primary gameplan - cheat out stats by spending 1 play point for a attack2/defense3 if you have a Mount in play, while offering some cycle with her Strike effect.
  • Haven Fire: Dealing 4 damage to an enemy follower for 2 play points has become the new standard in stat breakpoints, but with Selena, Sugarkiss Assassin in play, Haven Fire costs 1 less, and with a Wasteland card in your EX area, it deals 1 damage to your enemy. The chip damage, while seeming small, helps Wasteland havencraftHavencraft get closer to ending the game.
  • Revolver Eagle: In an aggro deck, Storm is a very powerful keyword. As one of the two havencraftHavencraft cards this set with Storm, Revolver Eagle is a very solid card - generating a Bullet Bike. Being 2 play points, it is also a valid target off of Selena, Sugarkiss Assassin's fanfareFanfare that you can select alongside another Wasteland card.
  • Vengeful Sniper: Vengeful Sniper is a powerful card for both Amulet havencraftHavencraft and Wasteland havencraftHavencraft, providing essential chip damage for both decks. Additionally, her on evolve effect is helpful for both decks as well, since banishing cards is a way of removing cards that prevents their lastwordsLast Words effects from triggering - and Bullet of Fate has plenty of meaningful lastwordsLast Words effects.

Existing Support

  • Benevolent Blight: While not as relevant for Wasteland havencraftHavencraft, Benevolent Blight does everything that Control havencraftHavencraft wants - it deals 2 damage to each enemy follower, it gives your leader defense+2, and it draws you a card.
  • Holy Sanctuary: Holy Sanctuary is one of three cards in havencraftHavencraft that has an interaction whenever your leader gains defensedefense, but with the introduction of Candelabra of Prayers and Tenko's Shrine, a more heal oriented version of Amulet havencraftHavencraft exists, and the introduction of more consistent low cost heals will certainly help Holy Sanctuary thrive.
  • Set: Both of Set's abilities are very relevant in current and future Control havencraftHavencraft decks - being able to actcost01to discard him and give your leader defense+2 ensures that he will never be a 'brick' in your hand, while Set as a 6 cost follower is extremely annoying to remove. Ward, Bane, and Aura together on a follower with defense6 means that it will take usually two or three followers to trade into him and remove him, and his evolved form being defense7 and giving your leader defense4 makes him that much more annoying to deal with.