“In a constantly shifting cosmos, a world this static is… refreshing.”
Art:Viserai, Rune Blood
by Steve Argyle
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Hero Is:
Viserai is a very fun hero who had quite the showing at Pro Tour LA; after watching quite a few matches of Viserai, I became very interested in the hero and built a deck while watching day one of the pro tour; this deck is an absolute blast to play and is quite well-positioned in the meta. Viserai is also quite different from any other heroes I’ve played, and having a change of pace and playing a deck that can sit back and build rune chants is a ton of fun. I have been having so much fun with this one and am very excited to showcase the deck to you all today! Without further adieu, let’s get it!
Gameplan:
Viserai is a very strong deck that cares an absolute ton about tempo, while tempo is a very important thing in pretty much every game of Flesh and Blood but it is extremely important in Viserai. We have a midrange gameplan; we can certainly be decently aggressive and swing quite hard, but we also have no problem with sitting back and building rune chants for a huge damage turn later down the line. Whether we sit back or go aggressive depends on what hero we are against. While it is something we do passively, runechants are a great source of damage for the deck, and being able to stack them nearly every turn can certainly give us some OTK potential. The additional damage we can present from the runechants can get quite out of hand and allow us to deal huge damage and put a ton of pressure on our opponent.
Viserai, Rune Blood Runechants Classic Constructed
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| Hero / Weapon / Equipment |
|---|
| Hero: Viserai, Rune Blood Weapon: Nebula Blade  Equipment: Crown of Providence  Fyendal's Spring Tunic  Grasp of the Arknight  Spellbound Creepers  |
| Inventory |
|---|
| Pitch 1: 3x Command And Conquer (Red)  3x Sink Below (Red)  3x Oasis Respite (Red)  3x Enlightened Strike (Red)  Equipment: Crown of Dichotomy  Dyadic Carapace  Vexing Quillhand  |
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Deck Stats:
Attack Cards:
Arcanic Crackle (Red)
is a very strong card that is not only free but deals one arcane damage to an opposing hero, being able to do this at the end of a turn is a great way to pressure our opponents early. Drawn to the Dark Dimension (Red)
is a very strong card, strong enough that we play all three of both the red and the blue version. The card advantage is quite great as well, and we can almost always cast this for zero resources. Shrill of Skullform (Red)
is not played in every Viserai list but I think it is very good within the current meta. Since we create so many rune chants in the deck, Shrill Skullform almost always has its buff, and, when combined with all of our rune chants, can put a ton of pressure on our opponents; with this card and quite a few rune chants, I did nineteen damage in one turn to an opponent. Spellblade Strike (Red)
really does it all for the deck an aggressive card that creates a runechant attacks for four and blocks for three, this card is a bomb and it’s always great to see it in our hand. Last but certainly not least, one of my favorites is Swarming Gloomveil (Red)
this is a great card that only gets better and better, from go-again to a buff to finally stopping our opponents from preventing arcane damage, this card is a bomb for the deck and gives us a ton of payoffs for something we do commonly.
Non-Attack Cards:
Mauvrion Skies (Red)
is such a great card we play all nine copies! A zero-cost card with go-again is quite strong, and when we hit, we get three rune chants which, in this deck, is quite easy to get a hit, especially when we have been maintaining tempo. Revel in Runeblood (Red)
triggers in the same way that Viserai does and being able to create four runechants for one resource is very strong while we lose them at the end of turn we do get go-again so we are able to attack and deal arcane damage to our opponent. Runeblade Incantation (Red)
is a great aura that also helps us trigger any card that requires auras and being able to create a runechant token every turn is a great way to get some extra damage or pay the cost of the bind counters on our legs. Runic Reckoning (Red)
is a great card to play when we are being more aggressive and being able to buff up a Nebula Blade attack or if we have an on-hit effect to create even more runechants.
Equipment and Weapons:
Nebula Blade is an extremely busted piece of equipment. While it does cost two to attack, we are almost always attacking for four, and if we have a game where we are being quite passive, we can deal a ton of arcane damage and hit like a truck. Nebula Blade costing two to attack doesn’t really matter because we are extremely heavy on blues. If you have extra resources during your turn, attacking with Nebula Blade is always a great option.
Crown of Providence is a staple within CC for a reason, this piece of equipment is strong, having the additional two block at our disposal is great, and being able to get a bad card out of arsenal or hand and draw is great; we typically don’t block with our equipment until the end of the game so having this at the mid-end game is great.
Fyendal’s Spring Tunic is another very strong piece of equipment that is also a format staple, and in my opinion, this is a card that needs no introduction. Being able to tick up energy counters and get an additional resource is a great effect, and on turns where we need an extra resource or even just want to attack with Nebula Blade, it is very strong.
We produce a ton of rune chants, so we don’t always activate Grasp, but having the option at the end of the game, especially in a close game, can be a great way to close out the game. I think this equipment is extremely strong and valuable from the first turn to the last turn.
Spellbound Creepers not only has amazing art but is a very strong card, being able to cast non-attacks at instant speed can be very broken and disrupt our opponent and help us keep tempo. Because we deal quite a bit of arcane damage within the deck, we typically don’t have problems paying the bind counter cost.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We can spend a lot of our turns attacking very little and building up rune chants, and then once we have a ton, deal a kill shot to an opponent.
- We are decently strong at maintaining tempo against most heroes within the format, we have our tough matchups but are favored in some of the most popular decks.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- We are quite weak to Brute; combining their high attack with a lot of aggressiveness leaves us weak in that matchup.
- If we lose tempo throughout the game, it can be hard for us to recover.
Deck Matchups:
Please note: I am still fairly new to the game and haven’t played every hero with this deck. These are just from the games I played and some notes and takeaways I have. Another piece of note is that these are my experiences, and you may not have the exact same success or lack thereof against a certain hero.
Best Matchups:
I like the Dorinthea matchup for us; while they can easily high-roll us and out-damage us, we don’t need to be that aggressive against them. We can block most of their decently small weapon attacks and spend our turn focusing on creating rune chants and dealing huge damage once we have a ton of rune blades light up. I like this matchup a lot, and in testing, I am 5-0 versus Dorinthea.
Dorothea and the Kassai matchup are quite similar; we can block a majority of our decks, and since they don’t present a ton of damage on every turn, we can sit back and build up rune chants and deal a ton of damage all at once. I did not play against a ton of Kassai, but I am 3-0 in testing and find it to be quite a good matchup for us.
Worst Matchups:
Kayo is a tough matchup for us; not only can they be extremely aggressive and high-roll, but they also present very big attacks, which almost always take away our hand to block; this loss of tempo is absolutely devastating for Viserai, and overall, this is just a horrible matchup for us. In testing, I am 1-4 versus Kayo.
While we typically dominate Dromai at the beginning of the game when they are getting set up, they can easily stabilize, and when they do, they are extremely hard to stop; in my testing games, I was able to get Dromai down to 5, 3, and 1 within my games and I lost all of those. I am 0-5 against Dromai in testing.
Inventory Guide:
These are my opinions after jamming a bunch of games with Viserai:
No Changes, I like the base deck into this matchup.
Conclusion:
I hope you all enjoyed this one. Viserai is a hero I have always been fringe interested in, and after seeing a ton of success at Pro Tour LA, I was extremely excited to drop my hat in the ring and rock with a hero I have been looking to play for a long time. This deck has been a blast to pilot, and I think it’s quite well-positioned within the meta. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!