Blitz Deck Tech: Arakni, Solitary Confinement - Assassin

After dealing with Uzuri and Riptide let's finish this series of Outsiders with the hero that least attracted players' attention, but that in practice it brought a positive experience and excited Assassin class enthusiasts. Today is the day of Arakni, Solitary Confinement!

If you are not familiar with Outsiders, I recommend that you read our set review before reading on.

Like Ira, Crimson Haze and Benji, the Piercing Wind, Arakni, Solitary Confinement doesn't have an adult version, making it exclusive to the Blitz format.

As there is the existence of Arakni, a certain confusion can occur because they are the same character, but for deckbuilding purposes they are different heroes, they have their own Signature Weapon and their own Living Legend points, however as both have the name Arakni, can use the hero specializations (which at the time of writing this article, is Regicide).

While the original hero uses the contract mechanic, Arakni, Solitary Confinement sympathizes with Uzuri and abuses cards with Stealth. No Assassin has attacks of its class with cadence, and the new hero offers that cadence by granting go again for the first stealth attack, at the cost of only having nineteen health.

So let's analyze your deck and see how strong a cadence of killer attacks is.

Like all the heroes in the set, Arakni, Solitary Confinement also comes with a pre-constructed deck that's very well put together and conveys the hero's idea well.

The first thing you notice is the various Stealth attacks on the list. The idea here is to attack, every turn, with a Stealth card, then either a stealth attack, or a better attack like Virulent Touch (1).

The list also has some Attack and Defense Reactions, but we'll comment on the best cards that will continue in the next versions.

Prowl (1) is an attack designed for the hero. For the next attack to have one more power it is necessary that Prowl (1) has go again, and the hero grants this ability, so it is an important card for the deck and assertive in having all copies.

The rest of Stealth attacks are pretty standard and form the deck's core. Sedate (1), Infect (1) and Wither (1) are the main ones, each dropping the respective disease token and Isolate (1) and Malign (1) to complete this shell.

Spike with Bloodrot (1) and Razor's Edge (1) come in here as synergy for stealth cards. Both have the same goal: to increase the attack in a "surprise" way and eventually perform the on-hit effect of these attacks (Note that Spike with Bloodrot (1) grants an on-hit effect).

The equipment is perfect for a budget list, being one of the best equipment sets among precons. Blossom of Spring to gain one more resource for the turn, Mask of Malicious Manifestations to fix a hand without good attacks, Snapdragon Scalers to give more cadence to your attacks, Toxic Tips to give an on-hit effect for the next attack and Spider's Bite as a default weapon for Assassin

And the precon is that simple. The list shows the idea of what an aggressive deck is in Flesh and Blood where we attack with a few attacks and eventually grow them (even dealing lethal damage).

Even though the precon is very well-built and presents the hero's proposal, and is even efficient, way, it is not without problems. The main one is some cards that seem lost in the list or excess copies of some others.

So, for the first upgrade, we're going to look to take those cards out and improve the deck.

The first thing to do is take out some stealth and non-stealth attacks and put in better ones. Back Stab (1) has the same status as the other attacks (cost zero, three power and defends three), but its ability to not allow Defense Reactions makes it the favorite to grow power, being great to pass damage.

Another great Stealth card is Infiltrate. Despite following the same status as the other attacks, it has a desirable on-hit effect, where we "steal" a card from the opponent.

With a bit of luck, this exiled card can be of crucial importance for some decks (such as Channel Mount Heroic from Briar or Steelblade Supremacy from Dorinthea) or you can benefit from it (like an Art of War or Nimblism (1)). In addition, the attack is good both to gain go again and to end the turn with it with one more buff of Prowl (1) or Razor's Edge (1).

For the Non-Stealth cards, let's put some staples of aggressive decks. Ravenous Rabble (1) takes advantage of the list having a high density of red cards and gives cadence to the hero.

Scar for a Scar (1) is excellent on low health heroes (such as Riptide), making its requirement met from the first turn. Snatch (1) is one of the best attacks to end the turn with a power that is difficult to defend with only one card and an on-hit effect that guarantees you an arsenal.

Another excellent attack is Death Touch (1). While it needs to be in the arsenal to play, its low cost, high power, and flexible on-hit makes it a welcome addition, providing a threatening attack for the opponent.

In addition to attacks, we're going to include some non-attack cards to increase the power of attacks or help with the strategy in some way. Nimblism (1) and Razor Reflex (1) are already classic cards in this type of strategy.

Toxicity (1) adds an extremely threatening on-hit effect to the opponent (especially in a format where five health means 1/4 of their total) and is very useful when we guarantee that the damage will pass.

Shred (2) and Spreading Plague punish the opponent who doesn't understand how the class works. While Shred (2) is a way to ensure that some damage passes or "nullifies" a Defense Reaction, Spreading Plague punishes the opponent for defending too much of an attack by granting Bloodrot Pox which is the best disease token in the Blitz format.

We will make absolutely no changes to the equipment. They are already good enough for the strategy without letting us down. The only change that can be made is to change the headgear to Mask of Shifting Perspectives to be able to fix the hand after a dagger hit, but the choice of which mask is the best ends up being to the player.

To accommodate these changes, we will remove the following cards:

Attacks: Infect (2), Hurl (1), Malign (1), Prowl (2), all copies of Sedate (1), Spring Load (1), Virulent Touch (1) and Wither (3)

Non-attacks: Bloodrot Trap (1), Razor's Edge (3), Short and Sharp (1)

Equipment: None.

Now let's go to the last version of the deck with the best cards and equipment that the game can offer us.

First, let's discuss the most profound change that will influence the cards: equipment.

A quick observation: the Assassin class has its own equipment in each of the available slots, and if you already have any of them or want to invest in the class and don't want to spend on more expensive equipment, feel free to use them. But our list doesn't focus on contract mechanics, so it's harder to get them back from the graveyard.

In the head, Crown of Providence is our favorite choice because it can protect our arsenal or fix a bad hand, but Arcanite Skullcap does an excellent job by already starting defending one more because the hero has less health almost any other hero outside Kano.

On the breastplate, Fyendal's Spring Tunic provides the "one more resource" needed to use our Attack Recations - and also lets you attack with both daggers using just one blue pitch. Another viable option is Redback Shroud which has an identical role to the tunic, but only for Attack Reactions - in addition to its Battleworn that protects one from damage without breaking.

In the hands, Flick Knives will bring a significant change: as its ability "throws" one of our equipped daggers, we need to have more different daggers in the inventory (or sideboard) and some way to equip them, so we're going to add the other daggers (in addition to Spider's Bite), namely Orbitoclast, Nerve Scalpel and Scale Peeler and put some more cards in the deck that help with this plan.

Concealed Blade is what allows us to equip out-of-game daggers. Although the extra one may be little, it is enough for the on-hit effect to apply. Always keeping two daggers equipped is critical, both to do the Flick Knives' effect again and to have two weapons to attack in the late game.

Enlightened Strike is a classic in aggressive lists. Its modes are flexible, and its stats are above other attacks, making it an excellent choice for this deck.

Another new card that can be used here is Premeditate. Although the card only increases the power of the next attack in the arsenal (requiring a certain setup to get the best out of it), the on-hit effect of creating a Ponder at the end of the turn guarantees us an arsenal if an attack deals damage.

To end this list, let's remove the following cards:

Attacks: Infect (3) blue, Prowl (3) blue

Non-attacks: Nimblism (1)

Equipment: Blossom of Spring, Mask of Malicious Manifestations, Toxic Tips

Some tips for playing with the deck:

- Generally, starting the turn with a dagger attack is interesting to lower the opponent's defense. As most of our attacks cost zero, it is feasible to use some resources with the weapon;

- Most attacks have three power, which makes them easy to defend against. So prepare Attack Reactions to guarantee damage, especially attacks with on-hit effect like Infect (1) or Infiltrate;

- Attacking is the main idea of the deck, so we don't want to be defending except in unavoidable cases;

- On the choice of which weapon we will use, it will depend a lot on our opponent. Generally, we will always use Spider's Bite because most decks run more Attack Actions, but the others can be used in the following situations:

Orbitoclast for decks with a lot of non-attack Actions like Dromai and Briar;

Nerve Scalpel with highly reactive decks like Dorinthea ;

Scale Peeler with decks with high equipment defense like Bravo and Dorinthea.

Arakni, Solitary Confinement stood in the shadows of Uzuri during the spoiler session and considered by some to be a "draft hero", but as players began to utilize him, it soon became apparent that the hero can make a decent aggressive deck. Despite not being the best aggro in the format, its list shows that simplicity can be strong.

Thank you for reading, and until next time!