Welcome back everyone!
If you’re reading this you’ve likely heard about the new event going on this weekend on September 15th: Temporary Alliances! The gist of the event is that the different factions are starting to cooperate more and thus multifaction cards will cost 1 less while playing in the event. Which is HUGE. If you enjoyed the Shadow Eclipse event then this new event may also be a fun test. Whereas the Eclipse event tested our limits playing Shadow decks that drew an extra card each turn, this one will push us towards playing the cards that require at least two different influence types. So where to begin?
For myself, I always think about what an aggressive deck will look like in the metagame. However there are a few obstacles for my precious Oni Ronins in the upcoming forray:
While hard enough for aggressive decks to get by, playing a Turn 1 Kothon or a Turn 2 Feln Bloodcaster/Combrei Healer is sure to be backbreaking. Speaking of Kothon & Combrei Healer, which preexisting deck already has plenty of the tools to triumph in this new world?
Yup! Crystalline Chalice gets very good thanks to Kothon, Combrei Healer, and even Desert Marshall getting a cost reduction! While not exactly my cup of tea, I’ll probably queue up with Chalice at least once during the event just to test my initial hypothesis.
That said, aggro is likely not dead. While the above cards do put pressure on aggressive decks, that doesn’t mean the aggro decks can’t push back!
That’s right, Rakano gets downright silly with free 3/1 Overwhelms, 1 power Champion of Glory, and 2 power Sword of Icaria! Not to mention being able to play 4 power for Deepforged Plate, a joy people in the closed beta were able to partake in. We can also look to Skycrag with 1 power Champion of Fury or 2 power Vadius, Clan Father or even 2 power Bloodletters! The aggro decks will definitely bring some tools to the table.
But we’ve talked existing decks, we’ve talked aggressive decks, but do you want to know some decks I want to see? The control decks. Chalice and Feln will be the big targets from the start, but what about going above and beyond them? 
Big power payoffs like Nictotraxian, Snowcrush Animist (my pick for card I most want to see), and Knucklebones all get better when you’re playing them earlier. While the impact of a Turn 6 Knucklebones isn’t as huge as a Turn 4 Reality Warden or Turn 2 Vadius, these decks are likely to have the answers necessary to beat the early multifaction pressure. And this isn’t even touching on the fact we’re getting 2 power for Slay or Banish and how a 1 power Haunting Scream can get back a now 4 power Makto! Literally the world is your oyster!
Let me know what deck you queued up with and how it went! I’m curious to see how this event changes up what decks we see. As always you can hit me up on twitter @jwiley129, here in the comments, on Reddit, or the Eternal Discord server.
WAIT! I didn’t tell you what deck I’m planning on taking into the event. I’ll just leave you with this:
(I’m not actually taking Bart into the Temporary Alliances event. I’m not a monster)
