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What YOU SHOULD PLAY At Vendetta Pre-Rifts // Vendetta Pre-Rift Guide — Transcript

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0:02So, every card from Vendetta has been
0:04spoiled, and now Pre-Rift is just days
0:06away. And going into these events blind
0:08and making things up as you go is a
0:10perfectly valid way to enjoy pre- riffs.
0:12But so is familiarizing [music] yourself
0:14with the mechanics of the set and key
0:16cards you're going to keep an eye out
0:17for. And that's what we're doing today.
0:19By the end of this video, you should
0:20have the tools to tackle your pre- riffs
0:22with confidence. If you're completely
0:24new to pre- riffs, I highly suggest
0:26checking out my video on the basics of
0:27pre- riffs, which covers deck building
0:29rules and basic deck building strategy
0:31of the format. And with that all out of
0:33the way, let's get into it.
0:38Vendetta is Riftbound's fourth set and
0:40is themed around rivalry. This theme has
0:42a heavy influence on the set's
0:44mechanics, as well as the overnumbered
0:46cards present in [music] the set. This
0:47set is the first to feature enemy domain
0:49pairings with Kenan, Jace, and Akali.
0:51While Vendetta introduced a number of
0:53smaller mechanics and keywords, there
0:55are two main mechanics that the set is
0:56centered around. Flow and empower, and
0:59we'll be focusing mainly on those. Flow
1:01is a new mechanic present exclusively on
1:03spells and functions only when the spell
1:05is in the trash. It allows you to pay a
1:07cost and play the spell from trash
1:09before banishing it. Flow is an
1:10alternative cost, so it still enjoys the
1:13benefit from things that discount
1:14spells, such as empowered applied
1:16researchers. Every single flow card in
1:18the game at the moment anyway is slow
1:20speed, meaning you can only play it
1:22during your turn and when there's
1:23nothing else on the chain and outside of
1:25showdowns. This mechanic is really great
1:27design and inherently has synergy with
1:29the effects that put spells in the
1:30trash, such as the new mechanic burn or
1:32discard. I'll just very briefly mention
1:35burn since it's one of the minor new
1:37mechanics in the set. If a card has burn
1:39X, you put the top X cards of your main
1:41deck into your trash. This can be part
1:42of a spell similar to predict or can be
1:45on units and gear usually as triggered
1:47abilities. There were effects that did
1:49similar things already printed into the
1:50game like minefield, but it is now
1:53keyworded and I think it's quite likely
1:55to be an evergreen mechanic. Empower is
1:57a unit and gearbased mechanic that
1:59allows them to have more powerful
2:01effects at a cost or after achieving a
2:03certain [music] task. Most cards in the
2:05set simply benefit from themselves being
2:07empowered. Although importantly, two
2:09legends in the set care about other
2:11cards being empowered. [music] Mel and
2:13Ambessa. Many empower effects are
2:15extremely strong, and some cards even
2:16have triggered abilities that will fire
2:18off when it becomes empowered. With
2:20these cards, disempowering it will mean
2:22that you can double dip on its powerful
2:24effect, making the one unit that can
2:25disempower other cards pretty powerful.
2:28There are also many sub themes that are
2:29usually hinted at by the legends
2:31themselves, but we'll get into that
2:32later. With the whole set being themed
2:34around feuds between characters or
2:36domains, we also have the introduction
2:38of many more taxation or restriction
2:40type effects as well as the introduction
2:42of color hate cards for the first time.
2:44In terms of my overall impression,
2:46vendetta is a set geared more towards
2:47value generation than interaction. In
2:49Unleashed, it was a lot easier to get
2:51some control strategies to work in
2:53pre-ift, especially if you open the
2:55Diana mini precon. But with Vendetta, I
2:57expect it'll be a little bit harder.
2:58With that in mind, since interaction
3:00pieces are fewer and far between, don't
3:02stress too much if you have only a few
3:04pieces of interaction in your final deck
3:06build.
3:10And now we're going to go through each
3:11legend and discuss how they play and
3:13some key cards you like to get for their
3:15strategy. I'm going to stick to commons
3:16and uncommons for the most part since
3:18you're going to see them a whole lot
3:19more and they'll tend to make up the
3:21skeleton of your deck and that will be
3:23bolstered by your rares and epics that
3:25you pull. The only exception is that
3:26I'll briefly touch on the rare champion
3:28unit that's likely to be included in the
3:30mini precon. And I'll only mention
3:32battlefields if there's one very clearly
3:34that will only benefit your [music]
3:36legend. Be aware that at this stage it
3:38seems like all nine legends will have
3:40mini precons. Contrary to my beginner's
3:42guide video,
3:46Akali seems like she's really pushed
3:48when reading her for the first time. But
3:50her ability is very specific and narrow,
3:52meaning you'll have to be very careful
3:53with when you use her. Using the legend
3:56ability offensively by returning the
3:58unit to base and readying it, then
3:59moving it back in is really aggressive
4:01and will likely strand your unit at the
4:03battlefield. So, you really need to
4:05balance when you want to be aggressive
4:07and plan out how you'll move your units
4:09around. Akali Silent. This unit
4:11single-handedly makes the Akali mini
4:13precon pretty pushed. She comes out on
4:15turn two and is certain to survive until
4:17your next turn where she'll attack for
4:18minimum six might. Plus, with the added
4:20bonus of being able to be bailed out
4:22thanks to Akali's legend ability, she is
4:24going to be an absolute menace in pre-
4:26rifts. Mournful Witness is so
4:28unbelievably insane with Akali. You can
4:30play her on turn one and then send her
4:32into combat and use Akali's legend
4:33ability to move her back and you've got
4:35a DIY formite for two energy. And if you
4:38empower Kari's legend, you can just send
4:40it straight back in. Affectionate porro.
4:42Drawing cards is always amazing and
4:44limited, and you can use your legend
4:45ability to basically draw at a whim.
4:47You'd put a lot of these adorable guys
4:49into the deck and feel pretty happy
4:51about it. Pendulum Blade. Obviously,
4:52this card goes super well with Akali's
4:54legend ability and green AI, too. Using
4:57a Kali's empowered legend ability just
4:59once on a unit with this attached will
5:01increase its might by five, which is
5:03insanely strong. In terms of ideal
5:05domain pairings, you'd be pretty happy
5:06to go into blue just simply because of
5:09co informant. She is pretty much silicon
5:11herder in pre- rift and you'll be in
5:13danger of drawing your entire deck and
5:15burning out if you do manage to get her
5:16to stick to the board. Other blue
5:18interaction will be pretty useful as
5:20well like shock blast and mesmerize.
5:22Overall, Aali does seem like a fairly
5:24strong though synergy dependent legend
5:26for pre- rift, but with just a few
5:27copies of some of the commons in the
5:29set, you're going to have a pretty good
5:30time.
5:34Renekton will feel the most oppressive
5:36if you use his legend ability sparingly
5:38at precise moments throughout the game.
5:40If used too often, you'll just fall too
5:42far behind in runes and won't be able to
5:44leverage the temporary tempo gains to a
5:46game win. With that being said, orange
5:49red is a perfect domain pairing to be
5:50really aggressive and still be
5:52functional at low rune counts. Renekton
5:54Ragefield planning out to play Renekton
5:56turn two regardless of the board
5:58situation is honestly pretty scary. If
6:01you go second, you could theoretically
6:02play Renekton accelerator turn two and
6:04use his attack trigger to wipe a
6:06battlefield. Even the threat of that may
6:08make your opponent play differently. I
6:10think that there are other units that
6:12are even better than Red Renekton to
6:13play as a chosen champion, but he is a
6:15perfectly serviceable choice. Forsaken
6:17Backy, Oasis Raider. Both these cards
6:20occupy a similar space for Renekton. You
6:22want lots of these cards as their
6:23abilities are likely to be on by virtue
6:25of you turboing your runes down at some
6:27point. Back eye witherclaw, an amazing
6:30unit that synergizes with the previously
6:32mentioned units by going down on runes,
6:34but only temporarily. Hits really hard
6:36and has synergy with gut or roar, which
6:38is really important. In terms of ideal
6:40domain pairings, purple is a pretty
6:42aggressive color with decent removal
6:44this set. Gustm is a great cheap unit
6:47that can help your units hit harder and
6:49will probably banish something relevant
6:50from your opponent's trash. And wind and
6:52ghost is the best removal spell in the
6:54set and will help you score those last
6:56few points. Otherwise, yellow has some
6:58very decent empower units and will be a
7:00good support color. Overall, Renekton's
7:02a tough one to judge, but inherently
7:04powerful. I do expect you'll be able to
7:06throw away the game pretty easily if you
7:08choose the wrong time to fire off his
7:09legend ability, so be careful.
7:15Zed wants you to banish cards you own,
7:17and as a reward, lets you discard cards
7:20to draw cards. He has a heap of synergy
7:22with flow spells, so you'll be looking
7:23to include a bunch of them in your main
7:25deck. The deck otherwise is fairly open
7:27to building the way that you wish. Red
7:28Purple is quite an aggressive domain
7:30pairing for this set, so you'll be
7:31looking to play plenty of lowc cost
7:33drops and take control of the board
7:34early. Zed without a sound. This card is
7:37so fun. Similar to his legend, he has
7:40synergy with flow cards and cards that
7:42care about trashes. The fact that you
7:44can use his shadow swapping ability at
7:46action speed is just awesome. You'd be
7:49pretty happy to run him as your chosen
7:50champion. Twilight step, a pretty
7:52versatile spell with flow to boot. You
7:54can move your shadow clones around,
7:56which is pretty cute. Shadowcloaked
7:58lurker and shadow assassin. How good
8:00these are will really depend on how many
8:01that you open in your packs. Since their
8:04floor is a vanilla five m or five
8:06energy, you'd be okay with running them
8:08even if you only have a couple of copies
8:10of either. And if you have more than
8:12that, then you're laughing. Perfect
8:13execution up from the deep. These cards
8:16are commons with flow and are
8:18particularly good with Zed's legend
8:19ability since playing the spell using
8:21flow banishes them and empowers Zed.
8:23you'd be pretty happy to run a fair few
8:25up from the deep and at least one or two
8:27perfect execution. In terms of ideal
8:29domain pairing, blue has two flow spells
8:31at common, both of which are decently
8:33strong [music] in pre- rifts. Going into
8:35blue will just help you play a more
8:36value and control oriented game. Plus,
8:39the card shock blast will be pretty easy
8:41for you to get online and just use one
8:43energy and one power to pay for.
8:45Otherwise, you can lean into more
8:46aggression and [music] fighting for the
8:48board, in which case orange will
8:49probably be your best bet. Shadow Temple
8:52is probably going to benefit you more
8:53than the average deck since you've
8:55hopefully built around flow cards. And
8:57even if you never hold at a battlefield,
8:59that isn't any huge loss. So, while Zed
9:01is pretty open in terms of build
9:03pathways and constructed, he's a fairly
9:05straightforward build in pre- riffs. It
9:07shouldn't be too hard to put together a
9:08pretty fun deck, and the Z chosen
9:10champion should be zipping around being
9:12a menace, just as Riot intended.
9:18Unfortunately, we've hit our first
9:20Renata class legend for this set. There
9:22are almost no cards at common and
9:24uncommon that facilitate his legend.
9:26[music] Some empower abilities can
9:28theoretically get to seven energy, but
9:30it's pretty awkward as these abilities
9:32get cheaper the more runes you have. So,
9:34unless you get [music] quite lucky with
9:35your pulls at the rare and epic rarity,
9:38you're probably better off running no
9:40legend. Nasus Guardian of Knowledge.
9:42This card is really decent and you're
9:44hoping to leverage him to generate at
9:45least a few runes that can push you into
9:47the late game. I think is a perfectly
9:50acceptable chosen champion to run if you
9:52open the Nasus mini precon. [music]
9:53Grumpy Rock Bear and Frost Coat Mother.
9:56As mentioned before, these units have
9:57empower abilities that get cheaper the
9:59more runes you have. But the payoff for
10:01spending seven or more energy is that
10:03you refund two energy, which in the
10:05setting of these units, well, you're
10:07hoping to pay far less than that for the
10:08ability anyway. So, just slightly
10:10awkward. clairvoyance, a reaction speed
10:13[music] filtering and draw spell. It is
10:15acceptable and paying five is definitely
10:17better than paying seven. The spell is
10:19okay in pre- rift, though definitely not
10:21ideal. Sandstone Chimera, the only
10:24non-rare/epic unit in the set that costs
10:27seven. This one is fairly decent since
10:28you can still generate decent amounts of
10:30energy while only channeling one rune
10:32each turn. In terms of ideal domain
10:34pairing, Faces, you're really playing
10:36whichever domains you've opened the most
10:38big units in. Red has Eclipse Dragon
10:40which has almost anti- synergy with
10:42Nasis but a really strong unit at rare.
10:45Gangplank Naval and Ambessa the Wolf are
10:48really strong units and line up with the
10:50big unit spam you're hoping for. Though
10:52unfortunately neither of them hit the
10:53seven energy threshold that we're hoping
10:55for. So overall, Nasus is a bit of a
10:58miss in terms of pre- rifts in my
10:59opinion, but still possible to build
11:01well if you high roll a little bit with
11:03your pulls. Otherwise, the extra card at
11:05the start of the game is probably more
11:07valuable to you than two rated runes
11:09once or twice in a game.
11:14Tank is really interesting in that it
11:16can be used both to protect your large
11:18units and your small ones, too. Being
11:20able to choose which unit to give tank
11:22is actually really, really decent in
11:24limited. His other subthe of gaining a
11:26benefit when there are exactly two units
11:28defending at a battlefield, that's a lot
11:30weaker. I'd almost be inclined to ignore
11:33that theme completely and just play the
11:35tank and hold strategy, but there are
11:37some cards that help that sub theme
11:39quite a lot. Shen, [music] scourge of
11:40shadows. That being said, the play
11:42pattern of going second, playing a unit
11:44turn one and then turn two moving it in
11:47and playing Shen at that battlefield,
11:48[music] that's really strong. You can
11:50use the legend to protect him or your
11:52small unit and almost guarantee drawing
11:54you a card. So, this play pattern is
11:56actually so strong that I think that
11:58Chen might actually be strong in pre-
12:00roofs. Keeper of law. This card is a
12:02good example of the two units at a
12:04battlefield claws done right. Since you
12:05can play her as a five might for three
12:07energy before moving those units at the
12:09battlefield, she's a much more playable
12:11card. Handammer. I'd think of this card
12:14more as a solid one might equipment that
12:16occasionally gives you some extra might,
12:18but because it isn't super great to do
12:20the equipment shuffle with, I wouldn't
12:22be smashing a lot of them into your
12:24deck. Soul Spinner. You can play this
12:26unit to a battlefield where a unit has
12:27handammer and it's a five might swing.
12:30Plus, you can use your legend to protect
12:32that other unit if you wish. It's just
12:33an [music] all round solid, strong unit
12:35for common. Affectionate parro. Give
12:38tank to your other beefy unit and
12:39profit. Key barrier. Remember that if
12:41you apply key barrier and tank to a
12:44unit, they have to assign damage equal
12:46to the prevented damage plus the might
12:48of your unit for it to be considered
12:50lethal damage. So, key barrier is
12:52particularly strong at protecting your
12:54most important units in Shen [music] in
12:56terms of domain pairing. So, I think
12:57that orange is probably your best domain
12:59pairing. Jagged Cutless, Gushal Roar,
13:02and just generally beefy units will help
13:04you to hold battlefields and may even
13:06benefit from the two units at a
13:08battlefield clause. Otherwise, you'll
13:09just gravitate towards whatever domain
13:11you open the most interaction in and go
13:13from there. Kinku Temple should actually
13:15be really good for Shen and pretty much
13:17a blank battlefield for everyone else.
13:19Overall, I expect Shen to be
13:21surprisingly decent in pre- riffs, even
13:23though he's probably going to be
13:25terrible in constructed. Tank messes
13:27with combat math a lot more than people
13:29expect, and people will definitely
13:31forget he exists a decent amount of the
13:33time.
13:38Jace is one of the legends I'm really
13:39hoping to get in one of my pre- riffs.
13:41Setting up the engine and just cranking
13:43out value every turn seems so
13:44unbelievably fun. Even if you don't get
13:47lucky and pull the hex tech disc, you
13:49should still be able to put together the
13:50engine from just commons. Jace hammer in
13:53hand, this unit is rock solid. He's
13:55beefy. He'll become a seven might
13:57attacker the turn after you play him and
13:59becomes extra gross with mechanics to
14:01ready him. Though there are only a few
14:03cards that actually do that that we'll
14:05see often. Questionable tome with Jace.
14:08This card is draw one card every turn.
14:11you'll basically wind up burying your
14:13opponent in value and you burning out is
14:15actually a genuine possibility. Tools of
14:17Empire slow speed power increases are
14:20not that good unless it's a lot of
14:22power. And with [music] Jace, Tools of
14:24Empire is eight might. That is
14:26outrageous. Personally, I like the idea
14:29of playing fury with Jace. Hopefully,
14:31you'll be churning through your deck
14:32fairly quickly and so all you need to do
14:34is put stats on the board and remove
14:36their units. Cards like ruthless strike
14:39and consuming curse will help you
14:41survive until you can start abusing your
14:43card draw and perfect execution
14:45synergizes with Jace Hammer in hand.
14:48Probably means that blue gets relegated
14:50to a support color, but this also does
14:52depend on what you pull. Covered
14:53Informant and Shock Blast are both so
14:56good that you might want to just stay
14:57heavily in blue and splash red. In terms
15:00of battlefield, Pilttoven Forge is
15:02pretty much useless for everyone except
15:04Jace. So overall, I think Jace is really
15:06fun and I do think he's actually
15:08decently powerful. You do need to open
15:10his pieces to run the deck, but they are
15:13at common, so pretty good chance you'll
15:15see at least a few of them.
15:19[music]
15:20Mel is a control strategy that has
15:22access to some of the most overpowered
15:24cards for the pre-ift format. There is
15:26heaps of empower units in blue and
15:28purple, allowing her to fairly reliably
15:31use her debuffing legend ability. And
15:33she doesn't actually need that much else
15:34in order to be pretty dominant as a
15:36control deck. Mel Diviant Soul. It is
15:39criminal that this is her rare unit. It
15:41it's removal on a body which can hit a
15:44larger unit if you use the legend
15:45ability on it first. She's insanely
15:48strong and you'd be happy to run her as
15:50your chosen champion and threaten to
15:52snipe off your opponent's two drop if
15:53they dare move it into the battlefield.
15:55Kinku Lifelade. I just wanted to mention
15:58a common empower unit. There are quite a
16:00few mostly role- playinging units that
16:02are definitely good enough to run in
16:04general, let alone with Mel given the
16:06additional synergy. Covert Informant,
16:08Stella Corner, but more balanced. Still
16:10a broken card and an absolute bomb for
16:13limited. Tailcloak matriarch. This is a
16:16crazy unit. Synergizes with Mel and also
16:18helps you recur your early drop. Shock
16:20blast. Making this one energy and one
16:23cost in Mel is obscenely easy. If Mel's
16:26legend is empowered, its discount
16:28condition is satisfied. Questionable
16:30tome. This card gives you a Mel empower
16:32trigger every other turn, and the turn
16:34it doesn't draws you a card. Really
16:36strong in both Mel and Ambessa. Pretty
16:38much the only domain pairing that isn't
16:40[music] that good is green. In yellow,
16:42you've got Solari Sunhawk, and Mel's
16:45legend ability synergizes [music] with
16:46Lacerate, which is a plus. Otherwise,
16:48red has damage based removal, which
16:50again synergizes with Mel's Legend, plus
16:52a couple of empower units at common and
16:54uncommon. and orange has a stack of
16:56empower unit and guttural roar which is
16:59insanely good. So amongst the three of
17:01them I'd say that orange is probably
17:03your best domain pairing. Overall me is
17:06a great control shell and just has
17:07inherent synergy with a number of other
17:09mechanics in the game which is really
17:10cool. You're pretty much just going to
17:12have a great time running a stack of
17:13empower units and just winning every
17:15combat you initiate thanks to her legend
17:17ability.
17:21[music] Another legend I'd love to see
17:23in my pre- Rift kit. Like her daughter
17:25Mel, she wants things to be empowered,
17:27but she's playing a much more combat and
17:29might focused strategy. She will chew
17:31through power fairly quickly if you're
17:32not careful, so just [music] think a
17:34turn or two ahead when planning out your
17:36power usage. Ambessa the Wolf. I expect
17:39this unit to be an absolute menace
17:40during pre- rifts. She comes out on turn
17:42two with [music] no power costs and then
17:44is a seven might attacking unit on turn
17:46three with additional upside. Plus, if
17:49absolutely necessary, Ambessa's legend
17:51ability can be used to ready her and
17:53move her back home after attacking.
17:55Insanely strong. Brutal Hunter, a role-
17:57playinging empower unit, but extremely
17:59strong. Ganking is really good in
18:01pre-ifts, especially with ways to ready
18:04the unit like Ambessa's legend. This
18:06unit alone could single-handedly win you
18:08the game, and that is not a joke.
18:10Propheteer, the synergy with Ambessa and
18:13Mel is absurd. disempowering Ambessa to
18:16empower something else will immediately
18:18re-empower Ambessa. So pretty much
18:20you're getting a free empower onto
18:22something. [music] Combine that with
18:23Dame the Desoiler and you're getting
18:25some immense value. Combine it with
18:27cards like Tailcloak Matriarch or
18:28Meldefined Soul and again [music] you're
18:30getting a bunch of extra value. Rampage.
18:32This card simply synergizes with Ambessa
18:34the Wolf to pick off units for free. The
18:37best thing to do with this spell is to
18:38play it on Ambessa to pick off a big
18:40unit and then still use her during an
18:42ensuing combat this turn.
18:44straightforward synergy. In terms of
18:45ideal domain pairings, you're probably
18:47looking at blue or purple. Cards like
18:49covert informant and shock blas make it
18:51really appealing to go into blue. Also,
18:53questionable tome is genuinely strong in
18:55Nambessa and Mel, but purple has tail
18:58cloaked matriarch and wag. Depends on
19:00how your seal pool plays out as always,
19:02but have a good look at these. I'll just
19:04mention risen alter as well, but empower
19:06is pretty ubiquitous across all domains
19:08in vendetta, so your opponent could take
19:10advantage of this better than you. risky
19:12and I would think twice about revealing
19:14it. Overall, Ambessa seems to be poised
19:16to be one of the villains of the
19:17Vendetta Pre-Rift, which is certainly
19:19suited to her character. An average pull
19:21from your five packs should still make
19:23her an absolute beast of a deck.
19:29Similar to Zed, synergizes naturally
19:31with flow, though doesn't have a way to
19:34enable it like Zed does. He does have
19:36additional synergy with hidden since he
19:38simply asks you to play a unit from
19:40somewhere other than hand. Assault 2 is
19:42quite a powerful pushing tool to add
19:43onto a unit, but it's not so insanely
19:46strong that I would play bad flow cards
19:48just to enable him. Kennan, keeper of
19:50balance. Kenan, played from hidden, like
19:52I said, would empower Kennan's legend,
19:54which is nice, but most often you'll be
19:56hiding it directly from the chosen
19:58champion zone, which definitely isn't as
20:00strong as hiding him from hand. So,
20:03because of that, I think there's a
20:05decent case to be made for running a
20:06different unit in the chosen champion
20:08zone. Twilight step. Putting a soul two
20:10onto a unit that's three might or less
20:12means you can use Twilight step to move
20:14a five might unit around which is pretty
20:16fun. And it has flow so you can use it
20:19twice and synergizes with Kennon's
20:20legend. Up from the deep. This card is a
20:23generically good card but very solid in
20:25cannon since assault makes his units
20:27good at pushing but not very good at
20:29holding. A one might unit with assault 2
20:31is actually half decent at pushing and
20:33if you play it for the flow cost you get
20:35to empower Kenan. In terms of ideal
20:37domain pairings, unfortunately, yellow
20:39does not have much for Kennon to work
20:41with. So, we're looking for a strong
20:42third domain to go pretty heavy into.
20:44Orange [music] will be a strong pairing
20:46since Prophetier can take advantage of
20:47Kennon's legend being empowered and is
20:50overall a solid domain. Blue will also
20:52be good, mostly because of shock blast,
20:54but also cards like iterative design and
20:56covert informant. Overall, Kenan feels
20:59pretty weak at base, which is ironic
21:01since he's shaping up to be an extremely
21:03strong legend in constructed. The main
21:05issue is that yellow isn't doing that
21:07much for his legend. So, he needs to
21:09pull enough cards within another domain
21:11to bolster the build.
21:15And now we're going to go through key
21:17commons and uncommons for each domain.
21:19These will often be above rate units
21:21with powerful abilities or just big
21:23booties or premium interaction pieces.
21:26Punching porro. This is a premium two
21:28drop for fury and synergizes really well
21:30with flow since basically you're only
21:32discarding half a card. Having a two
21:34drop unit that potentially kills your
21:36opponent's two drop is insanely strong
21:37to establish early board position.
21:39Forsaken Backkey, another premium two
21:41drop of fury and one that could
21:43potentially put your opponent in an
21:44awkward position where they need to
21:46recycle to deny the ability. Otherwise,
21:48will just trade favorably into your
21:50opponent's two drop oasis radar. Similar
21:53to Forsaken Becky, this card is just a
21:55great on-rade unit that punches well
21:57above its energy cost in some
21:59circumstances. Your opponent will
22:01unfortunately have final say on whether
22:03this ability goes off. But the way they
22:05deny this ability is to recycle their
22:07runes. So they probably won't want to do
22:09that in the mid game. Really good. And
22:11you'll happily fill your four drop slot
22:12with as many of these if you can. Back
22:14eye sand spinner. [music] Just a great
22:16bomb common. You happily run this card
22:19as your top end if you don't open any
22:20other beefy units. Eight power attacking
22:22is really good and you can always float
22:24the energy empower down to four runes
22:27before using the empower if you really
22:29need that discount. Shadow fiend fury
22:31has a fantastic density of very strong
22:34early game drops which is fair given
22:36that it's the aggressive domain. This
22:38unit comes out on turn one can be
22:40empowered to five m attacking meaning it
22:42almost guarantees to kill their two drop
22:45if they moved it into a battlefield.
22:46That threat alone makes it really strong
22:49to play out even without empowering.
22:51Back high reaper above rate but with a
22:54power cost and will continue to eat your
22:56runes for additional might. But three
22:58energy for six power attacking is an
23:00insane rate that you'd definitely be
23:02happy running. Just not too many or else
23:04you're going to be completely gone in
23:06the rune department. Perfect execution.
23:09The fact that this card both gives might
23:11and also readies a unit [music] and then
23:12does it again from the trash makes it
23:14pretty strong. Three energy is enough to
23:16make it slightly awkward to play along
23:18with a bigger unit, but the fact that it
23:21gives plus three might makes up for
23:22that. Pendulum Blade equipment are
23:24really strong in pre- rifts, and this
23:26card is no exception. You can still do
23:28the equipment shuffle with this card,
23:30meaning equip it to a unit, send it into
23:32a battlefield to its death, equip it to
23:34another unit, send it in, and so forth.
23:36And it gives three might each time,
23:38which is very strong. Mourn for Witness.
23:40This card might be the most premium two
23:43drop in this set. Formite for two energy
23:45is really crazy and it can achieve it
23:47through several means. A Carali is the
23:50obvious one, but equipment buff spells
23:53and even tank on your other units can do
23:55the trick as well. Just really, really
23:57solid. Esteemed terrified. Just an
23:59annoying beefy unit with no power cost
24:01is already quite good in pre-ift. Lots
24:03of the orange and red removal suite is
24:05damage based. So, this card actually
24:07protects itself reasonably well.
24:09Affectionate porro. This card is very
24:11strong in a few decks, namely Shen and
24:13Akali, but is definitely passable in a
24:15lot of other decks. Sometimes it will
24:17make damage assignment just a bit more
24:19awkward for your opponent since they may
24:21want to be dealing with the other unit
24:22in combat. Tomb Raider Barbara. This
24:25card is really strong. Incidental
24:27Gearhead is going to be surprisingly
24:29relevant a decent amount of the time and
24:31otherwise she's just a four energy, no
24:33power forite, which is perfectly
24:35acceptable. Resonating Strike. This card
24:38is awkward in its wording since you have
24:40to satisfy both having control of a
24:41battlefield and a unit present
24:43elsewhere, but when it does work, it can
24:46be a huge might swing and at reaction
24:48speed. So, it's a very powerful combat
24:50trick. Sandstone Chimera, a big beefy
24:53unit which can slow down your opponent.
24:56It does affect your opponent first in
24:58terms of rune denial, which is nice, but
25:00that's not the most important thing. In
25:01pre- riffs, sometimes you just need a
25:03big [music] body. Cloud drake. Drawing a
25:06card in pre- riffs is very very strong.
25:08Being underststated is not ideal, but
25:10drawing a card is worth one might worth
25:12of stats all day. Iterative design. Six
25:16energy, one power for two three might
25:18units is actually pretty decent, and it
25:20has additional synergies with Zed,
25:22Kennan, and the Fury Domain with its
25:24discards. Mesmerize. This card is
25:27premium versatile interaction. It'll
25:30save your most valuable units or swing a
25:33combat in your favor. high priority to
25:35include a fair few of them if you open
25:36them. Dredge up. This spell follows a
25:39trend of paying about four energy for
25:41drawing two cards in blue at common. As
25:43mentioned, drawing cards is [music] very
25:45strong and this card has additional
25:47synergies similar to iterative design.
25:49Applied researchers perfectly acceptable
25:51on raid body. Once she's empowered,
25:54she's excellent in a spell heavy deck
25:55and you don't need to be playing that
25:57many spells for her to actually be
25:58impactful. Covert Informant. [music]
26:01This card is absolutely insane and
26:03synergizes with so many cards it's
26:05gross. Six energy and one power for
26:07silicorn herder is probably balanced for
26:10constructed, but it is still incredibly
26:12pushed for limited shock blast. This
26:14might be the best uncommon in the set.
26:17It is one energy, one power so often
26:19with a bunch of empower legends and just
26:21incidentally having empower units in the
26:23deck. It's so strong it's pretty much a
26:26break point. So units with five might
26:28are significantly stronger than units
26:30with four might in vendetta pre- rifts.
26:32Brutal hunter three energy and one power
26:35for four might is pretty good but with
26:37the flexibility to make it a six might
26:39unit with ganking later is very very
26:41good. Definitely a high value pick. Gur
26:44roar. This card and mournful witness are
26:46definitely fighting for best common in
26:48the set. There are so many empower units
26:50in vendetta with a lot of them being
26:53chosen champion units. So, it is two
26:56energy for formite at action speed a lot
26:58of the time. Yes, it doesn't save the
27:00unit from damage based removal, but it
27:02doesn't matter. It's still a crazy
27:04strong card, and you'll happily run
27:05heaps of them. Jagged Cutless equipment
27:08are really solid in pre- Rift, and this
27:09is no exception. It's slightly worse
27:11than Dorian's Blade due to its cost a
27:13vast majority of the time, but despite
27:15that, the card is very strong. Profite.
27:18So, I've come around to this card being
27:20extremely good. At base, it's just four
27:22energy for four might, which is good
27:23enough. But the synergy with a bunch of
27:26cards in the game is just crazy. It
27:28works really well with Mel and Embsa. It
27:30works with Meldefined Mage and Tailcloak
27:33Matriarch by disempowering and
27:34empowering it again right away and
27:36getting the on trigger. It is synergy
27:39dependent, but overall is a very solid
27:41unit. Rampage, slow speed challenge that
27:44you can pay power to buff up your units.
27:46That's premium interaction in pre-
27:48riffs. [music] It goes particularly hard
27:50if you happen to pull Ambessa the Wolf
27:52or the Ambessa mini precon. Stuff as
27:55many of these into your deck as you can.
27:56Onslaught. Slow speed might is not very
27:59good unless it's a lot of might. And
28:01this is and you can do it across two
28:03bodies or at two different times. It
28:05also synergizes with discard or filter
28:08effects. This card is really good and
28:10you'll happily run a few copies of it in
28:11your main. Shadow Order Disciple. This
28:14is one of the most premium two drops in
28:15Vendetta. It basically kills your
28:17opponents two drop for free a majority
28:19of the time and it has additional
28:21synergies with move mechanics and flow
28:23spells. It's just very strong. Kinku
28:25lifelade rock solid four drop and
28:28becomes a five might unit with ganking
28:30at a later time which is very strong.
28:32You'd very happily run a bunch of these
28:34up from the deep four units for six
28:36energy is really good. Combine it with
28:38equipment or the otherwise terrible rage
28:41amplifier for maximum hilarity and super
28:44big upside if you happen to open Illaoi
28:46and can run her as your chosen champion.
28:48Ghost Monk, another premium two drop
28:51lets your other units trade better and
28:53denies your opponent's value from
28:54recursion or flow spells. Shadows of the
28:57past. Basically, this is better than
28:59card draw in the mid to late game. This
29:01lets you play your best two units twice.
29:03Tailcloaked matriarch. The generic value
29:06is immense with this card. Again, four
29:08energy for four might is perfectly
29:10workable stats, and the empower helps to
29:12get a three energy unit out of the
29:14trash. And there's heaps of good ones.
29:16This is particularly strong if you can
29:18get something that has empower out of
29:19the trash like covert informant. Wind
29:22and ghosts, the slightly differently
29:24costed rebuke that can also banish a
29:26unit. This is probably the best removal
29:28spell in vendetta. Master crashing
29:31thunder. It's an on-rade unit that has
29:33the versatility to stun a unit at a
29:34battlefield, so pretty strong. Soul
29:36Spinner, one of only two main set ambush
29:39units in Vendetta. Ambush has [music]
29:41already shown itself to be extremely
29:42strong, and this has some incidental
29:44synergy with a couple of cards and
29:45legends in the set. No power cost, so
29:48you'd be pretty happy splashing yellow
29:49and running a few of these. Horns of the
29:52Dragon, a big beefy unit that has no
29:54power cost and can protect your smaller
29:56units. This is really good top end, and
29:58you'll happily run a few of them. Keeper
30:00of Law. This card is pretty interesting.
30:02It's pretty unlikely that you'll be able
30:04to satisfy the condition of having two
30:05units at a battlefield early enough to
30:07play her on curve, but even if you
30:10didn't play her for the discount, it
30:12isn't a disaster. And the time that you
30:14can play her as a three energy for a
30:16five might unit is definitely worth it.
30:18Hungry Wolf works pretty well with a few
30:21legends that can target your opponent's
30:22units, namely Mel, but to a lesser
30:24extent, Kennon. Again, four energy for
30:27four might is already pretty good and
30:29its ability is really strong. Key
30:32barrier interaction is relatively
30:34limited in vendetta, which makes key
30:35barrier kind of a cracked card. Much
30:38better on defense since it's more likely
30:39your unit will survive after picking off
30:41a few units and then actually remain at
30:43the battlefield and works great with
30:45tank units. Lacerate. This spell
30:48actually hits a decent number of cards.
30:50And you'd think that disempowering claws
30:52wouldn't be that relevant, but there are
30:54eight units in Vendetta where that's the
30:56difference between killing it and not
30:58killing it. The fact that it can hit a
30:59base is really strong. And overall, this
31:02is just a solid interaction piece, even
31:04if it's slow and a bit expensive to play
31:06using flow.
31:08And that's all for today. I know I've
31:10spent a lot of time talking about
31:12strategy and the strength of cards in
31:13the [music] set, but try not to put too
31:15much pressure on yourself to perform
31:17well. The beauty of Prius is that most
31:20people are coming into the event with
31:21pretty limited knowledge of the set
31:23sealed environment and meta. So yes,
31:26familiarize yourself with the cards to
31:28help with deck building, but also enjoy
31:30yourself at the event. If you'd like to
31:32hear me yap even more about Vendetta,
31:34I'll be posting a full set review
31:36hopefully really soon. [music] I have a
31:38bunch of stuff planned for the next few
31:39weeks with the official release of the
31:41Vendetta set as well, [music] so stay
31:42tuned for that. Otherwise, have a great
31:44day and I'll catch you in the next one.
31:46See you.

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