No-Fuse Lexi Primer
Note from Kugane
This No-Fuse Lexi Guide does not contain Outsiders cards yet since testing hasn’t concluded for most top players, however, I’ll ask Yorgos if he’s willing to do a follow-up post set release! Since Lexi doesn’t utilize Aim Counters, I do not expect to see many changes, especially since Lexi wants to utilize her hero ability to generate some Frostbite or Go-Agains occasionally, so the Lightning and Ice cards are important. I could see some of the Bloodrot and Inertia goodies making the cut.
Especially arrows like Infecting Shot and Sedation Shot can be quite potent; however, the 1-cost tied into these cards can be problematic for a deck that wants to go-off by pitching a single blue to spit out 0-cost arrows with Go Again.
Boulder Trap, Amplifying Arrow, and Quiver of Rustling Leaves are three more cards I expect to see play in No-Fuse Lexi lists, but the sideboard space might be too limited to add traps into the deck, as for the “buff” cards like Spike with Bloodrot. I don’t think they are good enough, unfortunately. Not that the cards don’t present enough value – they certainly do; I think we want to keep our arrow concentration in the deck as high as possible. The deck is already prone to bricking with 3 Art of Wars and 3 Rain Razors – pushing the odds even further might not be the best plan for Lexi. Not to mention, Three of a Kind would make any non-attack virtually unplayable outside of a reload.
Introduction
Hello there, my name is Yorgos. I have been playing Flesh and Blood since it came to Europe about 3 years ago, and I am the back-to-back Greek Nationals Finalist. I have also followed the competitive scene in Europe for the last year and a half with no huge results. Still, I have maintained my top 40 rank in Constructed ELO. I am aiming to play in Worlds this year. I also stream on twitch daily focusing mostly on constructed.
Playstyle
So, you want to dive into the mystical powers of Aria, and you want to harness its powers to … shoot arrows? Do you love having explosive turns where you feel like you are cheating the game? You came to the right place. Because today we will take a deep dive into Lexi Livewire, the Elemental Ranger
Lexi has seen a lot of spotlights regarding the Ice focused build that aims to lock the opponent out of the game, but today we will focus on something more fun and more aggressive. Introducing: The No-Fuse Lexi.
So Why play No-Fuse Lexi? Lexi can become a really fast, aggressive deck that, if left unchecked, can close up the game pretty quickly and has something that other aggressive strategies are severely lacking: Annoying Hit effects.
So, let’s not waste any more time, and let’s look at the list.
The Deck
Link to the deck: https://fabrary.net/decks/01GMWRG2DJ652N0RCQ454098F0
What we are aiming to do with this deck is to try to set up turns where we can play as many “amplifiers” (Electrify, Ice Quake, Art of War, Rain Razors (we will keep calling them that from now on)) as possible and then attack two to four times to make use of these cards. What really helps with this strategy is our New Horizons. Having access to two arsenal slots while drawing so many cards makes it way easier to set up these “explosive” turns.
Let’s have a close look. We are aiming to pitch a blue card on our turn (Sometimes we might be forced to pitch a yellow, but the same mindset applies) and use the 3 resources to attack twice or more. Any cards that we cannot use to attack with or play, we should be using them to either block (if they have 3 Armor) or store in the Arsenal for later if it is an amplifier. It’s really important to try and attack every single turn as we want to force our opponent into blocking as soon as possible.
“Important note” Do not be afraid to “waste” cards. (Pitching Reds/Art of war, blocking with Endless Arrow/Heat Seeker, and so on) Almost all cards in our deck are replaceable. Most of the time, it doesn’t really matter which arrows we use to attack or which amplifiers we use. This is quite different compared to other decks that have cards like Spinal Crash, Mount Heroic, and Lava Burst, where they feel “bad” when they are forced to block with these cards. Lexi doesn’t mind; Lexi doesn’t care.
Since we are discussing mostly constructed, let’s dive into the sideboards and game plans a little bit.
Sideboarding Plan
We have 57 “main deck” cards since our core game plan is pretty much the same as most opponents. And most of the time, we just add our preferred arrow for the match-up, and we are good to go!
Fai
+3 Ice Quake Yellow, +3 Remorseless, +2 Blizzard.
-3 Art of War, -2 Electrify Blue
The Fai match-up should be a pretty good one since he is so weak while blocking, and our deck is designed to force him into blocking. In this match-up, the Ice Quakes are the MVPs since, most of the time, it will devastate his turns. We do not want to block anything specific we only want to get the full value out of our hand so try to be as efficient as possible and only block a lot when you have a bad turn.
Katsu
+3 Ice Quake Yellow, +3 Remorseless, +2 Blizzard.
-3 Art of War, -2 Electrify Blue
Katsu is a bit harder match compared to Fai because Katsu can block a bit better, but the same mindset applies: Try to force him into blocking with Ice Quake and Remorseless. We need to block slightly more compared to other aggressive decks in order to reset Mask of Momentum, but again if we get ahead, it’s easy for us to stay there.
Briar
+3 Ice Quake Yellow, +3 Remorseless, +2 Blizzard. -3 Art of War, -2 Electrify Blue
With Briar, it’s pretty much the same as Fai/Katsu, she doesn’t like blocking, and we can force her to do that. Here we might wait quite a bit with our amplifiers for their Mountain turn. We want to play at least one copy of ice quake and attack 3+ times on the turn where they play the mountain, so it’s one of the few exceptions where we don’t want to play all of our cards from hand/arsenal. Again, we only block when we can’t use the cards from hand.
Lexi
+2 Command and Conquer, +3 Ice Quake Yellow, +3 Remorseless, +2 Blizzard.
-3 Art of War, -2 Electrify Blue, -2 Dazzling Crescendo
The mirror is a bit tricky since we don’t like blocking, and Ice forces us to block a lot. Here we need to try and block out their disruptive turns (when any Ice arrow is Fused) and go all out when they cannot disrupt us. My tip here is that the moment you get a free turn, try to use everything: Snapdragons, Gloves. Try to force her into blocking as quickly as possible.
Azalea
+2 Command and Conquer, +3 Ice Quake Yellow, +3 Remorseless, +2 Blizzard.
-3 Art of War, -2 Electrify Blue, -2 Dazzling Crescendo
Azalea, at the moment, wants to play a value game versus us, meaning they want to block with 1-2 cards and then attack with an arrow. Ice Quake really messes up with her, and it’s not easy to block the bunch of different attacks we can present every turn. If Azalea disrupts us a lot with Red in the Ledger, Remorseless, and such, don’t worry too much and try to set up a big turn with your 2 arsenal slots.
Viserai
+3 Remorseless
Viserai has to be one of the easiest opponents, he is not as explosive as other decks, and his hit effects aren’t as relevant. So again, block only when you cannot use the extra cards. And you should be good to go.
Iyslander
+3 Fatigue Shot +3 Ice Quake Yellow +2 Blizzard +Nullrune Boots
-2 Dazzling Crescendo –3 Art of War -Snapdragon Scalers
If Iyslander doesn’t disrupt us, she is dead in 3 turns. Be really worried about Channel Lake Frigid. When that card hits the board, you need to switch to full defensive until it’s off the table. A Fatigue Shot is good because it forces them to block or change their plan, and Three of a Kind is great because we cheat on resources. Again, except when the lake is on the arena, only block when you cannot use the cards.
Kano
+2 Blizzard, +1 Ice Quake Yellow, +Nullrune Boots
-Snapdragon Scalers
Kano really hates the fact that we can close the game super fast. The only tip I have for the match-up is to try to keep “more” cards than you need on the turn where you are going to present lethal in order to make it harder for him to OTK you. Only use gloves for the extra reload if you kill him.
Oldhim
+3 Fatigue Shot
Oldhim is a bit of a tricky match-up but fear not, for we have a plan. Oldhim will want to try and lock us out of the game by disrupting every turn. It is really important to try and have an aggressive turn whenever he presents us only with damage and no disruption effect. Fatigue Shot really helps here because it makes it way harder for him to have a disruptive turn, so it’s easier for us to keep being the aggressors. Keep in mind Oldhim’s tunic counters. If he has the free resource, try to play around the Command and Conquer + Pummel line by clearing out Arsenal, even if the value is minimal. It’s one of the few cases where we want our Arsenal actually clean!
Bravo
+3 Fatigue Shot, +2 Sink Bellow
Bravo has the same game plan as Oldhim, where he will try to disrupt us out of the game. Try to maintain your life. Don’t get super greedy with taking damage on turns where you can block because it’s not easy for Bravo to have a disruption every turn, so at some point, you are bound to be able to attack. Fatigue Shot, again is a super MVP because, most of the time, it forces Bravo to swing with Anothos so we can easily decide how we want to play our next turn.
Dori
+2 Snap Shot, +1 Ice Quake Yellow
Dori is a tricky match. The game plan is to, what a surprise, force them into blocking and then if needed, reset their sword. Unless Dorinthea has very specific hands, her damage output, while Dawnblade has less than 2-3 counters, is way lower than ours, so even if every fiber of your body tells you to block the Dawnblade, resist. The idea here is that we don’t want to block without having “perfect” information. Our deck is not built to block, but at some point, we need to reset the Dawnblade (unless we kill them in 3 turns), so we want to block the Dawnblade when they have minimum resources meaning either zero or no cards in hand/Arsenal. And we can achieve that by presenting a turn with a lot of hit effects (again, Ice Quake is great here) and cards like Heat Seeker/Electrify/Endless Arrow.
Boltyn
+3 Ice Quake Yellow, +2 Blizzard
-2 Art of War
Boltyn is quite a favorable match-up because disruption is really hard for him to deal with, and we are not planning on giving him time to set up his combo, either! If Boltyn is on the saber/combo plan, the game plan is to try and close the game super-fast before he has time to execute his Lumina line. Almost never block, even bad pitching, but attacking more is better most of the time rather than giving him time. If he is on the Rayden plan, pretty much the same applies, but here, we can play the value game a bit more, so we do play it. In short, if its saber never blocks, if its Rayden block for value.
Dash
+3 Ice Quake Yellow, +2 Snap Shot
-2 Art of War
Dash is a tricky match-up too. The most likely scenario is that they will be playing an aggressive all-in deck. We hate the fact that if they open with Teklo Pounder, they can close the game super-fast, and if we don’t have disruption, we might be dead in the water! Versus Dash, we need to maintain our life total a bit high because we need the card that cheats on cards in order to not only present more damage but also stay alive. I am talking about three of a kind. It’s probably the only match where we don’t want it to end in 3 turns; we want the game to go a bit slower in order to outvalue their deck with cards like Heat Seeker/ Endless Arrow/Snatch/Three of a kind. The other great thing about blocking a bit here is that they might start being afraid of getting fatigued and start not being so aggressive with their Boost activations. Tricky match to pilot but definitely winnable!
Rhinar
+3 Fatigue Shot, +3 Ice Quake Yellow
-3 Art of War
With Rhinar, the gameplan again is quite straightforward. He doesn’t have many disruptive effects, so we want to be as aggressive as possible and force him into the defensive. Fatigue Shot and Ice Quakes are MVP here again, as they force him into blocking a bit. Rhinar will try to play the slower game in some turns, meaning he will want to block with 2 cards and then swing with a big attack; we can play that game plan with our high number of 3 blocks and our annoying hit effects. Don’t forget even though we are a super-fast deck; we have a lot of effects that generate extra cards.
Levia
+3 Fatigue Shot +3 Ice Quake Yellow
-3 Art of War
With Levia, the gameplan is pretty much the same as Rhinar, but here when we force her into the defensive, she will also suffer from her Blood Depts. Disruptive effects are MVP. The only tricky part is to try and play around with their Carion Husk. While they still have the husk, try to split your effects rather than stack them on a single arrow to make it more annoying for them to block your big attack.
Dromai
+2 Command and Conquer +3 Ice Quake
-2 Art of War
To be honest, Dromai is by far the hardest match-up for our deck. Our game plan here is to try and end the game as soon as possible; if the game goes long, we will get overwhelmed by dragons, so we need to end the game fast. Completely ignore any small dragons and those with no Hit effect, and use your life total aggressively in order to finish the game. Never bother to block cards like Ravenous Rabble, Dunebreaker Cenipai, and sweeping Blow. Sometimes the Dromai player will take a lot of damage in order to set up a big dragon like Tomeltai, Vynserakai, or Dominia. This is the only spot during the game where we might try to deal with them but always attack the Dragon as your last attack in order to hide your intentions from the opponent. It is also really important to calculate your turn, knowing that you can 100% hit with one of your attacks on a dragon. So, we can get the extra value from Endless Arrow, Heat Seeker, and Snatch pretty easily.
Arakni
+2 Snap Shot +1 Sink Bellow
Arakni really struggles with our game plan since he doesn’t have too much disruption, and we can play our 4+ hands great. Try to be the aggressor, don’t mind too much if you get a bit disrupted by his effect, and close the game super-fast.
Budget Swaps
Our deck is already quite on the cheaper side, but if you are missing some expensive cards, here are some alternatives:
Art of War: Yellow Ice Quake is, in a lot of cases, better than Art of war, so it’s a pretty easy swap if you do not have the 3 copies of Art of War.
Fyendal’s spring tunic: Blossom of Spring. A lot of our games will have been decided before we hit turn 3, so if you do not have access to Tunic, Blossom of Spring is a decent replacement for the deck.
Command and Conquer: Icy Encounter Red. The free Frostbite from Lexi’s effect is great, and for the most part, we only needed a 6+ power that has a disruptive side effect.
The only card that is Irreplaceable is New Horizons. Unfortunately, the deck cannot operate without it.
Closing Thoughts
Lexi is a powerful deck, and getting used to her and her lines is a skill that will definitely come in handy in the future. With Outsiders just around the corner, these types of aggressive non-Elemental Lexi decks will become stronger and stronger, so it’s a great time to start getting to know these types of decks.