Tuff’s Draconis Deck Construction & Selection Guide

With three game modes to choose from you are probably wondering how best to tackle each one.  Well, I am here to help.  I could offer you some generic tips but generalizing too much will just send you down the wrong path.  So, let’s go over the three modes individually and talk about what makes a good deck for each.

Ah what the heck, here are some Generic Tips!

• Always run 1 Command.
  • When building a deck ask yourself; if I draw my Command on turn 1, what can I play instead?
    • Never pick that Command First Turn!
  • Run multiple forms of disruption.
    • When possible, try to run at least one of each type to keep your options open and your opponent guessing.
    • If the Disruption cards can break both of your high-grounds they are at worst a 2 point play if they have nothing to disrupt early.
  • Make sure all your cards can break at least one high-ground side.
    • If you can break both your, consistency goes through the roof!
  • Your Auras will function better if their weakest side can always break the weakest side of the terrain.
    • Even better if there are two sides that apply!
  • You need at least one, if not two cards besides your Dragon that can generate multiple victory points (Aura, Flight, Ranged).
    • When in doubt you can fill out a deck with Flight & Ranged cards as they can generally grab 2 points whenever played.
  • There is at least one exception to every “Generic Tip” I just gave you hence the reason for the massive wall of text below!
  • Ok one more! This one is more of a play pattern but pay careful attention to the height and width of your board.  You can frequently deny your opponent optimal use of their cards and protect yours at the same time.  In the example below note that last turn I played my Stomp to move their Dragon into my Aura (which was purposely played against a weak side of the Terrain).  I then followed up with my 19 Speed Dragon and established the height of 4 on the game board.  Now my opponent can no longer use their command on the Dragon to turn off my Aura.

Disclaimer: So… oddly enough this article features multiple examples of plays against Darwin.  I do want to note that it is not as one sided as it seems!  Darwin is the person who originally gave my 19-1 Constructed deck a loss during its first 20 games! 

Triple Pack

For the longest time I called this “Three Pack Ethereal”, but the tooltip says Triple so let’s just call it that!

This mode is accessible to all players and it really brings everything to the table.  For those familiar with other TCG this is basically a free built in “Sealed” mode.  With each player having three random packs to choose from you truly get a unique experience that tests both your deck construction and playing skills simultaneously.

When constructing a 9 card deck from the 27 cards available I always aim to have at least 1 each of Command, Confuse, Fear and Stomp.  With these four set you can focus on having 4 other cards for multi-point generation (Aura,

To start I usually organize by Speed to see what my top options are.  Then I’ll go through the 4 mentioned (and underlined) abilities.

For Command I always favor speed.  Going first can be crucial for an optimal rotation before your opponent blocks you.

For Stomp I usually favor Slow but since both are mid Speed, I took the Faster one as I expect it to have more upside on all turns after the first.

Since neither Confuse are particularly Fast or Slow I opt for the one with a high side of 48 as it is very beneficial against high-grounds.

Unless it is my only source of the ability I rarely consider a Fear Dragon.  Here the 1 Speed is an instant pick for its adjacent high-ish value sides.

Then I’ll take a glance at the Terrains and make note of the WEAKEST sides.

From here I look at Auras and I see these two bad boys.  Looking back at Terrain I note that one has a lowest side of 2 (which the 2 Speed Aura can break with its 3 side) while the other side is 11 (that can be broken by the lower sides of 3 speed aura).

So, you may think I am nuts to not even pick my Dragon yet but just look at the cohesion of this deck.  Two massive Aura stat blocks with a perfect Terrain to complement.

Speaking of Dragons the Fear is the worst option here.  Between the Speed and highest sides of 26 & 20 this guy does not stand out at all.  The Rooted Dragon is very interesting as it is well rounded with two adjacent high sides.  However, to best complement our deck I am taking the Enforced.  Its 52 will claim any high-ground and the adjacent side of 36 is quite nice as well.  The Enforced side will also allow us to block our opponent from making optimal plays on occasion.  However, if you wanted to ensure your Command is used for the Auras I would not fault you in taking the Rooted Dragon.

While trying to round out the final spot I check Flight.  This one is certainly useable with sides of 29/20 but it overall does not stand out.

Ranged has some nice overall values.

The rest of Enforced are too slow.

Rooted seemed to have the most promise.  That 39 side on a 17 speed might be a great way to secure a high-ground or to plug a gap.  The 1 speed snail was intriguing.  I sometimes like Rooted at any speed so long as they can break the highest value on my terrain.

Now this is what happens when we are given a well-rounded selection.  Frequently our options will be less favorable.  We will lack one of the disruptions and will have to load up on another ability type or we may lack two types all together!

If you are wondering how it turned out:

I think the result also shows that with the change in Speed Points you can still win through optimal positioning and deck construction.  My opponent seemed to simply pick the 8 fastest cards available to them and while they always went first, they lacked the disruption to turn off my Auras or the stats to compete.

We saw what happens when we get cards we like, but let’s see how we handle it when some of our favorite options are well, not even an option!

I have had many Triple Pack games where I lack Command but rare is it to also lack a second ability.  Aura helped us win our last example and Command is such an integral tool that we will have to pivot our strategy completely.  Seeing as how most options are now limited to 3 of each, let’s look at some highlights of the packs.

Since we lack a Command, this is where Rooted really comes into play.  We lucked out and had one with a high side of 49 and a nice complementary Terrain with a 48.  What makes this a crucial pairing is there will be a high chance your opponent simply cannot break the 48 and your Rooted, without being Fast, becomes a guaranteed 2-point anchor.  Sure, your opponent could block the space, but that is simply a 0-point play from them.

We may not run all 3 Rooted (or all 3 Flight) but I thought it was best to display them together.  All have great values of 35-49, but we need to make some space for other abilities.

This made me want to see the Dragons next and honestly, all of these have potential.  Without the need to hold a Command back every turn we can wait for the most opportune time with a Dragon.  In this instance, I find the 20 Speed Stomper to be the most tempting of all, especially since we have some decent Confuse and Fear cards as well.

Looking at all three disruption types, the Confuse with a 44 stands out and the Fear Champion has similar stats to the Dragon.  So, at 20 Speed, this Stomper becomes our trump card to be played when we need to turn off an Aura, Flight Bonus or secure a Space before the opponent.

Now not every Command-less draft will go as smoothly.  Just keep in mind that Rooted is your friend and can really bail you out when friendly rotation is just not an option.  Enforced also becomes more viable but it too will miss a timely Command to deny points.

The game was very touch and go and it took winning 5 Speed battles to come out on top, but the Flights did their job and the Stomp Dragon was clutch!

Single Pack

Every game mode is its own beast.  For this section I’ll highlight my favorite single pack decks.  For each one I’ll go over the Pros, Cons and how to best deal with the exceptions to the “Generic Tips” such as “Always run 1 Command.

TLDR:

Pick packs that have:

• 1 Command.
  • We will discuss an exception later.
• 3+ Forms of Disruption.
• At least one card (if not more) besides your Dragon capable of multi-point generation such as Aura, Flight or Ranged.

DragonGoBrrr

Pros

• Command!
• 4 Forms of Disruption.
• Fast Min-Maxed Dragon.
• Fast Enforced can create dead zones on board and deny points.
• Supporting speeds of 17 & 15.
• Slow Aura & Flight can be additional multi-point gainers due to high stats.

Cons

• The two Stomps cannot break either high-ground.
• Can draw poorly if the first 5 cards are Stomp x2, Fear x2 & Command.
• The weak sides of the aura cannot break the high-ground.

Let’s start off with a banger.  At 140 total games this may be the most played Single Pack across all Draconis 8.  We can also see how the Speed Point change affected the pack.

From the first screenshot we can see that when Speed Points were worth 1, the deck went 40-30 (57%).  It felt like most losses were due to giving up 4-6 speed points almost every game.  Shoutout to DanTheMeek who DOMINATED this period with a pack containing speeds of 20, 17, 16 & 16.  Since then, they have been on a mission to try as many single packs as possible and I have followed suit.

From the second screenshot however, we can see the 70 games post Speed Point nerf.  Since then, the deck has gone 52-18 (74%) and this was all before the Enforced buff.  Heck most of it was before the Fear buff as well.

Without worrying about giving up 5+ victory points a game due to Speed, the deck aims to win by getting 2-4 points each from the Dragon, Aura & Flight.  The Dragon is almost guaranteed to go first, and the Enforced side frequently allows you to block plays from your opponent, especially when drawn late.

I will note that this deck rarely wins by large margins.  In the recent Single Pack Tournament, the deck has so far gone 6-1 with 5 games deiced by 0.5 to 1.5 points.

SpookyScaryRange

Pros

• Command!
• Multiple Min-Maxed cards.
• 5 Recently buffed Fear & Ranged.
• All three forms of Disruption (4 cards total).
• 18 & 17 speed can ensure some clutch positioning.
• Overall above average Speed.

Cons

• Cannot break the 49 high-ground.
  • But opponents rarely can either.
• Several mediocre high-values.
• Min-Maxed cards have Aura & Flight vulnerability.
• No true ‘blocker” card (Enforced or Rooted).

I am going to be honest with you, at 55-10 (84.6%) I struggled to find more than 1 Con for this deck after the 49 high-ground.  The Dragon and 3 Ranged Cards just snag points left and right and we have so much Disruption that many games are absolute blow outs.

Our main weakness are Aura & Flight cards that could have their bonuses stick if the board quicky becomes a 4×4, which due to Ranged position can happen if we play diagonal instead of adjacent.

I would not go so far to call this a “God-Pack” but the recent buff to 5 of the cards in the deck have really turned this from a “What If” into an ELO gaining powerhouse.

TurnAround

Pros

• Command!
• 4 forms of Disruption.
• Aura Dragons have very high potential.
• Terrain with two weak sides the Aura Dragon can easily break (with Flight).
• Well rounded Flight that is capable of earning 3-6 points with Stomp support.
  • 

Cons

• The Fear buff (and reroll) ruined their ability to claim high-grounds.
• Very slow.
• Few high combat values; struggles to break high-grounds.
• The Aura & Flight cards while well rounded can be punished by min-maxed cards.

So, looking at the first screenshot we see this deck not only has one of the most insane Stomp cards in the game, but two very min-maxed fear cards.  Coupled with some well-rounded Aura & Flight I thought this pack had potential.

It started off 1-8 (11%).  It felt like this deck was consumed by a total eclipse.

With Speed Points being worth 1 this deck was simply always behind.  Every now and then, once Speed Points were nerfed I took it out for a spin.  No other deck needed that patch more than ever.  Since then, it has held on tight in many games, going 26-17 (60%) which really shows how viable the Speed nerf made slower cards.  I think anytime a balance patch takes something from unplayable to winning, it makes it right and can never be wrong.

Bonus points if anyone figures out why this description is awkwardly worded 😉

DKCountry

Pros

• Above average speed.
• Can easily break high-grounds.
• Rooted and Enforced are amazing blockers for disruption.
• Fast-ish Min-Maxed Flight.
• Command… Dragon… but still has Command!

Cons

• Command Dragon with mediocre speed and low overall values.
• Only 2 forms of Disruption.
• Only one card truly capable of multi-point generation (Flight).

Before we had stat tracking this deck intrigued me but under performed in a low sample size.  Since the tracking, however it has gone a nice 18-8 (69%) mostly due to the high values of the Rooted and that Happy Boy Flight (TM @Anvroser).  Regardless of the terrain, having cards with 49. 48, 44, 40 and 38 go a long way to claiming one if not both high-ground bonuses.

Occasionally an Aura, Dragon or multiple ranged cards can run up the score on this deck, but the 3 rooted make opposing Confuse, Fear and Stomp almost dead cards.

The Dragon is unfortunately a liability as it struggles to gain a Flight Bonus.  It also must be deployed late to take proper advantage of Command (usually to rotate the Happy Boy for Flight) which does little for setting up a “zone of control” with the 4 Ranged corners.

Finally with so little disruption those two cards need to be saved for opportune moments.  The Stomp is best used to take a high-ground already claimed by your opponent or to turn off an Aura. The fear can be more liberally used especially as its 15 speed can help you with positioning.

NoCommand

Pros

• Fast-ish Dragon with a high value.
• Min-Maxed Rooted support.
• 3 Forms of Disruption.
• Aura that can break the weakest side of the Terrain regardless of her rotation.
• Ranged with a nice high value side.
• Overall Synergistic Terrain with Aura and Rooted cards.
• Well rounded Stomps.

Cons

• No Command means an easily disabled Aura.
• Stomps struggle to reclaim high-grounds.
• Min-Maxed cards have Aura & Flight vulnerability.

Command is like the glue that keeps a pack together.  But who needs glue when everything is welded?  All three of our Rooted have above average speed and can easily grab high-grounds.  The Dragon is the cream of the crop; capable of an easy 3+ points while the Aura, when up against the 2 side of our Terrain is less vulnerable to Confuse & Fear.  The Ranged card has a nice high side as well.  The deck isn’t perfect but at 9-3 (75%) it clearly has ways to win as the points it gains are hard to remove.

Constructed

I think it is important to go with the flow, try things, see what works and make changes, especially as we receive balance updates.  I saved constructed for last because in this format I am going to follow the progress of my deck through 4 major balance updates over the course of over 100 games.

For each deck example I’ll also provide a little TLDR:

• Fast Min-Maxed Enforced allows you to secure high-grounds early game while blocking plays late game.
• Disruption that can claim your high-grounds are always a safe pick.
• Aura that can break the weakest sides of the terrain with their weakest side are less vulnerable to Fear and Confuse.
• Slow Auras can punish Fast decks due to the difference in combat values.

While the sample size is small anytime you win 19 games during a 20-game stretch something is going right.  So, what makes this deck work?

First let’s cover the Dragon.  I received this fast monster from the pack I opened due to the shard rewards from the Triple Pack tournament.  With a high side of 48 and a Speed of 19 this is almost a guarantee to win the Speed battle and allows for optimal positioning.  Early game it can take either of my High-Grounds with a Flight bonus allowing for a turn one 3.5 point play.  If drawn late the Enforced side allows it to easily slot anywhere, claim 2-4 points and block my opponent from manipulating this card.  I do pay careful attention to position the Enforce as you’ll need to spin it differently to block Confuse, Fear and Stomp respectively.

Since denying points is always nice, I also slotted in my min-maxed 19 Speed Enforced.  Just like my Dragon it offers another quick source of claiming a high-ground and a potential late game option to deny my opponent’s plays.  (Remember to block a Stomp the Enforced side must be facing the Stomper after they would have potentially moved you.)

Speaking of Disruption I always try to run at least one of each.  My Stomper is probably widely known as it has been in all my constructed decks since day 1.  With a high side of 50 nothing is safe from her wrath.  Her 3 speed can surprisingly get you priority on occasion.

While Stomp can create the most insane net total plays (I swear I am not picking on Darwin) you’ll need the other two forms of disruption as well.

Confuse may appear difficult to use but honestly depending on the speed it can pop off as early as turn 1.  With the absolute monster stat block of a Slow Confuse such as this Hydra you can turn 1 claim a high-ground while rotating an opponent’s card off their high-ground bonus.  In this instance the low speed is beneficial!  At worst your opponent plays a Rooted and you take the other high-ground for 2 points and move on.

Now Fast Confuse are a different story.  To make sure they aren’t a dead draw early you’ll need one that is fairly min maxed.  This way, at the very worst if you happen to go first you can use your highest value (30+) to claim usually the lower of the two high-grounds.  Late game however you can use the speed to claim that crucial spot and rotate an opposing Dragon, Aura or Flight card to create some insane net point swings.  This is something a Slow Confuse will struggle with as the game carries on.

Last but not least we have Fear.  Oddly enough my Fast-ish Fears have some of my best high value sides.  As you can see here my 16 Speed Fear has a high side of 45.  This allows me to usually claim any high-ground or rotate an opponent’s high value side INTO my fear, allowing my other cards to win challenges off the enemy’s weaker sides.  As usual this at worst can claim a high-ground bonus due to having one high value side.  (Are you sensing a theme?)

At this point you may be wondering, what is “Fast-ish?” As the meta evolved many players saw the value in Speed.  Many (especially WeiShiLindon) began running decks with all 8 cards with speed values of 18-20.  Running into one of these decks means that even your 17 speed cards went second.  Which is where the final three slots came in.

Fast cards all have one glaring downside: lower combat values.  Now what better way to take advantage of this than with Aura!  By choosing two Slow Aura cards with well-rounded stats, it became very easy to consistently claim one if not two aura bonuses every game.  Before this I was struggling against Speed.  Take special note here that both Auras can win a challenge against any side of my Terrain, regardless of how they are rotated.  This somewhat takes away their vulnerability to Confuse and Fear.  I honestly felt that because of this I was able to win 95% of my first 20 games, despite this being before the patch which reduced Speed Points to 0.5!

To compliment these Aura cards, I relied heavily on Command.  When possible, I will ALWAYS recommend your command to be Fast.  However, in my collection I only have at best a Fast-ish (insert eye roll here) Commands with 17 speed.  Seeing that the 17 speed was not giving me any priority I opted for whatever Command I had with the highest value side in my collection.  Knowing my Command is slow I had to be sure that when chosen my opponent could not block my avenue to Command my Auras.  To ensure this I would try to use the ability during turns 3-5 and then follow up by picking one of my Fast Enforced to block off any spaces my opponent would need to further manipulate my Auras.

TLDR:

• Speed Point nerf made cards lower than 18 speed viable.
• Terrain changed to match my min-maxed 16 Speed Aura.
  • The 4 side of the aura can challenge the 3 side of the Terrain making it less vulnerable to Fear and Confuse.
  • The Dragon can still claim flight bonus off both high-grounds.
• Flight cards with a 40+ side are great for a consistent 2 points.

Then came the long-awaited Speed Point nerf.  With there no longer being 7 victory points on the table people quickly began to move away from having all 8 cards being fast and opted to have a mix of speeds.  Slow disruption (especially on Stomp) became widely popular while more and more people took advantage of Aura.

Oddly enough, the best response to this was to raise the average speed of my deck.  You can see here by the 60-game mark the deck’s average speed had gone from 8.8 to 13.4… but why?  Well, knowing that I no longer had to constantly beat 18-20 speed allowed me to make more consistent use of other cards.

Fast-ish cards began to feel Fast again so I swapped back in the 17 speed Command and have been running it since.  Occasionally it will lose the Speed Battle but more often that not it can be clutch to secure a space.  Many times, I have even used its Speed to simply block an opponent from reaching an optimal space needed to Disrupt my Aura or Flight bonuses.

Speaking of Aura and Flight I opted to swap out my Slow Auras for Fast-ish Aura and Flight.  The Flight with a high side of 49 can be a consistent generator of 2 points, regardless of what turn I use it on.  The Aura in a pinch can break my 38 value high-ground but optimally can be played against the 3 value side of my terrain making it harder to interrupt via Fear and Confuse.  This terrain also still allows my Dragon to claim the flight bonus regardless of what side it is challenging with its 48.

Finally with the buff to Fear’s stat value all cards of that type were rerolled.  My 16 Speed became more well-rounded while two of my 15 Speed became my fastest with a high side of 40+.

I will say the balance changes did a lot for the meta as my deck kept winning but went 29-11 (70.7%) over the 40 games since the Speed Point nerf.  It was amazing how the change affected the overall deck construction of all players on the ladder and led to much more diversified decks with many ability types.

TLDR:

• Range buff made the cards viable.
• Aura buff rerolled cards which caused another Terrain change for my Dragon to gain a Flight bonus from the high-grounds.
• This led to a different low side requirement for my Aura.
• This also led to the emergence of my 18 speed Fear.

We are a far cry from the deck’s original 95%-win rate, but over the past 40 games the record of 27-13 is still a respectable 67.5%-win rate.

At the same time as Fear we saw all Ranged cards receive a buff.  Not only did they receive a stat increase, but their highest value side would now always be adjacent to a ranged corner.  This allows all Ranged cards to be viable and makes placement a whole lot easier.

Early game I use my Ranged to claim a high-ground while setting up a “zone of control” around the terrain.  If drawn late the ranged corners can frequently snag me 1-2 points in tight spaces.  The 19 speed allows it to potentially block plays as well if I go first.

I have also experimented with a 19 Speed Rooted.  It is very powerful when drawn early as its high side of 35 can usually claim a high-ground, but late game it is a worse blocker than my Enforced and does little for victory point generation.

Not long after the Fear and Ranged buffs we also saw Enforced go back to their original stat value (being tied for Rooted with the highest overall stat pool).  With all Enforced cards rerolled my 19 Speed Ghost lost its high side of 40 and Dragon became more well-rounded.  However, it could no longer claim a flight bonus off a 38 high-ground.  This led to the deck’s current form.  The Fear has gone from a 15 Speed with a high side of 43, to a well-rounded 3 Speed to this 18 Speed.  At the very worst on turn 1 it can aim to claim the 29 high-ground side.  The aura card has also swapped between this 15 Speed and a well-rounded 4 speed.  At first, I was not a fan of having the Aura’s high values on opposite sides, but I have been able to consistently have the 8 or 9 win a challenge (usually against a terrain) so having the 33 and 21 sticking out has been quite useful.

TLDR:

• Experimented a bunch!
  • Found that my 19 (and 1 Speed) Ranged were very bad when drawn late.
  • Still mixed feelings about Rooted in Constructed. (I wish I had a 20 speed)
    • Fyi I do love Rooted in Single & Triple Pack!
  • Slotted in a min-maxed 17 speed Enforced to take high-grounds early or block late.
  • Tried double slow Aura again and went 8-8
    • Meaning this current form is 20-4
  • Swapped Terrain and went back to Fast-ish Aura & Flight.
  • Brought back the Slow Command.
    • The 48/22 stat line makes it a better play on earlier turns.
      • The slow speed can lead to it being played after a Fear or Confuse, allowing me to instantly undo the effect.

Shoutout to WeiShiLindon who has really been a force in the Constructed Meta.  They were the first to use an all 18-20 Speed deck to great success and helped bring about some of the changes we have today.  Since then, they have shown they are not one dimensional and have been mixing it up with Slow Stomps, Slower Commands and some crazy Min-Maxed Fast Auras.  Not every game has gone my way but here is a recent highlight with my deck in its current form.

In Conclusion

Wow you made it this far?  Nerd!  But seriously, thank you for taking the time.  I had a lot of fun gaining experience in all three modes to bring you this article.  Hopefully by seeing what has performed well for me you can make more informed decisions about your collection and deck construction

Have fun and see you on the ladder!