In preparation for an upcoming local tournament, I’ve decided to practice with Fai. He’s arguably the best deck right now, so I’m considering whether I should sleeve him up. If not, I want to at least have a strong understanding of how he plays. I’ve been testing with Daniel Rutkowski’s US Nats List.

In one of the many Fai mirrors I played on Talishar, I recall a hand I wasn’t sure about at the time and in retrospect I think I made the wrong play. Let’s run it back.

  • My hand was a 0 for 3 w/ go again (e.g. Ronin Renegade but I don’t exactly remember), a blue (e.g. Soulbead Strike, again I don’t remember), and two E-strikes
  • I played the 0 for 3, pitched the blue into emberblade, grabbed a Phoenix Flame, then played E-strike sinking the other E-strike and choosing +2
  • Snapdragon Scalers were online and I was running Mask of Momentum as a head piece.
  • My opponent didn’t block the first two attacks
  • I broke scalers and got the mask trigger, drawing a blue for 1 power and having the Phoenix Flame in hand still
  • I followed up with Phoenix Flame and the blue (getting +1 from shuko) for 16 total damage (3 + 3 + 7 + 1 + 2)

My thinking in the moment was that they probably didn’t want the mask trigger to take effect while I had Scalers online, so I might draw out blocks on the E-strike for 7. Or if they didn’t, I would likely be able to follow up with an additional ~4 (a 1 for 4 piching the Phoenix Flame, or a 0 for 3 and the Phoenix Flame) for 17 damage… not a bad play. Unfortunately I only drew up a card worth 2 off MoM rather than 3… unlucky.

I think it was not the best play even if I had gotten the average draw. Thinking through some alternatives: - option 1 - also cracking SS but for 18 - 0 for 3, emberblade, fai trigger, e-strike w/ draw a card sinking the PF, break ss, e-strike for 7 sinking the drawn card for 18 total damage - option 2 - no SS for a 16 damage turn cycle - 0 for 3 opener, blue into emberblade and the Fai trigger, play the PF threatening mask then finish with e-strike for 7 if they block the PF (or continue the chain and push more damage if they don’t) - I count this as a 16 damage exchange assuming they block the MoM trigger, and I get to keep Snapdragons for another day - Where do I get 16? It’s 14 from my attack (3 + 3 + 1 + 7), but forcing an inefficient block on their end on the PF reduces the value of their hand… assuming 3 points of value per card (Fai can do better, but they’re going to choose the least inefficient block), they’re losing 2 value on the exchange, so I’m counting the block as 2 points in my favor above the 1 damage presented.

As played, I basically got no value from my Scalers. Those are there mostly to fix awkward hands or otherwise should be used when I can get the most value. The 18 point turn would have effectively represented 2 damage from my boots… OK, but it can be better I think.

Along this line of thinking, I really enjoyed the recent Arsenal Pass Podcast w/ Michael Hamilton talking about FaB math. I’m trying to incorporate this kind of thinking into my deck building and gameplay decisions, and I think it’s been helpful.