Today in the spotlight we're going to take a look at a deck from Alanzq. The meta right now is still pretty saturated with Elusive and Fearsome decks, so it's a nice change to try something different. The goal of this deck is to win due to an upgraded Fiora's special ability, which states that once she kills four enemies and survives, you win the game. With all the different barrier effects at your disposal it increases your survivability by quite a bit.
The Star
If you fail to protect Fiora, then this deck will make you sad. Anticipate that your opponent desperately wants to kill her and you shouldn't let yourself be baited into situations where you can lose her. This deck can win without her, but she makes it SO much easier.
Did Someone Say "Barrier"?
This deck has a ton of barrier effects and you should definitely save them for Fiora when you can.
Finishers
If your opponent isn't careful they can easily be crushed by Greenglade Caretaker or hit with multiple attacks in one turn from Relentless Pursuit. There's nothing quite so satisfying as crushing your opponent with brute force on a second attack of the round.
The Deck
Comments
Any spot for Judgment? It is SO satisfying to insta win with Fiora + Judgment.
I only recently got my third Fiora ... this is exactly the test drive I was looking for.
DoubleSummon is right though. Fiora’s spot in this deck is similar to her place in the old elusive deck. She’s a 3/3 challenger that can straight up win the game and has synergy with our deck. She’s a champion, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s the primary focus of the deck.
She’s a strong card and obviously a win con of the deck. DoubleSummons point, I think, is that Fiora’s not essential to winning as suggested in the post. Essentially, she is the alternate win con. The deck intends to drop early minions and oppressively control the board from there with buffs. I think it’s actually quite comparable to a zoo type deck.
Absolutely. Like I said, the deck can win without her, but she makes it easier, IMO. During testing I had quite a few games where Fiora and Relentless Pursuit really came through for me.
Except this list seem to be more about buffing your minions and have more ressiliance to losing fiora or not drawing her, the deck seem to feature vanguard banner.
I thought at first it was weird the deck didn't run shadow assassin which is draw on a combo deck..
This deck is less about fiora than the original alpha deck and has her as a secondary win condition rather than a primary one, this deck seem to win more via tempo rather than fiora, that's my read about the list, cause of the bannermans instead of key Ionia cards to ensure fiora's survavility and availability (card draw).
It can totally go either way, but she's certainly a star of the deck with all the Barriers. The Vanguard Bannerman are really good, but I was actually surprised how many times they whiffed (for me). You would think you'd nearly always trigger the buff, considering there are only 6 Ionian cards in the entire deck. I would say a big advantage to this deck is the Relentless Pursuit. I've been able to bust through quite a few games that would have otherwise been losses due to that card alone.
?
It has 3 Fiora, 6 burst-speed barrier spells, 7 barrier-giving units, and 3 Single Combats. It may not be as "all-in" as the original Fiora decks you're referencing, but that's more than enough to threaten an insta-win.
What I am saying is that Neonangel said that you are in a lot of trouble if they kill fiora, but this deck doesn't seem to rely on her as much as a pure Fiora deck.
I didn't say that. I said "If you fail to protect Fiora, then this deck will make you sad."
You're right though. It's probably overstated that she MUST survive. That comment was really tied to how much Barrier is included in this deck and how Fiora absolutely shines with that type of support.
You can win either with or without her, but I had the most fun when she was on the board causing mayhem.