My Kayorigins

Shirking the meta as our team is often known to do, I played Kano for ProTour Los Angeles and the preceding Road to Nationals season. I did not Top 4 a single RTN and I bombed out of the ProTour hard enough to crater my ELO and failed to qualify for that year's U.S. Nationals in Minneapolis. After failing to day two the Calling, I decided to stop outsmarting the meta and pick up the most popular deck: Kayo. It went swimmingly. I won a couple of ProQuests and Top 8'd a Battle Hardened (don't look up what hero knocked me out), but then the worst thing happened: Part the Mistveil was released.

I took Kayo to Calling Minneapolis and just barely missed making Top 8, getting knocked out by a Zen in the penultimate round. Zen's domination was just beginning, but I figured we could tech for it. Regrouping, I brought Kayo to ProTour Amsterdam with most of my sideboard dedicated to beating Zen. I lost every game I played against him that weekend. It wasn't only Zen; Enigma and Nuu were no pushovers and Part the Mistveil was followed by Rosetta which contained three heroes that were also favored against Kayo. Zen was eventually nerfed, so I brought Kayo to the AGE Players' Championship where I ultimately fell in the semifinals to Enigma. Reluctantly, I shelved the deck.

Since then, I've felt like Charlie Brown and Kayo is Lucy holding the football. Part the Mistveil is finally gone, time to play Kayo? Sorry, Earth heroes still exist. Superslam gives Kayo a ton of new tools? Gravy and his army of goons stand in your way. The top four heroes in the meta all get substantial bans? They continue to win tournaments. In Classic Constructed, Kayo will continue to limp his way toward Living Legend, winning a handful of RTNs and PQs every season but nothing bigger than that. Instead of going for one last hurrah in CC, I decided permanently to move on from the deck. Here enters Silver Age.

Once the rules and banned cards were officially announced, Kayo was the first deck I thought of. He loses his power cards in Bloodrush Bellow and Beast Within, but the core is still there. His armor suite is unmatched, his damage potential rivals the Runeblades. However, I knew not to get my hopes high. Chane has dominated every format he's been a part of, there's no way he wouldn't be busted in Silver Age. LSS concurred and decided not to give him a chance and suspended him immediately.

Calling London showed that even with Chane gone, another Runeblade would still rule the meta as Briar was the most represented deck by far. Briar eventually won the tournament, but there was a glimmer of hope. Two Kayos made it to Top 8. Their lists were similar to what I was thinking; the football was placed, ready for me to kick again. I decided against going with the obvious meta pick and returned to my favorite deck since Lexi, ready to get hurt again. Luckily for me, the opposite happened.

Calling San Diego

I went to San Diego for the Calling this past weekend where I won the Friday Gold Foil Blade Beckoner event and finished Top 8 in the Calling. This was my matchup spread for each event:

Friday Gold Foil Blade Beckoner

Round 1 Briar - (Win)

Round 2 Enigma - (Loss)

Round 3 Bravo Flattering Showman - (Win)

Round 4 Briar - (Win)

Round 5 Fai - (Win)

Round 6 Fai - (Win)

Top 8 (in order of seeding) was Enigma, Lexi, Briar, Briar, Kayo (me), Fai, Kano, Rhinar.

Top 8 Briar - (Win) Went first, did a ton of damage turn zero, forced blocks out of them before they did the same to me.

Top 4 Enigma - (Win) Rematch, hands lined up better the second time around and I kept his board cleared most of the game.

Finals Lexi - (Win) Went first and just set up, their first turn was Fatigue Shot for 5 and pass, I did 20 damage next turn.

Calling

Round 1 Kayo - (Win)

Round 2 Fai - (Win)

Round 3 Bravo Flattering Showman - (Loss)

Round 4 Oldhim - (Win)

Round 5 Kano - (Win) Opponent accidentally presented too many cards resulting in a game loss, I did not really beat any Kanos this tournament.

Round 6 Kayo - (Win)

Round 7 Lexi - (Win)

Round 8 Enigma - (Win)

Round 9 Briar - (Loss)

Round 10 Decimator Dori - (Win)

Round 11 Decimator Dori - (Win)

Top 8 (in order of seeding) was Briar, Kano, Nuu, Kayo (me), Kano, Briar, Dori, Enigma

Top 8 Kano - (Loss) Lost to eventual winner Jacob Clements, didn't pop Skera turn zero to deny Spindle value when maybe I should've, ran out of go again a few turns in.

17-4 record across the two big events, losses to Enigma, Bravo Flattering Showman, Briar, and Kano.

The Deck Tech

DISCLAIMER: This post features a deck tech for the Kayo deck I used in San Diego. I constructed this deck by smashing together Niels Debosschere's and Sammy Weckx's lists from London and adding two more pieces of Arcane Barrier. Here are their lists.

I ran every card that both lists ran and filled out the rest with my favorites from each. So this deck tech is more of a sideboard guide and general evaluation of why I went with certain cards over others.

This is the mainboard for my list, all of these cards are always in (unless you run into the one Mech player in the room in which case you want fewer no blocks so you can fatigue).

The list runs 16 blues which felt like a good number. I rarely had all red hands and it never cost me any games, plus I had Predatory Plating as an emergency resource when I needed it. All of my draw/discard effects (except Pulping) are mainboard because they fuel the most explosive turns. High Pitched Howl, Rough Up, and Sirens of Safe Harbor are the finishers, Sirens being especially good it's discarded randomly

This is the sideboard. The equipment is solely for Wizards: Nullrune Hood, Nullrune Chest, and Skera Strapping for Kano, Hood and Skera for Iyslander, Boots for no one as it turned out (Beaten Trackers too good). Clash of Might, Strongest Survive, and Pulping are for aggro decks, and Buckwild and Agile Windup are for slower decks. The mainboard is 32 cards, so I pick the most relevant aggro sideboard card against slow decks, usually Strongest Survive for the most damage.

One exclusion that I made which will be a divisive choice among Kayo players is Pack Hunt in favor of Agile Windup yellow. Pack Hunt's intimidate is very good in the right situations, but I found that since it was usually a finisher the last card in a defensive player's hand was often the blue they wanted to swing their weapon with, so they didn't mind it being intimidated. Leading the turn with Pack Hunt via an Agility token was better, but it still had the potential to miss, and pitching it to the bottom for an end game finisher never felt good enough to me since we already had Smash Instinct for that. Having more Agile Windup's means I can convert more hands fully into offense in the end game (e.g. by discarding it to attack with claw and another card, followed by attacking them with two cards on the next turn.

Matchup Specifics

I'll go over the gameplan to the decks I faced over the weekend (I played at least one of each of the top eight most represented decks).

Briar: The die roll will probably decide the winner most of the time, but there are things you can do to mitigate the pain of losing it. Firstly, if you can throw multiple attacks going first, you probably should as Briar's hands don't block very well. Wild Ride into Claw into a finisher is 13-16 damage with a Might generated for next turn and will put a decent dent into their life total most of the time. Your blocks should be selective as you're trying to kill them before they kill you, so try to save most blocks for their worst on-hit, Snatch. While blocking on-hits is preferable, the game is only going to go two turns before someone is put on the back foot permanently, so make sure you block with your equipment ASAP for full value. You want to pop your boots and chest as soon as you can make use of them and you don't want to die with one block still on Knucklehead because you saved it. They're usually only swinging the sword with their chest piece resource the one time, so block with your Gauntlets as soon as they do that. They have 4 arcane damage they can do on your turn (Sigil of Suffering and Burn Up/Shock), so beware going below 3 life. Your Pulpings are unlikely to line up with their Sigils, but if it's a possibility that your turn gets blown up by that scenario, pop your Trackers for insurance.

Kayo: See above regarding die roll. Kayo blocks a little better than Briar on average, but about 25% of the deck blocks for 0, so three attacks on turn zero has the potential to do a ton of damage. Kayo doesn't have much in the way of on-hits (Strongest Survive being the only inclusion in this list), so save your blocks for the finisher. Usually the player that pops Beaten Trackers first (or has an Agility for Savage Feast or Bare Fangs) wins. Once your equipment is gone, beware of dying to a Pulping for 7. Once you go below five life, they can't be allowed to keep more than one card.

Kano: Probably Kayo's toughest popular matchup. You want to go second with AB2 + Skera and mitigate as much damage as possible on turn zero while fixing your hand. You have to go fast in this matchup and kill them before they get you in lethal range. They usually run the anti-Pulping boots, so you'll probably have to give up your Trackers when you play Pulping if that's your first draw discard into them as long as your follow up is 7+ damage. There's no on-hit increase of damage on Kano's kill turn like there is in Classic Constructed, so you want to use your Skera Strapping to deny the most impactful on-hit, usually either Aether Spindle or Reverberate. Don't be afraid to pop it on turn zero going second if there's a meaningful on-hit, since you probably won't be blocking much arcane damage after that until the final turn of the game.

Fai: This is a very similar matchup to Briar, but Fai trades some of Briar's explosiveness for consistency. The fridge is basically the same as Briar's: 7 points plus a resource. Fai doesn't have much in the way of on-hits, Mounting Anger and Rising Resentment being the ones you need to respect the most. Like every aggro matchup, you want to go second, but don't expect to threaten as much damage on turn zero if you have to go first as they have no 0-blocks, unlike Briar and Kayo. I'll take this matchup over Briar every time, though. You won't get scammed by arcane damage, Fai doesn't make Embodiments of Earth, and he doesn't have Lightning Press. They can go pretty fast, but we're usually faster.

(Please enjoy this picture of a relaxing beach before looking at how long the next section is.)

Dorinthea (or any Decimator Great Axe Great Axe deck): This matchup is the mathiest I've ever played in this game and the most one-sided in terms of player agency. If the Kayo draws hot, he wins. If not, Decimator wins. The math is simple: Kayo has 28 health with armor and Decimator has 30-32 depending on boots (Refraction Bolters Bolters, Blade Beckoner Boots Boots, Pillar of Unity). Decimator has to swing 7 times (excluding turn zero) before Kayo is forced to give cards from hand, which means Kayo needs to leak 30-32 damage in 7 turns to force the opponent to block with their entire hand or else start giving up cards to block the axe. The average Decimator hand is a blue plus 9-10 block (thanks On the Horizon), so every turn you do 14+ damage moves the needle in your favor while every turn you do less damage than that moves it in their favor. If they aren't on Refraction Bolters, they have no on-hits you care about so block with your armor ASAP. Fyendal's Fighting Spirit is an argument for delaying armor blocks to deny value, but they will spend most of the game below you in life anyway, so better to not risk it. If they have Refraction Bolters, save your Knucklehead and Blade Beckoner block for a turn where they could use it. If you go first, pray for Windup. If your hand is terrible, fix it as best you can while keeping an arsenal. Letting them filter is less important than you having a strong start. If you go second and they swing axe, block with every blocking card in your hand, including Windup. The less damage you take turn zero, the better; don't get punished by Overpower. If they send an attack action card instead, say thank you for the filter and sculpt your hand as best you can. Fatigue through blocking isn't real against Kayo, you will only fatigue if forced to block with cards from hand in the end game. A single 3 for 7 turn (FFS or Sharpen Steel) won't advance the clock in their favor, but means you will go down to 1 at a certain point and be in danger of death by Steelblade Shunt. A single life gained from Sirens is very impactful for this matchup. Don't be afraid to take a setup turn with Windup or Assault and Battery if the alternative is weak. You won't do much damage, but starting your next turn with five cards plus an Agility and Might should make up for it. Decimator isn't necessarily easy, but it is simple. Go fast.

Enigma: This is one of the few matchups you choose to go first in. Enigma gets more threatening the more auras she has in play, so our job is to keep the board clear. What Enigma will usually try to do is establish a Spectral Shield token with lots of +1 counters through Spectral Manifestations or Astral Etchings and then block aggressively to protect it. She'll block with every card in her hand and then swing a 0 for 5. The more times she does this, the worse it gets for you. You are trying to do as much damage as possible, but you have to show a little more restraint with your resources when she has no Ward up. If you are faced with the choice between pitching your last card in hand to swing Mandible Claw against a naked board or arsenaling it, you should almost always arsenal it if you aren't swinging for lethal. They're more defensive than aggressive, so you don't have much to fear when they have nothing set up. Their win condition is establishing and keeping their board, and that's difficult to do against five card hands. They have no on-hits, so block with armor freely. Ward attacks are weapon attacks, so your Blade Beckoner Gauntlets will get full value. The card you have to worry about most is Essence of Ancestry. When it dies, if they have no other auras up, it will prevent the next source of damage from a particular color. This affects us less than other aggro decks like Briar or Fai because our attacks come in every color. Just make a plan for what your follow up will be once it's cleared and its effect becomes active.

Oldhim: This is the other matchup you want to go first in. This is similar to playing against Decimator, but Oldhim trades the DGA block reduction clause on your cards for a block increase on all of his cards. I said you can't be fatigued through blocking alone; this deck is what will test that claim the most. His deck is full of blues and 4-blocks and his fridge is almost as good as a Warrior's, though he will give you some resources for free in the process. This is the matchup where your four Windups shine the most. They are critical for getting there in the endgame, so pitch them early. Don't block unless your hand is terrible, and throw as much damage as you can at them. They will weather the storm for a long time, but your finishers and Mandible Claw will trade up in cards to make up for your discards. They may run the odd disruptive attack (Boulder Drop being the most likely), so save your armor for that possibility. Remember that most of their deck is block slop, so taking a turn off to set up the five card hand plus double token will probably not result in getting punished by anything. They only have two Ice 3-blocks, so you won't get ice reacted very often, but play around it as best you can. Like Decimator, all the agency is on your side, so optimize your offense as best you can and you'll get there.

Bravo Flattering Showman: This is probably the most difficult Guardian since he's more offensive than the rest, but I still consider it favored for Kayo. I'm sure both sides of the matchup should want to go second, but the Bravos I played wanted to get a Crush card in arsenal turn zero, and so chose to go first when they won the die roll. I think the matchup is probably decided by who gets tempo first (AKA who gets to attack meaningfully first), especially since Kayo has the fridge to negate one dominated Crush effect per game. You have to be careful how low you get against a hero with easy access to Dominate, but Kayo outputs so much more damage than Bravo and not all of his Crush effects are that impactful against us. Taking a dominated Chokeslam for 10 and then responding with Wild Ride into Claw into Sirens is a very nice turn cycle. The game I lost against Bravo in the Calling was due to a Pummeled Boulder Drop that bought him enough tempo to win from there, and he still ended the game at 1. Pummels should be pretty telegraphed, so try to play around those as best you can.

Lexi: I'm skipping down the most represented list a bit to mention Lexi since I played a few. This is the most disruptive aggro deck you'll play against, but an Arctic Incarceration doesn't kill our average turn like it does for Briar. Obviously go second if you can, but the only thing you should attack them with on turn zero (conditionally) is Pulping. Take Cover (which you should expect most Lexis to play against you) on turn zero can be back-breaking as it lets them start the game with a five card hand, so bear that in mind if you're considering attacking. Save blocks for on-hits like Snatch and try to figure out how bad an end-of-turn Arctic Incarceration will mess you up. If you have no blues and your hand blocks reasonably well, you should probably block to prevent having to take an inefficient turn. If they aren't on Patch the Hole, they'll have to keep the Arctic Incarceration in hand or play it as they can't arsenal it. Their fridge is usually just 4 block total, so two turns of full offensive value should force them to block after that. From there, you can play the midrange game which Kayo is better at. Advanced tip: go second, let them resolve Arctic Incarceration, pitch three resources to discard Windup and break their frostbites, win through mental damage alone.

Nuu: I'm very happy I was able to dodge Taotao's Nuu over the course of the weekend, but keep in mind that deck will definitely see a surge in popularity going into PQ season, so preparing for it would be helpful. My guess from watching his games is that Nuu is more fatigue than disruption, so hit her as hard as you can and block as little as possible.

I think Kayo is an excellent pick going into PQ season. Your damage keeps up with and usually outperforms other aggro decks like Briar and Fai and you are much less susceptible to disruption and fatigue than those decks. You have a very above rate aggro and midrange plan and your fridge is the best in the game in terms of overall value. Tech in the form of Humble and Smash Up could be brought in to target Kayo, but Silver Age games are so fast that there's a good chance those cards are never even seen. If you want to win your PQ and qualify for Vegas, this is the way.

The decklist is embedded below, but I'm posting the link to my list on Fabrary as well because I have all the matchup buttons for the popular decks.

Story Time

I can't write an article about going to San Diego, one my top-ten favorite cities in Southern California, and not talk about my experience outside of card games.

We arrived at our hotel Thursday night, a Ramada five miles away from the venue. This hotel was not the best I've ever stayed in, but it was better than how I imagine most hostels are. After switching from our first room into one that had been cleaned (free half empty liquor bottle!) and taking a cold shower, I spent most of the night figuring out which of my three pillows was the least lumpy before getting a good two hours of sleep.

We got to the venue right before the hall opened for the day. The Starbucks in the convention center was closed, I figured for Valentine's Eve, but remained closed all weekend. Unlucky. No sleep and no breakfast could not stop me from acquiring my first gold foil of the weekend, however. I got a pretzel in between events to prevent myself from succumbing to the darkness and then drove a very convenient three miles to the airport, to pick up some cactus people (AKA Arizonans) before returning to get dinner at Cheesecake Factory, which I very much enjoyed.

A sidenote for parking, I was looking in the back for the entrance to the garage but found an extremely convenient lot for a reasonable price which I used all weekend. I highly recommend it if you want to save money on the convention center garage.

After getting slightly more sleep the second night (Colin had the good pillow on his bed the whole time), we got breakfast at the next door Jack in the Box, which I do not recommend. Day one went extremely well (except for losing to a Dash in a side event) and finished in plenty of time for me to drive back to LA, which I do recommend, for Valentine's Day. I stayed the night there to minimize time spent in the Ramada and returned for the final day.

We ventured into the city to find an open Starbucks, located one (must not have gotten the memo about the holiday weekend), and returned. Day two also went well as I acquired my second Gold Foil (accomplishing a goal I've had for several years) and completed my Blanch-flavored Pringle playset. Finally, I was able to go to the restaurant I've been looking forward to all weekend, The Old Spaghetti Factory. Food was okay, I need to order something different next time I guess. Then I returned the cactus people to the very conveniently located airport and headed back to LA.

My previous San Diego trip featured less winning on my part and more board games. I played Brodie's copy of Blood on the Clocktower and lost due to a previous U.S. National Champion (who shall remain nameless) being successfully hoodwinked by the Agents of Evil. This trip featured no board games unfortunately and the lodgings left much to be desired, but I enjoyed my weekend of Silver Age much more than I expected to. Was it only because I had immense success on Kayo? Probably, but finishing each day of the tournament by 2:00 is a very nice feeling compared to some other events I've played at.

I've been known to talk some smack about San Diego, but you have to put it in context. It's only in reference to Los Angeles that I make fun of it, San Diego is a great city. Both of my trips there have been very enjoyable. And I'm glad to have continued one of San Diego's time-honored traditions: losing in the quarterfinals. Go Dodgers!