Timeline Tuesday: The Un-Tsung Hero of the Forest

A Genesis: BoC Decktech Series

Genesis deckbuilding can get a little math-y with balancing chi values, aura pools, and having no card limit, so I’m here to help breakdown some fun archetypes you can expand on or rip apart and completely remake with your own ideas!

We’re gonna take a card and build an entire deck around that card.
and today’s card is…..

Tsung!

While this is an as of yet un-released champion from the upcoming Metamorphosis set, you can always proxy in your own copy to play around with and test. And test we have!

Tsung fits the Ranged archetype, the sit-back-and-attack archer style that we see in a couple of other champion designs like Ra’Ha and Tashir. Big ranges supported by the bountiful tools in Red.

With our boy Tsung though, we lose the “shot” power in Yellow for the sneaky Green of Phage. While this might initially be almost dealbreaking (I know how much we all love Boltshot), his ability is not something to be ignored. Companion as a keyword turns every summon of the same type in your deck into a Tantunabha, and that’s powerful.

The choice then, is how do we want to build this: do we go snoozefest boringsville and just stack a bunch of Barruk or Longma? NO! That’s not fun or exciting! That’s competitive horsemanure!

So here’s the Tsung-Your-Own-Adventure we have today:

Turn to page 56 and select “Team Rabbit!” – Mostly cheap, spammable summons that leave resources for spells, techniques and maybe a killer bunny or two.
Turn to page 165 and select “Team Insect!” – Everything is for the Glory of the Bug. All Hail the Bug. We Move as One. We are Bug. We are Eternal!

If you’re Team Rabbit, here’s your roster of summons:

Lionmane Rabbit is our cheap (and super sneaky) chess piece: this little doozy packs a clever wallop with it’s Monty Python-esque approach to combat. Costing a health and exert at action speed, this fluffy lapin is able to gap close and hit for 3 damage while only costing 5 aura and 4 chi. It even has 2 health, so it can possibly hit more than once in a game! Spirit Guide fills a similar function for slightly over double the aura and 5 chi, able to react at swift speed, packing an extra health, and bringing extra end-of-turn movement for free. Gargantuan Rabbit is our big scary boi, our “oh no” secret weapon. This thing is expensive at 22 aura and 8 chi, but it hits hard for 5 damage at swift speed, triggers 6 fatigue if it hits, and packs a staggering 7HP! Well worth the steeper relative cost.

If you’re Team Insect, here are your summons:

Winged Alate is an obvious choice, because for a mere 18 aura it has flight 4hp and hits for 3 electric at swift speed which is already pretty good rate for stats but it’s also going to sit back and spit out more and more insects every turn. In fact, none of our insects ever cost us more than 18 aura, so we never have to worry about bleeding resources to maintain board presence. Shield Major provides us with not only a very useful defensive tool to keep our Champion or fellow summons out of trouble, but it’s counterattack will pick off anything that dares to start a fight. And Fontanellar and Matkuna give us massive board control with their Line attacks, ensuring we maintain domination of the battlefield at all times.

We’ll also bring in some insect-specific spells to help us with Electropheromones and Vaidyuta Swarm, and Bombardier Beetle is an incredibly cost-effective “mini” version of the Fontanellar if you’re finding you need a cheaper alternative.

Once we’ve decided on our what kind of Companion we want to aid our un-Tsung Hero, we have a pretty big dilemma on how to finish off the deck with tools, attacks, and spice.

I present, for your consideration, some of the more choice cards I think would suit Tsung:

The Shots:

The Magics:

The Movement:

The Tricks:

What to choose and how many copies will depend entirely on your playstyle, and what kinds of tools you want to shore up your weaknesses and hone your strengths; as a general rule I add x3 copies of a card initially and then add or remove copies as I need them. This keeps the chi-math to a minimum and the headache of calculating things non-existent.

The best part of the Tsung deck is that you can try out Yuvan for a more defensive style of play, or swap out the Green cards for Yellow try the other archers out. The core of the deck is adaptable to different archetypes and champions with minor changes, and you may discover an interesting combo as you try things out!

As always, make sure you tune in on Monday’s, now at 8PM EST for the Genesis: Battle of Champions live streams. You can check out the official Genesis Battle of Champions website for a full card library, up-to-date rules and a store locator so you can find out the nearest LGS carrying Genesis!