Lukas Richardson
Blastforge Dwarfs is the first Legions deck I ever played with, and it’s the deck I've piloted at every competitive event that I've participated in to date. I've always been naturally drawn to combo decks and the lines that Blastforge can play definitely scratch that itch for me in a way that no other Legions deck has so far. Guardians' Creed cemented Blastforge as a viable competitive option with it's new card Grue, The Blastforge Hunter Owl. Grue is a warrior with swift and snapshot that gives the deck more ways to trigger its strongest tools that rely on conscripting a Blastforge warrior, and also gives the deck consistent burn damage output.
At the surface the game plan with Blastforge is simple - spam the board with warriors, clear your opponents board, use your armaments to boost your warrior's atk and deal lethal damage as fast as possible. The tools Blastforge has make it pretty versatile in dealing with different types of threats but executing the game plan is easier said than done. It can be overwhelming when you have so many different options to try to get through your opponents defenses, and the deck is pretty fragile. If even just one of your key combo pieces is interrupted (or heaven forbid eradicated) and you don't have an answer, it can often mean the end of your turn or even a swift game loss.
Let's talk about some of the key tools and combo pieces that the deck has;
Blastforge Xtreme, Into The Blastforge & Blastforge Turbine
These are your main combo pieces that you want to see on your first turn. Blastforge Xtreme effectively searches for two Blastforge cards and helps to get combo pieces into the discard pile which often feels like a second hand with this deck. Into the Blastforge and Blastforge Turbine plus any warrior allows you to conscript up to three Blastforge warriors from your deck for the cost of 6 bloodborne. Successfully resolving this combo leads to insane card and board advantage.
Kindle-Haust, Blastforge Fire-Sparker & Stoga-Frost, Blastforge Flame Keeper
These two warriors work in conjunction to both get you card advantage and remove warriors from the board. Stoga-Frost can often resolve wisdom multiple times in a turn letting you dig through your deck quickly and her perish effect is your most reliable way to get to Kindle-Haust who removes up to 4 warriors from the board with the combination of gust and shockwave.
Blastforge Melt-Cannon
This armament is the decks main win condition. Equipping one or more of these to a warrior and attacking for up to 19 damage, returning the equipped warrior to your hand, and doing it all over again leads to damage that not many other decks can output in a single turn. Melt-Cannon doesn't stop there and also offers free single target removal when it's in the discard pile.
Even though Blastforge has incredible kill potential, there are plenty of decks in the meta that can shut you down if you choose to go second and try to get damage in on your first turn. In my opinion it's for this reason that Blastforge is at its best when it can go first and set up interruptions that leave your opponent wide open for you to push for game on your second turn. In fact, if you can successfully set up your ideal board going first, it can seem impossible for your opponent to get into the game. Your ideal set-up when going first is to have copies of Blastforge Blastbombs and Blastforge Barrier Buckler set. Backing these up with strong bounty fortifieds like Magik Void Hollow and/or The Twilight Gardens combined with getting a copy of Blastforge Melt-Hammer in the discard pile is more than most decks can deal with and gives you a great opportunity to win the game on your next turn.
To summarize, Blastforge is a glass (melt-) cannon deck with a great ability to generate card advantage and output lethal damage very quickly. It feels Xtremely rewarding to pilot thanks to the seemingly infinite decisions one can make during the game - especially with Blastforge Xtreme. The deck is not without its faults and definitely struggles against certain matchups that prevent you from getting your engine going, but once you stoke the Blastforge its very difficult to cool it back down.
Patrick Watt
Although it may seem like a straight forward deck of playing cards to reveal cards to gain effects, it is much more than just that. The deck also has cards and ways for setting yourself up to know what you're going to reveal so you can plan your next steps, or choose to let fate decide for you.
The deck is also not as straight forward of a game plan as most other decks, as it can pivot based on the interaction you opponent may have to go from removing their defenses to right into pushing damage or vice versa, to then also being able to set up your own defenses with cards like Exit The Alehouse and Alehouse Drink - Vodka.
Mulligan Tips:
The most needed card in your opening hand is Alehouse Drink - Wine and you ideally always want to start with one to get Helga, The Alehouse Brewmaster. If you have Helga then you don't need Wine.
The Grand Alehouse is a big need as it is your main counter engine and some cards require you to have it to be played such as fortunes with no having vodka that can get it starting with either is fine or if you don't have them but have wine or Helga she can also now get you the vodka for this.
Saphina's after mulligan will be very dependent on what's in your opening hand if going second. Strong picks are Exit The Alehouse and Alehouse Drink - Vodka. If you're going first, either of these or other drinks you may want.
Early Tips & Playlines
Alehouse Drink - Skoal is the main card advantage of the deck. While you mostly won’t play this card from hand for it’s on play effect, its reveal effect is where most of its value comes from by drawing a card every time it's revealed (or 2 if revealed by another drink). This is the card you will always want to see quick so you can start to reveal it to draw cards.
The Grand Alehouse is the main card that your deck functions around as 1 card can only be used if it’s on field (Alehouse Fortunes And Future) and another gains a bonus effect if you have it (Strategy Room Below The Alehouse). Along with this it's the main card that will generate Ale Counters by its own effect and that of other counter generating effects. The reason for this is if it’s destroyed you can search 1 Alehouse card from your deck for every 2 counters on it, including by your own effects.
Although the decks main removal is shuffling, it has 2 cards that can destroy your Grand Alehouse: Alehouse Hunting Party and Alehouse Molotov’s so once you build up some counters you can destroy your Grand Alehouse to search any of the cards you may need but be warned, the search is not up to and you must be able to get the number of card required or you won’t get any at all.
Late Tips & Playlines
The deck has a few different win cons with the most seen one being Ethelhime's herself with her Special Ability being able to boost her Physical Attack significantly based on your Ale Counters to swing for big damage.
You also have Alehouse Drink - Moonshine's reveal effect to conscript a warrior and give it a big Atk boost based on the Ale Counters you have.
Mead can also give Atk boost while placing Ale Counters if you have a face up Ethelhime's Alehouse Battleplan that give Atk based on Ale Counters aswell.