Boltyn is a hero that has been historically overlooked by a lot of players. They like to suggest that charging is “throwing away a card every turn” or “having three intellect.” I’ve been playing a lot of him recently and found that the deck can run really well on a budget. Boltyn’s specs have never been very expensive, and that’s where most of the power turns come from.

This Blitz list is inspired by Yuki Lee Bender and Elly Bird’s Boltyn list they brought to the Realm Rumble $20k in December. I’ve opted to go all in on Raydn, Duskbane though, to keep the deck streamlined and to have a little more room in the inventory. If you’ve been looking to try one of the most interesting heroes in the game, look no further.

The General Idea of Boltyn

Boltyn is a deck that gets to play to the game. It can be the beatdown or the control deck in different matchups. Raydn is a great way to make up value when you need to block. The deck is about playing to your big turns. Lumina Ascension is able to stabilize and flip tempo faster than anything else in the deck. A well-timed V of the Vanguard is a close second to the Lumina. When you’re piloting Boltyn, you want to look to play decent value lines while building soul and prepping for your big turns. You’ll want to take advantage of people underestimating you damage output. I’ve had many people go into the single digits while I have a lot of armor up to send 12. I block about five damage to send back something like 15 with on hit life gain.

The Boltyn Builds

The Budget Base

This version of the deck is budget while managing to retain a lot of the power of the deck. It even has decent blocks in its equip suite.

Equipment

At the time of writing, Boltyn has two of the best monetary value legendaries in the game, with Warband of Bellona and Soulbond Resolve. These both have Temper 2, allowing for good blocks and keeping more cards in hand. Soulbond can be great to get a card in soul on turn zero. Otherwise, it helps a lot into Kano and decks with dominate. Soulbond is usually just blocking three over the course of the game though. Warband of Bellona is one of the best upgrades Boltyn has received recently. While it will also usually block three, it can save a turn occasionally, and that’s pivotal in Blitz. When you have 20 life, there’s rarely time to have a dud hand. Don’t forget that Warband can be used before swinging Raydn. This pattern has really thrown off some of my opponents.

Gallantry Gold is a great budget option for Warrior. It even finds its way into some non-budget Boltyn lists to help with control. These decks are usually on a different archetype, though. This adds one block allowing for five equip block when you give all your equips. This number is crucial into Bravo because it allows you to use equips and a card to avoid getting hit for four on Crippling Crush. It can also be good for Red in the Ledger with one buff. Cracking Gallantry with a stray resource can also be a great way to force the opponent to give you their full hand at low life totals.

Snapdragon Scalers are pretty easy to explain. Go again is good and sometimes Boltyn’s ability doesn’t have its condition met. Halo of Illumination is the only equip in the inventory. It’s brought in for Wizard. While that’s only Emperor right now, it will be useful for future Wizards as well.

The Self Enablers

Boltyn needs certain conditions to activate his go again ability. These are the charge cards that either activate it or get their own go again. The best of these is Beaming Bravado Beaming Bravado buffs itself if you charge a yellow (they are plentiful). This makes it an easy two card play for Boltyn.

The next is Take Flight This card costs one resource to play, but naturally has go again, allowing you to build up some cards in soul. This can be a great card to pair with activating your arm piece if you pitch a yellow card. The last and most inconsistent of these is Light the Way. It’s dependent on charging a yellow as well as hitting. If the opponent ignores it, it’s a soul positive play. This card really shines into decks that are all attacks or Dromai where you can use it to kill a dragon.

The Extenders

Snatch is a great card and that’s why we play it. When you play Boltyn you also get the advantage of having access to Bolt of Courage. In this list there are basically six copies of “Snatch” because of the Bolts.

These are great ways to extend turns or get cards from your opponent. Arsenalling Snatch to send in the middle of a V of the Vanguard turn can be a great play when you need to set up a big turn. The other extender is Beacon of Victory. Searching for any card in the deck is really good, even if it is usually just Lumina.

The Utility

There are two main cards serving the utility function in this base list, Banneret of Salvation and Lead with Speed yellow. The banneret is just to have more yellows to charge and to have a little more life to rely on.

Lead with Speed is a recent addition and has felt really good into decks that block with non-attack cards more often than not. Lead making your attack above its base power and making an Agility enables the deck to go two wide for two turns. At its worst it’s a yellow that can be charged.

The Power

Boltyn has two cards he’s known for having access to that hold the bulk of his power. Lumina Ascension can flip a game on its head in a hurry with its damage output and life gain. It’s one of the most powerful tools in Boltyn’s arsenal and one of the main reasons to play this hero.

The other tool that can do some big things in Boltyn is V of the Vanguard. Buffing everything on the combat chain keeps Boltyn’s ability on and makes for high damage turns. When combined with the Snatches in the deck, this card makes for explosive turns.

Inventory

The inventory has six in-deck cards. There are four defense reacts that block four damage for aggro and dominate decks. There are also two copies of Cadaverous Contraband for Illusionist and decks that refuse to ever block you. Offering to Lumina a third or fourth time is usually enough to get a deck to show a little respect.

The Full Build

Boltyn gains a lot of versatility and sustain when you get it fully built. Some of these cards really open up the unique play patterns of the deck.

Recommended Upgrade Path for Boltyn

Add Consistency

The first set of upgrades to this list help make it a lot more consistent. Swapping Gallantry Gold for Ironsong Versus gives you more block as well as a place to spend any extra resources each turn. More block in your equips is always a good thing.

The next thing that happens is Banneret of Salvation and Engulfing Light yellow are swapped for Banneret of Courage and Banneret of Gallantry.  These two Bannerets can be used to extend a turn or setup for a bigger one the next turn. They make a great charge target off of Soulbond while blocking on turn zero.

Power and Versatility

These last upgrades really help add power for the control matchups and versatility to your main strategy. The first and most important card that gets added here is Spirit of Eirina replacing a yellow copy of Light the Way. Playing Lumina Ascension as an instant makes this deck a monster. It allows it to be used in conjunction with V of the Vanguard. It also gains you an action point due to go again resolving at instant speed. This can be helpful when the opponent thinks they can stop your turn by not blocking a base power attack.

The next addition is Celestial Cataclysm. This replaces the Bolting Blades in the list to help with closing out games against control. Zero-cost seven go again is a surprise most players aren’t ready for. Replacing the red Fates in the Inventory are two copies of Soul Shield. These help with the Guardian and Ranger matchups while still adding cards to soul.

Finally, there’s Command and Conquer replacing the Cadaverous Contrabands. Coconut is one of the best on hits in the game. It also pairs well with Beacon of Victory to help close games into defense reaction heavy decks. After adding these changes, you end up with a deck with so many tricks up its sleeves it’ll be hard for your opponent to predict what you’ll do next.

The Deck Off of Ocean Avenue

Boltyn is a great hero and he has seen some major improvements to his ability to play a midrange Raydn plan in the past few sets. I think it’s a great time to pick up Boltyn and try him out at some Armories. Take the deck and have fun with it. Try a hybrid plan with dual weapons. Adjust the supporting cards you play, and most importantly, keeping charging forward.

Further Reading:

The Blitz Format is Great, and You Should Be Playing It!

Playing Flesh and Blood on a Budget

How to Improve Your Flesh and Blood Decision Making