(Fai | Art by Sam Yang)

The Commoner Club is a series of articles focusing on the Commoner format, providing decklists, key cards, and how-to-play tips for each hero. The Club aims to provide a budget-friendly and easy-to-digest avenue to Flesh and Blood for those who wish to try out the game.

Today, we take a break from the Dusk Till Dawn-inspired decks to present one of the premier aggro decks of the Commoner metagame, the fiery Draconic Ninja, Fai.

Stubby Hammerers is Legal in Commoner

Despite the lack of the Belittle and Minnowism combo, Stubby Hammerers remains a legal card in the format. This was the same card that received a pre-emptive ban in Blitz – another 20-life format – and eventually received the banhammer in Classic Constructed as well. The card presents an easy additional upwards of four points of damage as early as turn zero, which puts opponents in the back seat for the rest of the game. If we had one reason to field Fai in the format, it would be this card.

Chaining Together Fai

The goal with Fai is to chain together several Draconic attacks to take advantage of his powerful ability, which puts a Phoenix Flame from the graveyard to the hand, thereby extending our turn and flurry of attacks. The point of each turn then is to pump out at least three Draconic chain links to get a free activation and sneak one more attack afterwards. Ideally, we only want one blue card in hand – only for the Searing Emberblade attack.

It must be noted that Fai’s attacks mostly block for two, so we will lose the blocking game – we have to be as aggressive as we can.

Generally, we would opt to go second as we can filter the hand with a full block and refill. This way we have the advantage, as our opponent won’t redraw after our turn zero onslaught.

“Go Again, Go Again, Go Again”

This phrase will be one we utter several times at our local Armory. Most of his attacks are just low-to-the-ground zero-cost attacks with go again, such as Brand with Cinderclaw, Ronin Renegade, and Rising Resentment. We also employ powerful free attacks, like Scar for a Scar and Ravenous Rabble.

Searing Emberblade Is Core

This Draconic Ninja weapon is a reliable way to extend Fai’s turn, as it only needs one Draconic attack prior to gain go again – it counts itself. By using one of our ten blue cards to pitch, we’ll have an extra resource to use for cards such as Breaking Point, Flamecall Awakening or Razor Reflex.

Notably, Harmonized Kodachi is not a consideration at all for this deck, considering we don’t have access to the powerful Mask of Momentum. Nor are we Ira, Crimson Haze, who can pump out obscene amounts of damage from a single blue in hand. Finally, Kodachi attacks don’t count as Draconic chain links. Kodachi – Emberblade lists are more in the territory of Classic Constructed.

Chain Finishers

Huge turns should come with a payoff, and Fai has an arsenal of the best payoff cards in the format. In addition to his own hero ability, which is already an incentive in itself, Fai can utilize hard-hitting attacks such as Lava Burst, Salt the Wound, and Flying Kick to close out games from nowhere. We could even string together the first two finishers together through a Snapdragon Scalers activation, which forces a block or swings for game.

The Ninja Way!

As much as Fai embodies the fury of roaring dragons, he is still a Ninja who brings a slew of tricks to blindside opponents. Here are some of them.

After attacking with Phoenix Flame, we can close chain, thereby sending it to the graveyard. We can then Inflame, pick up the Phoenix Flame again and attack with it. If you have more attacks, you could potentially even activate Fai’s ability – if you haven’t yet – and use it a third time.

Brand with Cinderclaw turns Ravenous Rabble and Scar for a Scar into Draconic attacks, which discounts Fai’s ability, and may matter for effects such as Rising Resentment and Soaring Strike.

Speaking of, opening with Soaring Strike may sometimes be the way to go. Some opponents may let the attack through, thinking the on-hit won’t matter much. You can banish Salt the Wound or Lava Burst to give them go again, as they cost zero.

In the endgame, turns may just be: play a zero-cost Draconic attack, pitch a blue for Emberblade, then pay one for Fai’s ability to retrieve a Phoenix Flame from the ‘yard. This still presents three attacks from a two-card hand.

You can also activate Fai’s ability on your opponent’s turn, paying a full blue pitch for it, but I personally haven’t found a use for this in Commoner, given the tighter game.

Equipment Picks

Vest of the First Fist seems like a no-brainer, as most of your cheap attacks will hit. This is also superior to Heartened Cross Strap, which only gets used fully by Flying Kick. Do note that you can’t crack the Vest in response to your Emberblade hit – it has to be an attack action card.

Hope Merchant’s Hood is just too good. It fixes bricked hands and filters away unwanted blues. Snapdragon Scalers is perfect for the deck bar a single pair, while Tide Flippers is an alternative should we need Arcane Barrier. However, I found it better to just race.

The Ironrots, Nullrunes, and Heat Wave are included just to fill out the spare sideboard slots. I rarely use them – Fai’s equipment loadout feels more fixed than other heroes.

I personally entered Flesh and Blood through a Fai Blitz Deck and combined it with the pieces from the Ira Welcome Decks, which are given out for free at your LGS. And if stocks are low, they should be more widely available at the end of the month as LSS is bound to ship out more Ira Welcome Decks with the release of Flesh and Blood Round the Table: TCC x LSS!

This is one of the easiest way to get into Flesh and Blood and the Commoner format, so make sure to give it a shot. Welcome to the Club!

The Deck

The Commoner Club: Fai Aggro

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Hero (1) 1 Fai Weapons (1) 1 Searing Emberblade Equipment (10) 1 Hope Merchant’s Hood 1 Snapdragon Scalers 1 Stubby Hammerers 1 Vest of the First Fist 1 Tide Flippers 1 Heat Wave 1 Ironrot Helm 1 Ironrot Plate 1 Nullrune Hood 1 Nullrune Robe Main (40) 2 Blaze Headlong red 2 Brand with Cinderclaw red 2 Breaking Point red 1 Flamecall Awakening red 2 Flying Kick red 1 Inflame red 2 Lava Burst red 2 Phoenix Flame red 2 Ravenous Rabble red 2 Razor Reflex red 2 Rising Resentment red 2 Ronin Renegade red 2 Scar for a Scar red 2 Soaring Strike red 2 Rising Resentment yellow 2 Salt the Wound yellow 2 Brand with Cinderclaw blue 2 Cinderskin Devotion blue 2 Lava Vein Loyalty blue 2 Rising Resentment blue 2 Ronin Renegade blue

Kenny Suzuki

Kenny is a non-binary Flesh and Blood player of Philippine and Japanese descent. A two-time A Game of Thrones: The Living Card Game National Champion, they started playing Magic: The Gathering during the Zendikar Block and eventually switched to harder stuff, like Legacy and Modern. When not asleep, they are probably compulsively building new decks, working on their design brand, thrifting for pretty clothes, bringing their kpop photocards everywhere, touching grass or malding over Teamfight Tactics.