(Emperor, Dracai of Aesir | Art by Federico Musetti)

It’s Good to Be King

Now presenting, his highness: Emeritus Scolding for six! Emperor, Dracai of Aesir is a fan favorite of people that play online. I can’t play a testing session on Talishar without running into one, but the appeal is obvious. With the class and talent combo of Royal Draconic Warrior and Wizard, he has the most diverse card pool of all the heroes, even while being limited to reds. This makes him one the most unpredictable heroes to play into.

The Emperor has options, from all arcane to a Warrior deck that only plays Emeritus Scolding for its arcane suite. The only thing that seems to be the same across all of his builds is the ability to whittle the opponent down till you can finish them off with a big arcane card off of Storm Striders. This dude is a favorite of builders and pilots alike for his diversity and lines.

There Are Different Ways to Rule

The Emperor actually has more builds than can reasonably fit into one article. Here I’ll just cover the most common build and two others that I’ve enjoyed in my testing.

Divide and Conquer

This is the 50/50 split build that aims to be about half attacks and arcane. It’s also the most popular build for him, and there are some distinct advantages to this style.

Firstly, this is the Emperor build most likely to activate his ability. Next, playing the deck this way opens up the most ability to adjust your plan for what’s happening. Opponent didn’t bring Arcane Barrier (“AB”) cards? Block with attacks and play the arcane cards. Opponent brought AB 4, but they don’t have equip blocks now? Play your attacks and block with the arcane.

The deck does have some drawbacks though. The most obvious is that it has a lot of two-block cards and this can make it less defensive than other builds. It also runs into drawing the “wrong side” of the deck. You can’t deny the opponent utility if your hand only draws attacks or arcane. Then there is the compromise. These split builds choose diversity over being tuned for either of the plans. Sometimes the deck wants to be further in either direction but it doesn’t have the tools to do that.

Copying Kano’s Homework

This is the build I have the most fun playing. It has six-eight attacks total, including the Command and Conquers. People get caught off guard when an Emperor deck starts throwing large arcane numbers multiple turns in a game. This archetype is so about arcane that it can justify having Crucible of Aetherweave in the side to help with control matchups with lots of AB. The good points for this deck are that it blocks better than a lot of builds and that it has an easy game into anything that didn’t bring AB 3 or higher. I also recommend this build for anyone that likes to send big arcane numbers.

You’ll find these lists to stumble at a few points. While it has a plan for decks with high AB, it doesn’t have the ability to switch to a more attack-centric plan. Illusionist is also a struggle. Between the pile lacking a density of six or greater power attacks and Ward, the deck can have a lot of trouble into Illusionist. One last note about this build: when Kano goes Living Legend, I think that this is a good deck to play while waiting on the next Wizard.

Oh Yeah, I Can Do Warrior Things

Another build of the Emperor leans into Warrior cards. These styles are extremely variable and can have completely different playstyles, but they do have a few commonalities. All of the decks in this category have access to a sword. For some it’s Jubeel, Spellbane, and for others it’s one or a pair of Cintari Sabers. They bounce between arcane, attack actions, and weapons to keep the opponent on their toes. The archetype also has access to Bastion of Unity for any matchups where it needs more health, like Dash. This gives it the best blocking ability of all of the builds.

The negatives of this deck are relatively simple. It can feel clunky because of trying to have three things going on in the deck at once. It’s also the slowest build, which can hurt when playing into combo decks.

The Emperor’s Armory

The Emperor keeps many tools for his armies to have at their disposal. His deck is no different. It uses a mix of cards to make it out of tough situations and turn the tables when the moment is right.

Emeritus Scolding

Emeritus Scolding is this deck’s big trick. This is the most damage you can get off of Storm Striders in your opponent’s turn. Anyone that has played into an Emperor deck knows that they love to win off Storm Striders into Emeritus Scolding into Waning Moon. This card is and will likely always be a staple for the deck.

Flamescale Furnace

This is another staple of the deck. It’s how you make the deck work a lot of the time. It also doesn’t hurt having Temper 2.

Defensive Pieces

The Emperor has 15 life. To mitigate this problem, he needs to have defensive cards in deck. Some favorites include Sink Below, Fate Forseen, and Oasis Respite. The Emperor has also been known to play Brush Off, Sigil of Solace, and Eirina's Prayer as extra defensive utilities.

Ravenous Rabble

Ravenous is just a super solid attack for this deck. Traditionally, Ravenous has some kind of gamble on what pitch value you’ll flip. In the Emperor decks, we don’t bother with any of that nonsense. This is a zero-cost four-power attack that always has go again.

Blessing of Aether and Crucible of Aetherweave

These two cards are doing a lot of the same job. In arcane-centric builds, these help get over AB. I saw a lot of success bringing them in to beat numerous control decks with things like Blessing of Aether and Crucible of Aetherweave Buff into Aether Flare, crack Storm Striders, play Swell Tidings. They’re also great value outside of combo turns as well to help with the value grind.

Then Arakni Showed Up

The Emperor is a great deck for people that want something that stands out at Armories. His playstyle and diversity have earned him many loyal fans over his time in the game. I can’t wait to see what silly combination of cards they eventually find to make this deck a top competitor.

Jo O'Brien

Jo (they/them) is an avid Flesh and Blood player, judge and, writer. They are one of the blitz specialists here at FABREC. Jo has played a lot of classes and heroes but, they have an affinity for two heroes in particular, Dash and Valda. When not playing FaB, Jo is typically filling their free time playing guitar, playing Apex Legends, or building their next Rube Goldberg machine of a deck.