{"id":4987,"date":"2024-07-25T06:30:11","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T10:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/?p=4987"},"modified":"2024-07-23T08:37:17","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T12:37:17","slug":"checking-in-with-riptide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/checking-in-with-riptide\/","title":{"rendered":"Checking in with Riptide"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s my favorite time of year: the slump-in-between-spoilers™! With Part the Mistveil<\/em> in the rear-view mirror and\u00a0Rosetta<\/em> still a blip on the horizon<\/a>, albeit an exciting one, it’s time for us content creators to really indulge all of our worst impulses and only talk about the kind of stuff we ourselves like. And if you’ve read an article by me before, you’ve probably guessed where this paragraph was going (if the headline didn’t give it away already). It’s time to talk about Riptide, Lurker of the Deep<\/a><\/span><\/span>!<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Stats on Riptide<\/h2>\n

The Ranger class only received two cards in Part the Mistveil<\/em>, but what cards they were! Longdraw Half-Glove<\/a><\/span><\/span> is an incredibly efficient card that rivals the perpetual auto-include Bull’s Eye Bracers<\/a><\/span><\/span>, and Murky Water<\/a><\/span><\/span> iss the kind of specialization that can really jump-start a deck. Both cards have seen massive inclusion rates in Riptide decks, and for good reason.<\/p>\n

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Both cards help with two of the worst issues that Riptide decks faced. Longdraw Half-Glove<\/a><\/span><\/span> helps improve consistency somewhat by giving you a free way out of the infamous Ranger hands – all arrows, no buffs. While hands filled with buffs still remain an issue, they are a bit less likely to begin with and can be played around with the likes of New Horizon<\/a><\/span><\/span>, if you’re so inclined.<\/p>\n

Murky Water<\/a><\/span><\/span> conversely gives Riptide a much needed finisher, a way to reward the deck for playing arrows and traps as well as an actual payoff for running his signature bow Barbed Castaway<\/a><\/span><\/span>. It’s everything that Reel In<\/a><\/span><\/span> wasn’t: a proper card to build a deck and a strategy around.<\/p>\n

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These two cards open up a lot of options, which shows in some of the inclusion rates for cards in Riptide decks. First and foremost, both cards sit at an inclusion rate of above 50% (55% for Longdraw Half-Glove and a whopping 69% for Murky Water (nice)). Longdraw Half-Glove is now almost up there with Bull’s Eye Bracers<\/a><\/span><\/span> (which sit at 59%), and while Riptide’s new specialization isn’t quite the draw that his legendary traps are, it’s up there with the common and rare traps, surpassing all of them but Tarpit Trap<\/a><\/span><\/span>, which it’s tied with.<\/p>\n

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But what’s more, Barbed Castaway<\/a><\/span><\/span> has been creeping up there and is at a respectable, if underwhelming, inclusion rate for a signature weapon – 34%, almost tied with Death Dealer<\/a><\/span><\/span> at 39%, and it beats out its aim counter competition Sandscour Greatbow<\/a><\/span><\/span> by a long-shot, which sits at only 9%!<\/p>\n

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Generics for Riptide<\/h2>\n

But what about the Generic cards from the last couple of sets<\/i>? I’m glad you asked! The Ranger class is still pretty uniquely incentivized to not run many Generic cards, due to the arrow mechanic – if they mainly run Generics, they’re sorely missing a decent weapon. But there are two cards that find some inclusion in Riptide decks, one from Part the Mistveil<\/em> and another from Heavy Hitters<\/em>. And they’re not even (exclusively) meme cards.<\/p>\n

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Alright, they are still kind of meme-y, which is why they are both sitting at an 8% inclusion rate. Standing Order<\/a><\/span><\/span> is the more reasonable inclusion of the two. Among the Rangers, Riptide is the one most likely to brick his own arsenal with a trap. Granted, you can always use your Trench of Sunken Treasure<\/a><\/span><\/span> to cycle the trap out, but Standing Order<\/a><\/span><\/span> gives you some added flexibility, becoming either a free attack for six to close your combat chain on or a slightly above-rate block for four. Neither is amazing value, but it can be nice to have the option if a turn plays out that way.<\/p>\n

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The more exciting of the two by far is Prismatic Leyline<\/a><\/span><\/span>. When I first started out writing for FABREC<\/a>, I falsely posited that Riptide might benefit from running more yellow cards than your average hero. While it didn’t pan out that way – in fact, the most successful versions of Riptide were almost entirely redline decks, oops – there are still some fun casual builds to be had with Prismatic Leyline<\/a><\/span><\/span>, a potential six points of damage off of one card.<\/p>\n

Here are just a handful of the cards that could enable an epic Prismatic Leyline<\/a><\/span><\/span> turn, which are all commonly run in Riptide, Lurker of the Deep<\/a><\/span><\/span> decks: Bolt’n’ Shot red<\/a><\/span><\/span> (62%), Bolt’n’ Shot yellow<\/a><\/span><\/span> (40%) and Bolt’n’ Shot blue<\/a><\/span><\/span> (20%), of course, which have the added benefit of all getting go again off of the same card. But there’s also Intoxicating Shot<\/a><\/span><\/span> (65%), Infecting Shot yellow<\/a><\/span><\/span> and Infecting Shot blue<\/a><\/span><\/span> (20% and 10% respectively), as well as Death Touch yellow<\/a><\/span><\/span> and Death Touch blue<\/a><\/span><\/span> (a mere 5% and 7%, granted), which are both still break-point attacks.<\/p>\n

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Where Do We Go from Here with Riptide?<\/h2>\n

For all that, Riptide is still pretty dang low on the tier list. Part of that might be meta-related, as\u00a0Part the Mistveil<\/em> just introduced another Illusionist hero into the meta, but surely that can’t be the only reason everybody’s favorite outsider is sitting at a lowly deck count of just a bit above 7,000? Most of the heroes from Part the Mistveil<\/em> and\u00a0Heavy Hitters<\/em> have already surpassed him – and it’s not just him; Azalea, Ace in the Hole<\/a><\/span><\/span> has had her intended glow-up overshadowed by Lexi, Livewire<\/a><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

It’s no secret, the Ranger class has been a bit of a weird one ever since its introduction all the way back in Arcane Rising<\/em>, and all the Codex of Frailty<\/a><\/span><\/span>s haven’t changed that (barring the perfect storm that catapulted Lexi to Living Legend within months).<\/p>\n

So with that, we Ranger players are looking forward to the release of Armory Deck: Azalea<\/a> in early August to change all that. Even though the deck is intended for Azalea<\/a><\/span><\/span>, there are without a doubt Riptide players out there who are working on the next big thing which might just do it. Line it up<\/a><\/span><\/span> is looking like an all-star for our big green guy. Here’s hoping!<\/p>\n

Further Reading:<\/h3>\n

The Best Cards for Riptide, Lurker of the Deep<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Playing Riptide in Blitz<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Taking the Tempo in Flesh and Blood<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ranger class hasn’t gotten much love in recent Flesh and Blood sets, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth checking out. Let’s give Riptide, Lurker of the Deep some attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":4602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[130,359,465,27,17],"yoast_head":"\nChecking in with Riptide - FABREC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Ranger class hasn't gotten much love in recent FAB sets, but that doesn't mean they're not worth checking out.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/checking-in-with-riptide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Checking in with Riptide - FABREC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Ranger class hasn't gotten much love in recent FAB sets, but that doesn't mean they're not worth checking out.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/checking-in-with-riptide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FABREC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-25T10:30:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-23T12:37:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Riptide-5.23.24.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"897\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonah Lara\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonah Lara\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/checking-in-with-riptide\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/checking-in-with-riptide\/\",\"name\":\"Checking in with Riptide - FABREC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-25T10:30:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-23T12:37:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/437cfd7e964012f1b4b28a2b5080e2b3\"},\"description\":\"The Ranger class hasn't gotten much love in recent FAB sets, but that doesn't mean they're not worth checking out.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/checking-in-with-riptide\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/checking-in-with-riptide\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/checking-in-with-riptide\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Checking in with Riptide\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/\",\"name\":\"FABREC\",\"description\":\"Articles\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/437cfd7e964012f1b4b28a2b5080e2b3\",\"name\":\"Jonah Lara\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fabrec.gg\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cfdc7f09417a35af4b01e5dbfc9aaf97?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cfdc7f09417a35af4b01e5dbfc9aaf97?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jonah Lara\"},\"description\":\"Raised on a steady diet of fantasy storys and video games, Jonah discovered trading card games at the impressionable age of 12 and has since spent over half his life and about the same percentage of each monthly salary on card games. 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