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To those who still revere him, the Volibear is the storm made manifest. Destructive, wild, and stubbornly resolute, he existed before mortals walked the Freljord's tundra, and is fiercely protective of the lands that he and his demi-god kin created. Cultivating a deep hatred of civilization and the weakness it brought with it, he now fights to return to the old ways—when the land was untamed, and blood spilled freely—and eagerly battles all who oppose him, with tooth, claw, and thundering domination.
Hailing from the Freljord, the storm incarnate, Volibear, has arrived in Riftbound's initial set, Origins. Combining the aggression of Fury and the power of Body, Volibear is the ultimate ramp deck, all about playing big units and stomping your way to victory.
The domain of Body is the home of many large units able to take over the game, while Fury is amongst the best colors when it comes to removal spells. Through mixing both, Volibear aims to limit its opponent's lead early, ramp as soon as possible, and ultimately close the door with late-game bombs the opponent can't do much against.
Volibear's legend is all about putting out extra resources as fast as possible to be able to get up to those more expensive cards, by playing units with 5 or more Might. This can be done pretty easily, as Body and Fury both play units with a lot of Might already.
Ideally, the deck wants to get its first 5-might unit on the field as early as turn two. Indeed, we start with three runes when going second, while OGN-134 adds that extra rune when going first. Then, OGN-001 can be played on turn two, trigger our legend's ability to have eight runes available on turn three, and set us up perfectly to start dropping huge units from there on.
While that scenario looks fantastic, Riftbound packs a lot of cheap spells able to act against those big units. OGN-043 or OGN-168 won't remove them, but send them back to our base to allow our opponent to conquer that battlefield with a unit otherwise incapable of beating ours.
Then, it is crucial to keep the opponent at a relatively low score early in a match, as those cheap utility spells will otherwise allow our opponent to score without being forced to fight our big cards.
Refined Volibear Deck
Budget Volibear Deck
Volibear Signature Cards
Volibear's two champion cards, OGN-041 and OGN-158, are massive units, costing 10 and 12 energy, respectively. Both cards represent exactly the type of units we think we want when picking up Volibear for the first time.
Unfortunately, neither of these have a reactive ability, meaning they are often too slow to be developed when we finally reach 10 or 12 runes. Instead, Ramp decks will rely on OGN-161 to act on a battlefield immediately, or units we can pair with OGN-128 or OGN-129.
OGN-250 sees more play, as it has the potential to be a powerhouse of a card, essentially being able to clear a battlefield and take control of it for the price of six energy and two runes.
However, the card is quite pricey, meaning we won't risk it against any opponent. If the card was to be countered, or our target unit bounced back to our hand, we could lose the game on that interaction. Then, OGN-250 is mostly used as a side deck option, added to the mix once we know our opponent cannot act against it.
Volibear Staple Cards and Synergies
I could have added a removal spell to this list, as OGN-249 rarely manages to get to the late game without being reactive at some point in the early or mid-portions of the match. Yet, the deck does not aim to remove opposing units, rather, it is forced to do so in order to reach its comfort zone.
Then, the key elements for this legend will be ramp cards, the best option in that regard being OGN-134, allowing us to quickly reach our first 5-might unit. OGN-160 is the ultimate payoff card once we managed to reach the late game. Indeed, with that gear on the board, we become much more flexible, able to focus on removing opposing units as we know at least one is coming to our side at the end of the turn.
Last, OGN-161 embodies exactly what we expect our large units to accomplish. Too much Might to be removed without a hefty investment. Difficult to target with spells due to its Deflect keyword. Able to act immediately when played.
OGN-149 and OGN-159 are other solid units in a Volibear deck, especially due to their ability to impact the board. Yet, they don't represent the same threat as OGN-161.
It is only after we managed to control our opponent's ability to score that OGN-038 or OGN-041 will be played, officially ending our opponent's chance to get the board back.
