Lucian, a Sentinel of Light, is a grim hunter of wraiths and specters, pursuing them relentlessly and annihilating them with his twin relic pistols. After the specter Thresh slew his wife, Lucian embarked on the path of vengeance—but even with her return to life, his rage is undiminished. Merciless and single-minded, Lucian will stop at nothing to protect the living from the long-dead horrors of the Black Mist.
Although they were two of the best domains in Origins, the Fury - Body combination failed to become anything with OGN-249 at the helm. In this second set, the start isn't much more promising, as Lucian has yet to post a dominant performance in the Spiritforged metagame.
When looking at the best performing deck, the legend seems to build around strong midrange units, a conqueror's mindset, and a lot of equipment cards. A logical direction considering the ability we have to work with.
Restrictive abilities tend to struggle in Riftbound, as they limit how freely a deck can be built or played. In this case, Lucian is forced to play with two restrictions: Equipment cards have to be included, and we are playing a conqueror type of deck.
If we try to deviate from either of those lines, then we basically have no legend ability.
In that context, Lucian has barely a choice when it comes to its strategy. The Purifier needs to conquer every turn, then keep its units safe even if it means the opponent gets to score, as their survival is crucial to conquer again the following turn.
Fortunately, multiple great units in the Fury or Body domain support this play style, such as OGN-155 or OGN-039.
Certain cards are able to secure a hold, such as SFD-097 or SFD-022. One can even try to score during the opponent's turn with SFD-184. In doing so, we manage to get that one point lead to attempt going for 8 before our opponent can, or try to win without having to conquer both battlefield in a turn.
Spiritforged Lucian Deck
Lucian Signature Cards
SFD-113 emerged as a solid 3-cost unit in Spiritforged so far, played alongside multiple legends (Fiora, Lee Sin, Miss Fortune, Sett...) while being the Chosen Champion for SFD-183 as well.
Typically, 3-cost cards are best when going second. Yet, the Weaponmaster keyword allows SFD-113 to be a good turn two play alongside a 1-cost equipment card when going first. Plus, its other ability, allowing it to return to base after a conquer, forces the opponent to use spells to remove it.
With such a strong alternative, SFD-028 unfortunately isn't seeing much play at the moment, be it alongside its signature or other Fury legends. Arguably, the card is too fragile outside being an attacker. Except for a metagame with very few removal spells, and alongside SFD-183 specifically, the card will likely not be impactful.
SFD-184 is a staple in all Lucian decks at the moment. Except for the power-cost, limiting how early we can use the card, the spell fits its legend's play style extremely well. Lucian is designed to be a conqueror type of legend, aimed at dominating showdowns as the attacker, and protecting its units while the defender. It is through keeping its units alive that Lucian is able to score every turn, mounting more available might as time passes.
SFD-184 can serve to conquer the second battlefields when at 7 points, a key part of any conqueror's deck. If used earlier, we get to score a point and protect our unit for future use, as it will return to base after conquering. It is also possible to score during our opponent's turn with Relentless Pursuit. Last, the card can also serve to save a unit from a showdown, simply using the signature spell as a retreat type of move.
Lucian Staple Cards and Synergies
As a conqueror type of legend, Lucian needs to find units that also work towards that same goal. SFD-113 was designed to do so, but the ability to gain resources from OGN-155 or OGN-039 is huge to support a fast-paced strategy.
These two will reward you for keeping them alive, and support their hunger for conquering turn after turn. In that regard, it doesn't get any better than SFD-097, SFD-108 and SFD-022.
Equipment cards are the other requirement from Lucian's ability, so finding cheap ones we can quickly get in play is instrumental to a solid start:
- For just 1 rune, SFD-108 is a great way to beef up our units with more might and the assault keyword. SFD-095 is another one to keep in mind, typically used as a turn one play, right before our 4-cost can enter the fray.
- SFD-022 is the flexible equipment we can keep in hand and equip as a reaction. Typically, this one will serve as a trick we have up our sleeve rather than a card we develop prior to playing a unit.
- SFD-097 is an emergency button to save a unit from a showdown, as no other card in the game provides such a bonus for this low cost. We would rather use it late in a match, as recycling two runes is massive, but sometimes better than losing one of our key units.
