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Arguably the strongest domain in Riftbound during the Origins metagame, especially towards the end, with OGS-017 joining OGN-247 at the top. I feel like the Fury domain will lose a bit of its supremacy in Spiritforged. Indeed, equipments will make units more difficult to remove with damage spells, while a good amount of Deflect cards are joining the fray.
Fortunately, the Fury domain features some of the best midrange units in the game, so it can play proactively. Plus, many expect SFD-185 to be a fantastic new legend, so we will definitely see Fury cards in the Spiritforged competitive environment.
Speaking of new additions, don't expect another OGN-039 plus OGN-027 tandem we can use everywhere. Instead, I foresee more situational, synergistic cards to be the main reinforcements. Side inclusion such as SFD-005, niche synergies with SFD-029 or dedicated champion units in SFD-020.
This should make Fury decks feel more unique in how they play, after we saw the same cards help two legends rise to the top of the game in the first set. More importantly, expect the second domain of your legend to play a larger role going forward, especially when it comes to your removal kit.
These articles are focused on the cards I feel will have the most impact in the Spiritforged set within their domain. However, this doesn't necessarily mean I believe they are all powerhouses we will play in every deck.
A card can also leave its mark as a fantastic side deck option, a solid support, or be a strong fit in a precise environment. Then, I rated each card out of five stars for more clarity on their expected role :
Niche synergy contributor — Great side deck inclusion.
Great fit for the Spiritforged metagame — Playable in multiple decks
Future staple for the domain — Able to shape the Spiritforged metagame
Draven - Vanquisher
The legend has most of the community expecting it to be a force to be reckoned with, and this champion unit looks perfect to support its up-tempo play-style. Compared to OGN-039, SFD-020 isn't as good on its own. Indeed, I would rather draw than play a Gold Gear Token, and Accelerate has proven to be an exceptional keyword. However, once you include SFD-185 in the mix, it is a different story.
First, both the champion unit and the legend reward you for winning combats, which can happen both when conquering or holding. As such, it is likely the draw we got from OGN-039 will come from SFD-185 instead, except we draw as long as we win combats rather than just on conquers.
To win those fights, we will have to recycle a rune to grow SFD-020 to 6-might, which we can circumvent through the Gold gear token we created when winning the previous fight.
Basically, it only takes one combat win to start a loop in which SFD-020 grows to 6-might at the cost of its own Gold gear token, and serves as a draw engine through SFD-185's ability. The only downside is the lack of immediate impact without the Accelerate keyword, but the Chaos domain should help greatly when it comes to moving our champion unit.
Not that strong on its own, but just perfect for its legend, and a few cute synergies here and there.
Detonate
OGN-213 has been a staple inclusion in every Order deck during the Origins metagame, and this new card is pretty close to it, except it targets gears.
Granted, it is not an action, nor it can be hidden. However, we get an energy discount for that, while it is much easier to generate a target to use it on ourselves and draw two cards.
Most likely, SFD-005 will be a side option. Yet, if we consider the answer to an annoying gear was OGN-022 up to this point, this is a massive improvement. One energy will be so much easier to fit into any of our turn, compared to a 5-cost typically commanding most of our resources.
The Fury domain already packs plenty of strong cards to build our main deck, but lacked a bit in flexibility when it came to the side. Then, this sort of situational high-impact card will improve the domain's overall strength, even if they aren't staple main deck inclusion.
Rengar - Pouncing
Starting your turn with an attack to see whether your opponent uses the runes they kept ready at the end of their turn is common practice. Unfortunately, this can lead to using some of our runes as well to help our attacking unit, and limit our ability to develop for that turn.
SFD-025 solves that problem, as the runes we invested as support transform into a unit we can keep on our side of the battlefield.
Already, that makes the new 3-cost a great card for any deck aimed at conquering and scoring aggressively. However, SFD-025 also makes sense in other scenarios :
- We could attack with a unit weaker than our opponent, and instead of using OGN-004 to buff it, play SFD-025. Our opponent kills the weaker unit in the showdown, but our bigger unit stays.
- Although the card clearly wants to be an attacker, SFD-025 can also be played to support a hold. Against Chaos cards for example, adding another unit is a way to play around their spells able to send units back to base or in hand.
- OGN-024 costs the same as SFD-025. If we expected the spell to have a target during our opponent's turn, but it turns out they played around it, we could play the 3-cost unit at our base instead, and not waste the runes we kept open.
Rek'Sai - Breacher
I don't expect SFD-187 to be great, but I wouldn't mind playing its champion unit alongside other legends. Especially when going second, SFD-029 is a fantastic play on turn one, while the Accelerate keyword allows it to have an immediate impact later in the match. Yet, it is the ability to grant accelerate to other cards I have my eyes on.
OGN-194 immediately comes to mind as a unit we could summon from outside our hand, but the list is much longer than that 4-cost only.
First, we could talk about tokens. We probably don't want to spend a rune to accelerate one of these, but a small unit can sometimes conquer an empty battlefield. Plus, SFD-021 is also a Fury card, and its summons are chunkier than your usual 1-might tokens.
Then, we have the likes of OGN-226, allowing to play a unit from our thrash. There are quite a few cards able to do so : OGN-037, SFD-150, SFD-165…
Last, and probably the most impactful synergy with SFD-029 : Our champion unit.
That one does not come from our hand, meaning the 3-cost will grant it accelerate. With most of the champion units costing from three to five energies, we should have a great one-two punch when going second.
Ferrous Forerunner
Fury decks have a fantastic mid-game thanks to OGN-027 and OGN-039. However, they typically rely on the other domain to find that big unit at the top of the curve, able to close the deal. The likes of OGN-116 or even OGN-088 to keep pushing against an opponent able to keep up on the board.
SFD-021 is far from a game ending type of threat, but should represent plenty of units the opponents needs to deal with. Plus, if they remove the 6-cost during their turn, we would be able to use the Mech tokens immediately at the start of our turn.
I believe SFD-021 will depend on the metagame to become another strong unit to rely upon. If the Chaos domain builds some momentum, SFD-021 might go back to our hand more often than it dies. This is a real possibility with OGS-017 already strong plus the arrivals of SFD-185 and SFD-199.
In most other scenarios, I picture the 6-cost will become a strong side deck option to beef-up our mid-game in certain match-ups, just like OGN-088 did during Origins. It could also serve as a fourth OGN-027 to make sure we find that chunky unit we want to play on turn three.
Blood Rush
I have seen a few people say this card will be on the errata list very soon because "this turn" is missing at the end of the effect.
What if it wasn't missing? What if Riot purposefully gave us a card able to grant Assault 2 for one energy, or assault 4 for two energies. That would be a pretty bonkers card.
To be fair, OGN-004 is probably better than SFD-003 if both cards were only temporary bonuses. As such, I wouldn't be shocked if the new card would let the unit keep that bonus, except it doesn't make much sense with SFD-009 also releasing in the same set.
Presently, I feel obligated to mention the card among the potential high-impact releases. Yet, if what everyone expects happens, and SFD-003 is changed, I expect OGN-004 to be the more competitive card of the two.
Closing Words
I anticipate OGN-247 won't be able to dominate like it did during the first set. It should remain a solid pick for an up-tempo midrange play style, but will struggle to leverage removal spells with equipments beefing up important units.
However, the Fury-Chaos combination should thrive, with OGS-017 as the aggressive pick, and SFD-185 more inclined to enter showdowns.
Overall, there weren't that many cards I was impressed with among Fury releases. The ones I like the most are those able to seize the initiative early on and force the opponent to be reactive. From there, we have plenty of cards able to bring pressure, and support this domain conquest oriented play style.
With that said, I expect the Fury domain to be mostly represented in fast-paced, proactive strategies, with OGN-027 likely still acting as the enforcer atop our curve.
Good Game Everyone
