Nine-Tailed Fox
Ahri, Nine-Tailed Fox weakens every enemy unit that attacks a battlefield you control. This list defends that battlefield with cheap Reactions that draw cards, then uses Astral Heron's discount to make Time Warp affordable and hold again on the extra turn.
Sona, Harmonious readies up to four of your runes at the end of your turn if she is at a battlefield then, which lets you develop on your turn and still have Reactions ready for the opponent's attack. Astral Heron is the late-game engine: while it is at a battlefield, the card after your first card each turn costs 2 Energy and 2 Power less. Time Warp is the card I would save that discount for, since it drops from 10 Energy and 4 Mind Power to 8 Energy and 2 Mind Power, and the extra turn scores your battlefields again.
Nine-Tailed Fox
Legend
Sona, Harmonious
Key card · Calm
Astral Heron
Key card · Calm
Time Warp
Key card · Mind
Ahri is strongest on a battlefield she already controls. When an enemy unit attacks it, Nine-Tailed Fox reduces that unit's Might by 1 for the turn, to a minimum of 1. The effect applies to each attacker, so sending several small units does not get around it. You still have to take the battlefield first. The Legend gives you no reduction while you are attacking into the opponent's position, and trying to retake both battlefields with a hand full of defensive cards is a difficult way to win.
Take a battlefield you can defend, then put the cards that reward holding it behind that defense. Hold payoffs make each successful defense worth more, whether that is a card from Grove of the God-Willow or a point from Ahri, Alluring. Sona lets you develop during your turn and finish with runes ready for the opponent. Before sending another unit to the other battlefield, count what you will score if this one survives. Sometimes that extra attacker earns a point; sometimes moving it away turns a winning next hold into a fight you can no longer afford.
Ahri, Alluring
Ahri, Alluring scores you 1 point when she holds, on top of the battlefield's own hold point. Those points can also finish the game without the restriction on scoring the last point through a conquest. If that next hold wins, make the opponent break it. Moving Alluring away to chase another point can give up the reason you played her.
Sona, Harmonious · Ravenbloom Student · Discipline · Stupefy
Sona readies up to four friendly runes at the end of your turn if she is at a battlefield when the ability triggers. Count the runes still on the board; anything you recycled for Power is gone and cannot be readied. That leaves room to develop a unit and still defend with Discipline or Stupefy. Each of those spells draws a card, changes the fight, and gives your Students a +1-Might trigger after the spell resolves. A spell still on the chain has not grown Student yet. Save the trick for a useful exchange instead of spending it early just to see the next card.
Nine-Tailed Fox · Ahri, Inquisitive
When an enemy unit attacks a battlefield you control, Nine-Tailed Fox gives it -1 Might, and Ahri, Inquisitive gives an enemy unit there another -2 when she defends. Both stop at 1 Might, so a 4-Might attacker can end up at 1 but not lower. That makes trades much better for your defenders, but the attacker still needs damage, a stun or a big enough defender to be removed. Inquisitive's reduction also works when she attacks; the Legend's does not.
12th place · S4 Hangzhou City Challenge,
We may earn a commission if you buy through this link.
Deck total $351.70
33
22
2
12211
3
42321132
5If you would rather build your own list, start one in the Riftbound deck builder.
This is my Ahri pick because many of the cards that defend the battlefield also replace themselves. Stupefy, Discipline, and Meditation are Reactions that draw, Back Off draws when you play it from hand, and each spell you play gives Ravenbloom Student +1 Might for the turn. Sona, Harmonious ties that together: if she is at a battlefield at the end of your turn, she readies up to four of your runes, so you can develop on your turn and still have those spells available when the opponent attacks. Mutated Mouser is the other half of the defense: Shield 2 makes it a 3-Might defender, and Tank forces the attacker to assign lethal damage to it first while Nine-Tailed Fox and Ahri, Inquisitive shrink the enemy units. The late game is where I like this list most. With Astral Heron at a battlefield, play a cheap spell first and the next card costs 2 Energy and 2 Power less, which brings Time Warp down to 8 Energy and 2 Mind Power. The extra turn starts with another Beginning Phase, so every battlefield you still control scores again. Just keep the discount for Time Warp, because Heron gives it to whichever card you play next.
Grove of the God-Willow · Time Warp
Grove draws a card each time you hold it, which suits a deck that wants to sit on one battlefield and keep its hand full of Reactions. It does nothing on the conquest itself, so the first card comes on your next turn if the opponent fails to retake it. Time Warp makes it better, because the extra turn's Beginning Phase is another hold.
The Academy · Discipline
When you hold The Academy, your next spell that turn gets Repeat equal to its base cost. Discipline is the clean example: pay its two Energy again and it gives +2 Might twice and draws two cards. The Repeat cost matches the spell's own cost, so the bonus is easiest to use on the cheap spells, and it is gone if you do not play a spell that turn.
Ravenbloom Conservatory
When you defend at Conservatory, reveal the top card of your deck and put it into your hand if it is a spell; otherwise it is recycled. Twenty-four of the thirty-nine main-deck cards are spells, and a spell found this way arrives during that combat, while you can still use a Reaction from it. It only pays when the opponent actually attacks here, so it rewards the same defensive plan as the Legend.
Ahri, Alluring
Against slower decks, I would choose Ahri, Alluring instead of Inquisitive, swapping Inquisitive into the sideboard between games. Alluring scores you a point each time she holds, in addition to the battlefield's own hold point, and that point does not come from a conquest, so the final-point restriction does not apply to it. She costs five Energy and one Calm Power and has no combat ability, so she still needs Mouser and your Reactions to survive at the battlefield.
Allay, Eager Admirer · Not So Fast
Allay gives your other units at her battlefield Deflect, so each enemy spell or ability that chooses one of them costs an extra Power of any domain. Not So Fast counters an enemy spell or ability that chooses a friendly unit or Gear. Bring them in against targeted removal, trimming Thwonk! or Feral Strength, but neither one stops an effect that never chooses your unit.
Decree of Focus · Decree of Insight
Decree of Focus gives +4 Might to a friendly unit in combat with an enemy Fury unit or being chosen by an enemy Fury spell. Decree of Insight gives an enemy Body unit -5 Might and ignores Deflect while you pay for it. Both cost one Energy at Reaction speed, so swap them in for Feral Strength or Eclipse when the opponent's units are actually in those domains.
Time Warp
In slower matchups, the third Time Warp gives the Heron turn more chances to have the right card to discount. Cut a narrow interaction spell for it rather than one of the two-cost units the deck needs to hold early.
