In this episode, we’re going to be exploring an NR deck with King Belohun as the centerpiece who was, unfortunately, not deemed strong enough to find a place within the meta. The early attempts at including him in a meta deck, much like King Belohun himself, ceased to exist right around the time when Viraxas made a reappearance.
Be that as it may, the deck promotes a very fun playstyle and can still catch people off guard a lot of the time. This is Atrsharpe and Minuano ladies and gentlemen and without further ado, let’s get right into it.
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If you’ve been a long hauler, long enough to have seen the Engine Overload NR meta anyway, you should be fairly familiar with how such decks play out. The goal is to secure a medium to long round R3 and overwhelm your opponent with Engines with hopes of them not being able to answer everything.
Crystal Skull - although one point worse than TA, the purify can really come in clutch against things like a lock or can stall an inevitable Tyrggvi Tuirseach.
Amphibious Assault - can pull almost any card from the deck, which is always nice.
Queen Adalia - best target is usually Kerack Frigate if you want to secure R1. But in R3, with a developed Belohun, Adalia on an Archer or on a Redanian Knight produces an ungodly amount of points.
Donimir of Troy + Vysogota of Corvo + Pincer Maneuver - combine these three together in one turn to punish any players not using purify.
King Belohun - the centerpiece of this deck. In some rare cases, you can use him R1 if you know you will have enough gas to keep you in the game in later rounds.
Strengths:
- Has a crazy amount of points in a long R3, sometimes even beating SK.
- Decent R1 tools that should help you make it to a long round.
- Pincer Maneuver and Amphibious Assault means you have a good amount of consistency.
Weaknesses:
- Getting bled leaves you with few tools for R3.
- You can get some awkward R1 hands that force you to pass early.
- Aside from Crystal Skull, the deck has no way to restart interrupted engines and is ultimately weak to removal and wide punish.
Considerations:
- Reynard Odo, Reinforcements → Falibor, Aedirnian Mauler/2nd Temple Guard/Tridam Infantry
Amphibious Assault onto a Frigate is usually enough to carry an entire round by itself but should you find yourself in need of more, you can always commit a couple of your engines to acquire round control.
If you don’t manage to get a long R3, try your best to keep your leader ability but if things get dicey and you may trade your leader for your card as a last resort. However, if all goes well and you get your desired length R3, here’s where the fun begins.
Start by deploying your Defender and Vysogota, then Belohun, and suddenly your opponents will find themselves struggling to keep up with their golds as your 4p bronzes play for about 9 points apiece. In short, if everything goes according to plan, this deck almost feels like you’re playing SK. Almost.
If all goes well, this what you’re looking at in a long R3:
