Two weeks ago, Realm Runner Studios hosted their first ever Grand Tournament in their Achroma store in Poole. 32 players battled it out in 6 rounds of play, before a top cut of 4 players. As each battle was fought as a best of 3, that means between 200 and 300 games of achroma were played in 4 hours. Not bad.

I was fortunate enough to make the top 4, but was knocked out by HazMat in a very close 3 game match. I’d already lost to Hen (the achrom king) in the fifth round, in another tense 3 game battle, and he went on to take the win in a lightning fast 7-minute final.

While there was a lot of diversity in decks across the tables, and while players were allowed to change decks between games, the top 4 players were playing (mostly) Curdle Hill achrom decks. I thought it’d be interesting to show the top 4 decks, and have a look a how they differed. Note that HazMat was also playing a Fairy Chroma deck, but I’m focusing on the Occultist decks for now.

First up, my deck. I opted for an achrom heavy deck, with a few chroma cards like Rangled Wood, Ludlam City Gate (plus the Ludlam City Guard for the combo), and the amazing value Detective Huxon. I chose Conjurer Otrix for my legendary, as her ability to claim any character I felt was far too powerful to overlook, especially as I was worried that the deck would struggle against character heavy decks due to its lack of characters.

In retrospect, the Ludlam City combo didn’t pull its weight, and I would have been better off with some more achrom. I was the only one to include these cards, and the others made the smarter choice here.

Next up, Jakeyb‘s deck. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to play against him all day, but his build is very similar, with Otrix, Huxon, the excellent value Muon Traps, and a very similar suite of locations.

HazMat also was running Otrix and the double Abundance of Quintessence (this definitely should be a 2-of). His inclusion of Drain the Woods was what turned the tables in our semi-final match, and he came back from 1-0 down to knock me out and go on to the final.

And finally, the top deck from the day is Hen‘s deck:

Hen‘s build is the most different of the 4, and there’s no disputing its effectiveness. This deck runs Countess Issadora, and that seems to have informed a lot of his other card choices. As Issadora wants you to go wide with your characters, we’re seeing the first arrival of Prism Sappers, Lone Survivors (which really are a great way to delve into your deck while still triggering Issadora), Occultist Shaman, Curdle Cave, and Sorcerer Pifarius (who I have now swapped into my build). The lack of Rangled Wood surprises me, but then Hen is the achrom king so I guess that card didn’t fit his MO. He just couldn’t resist Huxon though.

I don’t think it’s any surprise that this archetype was so successful. Having access to Hostile Takeover almost makes it worth playing Curdle Hill all on its own, but cards like Murky Manor are also utterly gamewinning. Abundance of Quintessence is also the grand facilitator that makes playing achroma so much easier than in other realms, even more so than Full Palette from Spirata Planum as this card can be played before the resolve step, so you can use it to deploy more characters or locations.

I was chatting with Hen during the event, and he pulled Restock out and stated that it should be an auto-include in Salum Planum decks (as well as Abundance of Quintessence). Oddly, I don’t see it in the decklist he posted, but having tested it since, I’m inclined to agree. The ability to draw into your key cards is crucial to give this deck the consistency it needs. If you hit the right cards at the right time, you can, if not completely drain the opponent, leave them hanging by a thread in the first couple of turns of a game.

This deck’s biggest enemy is itself, but it’s also worth noting that Hen lost to HazMat in the earlier rounds against his Fairy Chroma deck. A chroma rush deck can outpace this deck given the right start, and here is that deck.

I love the token Funguar at the end there. Long live the king.