It’s been a while since I did a classic palette review article. I haven’t significantly changed my core decks in a while. I typically always have Rayders, Draco Locations, some variation on Dark Rainbow/Occultists, and maybe Norso Traders on the go, but the deck I’ve been tinkering with the most lately is Pixies.

Pixies has, for a long time, been the go-to aggressive achrom deck. At one of the first ever tournaments I attended, I played against Viridian’s King Craven deck, which went toe-to-toe with Occultists even prior to the Murky Manor errata. Then Rise of the Realm Runners was released and with it Factory Production Line, which went a long way to improving pixies’ consistency (Corrupted Muon Trap/Alchemist’s Tincture did the same for Occultists).

Lewis’ Achrom Breach Pixies was probably the strongest list prior to the release of Secrets of Spirata, so check out that link for his build and deck tech. However, the palette list I want to share is slightly different for a few reasons:

First of all, Secrets of Spirata has brought us quite a lot of great additions to this palette. New cards include:
The best control card in the realm, Unfathomable Hunger;
The new location promo The Secrets of Spirata, as well as Scrapyard Barrens, which is essentially a third promo card with an occassionally handy bonus ability;
Nocturno, a way of shutting down the opponent’s trading, even if just the first trade step of their next turn, which is often all you need.

All these new cards have meant I’ve cut Snuff Out (which got replaced by Spirata Fall anyway), Soaking Stone, Achrom Factory (which I never really like anyway), and Castle Gates (the last card I cut).

These changes aside, it’s my legendary I want to focus on. The classic choice would of course be Achrom Breach. It’s a monster of a card, that normally wins the game for you assuming you’ve had a decent start. However, Coffey, Lab Assistant is an incredibly versatile alternative to have in this slot, albeit an unusual choice for an achrom deck. My reason for including him here is that a lot of the best pixie tech comes from characters: Sorrono has built in control, Carmella is the best value location/object control card in the game, and Nocturno can be match winning in the right matchup. Having a way of FINDING these key cards can be crux.

To get Coffey to your hand, I’ve included two copies of Squad Formation. This card will always only find Dove Tail (my painter) and Coffey, Lab Assistant (the only other fairy). Play this card, then Coffey, and you’re down a net 4Δ (as Coffey resolves for +3). However, as Squad Formation puts two cards in your hand, and Coffey lets you FIND a character immediately, your hand will actually be the same size after playing those two cards as it was before, meaning you can easily trade to keep your shard bank looking healthy. I’ve gone with Dove Tail for my painter as her ±2 is great for an achrom deck, but being 4Δ you can trade her too. You could swap her for pure trade fodder in the form of a Squad Leader, opening up the rare slot for something like Throne Room, if you so wish. I’d probably cut either a Nocturno or Ravaged Elite to make room.

When playing this deck, if you’re worried about losing Coffey, I’d recommend caution when considering whether to dive straight in with the early Squad Formation/Coffey play. If it’s particularly timely to do so, for instance you need a Sorrono or a Carmella right now, go for it. However, often opening with a promo location or two, or a HAIM Shard Cache to put the opponent immediately on the back foot, might be the better play. Even a harmless looking Imp may be the best play to open with, especially if you’re holding Factory Production Line, just until you know what the opponent’s planning.

Regarding Mulligan priorities, it does depend on the matchup. However, I tend to keep my hand if I get Coffey naturally, as it makes me very flexible against whatever the opponent throws at me. I’ll also keep my hand if I’ve got HAIM, Factory Production Line/Cintimani, and a character, as then I can hit for 9-10 straight out of the gate, and I’ll also keep a hand of 3+ 4Δ cards. I tend to Mulligan if I have too many cheap characters, as not only are they vulnerable to attack, but without a means of gaining shards via stealing or trading, I find my shard bank emptying out very quickly.

If you give this deck a try, I hope you enjoy it. It’s strong, fast, and a lot of fun to play. And I do so love playing a palette that takes a chroma character like Coffey, and makes him join the dark side.

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