Deck Tech - Living Legend: Briar, Warden of Thorns

Classic Constructed is Flesh and Blood's most played format. However, we've seen recently the Living Legend Format on the spotlight, throughout Battle Hardened, Skirmirsh and even Calling tournaments!

Known as the Flesh and Blood's “Legacy Format”, Living Legend allows you to play any hero from the game, with one banned card (Kraken’s Aethervein) and only restricted cards — that is, you're allowed to use one copy of that card in your deck. One of these heroes that received great support recently and is starting to stand out in the format is Briar, Warden of Thorns.

So let’s analyze one of my favorite decks in the format and also one of the best Runeblades the game has ever seen!

Back in Tales of Aria, Briar, Warden of Thorns was the third Runeblade to debut in the game. At the time, Chane, Bound by Shadow was considered one of the best decks in the format, alongside Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light. However, the Shadow hero suffered with the ban of Seeds of Agony (1), and Briar ended up taking its place as the best aggressive deck.

But Tales of Aria was an unusual set. Aside from the pre-ban of Duskblade, Briar set a new standard for the class. Cards like Ball Lightning (1), Plunder Run (1), its Signature Weapon Rosetta Thorn, and its extremely defensive ability with Embodiment of Earth made her a real threat in Classic Constructed.

After a major ban list update and an errata that targeted her, Chane returned to the top spot as the best aggressive deck. Even so, Briar remained a viable competitive deck — and so it continued, gradually gaining points until reaching Living Legend status in 2023.

Briar is one of the best aggressive decks in the history of Flesh and Blood, and with the addition of Rosetta, several cards have helped the deck gain more consistency and variety.

Pros:

- A consistent, aggressive deck;

- Has one of the best Equipment sets in the game;

- Can also play extremely defensive.

Cons:

- Is fragile against disruptions or taxing effects, such as Frostbite;

- Despite being consistent, it can still have do-nothing hands.

Briar has several deck styles: a fatigue version with Crown of Seeds, a combo based on Ball Lightning (1) with Sting of Sorcery, and even one that seeks to abuse Bloodsheath Skeleta.

However, the version we will look at today is the one that I consider the most consistent and that makes the best use of the hero's ability: the Channel Mount Heroic version.

The plan is simple: an aggressive deck, that wants a long Combat Chain using several Attacks with go again, or an Attack Action with high power thanks to the amount of Non-Attack Actions in the deck.

Since Briar's strength lies in Non-Attack Actions, we will start by analyzing these cards and then move on to Attack Actions and Equipment.

Non-Attack Actions

We begin our analysis by looking at one of the most important cards in the deck. Channel Mount Heroic provides an absurd amount of value in a deck that seeks to perform several Attack Actions in the same turn. Since most of our Attacks have 4 power, they threaten seven damage thanks to Channel. If we have three of these Attacks, that means twenty-one damage in a single turn.

As if that wasn't enough, another card can make things even more threatening: Force of Nature.

Briar's specialization, Force of Nature, gives +1 power to her next Attack Action, but that's not the main reason it's in the deck.

Combined with Channel, this card turns all of our Attacks into Snatch (1), and it isn't hard to understand how powerful that is. This interaction not only forces the opponent to block all attacks, but also put you in the driver's seat with so much damage being threatened.

Nimblism (1) and Plunder Run (1) help increase the power of your next Attack, but Plunder Run (1) in particular still allows you to draw a card when an Attack deals damage (note that this effect is not for the next Attack, but rather for the next time an Attack deals damage).

For those who play Aurora, Shooting Star, you will notice that a few Rosetta cards show up, since they are very good. Burn Up works like a “Boom Grenade (1)” that threatens more damage, while Skyward Serenade converts to four damage when tutoring Skyzyk.

It is important to note that, unlike Aurora, Briar makes better use of these Non-Attack Actions both for her ability to generate Embodiment of Lightning, and for better blocking with Embodiment of Earth.

The other blue cards on the list have two roles: fulfill the Earth Flow requirement of Channel Mount Heroic, and also synergize with the hero's ability. We've already talked about Force of Nature, but it's far from the only blue card that generates value.

Anthem of Spring is excellent for defense, generating an Embodiment of Earth. Tome of Harvests helps to get rid of a bad arsenal or a hand with too many blue cards, and Regrowth // Shock allows you to reuse an Attack from the graveyard.

Be careful: if your opponent doesn't take the arcane damage from Shock (which will be common), you won't be able to take any cards from the graveyard. Look forArcane Barrier cards from the opponent.

Attack Actions

Like Aurora, Briar benefits from efficient Attack Actions with go again.

These are the best ones available. Most have a natural (always active) or conditional go again, but with easy requirements. I'll highlight Ball Lightning (1), a card that is banned in Classic Constructed. Although there is a version focused only on this Attack, here we only use the red one, as it has excellent synergy with the deck and meets our requirements well.

Arcanic Shockwave (1), Static Shock (1), Skyzyk and Snatch (1) are the only Attacks on the list without go again. However, this problem is easily solved with Briar's ability. On turns where we can't generate Embodiment of Lightning, they work as excellent final attacks.

Equipments

Let's start with one of the deck's biggest stars!

Rosetta Thorn is considered one of the best weapons in the Runeblade class, used by almost all heroes in Living Legend. In addition to dealing four damage with just one resource — well above average —, it splits this damage between physical and arcane, making it difficult for the opponent to completely defend against it.

In Living Legend we still have a weapon that never was, as it was banned before it even saw play in Classic Constructed. Duskblade may not be useful in very fast games, but it is extremely threatening against slower decks, such as Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity, where it can grow infinitely.

In a deck that has an even split between Attack Actions and Non-Attack Actions, Face Purgatory is excellent. Taking a card from your opponent's hand and replacing one in yours is enough to stop an opponent's explosive turn without compromising your own. Even if the effect doesn't activate, Blade Break 2 is still very useful.

Chests pieces vary according to the player. Here we use Dyadic Carapace in matches where Temper 2 and Arcane Barrier 2 are important (such as against other aggressive decks with on-hit effects, for example Dash I/O, Dromai, Ash Artist, among others). Aether Ironweave is useful for attacking with Rosetta Thorn “for free”.

Other viable chests are Fyendal's Spring Tunic and Bloodsheath Skeleta.

Briar doesn't interact as much with Runechant, but Grasp of the Arknight is still a class staple, both for its excellent defensive value (Battleworn 2) and for helping filter blue cards from hand.

You can also use Vexing Quillhand together with Bloodsheath Skeleta for an explosive turn. However, since this list doesn't focus on "combo" plays, we chose not to include it — it's still an excellent budget option for those who don't have Grasp.

Sometimes we can draw a “dead” hand, without any go again. In these situations, Snapdragon Scalers can save us and allow us to play everything with ease. Just like with Dromai, Ash Artist, Aurora, Shooting Star and Lexi, Livewire, this Equipment is quite useful here too.

Lightning Greaves may seem out of place, since we hardly use Instants in the deck (only one, to be exact), but its use is very specific: defense. It helps in situations similar to Dyadic Carapace and completes Arcane Barrier 3 when necessary, such as against Iyslander, Stormbind.

Finally, we need even more protection against Arcane damage in certain matchups. To that end, Spell Fray Tiara and Shock Charmers are on the list, rounding out Arcane Barrier 3 and Spellvoid 3.

These cards are to be used in specific matchups:

- Battlefront Bastion (1) and Condemn to Slaughter (3) against Ilusionists;

- Sink Below (1) against aggros;

- Vaporize against decks that rely on auras, like Chane, Bound by Shadow or a mirror.

Although it is still not superior to Chane, Bound by Shadow and has weaknesses against Bravo, Star of the Show, Briar has been gaining more and more space in the format due to its consistency and for executing excellent turns with Channel Mount Heroic. So, if you want to venture into the format and don't know where to start, Briar can be an excellent entry point!

Thanks for reading this far and see you next time!