Commoner Builds: Ice Lexi Control

Commoner is now official with FAB 2.0! Like many in the community, I’ve been brewing up some decks to have fun in this format.

As I experimented with Boltyn, Briar, and Rhinar, I wanted to explore a deck that increased the number of decision points in the game.

Many commoner decks are akin to budget Blitz decks that can still close out the game on turn 2 or 3, so I wanted to look at a non-Guardian build that could slow the game down to make every minute decision matter in the contest.

What Equipment Should This Commoner Lexi Use?

This is the core suite of equipment for this deck. Of course, you’ll still need alternatives to your outfit if arcane damage is in the forecast, but these 4 pieces are what really make the deck sing.

Additional pieces to consider in your inventory:

I’ll go over some of the lines of play for this build shortly. The equipment pieces that I’ve selected are crucial to the plan of victory for this deck.

Which Weapon Should This Commoner Lexi Use?

In Commoner, you’re allowed to have up to 2 rares in your Equipment Inventory, so you can choose Red Liner or Talishar for Lexi.

When I first began building this deck, I thought I would land on Shiver. Its ability runs at instant speed, so you can cheat a card into your arsenal when your opponent plays first. And, of course, it also can give your attack dominate to close out a game.

However, Red Liner’s ability to get an arrow into firing position at no cost allowed me to run a hefty red line of cards. This means I can afford to block with 2-3 cards out of my hand on many turns.

The List—Commoner: Lexi Control

Commoner: Lexi Control

Class: Ranger
Hero: Lexi
Weapons: Red Liner, Shiver
Equipment: Bull’s Eye Bracers, Coat of Frost, Honing Hood, Ironrot Gauntlet, Ironrot Legs, Snapdragon Scalers

(2) Chilling Icevein (red)
(2) Dazzling Crescendo (red)
(2) Electrify (red)
(2) Fatigue Shot (red)
(2) Flake Out (red)
(2) Hamstring Shot (red)
(2) Lightning Surge (red)
(2) Nimblism (red)
(2) Pathing Helix (red)
(2) Polar Blast (red)
(2) Ravenous Rabble (red)
(2) Read the Glide Path (red)
(2) Ridge Rider Shot (red)
(2) Searing Shot (red)
(2) Sic ‘Em Shot (red)
(2) Sink Below (red)
(2) Sleep Dart (red)
(2) Winter’s Bite (red)
(2) Winter’s Bite (yellow)
(2) Winter’s Bite (blue)

See the complete deck at: https://fabdb.net/decks/EzlKMPNr/

Let’s Play

The primary approach when piloting this deck is to block early while looking to craft powerful hands to punish the opponent with hit effects and Frostbite tokens.

All of our arrows block 3, and we’re running Sink Below, so plan to block down to having 1 attack left in hand to fire for free using Red Liner.

Most of our arrows cost 0, but the 1-cost arrows have powerful hit effects when we can afford to fire them.

Pump and Dump

Rangers are used to pumping up their arrows. This list will rely on these 2 no-cost pumps to rip cards out of the opponent’s hand or dwindle their life down as we hunt them down.

Go Wide

When we can take the temp and force our opponent to block by sending multiple attacks on a turn, these will likely be the tools we use.

One trick I like to do with Lightning Surge costs a lot of equipment, but it can help seal the game. Starting in the arsenal, I activate Lexi to give my next attack go again, then I use Honing Hood to get Lightning Surge back into my hand and put an arrow in its place.

For combo’s sake, let’s say that arrow is Pathing Helix. If Helix hits, then I can place another arrow into my arsenal and fire it. If I still have Snapdragon Scalers, I can even give that second arrow go again before using Red Liner to load and fire the third arrow. Finally, I can end my turn with Lightning Surge back in arsenal to attack twice again on the following turn.

I often find myself using Sic ‘Em Shot purely as a blocking card. To benefit from the go again, I need to start with it in arsenal or utilize a piece of equipment to fire a second shot.

Pathing Helix has been a really fun card to use with this deck. I find myself pairing it with Snaps pretty regularly to reload my arsenal with an Elemental card to use with Lexi’s ability or an extra attack.

Quiver

Most of our arrows are 0-cost, 3-block, 4-damage threats with a hit or fuse effect to boot.

These arrows are the bread and butter of this deck. If we can’t afford to pump them after having blocked the opponent’s attacks, then we need to make sure that sending 4 back wins the exchange. In other words, if we spend 3-4 cards blocking all or most of their damage, then we want the 4 we deal back to be greater than any amount of damage that we let through. If it isn’t, then we may just need to be fine blocking with this arrow, too, or putting it into the arsenal for another turn.

Control

My new favorite card in Flesh and Blood is really what brings a strong level of control to the deck.

This card takes me back to my black control decks from Dragon Ball Z with Black Devious Mastery. Trading a card for a card was great in that game, but it might be even better in Flesh and Blood since I will draw my hand back before my opponent.

Ideally, we start with our Winter’s Bite in the arsenal in order to produce a Frostbite token with it from Lexi’s effect. Then, we can use it to rip a card out of the opponent’s hand. While the opponent can often keep their card in their deck by pitching, they may not have the resources in hand, especially against the Red variant of this card.

Using multiple copies of this card on a turn can often leave the opponent defenseless—similar to the Intimidate mechanic from our Brute friends. With 6 copies in this Commonor deck, we have just under a 50% chance to draw at least 1 copy of Winter’s Bite every turn. While I wish it could be more consistent, it is a decent enough chance to be a frequent threat in each of our matches.

Dominate

Experienced FAB players understand the value of having access to dominate to finish out the game. Without Shiver, we need some additional steps to finish off our opponent.

Red Polar Blast serves a similar role as Winter’s Bite. It can create a Frostbite token from Lexi’s effect, it can replace itself, and either rip a card or more from the opponent’s hand or give my next attack dominate.

When possible, I’ll pitch Flake Out early. Ranger decks can really burn through the deck, so with enough blocking, it’s possible to reach my second cycle and see a Flake Out at the right time to eliminate the threat.

Conclusion

While Commoner’s meta is largely unknown at the moment, this Lexi deck has a plan for victory. It is comfortable with blocking—even using 3 or 4 cards to do so, it has a tremendously low resource curve, and it can use its hit effects and Frostbite tokens to derail the opponent’s gameplan.

Ranger is a class on the rise, so give this list a shot, and let me know what you think!

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