Welcome back to another article discussing the specific card choices when building a cube - part 6 of 10 - and today we are looking at the Fury domain. Before we get into the 55 Fury cards in the Cube, let’s look at the 9 Fury Legends I have included:
Fury Legends
Each Legend you pick should have an impact on the card list for that domain. These Legends want to do a few different things:
- , , and want spells - with a variety of energy costs and power
- , , and want low cost units to swarm the board
- and want big units capable of winning combats
When picking cards, I want to emphasize what Fury does best - Deal Damage, Might boosts, and the trifecta of Accelerate, Ambush, and Ready for multiple conquering turns. Nearly every card choice tries to do one of these things, so you can find these effects at every energy cost of your curve.
probably lacks the most support in Fury, there simply aren’t many movement triggers inherent to the color. Calm is bringing more to the table here, but I included and for cards that are uniquely good for her.
Notably, Lucian, Pyke, Zed, Jinx, and Rumble are not here, so we can exclude cards meant to support them. I feel the color would be diluted with random jank if we tried to force them in, see “Notable Exclusions” section for more details. Without these narrow legends, Fury is primarily focused on units and spells - it has the 2nd fewest Gear of any domain.
Admittedly, this early in Riftbound’s lifespan the choices are not that difficult, but these guidelines let us make upgrades in future sets while keeping the domain identity consistent. Onto the Fury cards that did make the cut:
Fury Cards
Out of 55 cards, we have a split of 34 units and 21 spells/gear. Most colors follow this roughly 60/40 ratio for the simple reason that you need units to win the game, so it is better to have too many units than too few.
Unit Choices
I would recommend no less than five 2-drops per color, and generally 6+ is ideal. We have 6 here (7 if you include ). There are an additional six 3-drops that don’t require a power cost. Legends like and need a bunch of cheap units, while also competing with other drafters for early game plays. Order has the most low-cost units of any Domain, which takes pressure off Fury slots that might be needed for Mighty units.
, , and are strong in spell-heavy decks, giving you recurring bodies in decks that might otherwise be light on units.
demands some critical mass of Mighty units, but thankfully that is not hard in Fury. Must-includes like Ferrous Forerunner and Darius, Trifarian work in any deck, but nearly everything 5+ cost will trigger his ability. benefits from numerous Ambush units like or , letting you secure combat wins even if they have tricks.
On the other hand, you probably don’t need as many late game units as you think. Most decks only play about two units at 6+ cost, and with a 25 card deck you have plenty of time to find them by the late turns. Over time I have continually cut the most expensive units, as a majority of them end up not being played in the main deck. I have prioritized units that can enter ready like because often it is required to not fall significantly behind in tempo.
When in doubt, use a Champion unit over a generic one. Being able to use any Champion with any Legend is one of the best parts of draft games, and giving players several options for going first or second rewards smart drafters. In early Cube drafts, it was surprisingly easy to end up with only 1-2 Champion units, so I have been steadily increasing them over time. Out of 34 units, over a third (13 or 38%) are Champions.
Non-Unit Choices
Fury is probably the easiest domain for this section - it is essentially all damage and combat tricks. Other domains have to balance more mechanics in the same number of slots, Fury is potentially the easiest to fill out due to the lack of Gear.
Because of Legends like , we need power-costing spells like , , and . Because of , we make sure to include , , and repeatable spells like and . benefits from anything Action-speed, making cards like Against All Odds and appealing to her.
I wish there were more 4-cost spells for Jhin, but Mind has a lot of 4- and 5-cost spells to support both and . is a nice card that synergizes with any non-swarm Legend.
I want to include 1-2 Gear-destroying cards per color, and fits perfectly, being up to 2 removal spells on a single card. I also try to include one “board wipe” per color, a card that can remove many units at once, and is great for this without being too punishing for the opponent.
Spicy Picks
These are a few cards that you could replace - every cube has a bit of flavor that the designer just happens to like, these are my pet cards. If you have a better idea for the card slot, go ahead and swap them out.
is a personal favorite of mine. I wanted to enable control decks in a Kai’sa or Jhin shell, and being able to for +4 total damage can create those memorable games that make cube draft great. She even works on !
is surprisingly easy to trigger - 8 Might can trigger his ability with no extra cards needed, and there are enough Might buffs to surprise enemies. I find games with “extra points” to be interesting and memorable, so I added him in to create more stories of epic victories. There are enough ways to ready him that surprise victories from an empty board are possible.
just rocks - if you missed out on Unleashed Pre-Rifts, give him a try. From enabling Tryndamere to turning cards like into a Might buff, he is super versatile. Since he doesn’t have a power cost, he is often splashed into Order decks to buff tokens or as a repeatable enabler.
Notable Exclusions:
For all colors I opted not to have Seals or Decrees. Seals are a bit too swingy - if you get them early they can be extremely powerful, but they are dead draws late game and most decks have no way to discard/draw them away. I didn’t want to include too many “hate” cards that warp matchups after sideboarding, and just personally I am not a fan of Decrees and their power level.
is not in the Legend pool, so I cut nearly every discard enabler and payoff. , , , and both Jinx champions are nowhere to be found. In general I would recommend cutting any card that only works for one Legend, and in Jinx’s case it is easy to cut the legend altogether.
Several Fury gear such as , , and are out because Lucian is not one of the available Legends. These Equipment are pretty weak on their own, and I didn’t want to include them just for a Legend that I felt was already on the borderline of playable. is arguably playable, but in the main list seems more consistent with less setup needed. This also means actually strong cards like are cut - even though they are cost effective with high upside - because Fury doesn’t have the slots to support it effectively.
I have slowly cut big do-nothing units like , , Inviolus , and . These turn out to be pretty narrow (very few legends want them, making them late picks few are excited about) and also weak in gameplay. Exhausting all your runes for a big body and passing turn has turned out to be fatal in the relatively fast and tempo oriented cube games.
In terms of cards I would like to include but just didn’t make the cut - , , , , , and are just on the cusp of being played. If you are missing a few cards from my cube list, look to these for budget replacements.
Changelog: Vendetta v2
Changes from the initial Vendetta list:
- Sharkling
- Draven, Vanquisher
- Brynhir Thundersong
- Renekton, Rage Fueled
- Volibear, Furious
- Sun Disc
- Pouty Poro
- Akali, Deadly Weapon
- Undying Legion
- Vayne, Hunter
- Vi, Hotheaded
- Tryndamere, Barbarian
The goal of these changes were to lower the overall curve of units and add more Chosen Champion options. Games are generally pretty fast, and missing a turn 1 play can feel awful. Adding , , and gives decks more options for the opening turn. was never hitting the battlefield, even in Volibear decks, so comes in for the splashy endgame play that can steal wins in close games.
was more of a design choice - it feels bad to lose games just because you can’t play cards, I would rather players lose the old-fashioned way of making mistakes. is a more interactive way of breaking seemingly impossible holds.
proved to be too weak - paying 7 for an accelerated 6 Might unit (with effectively no ability) was just underwhelming compared to existing options like or which could enter ready pretty easily. Similarly, is nearly identical to in many situations, but Vayne has more interesting play patterns and can be a Chosen Champion.
has been banned! Well, banned again - since Cube doesn’t follow the same rules as Constructed play, I generally support including cards that might be banned otherwise. Some cards like and simply aren’t that format warping in a singleton draft environment, and I feel it is fun for players to experience these cards.
The Cube originally included Draven, but after a few drafts he kept revealing himself to be a problematic card. If he was not a Champion Unit, he could be acceptable, but he is potentially the #1 Chosen Champion in the game. Coming down on turn 2 every game, he creates uncomfortable board positions, able to generate “free cards” worth of value with his optional Might boost. There are no free combat tricks in the cube (not even Call to Glory), so it felt uniquely unfair on a well-cost unit that hits the field every single game. He can pump himself on offense (and get the spent rune back in the form of Gold) then force opponents into overcommitting on the returning attack. Some cards are just banned for a reason it seems, and I am hoping Vayne and Vi fill that 4-cost slot in a more pleasant way.