Riftbound: Deck Tech - Voltron Blue Ornn

Today, we'll show you how to play Voltron Blue Ornn with Ornn Fire Below the Mountain!

This deck in particular got 2nd place at a tournament in Shanghai that welcomed 128 players. It is a bit more sober and built for competitive settings, as it combines cards that see play in the regular Voltron Ornn archetype with a green defensive kit centered around countering spells.

Before we begin, however, let me introduce myself. My name is Total, and I used to cast Legends of Runeterra tournaments professionally. I covered all the official tournaments, including Worlds, and I am known for creating deck guides for LoR as well. Now, I am a part of the Riftbound community!

The main idea behind this deck is to hoard stats on Ornn Forge God, double his effect with Svellsongur, and equip him with multiple Equipment Gears so that you can hold a battlefield all game long. Eventually, your Ornn will get ridiculously, needlessly, and stupidly large, to the point he will be virtually unbeatable in combat. To prevent your opponent from scoring points on the other battlefield, you'll use Tiana Crownguard as a sort of passive-aggressive "finishers".

With this list, you should be forcing your opponent into unconventional plays at all times. Either by forcing them to speed up to keep up with you and win before you build an unbeatable board, or by forcing them to spend lots of resources to try to remove your Ornn. Or even by simply forcing them to deal with your gigantic units in combat (the less likely win condition).

Ornn Fire Below the Mountain is a Kai'Sa, but green and centered around Gears instead of spells.

Without him, this archetype doesn't exist. This entire list centers around playing and equipping Gears, and Ornn lets you do that for 1 less Power once per turn.

This is the unit that names the deck. It is its main card and main win condition.

He gets 1 Might for each allied Gear in play. This deck will double this effect with Svellsongur and give him +2 Might per Gear.

Furthermore, Ornn - Forge God also gets plus 2 Deflect, so he gets 4 Deflect in all, which is simply insane.

Here's a quick comparison: if you only have one Ornn - Forge God with one Svellsongur equipped, he'll cost 6 and have 6 Might and Deflect 4. This is already incredibly strong, albeit a bit expensive. In practice, however, you'll have around 4 or 5 Gears in play, so he'll get +8 or even +10 Might from Svellsongur. And that's without considering the bonus effects on each equipment card.

So, an Ornn with 20 Might is completely possible with this list.

Because this deck is quite slow, all the battlefields in it are centered around delaying the game or preventing the opponent from getting an advantage over you. They can do this by conquering both battlefields before you get to actually play, for instance.

Aspirant's Climb is ideal in slow decks because it delays the entire game by one turn. You'll need this time depending on the matchup because you'll only play units on the board from turn 3 onward.

Sigil of the Storm prevents the opponent from creating a huge advantage early on by conquering both battlefields.

Forgotten Monument is practically a nerfed Sigil of the Storm. After 3 turns, this battlefield becomes a vanilla card and doesn't punish the opponent any longer. They'll be able to conquer it and not get any debuff as a result.

Early On

Early on, you should focus on playing as many Gears as you can in your base so that, when turn 3 comes around, your Ornn - Forge God is already quite big.

To do that, you'll use Seal of Focus, which comes into play practically for free thanks to your Legend's effect. It will be extremely useful throughout the match, as it lets you pay less Power for each card.

Poro Snax is cheap card draw, but remember: only use its effect when you absolutely have to, either at the end of the game or emergencies. The idea is to keep it in play until the end of the match so that you can give stats to Ornn - Forge God.

As for Doran's Shield, which usually only sees play because it is cheap, it has a somewhat noble purpose in this list: it defends Tianna Crownguard. You'll equip Doran's Shield on Ornn and this way Tianna will take damage in combat last.

In the first turn, you can use a Seal for free with your Legend's effect. With this Seal, you'll pay for Poro Snax's Power and, with the rest of your energy, you'll play Doran's Shield. This makes 3 Gears in play in the first turn, which would give your Ornn +7 Might in the future (counting Svellsongur's effect and Doran's Shield's bonus stats).

On turn 2, you may play a Zhonya's Hourglass or a Guardian Angel. Both can save your Ornn from certain death. This deck can give your Ornn six extra lives in practice if you play all of these cards.

If you're second to play, in the first turn you can play World Atlas, which is a great way to keep your deck running in the future.

It's always a good idea to play a hidden Emperor's Divide early on to protect your Ornn from any surprise attacks, particularly if your opponent manages to overcome him in stats.

This deck has a serious problem with card draw. Playing hidden Consult the Past is a way to stay active in the match, even if that delays you when it comes to playing Ornn.

Premonition is very expensive, but it is essential if you start out the game too bricked. Only consider playing it early on in emergencies.

Mid Game

At this moment of the game, you'll finally play your Ornn - Forge God. Move him to a battlefield and leave him there until the end of the game, holding it.

To double his stats, equip Svellsongur on him.

At this stage, you'll use counter spells, the cards that most stand out in this list. Defy, Not so Fast, and Wind Wall will interrupt any enemy strategy.

End Game

Tianna Crownguard is your checkmate, as it prevents the opponent from scoring any points. If you put her on the same battlefield as Ornn and equip Doran's Shield on him, you'll be virtually unbeatable, particularly if you're already ahead.

Use Shurelya's Requiem to finish the game by conquering both battlefields or setting up a very strong attack on an enemy battlefield.

This deck seems unbeatable in paper, but it is actually an incredibly high-risk/high-reward slow strategy. Fast strategies and strategies that can deal with Deflect costs can beat it.

This includes yellow decks, that is, Viktor decks, and some versions of Rek'Sai and Azir. These lists remove Ornn - Forge God rather easily and also pay for Deflect 4 without any trouble.

Against Kai'Sa and purple decks in general, this list also struggles because these matchups are basically a battle between purple removals and this list's counter spells. Whoever draws better wins, but you'll still have a disadvantage early on and will have to give up space for your opponent, who will be able to develop their board.

Draven will mow you down completely in the midgame, while you're still growing your Ornn.

Keep in mind that this deck struggles with card draw. To truly be unbeatable, you'll need to have a combination of cards and to follow a multistep setup. You'll also need time, and any aggressive holding/defending list, like Master Yi and Ahri, will usually get ahead quite fast.

This list might have a huge potential to come back into the game and become unbeatable in all matchups, but it still needs specific cards, and that is its main problem. So, this deck tends to work better in the Eastern meta, which is more volatile, or against less experienced players in local Western Skirmishes.

This sideboard improves a few matchups, particularly against fast decks.

Charm is great against fast green or orange lists, like Ahri, which can conquer and defend battlefields early on. You can use it to remove Draven's or Miss Fortune's Rhasa before you conquer a battlefield with Ornn.

Janna Savior will literally save your units. She is like a Guardian Angel that returns your units.

Forgefire Cape is expensive but powerful against opponents that play lots of units, like Draven and token decks.

A few details regarding Svellsongur: you can stack Ornn's effect multiple times if you equip more than one Svellsongur on him. For instance, with 3 Svellsongur, he'll get +4 Might for each allied Gear in play (+3 for each Svellsongur and +1 because of his own effect). Additionally, he'll have Deflect 8.

Svellsongur doesn't copy effects on other equipment cards attached to the same unit. It only copies the text of the original card it is attached to and ignores any additional text from other effects.

If you read this far, thank you! I hope you had fun and enjoyed reading this article.

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See you next time!