Riftbound: Deck Tech - Annie Dark Child (Fury & Chaos)

Today, we'll show you how to play Annie - Dark Child (Fury & Chaos).

This archetype has just won the Houston Regional Qualifier, and is currently one of the best lists in the entire game.

This version in particular was built by Dhawally, the actual champion of the qualifier. They took home a gorgeous metal Annie - Dark Child promo.

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 list is to get ahead early by conquering battlefields and controlling the opponent's first units. You'll keep this advantage by forcing the opponent to deal with your board constantly, and in rather unoptimized ways. Eventually, you'll win because of how much value your cards will create, as they interact with each other quite efficiently.

This archetype is similar to Kai'Sa lists, which play nearly the same red cards. The main difference between them is that Annie plays purple cards, so she's more explosive early on and sets up continuous combos instead of ending the game with Time Warp or Thousand-Tailed Watcher like Kai'Sa lists.

This deck also stands out because of its sideboard, which is centered around getting an advantage against Master Yi lists. This was a crucial part of why Dhawally won in Houston.

With Annie's effect, purple cards, and this sideboard, this deck is often active all the time, even during the opponent's turns.

Annie Dark Child is extremely simple and in a very powerful color combination. Currently, purple cards are great at tutoring cards and setting up continuous combos with cheap spells, which fits Annie Dark Child's effect perfectly.

Her effect readies two runes at the end of the turn, so you'll always have resources to answer the opponent with spells or just play more aggressively on your turn.

This effect is what makes this deck so efficient, as it is what allows you to keep a consistent pace during the match.

Your main champion in the champion zone is Annie - Stubborn, which returns a key spell from your graveyard to your hand.

The spell you'll actually return will vary. For instance, against Master Yi, you'll return Rebuke. Against Kai'Sa, you'll return any direct removal, like Void Seeker. Overall, you'll return Flash or Ride the Wind, which are essential for the combos in this list.

Zaun Warrens will keep your hand full and help you look for your win conditions.

The Dreaming Tree is your main battlefield, as this list centers around effects that target allied units. Practically all the cards in this deck center around these interactions, either to return units or ready them.

The Arena's Greatest is excellent against slower lists and Aurora because it speeds up the game by practically a full turn. As this list is extremely fast, it makes sense to give yourself and the opponent one extra point early on. This will actually put you ahead because of how this list was built.

Early Game

Pouty Poro is great against Kai'Sa lists and mirror matches because it forces the opponent to recycle a rune if they want to target it.

Vi - Destructive starts the combos and is your main way to conquer. You can use her effect multiple times as long as you have cards in the graveyard, which won't be a problem for this list because it plays lots of cards constantly. You can also use her as a win condition later on.

Stacked Deck helps you get your win conditions, like Kai'Sa - Survivor and Darius - Trifarian. However, you can also use it to get any essential cards. It is, without question, one of the most important cards in this deck. It might even be the key to winning.

Traveling Merchant keeps the deck running by drawing cards. It works really well with effects that interact with moving.

Mid Game

Kai’Sa - Survivor is one of your main win conditions. She draws cards whenever you conquer a battlefield, and, as such, helps keep this deck running. She also comes into play ready on turn 2 at the earliest, and is considered one of the best cards in the game.

Darius - Trifarian is also a finisher. He gains +2 Might whenever you play your second card each turn, and also readies himself. This allows him to attack multiple times in a single turn, helps you conquer both battlefields, and get the 8 points you need to win.

End Game

This deck uses mid game cards as its main win condition. At the end of the match, you'll use cheap spells to ready or move Kai'Sa, Darius, and Vi, conquer all battlefields, and get that 8th point.

This deck is great against practically everything in the meta. However, against Kai'Sa, you might struggle because the two lists are very similar. For this matchup, consider playing more copies of Gust to deal with Kai'Sa units early on, or Draven - Showboat, considering Kai'Sa doesn't play cheap answers for him in the mid and end game.

Against Master Yi, you have some advantage because you play Rebuke and start off quite explosively. However, if Aurora comes into play, your chances of winning drop significantly.

This deck also works well against Viktor because his removals don't impact the main strategy that much. Meanwhile, you can easily deal with his units.

You'll need Void Seeker to kill Kai'Sa - Survivor. If she's not around, you should discard Void Seeker with Zaun Warrens or Traveling Merchant, but, before you do, make sure you won't need that 4 damage later on.

Try to discard Scraphead at all times to make it extra efficient in mirror matches or against Kai'Sa.

Sneaky Deckhand is an alternative to Kai'Sa - Survivor early on. Despite being a bit weaker, it will help you keep up the pace and can be decisive in the end game to get that 8th point.

Fading Memories is essential against Aurora lists. It is one of the few cards in the game that can remove it from play.

Use two Rebuke against Aurora to return massive cards to the opponent's hand.

Cleave might only cost 1, but it is excellent in the late game. In particular, it is great with Darius - Trifarian and Vi - Destructive, and will help you end the game.

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!