Spectral Conclave

At the heart of the deck is the illusion master himself - Feyrin, who's ability (Illusionist) allows players to shape the battlefield to their command during any phase. Feyrin has no intrinsic way of generating boosts - therefore, his impact to the game is extremely dependent on how well Feyrin can place each illusion to maximize the chance for 'Depart' to trigger. Regardless of your strategy or matchup, SC players will always want to maximize the number of boosts that Feyrin builds up over the course of the game.

What really makes Feyrin's ability stand-out is the ability to use it during ANY phase - most notably being the move and attack phases. Using Illusionist during the move phase offers incredible reach - with upwards of 5 spaces (or even 6 with Stag). The attack phase allows Feyrin to function as a decent combat unit - with the ability to attack at range, then summon a unit in front to attack again down the same flank (and potentially serve as a fragile blocker). The true potential for assassination lies in combining the deck's epic event 'Unleash' with Feyrin's ability to summon an army of illusions to attack one exposed flank.

A quick note on positioning: while your Illusory commons may seem like cheap and easy meat shields, don't be fooled - it's just an illusion! Ok terrible joke out of the way, let's talk about some basic positioning tips:

1. Stagger your gates and illusions. This means if you have a gate at B3, your next gate should be two over and one up/down (so D2 or D4). Not only does this optimize your summoning spots, but you'll be able to use Hawk to remove blocking units attempting to clog you. Staggering illusions also maximizes your area control and chances of triggering 'Depart'!

2. Do your best to leave 2 empty spaces between Feyrin (or any unit for that matter) and an illusion. This prevents a ranged unit from walking up, departing your blocker, then getting a shot in on the unit behind the illusion - since that unit will be out of reach.

3. Advance along the flanks of the board - using enemy gates to protect your advance. Focusing on advancing up one side of the board allows you to focus controlling one area without risk of getting surrounded. If you can predict what spots the opponent will need to attack your illusions at range, you can manage positioning them much better during your advancement. 

I consider Illusory Fox to be one of the most important illusions in the deck. 'Feint' is an incredibly strong ability that easily allows for a secondary attack from a ranged unit behind once feinting out of the way. Alternatively, 'Feint' can be used defensively - allowing for Fox to cover a lane or open enemy gate spot after attacking. Foxes are just about impossible for a melee unit to kill - since it can walk up, attack, then retreat to a different position. This makes it a great choice when dealing with annoying melee units (such as the undead carrier).

Foxes enable the kill strategy for Feyrin with the right number of boosts and space. The general strategy is to position Feyrin one space away from the enemy summoner, attack with Feyrin, summon fox, attack with Fox then feint, rinse and repeat until they are dead. No matter your strategy - Illusory Fox will be your bread-and-butter combat unit.

The Illusory Hawk is a straightforward unit that serves three purposes in the deck:

1. Unclog units blocking your gates.

2. Remove enemy blockers so Feyrin can advance or attack the enemy summoner.

3. A cheap ranged unit.

If you are struggling on magic and must discard an illusion, it will usually be a Hawk. When playing as SC, you'll typically be on the offensive - which means that summoning the Hawk on a gate will not happen so often. Hawks function better in your discard pile when summoned by Feyrin - as he can walk up and coordinate the specific spot that Hawk is summoned (with his ability) and allow for you to bounce enemy units into the positions that best suits your needs.

Illusory Stag is another staple in the deck that fills a much-needed role in an assassination deck - reach. Now reach here can be used for a variety of situations:

1. Attacking and killing valuable (or low health) units that an opponent is trying to hide.

2. Positioning a unit so that Taleo can teleport to and attack again.

3. Clogging enemy gate spots otherwise unreachable.

The list can go on for quite some time if we consider all possible board states. One trick is attacking with Feyrin from 2 clear spaces away, then using summoning a Stag with Feyrin's ability to dash up and attack again. 

Mind Mage is an interesting unit that seems to stick out a bit from the deck. No real synergies to any commons, champions, or events in the deck - Mind Mage is often just treated as a blank combat unit. 1 magic to take control of a unit for one turn is usually not worth unless you are killing a critical target or dealing the last bit of damage for an assassination attempt. In the case of the latter, having at least 1x Mind Mage around can mean the difference between life or death of an enemy summoner.

There could be some potential use cases for Mind Mage to take advantage of 'on-attack' abilities from enemy commons. For example, stealing a Bloom Mystic to attack and boost Feyrin could make the magic spend worth it - since you get a free Illusion from it. The use case should be evaluated on a card by card basis, but given how cheap the rest of the deck is, you may find yourself using Mind Mage as a combat unit to hold board presence.

Sylke is an interesting champion that will likely see the least amount of play in most SC games. The name of the game when it comes to Sylke is magic denial. The primary drawback of 0-cost units is how much magic they provide to the opponent. Sylke can help manage this and make it difficult to trade efficiently and keep up in magic at the same time. Unfortunately, Sylke doesn't do much to progress the SC agenda (such as removing threats, building up magic, and advancing up the board). 

Magic denial often incentivizes an economic victory (which SC isn't that great at) - and often doesn't bear fruit until the very last few cards are drawn. Still, being able to spam 0-cost units without rewarding your enemy is a great denial tool and can pressure opposing players to discard valuable events or units to keep up with the swarm of illusions constantly pressuring them.

Miro is a powerhouse, and arguably the strongest champion in the suite. Miro's ability 'Spectral Command' can provide great value over the life of the game. As a ranged unit, Miro can easily trigger their ability 'command' from a safe distance - which addresses the primary weakness of their Breaker counter-part Gulldune. Miro feels like a must-play each game - do your best to save up to play Miro and keep Miro safe at all cost every time.

Taleo is an easy to learn, hard to master champion. The premise here is simple - achieve two attacks from the same spot. Ideally, SC players should try to use Taleo as the first attack, then swap with an illusion to keep Taleo safe. Mastery of Taleo comes with understanding where to swap and retreat Taleo to after the attack so that he can walk and attack the next turn to repeat the process.

Taleo's ability can activate during any phase - with the most meaningful being the move phase. Players should look to use this ability during  the move phase to extend the reach of commons and take out critical targets otherwise unreachable.

Ghost Walk is Feyrin's only mobility and escape tool in the deck. At a hefty cost of 1 magic, Feyrin can swap places with any common unit during any phase. While expensive, SC players will often find themselves playing at least one copy of Ghost Walk each game for one or more of the following use cases:

1. Escape - Feyrin can often be prone to counter-assassination attempts as Illusions make for fragile and poor blockers. Should Feyrin find himself surrounded or pressured, Ghost Walk allows for an easy teleport to safety and possibly retreat even further if used during the move phase.

2. Assault - Like Taleo's ability, Ghost Walk can be used during the attack phase to get an attack with Feyrin, then swap places with a common for a secondary attack from the same position.

3. Assassination - During the move phase, Feyrin can swap positions with a unit then move even further for extra reach. This allows Feyrin to reach critical targets and set up for a potential checkmate of the opposing summoner.

A bonus combo that many players often overlook is that Ghost Walk can be used to swap positions with a mind-controlled unit. This gives a layer of depth to Mind-Mages, as now blocking units could potentially be an entry-point for Feyrin to teleport in for assasination.

Split is the only free event in the deck and functions as a hybrid economic and reach card. At the surface level - it's a free copy of an Illusion that you can summon adjacent to an existing Illusion. It's important to note that 'Split' is a summoning ability and therefore triggers on-summon abilities (such as Stag and Hawk). For reach purposes, players can utilize Split after moving a Stag to summon another Stag > force it one space, then move the new Stag two more spaces. To clear blockers, players can move and position existing Hawks so that the newly summoned Hawk can bounce a unit into a more favorable position for Spectral Conclave players. Split being a move phase event offers a lot of opportunities to shape the board state to best accomplish its faction agenda.

Fade Away is the deck's board removal event that has certain trade-offs. Most notably, Fade Away cost 1 magic - which means using it on enemy commons that cost 1 or 0 magic is typically a losing trade. What the card also doesn't tell you is that you do not receive magic for removing the unit from the board. The trade-off here is that you get a boost at the start of your turn if the unit is still in play and discarded, which can be pretty critical when planning out your next turn. Fade Away's timing can be a bit awkward since the effect is not immediate. Players should try to avoid leaving units within reach of the targeted unit if possible. If players seek to master Spectral Conclave, they will need to learn how to use Fade Away to eliminate critical targets and set up for a strong counter attack effectively.

The deck's epic event highlights the core win-condition of the game: a brutal assassination from as little as one exposed flank. The event does two very important things for Feyrin: 1) grants 2 extra attackers for the turn and 2) boosts Feyrin. With proper positioning, it is possible to get up to 4 attacks on an enemy unit from one exposed flank (using at least 2 foxes, and Feyrin from one space away). While utilizing all 5 attacks is the most ideal scenario, players should not hesitate to use the epic event to boost Feyrin and/or get multiple attacks on an enemy summoner. Bringing the enemy summoner down from full to half or less health can open up a wide range of opportunities to close out the game in the following turns.