Portrait of the Eternal power base as first-place Saturday Challenge finisher

Nishava took first place at the inaugural Kaelari's Saturday Challenge event with an aggressive Combrei list entitled Rakano's weapons are outmatched!

Let's take a look at their power bases using the Eternal Power Calculator:

One of the first things you might notice is that Nishava has included a lot of extra sources to help ensure that they will draw enough Power and Influence to play their early units on Turns 1, 2 and 3.

For many decks, "extra power" means including an additional power card beyond the minimum of 25. But here Nishava has included no fewer than 28.

A full playset of Initiate of the Sands brings the total number of Power sources in the deck to 32.

Time Quickens

The Influence Chart tells us that the pilot of this deck has a 91% chance of holding in their opening hand when going first, enough Influence to play Initiate of the Sands on Turn 1.

This conveniently sets the table for playing one of the deck's twelve powerful 3-drops: Kosul Battlemage, Unseen Commando, and Valkyrie Enforcer each have an influence cost of .

We can see that even at this early stage, the odds of drawing are quite good: 77% after two draws. After three draws the chances are even better - up to 83%.

If Nishava is fortunate enough to draw undepleted power in the form of Seat of Progress it means that these units can be played as early as Turn 2.

And by surviving for at least one turn, Intiate enables even more powerful follow-up plays in the form of Vanquisher's Blade and Copperhall Elite.

Mind Over Body

A 3-drop on Turn 2 makes for a strong start, but what if Initiate of the Sands or Seat of Progress don't show up within the first couple of draws?

Nishava still has plenty of options even without them.

Crownwatch Paladin () or Awakened Student () on Turn 2 are just as likely to frustrate your opponent, if not more so.

The chart shows us that the odds of drawing enough Influence to play either of these units on curve are in Nishava's favor:

Note that the chances of playing Crownwatch Paladin are slightly better than for Awakened Student, and the Power Odds Table tells us why.

To play Awakened Student you need to draw at least two Power and also two different Influence sources: both and . For Nishava's first-place build, the combined odds of meeting each of these requirements after two draws are a healthy 87%.

Although Crownwatch Paladin requires the same amount of Power as Awakened Student - her Influence cost is less demanding, at a single . By consulting the table again we learn that the combined odds drawing enough Power and Influence to play Crownwatch Paladin after two draws are an even more comfortable 91%.

Teacher of Humility

An aggressive deck like this one needs to be dropping units right out of the gate, and for the most part Nishava has a very good chance of doing just that on Turns 1, 2 and 3.

The exception is Teacher of Humility, a powerful 2-cost unit that has made quite an impression in the early Fall of Argenport meta. Nishava has chosen to prioritize their units over Teacher by including Time and Justice sources at a ratio of 21 to 23 .

The odds of drawing enough Influence to play Teacher on curve trail behind the other 1 and 2-cost units by as much as 22%.

Although this is a sizable gap, it makes sense because there are three times as many units requiring at least a single Justice influence.

Teacher of Humility is an especially valuable tool in matchups where your opponent relies on a lot of extra card draw. But she doesn't necessarily need to be played on Turn 2 in order to be effective for this deck's aggressive strategy. In this case, it is more important to make sure you have the resources needed to take an early lead in controlling the board.

Unmatched!

Nishava has constructed a very reliable, low-risk power base for Rakano's weapons are outmatched!, and this undoubtedly contributed to their success in Kaelari's Saturday Challenge.