Rimewyrm’s Bite – How oppressive is it?

In this article, I will be going over the Rimewyrm’s Bite deck and its oppressiveness/prevalence in the meta. Rimewyrm’s Bite is a deck that sparked a lot of discussion due to the prevalence of ping cards located in it. Due to the already ping-infested meta, a lot of people weren’t too happy with it. But how oppressive is it in reality?

Before I begin, I would like to remind you about the new Staggerers Discord server where you can reach out to other players for deck building advice as well as just general Underworlds chatter!

Without further ado, let’s begin.

NEMESIS

I’ll begin by comparing this deck to other decks in the Nemesis format.

If we look at surge objectives, we notice that Rimewyrm’s Bite (from now on called RB) has:

• 1 very good surge – Get Moving is usable by a lot of warbands and doesn’t take too much effort
• 2 decent ones – Deadly to All is a draw dependent surge but could be played as a Calculated Risk with some dice involved, and Gone Without Trace is a slightly toned down Sudden Demise which was a great surge.
• 2 ‘playable’ surges – Ruinous Aftermath is draw dependent and kind of goes against your gameplan but it could be worse. Subterranean Threat requires you to kill an enemy that hasn’t any move or charge tokens, which is doable but difficult.
• 1 bad surge – Threatening Rumbles requires wayyy too much setup to be worth running in a lot of cases.

Surge-wise, RB is pretty tame. The only decks with a generally worse surge package is probably Seismic Shock, as even a lot of wizard warbands prefer to skip most of the surges there. So far, so good. Nothing too powerful.

Next, end phases:

• 4 of the 6 end phases are playable and worth 2 glory.
• Corralled Like Sheep is usable in any warband and usually scored.
• Get Out of the Way is played only in invasion decks but is really good there.
• Never Punished could be played in a lot of decks, but favors low damage, low model count warbands. It is also pretty easy due to the amount of ping damage.
• Blood-Soaked Ice is matchup dependent but doable usually.
• Then we have Spread Out, which can be 2 glory if you invade but typically one glory only.
• Finally, Nowhere to Run is very easy to deny and therefore not played often.

Out of those objectives, Corralled Like Sheep, Get Out of the Way, Blood-Soaked Ice and Spread Out all become easier as fighters get removed of the board. The only true ‘bad’ objective here is Nowhere to Run, as it requires way too much setup and can be blocked by a single move. Other than that, all objectives in this deck are playable by many warbands (of course, most warbands will not take all of them). The 2 decks most similar to RB end phase wise are Hungering Parasite (being easier to score but giving a little less glory) and Breakneck Slaughter (where some of the objectives are harder but there are 3 very easy ones for 2 glory).

Before we take a look at the pings, I’d like to go over the upgrades:

• Most of the upgrades in this deck are usable by a lot of warbands.
• The best ones universally are probably Tough Enough and Boots of Warding, as both protect you from your own pings as well as your opponents. Inured to Hardship is also very good, providing an immediate heal and more heals throughout the game. Up for a Fight is a fine accuracy card, and rewards investing in Domains.
• Master of Disaster and Like an Avalanche both like Domains being discarded. Their effects are both strong but require card draw to be in the right order.
• Sprinting Fiend and Advancing Juggernaut both reward move actions, but would both be more usable had this deck been a HO deck.
• Earth-Shattering Tread and Thunderstomp are both damage dealing cards. Tread is more powerful as it enables your pings and lethal/hazard hex objectives, while Thunderstomp is kind of random but fine on 4 wound fighters.

This deck contains 3 GOOD survivability upgrades, a pretty good accuracy card (that needs domain investment to work), 2 movement cards (that are pretty situational), 2 cards that need heavy investment into domains, and 2 fine damage dealing upgrades. The power of these upgrades will probably depend on how much you invest in RB over your faction deck. The more domains/pings you use, the stronger this upgrade deck gets. This is pretty similar to how the Voidcursed Thralls deck gets stronger with the more you tech into it. Overall, the upgrades are pretty good but nothing here looks like it needs an immediate errata/nerf. Its biggest strength is in the survivability stuff.

Finally, the pings (and other ploys, but mostly pings):

• This deck contains EIGHT damage dealing cards, most of which are not too good.
• The Right Bait is amazing, being a better/sidegraded Dark Command/Unbearable Energies.
• Puncturing Ice Shards can be devastating with proper setup but held in check by the fact that it can damage your own fighters. It also discards your own Domains, which could be bad or good.
• Unstable Footing is a domain used either to stagger people or deal damage. It’s only really abusable as a ping by warbands with high stagger amounts like Cyreni’s Razors or Skittershank’s Clawpack.
• Here it Comes! is very hard to actually get to do damage but if you win all the conditions it will be massive. It is fine for this deck as a ‘domain that I want to be in play and won’t hurt if I discard it’.
• Heaving Ground is similar to Unstable Footing but it doesn’t have any way to stagger anyone, making it a little worse (or better as you can’t be hit by it as easily). It is also a Domain.
• Engulfing Swallow is dice galore to actually ping something but is a fine stagger tool.
• Deadly Wards doesn’t do immediate damage and can backfire easily but it does have a big effect on the board by making it harder for everyone to position properly.
• Brief Emergence is a good push with a pretty big downside. Luckily from my experience a lot of opponents choose to just skip on the second option. Also with the amount of ping ignoring upgrades, this isn’t too big of a downside.
• Just Pure Luck is pretty situational but can be used to block damage from your own pings. If it does work, it typically has a major impact. The Scatter part of it is rarely used.
• Finally, Re-Emergence is most often used to drop a double Puncturing Ice Shards. This is the reason most people fear it but it does require a lot of things to go right to drop the 4 damage combo. It can also be used to retrieve some other domains but those don’t usually have an immediate effect.

Overall, the gambits are pretty powerful. The major downside to these pings over Daring Delvers pings is that there is only 1 ‘forceable’ ping here: The Right Bait. Any other ping can be blocked by not being near hazard hexes, not charging while staggered, playing more carefully while staggered… Yes, it is costly to go on Guard to clear the Stagger debuff, but it is also difficult to get Staggered in the first place. Here is some potential counterplay to each ping:

• The Right Bait: Very little, but you can mitigate its effect by standing far from hazard hexes and driving back opponents adjacent to you.
• Puncturing Ice Shards: Avoid hazard hexes or force positions where your opponents are near them too.
• Unstable Footing: try to avoid being staggered/don’t charge while staggered – OR you can try to bait your opponents deeper into your territory by pretending to be scared of charging, and then charge even closer while they are not expecting it.
• Here it Comes! – Roll well in the roll-off… or try to be in the same territory as enemy fighters to deal damage to all of them as well.
• Heaving Ground – be in positions where you are difficult to drive back effectively or get yourself trapped. As usual, avoid being staggered.
• Deadly Wards – always be wary of starting hexes/objeectives behind you as they can always turn lethal. Try to keep a ‘push enemy fighter’ in hand unless you really need it to try and shove enemies into the lethals first.
• Brief Emergence – Don’t choose your fighters?
• Engulfing Swallow – There isn’t much counterplay, just don’t group up too much to minimize the chances of it tagging multiple fighters.

So is this deck a problem? Individually, the ploys, upgrades and objectives are pretty tame. However, they work together very well. This deck’s power comes from its ability to be able to play well with OR without much investment into the deck. Taking a domain build is powerful. But taking only the pings from this deck is also pretty strong. While this definitely is one of the stronger decks, I wouldn’t say it is the most oppressive one right now. Remember pre-nerf Forces of Frost? THAT was oppressive, as there was little to no counterplay to it. This deck has lots of ways you can counter it. Simply standing in positions where your opponent can’t ping you makes Blood Soaked Ice, Never Punished, Deadly to All, Threatening Rumbles, AND Gone Without Trace much more difficult to score. Choosing a board with no hazard hexes and then standing in it makes about half the power deck weaker.

Overall, this deck can be powerful if not counter played. However, the ease of counterplay keeps this deck in check.

CHAMPIONSHIP

I’d say this deck is more problematic in Championship format than in Nemesis right now. Before this deck, the best chance for a warband to get several reliable 2 glory end phases was in Breakneck Slaughter. This deck gives Championship FIVE new un-plotlocked 2 glory end phases, 4 of which are scorable by a lot of warbands (the other one being Nowhere to Run).

Surges are the place where this deck is lacking in Championship, but it does give one new ‘autoinclude’ surge for elite warbands – Get Moving. This is almost impossible to deny and extremely easy, making already powerful elite warbands even stronger. Gone Without Trace sees some play as a new Sudden Demise but is much weaker compared to it, and is typically overshadowed by Cold-Blooded.

Corralled Like Sheep is the new and better Shifting Walls/Cold of the Void, being extremely easy to score in rounds 2 and 3 and making ‘camping’ warbands like Cyreni and Zondara seriously suffer. Never Punished is pretty easy in swarm warbands (as they are either full or dead), and same with Get Out of the Way. Blood Soaked Ice is probably the worst of these 4, being matchup dependent, but luckily right now the meta is pretty full of warbands that make this card easy. Spread Out is just worse Cold of the Void.

Ping wise, this deck is really powerful. The Right Bait is in pretty much every deck, and Puncuring Ice Shards is a new un-plotlocked ping that is also pretty good. Deadly Wards is fine, and can be used as an ultra-Lethal Ward. It does combo well with No Safe Ground but it also means your opponent can No Safe Ground you into a lethal hex as well. Brief Emergence is a new No Safe Ground alternative and the part where your opponent gets to choose is used even less than in Nemesis from my experience. Just Pure Luck is new anti-ping tech but is not used often as ploys are rarely scarce is champ. The major advantage of these pings over Daring Delvers pings is that they aren’t plot locked. Sure, Quickroots is stronger than The Right Bait and Grasping Rootgrave has more AoE potential than Deadly Wards, but Daring Delvers plot card doesn’t actually provide much other than that. With RB pings you don’t commit to a certain objective/power deck.

Upgrades are where this deck revolutionized Championship format. Before this deck, the only ping protection seen in the game was in Daring Delvers, which was plot locked as well as a 50/50. This deck gives us not 1 but 2 new ping protection, both not plot locked, as well as no dice rolls involved. Boots of Warding was seen in almost every deck I have played against since Wintermaw and despite not preventing kills by pings Tough Enough is also very popular. Finally, Inured to Hardship gives Championship yet another ‘+1 wound’ card. It also has the added benefit of healing extra if you survive till the next round.

I’d say this deck is currently one of the stronger decks in champ, especially power card wise. It has several very good ploys and several very good upgrades. Its biggest strength comes from the fact that it is not plot-locked, so it still enables players to pick another plot for more cards (usually BNS).

And that’s it! Rimewyrm’s Bite is without a doubt strong in both formats. Luckily, it isn’t too oppressive in either. In Nemesis it is relatively easy to counterplay the amount of cards which you will take, and in Championship the deck counters itself and can be run by any warband.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article! If you liked this article or have any other feedback, please let me know by messaging me on Discord as VintroV2 (once again plugging in the Staggerers discord), and I hope to see you again soon!