I fought an interesting battle in Modern Champion ranked. In this game, I fought against a new combo that appeared with Conclave Arcana: Sheng Xiao and Heloise the Hollow. Not many players have Heloise, so this won't be something we have to prepare for in most games, but it is a possibility, as it looks very strong. Sheng Xiao is a legendary dragon summoner from Conclave Arcana. It costs 5 mana and it uses the tactics mechanic from Rebellion. However, it only has one option, which is giving Corrosive Ward and Poison Burst to up to two units. Corrosive Wars is nice, but it is a more commonly available ability. Poison Burst is a much rarer one, and it gets better the more times the unit gets revived, because it triggers it every single time. It Poisons the unit that kills it and has a 50% chance of Poisoning each adjacent unit. Since Heloise is likely to get revived 4 or 5 times per game, it can be devastating.

I downplayed Corrosive Ward, but it can also be devastating against melee units. One of the things that hurt Heloise the most is armor, because just 1 point of armor is enough to absorb all her damage. If the melee unit that kills Heloise has only 1 or 2 armor, it goes away before taking the Spite attack. However, it was already possible to give Heloise Corrosive Ward with Tofu, which also provides Divine Shield and Thorns, making it even better against melee units with armor. It's the Poison Burst that is a new combo.

This game had the following rule set: Fog of War. It was a 32 mana cap game, with only Fire and Water inactive. I went with Eternal Tofu and placed Moribund Arrowbait in front. I followed it up with Phlegmunculus and Blackmoor Jinx. Next, I had Arcane Skinwalker and Venka the Vile. I finished the team with Caravan Guard. They opted for Sheng Xiao with Halfling Refugee in the first position. Heloise was next, followed by Ujurak Elder, Halaran Huntress, and Blackmoor Trickster. Their last unit was Venka. I gave Corrosive Ward and Divine Shield to Moribund, Skinwalker, and Venka. I wanted Scavenger on Venka, but the Triage wasn't very important, so I opted for Divine Shield, which should protect it from one Spite. They gave Corrosive Ward and Poison Burst to their first two units.

Their Venka took out the Moribund's Divine Shield, and mine killed Heloise. The Spite took out the Divine Shield, and Poison Burst affected Venka and the Skinwalker. The Trample attack took out their Elder's Divine Shield. The Trickster got the Weary. The Refugee killed my Moribund for the first time before Skinwalker killed Heloise again. Spite took another Divine Shield, and the Poison Burst affected Jinx. Both my ranged units attacked Heloise, and the Caravan Guard died to the Spite. Their Huntress and Venka were affected by Weary too.

My 3 back units were Poisoned, and I didn't have Triage anymore. Their Venka took out the Moribund's Divine Shield again, but it died to Thorns. My Venka killed Heloise again, and this time it died to Spite. However, all their units were affected by Weary, except Heloise, so it was the last Soul Siphon. Skinwalker killed her for good, and the Spite only took out the armor. Their Elder finished my Moribund.

Skinwalker killed the Halfling, and Jinx took out the Elder. Some of their units were getting Exhausted, which was expected when all of them were Weary. Phlegmunculus eliminated the Huntress and all they had left was a 4 HP Weary Trickster.

Jinx died to the Poison, but the Skinwalker finished the game.

I was expecting the worst when I saw Heloise with Sheng Xiao, but I think some of their units didn't do much for their strategy, especially Huntress and Trickster. The Trickster is a very underwhelming unit that doesn't play any role. Meanwhile, my team was able to take out Heloise multiple times really fast, and it didn't suffer too much from Spite because of the armor and Divine Shield. Eternal Tofu is still very powerful and I doubt I'd have won with another summoner.

What do you all think about this game? Would you have done anything different? Let me know in the comments! Thank you for reading!!