Realmstone Raiders - Deck Review

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NEW VERSION

Overview

Realmstone Raiders is a Rivals deck for Warhammer Underworlds that introduces the "Raid" mechanic, offering a unique playstyle centered around deck manipulation and strategic resource management.


Core Mechanics: The Raid System

At the heart of Realmstone Raiders lies the Raid mechanic. After the first successful melee attack in an action step, you may "raid" a number of times equal to the bounty value of the target. Each raid involves revealing the top card of your power deck: if it's an Emberstone card, you can either play it immediately (if it's a ploy) or equip it (if it's an upgrade), provided you have the necessary glory. If it's not an Emberstone card, you place it at the bottom of your deck. This mechanic rewards aggressive play and offers a form of deck thinning, allowing players to cycle through their decks more efficiently.


Objectives – Early Scoring Opportunities

The objectives in this deck are focused on rewarding the use of the Raid mechanic, encouraging proactive play and creating momentum from the very first activation. Many of these cards are scored through careful timing and building reliable combos around attack actions.

  • Ragerock Strike: A straightforward surge that triggers off using the Raid mechanic with an Emberstone card. Score it with your first attack and use the momentum to apply pressure.
  • Critical Risk: A risky gamble that rewards you for landing a critical hit while raiding an Emberstone card. It's not always guaranteed, but well-timed attack dice buffs can stack the odds in your favour.
  • Certain Aggression: Raid twice and keep your territory clear of enemy fighters. Encourages you to charge forward and take control of the board. Ideal for fast, aggressive warbands.
  • Hoarder's Hovel: A thematic end phase objective that rewards you for holding a treasure token that matches your fighter’s bounty value. A nice change of tempo from Raiding.
  • A Sure Bet: Land an attack with three or more dice and successfully raid Emberstone to score this.

These objectives are encouraging the use of the Raid mechanic and smart positioning.



Ploys

The ploys in this deck lean heavily into Emberstone interactions, giving you control tools, cycling options, and positional manipulation. Many offer direct synergy with the deck’s objectives, creating a satisfying loop between powering up and scoring.

  • Hidden Knowledge (Emberstone Ploy): A classic control tool—prevent an adjacent enemy from Charging by giving them a Move token, denying the enemy their aggression. Great for preventing opponent's achieving the Charged-Out status.
  • Manipulated Fate: A defensive ploy that helps mitigate high-damage threats that could otherwise remove your key raiders, whilst maintaining battlefield positioning.
  • Raider’s Rapture (Domain): A powerful whole round effect that lets you raid an extra card per attack. This ploy can speed up your Objective scoring potential.
  • Raider’s Premonition (Emberstone Ploy): If your current Objective hand doesn’t fit your plan, this lets you cycle out a dead card without resorting to focusing. One of the strongest utility ploys in the deck.
  • A Step Ahead (Emberstone Ploy): Classic push tech, moving a fighter closer to an enemy. Allowing you to keep attacking and raiding once all your fighters have charged.

Altogether, these ploys increase the deck’s consistency and offer subtle control, giving you just enough flexibility to adapt on the fly while still committing to your raid-heavy game plan.




Upgrades 

The upgrades in this deck all feed into the Raid mechanic in some way, whether by granting new attacks, increasing card draw, or enabling powerful recycling loops. They reward fighters that stay active and engaged, not sitting back waiting.

  • Emberstone Edge (Emberstone Upgrade): A low-damage but reliable melee attack—perfect for supporting warbands with ranged fighters or weak secondary attackers. Its low damage will help you to keep raiding.
  • Call to Power (Emberstone Upgrade): Draw a power card after a successful attack. While not directly contributing to Objectives, it’s a strong cycling tool for digging into your deck’s best options.
  • Reforged Aid (Emberstone Upgrade): Lets you return a discarded upgrade to your hand after a successful attack. Combos well with upgrades that discard after use.
  • Forgotten Fortune (Emberstone Upgrade): Same idea as Reforged Aid, but for ploys. Enables you to reuse critical control tools like Hidden Knowledge or Raider’s Premonition—a valuable resource recycling tool.

Finally, the inclusion of staple cards like Great Strength, Great Speed, Great Fortitude, and Keen Eye gives the deck a solid backbone. These 'Great' upgrades round out your loadout, ensuring your fighters are well-equipped for any matchup.



Strengths

  • Innovative Mechanics: The raid system adds a fresh dimension to Strike gameplay, rewarding aggressive strategies.

  • Synergy with Aggressive Warbands: Warbands that excel in melee combat can capitalize on the deck's design.

  • Built in draw-tech: Access more Power cards than other decks through raiding.



Weaknesses

  • Deck Dependency: Success with the raid mechanic heavily relies on drawing Emberstone cards, which can be inconsistent.

  • Complexity in Nemesis Format: Building an effective deck within Nemesis constraints can be challenging due to the reliance on Emberstone cards.

  • Excessive book-keeping: Difficult to keep track of the criteria to score End Phase Objectives. The ownness will be on the player to prove to their opponent when they scored the Objective.

  • Unused Power: Potential to not use Power cards to buff your fighters, as you need them to score objectives by Raiding.

  • Bounty Hunters: Difficult to raid effectively against horde warbands with low Bounty.




Deck Pairing

Since the Raid mechanic activates after a successful attack, it naturally pairs best with decks that focus on landing hits and maintaining pressure. Strike decks like Blazing Assault and Reckless Fury complement Emberstone Raiders perfectly, enhancing your offensive options and creating powerful synergy. Just keep in mind, Realmstone Raiders includes a Plot card, which means it cannot be combined with other ‘Plot locked’ decks such as Edge of the Knife or Countdown to Cataclysm.

Realmstone Raiders appears to be a Secondary deck with a nemesis pairing.


Realmstone Raiders and Blazing Assault

This pairing harnesses the strengths of both decks by maximizing the number of successful attacks, which in turn fuels the raid mechanic and accelerates early scoring.

  • Key Synergies:
    Upgrades like Keen Eye, Accurate, Deadly Aim, and Sharpened Points increase your chances of landing attacks, while ploys like Determined Effort add even more dice to the mix. On top of that, you gain access to powerful push tools such as Sidestep and A Step Ahead, helping you control positioning with ease and set up high-value raids and objectives.

  • Watch Out For:
    Be careful not to replace too many of Realmstone Raiders’ 2-glory end phase Objectives with the 1-glory cards from Blazing Assault, as this can lower your overall glory potential. Also, since non-Emberstone cards are sent to the bottom of your power deck when you raid, you might experience delays in drawing key cards, so managing your deck flow is essential.


Realmstone Raiders and Reckless Fury

When paired together, these decks create a dynamic mix of relentless aggression and sustained card advantage that can overwhelm opponents.

  • Key Synergies:
    Reckless Fury’s charge-focused Objectives mesh well with Emberstone Raiders’ raid-driven power cycling, allowing you to score consistently while building up your power deck. With access to Reckless Fury's powerful 2 and 3-glory end phase cards that don’t rely on raids, you can focus your raid actions on drawing and playing more power cards to strengthen your fighters. This pairing encourages a larger, versatile power deck, combining Reckless Fury’s high-impact cards with Emberstone Raiders’ unique mechanic, giving you an arsenal that’s ready for any situation.

  • Watch Out For:
    Timing your power plays is crucial—make sure to play your upgrades at the right moments to keep the pressure on. Prioritize including no-cost upgrades in your deck, as these can be played even when you have no glory, helping you maintain momentum without worrying about resource shortages.


Warband Pairings

Realmstone Raiders pairs well with any Strike warband. 

Examples include: Jaws of Itzl, Knives of the Crone, Gorechosen of Dromm and Morgok's Krushas


Final Thoughts

Realmstone Raiders brings a fresh challenge for experienced players. At first glance, its mechanic might seem counterintuitive—drawing Power cards not just to play, but also to score Objectives. However, this deck is crafted for skilled players who enjoy strategic deck-building and aggressive tactics. With practice, do you have what it takes to unlock the secrets of Emberstone and master its mysteries?

Let me know which warband you intend to pair with Realmstone Raiders.

Checkout my Warhammer Underworlds for more articles.

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