The draft
I started with a P1p1 Icebound Peak (F) out of a pretty underwhelming pack. P1p2 was a Haven Seiringar (C), generically strong for its low cost and card draw.
The first card to set me down the Auraq path.
I branched into Lyra with Will-o’-the-Wisp (R) as the strongest rare in the pack, an effective 4/4/4 on D1 with some mid-game awkwardnesses. I wasn’t thrilled with anything I was seeing, so I grabbed another Lyra card, then a Heimdall (R).
I saw Auraq & Kibble around p6, which I would usually ignore. Here, though, I already had three 0-stat characters, and the rest of the pack was pretty weak. Out of curiosity, I took Auraq and decided to bias toward 0-stat characters if the draft didn’t prevent me from doing so.
Demeter (C) came around pretty late, and I was happy to start into Muna with the possibility of Winter Outfits (F) and Persephone.
I was able to be primarily Lyra for the rest of the pack, though I had to take one or two non 0-stat characters like a Heimdall (C). My biggest regret this pack was trying to cut Lyra immediately after the Auraq pick by taking a so-so Lyra card over the stronger Fire Rabbit (C), not quite willing to make a leap towards Lyra-Bravos 0-stat characters.
Passing The Nilam (C) was suboptimal for two reasons: P2 is early enough to pivot for a bomb, and it also put my neighbor into Yzmir, a faction with many 0-cost characters.
P2p1 was a crossroads. The pack was incredible, with The Nilam, Withered Tree (C), Vaike, Energy Pioneer (F), and another first-pickable rare. The only trouble was that most of these cards would require branching out into another faction and gameplan. It certainly wasn’t too late to pivot, but I decided to commit hard to Auraq with a P2p1 The Snowman (C).
In retrospect, taking Winter Outfits (C) over 0-stat characters when I was short on playables was a mistake.
My approach to the remainder of the draft was pretty straightforward: I took 0-stat Lyra characters above anything except Winter Outfits. Absent those, I would take 0-stat characters from any faction unless there was a particularly powerful card (e.g. Jack Frost (R)). The thought was that I’d be heavy enough in Lyra that I could settle on my other two factions later in the draft.
As it turns out, I did not have enough in-faction playables. This was mostly due to spreading myself pretty thin between the other factions. No one faction offered more than a few 0-stat characters, and I made a too-late dive into Yzmir mid-P3 for a Belasenka (C) despite having next to no other Yzmir cards. It was made harder by the fact that the player to my left ended up on Fen, so I was getting somewhat cut on Lyra from the left.
Takeaways
If I were to attempt to draft Auraq again, I’d want to ensure that every single character in my deck is a 0-stat character. Keeping a single character without a 0-stat sets you further back on counters than you might expect since you’re usually playing it twice, once from hand and once from reserve. I never got more than a single Auraq trigger each game, which didn’t justify taking her as a hero.
I believe drafting Auraq in Trial by Frost practically locks you into Lyra, Yzmir, and Muna. If you notice that two of the three factions are closed off, Auraq might not be a good choice. The other factions just don’t have the 0-stat density at common to be more than a light splash. Several factions might tempt you with one-off 0-stat characters, but I’d try to look at the big picture of which factions will offer you the most 0-stat characters on average across all four packs.
Auraq’s build-around nature makes her a hero you have to commit to early. Pivoting out is awkward, and pivoting in is near-impossible.
If you have to include characters without 0s, try to make them low-cost characters. Hard-casting Heimdall (C) and Benzaiten (F) would often have meant an entire turn without gaining a performance counter. This deck wanted more 1-cost characters.
Winter Outfits set up some very strong mid-game turns but had issues in limited:
- It’s not a 0-cost character itself, so it doesn’t contribute a performance counter.
- As a cheap non-character, it puts you at card disadvantage.
- Arranging things so that an Outfits expedition win wouldn’t cause my reserve to overflow prompted some slightly awkward sequencing. This was tricky since I already tended to be low on cards.
The deck had reserve overflow problems:
- Winter Outfits (C) in a winning expedition sends multiple cards to reserve at once.
- 0-stat characters in reserve could be near-unplayable on a certain day depending on the active regions.
- A mid-game Nisse (C) often results in overflow if you start the day with medium-cost cards in reserve.
- Snowball Commando (C) has to be played early, but it’s painful if it results in an exhaust on a 0-stat character that needed to be played in the current regions.
The games
R1 (L): Sigismar & Wingspan
My opponent had a very aggressive Sigismar deck with more Fire Rabbits than I could count and Ordis Liaisons to boost their 1-drops up. Due to the holes in my stats, they were able to take four progressions in the first two days.
An Ordis Liaison (R) maintained their lead by virtually guaranteeing a win in its expedition when it came down. I had a Winter Outfits (C) in each expedition, and with the help of a Snowball Commando (C) off the Auraq flip was able to 2-0 to fend off defeat for a day.
Heimdall (R) looked powerful - close to removal on a stick - but had the hidden cost of waiting for everything to line up right.
On the final day, I had a from-hand Heimdall (R) in favorable regions and a Haven Seiringar (C) with Winter Outfits (C). I thought moving a character into suboptimal regions against Heimdall might be enough to let the Seiringar block, but my opponent’s Tiny Jail (C) sealed the deal for them.
R2 (W): Subhash & Marmo
As the first player, I managed a 1-1 by playing a Belasenka (C) to exhaust the card my opponent put into reserve, leaving them without a play.
I fell behind going into the mid-game, unable to effectively block my opponent’s daily Brassbugs. Fortunately, my opponent was starting to run low on cards.
Locking down the reserve of an empty-handed opponent is devastating.
On 8 mana, my opponent started with two cards in reserve, put one card into mana, and used the last card in their hand for Subhash’s ability. As the first player, I spent a Pamola (C) support ability to exhaust one card in reserve, then tapped out for Winter Nova (R), choosing the exhaust mode once and the Mana Moth mode twice. This left all three cards in Subhash’s reserve exhausted and forced them to pass without using any of their 8 mana.
Now ahead, I was able to win one expedition on the following day and close out the game.
R3 (L): Fen & Crowbar
I stayed even with Fen through the early-game. When my opponent got down a Frozen Reprocessor (R), I was able to pull into the lead. After that, it wasn’t hard to fight hard for one expedition each day thanks to having constant access to a Winter Outfits. Flipping a Heimdall (C) off of Auraq’s hero ability helped a lot on the only turn where I might have been at risk of not being able to trade.
I didn’t have a ton of power in hand, but it was looking like I’d be able to get over the edge thanks to one Winter Outfits expedition. My opponent’s Reprocessor resupplied into an exhausted Avalanche (C). Amusingly, this along with my Belasenka (C) meant my Moth Larva (C) was about to be turned on.
Rocket Puffin (R) with Frozen Reprocessor is pretty neat due to the guaranteed exhausted card in reserve.
After I played the Belasenka, my opponent played a Rocket Puffin (R) and, to my dismay, readied their Avalanche (C). This both turned off my Moth Larva and gave my opponent a way to remove 4 stats from my expedition. This gave them a 1-stat lead and let them 2-0 for the win.