The best Assassin equipment you've never seen

When Arakni, Huntsman hits Living Legend, they will be wearing Redback Shroud.

Now, many of you probably have never even seen Redback Shroud, let alone know how it works. And yet, I can say with absolute confidence that Redback Shroud will be the equipment of choice when the hero LLs. Let's walk through why that is.

Redback Shroud has three notable abilities:

The top ability is your typical buyback ability, as seen on cards like Mask of Perdition and Blacktek Whisperers. As long as you have the silver generation in your deck to support it (foreshadowing), you can keep buying Redback Shroud back and taking advantage of the other two abilities.

The middle ability is fairly self-explanatory as well. Just blow it up and reduce the cost of an attack reaction by 1 this turn. As long as you're running a high enough volume of 1+ cost attack reactions (foreshadowing), the ability can put in some serious work.

Lastly, the card has a simple Battleworn 1. Meaning that each time it exists, both at the start of the game and any subsequent recurring, you get a free point of block value.

Back to the opening sentence, though. When Arakni, Huntsman hits Living Legend, they will be wearing Redback Shroud. What are they currently wearing? What is Redback Shroud competing with?

To no one's surprise, the answer is Fyendal's Spring Tunic. The gold standard of chest pieces in the game. I don't even need to explain the card, because pretty much everyone with any degree of interest in the game knows how it works. But I will for the sake of digestibility.

Tunic has two notable abilities:

The first two lines of text can all be boiled down into "Every three turns, gain one resource you can spend on anything."

The last line of text is blade break, meaning you can always just cash the card in for a point of block value.

So, let's compare the two cards. And let's use some math to do so.

Let's take for a moment, the best possible scenario. Shroud always has the silver to buy it back and always has the reactions to reduce, and Tunic always has a use for the resource every three turns.

Tunic then generates value using the following equation: T/3(rounded down)+1, where T is the number of turns. If the game lasts 5 turns, 5/3(rounded down)+1=2. 1 resource generated on turn 3 and 1 block created on either turn 4 or 5.

Shroud generates value using the following equation: T/2(rounded up)x2, where T is the number of turns. If the game lasts 5 turns, 5/2(rounded up)x2=6. You block with it turn 1 and activate it turn 1, recurring it turn 2, then blocking with it and activating it turn 3, recurring it turn 4, and then blocking with it and activating it turn 5, totalling for 6 value. 3 resources and 3 block.

Now, this math is fairly unreasonable, as it requires perfect conditions on both cards, which is a relatively unrealistic ask. But you can already see how much value Redback Shroud can end up generating compared to Tunic.

So, let's create a more realistic scenario.

In a 20 turn game, Arakni likely won't take the tunic resource immediately upon generation. Instead, they'll sit on it for powerful turns like Dagger -> Codex -> CnC. Thus, I believe the average resource utilization of Tunic in those 20 turns would be roughly 4-5 total resources, about one resource every 4-5 turns. Thus, in those 20 turns, Tunic generates roughly 6 points of value. 5 resources and 1 block.

Assuming you swap Tunic out for Redback Shroud, in order to get the same 6 value in this 20 turn game, you need to recur Shroud two times. It has a block and a resource on board, and then you get another block and a resource from every time you buy it back. That costs a total of four Silver to do.

Now this is a much more realistic scenario, and highlights the absurd power gap between the two cards in theory. If you have a deck that can take advantage of the full extent of Redback Shroud's abilities (foreshadowing), you can massively outvalue Fyendal's Spring Tunic.

So then... Why is the card so bad? Why does Shroud currently see zero play?

Let's talk History

When LSS released Outsiders, Redback Shroud was a hot subject.

As we had already seen in the likes of Mask of Perdition and Blacktek Whisperers, released a set prior, Huntsman could reliably add Redback Shroud to their arsenal and buy it back a few times if the deck could make it work. But the problem facing Huntsman was that they had next to zero targets to take advantage of the card. Here is the exhaustive lists of cards you could reduce the cost of with Redback Shroud:

Razor Reflex, Pummel, Spreading Plague, Short and Sharp, and all three Spikes.

The spikes targeted Stealth cards, which Arakni didn't run, nor did they want to run. Pummel could only target CnC, Short and Sharp only targeted daggers and blue 0 cost contracts, and Spreading Plague did absolutely zero to push contracts and get more on hits. The only worthwhile target to run was Razor Reflex, which was a powerful sideboard card because of its hand extension abilities, but lacked the mainboard strength due to the low block value creating inflexible play patterns. In other words, there were not enough targets to warrant running Redback Shroud, in spite of the silver generation to support buying it back.

On the opposite side, Uzuri was a new Assassin that could equip the card if she wanted to. And she had the targets to use it. Three spikes could easily target enough Stealth cards in her list, and were more than enough slots that Redback could reliably and consistently reduce it. Her problem, though, was a lack of silver generation. Without running contracts, she couldn't generate a single silver, and so would be completely unable to buy it back even a single time.

On the release of Redback Shroud in Outsiders, it was completely unplayable. One hero had enough silver to buy it back, while the other hero had enough reactions to activate the ability. Neither hero had both.

And yet, the topic was explored in depth. LSS had rarely printed legendary equipments without ever intending to support them. In theory, LSS would eventually print the necessary requirements for one or both heroes to be able to play the card out. Huntsman would gain some reactions they could reduce, or Uzuri would gain some silver they could pump into Shroud.

But what happened in reality?

First came Bright Lights, bringing with it a fourth piece of buyback gear and a 2 cost contract. Neither did anything to move the needle on either piece.

Then we went to Heavy Hitters, with Coercive Tendencies, a very powerful reaction that costs 0, and Graven Call, our fifth and final piece of buyback gear.

Part the Mistveil came, bringing with it zero silver generation and zero playable 1 cost reacts Huntsman. It did bring a new hero, but she was so powerful she didn't even stop to think about Redback on her journey to Living Legend.

In Rosetta, we got an awesome suite of equipment that helped arcane matchups tremendously, but did literally nothing for Shroud.

In Hunted, we got another entire set, and yet not a single piece of silver generation and not a single reaction for Huntsman (We did get Perforate, which could be decent for Huntsman, though a deck revolving around Perforate would have rather run Bloodstained Vest for reasons we won't get into in this article). We did get another two Assassins here, but both of them had the same problems as Uzuri. No silver to support a strong reaction base.

In High Seas, we got a Stealth attack that basically doesn't exist in constructed right now.

In Super Slam, we got the coolest defense reaction in the game that generates a ton of silver... for the wrong hero. It does nothing for non-Huntsman heroes. It does nothing for Redback Shroud.

In the two and a half years since LSS released Redback Shroud, the needle for the card has moved ever so slightly you could round down to not moving at all and there wouldn't be a difference. The card remains unplayable, because the very same problems plaguing the card on release are still plaguing the card today.

So then, why will Huntsman LL with Redback Shroud? Why am I confident that an unplayable piece of equipment will eventually turn around and carry the hero into the sunset?

Because Huntsman has nothing but time. In the three years since release, Huntsman has next to zero living legend points to their name.

All it realistically takes is 1-2 newly printed 1 cost playable attack reactions and Huntsman starts looking at Redback Shroud with hungry, determined eyes.

And when it comes to LSS and Assassin design space, I believe that hypothetical future to be merely inevitable given a long enough timeframe.

And again, Huntsman has no shortage of time.

So let's take a look at some theoretical card designs which could push Redback Shroud just a little bit into the realm of playable on the hero, and see what that hypothetical future might look like. Big thanks to Thencros and Fabkit for the wonderful custom card program they've created.

The most immediate way to imagine a playable and viable Redback Shroud is a simple and effect cycle of attack reactions. A 1 cost attack reaction with a pushed effect gated by a relatively easy condition to break. Clean Kill is my rendition of this idea. Redback Shroud alone manages to meet the condition, and the +4 can target any Assassin attack, Stealth or Contract included (It even works on Sneak Attack!). Using Shroud and Clean Kill in a Contract focused Huntsman deck results in a powerful and reliable two card 8 damage turn cycle utilizing 0 for 4 contracts. And, as a rare, you could imagine this card as a cycle of red, yellow, and blue, giving you enough copies to warrant Shroud seemingly on it's own. There are tons of ways you can create a powerful attack reaction at 1 cost, but sometimes simplicity is the most effective.

Another powerful idea for a reaction designed specifically for Huntsman might be to take Stains of Redback and put it word for word into a contract shell. Doing so leads to a powerful fork, allowing you to present an additional threat after your opponent full blocks your Leave No Witnesses (Or Surgical Extraction or any other contract). But, given it's a Huntsman specific design, how can we push the card just a little further? Why not add a condition which is really just a positive in the deck that can see the top card and put the buff on your next chain link to further push the fork idea? This card alone might push Redback into relevancy, as the banish will create a silver and the followup attack will likely hit and create another silver or two as well. All in all, Redback Shroud enables this card to be a three card 11 with up to three banishes presented and up to 4 silvers as rewards. Obviously, there are other powerful 1 cost Huntsman specific reactions we might be able to see, but this card is a decent idea found within the already explored design space of the hero.

Contrary to what you might expect though, some powerful Stealth reactions could push Huntsman into Redback Shroud. If you've been keeping up with Huntsman, the hero started running a blue Stealth base during MST, and actually recently brought some non-blue Stealth cards into the deck thanks to Double Trouble. It's not outside the realm of possibility that a powerful 1 cost Stealth gated attack reaction might push Huntsman over the edge into running more Stealth cards and Stealth reacts to push them. In fact, we already have a decent Stealth base to warrant it, with cards like Art of Desire functioning similarly to contracts by banishing the top card of the deck and cards like Infect or Sedate presenting extra threats and disruption. The real argument against this style of deck right now is that the attack reactions that you are opened up to playing by running this attack base does not warrant losing the 0 for 4 statline found in Contracts. You gain Spikes and Stains of Redback, which while all good and powerful, is not good enough. However, with enough strong 1 cost Stealth attack reactions, that math might change a bit. Here is one such presented idea: Stains of Redback but using Black Widow instead of Redback. This card would very obviously be printed for Arakni, Marionette, but would incidentally push Redback Shroud into Huntsman. The disruption found on this card is powerful, and alone might be enough to push the hero into that style of deck, and then Redback Shroud might come along for the ride. But really, there are a ton of ideas that you could present that might increase the viability of Redback within a Huntsman shell using Stealth gated reacts.

Now, I couldn't help myself here. I kind of wanted to create a card that might allow Redback Shroud to become more viable in non-Huntsman heroes. Quite simply, any good silver generation could work. Stealth with on hit create a silver, blessing style 1 cost aura that blows up at the start of turn to create three silver, and so on and so forth. With enough good silver generation, other heroes might start looking at Redback Shroud as a worthwhile equipment suite. This card was created from that idea. It's a simple 1 for +3, which also works towards getting reduced by Shroud, but specifically targets daggers, an attack which any Assassin might be running. Additionally, it works incredibly well with Flick Knives, allowing you to theoretically grab two free silver off of the card being played. This does have a pretty good playline with Graven Call as well, allowing you to pump Graven Call to 5 and flick it for a total of 6 damage off of two cards, while also generating the silver to buy it back.

Would any of these cards actually end up pushing Redback Shroud into relevancy? I have no idea. What cards will LSS actually end up printing to push Redback Shroud into relevancy? I have no idea. Is Tunic still a behemoth that will be at best difficult to dethrone and at worst impossible? Arguable. Do I personally believe that Redback Shroud will eventually become relevant? Yes. 100%. I would put money on it.

Hello at the end of the article my friends! If this is your first time here, welcome! I have recently created this website to house my articles. Go ahead and take a look around, pin this to your hotbar, whatever you need to do. Regardless, I will be posting articles twice a month moving forward, and pushing myself to get an article out every other week or so to force myself to improve and write engaging content. Stick around if you're interesting in reading more! Next article is going to be a big one, I've already been hyping it up in various discord channels. To get you excited for it, just know that I fully believe I have completely revolutionise Huntsman and how the deck is played. Be prepared.