BP09 Dirt Rune Guide

Dirt Rune, also known as Earth Rite Rune, is one of the strongest decks in BP09, and remains a dominant force that even necessitated restrictions to Gingerbread House in Japan. With the World Championship on the horizon, expect the format's top two most popular decks to be Dirt Rune and Bat Abyss respectively.

To summarise, Dirt Rune is a midrange combo deck with explosively high value cards in Ceridwen and Faust, respectively. The game plan revolves around setting up Earth Sigils in the early and mid-game that can be converted into constant chip damage. In the late game, you can aim for a 2-turn lethal setup with Riley/Ancient Alchemist, respectively.

In the long term, it will get hit by the ban list, but until then, it's a very powerful deck that is well worth the investment if you are going to Worlds and intend to grind Showdowns.

Deck list

Teachings of Creation

Pretty generic Earth Sigil. It draws you a card for 1pp. Good in the opening turns and can fill in any later curves. Remember that you want to play this card first to see your draw before committing to a larger play (you may draw into a better answer).

Gingerbread House

Broken card. Heals 3 for 1pp while also providing you with an Earth Sigil. Notably, it can be searched as part of Faust's Ceridwen Loop with Mirror of Truth.

Witch's Cauldron

Consistency tool. It's possible to whiff on the search but overall, helps you get closer towards Faust, Ceridwen, and Riley. Even if you have to bottom deck a combo piece, you can always shuffle your deck later with Faust/Sweet-Tooth Medusa.

Beast-faced Mage

Powerful and versatile card. You can play this as a goblin in some matchups to get poke damage (for example, in the mirror, you can guarantee 2 damage on opponent if it's played on turn 1). Or you can use this as part of the three 1-pp opener (Earth Sigil turn 1, then turn 2 second Earth Sigil into Beast-faced to clear their turn 1 follower).

How you use this will depend on your hand's composition and the matchup. Has much higher priority against decks like Sword. Be wary that using his effect too early without having 2 sigils setup can allow your opponent to "starve" you and leave him alive to prevent Ceridwen/Alchemist Earth Rite on fanfare.

This card can also act as a deterrent for opponents aiming to leave highly statted followers standing, as this contributes 2 extra damage to any removal.

Angelic Barrage

The Bat Abyss tax. Earth Rite doesn't have efficient ways to clear wide boards in the early game, as a majority of your removal is reliant on Ceridwen evo which can only clear two followers. Can be searched by Sweet-Tooth Medusa, and also combos very well with her.

Red-hot Ritual

Generic 2pp removal with a Earth Sigil attached to it. 3 damage is very good for clearing early-game threats. In addition, it can be searched in the mid game with Faust, often pairing with Summoning Drills.

Rabbit Mage

Despite the weak 2/1 stats, it can still be curved out on turn 2 going first. In this format, there's not many efficient ways to clear him (usually neutral tempo trade), and he also gives you a Sigil on Fanfare. If he's not cleared, you can evo him the next turn, swing face and dig for your tools. Works very well on turn 3 with Red-Hot Ritual to clear their turn 2 play.

Summoning Drills

One of the ideal turn 2 plays going first. 2/3 ward is fairly solid and it also builds your Earth Sigil count. Typically, the discard effect is used to toss Riley/Ceridwen/Ancient Alchemist, as these cards can all be recurred later via various effects. The Strikeform Golem can be used later to get an extra 3 burst damage via Ancient Alchemist in the late game.

The other use case is searching it with Faust alongside either Gingerbread House/Red-Hot Ritual/Witch's Cauldron. Typically, this is only done when you have no access to Ceridwen (and open pp/evo point)/Alchemist.

Ancient Alchemist

The obvious use case is in the late game. Can deal 6 damage to enemy leader after evo (9 with summoning drills), and can be recurred via Mirror of Truth and Eternal Potion (only costs 2pp).

The less obvious use cases you should learn to master are when to use the Ancient Alchemist for tempo. For example, not many decks in the game can easily clear her when she's curved out on turn 3. The other time you can curve her out is on Turn 5 via Faust! If she's in the cemetery already due to a card like Summoning Drills, you can search Gingerbread House + Mirror of Truth to bring her out. You then buff her to a 3/6 with Faust, making her very hard to clear via conventional outs. If she isn't cleared, you evolve her then slam 3 golems down the next turn.

Price of Magic

A tech card that is quite strong against the mirror match as Faust can search it. By banishing their Ceridwen, it becomes difficult for them to loop her via the Mirror of Truth recursion from the cemetery via Faust.

It also has its use cases against Bat Abyss, as it can prevent the opponent from reaching their 5-vampire-card breakpoint for Vania.

Mirror of Truth

This is the reason why you can send Ceridwen and Ancient Alchemist to the cemetery with no repercussions. It can bring them back for the same pp cost as what they would cost in your hand. In addition, this card can be searched via Faust to cheat Alcehmist/Ceridwen out. This is often seen when going second as Dirt Rune, as they can Faust, bring back Ceridwen, evo Ceridwen, then burn the enemy leader for 4 while clearing the board.

Riley

One of the strongest cards in the deck. Can be cast directly from hand to draw 2 cards or clear a problematic enemy follower. Once in the cemetery, you can use her 6pp effect to send 6 to the enemy leader while clearing board and replenishing hand.

This card also has multiple style plays with Eternal Potion from Ceridwen. When she's brought back from Eternal Potion, you also get to draw 2 cards, ping a standing follower for 5, and slam a 6-atk follower into an engaged follower. For this reason, she also has some interesting combo applications with Sweet-Tooth Medusa.

Ceridwen

One of the two broken legendary cards released in this set.

Ceridwen ties everything in the deck together. She is a strong tempo evo, and will singlehandedly deal 6 chip damage to the enemy leader over the course of the game due to Instant Potion. Her Eternal Potion can be used to bring herself back or, more commonly, Riley/Ancient Alchemist for only 2pp. Riley being a 2pp pot of greed that clears the enemy board is sort of ridiculous!

She is also able to be brought back by Mirror of Truth, which is where the infamous Faust -> Mirror of Truth -> Ceridwen Evo combo results in 4 chip damage to enemy leader within a single turn.

Faust

What a broken card, lol. For starters, keep in mind that this is one of the only two cards in your deck that allows you to shuffle your deck (in case critical combo pieces were mulliganed away or sent to bottom of deck via Cauldron).

Also, at the end of the turn, you can send an Earth Sigil to grave to ping enemy leader for 2 and buff a follower on your field by +1/1. When determining what card to buff, consider how to make it as awkward as possible for your opponent to remove the board.

Now, the important part: This card allows you to search your deck for 2 Earth Sigils up to 4pp in total. I will detail the various options below:

• When you have Ceridwen in grave and have evo point or 1pp open after: Mirror of Truth + Gingerbread House/Witch's Cauldron. Bring back Ceridwen, clear their board, ping them for 4.

• When you have Ancient Alchemist in grave: Mirror of Truth + Gingerbread House/Witch's Cauldron. buff Ancient Alchemist in the end phase. This is best done when your opponent has minimal cards on the board and will find it hard to clear and push an advantage.

• When you have no access to Cerdiwen Evo and need to clear their follower: Red-hot Ritual + Summoning Drills/Cauldron depending on game state

• When your opponent has a 4/4 Ceridwen on board: Price of Magic + Gingerbread House/Witch's Cauldron

Note: You take Witch's Cauldron when you need to draw into a critical combo piece such as Ceridwen/Alchemist/Riley. Otherwise, Gingerbread House to heal 3.

The above are your primary use cases, though with more pp available, you may be able to get a bit more creative.

Sweet-Tooth Medusa

Your only other shuffler apart from Faust. Notably, you will typically search for one of these three cards: Witch's Cauldron (if you are critically missing combo pieces), Red-Hot Ritual (for when you need it to clear the board), or Angelic Barrage (often vs Bat Abyss).

Despite the temptation you might have, it is often incorrect to leave your Serpents on the board. You can and will get board locked by your opponent!

This card is super interesting and can lead to some extended combos, especially when clearing a very wide board.

Going first or second

I've thought about it for a while, and you always want to go first with this deck.

There are too many decks in the current meta where you will find it very difficult to control their board if you don't go first. You'll take a lot of unavoidable chip damage from their turn 1 play, especially if they go wide against you. Conversely, you can push a bunch of chip damage into them if you go first, which means you can threaten 2-turn lethal setups more easily.

Cards like Faust are mostly PP gated (aside from Ceridwen evo on turn 5), you want access to more play points earlier than your opponent. Evo points don't give you a particularly significant advantage compared to other decks either.

Mulligan Strategy

General Mulligan

You want to focus on playable opening curves. The ideal opener is one where you have a solid turn 1/2 game plan and your combo pieces of Ceridwen/Riley/Faust. Most of the time, you don't want to get blown out early by passing early turns, and based on how the deck works, your only real shortage of Earth Sigils is in the early game.

Having a good opener means you have a much more flexible turn 3/4, you take less chip damage (and inflict more to opponent), making it easier for you to play the game in the latter stages.

Going First mulligan

Going first, you shouldn't be too concerned with which 1pp cards you get. Of course, the ideal 1pp card is Beastfaced Mage, but I wouldn't greed for it except vs maybe Sword.

When going first, almost all the 2pp cards are playable, whether it's Rabbit Mage, Summoning Drills, or 2 1-pp cards. Most of your 3pp cards can also curve on turn 3, even if they can't be evolved immediately.

The main thing is not to get too greedy going first if the hand has a playable curve. Missing turn 1/2 can be rather disastrous and it's often not worth the risk.

Going second mulligan

There's a higher priority to be able to contest the board going second. Between turn 1 and turn 2, at least one of your plays should be able to properly interact with the enemy board, whether that's Beastfaced Mage or Red-Hot-Ritual.

Cards like Summoning Drills can be a liability going second, as it doesn't impact the board fast enough and can provide a target for cards like Last Daylight (which can effectively lose you the game immediately).

Ceridwen is a much higher priority keep going second as she is your primary way of fighting for the board back on turn 3.

Keep in mind the specific mulligan strat for Dirt Rune mirror going second below.

Key Matchups

Mirror Match

Going first

You should try and capitalise on the advantages that going first can provide you AND avoid the common pitfalls

• Beastfaced Mage on turn 1 can't be cleared by the opponent on turn 1, thus guaranteeing 2 face damage. Their best out to this is via their own Beastfaced Mage on turn 2, though this can then be answered in a multitude of different ways by the turn 1 player regardless. Every other play is tempo-neutral, minus the fact that they lost 2 health

• Be very careful on turn 3. If you curved something like Summoning Drills on turn 2, let's say, then you should usually not swing with it. This is because they are highly likely to have turn 3 Ceridwen evo, which will clear both your followers. Unless you specifically want to deal with a 4/2 Ceridwen, it's generally better to let them have a 4/4 Ceridwen. That way, you could hypothetically answer it with Riley/Ceridwen evo the next turn, leave them standing, then go Faust on turn 5, making it practically impossible to full clear your board.

• In addition, if you force them to use Ceridwen to clear your board on turn 4, but leave nothing for them to trade into you, Faust can search for Price of Magic and banish Ceridwen. When you then proceed to buff Faust to 5/5, this makes Riley/Medusa their only efficient out to Faust.

• Due to the above, it also gives you priority to Faust again on turn 6, except this time, you can evo Ceridwen, and this is very difficult to out.

• On turn 5, you should seek the opportunity to Mirror of Truth to bring back Ancient Alchemist, buffing it to a 3/6. This is very hard to out and can lead to a huge swing turn on turn 6. Even if you take some face damage, you'll be returning it and more in the following turn.

Going second

Here's a list of the relevant benefits of going second:

• Ability to turn 3 Ceridwen Evo

• Ability to evolve Ceridwen off Faust on turn 5

• Ability to Medusa evo on turn 5

• Ability to evolve Ancient Alchemist for 1 less pp

Let's also discuss one of the key dynamics of the Dirt Rune mirror. If you have no board on turn 4, and your opponent proceeds to Faust, how do you intend to answer them if they do any of the following:

• Faust + Ancient Alchemist, buff Alchemist to 3/6

• Faust + Red Hot Ritual (clearing your Riley or something), bring out Summoning Drills, buff Faust to 5/5

• Faust + 3/3 Ceridwen, buff Faust

I think it's pretty obvious that in the first case, you basically lost the game.

In the second case, you're locked out from playing your own Faust (unless you're keen on taking 7 to the face), but at least you can still clear their Faust, while probably leaving their 3/3 Guardform alive. The third case is mostly the same.

What is the takeaway here? Do not have an empty board going into turn 5.

This leads into the next point around being careful on evolving Ceridwen on turn 3. If you evolve it turn 3 and they fire back with their own Ceridwen, how do you intend to clear it on turn 4? Eternal Potion will lose you the game. Your only real outs are effectively Riley (which is weak to Faust -> Red Hot Ritual + Summoning Drills), 2nd Ceridwen or Mirror of Truth to bring back Ceridwen.

Now, supposing you do drop Ceridwen on turn 4 to clear theirs, what if they then go Faust + Price of Magic? You still have to deal with their 5/5 Faust, the issue being that you no longer have Ceridwen in the Cemetery for your own Faust. At least in this situation, you can still reset the board to a degree with Riley or Sweet Tooth Medusa, but it does put the ball squarely in their court, potentially for a 6pp Riley play to swing face.

In essence, this is the stark contrast between going first and second, and your goal going second should be to mitigate this disadvantage as much as possible. There is one way to avoid this nightmare scenario (outside of hoping they fail to draw the combo), and that is by hard mulliganing for Riley + Ceridwen).

You can out any Faust board if Riley is in the grave and you can play Ceridwen for 3pp, evo point, free cast instant potion on their Ceridwen, then Eternal Potion for Riley to clear the remaining 5/5. This still doesn't out the Alchemist + Faust, line, but you can't win them all.

With this in mind, if you lose the dice roll, I recommend you hard mulligan towards Ceridwen + Riley. A strong candidate to keep would include one of Riley/Ceridwen, and Rabbit Mage/Cauldron to help dig for the remaining combo piece.

General Tips

• Be on the lookout for when you can set up 2-turn lethals. Ideally, until this point, you should be aiming to clear opponent's board while chipping their leader.

• When going for a 2-turn lethal play, make sure you don't leave yourself too vulnerable to the burst healing from Gingerbread House.

• Keep an eye out for Riley in the grave. If Riley is not in the grave, then for the most part, it is possible and also a win condition to build large boards that the opponent cannot clear.

• Keep an eye out for obvious weaknesses in the opponent's hand. It is often obvious if they lack cards like Riley and Ceridwen, so take advantage of this when you see it.

• Assess the danger of your opponent switching to a lethal game plan and protect your life accordingly.

Bat Abyss

Whether this matchup is unfavoured or roughly even depends on how much of the Angelic Barrage tax you're paying. Going first or second doesn't fundamentally change the game plan compared to the mirror. However, going first is generally better because you take a lot less chip damage and you're less vulnerable to Last Daylight tempo plays.

Going first

• Beastfaced Mage can't be outted turn 1 by Bat Abyss. The Beastfaced Mage -> Rabbit Mage on turn 2 curve is particularly strong.

• Their tempo can be stifled by the fact that they often need to use 2pp to properly clear your board. Playing followers on every early turn mitigates their ability to aggressively go wide and hit face.

• Be wary that when you evolve Ceridwen on turn 4, they are quite likely to answer with either Old Blood King evo or go wide with bats + Last Daylight. Assess carefully if you are still able to Faust against these conditions.

• You are generally a lot healthier when going first. This means you can be more greedy with your health to get a better position later (you can semi board lock Bats sometimes).

Going Second

• You are going to be working with a much smaller health pool going second. It is impossible to fully control their board early game without Angelic Barrage. Cards like Beastfaced Mage, Angelic Barrage, and Red-Hot Ritual (and tbh, even this is a feelsbadman) are significantly higher priority than usual.

• Unlike when going first, curving out a 2-cost follower can be very dangerous if the opponent curves out 3 1-cost followers on the first two turns. If they then follow up with another 1/1 and Last Daylight, you lose if you don't have Angelic Barrage in hand.

• Turn 5 represents an opportunity to reverse the tempo with Faust + Mirror of Truth -> Ceridwen evo. This is not easy to clear without access to Blood Queen Vampy.

General Tips

• Precious Bloodfangs is one of their only ways to buff their bats outside of the Angelic Barrage range

• Don't overcommit your board when they have 5 vampire cards on the field. Most boards can be easily cleared by Blood Queen Vampy

• Unless you have a two-turn lethal setup, always ensure you have an answer to Blood Queen Vampy

• Once Crimson Rose Queen is active, don't get caught off guard by the healing/aoe board clear. Don't overcommit and find yourself unable to clear the 6/6

• Note that when considering if your health total is enough to survive two turns of burst damage, that both Blood Queen Vampy and Crimson Rose Queen are fairly likely to leave behind a bunch of 1/1 bats as well.

• In some cases, it may be correct to search Price of Magic off Faust to prevent them from reaching 5 vampire cards in grave for Blood Queen Vampy/Gift for Bloodkin

• The deck has a fairly absurd amount of chip healing, so be prepared for many games where you are 1-2 damage off a lethal threshold

• Despite their aggressive potential, their actual burst from empty board is fairly low and caps out with Crimson Rose Queen/Blood Queen Vampy. Use this knowledge to your advantage when planning out lethal

Additional content:

Commit the following removal breakpoints to memory as well, so you have a better understanding of how Bats can interact with your board at each threshold:

2pp removal options

• 2pp Raven + existing bat = deal 4 damage to any follower.

• Last Daylight

• Whispers of a Dream

• 2pp + 1*X = 2pp Vampy + 3 damage per bat on field and extra play point

4pp removal options

• 4pp + evo point/5pp = Old Blood King Evo - Minimum 2x 2 attack assail bats, 3/5 main body rush

• 2pp Raven + Last Daylight

• 2pp Raven + Whispers of a Dream

• Double 2pp Raven (unlikely)

• 2pp Vampy + 2pp = 6 split damage

5pp/6pp removal options

• 5pp + evo point/6pp = Blood Queen Vampy - 3 damage to follower + an additional 3 damage to a follower per extra bat played

• 5pp Old Blood King + Any 1pp bat option + Any existing Bats on field + Gift for Bloodkin

• Any combination of the 2pp removals

7pp and above

• Crimson Rose Queen

• Blood Queen Vampy

• Note that if they have 5 Vampire Cards in grave, their Gift for Bloodkin is free (2 bats for 0pp/Crimson Rose Queen proc)

There's two things to take away from the above:

1) Once they have 5 Vampire cards in the grave and 5pp + evo point/6pp, it is trivial for them to remove practically any board using Blood Queen Vampy if they have Gift for Bloodkin in hand.

2) There are certain thresholds that are difficult for Bat Abyss to clear in the early-mid game

What do these two takeaways actually mean?

For point 1

• If they do not have 5 Vampire cards in the grave, they cannot use Blood Queen Vampy on their 6pp/5pp+evo turn unless their last vampire card is on the field and is able to trade in

• If your opponent literally cannot reach 5 Vampire cards, then they cannot use Blood Queen Vampy. No access to Blood Queen Vampy means they can't full-clear your board and deal 6 to your face.

• This also means that if they have 4 in grave and one on field, they can crash into your cards to reach 5. Therefore, you should not leave them targets to trade with, thus sealing Blood Queen Vampy.

• Suppose, instead, that they DO have 5 vampire cards in grave. Then, firstly, you know that the Vampire Queen will be able to ping at least 1 card for 3, but more if they have Gift For Bloodkin or bats in EX area. In other words, your play should always consider that they could full clear your board and end with an engaged 6/6 storm and potentially 3-4 1/1s. This also means that any play you make prior to his Blood Queen Vampy coming down - you should save a play for the following turn that lets you efficiently clear it.

For Point 2

• Based on the above breakdown of their removal options at each PP threshold, you can determine their best/only out to any given board state. As an example, going first, at 2pp, if their board is empty, then they cannot clear two followers at once (beast faced mage + summoning drill opener, for instance). Similarly, at 3pp, the only out to a curved alchemist is if they tech Whispers of a Dream. At 4pp onwards, it's usually impossible to guarantee the survival of your board, but it is worth noting that it is not that easy for them to clear your board without Raven, and it constricts them heavily if they do not have a bat on the field going into turn 4 (as they will need to spend at least 1pp to play a bat and then Raven, thus ending their turn).

• The main takeaway is that by committing to memory their removal thresholds, you can recognise the specific game states where your followers simply cannot be removed easily by the opponent - securing you an easy Faust turn.

Other Matchups

To be honest, your deck is just so much better than a majority of the other decks in this format that it's not necessary to have a guide for these in the first place.

Sword

• Mulligan hard for early game interaction. Beastfaced Mage and Red-Hot Ritual shut down their early game. Once you get Ceridwen/Faust online, the game is basically over

• Sword has almost no healing. Once you identify an opportunity for a 2-turn lethal, calculate the maximum amount of damage they can do, and if it's not enough to kill you, just ignore their board and go for game

Lishenna

• Should be a difficult matchup, but all my previous advice for beating this deck is still relevant today. Don't let them play Lishenna for free, build as large of a board as you can and force them to pay life to drop Lishenna

• Be cautious of Paradise Vanguard evo on your Ceridwen. Unfortunately, a lot of the time, you just have to accept the risk

• Carefully study Lishenna decklists and commit to memory what removal they have at each pp breakpoint, and play around it to the best of your ability

• It's not that easy for them to clear wide boards. It may be worthwhile to assess when to leave followers standing for a turn so that on the following turn, you can attack with 3-4 bodies

• Don't get board locked.

Puppet Forest

• The only new card they received is Substitution. Just be aware that it exists and play around it. For example, if you're going 2nd, it's fine to play Ceridwen Turn 3 and evo, but you might want to consider how to get it in grave if you want to do Faust Turn 5. For example, if your hand is Ceridwen, Red-Hot, Summoning Drills, you should probably play Red-Hot and Summoning Drills, discard Ceridwen, then recur it with Faust and force a difficult clear from the Puppet player

• If they have the perfect turn 5 highroll it is what it is. You win when they don't have it.

VODs

You can view the JCS worlds VODs here:

Top 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8BbMH9ysjg

Final Thoughts

If there's one thing I've learned about high-level events, it's that people rarely play the "best deck of the format." It's not simply a price thing, we're probably going to see a bunch of people play Sword/Puppet at Worlds even though they are clearly not within the top 2 decks of the format.

I think you can't really go wrong with playing Dirt Rune. It doesn't have truly bad matchups, and I think you can outskill the mirror (despite first being an advantage). It's also strong in future formats as well, so your skill will carry over until Gingerbread House gets hit by the ban list.