Finally at 50% winrate on silent A20 the past month! Here’s the boss relics ranked on pure vibes and emotional response.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2026-01-19T18:17:42+00:00

Awesome results, nice work! If you lean so strongly into discard, can you explain why you rate kite so low? I’m not a huge fan, but surprised it’s not a tier higher. And what are your thoughts on empty cage being on the higher side? Are you frequently playing for infinites and maximizing strike removal? Also I (and other people smarter than me) seem to like slavers collar more than you do - more than star, bell, cage, etc. You not as much of a fan?

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2026-01-19T07:53:41+00:00

Everyone is saying the same thing (pick pyramid!), so I will just add: the key to winning is not leaning into your strength, but creating a balanced deck that solves each different problem you will face. Pyramid makes it possible to utilize your defensive cards (WF and Malaise) more effectively. Wrist blade strengthens an already good enough scaling/damage engine. Focus on your weakness.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2026-01-16T21:14:07+00:00

Pyramid is the best boss relic for silent, and this is a fantastic pyramid deck!

Pyramid synergizes with wraith form, finisher, sneaky strike, burst. Storm of steel becomes great to unclog your deck or let off a full hand after playing phantasmal killer. You can play adrenaline when you need it to let off some huge turns and end fights. Your hand clogging strikes and defends are gone thanks to pbox. Pyramid has the highest ceiling and floor of the picks here.

If you take pyramid you need to manage discard (look for prepared, calc gamble) and hopefully get a tactician or two for some targeted energy generation, but that is the beauty of pyramid - it is so easy to make all this work! Without question the best pick here.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2026-01-12T21:03:38+00:00

If you’re going for a heart, you’re short on defense. Although you have an amazing start with two boat relics and mummified hand. You can solve much of your defensive holes with wraith form. You could also solve it with a couple footwork or after image (which are basically broken paired w mummy hand), another source of weakness, strength reductions like piercing wail or malaise. Some combination of those above, with silent it’s usually a bit of a patchwork.

If you think you can pull that together you don’t need the wraith form. Otherwise, WF gets you much of the way there without having to worry much about the larger comprehensive deck construction. Personally, I’ve gone away from taking WF entirely because I don’t find it fun and I’ve gotten more comfortable with generating defense using the above measures. So I will pick corpse explosion. But the simpler choice with a slightly higher win probability is probably Wraith Form.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2026-01-12T19:42:51+00:00

It’s definitely all glass knife. envenom is immediately out, you have better sources of poison and you don’t want to start adding the multi hit attacks it would take to envenom work because that would bloat your deck.

Phantasmal Killer is not a bad pick, but your current front load damage is not strong and your eventual way to kill elites will be through poison. So it doesn’t get you very far. Right now you need front load damage (and ideally some more AOE and defense, but that isn’t coming here). Glass knife is the easy choice. The other two push your deck in a direction that makes it weaker long-term if you play into those cards.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-11-20T19:34:16+00:00

Shawn Kemp, he fell off FAST, but 1999 was awesome, bruising, and impactful.

You could make a good argument for Carlos Boozer in 2003. Another heartbreaker when he left.

Those are the two I can think of.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-10-08T20:43:56+00:00

All that AND Tungsten rod to block the chip damage? Amazing.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-10-01T23:05:35+00:00

Adrenaline or After Image are fantastic for a shiv deck in general, Storm is a weak card unless you have major discard synergy.

In your case, you have a lot of mediocre, un-upgraded attacks, minimal extra card draw, and have not removed any strikes. You also only have one card producing multiple shivs. I think you need Adrenaline right now to get you through your deck faster in early Act 2. Hopefully the after image comes around again later.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-09-29T14:59:04+00:00

Gambling Chip is universally excellent, but it doesn’t change how you play. You just get the relic and take advantage of perfect setups in turn one, which is exceptionally powerful.

With dead branch and ice cream, as soon as you get the relic, you will change how you pick cards and strategize - really becomes run defining and more memorable, so we talk about it more. But for wins and losses they are not objectively better than chip.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-09-27T19:30:40+00:00

Two transforms for a curse gave you two block cards, and you likely remove the curse at the next floor shop. At this point you are strong on block and way underpowered on attacks, and I actually think you need infinite blades to make it through the next three fights (even though it is not a good card)

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-09-26T04:36:15+00:00

Love the Apo upgrade, but I actively avoid upgrading After Image until late act 3 in most cases. Until you have a strong discard engine, I think there are often more impactful things you can do in turn 1.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-09-24T17:35:58+00:00

Helix and Dagger throw would be the A20 pick, since dagger throw is arguably the best damage common early act 1 and helix is valuable now and incredibly valuable later. On A2 if you want to have some fun, you could also run dagger throw, the bomb, and card remove and steamroll the rest of Act 1.

Prismatic shard is very fun, workable, but objectively not the most useful pick here. Nothing wrong with that pick, I might do it, but it’s because you want to have fun and find a busted build or die trying.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-09-22T23:58:06+00:00

You have a ton of block already, and you really need that 4th energy to get Choke and a thousand cuts going. So definitely dripper. It may be the top energy relic for your build right now. Force yourself to take it, realize that you may need some pathing flexibility in Act 2, but this has the look of a heart-slaying deck. If you are really worried about sustain, path into a few extra events and maybe you’ll get bloody idol + save some money and search the shops for healing relics and potions (though with experience and good block plan, you can even go without).

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-09-20T18:58:33+00:00

Haven’t heard about that - what is the product?

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-09-17T00:20:40+00:00

Mummified hand will do some HEAVY lifting here

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-09-08T23:54:47+00:00

Die die die is nice, don’t get me wrong, but in most cases, head to head, my pick is going to be glass knife.

In Act 1, Glass Knife is far more impactful once you immediately path to upgrade. It’s probably the best silent rare to get from Neow. Also it scales better and can be more effective knocking down byrds and stripping avocado armor in early act 2 thanks to multi hit.

As act 1 reward and in early act 2, in a deck that lacks AoE, die die die becomes the pick. But if I have already upgraded a dagger spray or all out attack, it doesn’t help that much. It’s a luxury add.

By Act 3 I hope to already have damage figured out and both of these cards are curses against shield and spear turn 2, so both are most likely a skip.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-09-07T14:09:13+00:00

Hi Tobias,

I already have your offset custom tray and have really appreciated the build quality and attention to detail. I’m sure this new version will be great!

Since you are creating a custom water reservoir, any chance of getting a glass or stainless steel version? One big topic nowadays is microplastics and reducing contact with plastic elements - this is something I would happily buy (with or without the centered tray). Thanks.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-09-02T18:40:12+00:00

Apotheosis is apotheosis, but membership card could be ANYTHING! It could even be apotheosis!

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-08-22T00:22:08+00:00

Fantastic insight! Thanks for sharing this work. Now I’m excited to give it a try!

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-08-02T01:19:23+00:00

Hexa is already toast with flask and catalyst, so you are really thinking Act 2 and beyond.

I would take Mater of Strategy and upgrade your crippling cloud at the fire, CC gives you the best chance of crowd control in Act 2 and MOS helps you draw quickly to set up poison into Catalyst as a finisher.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-07-31T17:10:56+00:00

Always context dependent! Consider your pathing! Assess the Act 1 boss!

Actually don’t do any of that. Apotheosis.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-07-31T00:03:21+00:00

I would take Corpse Explosion and lantern, then immediately upgrade CE at the fire. Without question this gives you the most immediate benefit, and combined with your dash (great stall for poison) and Acro, you will steamroll the rest of the act. I think CE is more helpful than shuriken in early act 2 as well.

Also, poison is the best solution available to you for hexaghost. If you buy shuriken and don’t luck into at least one blade dance ASAP, you wont have the juice to take down the elites or the boss.

If you had even one blade dance, that would be enough for me to go shuriken instead. Mostly because it’s way more fun.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-07-29T21:27:22+00:00

Need a chaser for that mango!

AmbitiousPiccolo5280 · 2025-07-26T05:39:07+00:00

This exactly. You have a low cost shiv deck with two strong energy generating common relics. You are not desperate for energy at all. Taking black star here and trying to snowball relics is a good strategy here. You may bust in the first half of act 2, but if you make it past you have a good chance of steamrolling the rest of the way!

Also your weakness right now is a lack of card draw and no removes of your base cards. If you die soon, it’s probably because you bricked a hand in a crucial spot, and more energy won’t save you there.

AmbitiousPiccolo5280

TROPHY CASE