The matchup is a resource race disguised as a quiet board. If Vex holds, draws, and answers the next lone threat, her hand improves while yours empties. Pressure must arrive early enough to interrupt that loop and remain measured enough to survive one reset.
Attack The Hold, Not The Legend
Gloomist can exhaust to draw when its player or an ally holds. The legend cannot be removed, so the counterplay is to contest the battlefield that would produce the trigger.
You do not need to win every fight immediately. A hold that consumes an answer, moves a defender, or exposes another lane is no longer free. Keep asking for resources until Vex must choose between preserving one battlefield and protecting the other.
Match Each Kit Card With The Right Response
- Vex - Apathetic has Deflect and Stuns an opposing unit played to her battlefield. Arrive before she does, attack her with units, move or bounce her, or develop on another battlefield. Paying the Deflect tax with targeted removal should not be the default.
- Vex - Mocking combines Shield and Tank, then may relocate when an enemy unit is Stunned at a battlefield. A lone attacker lets her absorb the fight efficiently. Pressure before she relocates, attack a lane she cannot reinforce, or bring enough width or Might that Tank does not save the position.
- Vex - Cheerless makes friendly spells cheaper and opposing spells more expensive while she is in combat. Board and positioning are better answers than trying to win a reactive spell exchange on her terms.
- Shadow enters ready when played to a battlefield and can exhaust to Stun an enemy attacking there. Account for the Stun before treating an apparently open attack as safe.
- Vex - Gloomist rewards the hold after those cards disrupt your contest. Every answer should be judged by whether it prevents that next draw.
Confirm exact wording in the card database before choosing interaction for your list.
Build A Two-Lane Sequence
Turns 1-2: Be Present First
Place a unit on a meaningful battlefield before Apathetic can turn a newly played contest into a Stunned body. Early presence forces Vex to answer you instead of setting a defender and drawing from the first clean hold.
One unit is enough to begin. Empty turns are dangerous; dumping an entire hand is unnecessary.
Turns 3-4: Open The Other Battlefield
Apathetic occupies one lane. Mocking can relocate to one Stunned lane. Cheerless affects one combat. Make those limits matter by developing a second contest.
If Vex commits both lanes, the defense becomes more expensive and clean holds become harder. If she protects only one, press the other. This is the central decision of the matchup, not a race to remove every Vex unit.
Turns 5-6: Reload After The First Answer
Stagger threats rather than presenting the full hand to one stun, shove, or bounce. Play a threat, make Vex answer, then deploy the next while her resources are reduced. A resilient body that matters without a supporting spell is especially useful because Cheerless has less to tax.
Late Game: Refuse A Passive Grind
Vex's draw and recursion favor a long one-for-one game. Keep one battlefield contested and one threat in reserve so a single reset does not produce both a free hold and an empty hand. If your deck must take the aggressive role in this matchup, accept that role before Gloomist has drawn several extra cards.
Mulligan For Presence And Reload
Keep hands that can do at least two jobs:
- Put a unit on a battlefield in the first two turns.
- Threaten a second lane by turn three or four.
- Present a threat that functions without a reactive spell.
- Move or bounce Apathetic instead of targeting through Deflect.
- Reload after the first Stun or displacement effect.
Ship expensive hands with no early board, even if their late-game cards are powerful. A reactive hand is also risky when its only plan is to target Deflect units while Cheerless changes spell costs.
Choose The Right Posture
Pressure decks: use speed to contest two lanes, but do not funnel the entire attack into Mocking. Close before the draw engine catches up.
Midrange: lead with a threat that demands an answer and keep the second wave in hand. Trading one-for-one without contesting the hold is not enough.
Control: become the proactive deck. Early bodies and resilient threats matter more than waiting for an ideal reset while Gloomist draws.
Combo and engine: keep one body on the map during setup. If the engine can threaten a battlefield too, Vex must defend instead of accumulating cards.
Seven Avoidable Losses
- Playing a fresh unit into Apathetic's battlefield when another lane is available.
- Sending one attacker into Mocking's Shield and Tank.
- Holding targeted removal into both Deflect and Cheerless.
- Committing every threat to a single push.
- Contesting only the battlefield Vex has already fortified.
- Treating a long game as neutral while Gloomist keeps drawing.
- Spending premium removal where movement or bounce would solve the position.
To practice, set up Apathetic on one battlefield and Mocking within relocation range, then play the next two turns with the rule that both lanes must remain relevant. Build that board in the deck builder, browse Riftbound decks for current shells, and use Riftbound Counters to compare this pressure map with other control matchups.