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Jarl Vetreidi Armory Deck Origins Review – Flesh and Blood

Jarl Armory Deck Review

Once upon a time, Flesh and Blood had an Earth and Ice-wielding Guardian who slowed down the game to a glacial pace and controlled the metagame through its unrivaled defenses. Today, Jarl Vetreidi attempts to fill in the big shoes left by Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity as the newest Armory Deck release from Legend Story Studios.

Priced at $39.99 USD, Armory Decks offer a quick route for new Flesh and Blood players to hop into the game at a reasonably competitive level. It’s one of the best ways to get into Classic Constructed, the main format of the game.

What’s in Jarl Vetreidi Armory Deck Origins?

Being a Flesh and Blood newbie-focused product, Jarl presents a suite of cards meant to be played in a slow and defensive playstyle. If you love paladin and tank classes in RPGs, this is the deck for you. The deck includes several rainbow foils of key cards, plus majestic equipment pieces, and even a shiny copy of Jarl himself!

Here’s the decklist:

How Does Jarl’s Ability Work?

Jarl might be a little bit confusing to newer players. First off, when we create a Frostbite token, it represents a way to slow down the opponent’s turn by requiring additional resources when they take an action. Afterwards, the ice melts and the opposing hero is freed of the chills.

On the other hand, Jarl’s ability can only create Frostbite tokens in an exposed equipment area, meaning the slot has to be empty for us to benefit off it. Simply put, Frostbite tokens from Jarl’s ability function and melt all the same. But, for instance, we can’t create a Frostbite token from Jarl’s ability on turn one against an opponent who hasn’t even taken their turn yet – as they still have all their pieces of equipment. Think of it as a safety feature to not let the hero become extremely unfun to play against.

Another fringe application of Jarl’s ability is it blocks equipment such as Blacktek Whisperers, which can re-equip itself from the graveyard – unless they can pop the Frostbite token first.

Key Cards

First, we have to talk about Mangle, which could even be considered one of Jarl’s signature cards – he appears on the art! This synergizes with the little minigame Jarl plays where he wants to destroy the opponent’s equipment to provide more Frostbite tokens. The legendary equipment Gauntlets of the Boreal Domain also buffs up Mangle further, and gets double boosted when we pitch an Earth and Ice card, like Crumble to Eternity.

Unforgetting Unforgiving is yet another Jarl special, as it lets us defend for huge amounts, all while allowing us to search for a Mangle to be played on our next turn. Other Mangle setup cards include Exposed to the Elements and Buckling Blow, which toy around with -1 counters on the opponent’s equipment.

The Frostbite control is pushed further by our suite of Ice cards, such as Frozen to Death, Winter's Bite, and Amulet of Ice, which slow down the game for the opponent while we set up.

We also have some decent offensive options such as Snow Under and Icy Encounter, which let us create more Frostbite tokens. Another heavy hitter is Glacial Footsteps, which still swings for eight points, despite being a blue card!

To capitalize off of all our Frostbite tokens, we have Channel Mount Isen, which slowly ticks down the opposing hero’s life as we freeze their equipment zones.

The deck features a humble suite of Earth cards, though nothing to write home about.

The Majestic equipment suite is nothing to scoff at – Ollin Ice Cap, Root-Bound Trunks, and Tectonic Crust are all respectable pieces of equipment that can defend with an occasional bonus upside. These will serve us for a long time before we should even think about upgrading them.

Summit, the Unforgiving is a huge weapon that requires a whopping six resources for a swing! Personally, I don’t think the weapon is too efficient to be used, but time will tell. Fortunately, the other equipment options are affordable.

Upgrading Jarl Vetreidi

Jarl’s deck already sports a decent control suite of Ice and Frostbite-generating cards.

We can supplement this with Stalagmite, Bastion of Isenloft, though the card has already spiked in price.

Channel Lake Frigid sends shivers down the spine of any seasoned Flesh and Blood player, and we can make them relive the Oldhim experience by including a full suite of these in our deck! As long as we have this aura out, we essentially just tax the opponent even more, making it harder for them to attack us, much less advance their board state.

Pummel is an excellent card any Guardian should play; we should grab three of these.

Spinal Crush, Cranial Crush, and Rouse the Ancients are majestics that push our offensive power even higher. In the same vein the common Macho Grande still plays a similar role as a beatstick in case we don’t draw into other attacks.

The marquee attack however is Oaken Old. If this connects – and it almost always should due to its Dominate effect – it sets back the opponent for the entire game as they practically lose several cards in hand. Meanwhile, Blizzard completely thwarts a lot of the enemy’s plans for the turn; and since it’s an instant, we can play a little bluffing game to make it seem like we always have it in hand.

Of course, we can rely on Sink Below red and Fate Foreseen red to further bolster our defenses.

Consider picking up Anothos or Sledge of Anvilheim if you find Summit too unwieldy to fire off.

While the stock equipment suite is already great, eventually there may be builds that utilize Fyendal’s Spring Tunic or Crown of Providence, but worry about those later on.

The Card Gamer Verdict

While the product is not as fleshed out as the Dash I/O Armory Deck, we must remember that different players prefer different playstyles. While Dash wants to go fast, Jarl wants to stop the opponents in their tracks. And for that reason, the Jarl Armory Deck remains a decent value pickup for anyone who wishes to try out the Guardian class.

To find out more about what’s going on in Flesh and Blood, check out our monthly recap here.


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