All images courtesy of Legend Story Studios
Greetings and salutations my fabulous FAB folks! I’m Donnie K., your usual budget deck tech writer here on Card Gamer and locally known Assassin enthusiast. Today, we’re breaking up the usual routine with something hot off of the proverbial presses. With The Hunted now fully revealed, we’re able to look at all of the “Nuu” toys that my favorite class has received.
Turns out, this set is good. Like…. REALLY good…. Maybe not necessarily for Nuu specifically, but I’ll leave details like that up to the pros.
I’ve narrowed the list of awesome Assassin cards down to the ones that I think will have the biggest impact on the Assassin class in Classic Constructed as a whole and will probably be the most fun to use. With all that said, let the Chaos begin!
Top Ten Best Assassin Cards from The Hunted
10. Up Sticks and Run
As our top ten list of Assassin cards progresses, daggers will play a bigger and bigger role. There are a ton of new and exciting ways to break them for value in The Hunted. Up Sticks and Run is a rainbow cycle of rares that allows you to refill an empty weapon zone with one of your discarded daggers, then gives you a buff for swinging with it. You technically have to pay one resource for this effect, but that works out fine. Since our non-token daggers cost two to attack, it fits our cost curve nicely, effectively becoming a one-for-five with go again at red.
Also, it has additional synergy with another card higher up on the list.
9. Orb-Weaver Spinneret
When I first read Orb-Weaver Spinneret, I wasn’t very impressed. However, after thinking about it, this card is a minimum one-for-four as long as you have an empty hand slot. Graphene Chelicera has stealth and only costs one resource to swing, so you can send it with the buff for four immediately.
Or, you can just equip the dagger, swing with a stealth attack action and flick the dagger for an extra point of value. While it’s obviously not as powerful as some of the cards we’re getting to, this is a solid role-player card for Assassins going forward.
8. Throw Dagger
Throw Dagger is easy to underestimate on the surface as well. It has the same effect as Flick Knives, but draws a card if the damage connects. Call me crazy, but a blue block three attack reaction that triggers a lot of my on hit dagger effects and replaces itself?
Yeah, I’ll be picking up a playset.
7. Tarantula Toxin
Since Tarantula Toxin was one of the first cards we saw for The Hunted, this is the one I’ve been watching the longest. I love it. While you won’t get to choose both modes very consistently, it works with the Graphene Chelicera and another card further down the list very well.
As a player, I love having options. That’s one of the best things about Flesh and Blood to me, so having a card that can be played so many ways is great.
It blocks three, can buff a “dagger attack” into a breakpoint, or debuff a blocking card if we use it on an attack with stealth. The thing that’s got me the most hyped, and has since I first saw this card, is that first line of text. “Choose 1 or both” means that when this is timed correctly, it can be worth up to six points of value for no resources, and that’s not counting implied value from the on hit effect it’s helping push through.
A solid majestic that is going to see a good bit of play.
6. Take Up the Mantle
Alright, I’ve seen a lot of hate on Take Up the Mantle online already. People are concerned that it’s going to be crazy with Bonds of Agony, and yeah, that’s definitely going to be a play line that happens. In fact, that Persuasive Prognosis in the graveyard is a big fan of this card too.
The floor of Take Up the Mantle is solid. If you’re not able to meet the conditions of the effect, you’re probably blocking with it, which is fine since it blocks three. When it’s live though, it has an insane ceiling. If you have a red stealth attack in the graveyard, this reaction turns any blue one-power stealth attack into a two-card six with relevant on hits. That’s Just a Nick level, and anyone who’s played with or against an Assassin since Part the Mistveil came out knows how good that card is.
With all that said though, there’s a small part of me that wonders if it may just be hype. It reminds me of when Gorgon’s Gaze was revealed prior to Part the Mistveil’s release. It looks cool and probably has some powerful moments, but I don’t know if it’s worth the fear it’s eliciting yet. I need to put hands on this one and test it. It’s definitely cool, but that’s why it didn’t quite crack my top five.
5. Mark of the Black Widow / Mark of the Funnel Web
I’m sort of cheating with this one. Well, these two. Mark of the Black Widow and Mark of the Funnel Web are going to be staples in any deck that includes a consistent engine to Mark the opponent. Both have the standard red Stealth card stats at zero cost for three power and three block.
Black Widow emulates the new Chaos demi-hero by forcing the opponent to banish a card from their hand if it hits a marked hero. Funnel Web is the same but playing a softer version of Command and Conquer or Leave No Witnesses. This kind of disruption is proven to be effective and powerful. There’s no reason to not run these if your deck cares about Marking the opponent.
4. Pain in the Backside
Ok, maybe I’m just a giant five-year-old, but I love this card’s name. It’s officially become my second favorite name in the game behind Shitty Xmas Present.
Fantastic low-brow humor aside, Pain in the Backside promises to be a real pain in the backside for Assassin opponents from now on. Even though it doesn’t have Stealth, it offers a dagger flick that does not destroy the dagger if the opponent lets it hit. It works with all of the daggers, including two we’ll talk about in a bit.
Let’s say we start a standard Assassin turn with a dagger swing. The opponent doesn’t want to deal with the on hit, so they block. They now have to block Pain in the Backside on the next chain link or get hit with the dagger anyway and deal with the consequences of that since Pain in the Backside has go again. For Beckoning Mistblade or the card in our number one slot, letting it hit can be a big deal. They had to give this thing a downside of some kind though, so they made it a block-two, but I doubt we’ll do much blocking with Pain in the Backside.
3. Savor Bloodshed
First things first, I love this art. The vibe screams chaos and bloodshed – things that I like having associated with my fictional Assassin characters. Like almost everything on this list, and most Assassin cards in general, Savor Bloodshed blocks for three. But that’s just the solid floor.
This gem gives our next “dagger” attack a four-point buff, pushing it to a breakpoint over most of the game’s relevant defense reactions, so the opponent will have to commit actual cards to the defense if they want to avoid the on hit. And, if they happen to be Marked, Savor Bloodshed replaces itself. I might have hinted at this earlier, but drawing cards is good. Especially in Flesh and Blood, where every card matters. And having a zero-for-four buff attached to the potential draw?
All the flavors of Arakni and maybe even Uzuri are going to love this card.
2. Kiss of Death
Alright, enough beating around the bush. This card is insane. Kiss of Death reads like a normal red Stealth attack until you get to the bottom line of text.
“Assassin Action – Dagger Attack”
So… while this card is on the combat chain, it counts as a dagger for anything you play that cares about daggers. Like Savor Bloodshed, Tarantula Toxin, or a common from the set called Poisoned Blade. There are more shenanigans than Arakni can shake all their daggers at.
If you give Kiss of Death go again, by whatever means, you can then get a free activation out of your Flick Knives and hit the opponent for two points of damage on the next chain link. (One point from Flick, one point from Kiss.) Then, what happens when you give this an extra on hit from, say, Spike with Bloodrot, Spike with Frailty, or Toxicity?
The sky’s the limit with how obnoxious this card will get, and I’m eagerly waiting to see just how crazy it will be in real games.
1. Hunter’s Klaive
A friend of mine told me that this is the best Assassin dagger we’ve seen printed since Assassins were first introduced to Flesh and Blood. I think they might be on to something.
Hunter’s Klaive goes back to the standard model of the original daggers from Dynasty and Outsiders. Two resources for a one-power attack with go again and Piercing 1. The on hit? Mark the opponent.
I can see this being the opening move on every one of Arakni, Marionette’s turn cycles. Having consistent way to threaten a Mark is huge. As you’ve seen from the rest of this list, from our opponent’s perspective, bad things happen when they’re Marked.
This dagger is almost guaranteed to get a card from most opposing heroes, just to prevent the rest of the deck from completely blowing them out. And even then, we have a whole set’s worth of new cards that care about making daggers hit anyway whenever we want them to.
Hunter’s Klaive asks a question with every swing that the opponent just won’t have a comfortable answer for. And that, my fellow Assassin fans, puts them exactly where we want them.
Honorable Mentions
These two cards, Schism of Chaos and Mask of Deceit, are on my list of cards to watch. Schism may be the most playable Fable in Flesh and Blood, especially when the format eventually slows down again. The immediate future is looking fiery and Draconic, so I doubt there’s going to be much pitch stacking happening, but everything happens in cycles in this game. What’s good now won’t be forever, and what’s bad will have its time in the sun again.
Mask is good, but as an Arakni specialization, it’s only as good as Arakni is (and it gives Huntsman a new angle to play). I think all of the versions of Arakni are going to be interesting in a few more weeks when The Hunted officially hits store shelves. But for now, I’m withholding judgment on both of these cards.
Oh, and one more thing- I think it’s a little weird that we got a whole new talent, but literally only two cards for it aside from heroes. LSS, what’s up with that?
Bonus! Assassin’s Top Five Old Cards After The Hunted
Just for you, my fellow Assassin lovers, I’ll share my thoughts on five cards that stand out to me as the biggest winners from the older Assassin sets. In no particular order, these are cards you may want to check your collections for.
Flick Knives
The price tag on this card has gone insane recently, and for good reason. Flick Knives is now the default arm piece for at least two of the heroes from The Hunted. It already saw consistent play in Uzuri. Every dagger with an on hit loves this card, and being able to tell the opponent that they’re starting at a lower life total than what’s printed on their hero card is great.
An opponent can never feel comfortable going to two life against us, and being at one life with Flick Knives still on the table is a death sentence. It’s always been a solid equipment piece and, with the new support, it’s incredible.
Concealed Blade
Same story as Flick Knives, but Concealed Blade has seen a lot less play. There just wasn’t enough reason to flick away daggers to make the on hit bonus worth it most of the time. To be honest, I don’t know who’s going to get more use out of this. Our Assassins or the Ninjas.
Either way, Concealed Blade has more reason to be included on a deck list than it ever has before.
Infiltrate
With Arakni, 5L!p3d 7hRu 7h3 cR4X coming to the format and tons of new Stealth support, Infiltrate may finally have a chance to shine. I’ve tried to make this card work in Uzuri, but it was always a little clunky. There just wasn’t a good way to give it go again. However, as of January 31, we’ve got several decent options to try this card out with new tools.
Toxicity
Ok…. here me out. There are a lot of new cards that give good buffs at reaction speed. But the most egregious thing that you can do once The Hunted is legal is to play Toxicity, then swing Kiss of Death and give it go again. There’s no way the opponent lets it hit if they can help it.
So, you get at least one or two cards to block whatever Toxicity paired with, most likely pulling tempo back. Finally, you Flick the Kiss and the on hit for Toxicity stays relevant until Kiss is destroyed. A two-card nine points? Yeah, that’s not bad. (Assuming the opponent didn’t let the Kiss attack hit, of course. If it hits and then we get another on hit trigger with the Flick…? Yikes.)
Frailty Trap
Since we now have an entire set dedicated to one-power weapons, Frailty tokens are going to be at an all-time premium. Frailty Trap is going to be worth so, SO much against all The Hunted heroes, because it messes up their combat math on their turn.
If you give them a Frailty on your turn, they can plan around it. However, with Frailty Trap giving them one in the reaction step, they’ve already mapped out what they want to do, committed to it, and will likely have to reevaluate their entire turn cycle.
Final Thoughts on The Hunted
The Hunted is going to be the most impactful set for Assassins we’ve seen since Outsiders redefined the class. Even Arakni, Huntsman is going to have new life breathed into them. I don’t think they can be called the worst hero in the game anymore. (Sorry Betsy. You’ll get your log someday.)
Every Assassin is going to have unique playstyles and now have access to some of the most powerful disruptive tools in Flesh and Blood. As a dedicated Assassin main, I only have one concern for all the cool cards we’ve got coming.
How do I decide what I want to play first!?
If you want to chat about anything in this article, hit me up on Discord, Blue Sky, or Twitter as Dracohominis87. Or, check out the weekly podcast I’ve been doing with some buddies for a while now.
