Images courtesy of Legend Story Studios
Welcome to the Warrior set review for The Hunted. In this article we’ll cover everything under the Warrior class, discussing the most powerful cards within the set, and older cards that have gotten stronger with the influx of support. But before that, we should cover the newest kid on the block, Fang, Dracai of Blades.
The New Blade on the Block
Fang, Dracai of Blades distinguishes himself from the other Warriors via his synergy with daggers. Through his hero ability, if he’s gathered three Fealties, daggers such as his signature weapon, the Obsidian Fire Vein, become free, relieving his need to pitch.
This is very powerful, as evidenced by successful decks of the past, such as Cheerios Briar, Warden of Thorns as well as Redline Dromai, Ash Artist, essentially netting you card advantage from the extra card saved from pitching. These are extremely strong with Fang, with zero-cost reactions on his weapons such as Blade Flurry, to Hunt’s End being extremely efficient.
This comes at a cost, which is Fealty to the Emperor. Thus, a balance of Marking opponents, consuming Marked tokens to generate and maintain Fealty all while ensuring your deck is effective before assembling three Fealties, and keeping sufficient Draconic cards to enable Obsidian Fire Vein to add powerful cards to abuse Fang’s power all encompass Fang’s deckbuilding puzzle.
I really enjoy Fang’s gameplay as it reminds me of the clean, slow trades that made me fall in love with Flesh and Blood. If you’ve enjoyed slow midrange decks, like old Rhinar, Reckless Rampage decks, Uzuri, Switchblade or even Florian, Rotwood Harbinger, and especially if you love one handed warriors, Fang will be for you! Now, with the quick primer out of the way, on to the best cards from, The Hunted!
Best Warrior Cards from The Hunted
#5 Sharpened Senses
In order to maximize the usage of one-handed weapons, you needs three things. First, damage; second, multiple swings; and third, go again. Sharpened Senses is one of the best go again enablers in the game, and there are already powerful payoffs. Dorinthea Ironsong solves the second problem, of needing multiple swings, which leads to finding the best weapon to enable this card.
The Hatchet of Body and the Hatchet of Mind, among other one-handed weapons, benefit the most from gaining go again, with the secondary swing gaining go again for free, thus immediately rewarding you with a third swing if any of the attacks previously hit. Lastly, in combination with Spill Blood and a Fyendal’s Spring Tunic counter, this leads to an extremely powerful 5-6-6 damage turn. This card might revive the Axes Dorinthea archetype by itself!
Last of all, this card holds powerful implications for future Warrior cards, and is worth thinking about anytime you go “Wow, if only it had go again…”
#4 Jagged Edge
Jagged Edge, while unexciting, is an important tool for the Warrior class to deal with prevention effects, such as Prism, Awakener of Sol’s Angels as well as Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry’s auras. This tool grants Dawnblade Dorinthea Ironsong decks, as well as Kassai of the Golden Sand decks, the ability to stand a chance against such effects, and makes the matchup a lot more dynamic.
The ramifications of Jagged Edge are plentiful. Dorinthea and Kassai were fringe playable in the previous metagame, with decent matchups against the aggressive decks, but were plagued by a miserable Enigma matchup. Don’t overlook this key piece of the Warrior’s toolkit.
#3 Savor Bloodshed
Savor Bloodshed is the greatest payoff for dagger and Mark strategies. Like most of the dagger buffs, it buffs for a massive four damage. While other Warriors could potentially use this, it’s by far the most powerful in Fang, Dracai of Blades due to his playstyle of Marking and synergy with daggers.
Drawing a card is among Flesh and Blood’s most powerful effects, and threatening a difficult breakpoint of five off of the Obsidian Fire Vein is difficult to block. This is furthered as Fang’s play patterns often involve buffing the first weapon, and swinging with a second. As such, blocking out the draw is nearly impossible.
However, this requires a marked opponent, which is best set up between turns. Savor Bloodshed is best used while utilizing the traps that Mark, such as Smoke Out and Den of the Spider. Marking an opponent during their turns and cashing it in with Savor Bloodshed is immensely powerful. Thus, arsenal-ing these cards and lining them up is critical to maximizing this powerful card.
#2 Kabuto of Imperial Authority
Kabuto of Imperial Authority is extremely swingy, but very powerful. Like its compatriots Scowling Flesh Bag and Face Purgatory, this headpiece aims to disrupt opponents traditional play patterns, however is very dependent on how opponents often structure their turns. While it can become extremely impactful, such as disrupting a Bloodrush Bellow turn to disabling a second swing from a snowballing Dawnblade. However, some heroes don’t often swing their weapon or don’t preface their weapon swing with a different attack.
Kabuto is best at two things. Firstly, it forces certain play lines to work around it. Viserai can’t rely on Reaping Blade to detonate their Revel in Runeblood turns, and Kayos are forced to swing with their Mandible Claw early. Most importantly, it’s very useful in Warrior mirrors, giving a useful tool where great Warrior players can distinguish themselves from good ones. Otherwise, alternative headgears might be considerable when Kabuto is less effective, namely Balance of Justice, Crown of Providence, or even Helm of Sharp Eye.
#1 Provoke
Siren’s Call, is that you? Provoke is extremely powerful at the accessible cost of being a blue. Tools that subvert an opponent’s planned blocks are important in classes that rely on reactions, and serve as rare disruption in the Warrior class. It’s less powerful than Siren’s Call, first of all for not replacing itself, secondly as the defender gets to choose the card forced to block, and lastly, Warriors are less pleased compared to Assassins in having their attacks blocked.
Most important is how flexible this card is. Unlike Siren’s Call, it’s a blue and blocks for three, and can be used contextually to disrupt an opponent’s hand. Forcing blocks on an earlier weapon swing can lead to a second attack by a weapon being improperly defended. While innocuous and situational, Provoke is one of the most flexible and powerful blues in the class’s history.
Biggest Warrior Winners from Past Sets
Now we’ll look at the cards from previous sets that are improved by The Hunted
#5 Spill Blood
Spill Blood is one of the biggest winners in conjunction with a card previously mentioned, Sharpened Senses. Sharpened Senses and Spill Blood with the Hatchet of Body and the Hatchet of Mind wielded by Dorinthea Ironsong does five-six-six damage off of four pitch, which is extraordinarily over-rate.
The deck had traditionally been extremely efficient, although falling by the wayside to more powerful decks introduced in Part the Mistveil. With new tools, the deck is back and ready to out-math the competition. Thus, with its anticipated revival, you should be picking up your Spill Bloods sooner rather than later.
#4 Dawnblade/Dorinthea Ironsong
Dorinthea Ironsong has always been in the shadow of the meta, her snowballing Dawnblade punishing poor blockers. With the advent of innocuous new tools, Dawnblade is back in business.
Dorinthea has traditionally struggled to find powerful blues, and especially for a deck that is so reliant on needing a blue in every hand, effective ways of utilizing multiple blue hands are in demand. Provoke is an interesting utility that opens a new opportunity for opponents to misread the Dorinthea player and miss-block. This is even more powerful, as it’s yet another tool that can be tutored via Singing Steelblade, especially in situations where an opponent is intent on over-blocking the Dawnblade. One might shut down their counter assault altogether by pulling their last card, or combine it with Twinning Blade and go again effects to find an opening for Dorinthea’s following swing.
Jagged Edge also shores up one of Dorinthea’s worst matchups, making the Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry matchup one that is more even. Lastly, with the presence of the Axes deck, players once again have to predict what type of deck their opponent is playing, and may miss-sideboard accordingly. This is extremely powerful for a weapon that specializes at exploiting poor defenses and over-aggression. Once again, new Flesh and Blood players may once again fear the Dawnblade.
#3 Grains of Bloodspill
Grains of Bloodspill is my choice for Fang, Dracai of Blades’s premier chest piece. Fang still needs to pitch for his weapon swings before he’s accured his Fealty. Grains allows you to carry your excessive pitch over from turn to turn, using the pitch for the occasional card that costs pitch after he’s gathered his Fealties, such as Provoke or Fire and Brimstone.
Fang is also proficient at landing hits for Grains, either during his first swing for his reaction, or the second dagger swing which is often very inefficient to block. Last of all, the Warrior arm piece Braveforge Bracers is an excellent way to utilize extra pitch to manipulate breakpoints. Thus, Grains is key for Fang, and helps wrap up his deckbuilding.
#2 Blade Flurry
Warrior’s best zero-for-four is back and better than ever in Fang, Dracai of Blades. Using excess Fealties to turn the card Draconic gives it a powerful Hunt’s End impression, and is without question a staple in a decklist capable of churning out Fealties. Blade Flurry is particularly powerful as it divides an attack into two difficult breakpoints, thus likely easier to land chip damage.
Its power is also not to be overlooked with the return of the class in general, with Dorinthea Ironsong and Kassai of the Golden Sand both avid users. Simple, clean, powerful.
#1 Valiant Dynamo
Lastly is Valiant Dynamo, one of the most powerful equipment ever introduced. While everyone thinks of Kassai of the Golden Sand as the best Valiant Dynamo wielder, Fang, Dracai of Blades is arguably its most potent enabler. When activating Fang’s weapon’s go again, it allows him to swing his second dagger, refreshing Valiant Dynamo very easily.
With his hero ability relieving the need for pitch, this allows Fang to refresh Dynamo on one-card hands. This is devastatingly powerful. As previously mentioned, with the premier reactions Blade Flurry and Hunt’s End, it allows for one-card hands to generate eight value, two plus one from weapons, four from the reactions, and one from Valiant Dynamo.
Lastly, this is a metagame where we’re likely to need Valiant Dynamo. Assassins and Ninjas have received a buff, especially with daggers, and against Assassins, covering key breakpoints such as Leave No Witnesses or Surgical Extraction with Dynamo will be key, and against the Ninjas, denying Mask of Momentum value by blocking daggers.
Closing
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the set! The first set of each year has always been my favorite, being usually of a melee focus for Flesh and Blood. Good luck at your tournaments, have fun at your Armories, and take care.
For more The Hunted content, check our guides to the best Assassin and Ninja cards in the set.
