Weapons Decide Decks: Exploring Alternatives

Weapons are one of the most important card types in Flesh and Blood. They can determine the entirety of a hero’s or deck’s strategy. Some weapons are universally lauded as fantastic while others are viewed as unplayable. In between those extremes is a very interesting spectrum of alternative strategies that I believe are underexplored. These options may not be the best, as it is very difficult to compete with the efficiency of Rosetta Thorn or the opportunities provided by Luminaris, but they are worth investigating. These strategies are often most viable at the Armory, Skirmish, or Pro Quest levels, as the novelty and surprise are often enough to make your opponent uncertain about their decisions or leave them with ineffective sideboarding options. This article aims to explore some of the more interesting and viable alternative weapons that you may not have considered or previously dismissed.

Alternative weapons can be objectively worse than their counterparts (Bone Basher and Romping Club), or functionally similar with minor differences (Anothos and Sledge of Anvilheim). Some weapons require entirely different playstyles and decks, such as Raydn from Cintari Sabers or Annals of Sutcliffe from Rosetta Thorn. Today we will be discussing Quicksilver Dagger, Hexagore, Death Dealer, and Surgent Aethertide in a bit more depth.

             Quicksilver Dagger is the main card that inspired this article, as it further develops an archetype for Warrior that has not been popular since the Crucible of War era, where it saw some meaningful success. This style of deck integrates attack action cards with on-hit effects after weapon swings. Using reactions as a way to hide information from opponents and force them into uncertain decisions has been discussed before, and remains an important aspect in Warriors’ playbook. With the advent of Quicksilver Dagger, which addresses Warriors’ issue with action points, you can further press your opponents into making difficult decisions. In addition to deciding how much to block because of the threat of reactions, they now have to decide which attack to block. Offering your opponent more chances to make mistakes, or at least guess wrong about what your follow-up is, has proven effective. The general turn under this game plan would be to begin with giving Cintari Saber Go Again, through either an action or a reaction, which allows for Quicksilver Dagger to also attack with Go Again. Ideally, when Quicksilver Dagger attacks, you will still have one or more cards in hand. Your opponent is now forced into making a decision whether they block the dagger or keep their cards. Dedicating a card to block a single point of damage is almost never ideal, but with the threat of reactions possibly increasing the attack to four damage, it may be necessary. If your opponent does over-block, you are now free to play high-value attack action cards with on-hit effects.  Snatch and Command and Conquer are foremost among the options, but there are many other strong attacks to end the chain with. Command and Conquer in particular is a strong option because players tend to arsenal defense reactions against Warriors, as discussed here.

Hexagore is a fantastically powerful weapon, offering six damage for two resources with no activation restrictions. This puts it ahead of both Rok and Rosetta Thorn, except for its unique, self-damaging downside. In order to mitigate this, a Hexagore deck needs to be consistently filling the graveyard and banishing cards quickly. Over time, Levia has expanded the tools available to her to accomplish both of these goals. In Dynasty, Levia got Berserk, which includes an interesting clause that directly banishes any discarded six-power attack, which will likely have Blood Debt. This can be a way for Levia to skip her usual requirement of having three cards in the graveyard to banish, while still turning off Blood Debt. Additionally, Berserk often represents a free card into the graveyard, as it aims to replace itself. This increases both the risk and reward of the deck as it requires more cards with discard effects. Luckily, these cards, such as Pulping and Wild Ride, also work well with Hexagore. Graveling Growl, as an attack that deals seven damage and costs one resource, is the highest attack rate in FaB currently, and is always satisfying to play, as the reward is almost always worth the restriction. This parallels my feelings towards Hexagore, as the cost and damage for both cards are similar, and both are very satisfying to end the turn with. Hexagore decks are most effective in an aggressive beatdown strategy rather than a fatigue strategy due to the high Blood Debt requirement. Fatigue Levia can be very effective through the recycling of Howl from Beyond, but that is rarely a situation that a Hexagore deck finds itself in. This deck is not for the faint of heart, as attacking with Hexagore in the early game and taking two or three damage is often necessary to apply pressure and maintain tempo. Levia is not a hero without problems, but this type of press-your-luck deck can be both fun and powerful, if inconsistent.

Death Dealer has one of the strongest effects in the game. Paying one resource to draw a card and refresh your action point is better than Gold or Silver. The caveat of being forced to interact with arrows is a significant downside, as it makes turns without arrows very challenging. It has long been my belief, even if better Ranger players disagree with me, that Azalea should run a deck with 15 to 20 blues. Three of these blues should definitely be Tri-shot, as they can mimic the effect of Three of a Kind in a deck with a high number of arrows. Oftentimes, Death Dealer is used as a way to allow a deck to run fewer blues, however I think that it should be used to extend turns with an already-pitched blue. I find similarities between this and how Brutes craft their Bloodrush Bellow turns when they draw two cards, wanting desperately to begin the turn by pitching a blue. Additionally, a strong base of blue cards allows Death Dealer decks, with Three of a Kind, Tri-shot, and Rain Razors to use Perch Grapplers effectively. A high amount of card draw, from Death Dealer, Tri-shot, Three of a Kind, and possibly even Art of War, combined with unlimited Go Again from Perch Grapplers, often results in very explosive turns. With so much card draw, and ways to pay for the turn, even Rapid Fire is playable in this deck (although it does reduce consistency as an additional non-arrow card).

Surgent Aethertide is a new card that hints at the future to come. Although the activation only deals one damage, it provides a buff of X, based upon the damage dealt. It may be possible to buff this damage in the future. For the time being however, Surgent Aethertide is Wizard’s entry into a Runeblade playstyle that weaves attack actions and arcane damage together on the same turn. Once again, this style focuses on denying your opponent information to create bad guesses, much like Quicksilver Dagger does. The use of cards such as Life for a Life that provide Go Again and on-hit effects is the general idea behind this deck. Attacking with some arcane damage, through the staff, forces the opponent to decide whether it is worth pitching an entire card to block a single point of damage. If they do, you can play out the rest of the turn with attack action cards to make their pitch inefficient. Attacks like Rifting and Snatch are standouts here, and classics like Command and Conquer never go amiss. If they do not block it, you can now play powerful arcane damage actions like Sonic Boom, Lesson in Lava, or Mind Warp.

I think that Kano is better suited to this than Iyslander, who already has her own partially-martial archetype. The only way a Wizard could try to poorly mimic a Runeblade and get away with it is because of the explosiveness of instant speed damage to close out a game. In order to do this in a deck with attack action cards, Opt is a very important keyword in this deck. This could see the return of Talismanic Lens as a headpiece and the use of the new Surge keyword from Dynasty. Prognosticate lets you Opt, Mind Warp offers disruption to your opponent, and Aether Quickening allows you to keep an action point for further follow up attacks or spells. While this deck is interesting and worth a try at an Armory, I think there needs to be further support for this archetype before it becomes broadly competitively viable. For the time being, I think this a fantastic way to try and capture the very fun experience of playing Kano in limited with an increased power level.