Written by Connor Archer

 

Following the recent release of Flesh and Blood expansion Everfest, brewers and competitors around the world are scrambling to find the new meta pics for this season. With ProQuest Season 1 beginning on the 19th of March and Skirmish Season 4 announced for April, I have been tweaking a pet deck of mine with an archetype that up until recently, hasn't quite had the support it needed to thrive. Two key commons printed in Everfest have in my opinion fully revived this archetype and to my knowledge they have mostly flown under the radar. Join me as I discuss why its time for Dorinthea to cash in her Dawnblade in favor of the axe. 

  

Why abandon the way of the sword?

It is a common sentiment within the community that when you first enter the Flesh and Blood TCG, Dorinthea Ironsong is the first big challenge you must overcome on your path to becoming a well rounded player. When an opponent presents an attacking Dawnblade with resources floating and cards in hand, it can be extremely hard to predict what they plan to do, so the first few times you block incorrectly and get punished.

Over time however, you endured and with experience comes knowledge. After a few months of playing, you can read Dorinthea's tells like a book and you know when is most optimal to block and shut down their big turns. But what happens when instead of flipping over one sword, your opponent flips over two hatchets and a pair of boots you've only ever seen in a binder? This is the first strength of switching to Hatchets, your opponents already have an idea in their head of how to beat Dorinthea, but the play style is so different they may as well be playing against a different warrior altogether.

  

The Strategy 

This deck is about raw damage, setting up big turns, and unpredictability. Using your equipment to block effectively and chipping in where you can until you can close out the game with dominated axe swings. Dawnblade Dorinthea punishes blocks from hand with her reprise triggers, we aim to do the opposite by punishing our opponent for not blocking enough.

This deck tech will be formatted for Blitz but I will include options for CC (Classic Constructed) as well as a Budget equipment suite at the end.

 

   Valiant Dynamo 

   

The Equipment 

For weapons, we are opting to run Hatchet of Body and Hatchet of mind. The aim being to hit with our first unsuspecting Hatchet, attack with the second one and then attack again with the first. this will allow us to benefit from the plus 1 bonus of both Hatchets. In my experience it is much easier to get the bonus on the hatchets then it is to get it on the sabers and that extra damage really adds up throughout the game, I do still run Courage of Bladehold but that is purely as an option against Benji for the block.

The MVP of this deck list is definitely Valiant Dynamo, it is still a fairly underutilized piece of equipment but it has massive potential. This card can be a Carrion Husk without the downside, the longer a game goes on, the more value it generates. keep in mind you only need to have attacked twice in the turn, you don't need to hit at all to recur them. Use them often and use them well, it can be the extra 1 block you need to stop a red snatch or it can be the chain breaker you need against kodachi's.

  

Next is the Fyendal's Spring Tunic, a staple of the game. It may not make your attacks free for the turn or block for 3, but we are running 6 Steelblade shunt's in the deck and I can guarantee you nothing feels better than using a tunic resource to Shunt Anothos and deal damage to your opponent at the same time. completing the fridge we have Arcanite Skullcap and Braveforge Bracers for extra block and a pump for your weapons when you have the resource to spare. 

   

 

   Blade Runner

   

The Deck 

We are running a total of 18 reds, 6 yellows and 16 blues. We generally want 1 blue 2 reds and a red or yellow as a perfect hand. If you can line that up with a Tunic resource you have the makings of a very explosive and unpredictable turn. We are aiming to go wide with this deck and that means a lot of go again. Now with the addition of Blade Runner from Everfest we have a card that is essentially 2 in 1, giving our current weapon attack go again as an attack reaction and our next weapon attack a buff. This card can be followed up nicely with Hit and Run to give another buff and go again to the next weapon attack. This means if either of your hatchets hit in the turn, you may attack an additional time with them thanks to Dori's static ability. Safe to say we are running 6 of each of these. other go again cards include Spoils of War, Glint the Quicksilver and Driving Blade making for a total of 20 sources of go again in your 40 card deck. 22 if you include the two Timesnap Potion's which can be set up on off turns, used to pop auras or simply pitched away.

In terms of pure damage output we have Sharpen Steel and the brand new In the Swing. Both costing 0 but the latter being a new favorite of mine as this decks Ironsong Response without the drawback of reprise, its an excellent unexpected threat. Red Second Swing is another under rated gem which turns your second axe from 3 to 7 damage for the cost of 1 resource. Last but not least we have one of the decks win conditions in the appropriately named Spill Blood. Giving all your Axe swings plus 2 and dominate is one stylish way to end a game quickly, especially if you've taken the time to set it up in arsenal with a Timesnap Potion out.

  

Dawnblade Dorinthea punishes blocks from hand with her reprise triggers. We aim to do the opposite by punishing our opponent for not blocking enough.

  

Rounding out the deck I run all 6 Steelblade Shunts which I have found to be overachievers. this can however be local meta dependent, currently there are a lot of Guardian and Brute players in my local scene, so they work well for me but other options could include red Sink Below or maybe even red or yellow Dauntless. lastly we have 2 Pursuit of Knowledge as a threat that comes in blue, I have found it to be a good off turn card that forces a block. 

   

   Spill Blood

   

CC considerations 

I have also been running this deck in Constructed using this blitz version essentially as the core. Everything in this core can be bumped up to 3 and from there you can experiment and find out which cards work for you and which don't. other cards I have tried out in my sideboard are red Snatch, Command and Conquer, Steelblade Supremacy, red Sink Below and red / yellow Dauntless. At this time, I expect Hatchet Dorinthea to perform better in blitz but I'm hoping to be proven wrong, the potential of Valiant Dynamo in a longer game is huge so hopefully we can see some tops for our girl in the upcoming ProQuests and Skirmishes. 

   

   Hope Merchants Hood (left), Helm of Sharp Eye (right)

   

Budget Options 

The Keen eyed reader may have noticed there is a legendary piece of equipment occupying every slot for Dorinthea in this Tech but fear not, Warrior has plenty of budget options and the deck itself only runs 6 cards total at majestic rarity and 2 optional supers. 

For head equipment you have the choice of the new Helm of Sharp Eye or Hope Merchants Hood. If running Helm, I may also suggest trying to work in a couple of Fate Forseen, to help set up an attack reaction on top of the deck as the likelihood of blindly hitting is not great. Still blocking 1 isn't bad either, and if you choose to forgo the helm, Hope Merchants Hood helps you fix your hands nicely. 

   

  

  Fate Foreseen

  

For the chest, its Deep Blue for resource fixing, Ironrot Chest for blocking without committing a resource or Ironhide. There will be turns where you are pitching for a Steelblade Shunt anyway, may as well get the value from any leftover resources

For the arms, you have Gallantry Gold for a free 1 block and a buff to your weapons at some point in the game. And lastly you have the good old Refraction Bolters, just in case you didn't have enough go again already. 

   

   Gallantry Gold

   

If you've made it to the end of the article, thank you so much for reading. Hopefully you got something of value out of it, and I would love to hear if I helped convince you to dust off the old Hatchets. I wish you all good luck in the upcoming competitive season, and hope to see you across the table soon!