The Other Dori

Dorinthea, Quicksilver Prodigy is often overlooked for the other version of Dorinthea. Recently, with the addition of Heavy Hitters, she’s gained some power and attention. Her deck tends to be like a combination of traditional Dawnblade Dori and Kassai. The deck has proven to have a lot of consistency; removing the opponent’s ability to block you out to avoid the second swing is huge.

This Dori is looking to play efficient hands till she can line up a giant tempo swing with one of her myriad of powerful specializations. When it’s time to fire the big turn, this Dori can put out a lot of damage and set herself up to outvalue the opponent for the rest of the game till she can find a react or evasion to finish out the game. If original Dorinthea has your attention but you want a bit more consistency, this is a great hero to try.

Tools of a Warrior

Warrior as a class has a lot of staples, and this deck uses a lot of them combined with some more unique choices.

Dawnblade, Resplendent

Dawnblade Resplendent is the only weapon this Dori should be playing because of her textbox referencing it. The interesting thing about this weapon is that it makes numbers that are a lot like hatchets in that the first swing is for two and the next one gets buffed by one damage. That makes the deck prone to loading the damage on to the back end of their turns to capitalize on the buff.

Glistening Steelblade

This card came in the Classic Battles precons and has seen play in all Dawnblade-type Dori decks since. Glistening is insane if you can make it work, and better in this version of Dori. The important thing here is that the counters don’t fall of of this version of Dawnblade. Forcing hits on the Glistening turns is imperative to take advantage of this hero’s strengths. This card is probably the biggest payoff for this version of the hero.

Valiant Dynamo

Valiant Dynamo creates huge value in any deck that can consistently clear the counter off of it. Not having to hit with this Dori to swing the sword again makes this an easy task. Invalidating a breakpoint every turn cycle helps a with a lot of nasty on hits and allows this deck to keep more cards in hand.

Ironsong Determination

Determination has historically been in and out of Dori lists, but it’s a great tool when your plan is to force hits with Glistening to build a big Dawnblade. This is a prime arsenal target when you’re waiting for Glistening to show up. This can also be used as a finisher in matchups that block a lot. It’s a very versatile card when combined with on hits or damage.

Blade Flurry

This card is shared with the double-weapon Warriors and has been making a splash in all kinds of Warrior decks since HVY dropped. This deck plays a lot like those double-weapon lists and as such can really leverage Blade Flurry to power out some big turns for the deck or to push for lethal. Zero-cost reacts are always a nice thing to have to help push damage or finish games.

Run Through

Run Through is a lot like Blade Runner. The important difference is that Run Through is looking for swords whereas Blade Runner wants one-handed weapons. This allows for it to be used with two-handed swords and lets this pile have access to a pretty easy two-card seven-damage play. It’s also nice that it puts both swings on numbers that can be odd to block for decks that are mostly three-block cards.

Steelblade Supremacy

This is a classic staple in Dori’s kit and has more potential in this list since the opponent can’t typically stop you from threatening a second swing. This can help incentivize the opponent to block. That can be difficult in a deck without a ton of on hits. Drawing cards is extremely powerful even when it’s just to arsenal. That’s why Ponder tokens were created.

Singing Steelblade

Another classic Dori card, Singing Steelblade is often how you’ll find yourself closing games. This fixes many of the situations where the opponent is full blocking every turn and you can’t find the piece you need. If the opponent blocks from hand, you get to go find the most relevant attack reaction for the situation and can play it then and there. This pairs well with any of the zero-cost attack reactions in the deck.

Rout

I almost refuse to build Warrior decks without having at least one copy of this. The ability to remove someone’s block in late game just steals games a lot of times. Rout usually gets six value by removing a three-block on top of buffing the attack by three. This is also one of Singing Steelblade’s best friends when you have the resources. Rout is one of the most effective ways to end a game before the opponent finds a way to deal with your end game state, and for that reason, I can’t see not running it.

The Last React

When it comes to playing Dori, the original is a very reasonable choice with her own strengths. People don’t give this version enough credit, though. She can take down an Armory and might have the power to be competitive at a Skirmish in the right hands. The list has a lot of room for personal tastes and meta adjustments. If you’ve been thinking of trying a new Warrior deck, give this one some consideration.

Further Reading:

Play This New Dori Deck in Classic Constructed

Dorinthea – Fun or Competitive?

Tales of Rathe: Dorinthea

Jo O'Brien

Jo (they/them) is an avid Flesh and Blood player, judge and, writer. They are one of the blitz specialists here at FABREC. Jo has played a lot of classes and heroes but, they have an affinity for two heroes in particular, Dash and Valda. When not playing FaB, Jo is typically filling their free time playing guitar, playing Apex Legends, or building their next Rube Goldberg machine of a deck.