With a new set comes new Blitz decks to introduce players to the game and give us a glimpse at how heroes will play. This is a quick dive into the young Guardian heroes of Heavy Hitters: Victor Goldmane, and Betsy.

Heroes of the Hour

Victor Goldmane seems to be the more defensive option of the pair, wanting to block out opposing attacks before clashing with your opponent when you do attack to leverage Guardian’s naturally high-powered attack on top. Should your clashes go poorly for you, Victor can let you break Gold generated by Golden Glare, Test of Strength and Performance Bonus. Helping turn a brawl in your favor is not the only thing Victor can do, as whenever a Gold is generated for the first time in a turn you get to draw an additional card. For Guardian specifically, this will help with setting an arsenal or occasionally blocking more or to pay for an attack cost.

On the other side of the spectrum, Betsy can be the more aggressive of the two decks. Retracing familiar abilities of Bravo, as long  as you’re betting on the outcome of a wager, Betsy can give the attack overpower and an extra point of power. This extra point of power can enable cards like Concuss and Command Respect on its own without needing another card, as long as you can wager, such as with Good Time Chapeau, as long as you have a Gold to destroy. Wagers can also be set up with Big Bop and Bigger Than Big the turn before.

Underlying Plans

Victor’s game plan is waiting out the opponent’s attacks and gaining advantage from the value clashes can generate. Cards like Thunk and Wallop add even more consistency to this unique strategy. Thunk is the standout card here at eight power, more than any other card in the deck; it will almost always win you a clash with any hero. Mighty Windup helps to generate some extra advantage with Might tokens to buff your turn’s attack.

However, the Victor deck suffers from a few issues, the biggest one being attack choices. The deck only has one eight-power card, and outside of yellow Thunk, you have no seven-power attacks either. This means that Kayo and other Guardians can out-muscle this deck and make you lose most of your clashes. As a result, I wouldn’t recommend this deck as an entry point to Victor.

"Victor Precon"

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Hero (1) 1 Victor Goldmane Weapons (2) 1 Miller’s Grindstone 1 Stonewall Impasse Equipment (4) 1 Golden Glare 1 Vigor Girth 1 Gauntlet of Might 1 Stand Ground Main (40) 2 Command Respect red 2 Concuss red 2 Rally the Rearguard red 2 Test of Might red 2 Test of Strength red 2 Test of Vigor red 2 Thunk red 2 Mighty Windup yellow 2 Performance Bonus yellow 2 Rally the Rearguard yellow 2 Thunk yellow 2 Wallop yellow 2 Clash of Might blue 2 Clash of Vigor blue 2 Command Respect blue 2 Concuss blue 2 Mighty Windup blue 2 Performance Bonus blue 2 Thunk blue 2 Wallop blue

While Victor is slowing down the pace of the game, Betsy wants to speed up with big attacks. Wagering any attack in the deck allows you to give it overpower and a bump in power thanks to Betsy’s ability and the potent pool of wager cards. The biggest standout of the deck is Money Where Ya Mouth Is, wagering a Gold to destroy for Good Time Chapeau and giving your next attack plus three, allowing Betsy to give it overpower as well. Wage Gold is a standout for similar reasons as to Money Where Ya Mouth Is. Smack Of Reality on the other hand is not only a nine, requiring a lot of block to stop in the first place, but can destroy any Vigor, Might or Agility tokens the opponent had managed to make if you can bring its power to thirteen or more with Money Where Ya Mouth Is or Bigger Than Big and Big Bop.  Another notably fun inclusion is Pint of Strong and Stout, making a Vigor and Might to pump up your next turn and still letting you attack. Having a wide selection of attacks, ways to buff them and keep the ball of pain rolling, Betsy is set to be a good and violent time. If you’re interested in throwing big attacks with upside for you, I would absolutely recommend the Betsy Precon.

"Betsy Precon"

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Hero (1) 1 Betsy Weapons (2) 1 High Riser 1 Bloodied Oval Equipment (4) 1 Good Time Chapeau 1 Vigor Girth 1 Gauntlet of Might 1 Stand Ground Main (40) 2 Big Bop red 2 Bigger Than Big red 2 Command Respect red 2 Concuss red 2 Money Where Ya Mouth Is red 2 Over the Top red 2 Smack of Reality red 2 Wage Gold red 2 Wage Might red 2 Wage Vigor red 2 Money Where Ya Mouth Is yellow 2 Big Bop blue 2 Bigger Than Big blue 2 Command Respect blue 2 Concuss blue 2 Lunging Press blue 2 Money Where Ya Mouth Is blue 2 Over the Top blue 2 Pint of Strong and Stout blue 2 Stacked in Your Favor blue

Upgrades and Alterations

If you do choose to buy the Victor precon, it’s going to need a lot of work to run smoothly. The first place to start would be to put in more powerful attacks to reveal off of the clash, such as Macho Grande, Righteous Cleansing, Thunder Quake, and Cranial Crush. On top of those attacks, Victor’s specialization The Golden Son is another powerful card to add in, giving a Gold when you win a clash with it, which lets you draw The Golden Son off of Victor’s ability. Big power attacks that also pitch for three is the main name of the game here, having ways to actually win your clashes and pay for your attacks at the same time. On the equipment side of things, Earthlore Bounty and Ironrot Legs are effective budget options if you don’t want to pay for Tectonic Plating, Civic Steps, or Gauntlets of Iron Will. Steelbraid Buckler is a more consistent shield than Stonewall Impasse until you can get Victor’s specialization shield, Aurum Aegis.

For Betsy’s deck, the game plan is already mostly coherent, but can be further enhanced with her spec Bet Big, Pummel, Tear Asunder, and the suite of eight-power, three-pitch cards Guardian has access to. With Command and Conquer, Mangle, Pulverize, and Spinal Crush as well, you can further press the advantage of Betsy by applying more disruption to your opponent with Betsy’s built-in overpower as well, so long as you’re wagering.

Another fun, but not as effective, option for Betsy is Thump, threatening to take a card with dominate and overpower  off of the back of Betsy. As far as equipment goes, the story is much the same: bring in many of the same options that Victor did, except maybe Crater Fist over the new gauntlets, depending on preference. For weapons however, switching out the hammer and shield for Anothos is the way to go. Swinging the hammer for six or more with Tec plating, Tear Asunder, and Money Where Ya Mouth Is is very effective and plenty of pressure just by itself.

With these precons we see the good and bad, sometimes providing a fully fleshed out idea for a deck and other times coming up short on what it needs. Additionally, we get extended art versions of that deck’s staple card as well as foil heroes. These decks seem like a great way for players to acquire some bling for a potential new deck of theirs.

Until we next meet, as always, may your brews and precons be ever so interesting.

More Heavy Hitters Reviews:

Heavy Hitters Set Review – Guardian

Heavy Hitters Blitz Deck Review – Kassai and Olympia

Heavy Hitters Blitz Deck Review – Kayo & Rhinar

Mari Groh

Mari is a Flesh and Blood player who enjoys a good session of deckbuilding more than playing the actual game at times, though both sides of the game are her passion. A former Azalea main she has put her bow away in favor of concocting odd brews, having yet to find a true favorite deck again. Coming from a slew of different card games including Magic The Gathering the resident jank specialist is here to brew and jam games... so long as she isn't distracted by other games or creative writing.