Flesh and Blood‘s newest set, Heavy Hitters, is beginning to roll out across the world. After a long wait since Outsiders, LSS is finally bringing back a crowd favorite for new players and veterans alike: preconstructed Blitz decks.

Let’s go through a general overview first. Priced at $11.99 USD, these precons serve as a great gateway into the exciting world of Flesh and Blood, all while equipping new players with a playable deck right off the bat, without experiencing the hassles of piecemeal card collecting, especially when their FAB circle is still limited. For vets, these decks also offer some exciting goodies.

For instance, LSS has finally brought back rainbow foil hero cards! A main draw of older Blitz decks, these finally make a return after the absence from the Outsiders precons. As an additional bonus, each deck contains six extended art cards of one of their core pieces. This should be exciting for variant collectors.

The sealed product also doesn’t contain cards unobtainable anywhere else, such as Mentors. While this may cause some disappointment to some, this should be a step in the right direction, as competitive players should not be forced to load up on sealed product just to get their hands on cards unavailable in booster packs.

Finally, as a way to decrease barrier to entry, each package comes with the usual Tips and Tricks card, which outlines a general game plan for each deck. This makes it easier to pick up for players just getting their ears wet, or for those who like to keep all the Blitz decks together and treat it as a sealed format or a board game.

Today, we’ll take a look at the Heavy Hitters Warrior precons, namely, Kassai and Olympia. Let’s head to the arena!

Kassai

A fan favorite, Kassai is back with her dual-wielding sword shenanigans, but her ability now has a different condition: we only get discounted hits if we draw a card beforehand. This plays well into her ability to generate Gold, all while the token fuels more draw for the following turn.

As cracking a Gold token costs two resources and Kassai gives a discount per sword attack, this means that if we get to attack twice a turn with the ability active, we can treat this as a cycling effect. And thus, we need a steady stream of Gold, which comes from her ability – meaning we need to focus on red and yellow cards – and through Gold-generating cards.

Key Cards

Draw Swords, which is the precon’s featured extended art, is core for Kassai. It buffs the next attack, all while drawing a card. Factoring in Kassai’s ability and assuming we get two attacks in, this means it’s essentially a one-cost card that pumps and draws.

This buff plays well into one of Warrior’s newest toys, Hot Streak. With a base value of two attack, it’s only as effective as its usual partner, the Cintari Saber. However, once you pump up the new sword’s attack to more respectable numbers – with Draw Swords pushing it up to five – it becomes a much more threatening attack, which demands a block, sometimes with an attack action card. This then fulfills the condition to give each of its attacks go again, allowing for our follow-up with Cintari Saber. This causes a dilemma for the opponent – do they block and face a second attack, or just take the damage and hope we don’t have a different go again effect?

Unfortunately, there’s a lack of same-turn go again effects for the precon.

The deck instead is loaded with cards that give Agility tokens, such as Goblet of Bloodrun Wine, Lead with Speed, and Agile Engagement. Focus on these Agility token procs to ensure we can attack two times per turn with our weapons.

Rising Speed and Rising Energy are both standouts in this deck, as they both synergize with our game plan of drawing cards each turn. Consider leading with Rising Speed, then following up with Hot Streak, and finally ending with the Cintari Saber in this case. On the flip side, we can end the turn with Rising Energy, as a six-damage attack action can mess up with the opponent’s plans when they expected a saber hit.

Hood of Red Sand is a great inclusion in the deck, and the fact that the specialization rares are included in the precon is of amazing value.

Gameplay Tips

Kassai is so much more planning-oriented, as we have to plan out our Gold usage ahead of time to ensure we can play out most of our hand each turn. With fewer ways to generate Gold, it may take some practice to get into Kassai’s flow.

In the endgame, Hot Streak causes more problems for the opponent similar to the Ninja Kodachi lock, as they’re forced to block, but are then greeted by another attack that threatens lethal.

Consider using Engaged Swiftblade with a leading Cintari Saber hit to take opponents by surprise, then follow it up with Hot Streak.

Upgrading Kassai

As for upgrades, consider taking out Trade In and Performance Bonus – they both feel clunky, requiring to be played from arsenal to actually have go again.

Money Where Ya Mouth Is is an amazing upgrade, as it generates Gold while advancing our game plan. Blade Runner, On a Knife Edge, and Glint the Quicksilver are all ways to grant Hot Streak go again, while Hit and Run is just a flexible card for dual-wielding Warriors.

Other notable upgrades include Sharpen Steel, Push Forward, Ironsong Response, and Slice and Dice – we need more pump effects to force blocks on Hot Streak.

Consider Outland Skirmish – a Kassai mainstay, it serves as a card to build up into Blood On Her Hands. It might be worth looking into, perhaps for Classic Constructed, where we can cycle through our deck and build up a bigger payoff.

Refraction Bolters is still an amazing Warrior card, and so is Gallantry Gold. Blossom of Spring is a sidegrade to Vigor Girth. We don’t need to run Courage of Bladehold and may instead opt for Fyendal’s Spring Tunic – but that’s a steep upgrade.

For more high-end substitutions, consider Twinning Blade, as Hot Streak‘s ability is worded specifically to interact with effects like these. Run Through is an amazing pickup if you can get your hands on it, so are Shift the Tide of Battle and Blade Flurry, both new Heavy Hitters cards. On the other hand, Commanding Performance is shaping up to be an excellent final attack boost, so consider this one as well.

Of course, let’s not forget Cash In, the Gold payoff card. Consider Crown of Dominion as well, if we ever want to push the deck more into Royal territory.

Raise an Army is interesting, but it might be too slow for Blitz. However, in Classic Constructed, we could angle towards a turtle-style Kassai build, with several defensive reds and yellows, such as Sink Below, Fate Foreseen, Steelblade Shunt, and Hearty Block.

Overall, the Kassai precon feels a bit more all over the place, with an identity crisis over generating Gold, with a smattering of Vigor and Agility, which pushes up the complexity level of a hero that may already require precise sequencing, turn planning, and graveyard management. However, it comes with some great attacks that will definitely see use even in the final builds. With a few common and rare substitutions, the deck can become a legitimate armory contender.

Olympia

Let’s now head to the Deathmatch Arena and take a look at Olympia, who has a much more straightforward ability – he simply generates Gold whenever he wins a wager. This means we should focus on wager effects to build up a steady pile of Gold and convert these into additional cards.

Unlike Kassai, Olympia is a much more extravagant Warrior. With so much more Gold lying around, we can crack these tokens willy-nilly just to fix a handful of blues, or to set up a payoff attack.

Key Cards

Looking at Olympia‘s precon decklist, he feels so much more like a Guardian, as he prefers bigger attacks, with the added surprise of attack reactions that Guardians usually cannot access. As he blurs the lines between the two classes, we can focus on his huge attacks such as Wage Agility and Wage Vigor, which advance our game plan.

Edge Ahead, Olympia‘s extended art card, is a key piece to this puzzle, as it allows us to create more Agility. This lets us to toss out one big attack, followed up with a Cintari Saber or Parry Blade hit.

Hold 'em works in the same way, but this one allows us to go all-in with more resources.

Rising Speed and Rising Energy are as amazing in Olympia as they are in Kassai, as both of them play around with Gold.

Take The Upper Hand is definitely key for this deck, as our strategy revolves around constant wagers. We can utilize Prized Galea so we can buff our weapons for a surprise pump.

Gameplay Tips

Olympia can afford to crack Gold tokens just to power up Rising Energy and Rising Speed.

We can only utilize one Agility token a turn, so ensure we begin the turn with one. Vigor, on the other hand, can stack, so prioritize getting more Vigor stacks after we accomplish the Agility minigame.

Don’t be afraid of blues! Olympia’s deck is blue-heavy, as we need to pay for bigger attacks. But don’t hesitate filtering away excess blues with Gold to dig for a crucial card. In the same vein, three gold tokens and two blues means we can convert these into three cards. Together with the arsenal, we can potentially look into a six-card turn.

As it stands, Olympia’s precon deck provides a much more streamlined game plan – crack Gold, set up for a big attack, win wagers, create Agility and Vigor tokens, rinse and repeat.

Upgrading Olympia

Feeling more like a Guardian than Warrior, Olympia could benefit from Decimator Great Axe, along with axe-buffing pieces such as Spill Blood and Felling Swing; it’s definitely an interesting angle.

Up the Ante is amazing for the deck, as it’s a flexible attack reaction that still blocks for three, or pitches for three.

Unmovable red and blue feel like natural shoo-ins, since they play into a slower approach to the game. Clash of Vigor and Clash of Agility are also some inclusions for a defensive deck.

Wage Gold should complete the Wage trifecta of attacks, as this allows us to gain more Gold to convert into resources, while Runner Runner plays into our game plan of needing an Agility token every turn.

Agile Windup and Vigorous Windup are both flexible cards, but they suffer from only having two block. We must test this more extensively, as instant effects such as these have the potential to be extremely powerful.

Gold payoff comes in the form of Double Down, which just does everything we need to in the deck: it pumps, it pushes damage, and generates more tokens.

Once again, Cash In should be considered, as well as Crown of Dominion.

An interesting angle is Knick Knack Bric-a-brac to fetch multiple Energy Potion into a huge Up the Ante – another notable Heavy Hitters majestic – although the reaction’s inclusion is warranted even without this convoluted line.

We would be remiss to forget the forever iconic Pummel, as it provides a huge on hit effect and combat trick. Its mere existence threatens careful planning by the opponent whenever we have two resources floating.

To wrap it up, Olympia provides a more cohesive game plan straight out of the box, and his upgrades don’t deviate. The precon should be able to put up a fight straight out of the box, and should only get better from there. For beginners, this is an ideal deck to pick up and play, as it already comes with multiple copies of the key cards.

Contrasting the two, the frugal Kassai requires more upgrades to bring it up to a competitive level, while the spendthrift Olympia should need fewer pieces to become a more effective Warrior.

Tomorrow, FABREC will tackle the Brute precons, so let’s brace ourselves for heavier hitters.

More Heavy Hitters Reviews:

Heavy Hitters Set Review – Generics and the Expansion Slot

Heavy Hitters Set Review – Brute

Heavy Hitters Set Review – Warrior

Heavy Hitters Set Review – Guardian