Guardians Galore!

Heavy Hitters boasts a whopping 255 cards, a little over Bright Lights. A solid 136 of them are playable in Guardian, but only 85 of them are Guardian class cards that we’ll be referencing from in this article.

As showcased in the limited formats, the theme of the set is to hit hard.  That said, Guardian still tends to be defensive-first in constructed. Can these new cards change that? Let’s take a look at what stands out!

Guardian Heroes

Betsy, Skin in the Game brings a fresh face to the Guardian class with a unique hero ability shared between her young and adult versions. Whenever you wager an attack, you may pay two resources to give it +1 and overpower. This is very similar to Bravo, Showstopper‘s ability, but with a major stipulation: the attack must wager. There are four attacks with wager built in, two auras that add wager, and then her headpiece which adds wager at the cost of a Gold. This means her ability to deck-build around her hero power is limited, but the beauty of how tall you can make her attacks means that you only need to trigger her ability a couple times to close a game. Her headpiece helps and may just be her entire game plan, which we’ll touch on in the next section.

In Classic Constructed and Blitz, I do worry that she is outclassed by Valda Brightaxe and Bravo, Showstopper in terms of aggression and Yoji, Royal Protector and Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty in terms of defense.

Victor Goldmane, smug as he is, brings a new play pattern to Guardian that the community is already latching onto. With his hero ability, he supports the clash keyword as well as adding value to Gold generation. A dual-purpose hero ability is always worth a deeper dive, and this one is particularly interesting because winning clashes can generate three different tokens: Gold, Vigor, and Might. Gold draws him an extra card and pays into his hero ability while Vigor acts like a Seismic Surge. Might tends to be the least synergistic one, but free damage is… free!

There are seemingly two schools of thought on approaching Victor Goldmane‘s value-oriented hero abilities: block heavily and use Vigor to cheat Sledge of Anvilheim, or block heavily and use Miller’s Grindstone in second cycle. Both play patterns lean defensive, but his unique defensive pattern lets him draw cards while blocking. Test of Strength and Trounce generate Gold which let you draw cards to go above the normal rate of ~12 block per hand – a great way to stem the bleed from aggro. I’ve personally seen some really exciting things from his Classic Constructed builds, but the jury is out on where he lands in Blitz!

Weapons & Equipment

Good Time Chapeau is an immediate standout for its incredible cost… That’s right, it doesn’t destroy itself! Unlike all of the other specialization headpieces, Betsy‘s destroys a Gold to add wager to her next attack, which is absolutely critical to getting value from her hero ability. It also applies to weapon attacks, so a play pattern I’ve seen Betsy deploy is Anothos-centric. You can use Good Time Chapeau, crack a Gold, pitch into Anothos and pay to Betsy for a two-card seven-attack with overpower and two wagers. Very impressive as a core gameplay pattern; you’ll just need to create Gold to get it going.

Gauntlets of Iron Will doesn’t offer anything new for raw block value compared to Crater Fist, but its effect is strictly defensive. Critically, the damage prevented is on the same chain link that you blocked with it, so you have to preemptively block where a card like an Art of War or Ancestral Empowerment would otherwise blow you out. Solid card!

Aurum Aegis gives us a lion’s head shield – forget about the ram! As a Victor specialization, this shield pairs most obviously with the Miller’s Grindstone game plan: defensive first cycle into a grind fest second cycle. This shield adds flexibility to that plan, where you can either use it just for defense if you’re under too much pressure, or carry it into the late game where it counts as Gold for his ability or even The Golden Son! As far as shields go, I love seeing flexible use cases rather than just defense like Stalagmite, Bastion of Isenloft.

We touched on Miller’s Grindstone a bit, but there are still a couple ways you could try to use this fatigue-oriented effect. You could try dual wielding and swing them aggressively to ignore the one that gets -1 first or have patience into second cycle. If you track that your opponent is running low on reds, it’s very unlikely the blues in deck will win clashes versus Guardian blues. Will it replace Titan’s Fist no question? Likely not, but it’s still a game warping card for you and the opponent.

Blocks & Instants

In Heavy Hitters, we see Guardians get their first run on block cards. Instants, though, have popped up before – who could forget Awakening?! The two in this set, Slap-Happy and Battered Not Broken, shouldn’t really see play since if you’re looking for blanket damage prevention, Oasis Respite and Steadfast are still premium.

Trounce and Boast come in as majestic block cards, but there’s clearly a winner here in terms of synergy and value. Trounce is Victor Goldmane‘s bread and butter, letting him build up tokens and giving him a high payoff outlet on which to spend his Gold. Boast has the flexibility of being a blue, but has an effect that is highly situational. You’d have to have blocked another card, clashed, and won. The more you want to win clashes, the more you want to run high attacks, especially in your blue slots and trim cards, well, like Boast. As of now, I don’t see it making the cut.

Victor Goldmane will also want to dip into more block cards like Test of Vigor and especially Test of Strength. Blocking four, generating a Gold, and drawing a card? Pure value! Just remember, don’t arsenal blocks. Oh, and they also don’t trigger on ally attacks, so try to side some out versus Dromai, Ash Artist.

Auras & Pumps

While auras look incredible in limited because of the slower nature of the format, they’ve had a hard time finding their legs in Classic Constructed. Even with new additions in Heavy Hitters, I don’t see much changing. Big Bop fumbles a bit next to Earthlore Empowerment mostly because it blocks two. Pumps, though, could fit in a Betsy, Skin in the Game list.

Double Down in particular can kickstart some zany board states as seen in the finals of the Celebrational. Since Betsy wants to create Gold anyway for her Good Time Chapeau, the alternative cost for Double Down could also come up. I hope it’s not too many engines for the deck to manage, though, and we do get to see it perform.

Worth noting as well is Talk a Big Game. As a blue block-three, you’ve got to start looking for the ceiling of the card compared to other blues, since its floor is quite good. And the ceiling for this card… Well, there isn’t one? Realistically, your opponent will make the choice that denies you the most value if you ever cast Talk a Big Game, but with access to overpower and dominate in Guardian, you could guarantee it gets four or more value. Surely Guardian players will default to blocking for three before taking a risk like this, but for those players who talk a big game, they can now put their money where their mouth is! 

Attacks

Guardians are always concerned with their attack suite. What’s their newest hit effect? Is tower coming back? How about heave or crush? Well, for Heavy Hitters, it’s mostly overpower and wager with some really exciting hero specializations. Shiyana buff, amirite?

Bet Big is yet another Betsy engine all in one. Wagering for Vigor, Might, and Gold leans into her Good Time Chapeau synergy and aggressive playstyle. The cost curve is also perfect. You can either throw it with Vigor for a two-card eight, or keep two blues to force the overpower with Betsy‘s ability. Additionally, Betsy‘s ability isn’t once per turn, so if you later add other wagers onto this like with Good Time Chapeau, you can pump it even higher. If you’re betting, bet big, right?

The Golden Son is a new ceiling for Guardians in the raw damage department, albeit only for Victor Goldmane. While there is normally a trade-off in damage for an added hit effect, The Golden Son is strictly damage. If you can pay for it with a Vigor or Fyendal’s Spring Tunic for a two-card play and sack a Gold, then we’re talking about a two-card ten with overpower. This gives Victor Goldmane quite a high kill threshold on a small hand, whereas Guardians normally need to keep three+ cards to close the game with dominate or Pummel. I wouldn’t plan on reliably revealing The Golden Son during a clash, but when it comes up, you’re launched ahead with the Gold and card draw.

Primed to Fight is the ultimate payoff for playing into Might and Vigor. While you could pull this off manually with Pint of Strong and Stout, the payoff next to a won wager with Bet Big or clash with Trounce is likely where it will see play. This is just raw damage similar to The Golden Son, which is really cool to see. Playing three-card tens like Thunder Quake was almost as aggressive as Guardian could be in past metas.

To generate more tokens, you’ve got options with Wage Vigor or Clash of Vigor and their Might counterparts. I’ve seen a lot of experimenting with rainbow Clash of Vigor in particular since its floor is three value and ceiling is four. Quite a low opportunity cost for Guardians to run, and if your deck is built around Vigor abuse like with Sledge of Anvilheim, you definitely want as much Vigor as possible.

To support clashes, you can lean into the payoff with Thunk and Wallop. While I find these too unreliable at face value, if they’re only replacing other blue fives or sixes, why not run them? Incidental triggers can lead to some funny scenarios like two Vigor for a Spinal Crush for one blue. Guardian players are all about value, don’t forget!

Speaking of value, Guardian attacks that cost three are supposed to come in for seven, right? Well not anymore! Concuss, Command Respect, and Over the Top give us new attacks that don’t need to crush for their effect. They just need to have their attack raised, which is easily achievable with Might. However, these are the only Might synergy cards, which is an archetype that doesn’t borrow from crossover mechanics like Seismic Surge and Vigor. I don’t really see these cards doing much beyond limited.

Lastly, I want to touch on the two-blocks, like Vigorous Windup and Rising Energy. I don’t see Guardian players willingly adding two-blocks unless it rhymes with trouble… Does Pummel rhyme with trouble? Hmm, speaking of, having some trouble signing off this article, so let’s just call it! I hope this helped you get some early takes on the stand-out Guardian cards from Heavy Hitters. 

More Heavy Hitters Reviews:

Heavy Hitters Set Review – Generics and the Expansion Slot

Heavy Hitters Set Review – Brute

Heavy Hitters Set Review – Warrior

Ethan Van Sant

Ethan ‘Man Sant’ Van Sant is known for his commitment to Levia and his coverage of FaB events as Savage Feats. He has a light background with Yugioh and Pokemon, but Flesh and Blood is the first TCG that has fully consumed him… As willed by Blasmophet.