(Decimator Great Axe | Art by Stormy Elia Fanggidae)

Late in 2023, a new Dorinthea, Ironsong deck started appearing in competitive Classic Constructed play utilizing the Decimator Great Axe. Like other standard Warrior decks, the Decimator build presents consistent damage and can out-value its opponent when they block.

In this article, I’ll explore the ins and outs of the deck and provide two lists.

1. Decimate, a Classic Constructed list with some revealed Heavy Hitters cards.
2. Decimate (but cheaper), a Classic Constructed list geared to be as budget-friendly as possible.

Table of Contents

• Just Keep Swinging
  • A Brief Note on the Great Axe
• Decimator Great Axe’s Resource Curve and Effect Redundancies
  • Lines of Play and with Dorinthea and the Decimator Great Axe
  • 1-Card 4: Once Card Used, Four Damage Presented
  • 2-Card 8: Two Cards Used, Eight Damage Presented
  • 2-Card 7: Two Cards Used, Seven Damage Presented
  • 2-Card 4: Two Cards Used, Four Damage Presented
  • 3-Card 11: Three Cards Used, Eleven Damage Presented
  • 3-Card 10, Three Cards Used, Ten Damage Presented
  • 4-Card 14, Four Cards Used, Fourteen Damage Presented
  • 4-Card 12, Four Cards Used, Twelve Damage Presented
  • 4-Card 10, Four Cards Used, Ten Damage Presented
• Equipment Alternatives for Budget Deck Construction
• Why You Should Don the Dress and Pick Up the Axe

Just Keep Swinging

Decimation is the act of reducing something by one-tenth. When unchecked, every swing of the Decimator Great Axe takes away one-tenth of the average adult hero’s life total. So, theoretically, you could block with three cards every turn (an average of nine points of defense) and attack with your axe for four. These four-card turn cycles average 13 points of value — which is notably one point higher than a stereotypically average Anothos cycle of blocking with two cards and swinging hammer.

Both of these examples neglect to mention actually playing a card. Guardians can threaten devastating hit effects and disrupt your offensive retaliation. Warriors prove to be the most competent martial fighters in Rathe through the sheer force of their non-attack action and attack reaction cards.

A Brief Note on the Great Axe

A quick read will tell you that Decimator strips value out of any action or block card used to defend against it. I’ll note a couple of things to keep in mind when picking up the great axe.

• You can think of Decimator’s text to effectively read as, “Once Per Turn Reprise — If the defending hero defended with an action card from their hand this chain link, this attack gains +1.”
• If your opponent blocks with a card from hand and an equipment piece with Temper, you can target the equipment piece to have its defense value halved. If it initially had two defense, then the -1 counter would get placed at the end of the chain link, which is before the end of the turn, so the equipment destroys itself.
• You cannot reduce the block value of defense reactions.

Decimator Great Axe’s Resource Curve and Effect Redundancies

When Dorinthea puts down her sword for an axe, her resource curve makes quite the adjustment. Most Dawnblade lists are happy to see one (and only one) blue pitch card per turn. Decimator builds end up resembling Guardian lists instead, with over 30 blue pitch cards.

There are several card effects and attack bonuses you’ll want to see from your red power cards, but you can also receive some below-rate redundancies by playing blue-pitch cards on all-blue hands.

Fyendal’s Spring Tunic puts in a lot of work in this deck. When you have your three counters, you’re going to look for your power cards. Maybe you held one in the arsenal for a couple of turns, or you drew into one (or more).

I’ve discussed value a couple of times already, so for now, let’s just acknowledge a few things:

• Most cards that block in this deck block for three.
• Phrases like “2-card 8” mean a player used two cards to present eight damage.
• Cards that aren’t shown represent blue pitch cards used as resources.

Lines of Play with Dorinthea and the Decimator Great Axe

Let’s explore some Decimator Great Axe lines. This is not a comprehensive list, but I wanted to give plenty of examples of how this deck offers greater redundancy than previous Dorinthea (and even Bravo) lists.

1-Card 4: One Card Used, Four Damage Presented

Decimator Great Axe – The classic one card for four damage. Guardians do it with Anothos and Titan’s Fist; Ninjas can when they block down to a Fluster Fist or Soulbead; Assassins often will with Leave No Witnesses, among plenty of other options; and so on.

When heroes can achieve this exchange with their weapon, they have the added benefit of not sending any cards to the graveyard to pay for the damage — which makes it easier for them to play a longer game plan and set up their power cards to regain tempo.

2-Card 8: Two Cards Used, Eight Damage Presented

Fyendal’s Spring Tunic + Cleave + Decimator Great Axe – You have three counters on Tunic and Cleave in the arsenal. You’re safe to block with three of your cards to keep one blue in hand. Use your Tunic resource to pay for Cleave, and swing hard with Decimator.

This turn cycle represents 17 points of value (an average nine on defense and eight on offense). You’ll receive extra value here if your opponent has an ally in play or one of your block cards was a defense reaction. Of course, you may elect to only block with two cards and keep one to arsenal or bluff an Ironsong Response.

2-Card 7: Two Cards Used, Seven Damage Presented

Sharpen Steel red + Plow Through blue + Decimator Great Axe – This line is as straightforward as they come. It’s tempted me enough to consider running Sharpen Steel yellow.

At first glance, two cards for seven damage presented is simply on rate with a generic attack action card like Raging Onslaught, but your weapon can make things more complicated if they block and there’s nothing wrong with seven damage!

2-Card 4: Two Cards Used, Four Damage Presented

Goblet of Bloodrun Wine + Decimator Great Axe – On its face, this is a low-value turn. But we need to account for the value the Agility and Vigor tokens are going to bring to the following turn. Go again will give us another opportunity for at least a one-card-four-damage swing, and Vigor will grant another one to four damage from playing a card like Warrior's Valor, Spill Blood, Cleave, or activating Braveforge Bracers for the second swing.

3-Card 11: Three Cards Used, Eleven Damage Presented

Fyendal’s Spring Tunic + Warrior’s Valor red + Decimator Great Axe – This play line requires two blue pitch cards and your first swing to hit, so Dorinthea’s ability triggers, enabling go again and an additional swing of your axe.

Sharpen Steel red + Decimator Great Axe + Refraction Bolters – Similar to the line with Sharpen Steel above, this one shows one possible use-case for Refraction Bolters.

Vigor + Agility + Hold ‘Em red – Now we’re cookin’. Goblet of Bloodrun Wine is the new MVP of this deck. At the beginning of the turn after getting wine buzzed, you have a free resource and free go again on your next attack. Hitting with the Hold ‘Em buffed attack will even net you another Agility token for the following turn. Naturally, the Hold ‘Em can be a number of other +3 buffs.

3-Card 10: Three Cards Used, Ten Damage Presented

Felling Swing red – This is another bread-and-butter line. Threatening to take away one-tenth of their life in one swing is hopefully enough to bait a block. That’s a block you can make less useful and threaten an attack reaction.

Agility + Runner Runner red + Decimator Great Axe – This is an exciting new line, thanks to Heavy Hitters.

Fyendal’s Spring Tunic + Spill Blood + Decimator Great Axe – Spill Blood may effectively be a worse version of Warrior’s Valor red. Maybe we should just run the yellow version of that card instead, but having automatic go again has some nice use-cases, even if your opponent blocks the first weapon attack.

• You can play Goblet of Bloodrun Wine.
• You could attack with one of the deck’s poppers.

4-Card 14: Four Cards Used, Fourteen Damage Presented

Fyendal’s Spring Tunic + Cleave+ Felling Swing red – As one of the top lines in the deck, you love to connect with this one. Anytime you see Cleave, you’re hoping to see allies in play from an Illusionist hero or the new Kassai.

4-Card 12: Four Cards Used, Twelve Damage Presented

Fyendal’s Spring Tunic + Spill Blood + Hit and Run blue – Each of these swings has dominate, so this blue pitch-heavy line is perfect for closing out the game.

Fyendal’s Spring Tunic + Cleave + Felling Swing blue

4-Card 10: Four Cards Used, Ten Damage Presented

These lines are the bottom of the barrel, full blue-pitch hands. You’ll need to analyze the trade-off. Is it worth it to take the damage they’re offering to come in for 10? With some armor or a defense reaction from arsenal, you may be able to mitigate some hit effects to put pressure back on your opponent.

Warrior’s Valor blue + Decimator Great Axe + Braveforge Bracers – Three pitch cards, two dinky little buffs, one more reason to run Ironsong Response among other possible attack reactions. Like other Dori decks, the constant threat of dealing extra damage if your opponent tries to block is enough to keep them on edge.

With Decimator, they’ll need to extend extra cards to block a full swing and stop Dorinthea’s ability from proccing. So if they do choose to block one of your blue-heavy lines, just be glad they’ll have less offense to throw back your way.

Driving Blade blue + Decimator Great Axe + Braveforge Bracers – This is a redundant line to the one above. I’ve enjoyed having Driving Blade in the deck for this exact scenario. It won’t happen every game, but you never want to feel too bricked by an all-blue hand.

Equipment Alternatives for Budget Deck Construction

This budget list costs about $30, and it might be the best budget deck for Classic Constructed. With Fyendal’s Spring Tunic closer to $75, you can start being competitive in Flesh and Blood for about $100 today.

Tunic adds a ton of value to the deck by providing a free resource every three turns to pay for one of your buffs. The helmet and arms pieces are much easier to swap for their less-expensive counterparts.

This trade-off is pretty simple. Save $50 to have two less armor for the game and still have the opportunity to boost your axe. Frankly, the turns I have the resources to pay for Braveforge Bracers are rare. I’d almost rather have the ability to pay for Gallantry Gold when I know I’ll be swinging twice with Decimator to get +2 on the turn cycle from one resource.

Crowns are great, but they are expensive. The easiest replacement is Hope Merchant’s Hood — it serves a similar function by allowing you to cycle your hand when needed. You can also consider Helm of Sharp Eye for a cheap upgrade from Ironrot Helm. Of course, there’s always Nullrune Hood for matchups against Runeblades, Illusionists, and Wizards.

Again, Tunic goes above and beyond for this deck in Classic Constructed, but there are cheap alternatives to consider that bring similar effects once per game. Deep Blue will help you fix an all-red hand by effectively turning one of them into a blue, while Blossom of Spring grants you that all-important single resource to pay for a pump.

Why You Should Don the Dress and Pick Up the Axe

At the time of writing, I haven’t seen all of Heavy Hitters, but in possibly the healthiest meta we’ve seen in a long time, consistent decks like Decimator Dori are sure to be worth your consideration.

I’ve shown you the redundant play lines available and how affordable the deck can be. I’m sure this list will pick up a few more pieces from the scraps in the Death Match Arena. Until then, think about putting on your fanciest green dress and grabbing life by the axe.

Further Reading:

Dorinthea – Fun or Competitive?

Tales of Rathe: Dorinthea

Pro Flesh and Blood Players Tank, and You Should Too!