Big Muscles and Big Hits with Valda

Greetings and salutations, my fabulous FAB folks!  I’m Donnie K, and you’ve found your way into another installment in our Ultimate Pit Fight brew series here on FABREC! Today, we’re diving back into the Guardian card pool to take a look at a UPF staple hero Valda Brightaxe!

There are a few different ways that a Valda UPF deck can be built. Anyone familiar with my articles and brews will know that I prefer fun over optimization though (most of the time). I think today’s deck is going to straddle that line between really strong and really fun quite nicely.

When we looked at building Betsy for UPF, we focused more on politics and scaring our opponents off with the threat of a big attack. I see Valda as more of a bar fighter who just wants to punch things. That doesn’t mean she’s not sophisticated though. As it turns out, Valda really enjoys a good book in between smashing faces. To see what I mean, let’s start with the equipment.

What Are We Wearing to the Bar?

The very first thing we’re going to talk about is our chest piece, Earthlore Bounty. Between Valda’s hero ability and this legendary equipment, we’ll be creating a crazy amount of Seismic Surge tokens. This is what I’m basing the rest of the deck around. Our head piece will follow a similar theme, as we’re borrowing Brevant, Civic Protector‘s helmet, the Civic Peak. This helmet is extremely good for our overall game plan in UPF. Valda wants other heroes to draw cards and this offers us some room for negotiation, and nets us a free Seismic when it blocks.

Taking from Brevant again, we’re going to use the Bastion of Duty in our off-hand and High Riser as our weapon. There’s an argument to using Titan’s Fist, but I like to stay on theme whenever it’s not an obvious power loss. (This is a casual format after all. It’s supposed to be fun!) That being said, Gauntlets of Iron Will is probably the best arm piece we could use, but Crater Fist is just as good if it’s more obtainable.

Finally, in the shoe department, we could play Civic Steps, also from the Round the Table set. However, Mage Master Boots is funnier to me, flavor wise, and promotes some cool shenanigans with the books Valda reads in her spare time. Take your pick, but I prefer shenanigans.

What Kinds of Books Does Valda Enjoy?

In my mind, I see Valda reading the classics like Gone with the Wind, Anne of Green Gables, or Treasure Island. I doubt those wonderful books exist on Rathe though, so we’ll stick to things like Tome of Fyendal and Gorganian Tome. It’s not always easy to find a good book without the Dewey Decimal System, so we’ll be doing a lot of Sift-ing to reach them.

Valda also enjoys a good drink to go with her brawls. In that spirit, This Round’s on Me is an obvious include and so is Coax a Commotion. One thing that probably doesn’t immediately come to mind though is Potion of Luck. This little brew can generate so many Seismic Surge tokens for us, costs us nothing to play, and can clear our arsenal if a Heave card gets stuck with no chance of playing it. Its only downside is that it’s an item and can’t block. (But that’s what our armor is for anyway, right?)

Alright, Alright, Let’s Get Serious Now. How Does Valda Win?

This is Ultimate Pit Fight, so the first goal is to have a good time with our friends. Hurting those we want to spend our time with is the last thing we want to do…. but, then again, it’s still on the list. (Insert evil grin here.) All that touchy-feely stuff goes right out the window as soon as we have a pile of Seismic Surge tokens reducing the cost of our Guardian attacks. And, my oh my, do we have a lot of those to choose from!

Now we’re getting to the second half of Valda’s hero power. With enough Seismic Surge tokens, all our cards with crush gain dominate for the turn. You could literally just fill the rest of the deck with a good mix of red and blue Guardian cards with the crush keyword and have a solid deck. Pick the ones you like best and use those. Still, I’ll show you the ones I picked in the final deck list. Suffice it to say, I picked the ones that are cheapest and most disruptive.

What Else Before We Get to the Deck List Then?

There are a few cards that I’m including that don’t quite fit the mold in the previous sections. Pulverize and Thunder Quake are huge attacks that can also pay extra resources forward by creating Seismic Surge tokens with heave. Test of Vigor doesn’t create a Seismic, but the Vigor token we’ll probably get from it sort of acts like one and it blocks four.

I’m including Stamp Authority in the list as well. Sometimes we need a little breathing room and turning off on hits all the way around the table is a good way to get it. Potentially getting us an extra intellect point is also a bonus. Finally, we’re using Tectonic Rift to generate as many Seismic Surge tokens as we can pay for. This card is great if we find ourselves with a clunky hand and just need to reset. It’s also a great card to start the game with if we happen to go first.

And That Leaves Us With…?

After some number tweaking and only a minor amount of teeth knocked out with a large mug, this is the final version of the deck!

Who Spilled My Drink!?

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Hero (1) 1 Valda Brightaxe Weapons (1) 1 High Riser Equipment (5) 1 Bastion of Duty 1 Civic Peak 1 Earthlore Bounty 1 Gauntlets of Iron Will 1 Mage Master Boots Main (40) 1 Gorganian Tome 2 Buckling Blow red 2 Coax a Commotion 2 Mangle 1 Pulverize 2 Spinal Crush 2 Test of Vigor red 2 Boulder Drop yellow 2 Sift yellow 2 Tome of Fyendal 2 Boulder Drop blue 2 Chokeslam blue 2 Crush the Weak blue 2 Debilitate blue 2 Disable blue 2 Potion of Luck 2 Sift blue 2 Stamp Authority 2 Tectonic Rift blue 2 This Round’s on Me 2 Thunder Quake blue Sideboard (6) 2 Crush Confidence red 2 Crush the Weak red 1 Arcane Lantern 1 Nullrune Gloves

Final Thoughts on Valda?

Valda Brightaxe is arguably the strongest Ultimate Pit Fight hero that I’ve written about. Her card pool scales nicely to the format and she’s a popular choice for side events at Tier 3+ tournaments. If you decide to give her a shot, don’t be surprised if you’re targeted early by players who’ve seen the kinds of crazy things she’s capable of. This deck is a lot of fun to play though, and if you want a strong UPF deck to play with your buddies, then this is a great starting point.

What do you think of my crush card choices? Have you ever played UPF at a Tier 3+ event? What hero would you pick if prizes were on the line? Want to hear me and my buddies gush about all things Flesh and Blood? Find me on Discord or Twitter (X) as Dracohominis87 and let me know!

Further Reading:

Ultimate Pit Fight – Multiplayer Flesh and Blood

Have Fun With Oldhim in Ultimate Pit Fight

Multiplayer Card Design in Flesh and Blood

Donnie K.

Donnie is an enthusiastic nerd and family man who grew up playing TCGs, starting when Pokemon cards were the hottest thing on the playground. After playing Yu-gi-oh and then Magic the Gathering for years, he found Flesh and Blood in December of '22, sold all of his other pretty cardboard rectangles, and dived into FAB head first where he discovered a deep love for go-wide strategies involving the use of Ninja cards. Be Like Water is his current favorite card, because he gets to do a terrible Bruce Lee impression every time it's played. (Much to the annoyance of his brother who hears it a lot.) Donnie has been married to his lovely wife since Halloween 2008 and has two beautiful daughters that he couldn't be more proud of.