Greetings and salutations once again my fabulous #fab folks! Welcome back to another UPF brew here on FABREC! As always, I’m Donnie K., aka some random #fabdad, and today, we’re talking about my second favorite hero in Ultimate Pit Fight- Vynnset! If my favorite UPF hero, Melody, is a “group hug” style hero, then my Vynnset is going to be the complete opposite. A “group slug.”

I’ve been wanting to share this one for a while. Thankfully, all of that waiting has given me time to tweak the brew into something that I think is really fun! Let’s jump in!

Why Choose Vynnset?

When Dusk till Dawn was released, I got to talk about the Shadow Runeblade cards in our set review. Vynnset‘s whole aesthetic is one of my favorite styles in all of Flesh and Blood and always has been. If she were any better in Classic Constructed, I may have been a Shadow Runeblade main instead of an aspiring Mystic Assassin. (Nuu is Love. Nuu is Life.)

I chose Vynnset over the other Runeblade options because I care about Runechants, but I also want access to the Shadow card pool. The deck could play Chane, but his hero power is not really suitable for this build. Briar wants to do different things, but you could probably do a similar thing with Viserai. Similar, but not the same since I feel like we’ll be under fire from the rest of the table pretty often. Viserai is at his best when he’s playing several things a turn and I doubt we’ll be able to keep more than one or two most of the time.

Therefore, Vynnset is the optimal hero for the build. (And it has nothing to do with the fact that I have a cold foil Vynnset. I promise!)

Alright, Then… Where Are We Starting with Vynnset?

With the equipment, of course! Particularly, which weapon options we’re bringing to the table. Vynnset is special enough to have her own specialized weapon, and that’s the one we’re going to play most of the time. Being able to pay one life for the Flail of Agony to send our pile of Runechants after we’ve had to block with our whole hand is pretty solid. Scepter of Pain will be our second option, if we think the other heroes may let us keep extra cards occasionally.

In the off-hand slot, we’re carrying a shield 99% of the time. Once we come under fire, Bloodied Oval can save us an entire card on defense in UPF. Even though it has Blade Break, it’s a pretty great deal for someone who plans on irritating the entire table at once. I considered Grimoire of the Haunt and Ornate Tessen as options, but I really just want the block value from the shield most of the time.

That Makes Sense. What Are We Wearing to the Party?

Head and Arms

We want to maximize our potential to block most of the time, so that heavily influenced my choices. The head slot is primarily Crown of Providence for the two block and ability to cycle our arsenal card (that’s important for later). Arcanite Skullcap is the back-up option. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise since it’s almost always going to be turned on and we can usually get three points of value out of it.

In my opinion, there’s only one arms piece that does what we want/need, and that’s Grasp of the Arknight. Grasp blocks twice for a total of three points of value and makes Runechants when we’re resetting. It’s literally the best card for the slot.

Chest and Legs

Speaking of the best card in the slot, the chest piece is where things may go differently than you’re expecting. We want Fyendal’s Spring Tunic for this list, because there’s going to be a good number of one-cost cards that we’ll be able to use the Tunic resource to pay for. It’s the primary chest piece, but I still want to have the option to block if we have to. That’s why Carrion Husk and Dyadic Carapace are going into the inventory. Bring in Husk if you’re sitting next to a Guardian, and Carapace if you’re within range of a hero that likes to throw smaller attacks.

If the chest threw you for a loop, watch out, because Spellbound Creepers is not in the list at all! I’m willing to admit that it may be a mistake, but you can test it out and let me know. For now, I’m going with a common from Heavy Hitters for the leg slot: Grandstand Legplates. Grandstand Legplates serve the same function as Bloodied Oval and have the exact same effect. As long as we’ve got lower life than the other players in the pod, our boots are worth another three points.

Because we’re running a small number of attack action cards, I don’t see Spellbound Creepers getting full value most of the time. And if we’re not going to find many chances to use that broken text box, we might as well have a card that blocks better.

If We’re Not Playing Many Attacks, Then What Are We Playing?

Attack Actions

Ok! Let’s get to the bread and butter of the build. First off, we are playing a few attacks and, yes, they are Rune Gates. Two red Deathly Delight, one Widespread Destruction, and two Widespread Annihilation are the only attacks that we’re putting in the list.

We’re going for group pings, so hopefully we’ll be able to line up the Deathly Delight to gain life after hitting each of our opponents. We want Widespread Destruction as it’s a powerful card, but we’re only running one because we don’t want to lose our own arsenal slot. (That’s important.) And Widespread Annihilation is probably what’s going to make the rest of the table hate us.

Non-Attack Actions

Here is where things get spicy. Did you realize that Runechants say “target opposing hero” and don’t have to be sent at the hero you’ve declared an attack against? (That little epiphany is what inspired this deck.) Aside from Runechant generators, we want every card that’s available in the card pool that deals damage to multiple players. When you’re not busy, run a fabrary.net search in the deck builder for cards that say, “each hero.” There aren’t a lot, and even fewer of them that deal damage.

We’re running two of each color Dimenxxional Gateway…. and two Lord Sutcliffe. Sutcliffe is there to ping, but also to search out Oblivion, which we’ll be able to play, thanks to building up Runechants when we banish a card each turn. Also, we’ll want a few cheap non-attack actions that we can play from banish, since I think we’ll spend most of our cards surviving.

With this in mind, we have a game plan. Block, survive, build Chants, then swing a Rune Gate card that will probably have an active trigger for all our opponents – with a Looming Doom backup plan in the late game.

Defense Reactions

There’s not a lot to say about defense reactions. There are a few available and we’re running basically all the good ones. Sink Below, Reduce to Runechant, Fate Foreseen, and Sigil of Suffering all make the cut at two each. Reduce to Runechant does double duty, so we’re including both red and yellow copies.

Put it all together, and our final list looks like this:

The Final List for Vynnset UPF

Final Thoughts on Vynnset in UPF

This is another brew that my buddies at the LGS are going to need to watch out for. If I’m not playing Melody, this will be my second default deck. Feel free to tweak whatever numbers you’d like in the list or make swaps. This is just a seed to fuel your own creative efforts and maybe have some fun in an awesome format while you do it.

What hero do you think we should look at for the next UPF brew? Have you tried your own Vynnset or other Runeblade builds? What would you do differently in today’s brew? Are you interested in joining a Cult? Find me on Discord in the Cult of Nuu or on Twitter as Dracohominis87 and let me know!

Further Reading:

Multiplayer Card Design in Flesh and Blood

Ultimate Pit Fight – Multiplayer Flesh and Blood

Building Vynnset in Commoner