Greetings and salutations, my fabulous FAB folks!\u00a0 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<\/a><\/span><\/span>!<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n When we looked at building Betsy for UPF<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n The very first thing we’re going to talk about is our chest piece, Earthlore Bounty<\/a><\/span><\/span>. Between Valda’s hero ability and this legendary equipment, we’ll be creating a crazy amount of Seismic Surge<\/a><\/span><\/span> 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<\/a><\/span><\/span>‘s helmet, the Civic Peak<\/a><\/span><\/span>. 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.<\/p>\n Taking from Brevant again, we’re going to use the Bastion of Duty<\/a><\/span><\/span> in our off-hand and High Riser<\/a><\/span><\/span> as our weapon. There’s an argument to using Titan’s Fist<\/a><\/span><\/span>, 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<\/a><\/span><\/span> is probably the best arm piece we could use, but Crater Fist<\/a><\/span><\/span> is just as good if it’s more obtainable.<\/p>\n Finally, in the shoe department, we could play Civic Steps<\/a><\/span><\/span>, also from the Round the Table<\/em> set. However, Mage Master Boots<\/a><\/span><\/span> 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.<\/p>\n In my mind, I see Valda reading the classics like Gone with the Wind<\/em>, Anne of Green Gables<\/em>, or Treasure Island<\/em>. I doubt those wonderful books exist on Rathe though, so we’ll stick to things like Tome of Fyendal<\/a><\/span><\/span> and Gorganian Tome<\/a><\/span><\/span>. It’s not always easy to find a good book without the Dewey Decimal System, so we’ll be doing a lot of Sift<\/a><\/span><\/span>-ing to reach them.<\/p>\n Valda also enjoys a good drink to go with her brawls. In that spirit, This Round’s on Me<\/a><\/span><\/span> is an obvious include and so is Coax a Commotion<\/a><\/span><\/span>. One thing that probably doesn’t immediately come to mind though is Potion of Luck<\/a><\/span><\/span>. This little brew can generate\u00a0so<\/em> 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?)<\/p>\n 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.<\/em>) 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!<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n There are a few cards that I’m including that don’t quite fit the mold in the previous sections. Pulverize<\/a><\/span><\/span> and Thunder Quake<\/a><\/span><\/span> are huge attacks that can also pay extra resources forward by creating Seismic Surge tokens with heave. Test of Vigor<\/a><\/span><\/span> doesn’t create a Seismic, but the Vigor<\/a><\/span><\/span> token we’ll probably get from it sort of acts like one and it blocks four.<\/p>\n I’m including Stamp Authority<\/a><\/span><\/span> 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<\/a><\/span><\/span> 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.<\/p>\n 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!<\/p>\nWhat Are We Wearing to the Bar?<\/h2>\n
What Kinds of Books Does Valda Enjoy?<\/h2>\n
Alright, Alright, Let’s Get Serious Now. How Does Valda Win?<\/h2>\n
What Else Before We Get to the Deck List Then?<\/h2>\n
And That Leaves Us With…?<\/h2>\n
" Who Spilled My Drink!?"