FAB: Evolution of a Warrior Decklist

At times, I find it interesting to reflect back on how my deck composition and strategies have shifted. The first hero I used upon playing Flesh and Blood was Dorinthea Ironsong, the mighty Warrior. I quickly found her playstyle quite appealing… but my deck composition has shifted a lot over time, and I thought it’d be interesting to show you guys what my reasoning was like at each phase and how things changed.

The Beginning

I got into the game around the release of Crucible of War. As things started out, I knew I liked Warrior but wasn’t sure exactly what the most efficient way to set up such a deck was. There wasn’t very much online content available at this time that was up to date for Crucible of War. I did find a video with Matt Rogers discussing a build that had worked well for him in an earlier event and decided to base my own composition on that. Here’s what I came up with:

This isn’t my absolute earliest build, but is the earliest one I still have a decklist for…
Decklist by FABDB, Flesh and Blood and the Dorinthea card art is © Legend Story Studios.

This deck does incorporate some cards from Crucible of War, but still plays with a very “old school” Warrior game plan — it’s all about giving the Dawnblade Go Again and hitting the opponent hard. Warrior’s Valor is the core card here to a lot of my turns, giving both an attack boost and the ability to swing multiple times in a turn. Ideally, this deck uses attack reactions to get in over an opponent’s block and come in for a second Dawnblade swing.

However, as I played more games, I started to have difficulties with opponents that had strong defense reactions, especially big ones like Unmovable and Staunch Response. A big defense reaction could wreak havoc on the Warrior’s Valor game plan, often shutting down the buffed attack with just one card. To make matters worse, if the defense reaction were played from Arsenal, it would prevent me from using Reprise-based buffs like Ironsong Response or Singing Steelblade, so even with an attack reaction I might not be able to get in.

This build already had some changes relative to my earliest stuff — in particular, I included Dauntless in an effort to help overcome defense reactions while still pushing forward with the “big Dawnblade attacks” plan. However, this wasn’t really enough. As I played more games and tested things out, I was still having some difficulty against defensive opponents. With time, I decided to move to a “wider” attack style, with less emphasis on Warrior’s Valor and more on Go Again effects that don’t rely on landing the Dawnblade hit. If you’re spreading your aggression across multiple attacks, a big defense reaction is much less of a concern!

Warrior’s Valor offers an unconditional stat buff, but only grants Go Again if your weapon attack actually lands the hit.

Hit and Run may only offer a conditional buff, but it’s free and grants Go Again even if your opponent can stop the attack.

(© Legend Story Studios.)

Spoils is the best of both worlds, offering both a buff and Go Again on an unconditional basis. Protip: play three!

As I played more, I found that I valued unconditional Go Again more than the stats provided by Warrior’s Valor. I now only play three copies of Warrior’s Valor (the reds) but am up to eight copies of Hit and Run in maindeck plus one in sideboard. Further, I added Flock of the Feather Walkers for even more unconditional Go Again.

Overall, my playstyle has shifted — instead of trying to land one huge attack and follow it up, I now favor the ambiguity of an unconditional Go Again. If the Dawnblade can get in, I can make another swing and threaten a +1 counter; if not, I try to follow up with an attack action card, which can potentially catch the opponent off guard if they’ve invested heavily in blocking the initial Dawnblade swing. Alternatively, unconditional Go Again can provide a great opportunity to play an Energy Potion without losing too much tempo, or even to use Twinning Blade for a surprise extra Dawnblade swing.

This change has also adjusted the generic attacks that I’m playing. In my old build, I went wide by playing attacks that themselves had Go Again. However, I now have more of an ability to combine Dawnblade swings with other attacks, even those that don’t bring their own “Go Again”. I ended up dropping Life for a Life, as it’s basically a worse version of Scar or a Scar against good opponents (+1 cost isn’t really worth the conditional heal) and replacing it with Snatch, which has the same attack value or no energy and can conditionally be very strong with its draw.

The Update

With these thoughts and others in mind, my build has shifted over time to the following:

Still working on it, of course… still using FABDB and game/cards still © Legend Story Studios.

All the defense except two blue Shunts (so all the Somersaults and red Shunts, one blue Shunt, and the Eirina’s Prayers) are “sideboard cards” that I don’t run except in some matchups, as are the Remembrances and the second copy of Rout. I’m trying to be the aggressor and don’t want to run much defense, with the blue Shunts getting a pass because they’re blue and can be used to close out the game late.

Much of the time, I’m still leading off with a Dawnblade attack, but making those Dawnblade swings with an unconditional “go again” means that if the opponent stops the initial attack I can throw out a generic attack (or Potion) afterwards, or even use Twinning Blade for another Dawnblade swing. Twinning Blade is especially relevant if the Dawnblade is already buffed by a +1 counter or Steelblade Supremacy, as those buffs last throughout the turn. This build offers threats from a lot of different angles, making it challenging for an opponent to figure out how best to defend against it. Ultimately, I’ve found this approach much better for me than the “just do a big Warrior’s Valor play every turn” style, and have done well in online events with this type of deck.

If you want more information on the specifics of this deck, I recently did a deck tech video for FAB Foundry that goes into considerably more detail — more on that over here.

The Future

However, despite the good results I’ve had, that doesn’t mean I’m done — the fine-tuning continues! For instance, I recently went up to a second copy of Remembrance to improve my matchup against control/fatigue decks. As you play more, you’ll probably also notice some cards that don’t seem to be pulling their weight, “sideboard” cards that you don’t put in, and so on. Updating your decklist isn’t just for when new cards come out!

One technique that I can recommend for testing out potential changes is comparing a card to its potential alternative. If I’m testing a new card in a certain slot (let’s say red Sharpen Steel instead of red Ravenous Rabble), one way to test that effectively is to have a specific swap in mind, make the swap, and then, whenever you draw the new card, ask whether it or the old card would be better. You’ll of course need to put in several games (and maybe even games against different heroes and opponents) in order to get a better sense of it, but this sort of thing can help make “fine-tuning” changes easier to decide on.

Ultimately, I’ve found that even with a relatively limited cardpool, Flesh and Blood has a lot of options available for tinkering, fine-tuning, and “making a deck your own” — no new cards were released throughout all the shifts to my deck here! I look forward to seeing how my build will change further as I refine it and adapt to potential shifts in the meta, even before Monarch releases — and once new cards do come out, deckbuilding will likely get even more interesting!