1st Strike... and Beyond!

1st Strike hits shelves this weekend, ushering in an exciting new age of learning to play Flesh and Blood. At the same time Skirmish events are taking place in local game stores around the world, featuring a mix of Blitz and Living Legend. Today we’ll be going over some key upgrades you can make to Terra and Aurora to bring them from the kitchen table to your local game store!

Armed for Battle

The first thing you should look at is hitting up the blacksmith for some new gear. The great thing about Blitz is the games are quick, so the more expensive equipment like Fyendal’s Spring Tunic aren’t necessary. Star Fall is a great weapon, and works well with Aurora’s ability, but another sword you should look into picking up is Rosetta Thorn. While it does require some build-around, the damage output is exactly what Aurora needs to keep up with the likes of Zen and Victor. Other great common equipment to pack are Aether Ironweave and Snapdragon Scalers, providing you cheap resources and go again in a pinch. These are fantastic for extending your turns and pushing out that last bit of extra damage needed to close out the game.

If you do have a bit of pocket to invest in some Legendaries, look no further than Grasp of the Arknight, which gives you an alternative option to sink two resources into when you don’t need to create an Embodiment of Lightning. Dyadic Carapace and Crown of Providence provide some much needed heavy duty protection, and the bonus of picking these up is that they will also be playable in Classic Constructed with the new Rosetta heroes!

Take Action

Aurora is an aggro hero, which means chaining several attacks together in a turn to overwhelm your opponent’s defenses. The 1st Strike deck comes with some amazing attacks already, such as Photon Rush, Static Shock, and Fry. You’ll want to round out some of the yellow and blue copies with more aggressive red attacks, such as Snatch, Entwine Lightning, Arcanic Shockwave, Vela Flash, and Rites of Lightning. These either replace themselves, have built in go again, or deal extra packets of arcane damage.

Aurora wants you to play Lightning cards. Rosetta Thorn wants you to play non-attack actions. Why not cover both bases? There are two excellent commons in the Lightning card pool to join Sizzle that both provide damage while fulfilling your gameplay requirements; Electrify and Weave Lightning. Blink and red Lightning Press aren’t actions, but still provide either damage or go again while turning on Aurora’s ability. On the Runeblade side of the river we have Mauvrion Skies, a longtime staple that is an excellent choice in blue. Your goal should be to play at least one non-attack action card per turn, followed by several attacks, finishing with a Rosetta Thorn swing.

Prepared for Anything

In Blitz you are allowed to have up to 52 cards, which includes your 40-card main deck, inventory, and all of your equipment and weapons. This will leave you with roughly 5-7 cards to swap in/out for certain matchups. You’ll find that some heroes may be too aggressive or disruptive for your normal gameplan to beat them, or they’ll have a unique playstyle that requires you to approach the game differently. The 1st Strike deck already has Cloud Cover, a flexible prevention tool against both arcane and physical damage. If you’re concerned about running into a Blaze or Emperor, it’s always better to pack Arcane Barrier and not need it, then to need it and not have it.

Blanch is a premium card to pack in your inventory, not just because the on-hit effect is devastating into Zen, but because it doubles as a ‘popper’ against Illusionists. If you run into a Prism, the last thing you want to do is eat their Herald of Erudition and let them draw cards and search for a figment. Not only does Blanch trigger phantasm when you defend with it, it also has a really decent on-hit into decks that care about pitching yellow cards. Another card you will want to consider is Sigil of Suffering, as it allows you to defend more efficiently into disruptive decks, dodge attack reactions, protect yourself against dominate and overpower, and even sometimes win a tight game out of nowhere!

Iron Clad

Terra has the potential to set up some huge late game smackdowns, but you’ll need some pretty serious hardware in order to survive long enough to get there. This is where we bring in the big boy hammer - Anothos. With a single card it can swing for 4, just like Redwood Hammer but without needing to pitch an Earth. But where it truly shines is when you can pitch two cards, ideally both 3-cost, and at least one of them Earth. Combined with Tectonic Plating, this allows you to spend two cards to swing for 6, bank a resource for next turn and make a Might token with Terra’s ability!

Guardians are well-known for their bulky tank armour and Terra is no different. With a higher average cost to your cards, you’ll need some hardcore protection to throw in front of your opponent’s attacks so you can keep cards in hand. Alongside Tectonic Plating, Gauntlets of Iron Will, Civic Steps, and Crown of Providence are perfect for weathering the storm. Crater Fist and Earthlore Bounty are also budget options that are comparably close in power level, with the main attraction being their defense value.

Pump ‘n’ Thump

Now we come to the main reason to play Terra - the bodyslams! Concuss is one of the major payoffs for making Might tokens that already comes in the 1st Strike deck, but to give Terra a little more oomph you can start replacing some of the yellow Earth Bond cards with other Guardian attacks that have effects when they’re juiced up, such as Command Respect and Thump. Another longtime generic staple common that feels right at home in a Terra deck is Pummel, which allows you to trigger the effects of your attacks even without Might tokens, as well as slapping an additional discard on top. You can also play it onto your Anothos!

It’s extremely fun to break your opponents into little pieces but we can’t forget about the bread and butter. There is a deck building cost to running Anothos, and you also need to balance it with Terra’s hero ability requirements. Earth cards that are also 3-costs are the sweet spot, the best one being Autumn’s Touch, which already comes in the 1st Strike deck. Other than that you’ll need to fill up on other available yellows and blues that fit this requirement, such as Evergreen, Break Ground, and Tome of Harvests. You likely won’t play these cards for their effects very often, but they're perfect for pitching.

Guardian Goodness

One of the defining features of the Guardian class are its high power blue attacks. While they’re a little underwhelming to play out early in the game, they are perfect for pitching, defending, popping phantasm, and winning clashes. Where they truly shine is in games that go long, when you’re both running out of power cards and equipment, and both your decks are full of blues, except yours hit for 8! Macho Grande, Thunder Quake, Disable, Cranial Crush, and even Glacial Footsteps are all available options. Tear Asunder is a force to be reckoned with in a deck with Anothos, as three cards can easily rip your opponent’s hand to shreds or even close out a game. Lastly, don’t overlook cards like Mulch, which can help slow the game down to a level you can control.

To smooth out the rough patches and stay alive against hyper aggressive decks that are commonly played in Blitz, you’ll want to pick up staple defense reactions such as Sink Below and Fate Foreseen. These can stop pesky breakpoint attacks for 4, sidestep reactions, dominate, or overpower, and dig through your deck for those precious Earth cards. For your remaining inventory, look through the Guardian card pool for more disruptive tools that will be effective against popular decks in your area. For example, Spinal Crush is a great way of keeping Zen on the back foot, while Pulverize does serious work into Victor. It’s also worth running a few cards in your inventory that you can swap the defense reactions out for in matchups where they’re not needed, such as Wizard. Often those types of decks will be weaker to aggression, so cards like Zealous Belting and Rouse the Ancients are strong choices.