Drafting Guardian OTK

One of the most exciting Welcome to Rathe (WTR) decks to draft is Guardian OTK (One Turn Kill).

Guardian naturally comes with the most powerful attack actions in WTR, and Bravo allows you make those powerful attacks hard to defend with his hero ability giving them dominate. The OTK draft strategy takes this and pushes it to the extreme, with it not being uncommon to swing with an 18 power dominating attack!

The key cards to look for are Emerging Power (red), Sloggism, Goliath Gauntlet, and most important of all, Heartened Cross Strap and/or Helm of Isen Peak.

A typical sequence is setting Emerging Power in arsenal, playing it when you draw one of your Guardian attack action cards that cost 3 and preferably has 7 power, which you then set in arsenal to end your turn. This is often the turn to activate Helm of Isen Peak, to gain the extra card in hand that will allow you to generate enough resources to pull off your power play.

If you have Sloggism in hand, it can be correct to end your turn with it in your hand. There are some games where you may hold Sloggism in hand for multiple turns waiting for the OTK window.

On your next turn, you are intending to play the crush card you set in arsenal. Emerging Power will trigger giving it +3{p}, and Sloggism adds up to another +6{p}. A total of 8 resource points plus Sloggism are needed to make this play, which includes activating Bravo's hero ability. Ideally you are paying for this with cards that pitch for {r}{r}{r} plus Heartened Cross Strap. In this scenario you would have had up to two cards to defend with during the opponents last turn (if you activated Helm of Isen Peak).

Activating Goliath Gauntlet is the final piece of the puzzle, giving you an 18{p} dominate attack from three cards + arsenal.

It's suggested that you include a high number of pitch {r}{r}{r} cards in this draft archetype, as you want at least two the turn you swing for the fences.

An ideal deck configuration from my experience is having 9-10 red “impact” cards (pitch 1’s), and 20-21 blue cards (pitch 3’s).

If you don't see Sloggism in the draft, Pummel (red) can serve as a good replacement.

Hope you enjoy not just crushing your opponents, but turning them into fine dust particles resting on the bottom of the crater you leave behind.

A general pick order guide is:

1. Heartened Cross Strap
2. Goliath Gauntlet
3. Sloggism (blue)
4. Emerging Power (red)
5. Sloggism (red)
6. Helm of Isen Peak
7. Show Time!
8. Unmoveable (blue)
9. Staunch Response (blue)
10. Ironrot Legs
11. Blessing of Deliverance (red)
12. Cranial Crush (blue)
13. Cartilage Crush (blue)
14. Crush Confidence (blue)
15. Pummel (red)
16. Regurgitating Slog (blue)
17. Sink Below (blue)
18. Debilitate (blue)
19. Buckling Blow (blue)
20. Raging Onslaught (blue)
21. Disable (blue)
22. Blessing of Deliverance (blue)
23. Stonewall Confidence (blue)
24. Emerging Power (blue)
25. Wounding Blow (blue)
26. Wounded Bull (blue)
27. Barraging Brawnhide (blue)
28. Pummel (blue)
29. Sloggism (yellow)
30. Cartilage Crush (red)
31. Crush Confidence (red)