Heavy Hitters Review: The Impact of the New Set

Promising to revisit Flesh and Blood's early days, Heavy Hitters is a return to the past, but with the design of the present. This set brings three classes that focus entirely on friction: Warrior, Brute and Guardian. No arcane damage, long combat chains or some disloyal trick - your victory will come through the purest brawl.

Heavy Hitters brings five new heroes and an old one; two for each class. This set is draftable (this means you can play sealed and draft formats with it) and brings back dual-class cards (just like Outsiders). It also brings a design with which it is possible to play the Ultimate Pit Fight draft format, and also brings a wide array of weapons and equipment. Let's analyze all these new features thoroughly.

This set brings a few new mechanics, and each of its heroes uses these mechanics in their own way.

The Tokens

Before we discuss the mechanics themselves: this set focuses on a few tokens that players already know, but it brings a lot more relevance to their heroes. They are: Might, Vigor and Agility.

These tokens are very similar to some tokens players already know a bit better, like Quicken and Courage. However, its triggers happen, by default, at the start of the following turn, which encourages players to set up a turn so they can, on the next turn, play action sequences that are more dangerous. As a result, we don't use these tokens as soon as we generate them.

Clash

Clash is a mechanic used by all classes in this set, and is present both in attacks and Block cards.

When a Clash card is played, both players have to reveal the card on top of their decks. The player who reveals the attack action with the highest power is declared the Clash winner, and will get a bonus effect. For instance: Clash of Agility (1) activates Clash when it is used to defend you from an attack. If the player who played it wins the Clash, they'll get an Agility token - but be careful because if you lose the Clash, your opponent will get the bonus.

Some important Clash reminders:

If the power of the attack actions revealed are the same, none of the players wins the Clash;

If both players reveal non-attack actions (actions or reactions, for instance), none of them win the Clash;

Wager

Wager is a strong mechanic used by this set's attacks, which are boosted and push your opponent against the wall.

When a player plays an attack with Wager, they can choose whether this Wager will happen or not. If they choose to activate the Wager, the attack will get an on-hit effect - the bonus effect described in the Wager. However, if this attack doesn't cause any damage, the bonus effect will go to your opponent.

For instance: Wage Gold (1) "wagers" one Gold token. If it deals damage, you'll get this token; otherwise, your opponent will get the Gold, so be careful when it's time to place your bets.

Beat Chest

Beat Chest is a mechanic that is exclusive to the Brute class, and brings a fascinating consistency to this class.

Beat Chest means that, as an additional cost, you can discard an attack with 6 power or more and, if you do, you get a bonus effect. Bonebreaker Bellow (1) grows the next attack by three, but, if you activate Beat Chest, it will grow another five points, for instance.

Gold

Gold is not a new token, and we have already seen several uses for it in game, particularly with cards like Cash In (2). However, in this set, it was given special treatment. Besides bringing heroes that care more about Gold, some new cards also use these tokens well.

Of course, you can also break it to draw a card, and some heroes are very relevant when they draw cards.

Now that we've already seen the new mechanics, let's analyze this set's heroes and how they use these mechanics.

Kayo

The name Kayo is already familiar to players, but Kayo, Berserker Runt was one of the worst Blitz decks at the time due to its inconsistent mechanic of rolling dice. Now, this hero returns completely revamped and more consistent than ever.

Before we analyze this hero more deeply, it is important to explain: Kayo went through a minor accident and ended up losing one arm in the arena, and like so he only has one weapon zone. This means he can only equip one 1H-type weapon or an off-hand weapon, but his abilities make up for this small incident.

His first ability grants one more attack point to all cards outside the combat chain, which means, it affects all other game zones - your hand, graveyard, deck and exile pile. This corrects one of this class' pivotal needs: blue and yellow cards with six power.

Thanks to this ability, you can activate Beat Chest and cards that discard other cards randomly much more consistently. Wild Ride (1)'s condition, for instance, is much easier to meet if your entire deck has cards that have, at least, 5 attack (considering Kayo will correct these attack points).

As if all of that wasn't enough, his second ability creates a Might more consistently. This increases your first attack on your turn, which makes this deck incredibly aggressive and consistent when it comes to dealing damage.

Rhinar

An old timer returns to the Arena. Rhinar is still the same he was in Welcome to Rathe, but, in a set like this one, he got some support cards that can boost your deck.

His ability to Intimidate is still incredibly powerful, and got some special treatment in this set. His new specialization, Show no Mercy, can completely Intimidate an entire hand, and some other cards with Beat Chest can threaten your opponent even more. Even though it doesn't seem like the best option in a limited format, such as Kayo, his constructed version indeed got better.

Kassai

As Kassai, Cintari Sellsword hit Living Legend status in Blitz and didn't get a version for Classic Constructed, this hero now has had a triumphant return, revamped entirely, with versions for both formats.

Unlike her first version, Kassai of the Golden Sand wants to create Gold and draw cards. Her strategy still focuses on attacking with Cintari Saber and on using old cards, like Blade Runner (1), to give your attacks go again, but this set also brought this hero some new tools as well.

Thanks to the Agility token, Kassai can grant go again to her weapons more easily, besides other new cards that grant go again to her attacks. Additionally, the new weapon, Hot Streak has a conditional go again effect that can significantly help you in late game situations.

In a list more focused on her ability (with several red and yellow cards), she can generate Gold excellently until she plays her new specialization, Raise an Army, which is an excellent way to finish the game through her allies.

Her strategy is simple: draw cards to reduce the cost of your weapons, attack your opponent with them and create Gold to trace a path to victory.

Olympia

Even though he is the simplest hero in this set in terms of mechanics, Olympia has a different goal than Kassai, and will focus a lot more on the Wager mechanic and on creating Gold tokens.

Focused on winning wagers, Olympia can do splendidly if you set up huge attacks with him. You can also focus on his axes, such as Decimator Great Axe, and his specialization, Up the Ante, which encourages you to attack as hard as you can.

Even though we still don't have a relevant card that uses Gold cards in a broader sense, Olympia can get this token to correct your hand or draw a card that creates a better turn.

Victor Goldmane

As the first Guardian we'll discuss from this set, Victor Goldmane works well with the Gold and Clash mechanics, and uses this token to guarantee the Clash will always be yours.

Thanks to the several new Block-type cards, and the fact that he wins Clash very securely, Victor Goldmane can be an excellent fatigue option, considering the new weapon, Miller's Grindstone, destroys your opponent's top deck and this equipment set can significantly help you hold off damage.

Several cards also help this hero create Gold if you need to activate Clash. Starting Stake (2) is one of them, but his specialization, The Golden Son, does everything this hero most wants: it gives you a reasonable power to win the Clash, creates Gold when it is revealed, and it is an excellent threat when played.

Betsy

As the last new hero, we have Betsy, who plays well around the new mechanic, Wager, not only declaring a huge amount of damage but also making her attacks incredibly difficult to block.

Betsy wants to bet everything. Her mechanic is similar to Bravo, Showstopper, but this older Guardian uses attacks with Crush, and this new hero abuses the Wager mechanic and, with her ability, tries to guarantee you'll always win your bet. Her equipment, Good Time Chapeau, raises your wager, and her specialization, Bet Big, increases the turn's value and creates several tokens.

Despite her simple mechanic, this new hero gets the most out of the cards that already exist today and also goes along with the new cards. It is a great option for a Midrange deck.

But a set isn't built only on class cards. Some generic cards highlight other cards and may see play in other decks.

Balance of Justice is the legendary generic equipment that stands out the most in this set. Despite its similarities with Crown of Providence, this new equipment can be an excellent sideboard option against decks that draw numerous cards, like Fai, Rising Rebellion, Dash I/O, Katsu, the Wanderer, Prism, Awakener of Sol, and others. Additionally, this equipment can be an excellent option for those who don't want to invest in Uprising's crown right away.

Standing Order on its own isn't impressive: besides being a zero-cost red card, it blocks three with four power, but it costs you one card in your arsenal. It can not only grow an Enlightened Strike, but also block five, which is very relevant against attacks with overpower or dominate. This attack can be great in decks that are more control due to its incredible versatility.

Just like Salt the Wound (2) grows for each attack that dealt damage in the combat chain, Tenacity brings the opposite effect, and is great against decks that block a lot. It is a great sideboard card against these types of decks.

Warrior Comes Out Victorious

This set gave strong tools to the Warrior class, and this was the class that got the highest number of interesting cards. Besides the return of Kassai, now revamped, Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn and Dorinthea Ironsong got new cards that can upgrade their decks. Commanding Performance destroys cards in your opponent's arsenal (including defense reactions); Hot Streak is an excellent 1h equipment to create cadence in the late game, and Blade Furry is a great buff to other weapons.

Additionally, new attacks, like Agile Windup (1) and Rising Energy (1) are excellent poppers that aren't useless in your deck if you need to play them.

Brutes Gain Consistency

The Brute class already had an excellent card pool, but this set brought not only a new hero option, but also cards that give existing decks more consistency. The Beat Chest ability forces players to plan their turns better, Show no Mercy is an excellent game finisher (particularly in Blitz) and Apex Bonebreaker is a new legendary equipment that brings too much quality to be ignored.

Unfortunately, none of the new cards are particularly good for Levia, Shadowborn Abomination - considering this set focuses a lot more on discarding cards than exiling them. However, this hero still got something for herself: a new legendary equipment, No Fear, and some common cards that are good on their own, like Agile Windup (3).

Guardian Improves Timidly

As this set focused heavily on new heroes, Guardian didn't get that many cards for other decks. Apart from the new legendary card, Gauntlets of Iron Will, Bravo, Showstopper didn't get any relevant cards for his deck. The other Guardians also didn't get anything in this set. As a result, old decks remain the same as they were before, and this set only highlighted new heroes. Additionally, Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty became, possibly, the best fatigue option for the meta, a strategy that wasn't seen ever since Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity left this format.

Heavy Hitters marks a new era in the game after a troubled season dominated by Lexi, Livewire, and Iyslander, Stormbind's last breaths. With this set, we can imagine a new meta with a wider variety of decks.

What about you, what did you think of the new set? Will Heavy Hitters shake the meta? What is your favorite new hero?

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!