Heavy Hitters Draft Primer
Gear up for the Deathmatch Arena! Its time to go Big, or go Home!
Overview
Heavy Hitters limited features the Brute, Guardian and Warrior class for limited play, along with new mechanics like wager, clash and the Agility/Might/Vigor tokens. Lets start by dissecting each class and their general gameplan.
For the sake of simplicity and discussion, the cards I will be referencing in this guide will be mostly commons.
Unlike the Guardian and Warrior hero pairs, Kayo and Rhinar are fundamentally different Brute archetypes. This means that you should not draft random brute cards and then decide to play either Kayo or Rhinar after your deck is built. Rather, you should have a clear plan to draft either of these brutes and pick cards that enable their playstyle.
Kayo
Look for 5 power blues and Bare Fangs (R). Assault and Battery is also a great Agility maker. Avoid drafting too many non-attacks as they make your draw-discard attacks unreliable. For this, you’ll want >60% of your deck to be “6” power attacks.
Kayo can generate Might and Agility tokens reliably. This makes Raw Meat much better on Kayo. The other equipment slots are quite flexible, though more defensive equipment from the Adversity cycle might be preferred due to having cards with no block value in the deck.
Rhinar
Try to get as many cards with selective discard to enable go again on Mandible Claw and trigger intimidate reliably. Rising Power is quite a good card in Rhinar as it plays very well into Trade In turns.
Since Rhinar does not generate Agility or Might tokens as easily as Kayo, Raw Meat is not as good here. Taking pieces of the Adversity Set, especially Overcome Adversity, gives you more defensive options against the go-wide decks of the format, which are usually Rhinar’s weakness.
When it comes to Guardian, cards that block for 3 are crucial. You’ll also want high-value attacks like Concuss and Command Respect to pressure opponents to block. Gauntlet of Might is a reliable enabler for these two cards and as such, should be prioritized by Guardian drafters.
Betsy is the safe choice when drafting Guardian, as her hero power gives her evasion, making it easier to close games out. Victor focuses on value and Gold generation, while also having a couple of powerful Majestics with superb payoff.
When checking if Guardian is open in your seat, look for the availability of blue block 3 cards. A resource base of ~14 blues with the majority of those being 3 blocks is key in forming a strong Guardian deck.
Betsy
+5 attack Auras have alot more value in Betsy as she can really capitalize on one big attack with overpower. Snowball the Vigor and Might tokens into the next turn to threaten your opponent’s life total with more evasive attacks. Over the Top synergizes extremely well with Big Bop and Bigger than Big, as you can safely wager the attack without needing to pay 2 extra for the +1 overpower from Betsy.
With Warriors being one of Betsy’s worst matchups, look to draft the Chest and Leg pieces of the Adversity Cycle. Face Adversity has uses into Warriors too, as they have access to Gold token generation and Draw Swords.
Victor Goldmane
Get value out of Gold generators in Victor. Performance Bonus is a 0 for 3 with conditional go again that threatens card draw on hit, making it a decent role player in Victor decks. Drafting the rare cycle of block cards with 4 defense value and Test of Strength is very important as you’d want to out value your opponent through efficient blocks and attacks.
Similar to Betsy, you’ll want to take equipment that can help you against the Warrior matchup. Since Guardians in general do not have good cards that create Vigor and Might tokens, Stand Ground is not an equipment I would prioritize.
Warrior’s strength this set comes from their weapon, the Cintari Sabers. With the majority of hybrid and generic attack actions blocking only for 2, the Saber presents a breakpoint for decks that do not have as many 3 blocks or non-attack actions. Coupled with the lack of an actual Defense Reaction in this set, Warriors are formidable opponents that can steal the game on the back of a well set up attack reaction.
Prioritize cards that create Agility tokens, as they are one of the ways to maximize the value of each turn. They also keep your opponents guessing on what comes after the first Saber swing. While Brutes and Guardians also have the ability to swing their weapon for 4 with just 1 card and 1 Might token, the 2+2 damage split with Sabers is much more efficient at chipping damage.
Kassai
Kassai is the default warrior to be drafting, as her hero power has alot of value with the many ways to draw cards in this set. The second line of text on her hero card is extra gravy, but sometimes relevant if you have drafted cards like Rising Speed. Drafting some number of attack reactions are important too, as it allows you to pressure opponents even on turns with no Agility setup.
Glory Seeker is probably the best common headpiece for Kassai apart from Hood of Red Sand, which is a rare. With efficient Wager cards like Edge Ahead and Hold ‘Em, Beckon Applause can often get the full 3 block value over the course of a game. Vigor Girth and Flat Trackers are the best in slot for Warriors as they are able to fully utilize the extra resources and go again.
Olympia
As Kassai is the default warrior to draft, Olympia is usually the outlier. In my experience, I only played Olympia under certain conditions, such as:
Drafted a Prized Galea and/or Up the Ante and in Warrior
About 50% of the reds in the deck are cards that wager
With so many opportunities to create Gold tokens, cards like Rising Energy and Rising Speed are quite decent in Olympia. Try to draft more blues as he is quite resource intensive. Setting up a pitch stack as Olympia is also important as Gold becomes easier to use when you know the exact sequence of cards you will draw.
Equipment wise, you’ll be competing with more or less the same equipment suite as the other Warrior drafters in the pod. Flat Trackers should be highly prioritized, with the rest of it replaceable with pieces from the Adversity cycle.
Final Tips
While staying open is generally a good strategy in draft, some packs do not give you the choice of picking a good hybird/generic card. In cases like these, it is always better to take the strongest card in the pack, even if it is a class card.
Class cards are designed to be stronger than hybrid/generics in this set, due to their blocking value. Do not be afraid to take Class cards early, but also evaluate each pack carefully to ensure you’re not getting cut by drafters before you.
Don’t worry too much about your draft pod’s hero distribution. Since Heavy Hitters is a 3-class draft set, pods are likely to go 3-3-2 and there isn’t an ideal class that wants to be the “2-of” since pack variance differs from box to box.
Blue 3 block cards raises the floor of any deck in draft, so take them when you have the chance. In this set, red attacks are slightly homogenized because most cards are either 2 cost 6 or 3 cost 7s.
I hope this guide was of some use in shedding some light on this amazing draft format. If you would like to see more of this kind of content, drop me a comment or consider supporting me on ko-fi here. Until next time!