“Looks like my training is paying off!”
Art:Kassai of the Golden Sand
by Alexander Mokhov
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Hero Is:
Kassai is such a fun hero, and I have been having so much fun; I will say I am a little biased because I won a Kassai Playmat at my LGS this week, so that is the main reason I am so hot on this hero; they hold a very special place in my heart as the first prize I ever got for Flesh and Blood. Beyond my sentimental value for Kassai, this card and the deck around it are strong; we are swinging and making money with this one. We can hit hard and often, and because of the prevalence of zero costs in the deck, we can have huge chains that even the most defensive-heavy decks can struggle to block. I have been loving Flesh and Blood so much, and I am very excited to showcase this deck; my build is certainly a little unconventional, but I have been having a blast, and this is the deck I am going to run at my first road to nationals event! Without further adieu, let’s get it!
Gameplan:
Attack with swords is the primary gameplan of our deck; our deck is centered around attacking for free from Kassai’s ability and using a bunch of our zero-cost cards to do a ton of damage to our opponents and hit them like a truck. Kassai also provides a nice balance. While we do attack for a lot, we have plenty of cards that have three block, which can help us block efficiently against the best attackers in the format. Additionally, we need to be mindful of when we hold cards for blocking instead of getting an extra two or three damage in. This is certainly matchup-dependent, and against other hyper-aggressive strategies, it is almost always better to prioritize blocking and at least saving three to six blocks for our opponent’s turns. I am certainly running an unconventional list, but that’s something I have been enjoying a lot about Flesh and Blood, being able to run a list that’s a little unconventional and still having fun and success with it. We have many sources to draw cards, so Kassai often makes our sword attacks free, and the ability to banish cards is a great way to activate that ability. We can get a ton of value out of the gold from Kassai’s ability on a later turn, and it also works perfectly with cards like Cash In (Yel)
which can be another strong card draw engine for the deck and can make our sword attacks free for that turn.
Kassai of the Golden Sands Swords Classic Constructed
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| Hero / Weapon / Equipment |
|---|
| Hero: Kassai of the Golden Sand Weapons: Cintari Saber  Hot Streak  Equipment: Crown of Dominion  Grains of Bloodspill  Ironsong Versus  Valiant Dynamo  |
| Inventory |
|---|
| Weapons/Equipments: Cintari Saber Crown of Providence  Nullrune Gloves  Pitch 1: 3x Sink Below (Red)  3x Steelblade Shunt (Red)  Pitch 2: 3x That All You Got? (Yel)  2x Raise an Army (Yel)  |
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Deck Stats:
Attack Cards:
I want to highlight some of my favorite attacks in the deck, to start off we have Spoils of War (Red)
which is the best copper producer in the deck and works so well with Blood on Her Hands (Yel)
which can give us a ton of buffs to our attack and depending on how many copper we have I have been able to get double go again which is truthfully just disgusting for the deck and makes our damage output absolutely insane. Blade Flurry (Red)
is another busted attack and when combined with Kassai’s ability another chain that lets us chip in for a ton of damage to our opponent. The Prevalence of free cards like Slice and Dice (Red)
, Blade Flurry (Red) and Enlightened Strike (Red)
allows us to deal a ton of damage for no resources as early as the first turn.
Non-Attack Cards:
Arguably the most important non-attack card in our deck is Gorganian Tome
which is a great cheap draw and depending on the matchup can even net us more than one card. Warrior's Valor (Red)
is another very strong action that increases the damage from our weapons and the go again is also very strong for only one resource. We spoke about it before, but Kassai’s Specialization Blood on Her Hands (Yel) is so crazy powerful and offers so much damage, on a late-game turn against victor I was able to activate the buff and go again and twice and swing for lethal damage and man it felt super sweet. Hit and Run (Yel)
is a go again machine and I cannot believe this card is free!
Equipment and Weapons:
Cintari Saber and Hot Streak are the swords of choice for the deck, and they are both very strong and great attacks for the deck, while they may not be much on their own being able to buff them up a ton is where the deck shines. Crown of Dominion may not help with blocking at all, but the free Gold gives us a guaranteed free Kassai activation which is absolutely worth not being able to block with our crown, this works because we are heavy on block three’s within the deck. Grains of Bloodspill is another very strong equipment, we can easily create a ton of vigor tokens off of this and more resources is not something we will ever say no too. Ironsong Versus is certainly one of my more controversial choices for the deck as many lists do not run this but I find we can typically create a courage token every turn and more damage is never bad. Last but certainly not least is Valiant Dynamo which can be a blocking machine for the deck especially because we typically attack two or more times every turn.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We are hyper-aggressive and can pump out a ton of damage with our weapons, especially Hot Streak
which can get very out of hand since go again is quite easy to proc and we get inherit value from many cards that give extra attack for subsequent weapon attacks. - Kassai is the perfect hero for the deck since we can easily draw cards off of her gold creation and attack for nothing, and continue pumping damage.
- Even though we are hyper-aggressive and can push out huge damage, we have the advantage of being able to block quite well; we have a ton of three-block cards and can hang with the best of the decks in the format.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- We need to be very mindful of how big of an attack our opponents can hit us back with. While we do have a ton of three-block cards, we tend to go all in offensively and have a low card count; sometimes, it’s worth doing two to three less damage to have a better block on our opponent’s turn.
- This may be due to the meta I’ve been playing in and the prevalence of Azalea, but I have struggled against this matchup as they get a ton of value with all of the ranger cards and specializations, as well as being aggressive and having a low overall cost deck.
Deck Matchups:
Please note: I am still fairly new to the game and haven’t played every hero with this deck. These are just from the games I played and some notes and takeaways I have. Another piece of note is that these are my experiences and you may not have the exact same success or lack thereof against a certain hero.
Best Matchups:
I actually really like the Kayo matchup. While they certainly generate a ton of value like we do, I find we can typically outpace them with a relent of sword attacks consistently and constantly. We actually prefer to go second in this matchup since when we take our first turn, we can hit in for some huge damage and get a nice piece of chunk damage early. The Kayos I’ve encountered are either aggressive or more midrange, and I find we can outrace the aggressive strategy and hold up okay against the more midrange style lists, but we do prefer the matchup against the more aggressive version of Kayo.
Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty
I have faced Victor quite a few times and find the matchup to be favorable, now Victor certainly is not a hero to take lightly as they certainly can kill us, and we do need to watch their ability as we do not want them to generate a ton of mights, vigors or gold as that added value can certainly harm as the game goes on. Overall, I like this matchup, and if we ramp up the pressure and keep threatening our opponent’s lives total and being mindful of their weapons, and when they are about to swing in for six+, we should be able to win. This matchup is very important for us not to go all in when not necessary and to be smart and mindful with our attacks. I have had a ton of success with this matchup.
Worst Matchups:
The Kassai mirror really does feel like a 50/50 for us; just like most hyper-aggressive decks, it certainly is a race, and this is a matchup where we want to go first. I put this as the worst matchup only because of how much the matchup feels like a coin flip; we have no real preference on first or second as either way, typically, both Kassai decks chunk in for a decent amount of damage on their first turn. Kassai does have the benefit of being able to built in many different styles and configurations, so every deck is a little different, and I find the most success against double Cintari Saber decks because they do not get the go again and extra attacks we do off of Hot Streak.
Azalea is a tough matchup for us, and I have played a ton of this and only won a couple of games; Ranger has a ton of strong and aggressive attacks like we do, and they have the added benefit of recurring many of their key cards. Ranger is quite a strong class, and the recursion of cards like Endless Arrow
can certainly stack and add up against us. This matchup is not unwinnable but it is one I struggled a ton with.
Inventory Guide:
These are my opinions after jamming a bunch of games with Kassai:
Kayo can get extremely out of hand with extra card advantage, so This Round’s on Me is just not great for the deck, and Sink Below’s can help us trigger Kassai and keep on swinging with our swords.
Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty
There are not a ton of changes for this matchup. I like the additional block if Victor starts getting a ton of might tokens to buff up his attacks. I really like the card choice and additional draw, which triggers Kassai with Crown of Dominion.
There are no changes; I like the core list; since the matchup comes down to nothing more than being hyper-aggressive, I like the base list against the Kassai Mirror.
Gorgonian Tome, and the typically only one additional draw isn’t that strong, or with keeping in this matchup, I went down one on cash-in for the same reason. I really like Raise an Army in this matchup, as the Cintari Sellswords are a very strong source of damage for the deck, and that additional damage is needed in this aggressive matchup.
Conclusion:
I will admit that this is certainly an unconventional list, but I have been having a blast with it, and I think this is the deck I am going to play at the upcoming Road to Nationals in my area. Kassai is awesome and a hero. I think that many players are overlooking in favor of more popular heroes like Kayo. Kassai is a blast and not only is strong but also has strong sentimental value for me. I hope you enjoyed this one. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!