Take the Bet: A Betsy Decklist

Betsy is exactly what a Guardian should be. An imposing figure, as hearty and strong as anything that might threaten them, calling you out from across the arena, wearing the skin of a kill twice their size and four times yours. Guardians are just built to a different scale.

Even in her youth, she can be seen smiling contentedly on the back of... actually, I don't what the hell that is, but it's bigger than her and she doesn't even appear to have bled very much in their lethal exchange.

As Alex Truell recently opined, Flesh and Blood does a pretty darn good job at storytelling and game-informing through their art. From just the hero card and with nothing else to inform you, it's apparent that Betsy is going to be a beast to face in the arena. If she can take on monsters like whatever that thing is, if she has the confidence to call out the opponent and throw down the glove in deathmatch after deathmatch, then this is probably going to be a tough fight.

This guide is here to help you see one of the powerful ways that Betsy can be played. Perhaps you are just stepping into the game with Heavy Hitters - this guide is here to show off Betsy and get you started with a Classic Constructed deck tech. I have taken this list to the top table at a few Armories now, and I'm betting that you can do the same.

The same can be said of Betsy - there are a lot of different ways to build this hero. In many ways, the very best Betsy decks have yet to be discovered; and although some decks have found successes, the tweaks and twerks and unique spin that you bring to the game may yet unlock her highest potential. There are very defensive builds that focus on Rampart of the Ram's Head, defensive reactions and instants, plus neat Dynasty-era shield tech that can help close the game. This style of deck even took a Top 4 finish at Battle Hardened: San Francisco, piloted by Naib Mobassir.

Some Betsy builds lean into disruption effects, the likes of which do steal cards from the opponent either in evasion or in action. If they block out a Thump, that's still several cards sapped from their hand and deck; if it hits, that's damage and cards still gone. Close to the release of this hero, Kasharn Rao of Legend Story Studios authored the Dev Download guide to Betsy making suggestions like these. This style of deck does big damage with full hands, and with proper setup they can be devastating.

But the deck that I have had the most fun with, the deck that I have found to be using more of the cards from her debut set of Heavy Hitters, and the deck that I want to share with you today, is one where we put our Money where Our Mouth Is, Bet Big, Double Down, Cash In, and win.

Double Down Double Down Double Down

Class: Guardian
Hero: Betsy, Skin in the Game
Weapons: Anothos, Titan's Fist
Equipment: Arcane Lantern, Gauntlets of Iron Will, Good Time Chapeau, Nullrune Boots, Nullrune Gloves, Stand Ground, Steelbraid Buckler, Tectonic Plating

(2) Battered Not Broken (red)
(3) Bet Big (red)
(3) Double Down (red)
(3) Fate Foreseen (red)
(3) Money Where Ya Mouth Is (red)
(3) Oasis Respite (red)
(3) Primed to Fight (red)
(3) Sink Below (red)
(2) Slap-Happy (red)
(3) Wage Gold (red)
(3) Wage Might (red)
(3) Wage Vigor (red)
(3) Big Bop (blue)
(3) Bigger Than Big (blue)
(3) Buckling Blow (blue)
(3) Chokeslam (blue)
(3) Cranial Crush (blue)
(3) Debilitate (blue)
(3) Disable (blue)
(3) Macho Grande (blue)
(3) Sloggism (blue)
(3) Talk a Big Game (blue)
(3) Tear Asunder (blue)
(3) Thump (blue)

Most of the time, we want to go first and try to open with a splash of evasive damage that threatens a wager. My Personal favorite opener is to send Money Where Ya Mouth Is + Anothos + Betsy for 10 overpower damage, wagering gold, and still getting a card into arsenal.

A close runner-up is to send 8 overpower damage wagering either Gold, Might, or Vigor - but preferably Gold - off of the respective Wage attack action card. This, too, gives us room to arsenal the 4th card in our hand.

Once we have some Gold built up, preferably at least 2, we can start considering chucking gold in to our hat, the Good Time Chapeau. This will let us turn Gold into Might and Vigor, which we use for added value on Primed to Fight and Stand Ground.

In fact, this deck can be said to rely on Might and Vigor, as we very much do not want to be sending our Primed to Fights as 5-for-9's when they could instead be 3-for-11's or 5-for-12's with overpower and a wager to boot. If we wanted raw 5-for-9's, we would be running Spinal Crush - and be a different deck. As such, we also include two copies each of Slap Happy and Battered Not Broken, as they can help us shore up that offensive option while being a defensive option. Notably, this also helps us get the full value out of Stand Ground.

We make use of those defensive instants in pretty much every matchup, as they pull double duty by powering up our offenses. The Vigor matters a little less than the Might most of the time, but for the sake of Primed to Fight both tokens need equal representation. Plus, it is easy to convert an errant Vigor in to a Seismic Surge via Tectonic Plating and conserve that value across an additional turn. We also run a fridge of equipment into most every matchup, although we do have to be careful to not lose our Chapeau too early. Giving wagers to any attack is a pretty massive deal to us, and turns on our core hero ability of on-demand overpower.

Closing out the game starts early by way of landing evasive damage on our opponent's face. We typically attack a lot, so accelerating ourselves to the endgame is high on the to-do list. Plus, retaining hands means using our life total to protect those cards, which will see us slipping in to the endgame as well. Use armor when you can to protect your important hands - nondisruptive damage is not the place to put our armor blocks if we can help it.

As with any deck, there are definitely ways to not play Betsy. Here are some of the notable mistakes that I have made in testing out this list - I want you to have them, and learn from them.

Unless you are absolutely, 100% certain, probably do not put all of your lunch on one plate. Many heroes can stretch up and stop one big Wager by chunking all of their armor and playing one of their few defense reactions or block cards: if you put all of the world's riches - like a Double Down'd Bet Big with a Chapeau activation, offering 2 gold 4 might and 4 vigor - on the line, expect the opponent to magically be able to stop it, at least once. As such, we can use this to our advantage, but it is a risky play - one that is best backed up by the attack reactions that this list is not running. So, you could bluff a Pummel (or, less likely, a Lunging Press), and try to make the plate seem poisonous with the potential reaction in hand or pocketed in the arsenal - but it is risky and your opponent might just have the read on your pummel situation (or even have read this article!).

Speaking of cards like Pummel, this list used to also play around with red Sloggism. Conveniently, that card powers up Anothos' passive ability, and is downright spooky when played out of the arsenal, especially if the other player is convinced that it's just a d-react that you've been holding for the right moment. But that's the trick: all too often, the Slog or Pummel would just hang out in arsenal, never able to add much more to the fight and always in the way of my bottom line. Pummel and Sloggism absolutely raise the ceiling on the deck, which is usually nice, but they can also drop the floor out of the deck and crater us in to unplayable, unwinnable, situations. Include these cards at your own risk!

Other trap cards that I have come to avoid are the red versions of Big Bop and Bigger than Big. These 3-cost cards also do power up Anothos, but do so at the cost of being 2-blockers. I was only bringing these bad boys in when I thought I would have the downtime to cast them, letting me transfer 5 power from one turn to the next - but in those matchups where I did have the time to play them, these cards were either, 1, not enough to change the tide of battle, or 2, not necessary in this already-winnable matchup. So, I considered Emerging Power and Towering Titan, Earthlore Empowerment too - but those cards didn't impart Wager, which is really what set Big Bop and Bigger than Big apart in the first place. At the end of the day, having another card like Money Where Ya Mouth Is would be better for us, so I do recommend trying out additional copies of that instead.

Notably, one of the design decisions that I made with this list was to focus on the power of Anothos and Tear Asunder as a means of disruption (and a consistent 4 damage). In fact, the power of Anothos is one of the things that draws me to Flesh and Blood - and indeed to Guardian in specific. Perhaps it would be wise to lean away from this particular weapon - if we instead focus on High Riser or Titan's Fist with Steelbraid Buckler or Rampart of the Ram's Head, we will in-turn be focusing more on attacking with action cards when we do get to attack. 

I have found a lot of success in my years of FAB relying on the power of Anothos to carry me through games: in this build, Anothos wears the bonus from Money Where Ya Mouth Is to great effect. But, what if we ran all 9 MWYMI and instead focused on connecting them with Thumps and Spinal Crushes, adding +2, 3 or 4 overpower for 3? That sort of play seems expensive, but if the ball is rolling then you might just have a vigor and a seismic in addition to your two blue cards, Spinal Crush, and MWYMI-- resulting in a 11, 12 or 13 damage overpower, wagering gold, threatening to take away go again on crush, attack.

Don't let me discourage your dreams of big damage! I chose the reliability of Anothos to convert two card hands, which pairs nicely with the wagering attack action cards, which cost 3. Not only does that mean that we can typically send Anothos for 6 after making a seismic, but if we happen to have a seismic and a vigor, then we can actually send one of those wagering attacks for 8 overpower off of a single blue card.

Included in the maybe-board of this decklist link are those cards that I have been going back and forth on. Pummel is one of the most notable cards on the maybe list: I'm a huge fan of Pummel. I just struggle to find a place for it in Betsy, but like I have said: maybe you can make it work well! I think that the more cards like Pummel - 2-cost and below cards - are in the list, the further and further we lean away from Anothos. If we are hitting more and making gold more, consider High Striker. If we aren't sending hammer until late game, consider Miller's Grindstone; if we still have a good amount of 3+ cost cards in the deck, definitely consider Titan's Fist.

Also, if Illusionist is a big menace in your area, it is high time to consider running a second one-handed weapon and Time Skippers. You might also consider some go again options like Enlightened Strike or Zealous Belting, or even Vambrace of the Vanguard to help drill through spectral shields and ward. If the dreaded Arc Light Sentinel loop is what you fear, Time Skippers and two one-handers'll get you there, though. I prefer Miller's Grindstone for the simple fact that it always sends 4 at an angel, which is just enough for me.

Another quick tweak that we can do in to Prism, is to include the Deathmatch Arena. Don't bother with the text on most of it, it won't be triggering: instead, this just leans in to the Landmark rules text, whereby any initial landmark is destroyed by subsequent landmarks, making the Deathmatch arena a one-card, go-again-bearing solution to the Library.

Betsy is an intimidating lady who can put a lot of heroes in their places. She can send any and all of those traditionally spooky Guardian attacks, and has a few neat tricks of her own to get the ball, and keep the ball, rolling. If you are careful, if you play your cards right, then you can start turning a little snowball into an eclipsing boulder that blots out the sun right alongside the opponent's chances at victory. Betsy is still getting figured out, and I hope that this guide sets you off in the direction of wins. If you innovate on the list, consider sharing it here in the comments: join the cadre of dedicated guardians who are here to try and break Betsy in to the metagame together. Be sure to check back with us here at the Rathe Times for further developments, and remember to always take the sure bet - Bet on Yourself, with Betsy.