Well, I do love Earth decks, and Hugo * always seemed like a fun character to run for me (and I don't use throws with Yi Shan* , so I have all of that stuff left over), here's a deck with the REAL big fella:

Hugo* - Earth

Starting Character:

Hugo* (4 HS 40 Vitality) (All, Death, Earth)

Actions (3):

3 Tag Along (5/4) (Air, All, Earth, Good, Order, Water)

Assets (2):

2 A Giant of a Man (3/4 +2L; Unique) (All, Death, Earth)

Attacks (16):

4 Flooded-Nile Throw (4/3 1M4 +3H; Throw) (Death, Earth, Void)

4 High Plasma Beam (4/3 3H3 +1H; Ranged) (Earth, Order, Water)

4 Close Throw (5/3 4M4; Stun: 2, Throw) (Earth, Life, Void)

4 Sardine's Beach Special (7/2 3M8; Throw) (Earth, Void, Water)

Foundations (46):

3 Altered Mind and Body (1/5 +1M) (All, Earth, Water)

4 Battle Prowess (1/4) (Earth, Life, Water)

2 Dormant for Millions of Years (1/5) (Earth, Order, Water)

4 Huge Wrestling Army (1/4) (All, Death, Earth)

4 The Glare from the Abyss (1/6 +3M) (Earth, Evil, Void)

4 Amy's Assistance (2/4 +1M) (Earth, Fire, Good, Order)

2 Cutting Edge (2/5 +2M) (Earth, Evil, Order)

3 Inhuman Perception (2/5 +1H) (Air, Death, Earth)

3 Tool of Destruction (2/4) (Earth, Order, Water)

3 Criminal Past (3/5) (All, Death, Earth)

3 Domination (3/4 +3M) (All, Earth, Fire)

4 Hulking Brute (3/4 +2H) (All, Death, Earth)

4 Program Malfunction (3/5 +1M) (Earth, Order, Water)

3 The Street Life (4/5 +4L) (Earth, Evil, Fire)

Splits (3):

3 Dancing Battle Kabuki (0/4 +1L; Breaker: 2 | 0/4 +1L) (Chaos, Death, Earth)

General Deck Strategy:

This deck basically is a more aggressive version of the classic Earth mega-tank deck: he looks to establish a massive, impenetrable wall of a staging area, while tossing out the occasional throw for massive amounts of damage. Don't be fooled by his starting handsize; Hugo* is more than capable of out-building even a 7 HS character when you combine his innate card-drawing ability with cards like Huge Wrestling Army and Hulking Brute , and Earth 's prodigal defensive line-up combined with his incredible starting vitality (easily twice that of the average 7 HS character) make him extremely hard to drop, possibly harder than any character in UFS right now. When it has firmly established its staging area superiority over its opponent, the deck cuts loose with a lethal kill turn, which Sardine's Beach Special playing the role of an opening salvo that in likelihood will kill the opponent outright if unblocked, and High Plasma Beam as the surprise kill shot once their resources have been expended.

Card-by-Card Breakdown:

Hugo* - He is special, because he is one of the handful of characters below 6 HS that is actually very competitive in UFS right now. His innate card-drawing means the number of cards you're actually running through in a turn will almost always be more than 4, and his damage-boosting packs a mean punch, especially on early-game throws. Not only that, but good luck dropping his 40 vitality; you're gonna need it.

Tag Along - I honestly believe this card is an auto-include in any deck that can include it, and I'll explain why: Discard pile recursion is extremely powerful in a game like UFS, where one of the few constants is that discard piles grow. To boot, it can also shut down annoying characters for an entire turn, so if they rely on your character to punch through your wall, you can stop them cold.

A Giant of a Man - An effective +2 handsize for Hugo* , it can also help his cause by reducing damage in dire situations.

Flooded-Nile Throw - A good, solid throw to have. Great damage (4) for its difficulty (also 4), it flips a 3, and it can even have synergy with High Plasma Beam if it's unblocked (which I totally noticed AFTER I put it in the deck).

High Plasma Beam - The "break in case of emergency" kill condition. It's cheap to play, so you can toss it at the end of a string, and the damage it packs can be absolutely devastating (especially after a Sardine's Beach Special , which in all likelihood batters your opponent badly and commits you out as well).

Close Throw - It has solid stats (5 diff, 4 speed, 4 damage, 3 check), a Stun rating above 1 (good), and most importantly, the ability to be played cheaply if your last attack was blocked (very useful here).

Sardine's Beach Special - The de facto kill button on this deck, this attack can get quite large if you take your time about it, and it makes a great distraction if you feel like exhausting your opponent's resources first.

Altered Mind and Body - Hugo's abilities function at maximum efficiency when he is at maximum vitality; therefore, this card not only makes Hugo even harder to kill, but it also keeps his offensive power oiled and at the ready, while requiring you to do absolutely nothing.

Battle Prowess - Of course, the above foundation alone usually won't be enough to fully absorb flurries of incoming attacks, so a more conditional but more powerful alternative is useful to have as well.

Dormant for Millions of Years - Committing power can be a major part in whittling down your defenses, so it pays to have a feasible countermeasure available. Additionally, it works while committed, so it's not a one-shot deal.

Huge Wrestling Army - The bread-and-butter Hugo * foundation, it combines card drawing with a solid damage bonus. A perfect reinforcement to Hugo* 's basic strategy.

The Glare from the Abyss - One of the easiest ways to punch through most decks' defenses is by attacking them when they have no cards in hand. This allows you to do that at a much more manageable cost than The Ways of Punishment (committing foundations v. discarding cards).

Amy's Assistance - As many others have noted, this foundation is powerful because it does double duty by providing damage reduction and a way to deal with pesky assets.

Cutting Edge - Since no defensive plan is perfect (and committing foundations is overall one of the better ways to batter through any deck's defenses), this card provides a viable backup option to keep enemies from battering you.

Inhuman Perception - Because negation is annoying, and Tag Along can potentially cripple your building speed.

Tool of Destruction - Can boost huge amounts of damage (up to +10 on one hit), which is useful if you play a sequence of throws.

Criminal Past - A cheap and easy alternative to blocking. It gets really nasty when it's combined with Battle Prowess , because then you replenish the cost you paid as part of the same attack.

Domination - A big kill button for any 7 HS character going up against Hugo* , and even smaller HS guys have trouble dealing with the huge damage this offers.

Hulking Brute - Basically a souped-up version of Huge Wrestling Army , this also provides a static damage bonus to play with.

Program Malfunction - This allows you to get troublesome enemy defensive pieces out of the way so you can beat on him faster.

The Street Life - Expensive as it may be, this can be a great help as it can be used to make strong attacks deadly, and has a few solid uses.

Dancing Battle Kabuki - Though the momentum-generating action side has a marginal use at best, the foundation side provides a very appreciated boost to Hugo's drawing abilities, which is always appreciated.

Side Deck:

2 Blinding Rage (1/6 +1M) (Air, Earth, Fire)

4 Holding Ground (2/4 +2L) (Earth, Good, Order)

Any and all comments are appreciated.

Well, right off the bat, your deck is vastly different from mine, but I can see how yours works pretty well. One big thing you left out though, is Domination. Its just a great card against any 7 hand size opponent. Other than that, you're probably going to want Giant of a Man as it is more card draw power and pretty hefty DR. With it and hulking brute, you may as well have 10 hand size with 40 health (its pretty rediculous). If you want to know my build I may be willing to share my secrets over PM. Its pretty unorthodox but I havent been beaten in months by any legal deck, so I figure I'm doing something right.

PS. I hate to say it, but Monster lariat never works... ever, so you should probably just toss it now for Dominations.

Monster Lariat worked for me; I've hit people with it at least 3 times (usually drop it on T2), and it makes a pretty big difference for building.

I plan to have Domination in the side deck, but the thing is, my playgroup favors 6 HS folks (we only have one 7 HS deck in the whole group). I tried A Giant of a Man , but I didn't see all that much in the way of results. I'll probably try it again, though.

And finally, I would love it if you would PM me your build. Thanks in advance, bro.

To be fair, even I rarely use domination on my first attack. Its for the 2nd and final attack. Throw out Sardine, then Flooded nile with domination, you need a foundation base you can easily build in 2-3 turns and you're looking at roughly 22 damage with no other pumps assuming both are blocked, (hugo and Huge wrestling army put you into 30+ damage range and its at this point that I like to push The Street Life, expensive, but mega-deadly).

Also, PM sent (figuring out how to send it was trickier than I though it would be...)

I would suggest replacing Altered Mind and Body with Ka Technique. AMaB is a decent card, but is slow, and with Battle Prowess, redundant. Ka Technique gives you an excellent way to mess with your opponent's staging area (not to mention is good SoC bait).

I will look for something to remove so I can add Ka Technique , but it won't be Altered Mind and Body . The reason why is though AMaB may be slow, it's automatic lifegain, and it requires no move on my opponent's part, which makes it more applicable (though certainly less potent) than Battle Prowess . Additionally, AMaB works even when I've been committed out, which is the classic solution to Battle Prowess . I'm considering taking out Monster Lariat , as it's been more of a bother than a help, so maybe I can make room for Ka Technique there. Thoughts?

You are playing the highest health in the game, its ok to be oversized to allow for more building, because it'll be hard to kill you in 1 turn, especially with all the life gain. playing 5-10 cards over is a solid descission, especially considering the draw power that comes with Hugo.

You know, I think you're right. I'll do some tweaking and I'll come back to you. If I add 8-10 non-attacks, I think I'll just switch out Monster Lariat for a Throw or something ( Ragnar's stuff looks good on that front).

Well, I've made some fixes on the big guy. Hopefully, he's better for them. Thoughts?

I actually really like the newer build. I think tool of destruction is really gonna bash faces.

My only critism is I think the "Dormant----" and especially Dancing Battle kabuki are kinda out of place, also from personal experience 4 Hulking Brutes tends to be too much, because after the first one, they're just over costed +2 damage (I play 3, lol). Anywho, I would recoment 2 Egyptian temple (secret hugo tech), 1 more inhuman perception and 1 more criminal past. If you really wanna go 6 for 6, then throw in 2 ways of punishment if you got em, because you will have more cards than your opponent and you can get more...