Well, I've always been a fan of aggro (ORLY???), and Fire is shaping up to be one of the premier aggro symbols in NewFS , along with Life , so here's an idea with the most aggro character of all, the big berserker Ragnar** . I also want to give Hatman a shout-out, and also tell him that yes, someone DID read your Ragnar** deck and actually took something from it.

Ragnar (And Friends) Nom-Nom Your Face:

Starting Character:

Ragnar** (6 HS 30 Vitality) (Death, Earth, Fire)

Actions (4):

4 Berserker Rage (3/4) (Death, Earth, Fire)

Assets (4):

2 Stormhammer (3/4 +2M; Unique, Weapon) (Death, Earth, Fire)

2 Ymirfang (3/4 +2M; Unique, Weapon) (Death, Earth, Fire)

Attacks (16):

4 Zi Mei's Wheel Kick (3/3 2H1 +2M; Kick, Stun: 3) (Air, Chaos, Fire)

4 The Boot (4/3 3M5 +1L; Kick, Stun: 1) (All, Fire, Order)

4 Crushing Embrace of the Jotun (5/3 3M5; Desperation: 4, Throw) (Death, Earth, Fire)

4 Body Slam (6/3 4M6 +2M; Throw) (Death, Earth, Fire)

Foundations (36):

4 Hope for One's People (0/5 +3H) (Fire, Good, Order)

4 Brooding (1/5 +3H) (Death, Earth, Fire)

4 Financial Troubles (2/5) (All, Fire, Order)

4 For the Money (2/5 +3M) (All, Chaos, Fire)

4 From the Mouse, Humility (2/5 +3L) (Air, Fire, Good)

4 Heir to the Storm (2/5 +3M) (Death, Earth, Fire)

4 In Search of Plunder (2/5 +3M) (Death, Earth, Fire)

4 Unstoppable Warrior (2/4) (Death, Earth, Fire)

4 Enraged Golem (3/5) (Earth, Evil, Fire)

Side Deck (8):

1 Astaroth* (6 HS 28 Vitality) (Earth, Evil, Fire)

1 Bryan Fury* (6 HS 29 Vitality) (Earth, Evil, Fire)

2 Kunpaetku Shrine - Dream Remnants (2/5 +3H; Terrain) (Earth, Evil, Fire)

4 Stand Off (2/5 +3M) (Air, Earth, Fire)

General Deck Strategy:

The strategy here is pretty simple on paper; buff attacks to the moon with the plethora of damage buffing available to you, and hopefully you'll bash their face in before they bash in yours. In practice, you rush fast and you rush hard; your 30 vitality means you can trade blows with just about anybody in the early game. If that doesn't take your opponent out, it's time to go a little more tactical, hopefully gearing up a throw to deal too much damage for your opponent to survive it, even if he blocks. Though you have little in the way of actual defensive pieces, this deck has a good amount of blocks in all 3 zones, so you aren't completely on your own when it comes to defense.

Card-by-Card Breakdown:

Ragnar** - IMHO, this guy is an absolute offensive beast. 30 vitality means you don't care if you get hit once or twice, and his damage-buffing E can help you kill opponents lightning-fast.

Berserker Rage - Real big damage, and it comes from your hand, so it has a bit of surprise utility.

Stormhammer - One of the major kill motors in this deck. The first E can buff 12 of the 16 attacks in the deck, and the second E can get pretty ridiculous, especially with multiple copies of Brooding and/or In Search of Plunder .

Ymirfang - A great card, it provides what amounts to free damage during a kill turn (blowing up committed foundations for the win!), and it can deal with pesky assets, for the cost of some vitality, which in turn fuels your damage buffing.

Zi Mei's Wheel Kick - Though very light on the damage side ( Ragnar can fix that...), it does have huge utility in that its Stun rating is absolutely devastating for an opponent's staging area.

The Boot - Another kick with a Stun rating, though this one packs great stats as well.

Crushing Embrace of the Jotun - One of the reliable game-ending pieces in the deck, it takes advantage of Ragnar 's prodigious talent for raising damage, as well as his tendency to whittle down his own vitality by offering half damage, no matter what and a Desperation for -1 difficulty.

Body Slam - Basically a souped-up version of Crushing Embrace , it has solid speed and damage, along with a nice block.

Hope for One's People - It makes for great spam fodder (0 diff is for the win), and come Desperation time (not too hard if you're Ragnar ), it becomes a targeted nerf, which is always good.

Brooding - Trading vitality on a 1-for-1 basis at no other cost is always an advantage for Ragnar , since he packs the most starting vitality in NewFS , and it's cheap to boot.

Financial Troubles - This card applies a good deal of pressure on your opponent, since he risks you drawing into enough attacks to finish him if he doesn't pitch a card (which exposes him to the risk of you already having enough to finish him in hand). Either way, you should have an advantage.

For the Money - Absolutely insane check buffing, it forces your opponent into a bad trade, or flat-out wins you the game by making sure even your bulkiest throw comes off without a hitch.

From the Mouse, Humility - This allows you to recycle your attacks for fun and more damage (particularly hilarious with throws), and also provides a nice low block.

Heir to the Storm - This foundation's second E is a slightly lesser version of Stormhammer , but at a much easier-to-fulfill cost, which means it can help you put out oodles of damage.

In Search of Plunder - Again, trading 2 vitality for 2 damage is usually in your favor, and redundancy in damage bonuses is always good to have, especially when it feeds other damage bonuses.

Unstoppable Warrior - A big crunch-time damage buff, that all of the attacks in this deck qualify for (everything has 5+ printed damage), which can help put someone down pretty easily.

Enraged Golem - I don't want to sound redundant, but this is yet another foundation that offers a big damage bonus, easily coming in for +4 damage, and sometimes even +5 damage, which is a huge amount for just an E Commit.

Astaroth*/Bryan Fury* - These guys run more or less the same strategy as Ragnar** , but hopefully they can offer a change of pace that can allow the deck to gain an advantage.

Kunpaetku Shrine - Dream Remnants - This will usually replace Stormhammer if Astaroth or Bryan comes in, since it's easier to spam, can provide even more damage than its first E over an attack string, and it can commit assets after you've used them for more damage.

Stand Off - This will usually replace Heir to the Storm or In Search of Plunder if Astaroth or Bryan comes in. It can defend you (OMFG defense!!!), and it can help you put out damage, so it's pretty useful.

So, uh... what do you think?

All life is prey maybe? another low block and it takes advantage of ymirfang and unstoppable warrior

I don't like Black Giant a bit, would much rather see From the Mouse, Ruthless (if you really want the pumps) or Envoy from the Queen (if you want to keep the low block). Lots of decks play assets but rarely will you end up with enough to make it count, and lower difficulty always makes a better spam foundation.

I knew I was missing something... Thanks, guys! I think All Life is Prey will work wonders in this deck, though if it doesn't have the impact I'm hoping for, I'll go with the Wafflecopter 's suggestions and grab Envoy of the Queen instead.

No Communing with the Ancients? Your deck seems to focus on attack strings, especially since it doesn't run the Knight Breaker combo...

That could be an interesting option, since I indeed do rely on 2 or more attacks being played on a kill turn. So, which do you think should get the axe, All Life is Prey or From the Mouse, Humility ? I'm leaning towards the former, as the latter allows me to recycle attacks (especially throws) and deal with momentum users. What say you?

Massive edit time!

Been working on my design, check out the changes, see if you like anything.

=)

Still needs Communing with the Ancients, and can lose All Life is Prey to do so. At your rate, you're going to be having strings of 6-6-6, 5-6-6, 5-5-6, etc. Your deck plays strings of attacks, NO reason not to run FLAB v2.0

Indeed, indeed. Added. Thanks for the reminder.

Didn't liek mah Knight Breaker?

Like I mentioned, I like having the flexibility. Breaker is a kill in its own right, something no other attack I run (which you also do) can say the same, and what's more, Breaker can act as a Roundhouse Kick with its Death E and blow **** up. It also has a +0-LAWL block.

Not sayin I want you to be coppin' mah style (you're pretty 2000 and late =/), jus' pointin out, as RAAH RAAH as Ragnar is, he can still crush bones with his own style, as well as cheesy cookie cutter Knight Breaker style.

I would consider it... if I could afford it. I just don't have $100+ to spend on them.

And besides, I'd be copying you, so I'll just stick to playing in strings.

Personally, I don't like Body Slam. It's too hard to play imo.

As for a replacement, I'd say stuff like:

Mark of the Beast: 5 diff with built in damage pump, multiple hate, AND decent block.

Wheel Kick: Stun 3 sucka! And you can pump it to the moon.

Pommel Smash: Personally with Rashotep in the format I feel that this needs to be an auto include in any deck that can run it.

Ragnar I find is much like Astrid in that he can turn any measily attack (yes including Pommel Smash) into a potential kill card, and since you're not running Path of the Master, symbols don't matter that much.

On your foundation side I think you should drop the From the Mouse and the In Search of Plunder for For the Money and Financial Distress.

Truth be told there's no reason not to run either of those, one makes your attacks easier, and if your opponant doesn't like that, then that's two less foundations in order to pass blocks with. Financial Distress is the same way, only it punks a card from their hand, giving them less things to block with.

Bryan Fury.

That is all.

Tifer said:

Lawlz @ your trolling. But seriously, a number of my pieces don't work as well with Bryan Fury* (ohai Stormhammer ), and I already have his damage-buffing effect in Unstoppable Warrior . So yeah, I don't think I need him.

B-Rad said:

Body Slam may be hard to play in the early game, but the thing is, it's the only other attack in NewFS that offers what I'm looking for, apart from Crushing Embrace of the Jotun (throw, Fire resource symbol, 5+ printed damage). I've gotten my attacks blocked a lot (hence why I play stuff in strings), and some redundancy in the kill condition is necessary. Though I'd like to make room for any of those 3 cards, the fact of the matter is that they don't make me any faster at killing people than if I kept Body Slam , and Body Slam is a more reliable kill (the most reliable one I've got, as a matter of fact). Maybe I can toss Leg Slash or Cleave for one of them, since all they do is have solid stats and nice blocks...

I've gotta update this sometime, but I already have Financial Distress in there. For the Money will be coming soon (soon as I can get 'em, that is)...

LordAggro said:

With all the recursion you have (Nursing, Mouse) you don't need Distress. If you could guarantee attacks with Distress, sure, but you can't. For the Money will, however, force your opponent into a really tough choice. If you want both, go right ahead, FD being what it is, it still helps, but in Fire Ragnar I'd go FtM before FD.

Points taken, guys; I've re-tooled the deck with your suggestions. Tell me what you think now...

If you've got the space I'd add three attacks. Go 3x Zi Mei's Wheel Kick and add 3x Pommel Smashes. 3/3 attacks are very good in rushdown Ragnar and one that allows you to snipe assets and characters is just gravy.

I'd love to add it, but I'm at a loss as to what I should remove. The Boot offers me a great low block and the same Stun rating, along with more speed (and a +4 printed damage difference), all for 1 difficulty. Pommel Smash does allow me to incapacitate assets and characters, but it's not worth trading for all the advantages The Boot brings to the table, at least not in my opinion. If you can point out a foundation I can toss for it...