So, to anyone that says players don't share decks, or that top decks aren't shared enough (and the envelope not pushed) - here is the one I've been perfecting the last 2 weeks and that I wouldn't have a problem playing at the next pro tour event or equivalent.

If you don't believe me re: the relative strength of this deck I only ask that you build it and find out ^^

I will also say now that this is the first of 3 iterations, and the other 2 are markedly better. If you want to talk Hilde, ways to kill her, ways to build her, please don't hesitate to contact me at [email protected] and I will spill my mind.

I have added the synergy comments to the sides of cards with a ' - ' and bolded damage redux.

Character -

Hilde X 1

Actions -

Dual Wielding X 3 - for turn 2 kill, * 2s the printed damage of any attack, weapon w/ 4 control check

Toughest in the Universe X 3 - damage redux, can go with stun, stun on 6 of 14 attacks

= 6

Assets -

Valkyrja's Shield X 4 - damage redux, breaker, 3 keywords, weapon w/ 4 control check, f/o

Glanzende Nova and Frischer Himmel X 4 - damage redux, 2 keywords, weapon w/ 5 control check, f/o, use with Hilde to draw 3 cards on an attack, use on opponent's attack to draw a card

= 8

Attacks -

Execution Technique First Rite X 3 - low weapon, 2 keywords, low block, reduces difficulty on 6 of 14 attacks

Hammer Uppercut X 3 - high weapon, diff lowered by first rite, 7 printed damage, low block

Cleave X 3 - high weapon, diff lowered by first rite, 0 mid block

Pommel Smash X 3 - high weapon, 2 keywords, low diff attack, control attack

Execution Technique Third Rite X 2 - 6 printed damage, big damage combo

= 14

Foundations -

Resourceful X 3 - +3 block mod, f/o, weapon w/ 4 control check, recurs weapons on opponent's turn

Relentless X 4 - f/o, weapon w/ 4 control check, draw 2 cards

Envoy of the Queen X 3 - + 3 block mod, f/o, weapon w/ 5 control check, 1 diff, can get weapons in discard to draw with resourceful

Financial Distress X 4 - f/o, draw and control card

Hope for One's People X 4 - + 3 block mod, f/o, 0 diff, control card

Cursed Blood X 4 - + 3 block mod, 1 diff, control card, 'note' - just order

Memories that Stain its Armor X 3 - +4 block mod, control card

Stand Off X 3 - +3 block mod, increase and decrease damage

Shadowar X 4 - +3 block mod, control pump, goes w/ all attacks for free boost

Paid to Protect X 4 - +3 block mod, goes with many keywords, use after damage pump to reduce 'alot' for a single commit

The Ultimate Team X 4 - f/o, goes with many block mods, increase and decrease damage, take advantage of rampant draw

= 40

total count = 68 + char = 69

Sideboard -

Memories that Stain its Armor X 1

Mark of the Beast X 3

Pommel Smash X 1

Torn Hero X 3 or Nursing a Grudge X 3 or Alertness, from the Hawk X 3, etc.

= 8

The jist of the deck. Hammer Upper -> Dual Wielding, checking 2 5s and using Hilde is 15 damage, from there every damage redux just pushes it higher. Get 1 of 2 assets out first turn, if weapon (not shield) attack turn 2 and draw 3 cards. Get bolded (at least 1 damage redux) out first turn.

Weakness, lack of good high block mods.

Can you guess the improvements/alterations that this deck has endured to get to iteration # 3?

- dut

yuh it's a scary deck. it works REALLY well. unless you don't draw attacks (lol). I really like hilde's play style pulled a bunch of her stuff today. i really like val's sheild. In that deck it works stupidly well on the offense and defense. espically early game. how high have you manged to get one of your attacks on turn 2?

p.s it's Vern.

Guess I'm gonna need to buy a few cards, but I quite like this build ^^

dark121 said:

Hey Vern! Glad to see you posting - your Nina deck was fun to play against, even with crazy bad luck. As you saw evidence of, even when I have crazy bad draws I can still play the defensive game extremely well with Hilde. ( you will note the deck I used yesterday against you and others was my 3rd iteration hilde, the one above is a bit more agressive and has some glaring weaknesses ).

I have managed to get an attack to 29 damage turn 2 with the deck above (I checked a 5 and a 4 commiting one of 4 foundations to pass the attack and action btw).

(4 foundation setup and shield, was 3 followed by a cursed blood that hit foundation) -> hammer (7), paid to protect w/ 6 keywords to min 1 damage (+6), dual wielding (+7), Hilde (+1), commit 1 for shield discard other asset for drop of 5 (+5), commit last foundation the ultimate team and discard +3 mod (+3). 7+6+7+1+5+3 = 29 damage. The speed was 4-1+44 = 47 speed for 29.

- dut

Yuh i really like nina. I just gotten get use to playing her and remember to use her free F every turn. i was looking through my deck a bit later and realized there were a lot of cards in there that had no purpose and WAY too many attacks. I should mulligan if i don't have three or more foundations, but then i'd have to work ten times harder to remove from game stuff so ice pick is unblockable. mind you, against hilde that probably doesn't matter at all.

dark121 said:

I thought I'd apologize in advance, I just built a Nina deck... Don't worry I won't use it for more than a few weeks and maybe it will give you some ideas.

- dut

To be honest, I don't have all that much to say, other than it looks very solid, and good call on the Valkyrja's Shield working for you on offense as well as defense.

apologize for what? i'd love to have a nina showdown. plus i'm missing a good chunk of her UR's inorder to do what i want. to mention a few UC's and commons from SW i want to put in her. it'll be neat to see if they're super different or somewhat similar.

Thanks for sharing the deck.

dutpotd, what are the decks that give you trouble, and do you have a hard time killing 27+ vit characters on the second turn, going first?

I like this deck and I like Hilde A LOT, but as I said in my previous thread I don't see how a 7/18 can stand up to Fire or Earth right now. Our Fire decks are routinely tossing 28+ damage on the second turn, with only two or three attacks. Since I prefer Hata, I get speed bonuses on top of my attacks as well for doing bascially anything (lots of commit effects). If your Paid to Protects are stunned out or commited, as is frequently the case in my testing, how do you deal with a 7M for 14 Hammer of the Gods followed by a lethal Midnight Launcher (with +2-3 speed) and then either a cheap Neutron Bomb to fuel more attacks or of course Knight Breaker?

I think 14 attacks are a little low for your deck, but it does look very good. Please email me if you want to continue the discussion outside the forums, as I am most interested in your results with this deck. Thanks.

VikramS said:

And here lies the biggest misconception surronding Hilde, everyone figures she tries to kill turn 2... To answer your question bluntly, I don't have a hard time doing what I don't try (...anymore. Sure I've built T2 decks w/ Hilde, but this isn't where her sweet spot is, it is far too hit or miss)

Most/all Hilde's can reliabily kill anything less than 20 vitality on turn 2 in the absence of opponent's damage reduction or speed reduction. It would take a near perfect setup and some very nice checks to kill anything with more than 25 vitality turn 2 with Hilde, you will note that the damage reduction that exists is sufficiently less than the damage pump that exists.

In fact, if that is what you are aiming to do I suggest a better character to do so would be King, Heiachi, Omar or Jin all 3 of them have the ability to do more damage (if unblocked and if drawn into with smaller handsizes). I'm sure you can also tell me that Hata, Ragnar, Brian Fury or any other fire character for that matter can do the same if they have damage pump on them and happen to draw into a 2/3 attack combo after first drawing and playing 4 foundations on the first turn of the game. Alternatively you could run a Hilde deck with many Fire attacks and damage pump foundations. But then you really are either killing turn 2 or getting KO'd the turn after.

The thing you are forgetting is that Hilde isn't 'really' a 18 vitality character... When she averages reduction of 5-8 after turn 1, 10-15 after turn 2, etc. she is pretty much vitality of 23+ unless you plan on attacking turn 1. So, if you are throwing out 30 damage turn 2 (perfect setup, nice draw, and nice checks - I probably give you a 20% of doing so) then Hilde just has to block one of the 7+ damage attacks to survive, and unless you are speed pumping all of them (which in turn commits you out to play fewer attacks) I highly doubt she won't be able to block one turn 2 and survive. After which she will continue to outbuild you, gather more reduction, and gather more blocks.

Also, I don't really care how much stun you have... In general I will commit the foundations that don't reduce damage, and if it's pommel you have increased your progressive difficulty and probably won't be able to pass another 2 damaging attacks and give them pump turn 2.

Long story short, if you don't kill Hilde turn 2/3 you probably will never be able to (well likely your only chance will be if she overextends and fails to kill you). Hilde, built properly, can and will outbuild anyone.

- Note, I haven't sent you an email to talk more as of yet. Namely becuase I feel it is best if tech talk is public, and also becuase I don't really know what I'd say at the moment. Most/all of your particulars I think I answered above. That said, my deck here is crap. There are serious problems with it. That is why it was/is classified above as my first iteration. It has potential sure, and if you build this deck and play around with it you will see areas in which it can improve, hence why I've posted it - to fuel the minds of other players with a good starting point. To that extent I have had private conversations with 5+ people who've contacted me after reading my deck here, and you are most welcome to as well.

I started out building Hilde becuase I was in search of Astrid counters, i.e. wanted to test out what I thought would be her weakness and Hilde happened to have access to a lot of that. What I found was a character with an ability that once built around can win you the majority of games and has a fairly strong matchup against any and all characters if resources are dedicated to addressing her glaring weaknesses.

- dut