Bravo, Showstopper

Bravo, Showtopper is the very first Guardian of Flesh and Blood, introduced in Welcome to Rathe. His hero ability is considered by most to be quite dated. Spending two resources to give an attack dominate is costly, and for most Guardian attacks, dominate isn’t enough to secure a crush effect since many heroes have access to defense reactions and equipment blocks.

Specialization cards

Bravo stands out from other guardians due to his Specialization cards Crippling Crush, Star Struck and Show Time! They have some of the most powerful crush effects in the game that are relevant into nearly any hero. One notable unique advantage of Star Struck is that it is one of the few crush effects that affect the Warrior class in a meaningful way. Chokeslam famously doesn’t apply to weapon attacks, and Spinal Crush is often moot since they can just attack with their weapon and pile on a bunch of attack reactions.

Still, these attacks are very expensive to play, so you will often find that it is difficult to find the right moment to play them. And when you do, you might neuter your opponent’s turn, but struggle to take advantage of the situation, as your next hand might only be able to send a blue attack for 6 or 7.

Show Time! is mostly considered a “turn zero” card. If you start the game and have this and another blue card in your hand, you get to set up a powerful attack in your arsenal and draw a card on your next turn to help pay for it.

Bravo’s classic pitch stack

The specialization cards can be played with dominate by pitching three blues. Imagine drawing a hand like that every turn! This is actually very possible through pitch stacking. In order to make it so that you draw three blues and a specialization card every turn, pitch three blues in between each specialization card. If you are using Anothos, the specialization cards can be pitched to Anothos (or Tectonic Plating) alongside a 3+ cost blue to attack for 6, meaning you aren’t wasting too much value by pitching a red or yellow card. But there are also other tools available for pitch stacking, namely Crown of Providence, Sink Below and Enlightened Strike. These can all put your specialization cards on the bottom of the deck while doing something else useful.

Placing Enlightened Strike or Sink Below in your arsenal is a good way to ensure that you are prepared for when you draw a specialization card and need to find a way to put it on the bottom of the deck. Keep track of the number of blues you have pitched so that you know when to pull the trigger and place a specialization card on the bottom.

If things don’t line up, there’s no shame in blocking with a specialization card and waiting for the next one. Do not pitch your specialization cards willy nilly just because you want to keep them in your deck! It’s important to maintain your pitch stack in perfect order. Pitching multiple red cards in a row is very dangerous since when you draw a red-heavy hand later on you could give your opponent just enough space to win the game. The same is also true for pitching too many blues, but there are fortunately some exceptions to this, namely Tear Asunder and Rouse the Ancients, which allow you send powerful attacks even if your hand consists of four blue cards, especially when you are wielding Anothos.