Ruby’s Guide to his Guardian Deck Discussion Video

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I’d like to thank Fab Foundry’s OniT for this opportunity. He and I have been friends since meeting over a Flesh and Blood game on Tabletop Simulator in March 2020. I’m incredibly proud to have watched him grow Fab Foundry into what it has become today.

Guardian is a grindy control deck with high defense. In physical damage matchups you have defense reactions and armor blocks. In Arcane damage matchups you have a high number of blue pitch cards to negate damage while keeping your deck count higher avoiding the risk of fatiguing in the long game.
Your opponents will usually be running defense reactions to stop your large crush attacks from landing the impactful “Crush” effect and it’s our job as Guardian to maneuver around those defense reactions to land a meaningful attack. After landing a meaningful attack, sometimes you stay on the offensive for the following turns while your opponent tries to regain momentum.

There are aspects of Flesh and Blood that every player should utilize and there are specific aspects that every guardian player should know. The difference between a good guardian player and an expert one is knowing how to block correctly, pitch cards to be in a specific order, setting up for a big attack and knowing when is the correct time to deploy the attack, and bluffing pummel / lunging press to create a situation where your opponent blocks incorrectly.

Matchups and Sideboards:

I’ve created a quick excerpt on each matchup and how I approach sideboards. I believe it’s correct to sideboard down to a deck size of 60-61 cards in most matchups so that your deck runs consistently. For example: If you keep all your expensive red attacks in your deck then your ratio of blue pitch and red pitch
cards is unbalanced you are more likely to draw expensive red attacks without the resources to pay for them.

Please note: I do not have extensive experience in every single matchup so feel free to sideboard differently and figure out what works best for yourself. If you discover a new sideboard wrinkle, send me a message and share what you learned.

(The lists below are sideboard cards I leave out for matchups)

Brute

Brute’s game plan is generally similar to Guardian’s and is one of the most even matchups. Brute is comfortable going the long game so the cards you pitch early will have a factor in the mid to late game. Fate Foreseen & Sink Below in the arsenal help prevent being blown out by their barraging beatdown turns. You will both be swinging your weapons a lot.
- 3 Nullrune Equipment
- 3 Staunch Response
- 1 Forged for War
- 3 Unmovable
- 1-6 Defense reactions or 1-6 attack actions depending on if you want to play aggressive or defensive

Guardian

Prepare for a long game and a lot of attacks with Anothos. Pitch order is especially important and sometimes it will be correct to pitch red attack actions to the bottom so you can set them up later (make sure the reds are surrounded by blue pitch cards). Whoever can land more impactful crush effects or pummel attacks will likely decide the winner. Setting up for a late game ending attack with Last Ditch Effort is also a viable strategy.
- 3 Nullrune Equipment
- 3 Spinal Crush
- 2 Righteous Cleansing
- 1 Forged for War
- 3 cartilage crush
- 3 Sink Below or 3 Fate Foreseen (I prefer keeping in Fate)

Ninja

You are playing the defensive roll. Since their Kodachis are so powerful late game against a Guardian with low health you cannot afford afford to play ultra defensive and fatigue like we can against Warrior. Don’t be afraid to block with your entire hand some of their big turns. Let them get greedy aggressive
while you block correctly until the Ninja has an off turn. Turn the tables on them with a large attack that punish Ninja’s low defense. Correctly timing your windows pivoting from the defensive to offensive roll
is key.
- 3 Nullrune Equipment
- 3 Mangle
- 3 Staunch Response
- 1 Remembrance
- 1 Forged for War
- 3 Unmovable

Warrior

You are playing the defensive roll for a majority of the game. Use your weapon to get in chip damage and don’t be afraid to block with your whole hand some of their big turns. Try to gain the most value from your defense reactions in arsenal. Block early to mid game until you use remembrance to shuffle 3 Crippling Crush back into your deck to overwhelm your opponent late game where you pivot to the offensive roll.
- 3 Nullrune Equipment
- 3 Spinal Crush
- 3 Pummel
- 2 Righteous Cleansing
- 1 Lunging Press

Mechanologist

One of Guardian’s hardest matchups. The usual slow grindy gameplan will not work against Mechanolosit because the longer you let the game goes, the more items they will be able to set up in the arena. Put simply, Mechanologist has a stronger late game than Guardian. Take out all your defense reactions and be the aggressor.
- 3 Nullrune Equipment
- 3 Fate Foreseen
- 3 Sink Below
- 3 Staunch Response
- 3 Unmovable

Runeblade

Your high number of blues will give you a cushion on blocking their big attacks and preventing their on-hit effects. This matchup is tricky because you don’t know if you’re playing against an aggressive or control deck at the start of the game. Make sure to determine which variation your opponent is playing before setting up defense reactions in the arsenal in the early game in case they are the type of Runeblade that only attacks a few times over the course of a game. Save your armor blocks for their big Arknight Ascendancy attacks.
- Nullrune Hood
- Arcanite Skullcap
- 2 Nullrune Equipment
- 3 Spinal Crush
- 3 Staunch Response
- 2 Righteous Cleansing
- 3 Unmovable

Wizard

Your high number of blues will give you a cushion on blocking their arcane damage. We are using 3 Nullrune equipment while keeping in our chest piece to help set up our expensive crush attacks. Since we can only block 3 arcane we can’t let the game go too long and let Wizard continue to get in with chip damage. Like most matchups, Guardian plays the defensive roll and must pick a window to turn on the offense and put Wizard on their back foot.
- Arcanite Skullcap
- Crater Fist
- Mage Master Boots
- 3 Fate Foreseen
- 3 Fate Foreseen
- Tome of Fyendal
- 1 Forged for War
- 1 Unmovable
- 3 Staunch Response


Ranger

One of Guardian’s best matchups due to our high defense and grindy game plan. Ranger is especially susceptible to fatiguing due to not having the ability to attack with a weapon. Their on-hit effects can mess with our game plan so do not underestimate this class. Block correctly, play the long game, and your crush attacks should overwhelm Ranger’s low defenses.
- 3 Nullrune Equipment
- 3 Staunch Response
- 2 Righteous Cleansing
- 1 Forged for War
- 3 Last Ditch Effort