Brute

BLOCK

BLOCK is one of the bread and butter cards of BATL. By granting the user +1 DEF, the user can advance or retreat with confidence of survival. BLOCK has no cost, and therefore grants the user +1 MAD.

ENDURANCE
COMBO

ENDURANCE is how a brute can heal. Unlike many other forms of healing, ENDURANCE must be COMBOed into. After playing another brute card first, the user may then play ENDURANCE, healing for +2 HP. ENDURANCE has no cost, and therefore the user would gain +1 MAD. Unlike most other healing cards, ENDURANCE can only affect the user.

GRAB
1 MAD

Whether you need to trap an opponent to finish them off, or weigh them down to escape, GRAB has endless utility. The user must spend 1 MAD, before playing GRAB to affect an adjacent target. Unless the target gains additional MS, the target's MS will be equal to 0 (MS = 0), disabling the target from moving, until the user's next turn.

HIT

The most commonly used card in all of BATL is HIT, because it is the easiest way for a player to increase their ATK. Having no cost, the user gains +1 MAD, and then gains +1 ATK until the end of the user's turn. This ATK increase stacks with all other ATK increases.

LEAP
1 MAD

Very often in BATL an opponent will attack, and then move away. This creates a situation where the player must spend an action to move back up, before spending their second action to attack. Though this can be effective, a player can do much more DMG if they are able to use both of their actions to perform attacks. This is where LEAP is a godsend. By allowing the player to effectively use two actions for the cost of one, the player is able to move in and attack as one, freeing up the user's second action, to then perform a second attack. This can also be used in the reverse if a player chooses, allowing the user to first attack and then move away for a single action. The versatility of LEAP makes it a very sought after brute card.

OVERWHELM
1 MAD

When an enemy turtles up behind a wall of DEF, a player's options may begin to feel limited. That is until they play OVERWHELM. With a cost of 1 MAD, OVERWHELM depletes an adjacent target of -1 DEF, creating a sudden vulnerability in the target's defenses, and an opportunity for the user. Many times players will play some sort of heavy defense, feel invincible, and then become foolishly overconfident. A card like OVERWHELM, allows the user to take advantage of the opponent's arrogance and turn it against them.

SHRUG

Brutes themselves don't have a ton of deck manipulation, but they do have SHRUG. With no cost, SHRUG grants +1 MAD, and has the user shuffle a card from their hand back into their deck, before then drawing a single card. SHRUG is useful in a pinch, to get a new card or a little MAD. SHRUG resolves immediately.

SPRINT

SPRINT is the most reliable way to increase the user's MS, while also granting +1 MAD. With an increase of just +1 MS, the user's potential movement range doubles. This increase to MS stacks with all other active MS increases.

TANK
COMBO - 1 MAD

TANK has a high potential to reduce DMG, and is one of the most consistent cards to do so. Requiring a brute COMBO, and the cost of 1 MAD, TANK grants the user 3 temporary HP. Whenever temporary HP is in play, the pool of temporary HP sits on top of the user's current HP, and is affected first before the user's actual HP. Once the temporary HP is depleted, it is no longer in play. If there is remaining temporary HP in TANK at the start of user's next turn, TANK does resolve regardless. If a player played TANK, and also had other cards in play granting increased DEF, the user's DEF would apply to the temporary HP given by TANK. Temporary HP operates first when applying any DMG from any source. As an example, if a player had PLATE equipped, and also had TANK in play, an opposing player would have to overcome PLATE in order to deal DMG to TANK.

TRAUMA
1 MAD

TRAUMA can be one of the most brutal cards in BATL, but has some tricky aspects that must be considered. With a cost of 1 MAD, once played, TRAUMA deals 2 DMG to the user AND THEN deals 2 DMG to an adjacent target. This order is extremely important. If a player is at 2 HP, and they use TRAUMA, the user will die before any DMG is done to the target. In this situation, in a 1v1 game, the player who used TRAUMA would lose as soon as their HP hit 0, before the secondary DMG has a chance to apply. In the same situation, but in a larger game than a 1v1, the user with 2 HP would die once they played TRAUMA, but because of the other players in the game, the game would continue to persist, and the target of TRAUMA would receive 2 DMG, despite the user having died.

WALLOP
COMBO

Just like the card HIT, but with requirement of a COMBO. WALLOP increases the user's ATK by +1 until the end of the user's turn, and grants +1 MAD as it has no cost. This ATK increase stacks with all other active ATK increases. HIT into WALLOP is the most common COMBO in BATL.