Valkyrie: Keeping Heimdall on Speed Dial

Deck concept

Valkyrie is fantastic at controlling minions, but she struggles with thwarting. Flight of the Valkyrior is a great card, but with only two of them, not quite great enough to make up for her THW of 1. A solo Valkyrie deck needs to address this.

Justice would be the obvious approach, but that means giving up the benefits of The Bifrost. I don't think I could bear to do that; Aggression has some tools now which are nearly as good as we could find in Justice. Here we use Smash the Problem to stand in for Making an Entrance, and Chase Them Down for Clear the Area.

Card choices

First the allies. The Bifrost effectively reduces the cost of each Asgard ally by one, which certainly helps get Heimdall into play. Just as importantly, The Bifrost can bring in an ally on a turn we have none in hand. Moreover we can choose the ally with the most appropriate cost and enters-pay ability (apart from Thor), although it doesn't search the discard pile, which means late in a deck rotation we may not be able to choose exactly the ally we prefer. These big gains in economy and consistency make an all-Asgard ally approach pretty irresistible to me.

I've seen some decks leave out Valkyrie, but I think the rules are pretty clear that she is permitted, and as Valkyrie is supposed to be threader of the Valkyrior, to me it seems thematic to have at least one other valkyrie for her to boss around.

Smash the Problem and Chase Them Down give this deck the thwarting it needs. With Angela and Chooser of the Slain it is not too hard to set up the conditions to play Chase Them Down. Flight of the Valkyrior is also really handy for clearing larger amounts of threat.

Godlike Stamina helps with staying in Hero form, as well as dealing with stun or confuse. This deck does benefit from going to alter-ego, but it has to be timed carefully, ideally when Heimdall can stack the encounter deck, and at least one Flight of the Valkyrior is in play to help clear the threat which inevitably gets placed while we are in alter ego.

Mean Swing is a bit situational, as Combat Training, Death-Glow and Dragonfang are usually enough, but it provides to feed Jarnbjorn so I think it earns its keep.

Alternative cards

I experimented with Earth's Mightiest Heroes for more readying, but that really means more Avenger allies, as it isn't reliable with the three in the deck as it stands.

Playing the deck

The Bifrost is the key to this deck. Once it is in play then you can reliably get out an ally almost every turn. That buys you time to get the full minion-management package (Hall of Heroes, Valhalla, Dragonfang) into play. Dragonfang is pretty much a must-play, but you can wait for the other two if need be. I would always prioritise Flight of the Valkyrior over either of them, because it is such a powerful way of clearing threat.

Angela and Chooser of the Slain should be used when you don't have a minion in play. Valkyrie can get through quite a number of minions by putting Death-Glow onto each of them in turn, but there's rarely much actual advantage in that. One minion a turn is enough to trigger Chase Them Down, Jarnbjorn, Hall of Heroes, Flight of the Valkyrior, and Valhalla.

Ideally, you should be able to take out a minion, ready due to Death-Glow, and take a swing at the villain every turn hitting for three (six with Mean Swing) and maybe slotting in some Jarnbjorn damage when cards allow. Aim to whittle away methodically, rather the deliver a huge game-ending combo.

You can't play Valkyrie's Spear; but really, why would you want to?

How to lose with this deck

By far the best way to lose with this deck is to put Death-Glow on the villain. When I first started to use this deck I thought it would be a good idea to do that when I reached the final stage, so as to accelerate damage to the villain and win the game a little faster. I was wrong. Not only does this deny triggers for Flight of the Valkyrior and Valhalla, but it also meant I got less benefit from each new minion that enters play, which means Angela and Chooser of the Slain become less attractive, and so there are fewer triggers for Chase Them Down too. With less control over threat, it becomes harder to get to alter-ego, so if I suffer a setback of any kind it is harder to recover from.

Drawing Shadow of the Past is another good way to lose. Seduced can be a huge problem because it prevents you playing Chase Them Down and limits your ability to trigger Flight of the Valkyrior, so it is difficult to get into alter-ego in order to remove it. Your allies are really key to handling Enchantress.

The other way to lose with this deck is not to value Flight of the Valkyrior enough.

Conclusion

With a larger hand size and fewer expensive cards to get down, Valkyrie feels easier to play than Thor, but maybe has a lower ceiling. I do enjoy her though.