I'll share my brute build/progression aside from items/enhancements. for the swaps, if i swap out a top card, i'm primarily using the top of the new card. i usually have a rigid use of my cards: starting cards: top: sweeping blow, trample, balanced measure, skewer, provoking roar bottom: spare dagger, shield bash, warding strength, grab and go, leaping cleave L2: juggernaut in, sweeping blow out L3: hook and chain in, shield bash out L4: fatal advance in, trample out L5: skirmishing maneuver in, skewer out L6: impossible phalanx in, warding strength out, balanced maneuver is switched to bottom, spare dagger is switched to top L7: quietus in, grab and go out L8: frenzied onslaught in, spare dagger out L9: face your end in, leaping cleave out final set: top: fatal advance, juggernaut, skirmishing maneuver, frenzied onslaught, provoking roar bottom: balanced measure, hook and chain, quietus, face your end, immovable phalanx losses: face your end, fatal advance, immovable phalanx i disagree on fatal advance or any insta-kill loss cards being terrible. you wont need extra turns when there are less enemies on the board. of course, this depends on how many hits an enemy takes before it goes down. if it take 1-2 hits typically then insta-kills arent worth it. if an enemy take 3+ hits and is either dangerous or shielded then it's worth it as you save turns killing that enemy which makes the loss worth it. the latter becomes the usual case as you go higher up in levels. fatal advance is not worth the pickup at L2 but it starts to become worthy at L3-4. i also disagree with your assessment of frenzied onslaught. this is one heck of a card. with immovable phalanx, this is essentially an attack 2 x4. use a power potion and quietus bottom and you've got 16 points of dmg without factoring the modifier deck. with a decent modifier deck at this point (assuming an average of +1 per hit), it's not unusual to see this card delete bosses churning out 20 dmg in 1 turn. if you didnt' need to move with quietus then this essentially a 25 dmg combo in 1 turn. and the dmg is repeatable as a non-loss.