**Halo Wars 2 Blitz: build the deck around the fight you need to win**

**Halo Wars 2 Blitz: build the deck around the fight you need to win** Blitz takes away the base-building phase and puts the army in your hand. That gets you into combat quickly, but it also means a bad deck follows you through the entire match. You need ways to take ground, hold it and answer what the other player brings. Twelve impressive cards are not necessarily twelve cards that work together. **Start with a deck you can afford to use** A deck contains twelve cards, with four available in your hand at a time. Playing cards brings in units or effects at an energy cost. Your leader determines the available choices and starting-army options. Begin with the leader's starter deck and make small changes. After a match, identify what you could not answer: aircraft, heavy ground units, infantry crowds or simply an early fight where every card was too expensive. Keep a mixture of affordable units, useful counters and a smaller number of expensive plays. If the opening hand leaves you saving energy while the opponent takes the map, the deck needs more than another powerful late-game card. Choose a starting army that supports the opening you intend to play. A fast force can reach an early contest; a slower force needs a plan that does not rely on winning a race it cannot win. **Play the zones and the energy together** In PvP, holding the majority of the three zones produces score. Two defended zones are usually a better practical position than three points held by isolated units that cannot help each other. Move the army so it can reinforce the threatened zone. Leave enough presence behind to hold the other one, but avoid dividing the force into three equally weak groups. Energy drops create another reason to move. Destroy the container and collect what it releases; winning the firefight beside it is not enough if the opponent collects the energy afterward. Send a suitable mobile unit when the main army cannot leave its position. If contesting a drop would cost several expensive units, give it up and defend the zones rather than turning one lost resource opportunity into a lost army. **Be careful where you deploy** Units deployed away from the home area normally suffer fatigue, with a health penalty. Some cards have exceptions, so read the card's keywords rather than treating every deployment alike. Dropping a fresh unit straight into concentrated enemy fire is therefore a risky way to reinforce. When there is time, deploy safely and move it into the formation. Use emergency frontline deployment when its immediate contribution is worth that risk. Place support behind the fighting units. A healer or other support card does not help for long if it becomes the first target the enemy can reach. **Cycle with a purpose** If the hand does not answer the current fight, cycle an unsuitable card instead of sitting on four cards you refuse to use. Think about what you are trying to draw before spending resources cycling repeatedly. A common mistake is to spend everything as soon as it becomes available. Keep enough energy for the response the opponent is likely to force. If hostile aircraft are already visible, your next expensive ground unit can wait until the army has anti-air. When using a damage card, wait for enemies to commit to a capture point, a narrow approach or a fight. A beautifully placed effect on ground they have already left contributes nothing. **Blitz Firefight needs a different rhythm** The cooperative survival version uses the card system against waves. Build for sustained coverage, not just one opening attack. Keep anti-air, ground damage and support available. Replace losses between waves where possible, and move the army together when a position becomes untenable. Chasing one survivor while the next wave arrives can pull the whole defense apart. In co-op, agree who watches each approach and who collects energy. Call for help before the defending force is destroyed. Bringing reinforcements to a living army is much cheaper than rebuilding a cleared position. **Achievement targets worth separating** - **Ante-up:** finish the tutorial. - **Duellist:** win a matchmade Blitz match. - **Card shark:** complete 25 matchmade Blitz matches. - **Full house:** complete a match as each of the six launch leaders: Cutter, Isabel, Anders, Atriox, Decimus and Shipmaster. - **All or nothing:** use every card in the deck during one match. - **Stacked the chips:** collect 150 energy crates cumulatively. - **Jackpot:** play 777 cards cumulatively. For Full house, keep a six-name checklist. Playing a DLC leader does not substitute for a missing launch leader. For All or nothing, record cards actually played, not just seen in the hand or cycled away. Blitz Firefight has separate wave and score targets, including waves 10 and 25 and 500,000 points in one match. Those are not the Terminus Firefight achievements. Matchmade requirements depend on finding a live match. A private practice session is useful for learning the deck, but should not be treated as a substitute for an achievement that explicitly requires matchmaking.