Fate – The King of Heroes (Y/R) [03/28/2023]

It is through the Epic of Gilgamesh that the almighty King of Heroes is recorded. His valiant adventures to the nether and fearless challenge against the gods are but only small bits of his wondrous tale. However, even in his plight for glory and vast wealth, Gilgamesh was a rather lonely character whose presence caused others to flee from him in utter respect and fear. Learn more about Gilgamesh through here.

Prostrate yourselves, filthy mongrels. Clad in his golden armour, the king of luxury and all of the treasures of the world stands before you. If you heed his words and wisdom, he may spare your life or end it swiftly and mercifully. Gilgamesh wields his signature Sword of Rupture (Ea), a unique weapon that only he can fully wield and manifest. At his beckon, he can use the sword’s signature ability, Enuma Elish, warping the world and ending all life as we know it.

Gil’s combo here lets you discard his climax to send your opponent’s climax to the waiting room while pumping himself with power for the turn. Do note that the timing for Gilgamesh’s ability is at the start of your opponent’s attack phase, meaning that any ability that triggers with a climax ability during the climax phase can still be used by your opponent.

As for advantage in the early game, the combos suggested are those of Rin’s Cigarettes profile above. She gets burst power on-play and is an efficient way to mill the deck and gain hand back. The gate trigger is great as well to recycle resources if triggered.

Alternatively, the Saber Minami profile above can be used instead. Her shot trigger can be nice to put pressure on your opponent in the late game. The main reason to consider Saber is due to the addition of the colour yellow which is needed for the card below.

Smug looking Gilgamesh above is a key card to the deck. Whereas most cards require a bit of luck to try and fetch a climax, if you fulfill Gilgamesh’s reverse condition, you can pay his high costs to directly add a climax from your deck to your hand. This is imperative as this allows you to set-up easily for level three Gil while also giving your opponent a friendly warning that the King of Heroes is arriving soon.

Because of how important it is that we pair Gilgamesh with his beloved Noble Phantasm, the cards shown above greatly increase the odds of getting Ea to hand. Rin’s 1/0 checks through the top four cards of the deck and adds a card to hand. Saber Alter is a similar filter to Rin’s except she requires you to place a character from hand to clock. She lets you check x and add a card to hand where x is equal to the number of characters on your stage. Lastly, 0/0 Rin plays a guessing game with your opponent to potentially net you cards in hand. Her more important effect is as a climax filter to salvage a character back to hand.

Since Gil takes up our level three slot with his climax combo, we’ll need alternative ways of beating our opponent. Gil crushes our opponent’s hopes and dreams, but the Sabers above will mercifully send them off for good by permanently launching them into the abyss. Saber Alter has a check ability on-swing to deal damage equal to the level of the card revealed. The 3/2 Saber is a Musashi profile. Lastly, 2/1 Saber is a backrow global support with a niche ability to directly attack your opponent if you pay her heavy costs for a fourth attack.

Two more interesting cards to consider are the Gilgamesh and Sakura shown above. Gilgamesh has an expensive ability on your opponent’s turn that can effectively shut down a single character completely, nullifying all damage they deal. Keep in mind that Gil’s timing is at the start of their attack phase, so you must assign his ability before they begin to swing. Sakura is an anti-level reverser with a nice ability to discard two Servant (サーヴァント) characters to spawn a Servant or Shadow (影) character of your level or lower from the waiting room, which helps to spawn Gilgamesh since he carries the Servant trait.

As for counters, if you choose to run them, Archer is a free costless 2000 backup. Rin is an anti-change backup. Shirou is a Leafa counter profile. Most abilities for our cards are during our turn, but if you wish to get a sneaky reverse with 1/0 Gil, go ahead since you can potentially use his ability during your opponent’s turn as well, assuming you can overpower his opponent.

1/0 Gil is an interesting profile that acts as a cost one or lower reverser should you have a red climax in your climax zone. This works especially great if you are running him alongside your level one Cigarettes Rin combo. Vimana is an interesting event that lets you salvage two characters with Archer [アーチャー] in name, potentially working for both Archer and Gil since they share the same name for certain cards. It is primarily your way of guaranteeing Gil to hand while also being a top check with a punishment condition. Early play Shirou is a filter on play, helping us potentially net a copy of Ea or Gil for our endgame. Chibi Gil is interesting as it gains a soul in the center slot of your front stage and a pay one draw ability if his damage is canceled.

As Gil states, the world is plagued by disgusting mongrels clinging to dear life. In the centuries of his absence, humanity has transformed itself into nothing more than driveling hounds tearing each other up for scraps of flesh. Now that the rightful king has returned to his throne, he must perform his duty and reset this wretched earth in the only way that it is deserving of: destroying everything and beginning life anew. Once his plan is complete, he shall sit upon his golden seat as the gods restore creation to its original purpose, a grand beautiful image molded from divinity. Through the flames and ashes, new life shall arise, replacing the old and once again filling the earth with beauty and purpose.