Playing a new card game can be really intimidating if you don't know what cards are in the game, and Griftlands is no exception. There are tons of different cards and synergies for each character, and knowing some of the core cards for each character to build your deck around can be very useful.
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Sal is the first character that we get to play in Griftlands and experience the story with, and he has many powerful archetypes such as combo, bleed, and discard, as well as strong diplomacy and hostility cards for negotiation encounters.
Magnetic Charm
Magnetic Charm is one of the core negotiation cards for any diplomacy deck. Sal can be really powerful in negotiation encounters, and if you focus on diplomacy cards, this draw effect can be very effective at replenishing your hand and also gaining influence.
The card draw aspect of Magnetic Charm means that it can also be played in non-diplomacy or half-diplomacy decks effectively, especially because of its upgraded versions. You can either draw three cards in diplomacy heavy decks or draw two and gain one extra influence in other decks.
Deception
Improvise decks are one of the hardest battle archetypes to pull off as Sal, but Deception is one of the core cards for any build that relies on Improvise keyword. This card improvises an attack card from your deck and gives it +4 damage. Considering that you pick this in an Improvise heavy deck, most of the attack cards you get from deception can also benefit from the Improvise effect.
Improvise shows you three cards, and you get to choose one to draw. You can also upgrade this card to give the attack card +6 attack, or choose your card from a selection of five cards instead of three with the upgraded Improvise effect.
Non Sequitur
Griftlands has many cards that cost 2 or more actions to play, and the limited actions that we have during each turn reduces their viability in oppose to 1 or 0 cost cards. Non Sequitur can enable playing strong and expensive finishers for zero actions.
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The best upgrade option for this card is Pale Non Sequitur, as it also reduces the cost of the card itself, allowing you to play multiple cheap cards and an expensive card all in one turn.
Scorched Earth
Speaking of expensive finishers, Scorched earth might be the card you want to run alongside Non Sequitur. This can deal enough damage to win an encounter if you build your negotiation deck in a way to only include a limited number of hostility cards.
Even if you don't have the Non Sequitur to compliment this card, you can choose the Pale upgraded version that costs 1 action, otherwise, you can double down on the damage with the Boosted Scorched Earth.
Inside Fighting
Combo Decks are one of the high-risk high-reward battle archetypes for Sal, and Inside Fighting is one of the most important pieces for pulling off the combo synergy. This is an ability card that lets you gain combo for every attack card that you play.
By upgrading this card, you can also give it the Ambush effect, so you can always start with it in your starting hand. This helps to build up your combo points as soon as possible and get the strong finisher combo cards in play.
Buying Time
Action economy is crucial in Griftland as you only have 3 actions to spend on cards in each turn, and cards like Buying Time can help you play extra cards to stabilize or even finish the encounter. This is a great option for negotiation decks with lots of high-cost cards or card draw effects.
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Both upgraded versions of Buying time are appealing in their own right. If you are worried about spending too much influence in order to get the effect, you can get the Lean Time version to only spend one influence, or you can get the Boosted Time version to gain an extra action.
Bloodbath
One of the most popular battle archetypes for Sal is bleed decks. And this ability card, Bloodbath, is one of the strongest options for extra AOE damage with every bleed that you apply to your enemies.
You can upgrade this card to give it the Ambush keyword, so it always starts in your opening hand and you can get the extra bleed effect going immediately. The Pale Bloodbath is also viable since the discount can be very important for most decks.
Good Impression
Good Impression is one of the strongest diplomacy cards for Sal, with really high damage output and low cost. This can go in any negotiation deck, but especially in combination with other diplomacy synergies, it can even create One Turn Kill combos.
The Pale upgraded version will make this card cost zero, which is really powerful and can go great with other card draw effects to cycle through your deck and play this card multiple times in a turn.
Kra'deshi Barbstorm
Cards that support two archetypes can be very powerful, and Kra'deshi Barbstorm with both Discard and Bleed synergy is one of the strongest cards if you are leaning towards any of these keywords. This is a cheap bleed effect that can be even more powerful if you discard it.
The upgraded versions give this card even more versatility, as you can make the main bleed effect more powerful if you don't have enough discard cards, or make the discard effect better if you can support the synergy with other cards in your deck.
Adapt
One of the strongest battle archetypes for Sal is Discard decks. And in those decks, Adapt is ridiculously powerful. For one action, you will discard your whole hand, activating any other discard synergy that you have, and you also draw five cards to replenish your resources.
The best upgrade option for Adapt would be to remove the expend keyword, which removes it from your deck after playing. This way you can keep cycling through your deck and activate your discard effects over and over again.
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