Things in the world of Flesh and Blood seem to be moving quite a bit faster than even as recently as this summer, a welcome change from the months-long lulls between noteworthy things of the game’s early days. Between the mothership of fabtcg.com, different social media sites, and more, it can sometimes feel daunting to stay on the cutting edge of the goings-on of the best card game out there. Fortunately for you, dear reader, I’m here to help you stay up to date!
World Championship: Osaka
To kick things off, a round of applause for Grzegorz Kowalski, taking home the crown (and one hundred thousand dollars) at the Flesh and Blood World Championship, piloting a lifegain focused Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry deck. Since Count Your Blessings blue has since been banned, the deck list itself is now a piece of history (we’ll cover that a bit later). Battling through a top eight of two Aurora, Shooting Star, two Dash I/O, a Nuu, Alluring Desire, a Viserai, Rune Blood, and another Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry, Grzegorz overcame intense adversity. He now boasts World Championship level performances in multiple card games, being the runner-up in Magic: the Gathering‘s 2018 World Championship. It’s no small feat to rise to the top of multiple games with high skill ceilings, and he deserves every bit of praise for doing so.
A special shoutout goes to Mercy Bickell, the runner-up of World Championship: Osaka. As of this event, she has taken the number one slot of Flesh and Blood‘s ranked leaderboard. It’s an honor to be a part of a card game that openly celebrates the hard work and accomplishments of women and people of marginalized genders.
Meet Mercy Bickell, one of the amazing women playing and succeeding in the TCG notoriously labeled as the most competitive around. She is now standing at the top of the leaderboard as the #1 ranked player in the world. 💪https://t.co/S4mF8JNo80 pic.twitter.com/0DVJiNQqnK
— Flesh and Blood (@fabtcg) November 20, 2024
Night at the Armory
The cast of Three Floating produced an incredible video, demonstrating nothing short of professional videography while putting some of the game’s best players in the spotlight. This feels like TCG commercials from the early 00s, portraying how some of those key moments in a card game feel. If you’re old enough to have seen these commercials when they were first on air, you’ll know how special videos like this will feel to a new generation of card gamers in a decade or two. Fewer bowl cuts, but you can’t have it all.
The Hunted
Starving Fai, Rising Rebellion fans everywhere will soon gain access to a brand new Royal Draconic Ninja in Cindra, Dracai of Retribution, breathing new life into one of the most aggressive classes in the game to date. This won’t be the only new creation in the Flesh and Blood pool of talented heroes either; Fang, Dracai of Blades creates a new space for Warriors to build into as a Royal Draconic Warrior. It seems likely you’ll be able to expect a more attack action-focused pattern, reminiscent of Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn.
But enough about them, what is going on with all of these Arakni?!
With seven distinct Arakni currently known, it’s going to be an exciting reveal of what the Chaos talent holds for us on December 17th.
If you’re a lore nerd, expansion on the conflict in Volcor will be a thrilling addition to the ever-deepening world of Rathe. Since Legend Story Studios has started injecting lore articles into their home site again, I’m waiting with bated breath to see what can be learned about the hunt for the Emperor’s assassin, and perhaps even who requested the contract to start with. I’m rooting for the Arakni though, so I’m placing my bets that they won’t get caught.
Winter Is Coming, Grab a…Tunic?
Ice is back, baby! Jarl Vetreidi‘s Armory Deck introduces a new, perhaps more balanced way to pile Frostbites onto your opponents, flavorfully freezing exposed skin where armor has been broken away. If you didn’t love the lean, precise deckbuilding and damage output ratios we’ve been seeing in formats like Heavy Hitters, your time has come. And what an introduction in the newest lore release, Battle of Isenloft. The Creatives at LSS really know how to make you fall in love with a character in a blink of an eye, you don’t want to overlook this chapter.
As Jarl Vetreidi begins making his impact on the Classic Constructed format, more diverse deckbuilding will be a requirement, so take this as a bit of pre-emptive advice: if you don’t own a Fyendal’s Spring Tunic, it’s a good time to consider grabbing one. Many decks that don’t otherwise play it will at least consider a copy for their sideboards to prepare to pay the Frostbite tax.
Healthy Bans
In one of the widest ranging Banned and Restricted updates yet, cards across each format have seen new restrictions. Legend Story Studios also set a new standard for transparency between designers and the player base, especially how they intend for games of Flesh and Blood to be determined by player skill as much as possible. I would strongly encourage reading through the announcement itself so you can maintain a deep understanding of the applied logic, but to summarize the changes:
- Classic Constructed: High Octane red and Count Your Blessings blue are banned
- Blitz: Zen is returned from Living Legend Status. Belittle red and Hadron Collider red are banned
- Living Legend: Open the Flood Gates red is restricted, and Star Struck yellow is unrestricted
- Commoner: Aether Ironweave is banned
It isn’t worth weighing in on where one aligns on if Count Your Blessings blue is good or bad. Removing the ability for virtually any deck to decide to gain 54 life keeps a lot of decks viable in the format, so the net positive prevails. The red and yellow copies will still gain a total of 30 life uninterrupted, so control decks can exist without erasing entire archetypes from the game. Plus, if it wasn’t obvious, Kano, Dracai of Aether not being able to deal 60 arcane damage on the very first turn of the game is a net positive, so good riddance Open the Flood Gates red.
Giving Zen a second go round from his three-week lifespan in Blitz will be a sigh of relief for enjoyers of the Mystic Ninja, since his rotating from the format was more of a bug than a feature of his power level. The changes to the format will accommodate a more healthy lifespan, and changing the points totals for Blitz heroes to match adult heroes at one thousand points will be less confusing for everyone.
Bravo, Star of the Show definitely needed some help into this new generation of aggressive heroes in the highest powered format of the game, and the infamous Book Bans to correct the Classic Constructed format will give a more distinct identity to the Living Legend format. It’s a wild world to live in where Bravo, Star of the Show needs unbans in order to maintain pace with the rest of the format!
Aether Ironweave is a bit over-tuned for a format like Commoner, where players often have to pick between utility and block value. It pulls Chane down just a bit from being overpowered for the heroes card pools as well in a format where he will never rotate out. Over all, these are all extremely positive bans.
For a bit more examination of the Flesh and Blood banlist, check out this article.
Whew, that’s quite a bit for just a little more than a month! This game continues to improve upon itself, almost to the point of my own personal disbelief. In a world with card games that make the games health a secondary priority, we all needed a bit more Flesh and Blood to give people an escape from that. Thank you for checking in, and I’ll see you next month!
Want more Flesh and Blood? Check out some of our other recent articles, including a Dash I/O budget deck tech, a review of the Dash I/O Armory Deck, and Jose Lau’s recap of his Top 64 run at Worlds: Osaka.
