Classic Constructed
- No changes.
Quite simply, the Pro Tour Baltimore metagame was diverse in both representation and outcomes. Lexi, Livewire was "the deck to beat" at Pro Tour Baltimore, being the most represented hero in the tournament (23%) and putting 4 players into the top 8, yet the metagame offered 3 predators to Lexi in the form of Dromai, Azalea, and Uzuri, who feasted on Lexi's in the feature match arena over the course of the weekend. Despite Lexi being a full 50% of the top 8, the "Mother of Dragons" alone dispatched 3 of them from the top 8.
On the flip side, Oldhim won the tournament, an outcome that has been fairly consistent over the current season (and beyond). Oldhim was easily the second most represented hero at the Pro Tour making up 18% of the field. However, Oldhim only claimed a single top 8 spot due to his unfavored match up into Lexi.
Further supporting the range of heroes who have the tools to lift the trophy, Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire won the 900 player Calling Baltimore!
As we head into the Road to Nationals season, we believe players have a good range of options at their disposal depending on the trends of their local metagame. Therefore we are happy to make no changes to Classic Constructed and pass it back over to the community to naturally take the metagame forward from here.
Blitz
The following heroes and signature weapons have attained Living Legend status and are no longer legal for official Blitz tournament play as of Friday May 5, 2023:
- Iyslander
- Oldhim
- Kraken's Aethervein
- Winter's Wail
A roll of honor article celebrating all the players who contributed points towards Iyslander's and Oldhim's ascension to Living Legend will be published in the coming days and embedded in the hero page of these legendary heroes.
In addition to the Living Legend update, the following changes to Blitz are effective as of Friday May 5, 2023:
- Drone of Brutality moves from banned to legal
- Aether Icevein moves from suspended to legal
- Crown of Seeds moves from suspended to legal
- Hypothermia moves from suspended to legal
Blitz Changes
Drone of Brutality
Drone of Brutality was the first card to ever be banned in Flesh and Blood, on March 18, 2021. A lot has changed in two years.
It's still true that Drone breaks one of the core design tenets of Flesh and Blood, that "Every Card Counts". However, the difference between 2021 and now is the general power level of Blitz has increased to a point that we believe the way Drone breaks this design tenet is likely no longer problematic.
We're sure many players will be celebrating the departure of Iyslander and Oldhim from Blitz, with both of these heroes attaining Living Legend status with this announcement. However, Iyslander and Oldhim were the premier decks for slowing down the Blitz format, and we believe that in their absence there is a good chance the format speeds up considerably.
Returning Drone to the format is a nod to what hopefully becomes a new iteration of mid-range and control decks, by incentivizing long game strategies that leverage the Drone inevitability package.
We will be keeping a close eye on the impact of Drone of Brutality, and preface this unbanning with a cautionary message that Drone has the potential to return to the ban list again in the future. Until then, we look forward to seeing an old favorite being played again.... and again.... and again.... and....
Aether Icevein, Crown of Seeds, Hypothermia
These three cards come off the suspended list with respect to Iyslander and Oldhim attaining Living Legend status.
Ultimate Pit Fight
The following changes are effective as of Friday May 5, 2023:
- Go Bananas is banned (in official events only)
Go Bananas is a fun and silly card, but in the context of playing UPF competitively (which really isn't the point of UPF), it functions as a broken pay-to-win card, allowing any deck to effectively break the 2-per-deck card limit and play action cards that aren't even the same class or talent as their hero.
Go Bananas is hands down the most powerful card in UPF, as it's every action card in UPF. Power level aside, the reason we have decided to ban Go Bananas from official events is the risk it presents to event operations and creating negative game experiences.
When the incentives are high enough, which may happen from time to time at official events such as the Pro Tour UPF side event, we can foresee a scenario where it takes dozens of minutes and creates significant mess within the gaming space in order to resolve a Go Bananas.
We encourage fans to continue to enjoy Go Bananas in the comfort of your own home, or with house rules applied at your local game store, such as 3 packs max. For this reason, Go Bananas joins Yorick on the "not safe for official play" banned list.
Next Scheduled Banned and Suspended Announcement
The next scheduled banned and suspended announcement is Monday July 3, 2023 (EST).