Classic Constructed
The following hero and signature weapon have attained Living Legend status, and are no longer legal for official Classic Constructed tournament play from Friday, September 22nd:
- Briar, Warden of Thorns
- Rosetta Thorn
A roll of honor article celebrating all the players who contributed points towards Briar’s ascension to Living Legend will be published in the near future and embedded in the hero page of this legendary hero.
In addition to the Living Legend update, the following changes to Classic Constructed are effective from Friday, September 22nd:
- Bull’s Eye Bracers moves from banned to suspended until Lexi, Livewire becomes Living Legend
We begin with good news for all the Azalea and Riptide fans out there - when Lexi reaches Living Legend status, we intend to return Bull’s Eye Bracers to the legal card pool to load up those arsenals once more. An outright banning was a step too far, and we are happy to remedy our mistake here.
Now, on to the largest issue at hand... Lexi, Livewire. Lexi has been firmly perched at the top of the metagame since Pro Tour: Baltimore. A Bull’s Eye Bracers ban may have slowed her down slightly, but it would be foolish to suggest that she didn’t dominate National Championship season. So, why no changes?
Simply put, something always has to be the best deck. We believe Lexi to be one of the healthiest best decks Flesh and Blood has ever seen. She brings a respectable amount of variance into the game on both the positive (Rain Razors, Rain Razors, Three of a Kind!) and negative (no blues, no arrows?) sides of the spectrum, while still leaving plenty of room for skill expression. She creates intriguing gameplay scenarios for both players. And despite her dominance, there are heroes that are quite happy facing down Lexis all day long. With a couple of those heroes getting big boosts from the expansion slot in Bright Lights, and the entire Mechanologist class gaining an unprecedented number of cards from a single set, we are content with letting things simply play out, and expect Lexi to ride off into the Living Legend sunset still perched at or near the top of the metagame.
Which brings us to a critical question - when will that Living Legend check occur? The next Banned and Suspended announcement will be on Monday, November 6th, 11 days before the start of World Championship: Barcelona.
We recognize this is a scary proposition for our players who thrive on diligent preparation and knowing everything a metagame can offer inside and out. For this reason, barring something catastrophic and unforeseen happening to the metagame post-Bright Lights, we intend the November 6th Banned and Suspended announcement to be used exclusively for Living Legend housekeeping when it comes to the Classic Constructed format.
It is a virtual certainty that Lexi will reach the Living Legend points threshold well before November 6th. That Banned and Suspended announcement is scheduled immediately after a Pro Quest, Battle Hardened, and Calling season that is set to inject more than 1400 Living Legend points into the system. Lexi needs only 74 of those points to ascend to Living Legend status, and release Bull’s Eye Bracers back into play. Players should feel comfortable headed into Worlds that Lexi, Livewire will not be legal for the main event.
More uncertain is the fate of Iyslander (and theoretically a few other heroes, though their ascension starts to occupy the realm of a mathematical miracle). Even with 4 points available per Pro Quest (more on this later), Iyslander would have to dramatically improve upon her performance during National Championship season to grab enough points to hit the Living Legend threshold. However, also on the schedule are Classic Constructed Callings in Dallas, Taipei, and Melbourne, each capable of offering 100-point paydays to the winning hero. Should Iyslander win two Callings, she immediately passes 1000 points, and if she wins one Calling and maintains her win percentage from the National Championship season, she will just make it over the threshold and ascend to Living Legend.
This uncertainty around Iyslander will be the wild card heading into Worlds. We know that we are asking players to think through two potential metagames, one with Iyslander, and one without. The most extreme situation is Worlds players will know Iyslander’s fate 11 days prior to Worlds, but it is quite possible that as event results come in throughout October, her fate will become predictable earlier. This is a challenge, but with the potential outcomes limited and known in advance, we believe it is a fair challenge for the best Flesh and Blood players in the world.
Blitz
- No changes
The Blitz format inventory changes have offered a diverse metagame, with a noticeable uptick in gameplay quality. Some top decks such as Chane, Kassai, and Kano appear to be distancing themselves from the field, but plenty of opportunities exist for other decks to shine.
Bright Lights is a set which we expect to have a particularly large impact on the Blitz format. We’re excited to watch this play out, and we will assess if there are any power outliers that need attention at the next Banned and Suspended announcement.
Increased Living Legend points
Flesh and Blood product development has matured significantly since our debut almost 4 years ago. With strong processes in place, and a production timeline that we finally feel well and truly ahead of, we are happy to confirm that almost all of our sets going forward will offer Limited format gameplay. One of the side effects of this great Flesh and Blood milestone is that more heroes than ever will be entering the card pool. With the hero roster set to expand significantly over the next 12 months, a wider dispersion of Living Legend points is expected across the leaderboard.
For this reason, we are increasing the points available at Pro Quests, Road to Nationals, and PTI events to 4 per event win, and points available at Skirmishes to 2 per event win. As always, we will review and adjust numbers as necessary as the hero roster and organized play programs evolve over time.
Ultimate Pit Fight and Commoner deck construction
In order to better align with the Blitz format that Commoner and Ultimate Pit Fight are tied to, deck construction rules for both of these formats will change as follows, effective from today:
- 1 young hero card
- 52 card pool (includes weapons, equipment, inventory, etc, and cards in the main deck)
- Start with exactly 40 cards in the main deck
- Up to 2 copies of each unique card
In Commoner, all hero, weapon, and equipment cards must still be common or rare, and all main deck cards must still be common.
Pre-game procedure will also mirror Blitz, wherein players will reveal their hero, decide who goes first, then figure out what combination of 40 main deck cards, as well as equipment and weapon(s) they will present.
Of course, we encourage players to continue handling Ultimate Pit Fight sideboarding in your casual kitchen table games however you like. This is your format, and whatever set of procedures your play group has the most fun with is completely acceptable. However, as these formats grow, we think it is important for us to present standardized rules so that players coming together to battle for the first time have some common expectations, and also so decks can be easily transferred from Blitz or Commoner into Ultimate Pit Fight, and vice versa.
Next Scheduled Banned and Suspended Announcement
The next scheduled Banned and Suspended Announcement will be on Monday, November 6th, 2023.