The Living Legend system is a unique and important element of the Flesh and Blood TCG. It enables the meta-game to flux while preserving long term utility of player collections. It is also a way to honor the most powerful heroes that have graced the game.
The purpose of the Living Legend system is to recognize sustained excellence of heroes, and elegantly evolve the meta-game over time.
As Flesh and Blood has grown and evolved since launching in 2019, so to has the Living Legend points system. Today I want to share our current thoughts on the Living Legend system and summarize the changes to the LL points table we are implementing effective today.
The focus of this article is primarily Classic Constructed.
The Contributing Factors
There are 4 primary factors that we consider when reviewing the LL points table:
- How many of each event type are planned for the coming year.
- How many heroes are currently legal.
- How many new heroes will be introduced over the coming year.
- What does a good hero “lifespan” look like.
Number of Events
Flesh and Blood is now supported by over 3000 local game stores, in more than 30 countries around the world. This means there are more seasonal events that offer LL points than ever before, such as Skirmish, ProQuest, and Road to Nationals. In addition to seasonal events, the launch of regular Battle Hardened events this year has been a major success, for which we intend to ramp up the quantity of heading into 2023.
In summary, the number of events that offer LL points has increased significantly since our last major LL points table update.
Active and New Heroes
There are currently 16 adult heroes legal for Classic Constructed. So far this year, we have seen the introduction of 4 new heroes to Classic Constructed (Starvo, Dromai, Fai, and Iyslander), and have farewelled 3 through attaining Living Legend status (Starvo, Chane, Prism).
At face value, four in three out, looks ok. However, that does not consider the points that have been accumulated by heroes that are still on their journey towards LL status, such as Briar currently 84% of the way to becoming a Living Legend, or the quantity of new adult heroes in upcoming products.
On an aside, from my travels around the world meeting and talking with fans, it is very apparent that there is a strong desire for the heroes you know and love to have more support and depth given to them, from both a game play point of view, and the evolution of their story within the world of Rathe. When we announced FAB 2.0 back in April, we pledged to invest into character development of the well-loved heroes, and I can say you will start to really see this in action from the next standalone booster set releasing March 2023.
In summary, the number of points currently being pumped into the LL leaderboards is too high relative to the number of active adult heroes and the quantity of new adult heroes that are scheduled to be released.
Of note, this metric is bound to move in different directions over time. There may be future years when the ratio of new heroes to returning heroes swings the other way, which may be cause for LL points per event to increase. As it stands, over the coming year, we believe the total number of points being pumped into the system needs to come down to maintain a robust roster of adult heroes to choose from. We are also mindful that a scenario could occur in the future where the number of active heroes has increased and a meta-game evolves where LL points are being dispersed too thinly, which begins to cause the system to fail in its objective to evolve the meta-game over time. In that instance, the number of LL points per event may also need to increase.
Hero Lifespan
A hero's “lifespan” is relative to their win percentage of events that offer LL points. What do we think a “good” lifespan looks like? Ideally 15-20 months from release for a high performing hero in Classic Constructed.
The following table is the projected months to attain LL status based on 3 seasons per year (aligned with the 3 main booster releases), with each season awarding ~1000 LL points.
| Average Event Win % | Estimated Months to Attain LL |
|---|---|
| 10% | 40 |
| 15% | 27 |
| 20% | 20 |
| 25% | 16 |
| 30% | 13 |
| 35% | 11 |
| 40% | 10 |
| 45% | 9 |
| 50% | 8 |
Living Legend as a Safety Valve
In the past, I have spoken about the Living Legend system acting somewhat as a safety valve. While this is fundamentally true by the sheer nature of how the system works, it is not the purpose of the Living Legend system. Again, the purpose of the Living Legend system is to recognize sustained excellence of heroes, and elegantly evolve the meta-game over time.
To be clear, the primary way we intend to address degenerate card interactions and/or meta-games when they occur, is through the banned and suspended list, and not through heroes expedited to Living Legend status.
Conclusion
We are updating the Living Legend points table with consideration to the number of events we have planned for the coming year, the quantity of new adult heroes that are planned to release, and a target hero lifespan of 15-20 months for high performing heroes. The updated points table below is structured around a premise of injecting ~3000 LL points into the Classic Constructed leaderboard over the next year at a rate of ~1000 points per product season, and ~1500 LL points into the Blitz leaderboard.
| Event Type | Points per Event |
|---|---|
| World Championship | 300 (200 to CC hero / 100 to Blitz hero) |
| Pro Tour | 200 |
| Calling / US National Champs | 100 |
| National Champs w player cap 96+ | 20 |
| Battle Hardened / National Champs w player cap <96 | 10 |
| ProQuest / Road to Nationals / Skirmish | 2 |
Finally, one of the beautiful things about trading card games is the dynamic nature of the game itself, coupled with an ever-evolving player base, both in terms of size and collective knowledge. Thanks to the incredible support of the community and local game stores, Flesh and Blood is rapidly growing all around the world. As the game continues to evolve alongside the size and collective talent of the community, it is a near certainty that the Living Legend system will need to adapt and evolve over time to continue to serve its purpose and support the longevity of the game.
Good luck to all players competing at National Championships starting this weekend. I look forward to seeing the metagame develop over the coming weeks, and the LL leaderboards come to life with the victories of your favorite heroes!