As more and more great players around the world apply their minds to the game of Flesh and Blood, we are able to learn and improve the rules and policy to support their intended purpose, which is to "provide transparency of rules, responsibilities and procedures to ensure there is fair play at all levels of competition." As such, the following updates have been made to the Tournament Rules and Policy and Penalty Guidelines.
Tournament Rules and Policy
**NEW 5.7) Order of Cards in Graveyards - Changing the order of cards in the graveyard to map the contents of cards remaining in a deck is not something we want as part of Flesh and Blood tournament play. It's for similar reasons that note taking is not allowed, to prevent deck mapping by recording the cards as they are pitched. For this reason, section 5.7 has been added to the Tournament Rules and Policy:
A player may not change the order of cards in an opponent's graveyard.
A player may not sort or order their graveyard in a way that allows them to track the composition of cards remaining in their deck.
Examples include (but are not limited to):
- Sorting cards by name
- Sorting cards by card type
- Sorting cards by pitch value
Penalty Guidelines
**NEW 3.5 Presenting an illegal deck - Added to clarify what to do if an illegal deck is presented at the beginning of a game, as below:
A player has presented an illegal deck to their opponent at the start of game.
Examples include (but are not limited to):
- During a Classic Constructed tournament, a player presents a 58 card deck during the start of game procedure.
- During a Sealed Deck tournament, a player presents a 29 card deck during the start of game procedure.
- During a Classic Constructed tournament, a player presents a 61 card deck to their opponent that includes a card that belongs to an opponent from a previous round.
- During a Classic Constructed tournament, a player presents a 90 card deck during the start of game procedure.
Recommended penalty
- Casual - Warning
- Professional - IP5 (If the error is caught by the player themselves, it's recommended the penalty is downgraded to an IP2.) / Match Loss
Casual/Professional Fix
If the deck has less than the minimum number of cards required for that format, the player adds cards until the number of cards in their deck is equal to, but not more than, the minimum number of cards required. They cannot remove or exchange any cards from the presented deck.
If there are illegal cards in the deck, such as cards that are not theirs, these cards are removed. If the deck is then less than the minimum number of cards required for that format, they add cards from the cards they are not using, until the deck contains the minimum number of cards required. If they do not have enough cards available to do so, Cracked Baubles are added to their deck until it contains the minimum number of cards required.
If the deck presented has more than the maximum number of cards that could legally be played in the format (factoring in equipment and weapons used), the player must remove cards from their deck until the total number of weapons, equipment, and cards that can be played in their deck is equal to the maximum number of cards that can be registered for that format. In this instance, the recommended penalty is a match loss.
**NEW 3.9 Improper shuffling - Added to clarify what to do if a deck has been shuffled when it shouldn't have been, as below:
A player has shuffled their deck illegally resulting in pitched cards at the bottom of deck to be randomized into the deck.
Examples include (but are not limited to):
- A player triggers Katsu's hero ability, searching their deck when they were ineligible to do so.
- A player plays Singing Steelblade and searches their deck, when they had no resources available and are unable to generate resources to pay for it.
Recommended penalty
- Casual - Warning
- Professional - IP5
If there are zero known cards at the bottom of the deck, the penalty should be downgraded to a warning. If there is minimal disruption to the order of the deck, for example because there are only 3 known cards on the bottom of the deck, the penalty may be downgraded to IP2.
Casual/Professional Fix
The deck is to be shuffled and penalties are issued.