The roar of the crowd… the taste of blood… the crunch of bone beneath your heel… make them tremble with fear, as you stake your claim upon the arena. Get ready to prove your worth in the Ultimate Pit Fight!
In this casual multiplayer format, all Flesh and Blood cards are fair game as you battle your way to victory. With politics, alliances, and backstabbing encouraged, Ultimate Pit Fight is the perfect way to gather friends and enjoy the social aspect of the game. So grab your deck, hone your tactics, and prepare for the roar of the crowd as you claim your legend story in Ultimate Pit Fight!
The following only covers the basics and recommendations for Ultimate Pit Fight (UPF), but ultimately it's up to you and your playgroup to determine how you want to play UPF. Official tournaments may have specified rules, but we encourage casual playgroups to shape the UPF rules to their own liking. Please refer to the Tournament Rules and Policy for more complete details on running a UPF tournament.
Quickstart
Ultimate Pit Fight is based on the Blitz format, but expands the rules to include 3 or more players.
- 1 young hero card or Adjudicator hero card
- 52 card-pool (every official Flesh and Blood card is legal, including special-use promos)
- Start with exactly 40 cards in the deck
- Up to 2 copies of each unique card
- 55 minutes per round, first to 1
Card-Pool Construction Rules
In Ultimate Pit Fight, each player registers their young hero card and 52 cards that make up their card-pool. The card-pool includes arena-cards (weapons, equipment, etc.), and deck-cards that will start in the player’s deck.
A card can only be included in a Player’s card-pool if the card’s class/talents are a subset of the hero’s class/talents (e.g. a Light talent card can only be included in a card-pool if the hero has a Light talent). Generic cards can be included in any card-pool.
A card-pool may contain up to 2 copies of each unique card. A card is unique if it has a different name AND pitch value from another card. (e.g. Sink Below (red) is unique compared to Sink Below (blue) because they have different pitch values)
These rules are subject to the effects of the hero or cards in the card-pool, which may allow or limit what cards can be included. (e.g. Heroes with “Essence” allow certain talented cards to be included, even if the hero doesn’t have the same talent. Cards with “Legendary” limit themselves to only 1 in the card-pool.)
While every official Flesh and Blood card is legal, some cards may be restricted in official Flesh and Blood tournaments. For an up-to-date list of cards legal in Ultimate Pit Fight please refer to the Card Legality Policy. If the tournament requires card-pool registration, you can find the official forms in Tournament Forms.
Additional Rules
It's easy to get started with UPF! The rules of Flesh and Blood are the same, except for the following:
- You may only target heroes and objects controlled by those heroes to your immediate left or right (for attacks, or with effects that say “target”), with the following exceptions:
- If an effect explicitly allows you to target any hero, you may target any hero in the game (effects that say "any target" don't count).
- If an effect explicitly targets 2 or more heroes, you may target any hero in the game (separate effects that target 1 hero each don't count).
- If an effect allows you to change the target of an attack/effect, you may choose any legal target for the attack/effect (not just the heroes to the left or right of its controller).
- When you attack a hero (or an object controlled by that hero), the combat chain is focused on that hero. You can not target another hero (or object controlled by another hero) on following chain links of the same combat chain - you must close the combat chain first.
- If an effect allows you to change the target of an attack, you may target any legal target, not just the focused hero (or their objects).
All other rules are the same as in regular Flesh and Blood:
- All players draw up to their hero's intellect at the end of the first turn
- You can only defend yourself if your hero is the one being attacked
- If two or more players are instructed to make a decision at the same time, they do so in clockwise order starting with the turn player
Tournament Structure
The following is the recommended structure for an Ultimate Pit Fight tournament, which may be altered at the discretion of the Tournament Organizer.
- Matches: First to 1 win
- Round Time: 60 minutes
- Pod Size: 4 players
The round structure is determined by the TO. We suggest that winners of each pod of progress to the next round, until only one undefeated player remains.
Start-of-Game Procedure
Each game of a match follows the same procedure:
- Each player reveals their hero card.
- Choose a player at random, and then that player decides who will go first.
- Each player chooses the equipment, weapons, and 40-card minimum deck they will use for this game (chosen from their 52 card-pool).
- Each player shuffles and presents their deck to the opponent, who may shuffle and/or cut.
- Each player reveals the weapon(s) and equipment they have chosen for this game, draws cards up to their hero's intellect, and the first player begins the first turn of the game.
End-of-Match Procedure
The match ends when one player has won the required number of games for the match (usually 1 game win).
If the round time expires, and a winner of the current game is yet to be determined, the turn player completes their turn and then 1 additional turn is played. At the conclusion of the additional turn, if a winner of the game has not been determined, the current game is a draw.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if two or more people have to do something at the same time?
Players perform the actions in clockwise order starting from the turn player.
As an example, Codex of Frailty would instruct the turn player to put an attack action card from their graveyard face down into their arsenal first, then each hero in clockwise order would do the same; before moving onto the discard effect.
What happens to a players cards/tokens when they lose the game (but the game isn't finished)?
First, all of the cards/tokens they control are cleared from the arena or stack (cards go to their respective owner's graveyard).
Next, all cards that they own are removed from the game (including cards controlled by other players).
Finally, the player ceases to exist, and effects that would target or apply to the player (or their hero) fail.
How do conditional effects based on "your opponent" work?
In UPF, all other players are considered collectively "the opponent".
As an example, Scar for a Scar would gain go again when you have less life than any other player, not just the one you are attacking with Scar for a Scar.
Can I use Go Bananas to search for (and play) a card that is a different class or talent than my hero?
Absolutely, that’s what the card’s designed to do. Go bananas with it!
This document was last updated on 19 September, 2023