Are you looking for an easy and fun way to experience Flesh and Blood while building up your collection? Look no further than the Sealed Deck format! Open booster packs, build your deck from the cards you receive, and let the fun begin. With no outside cards allowed, every game is a fresh and unique challenge that will test your skills and creativity. Plus, Sealed Deck is a great way to add new cards to your collection while having a blast with friends. Come and join the fun!
The following only covers the basics and recommendations for Sealed Deck. Please refer to the Tournament Rules and Policy for more complete details on running a Sealed Deck tournament.
Quickstart
- Each player opens 8 boosters
- 1 young hero card from the set
- Start with exactly 30 cards in the deck
- Any amount of each unique card
- 35 minutes per round, best of 1
Card-Pool Construction Rules
In Sealed Deck, each player opens 8 booster packs of a core set, removes the last 2 cards from the pack (the basic slot / expansion slot cards), and registers any young hero card from the set and the cards that they open from their packs. Some sets may have variations to this rule, such as the number of packs, or how many cards are removed. A player’s card-pool includes every card that they’ve opened from their packs and any number of basic rarity cards from the set. Any non-basic rarity card removed from the basic slot of a booster is not legal to include in a player’s card-pool, including expansion slot, cold foil, extended art, Legendary rarity, Fabled rarity, and non-young hero cards (depending on the set).
Basic rarity cards (formerly token rarity cards) include the heroes, their weapons, and Cracked Baubles, but may also include equipment (e.g. Proto Base set) and/or other deck-cards (e.g. Phoenix Flame). If a player cannot construct a 30-card deck from the cards they have opened, they add Cracked Baubles to their deck until the number of cards in their deck is 30. Basic rarity cards are typically pooled together after opening packs so players can use the cards they need for their card-pools.
Some earlier sets have less restrictions on deck size, requiring only that you start with a minimum of 30 cards. Unless stated under Set-Specific Additional Rules, the default rule is to start with EXACTLY 30 cards, no more, no less. Some earlier sets may also require players to open a different number of packs to the usual 8. Unless stated, players should open 8 packs.
A player can only start the game with a card from their 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 if the hero has a Light talent). Generic cards can be used with any hero.
A card-pool can contain any amount of each unique card (e.g. If you open 6 Sink Below (red) from your boosters, you can play with all 6 in your deck).
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).
The Legendary keyword only applies to constructed format decks (Classic Constructed, Living Legend, etc), so if your Sealed Deck card-pool contains multiple copies of the same card with the Legendary keyword, you are allowed to play all of them.
Some specific sets include a Macro. Players start the game with the designated Macro in the arena, just like they would with their hero and weapon(s). The Macro does not contribute to the player’s deck size, inventory, or card-pool. Some sets may have a single Macro that is shared by both players (e.g. Treasure Island), or it may have a Macro that each individual player starts with (e.g. Sanctuary of Aria).
SET-SPECIFIC ADDITIONAL RULES
Some specific sets have additional rules regarding how Sealed Deck is played:
Super Slam
- Only 1 card is removed from each booster pack, and it is removed from the front of the pack.
- No weapons are used.
High Seas
- The game starts with a single shared Treasure Island in the arena.
Rosetta
- Each player starts with a Sanctuary of Aria in the arena.
Part the Mistveil
- Equipment with the cloaked keyword are not revealed during the start of game procedure, as they begin the game equipped face-down. At the end of the game, if the opponent or a tournament official asks you to show your remaining face-down cloaked equipment, you MUST do so.
Heavy Hitters
- Players open 6 packs.
- Minimum 30 cards. Maximum 40.
Bright Lights
- Players open 4 packs.
- Minimum 30 cards. Maximum 40.
Outsiders
- Players open 6 packs.
- Players can use Legendary rarity cards.
- Minimum deck size of 30 cards. No maximum.
Uprising
- Players open 6 packs.
- Players may add up to 3 Phoenix Flame and 1 Helios Mitre to their card-pool.
- Players can use Legendary rarity cards.
- Minimum deck size of 30 cards. No maximum.
Tales of Aria
- Players open 6 packs.
- This set also contains Majestic rarity weapons. Players may only use these if they open them.
- Players can use Legendary rarity cards.
- Minimum deck size of 30 cards. No maximum.
Monarch
- Players open 6 packs.
- This set also contains Majestic rarity weapons. Players may only use these if they open them.
- Players can use Legendary rarity cards.
- Minimum deck size of 30 cards. No maximum.
Arcane Rising
- Players open 6 packs.
- Players can use Legendary rarity cards.
- Minimum deck size of 30 cards. No maximum.
Welcome to Rathe
- Players open 6 packs.
- Players can use Legendary rarity cards.
- Minimum deck size of 30 cards. No maximum.
For tournaments that do not require card-pool registration, players may change their hero between rounds. If the tournament requires card-pool registration, you can find the official forms in Tournament Forms.
Tournament Structure
The following is the recommended structure for a Sealed Deck tournament, which may be altered at the discretion of the Tournament Organizer.
- Matches: Best of 1
- Deck Construction: 30 minutes
- Round Time: 35 minutes
| Players | Swiss Rounds | Playoff* (optional) |
|---|---|---|
| 3-4 | 2 | None |
| 5-8 | 3 | None |
| 9-16 | 4 | Top 8 |
| 17-32 | 5 | Top 8 |
| 33-64 | 6 | Top 8 |
| … | … | … |
*Playoff is typically done with a booster draft format.
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 30-card deck they will use for this game (chosen from their 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.
This document was last updated on 20 January, 2025