Assassins: New and Old Design Space in Flesh and Blood

There is a new class in Flesh and Blood – the Assassin. In a first for Flesh and Blood, we have a new class in a non-draft set that actually has a playable amount of support. The class itself has a few unique mechanics that repeat and make it clear what this class should do. It has a straightforward mission and enough cards to get it done. According to lead game developer Chris Gehring, Assassin was originally supposed to be released in Arcane Rising instead of Azalea, but was cut due to making limited play less-than-satisfactory. A lot of the design makes it look like that – everything blocks for three like it used to in the olden days, and the attack reactions are extremely efficient. Let’s take a deeper dive into what Arakni, our new Assassin, can do with these new cards.

         I think there are three key elements to Arakni’s play: efficiency, abusing your opponent with information, and having multiple win conditions. Firstly, Arakni’s cards are all efficient. Everything blocks for three, everything hits for on-rate damage (zero resources for four damage, one resource for five damage, etc.), and every attack has an on-hit effect. Additionally, he has some of the best attack reactions in the game. Shred can be a zero-resources-for-up-to-four damage at reaction speed, allowing it to negate defense reactions like Sink Below. Cut to the Chase is a zero-for-three that blocks for three. Those attack reactions are dangerous combined with the on-hit effects available on Arakni’s attacks, which include banishing cards from the deck, arsenal, or hand, and providing Go Again to attacks via Blacktek Whisperers. Decks that bring defense reactions will find themselves having an easier time against these tricks so long as these reactions don’t disappear due to Arakni’s ability. 

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Additionally, I think that Spider’s Bite is a very dangerous weapon and is much more efficient that it looks at first glance. I would generally evaluate Spider’s Bite as a two damage attack with unconditional Go Again for two resources. This is a great rate, and joins every other FaB weapon with Go Again (Harmonized Kodachi, Searing Emberblade, Teklo Plasma Pistol, as being inherently strong. The reason I value this one-damage dagger at two power is mostly because of the on-hit effect and partially because of Puncture. Either an opponent dedicates a card (with an average block of 2.5) to block Spider’s Bite, or they take one damage and have their defense reduced by one or two on the next attack. The Puncture keyword prevents opponents from getting easy value from their one-block equipment and heavily encourages a card out of hand. Although a defense reaction like Sink Below or Fate Foreseen allows one to take the single damage and makes the the on-hit effect of Spider’s Bite irrelevant while still allowing strong coverage of an Assassin attack action card, I think most players will need to save their defense reactions to deal with the attack reactions that Assassins will definitely be playing. Unfortunately, Spider’s Bite loses hard to damage prevention, particularly single-point reductions like Crown of Seeds or Spectral Shields. Despite this, Arakni gets a lot of value and efficiency in nearly every other instance.

        Secondly, Arakni, like any good sneak, is privy to information that opponents are not. Once again, some great theming in the lore of a character that comes through in their play patterns and cards. Arakni’s ability allows the player to effectively Opt the top card of the opponent’s deck. This allows for a couple of strategies depending on the length of game that Arakni thinks will play out. If Arakni thinks this will be a short game predicated on top decking good cards early, they can simply sink those key power cards to the bottom of the opposing deck and care less about generating Silver with Contract keywords. This guarantees that the card is not drawn next turn. If Arakni were to leave that card on top and hope that the on-hit from their attacks banishes it but it gets blocked out, it guarantees a power card on the opponent’s next turn. On the other hand, if an Assassin thinks the game will run long, they can deliberately use Arakni’s ability to banish key cards when attack reactions are available to guarantee hits, or sink cards to the bottom of the deck to disrupt the opponent’s pitch stack. It is well known by now that cards that allow you to tuck a hidden card to the bottom of your deck, such as Sink Below, Enlightened Strike, or Crown of Seeds, are very powerful. Arakni has a unique answer to this power, and can also abuse the information in the public pitch zone. If a player pitches two red cards back-to-back in order to set up a late game combo, Arakni can add more red cards to the stack and deny the resources to pay for the turn when it comes around. Being able to use this information against your opponent in two ways is a very unique advantage that I think will prove to be stronger than most other standalone hero abilities. Information is one of the key factors in Flesh and Blood, as I discussed here long ago, and I think Arakni’s hero ability and attack reactions will show that like no other.

Thirdly, Arakni has access to multiple win conditions with access to both tempo and fatigue strategies. This is something that all of the strongest decks in Flesh and Blood history have had access to. A dual plan doesn’t guarantee strong performance, but it gives me hope for the power ceiling of the class and makes it much harder to counter effectively. All Assassin attacks demand cards to block their on-hits, which would otherwise take more cards out of the opponent’s deck. This gives Arakni a strong option to either play a tempo game or a longer fatigue game. In a tempo game, Arakni may be relying on some quick Silver generation, Go Again from buffing cards, and some key tempo players like Cash In. I expect this to look like a pretty normal aggro deck that uses Arakni’s ability and banishing effects to keep some strong cards away from their opponent. As a slower strategy, Arakni can use and abuse the efficiency of Assassin cards and the annoying persistence of the on-hit from the daggers to whittle down the opponent’s deck. Every card will either demand a block or banish a card because of the on-hit effects. This eliminates the opponent’s opportunity to use their life as a resource to keep key cards in their deck. To compound on the inevitability of the clock that these effects set ticking, Arakni also has access to blowout cards. Combining Eradicate and a surprise Cut to the Chase will allow Assassins to threaten banishing eight or more cards from an opposing deck. The only alternative is to dedicate plenty of cards to block out Eradicate. 

Collectively, these three factors add up to Arakni feeling like a solid and well-rounded hero that harkens back to some of FaB’s earliest days. That is a big part of the reason why I am so excited to play this hero. Despite the glowing review I have given the cards here, I do not necessarily think that Arakni will be a top tier threat immediately. The pool of Assassin cards, while adequate, is still quite shallow in comparison to all other (non-novelty) classes, which have a minimum of four sets of support apiece. However, I think the jumpstart given to Arakni with the number of powerful attack reactions available will help to bridge this gulf slightly. Regardless of our Assassin’s power level, I expect the deck to be more than popular in the next few months.