By Dimos

Although I don’t usually write about Banned and Restricted announcements, this most recent one has changed some precedents that I would like to comment on. As of January 30th, Flesh and Blood is getting a shake up at the top of the meta. Belittle is banned, Winter’s Wail is banned, and Amulet of Ice and Hypothermia are suspended because they’re too good in Iyslander. LSS outlined that this is because Fai, Oldhim, and Iyslander were all too strong. I think that this is true at the highest level of competitive play, but less so at a medium level of play (like an average ProQuest). Either way, I do not disagree with lowering the power level of the affected heroes. I’m going to provide a bit of commentary on each of the bans, as well as provide some overarching thoughts about what kind of precedent this sets going forward.

Winter’s Wail is banned. This card is what really caught me off-guard and led to me writing this article. It is a profoundly powerful weapon, that I absolutely agree with. However, Winter’s Wail is (was?) synonymous with Oldhim’s identity, and I feel like it made playing him. It was a very important part of his theming and play pattern. Perhaps I would be less unhappy about this ban if there was a better alternative than the objectively-below-rate Titan’s Fist. Other extremely powerful weapons that enabled decks to dominate the game such as Rosetta Thorn and Luminaris went untouched as they were the Signature Weapons of heroes that would rotate out via the Living Legend system. As such, I’m surprised that Winter’s Wail wasn’t given the same live-and-let-die treatment.

The Winter’s Wail ban widens the gulf between the haves and the have-nots in FaB. I think this is some unintended collateral damage, but is a very bad feeling for those whom it impacts. Oldhim has always been an expensive hero, largely due to the large amount of Legendaries required. However, there were some very strong mid- and low-budget builds that centred around the power of his now-banned Majestic-rarity cards like Pulse of Isenloft and Winter’s Wail. Now those builds are entirely offline and I struggle to see a deck for Oldhim that is both viable and affordable. I think this puts Oldhim very far out of reach for newer players who have not committed hundreds of dollars to their decks. The natural ladder of progression from a Blitz deck with a few upgrades to including the $1 to $5 Majestics to incrementally adding powerful Legendaries has been disrupted.

Oldhim definitely did need to lose a bit of strength (perhaps Glacial Footsteps) because, as I have previously discussed, his ability to use a wide pool of resource cards as utility, defense, and disruption provides him with a massive amount of flexibility to be more aggressive. The LSS article explains that Winter’s Wail is too strong in conjunction with the shield options that Oldhim has. Which I also agree with, but I’m surprised that Stalagmite was not banned instead. The duality of Stalagmite and Rampart of the Ram’s Head gives Oldhim a near-perfect option into basically every opponent. The general heuristic is that Stalagmite blocks for 11: three from its actual armor value plus the assumption that each Frostbite should be preventing at least four additional damage by ending an opponent’s turn early. Two Frostbites on demand for zero card commitment from Oldhim will be, I think, more of a thorn in the side of any aggressive deck that plays against him than Winter’s Wail is. The threat of Stalagmite Frostbites is a calculation that opponents must constantly play around. The Frostbite from Winter’s Wail required a card from Oldhim and could be prevented. Additionally, if Oldhim was swinging a frosty hammer, he would have been less likely to use his disruptive hero ability with that same pitched Ice card, due to the limited number of Ice cards in the deck.

LSS said they are particularly hesitant around banning Legendary-rarity cards because of how players value those cards (both financially and sentimentally). I agree with this in premise, but I think this should be refined to only include Legendaries that are core to a hero’s identity and/or gameplay. Mask of Momentum is what makes Katsu tick. Lexi would probably be a gimmick deck without New Horizon. However, Stalagmite is just one of the four or five Legendaries that a full Oldhim deck brings to events. I do not think that banning a sideboard or utility Legendary like Stalagmite, Alluvion Constellas, or Heart of Ice would cause the same negative sentiments as banning a “core” Legendary would. This is where I feel like the Winter’s Wail ban hurts the most – it feels like the core card to Oldhim’s identity. It evokes those same sentimental feelings of loss in me that LSS outlined in their rationale for not banning Legendaries.

Hypothermia got banned because it was an instant-speed way to deny entire turns from significant portions of the cast. I agree with this, as it can’t be paid through (like Blizzard) or interacted with in any meaningfully accessible way. I find it interesting that it is only Suspended until Iyslander leaves. There are profoundly strong uses of it by the other Ice heroes even when it consumes an action point. I’m sure that some serious re-evaluation will occur when Iyslander does reach Living Legend. Lexi can use it after an attack with Go Again if the opponent has not blocked to deny the majority of their next turn, similar to how she does with Arctic Incarceration. Oldhim can use it to buy a turn against some of his largest weaknesses from opponents who can set up a stronger endgame board state than he can. Being able to deny the strength of a full board from Dash or an Illusionist for a full turn is nothing to sneeze at. This is an example of a card that I think could end up in the “mistakes we don’t talk about” category because of how integral Go Again is to attacks in FaB (see Spectra as a mechanic).

Amulet of Ice was used by Iyslander as an opportunistic disruptive play against most opponents and as a game-ending set-up in conjunction with Frost Hexes and Ice Eternal. While I don’t think its controversial to think that Iyslander could lose a bit of power, this feels like a very key combo piece to remove from her kit. However, I look forward to seeing how Iyslander builds around this new restriction. Perhaps there’s some end-game combo with some combination of Sigil of Permafrost, Freezing Point, and Ice Bolt. Oldhim lost access to Amulet of Ice as well, which he doesn’t particularly care about since his preference is Insidious Chill (another crazy card). Lexi got the short straw here, as she wasn’t offending anyone by using Amulet of Ice. Belittle is banned, partially because it is so heavily above rate (often touted as costing one resource and returning six points of value with Go Again), and partially because of how it warps deckbuilding. Belittle combined with blue Minnowism allows for a single resource to become four resources, which allows decks to effectively use red Belittles as blue cards that deal damage as a bonus. This card has long been called to be banned, and I don’t think it’s surprising that the inevitable has happened. I think this is the least controversial and interesting of the bunch.