It is no secret, in any game, that cards which can do multiple things or give options are powerful. Flesh and Blood holds no exception to this, with multi-role players like Enlightened Strike and Command and Conquer being controversial and ubiquitous examples of this. This two-part series is going to examine the options that cards can provide when used to defend rather than attack, then talk about Levia, a hero who often does not have the option to defend with flexibility and why that has made her one of the most written-off heroes in the game. For today, we are diving into cards that have an upside when defending – mainly the new Unity cards.

Legend Story Studios is slowly teasing their 10th set, Dusk Till Dawn before spoiler season officially begins. So far, the bulk of the cards we have seen are specializations. Most interestingly, we have been introduced to a new keyword: Unity. This keyword seems to reward two-card blocking, and consequently, playing a bit more of a midrange, back-and-forth game. When you defend with a card that has Unity, you gain some benefit in the form of a token. It’s, as is consistent with Flesh and Blood, thematically well-fitting as we see the forces of Rathe unite against shadowy invaders. I think Unity is a great way to incentivize interaction, and isn’t one that we have seen used extensively before. In fact, some of the only other cards that incentivize interaction by blocking are defense reactions that deal damage (Steelblade Shunt, Reckless Swing, and anything that triggers Riptide’s ability), which are attached to heroes who generally enjoy operating on a back-and-forth basis. Other than the aforementioned cards, the only thing that really draws interaction on an individual attack are on-hit effects, which can sometimes become an arms race to see who can block the least (see: the most aggressive deck in every format FaB has ever experienced). I’m very excited to see the flip side of this coin, and I’m curious to see what it does for power creep in the game. Based on what we’ve seen so far, it seems reasonably balanced and restrained in its usage, partially by being limited to specializations.

What I think Unity brings to the table is utility in defense, which is a very rare feature in Flesh and Blood. Historically, it has been seen on defense reactions, such as by cycling a card with Sink Below, on certain pieces of equipment, such as Hornet’s Sting, and on niche cards that don’t often see play outside of limited formats, such as Rally the Rearguard and Flameborn Retribution. What all of these cards have in common is that their primary purpose is to defend. Sink Below can’t do anything other than defend well, Hornet’s sting only triggers when it defends, as it does not have any other triggered or activated ability, and Rally the Rearguard and Flameborn Retribution offer defensive utility, but at the cost of reducing their attacking abilities. There is a very real price to pay for adding defensive utility to your decks with these cards. And that price is opportunity cost for when you need to go on the offensive. Unity is the further exploration of this, and one of FaB’s key tenets: Every card matters. When you can get a higher value than average by blocking with two cards (as most Unity-created tokens so far appear to be worth at least one point of value – see Seismic Surge), without sacrificing the other utility of the card, more interesting decisions can be made. Do I block with this key card for extra value now? Or do I play it out on my turn for a potentially greater benefit? It is the same core choice that FaB gives to its players with any card, but with higher stakes and more direct benefits.

Each of the Unity cards we have seen so far seem to provide something very different to their decks. Star Struck has an amazingly powerful Crush effect that is almost universally disruptive to opponents. It looks like a classic Majestic that is yellow because it would simply be too good if it were a red. This addresses Bravo’s recent need for an increased threat density on the first deck cycle. It also boosts the power of his two-card hands. Four-cost attacks such as Debilitate and Chokeslam become more valuable in block-heavy matchups because now you know that in the worst-case scenario, you will be getting at least three free Seismic Surge tokens just from blocking with your Star Strucks. Naturally, the more interesting decision will be whether to block with them in the first place, since they are so powerful.  Dorinthea’s Chorus of Ironsong provides her with the ability to get around damage prevention, something that was historically challenging for her, going all the way back to Prism’s heyday. The advent of Oasis Respite has only made her Resprise-based cards weaker as even when it was played from hand, it did not count as defending from hand. With Chorus of Ironsong, she now has a niche counter to her opponents’ niche counter. And in the matchups where damage prevention prevention is less relevant, it still pitches well and can create her a Courage token when blocking. While we don’t know what that is, it is surely something beneficial, and possibly related to cost reduction on weapon attacks. 

Finally in this discussion, we see Briar get the perfect utility card with Anthem of Spring. It is blue, it is Earth and so can be used to Fuse or keep Mount Heroic alive, and it costs zero so it can easily be made into half of an Embodiment of Lightning if played. However, it also blocks insanely well, which is in stark contrast to other cards like Weave Earth. If Briar uses Anthem of Spring as part a two-card block, she can cover seven damage, with three, she can cover eleven easily. More interestingly, Briar can now stack Embodiments of Earth again, just like she could do before her errata. This means that if she has an existing Embodiment of Earth, she can block 14 damage off of three cards. Overall, I am a big fan of all these cards for either how fun they look to play or for how much better they will make the other fun cards in the deck. 

Defensive utility is clearly a powerful feature in a card, and I am curious to see how it plays out in the decks that can run Unity cards. Now that Flesh and Blood is slowly power creeping its way up in more recent sets (see: quivers), I wonder how Unity will play its part. Some cards, like Star Struck, seem uniquely powerful. As much as I love Star Struck and Bravo, I think that with it, he comes close to having a critical mass of oppressive universally-effective Crush effects. Add a hypothetical Codex of Crush to that mix, and Bravo may have the consistency to become the next Lexi. Other cards with Unity seem to be utility or niche role-players with some upside to make their niche uses less of a deckbuilding constraint. I think this is where the design space of Unity can really shine – by adding utility to cards other than just their pitch colour. It makes niche tech cards more palatable to include in your deck, as even if they are not required outside of niche matchups, they still offer some upside in every matchup through their strong defensive utility and Unity effect. Could Unity cards replace the default efficient blocking of Sink Below in most decks? I doubt it, but I can see the case being made in a few instances. I am curious to see what the other Unity specializations in this set have in store.

P.S. Oldhim’s specialization was revealed while this article was being edited. It is worth noting that the Freeze on this card only lasts one turn, and is not permanent. Northern Winds is fine enough, it looks like some niche tech on a resource card for a hero who already every other kind of niche tech on his resource cards. The Unity effect is lackluster, as it provides a fixed, singular point of defensive value, but is attached to a card that blocks for two in a hero that is already so good at covering split damage. I think that unless there is a very specific reason to run this, Winter’s Bite is usually better since there is rarely an instance where stripping a card is worth less than delaying a key piece of equipment and/or item for one turn. But the same was said about Buckle until people wanted to use it to destroy New Horizon, so maybe Northern Winds will see its day. Overall, I think that this card, when contrasted to Star Struck, really shows how LSS uses new printings to balance heroes and classes. The much-discussed Codex of Frailty has been confirmed by the games designers to be a bone thrown to historically under-performing classes. I think the same scenario is true between Star Struck and Northern Winds.