Which Flesh and Blood Draft Set is Right for You? Part Two
By: Dimos Last week I gave my general opinion on Flesh and Blood drafts (they’re great!) and went into some detail about Welcome to Rathe and Tales of Aria, the two friendliest sets to draft with. You can read that here. Today I will be going into depth about the remaining draftable sets: Arcane Rising, Monarch, and Uprising. These three sets are a bit more challenging to draft, and can really test player skill at higher levels. Considerations about fatigue, card management, combos, and large pivot turns become more crucial in these sets for all decks and archetypes. Most crucially, it is much easier to draft a meaningfully weaker deck with these more advanced sets. This can leave a negative experience for players that are caught unawares and made drafting mistakes after the games have been played. Arcane Rising: Ease of drafting 7/10, Ease of play 7/10, Depth and replay potential 7/10. An integration of new game mechanics that can accommodate players of different skill levels. Arcane Rising is not as easily available as it used to be, at least not without a price markup. However, if you plan on cracking a box to hunt for the perpetually in-demand cards within, I recommend doing so with a draft group to get some games out of those packs. This is an excellent draft set for intermediate players who are familiar with the mechanics of the game and know how to efficiently manage their cards to accommodate fatigue. One of the major strengths of this set is the availability of different difficulties of heroes. Dash drafts and plays in a very straightforward manner, usually attempting to beat down the opponent with powerful, consistent Go Again or judicious usage of Convection Amplifier’s Dominate effect. Meanwhile, Kano and Azalea can have very complex play patterns based around unique resource management (arsenal, top of deck, arcane damage, etc.) and frequently requiring pitched combos to close games. Something significant that I think ARC draft introduces is the idea of taking significant risk in the middle of your own turn. Dash’s Boost mechanic, and Azalea and Kano’s hero abilities all sacrifice resources to gamble about what’s on top of your deck for a bonus. Some riskier players may appreciate this, while more methodical players may look for Opt effects to reduce variance, such as from Talismanic Lens. Although the Generic cards are not as strong as Welcome to Rathe, they enable enough play patterns for each hero that they aren’t usually terrible choices. An often-discussed issue with Arcane Rising draft is the format-warping strength of Induction Chamber. In a format where weapons are not powerful on their own, this is an item that makes Teklo Plasma Pistol able to fatigue nearly every other deck available (assuming enough Arcane Barrier to slow down Kano). There are other such powerful cards in the set, but none to the same extent. With how super rares are distributed, this means that there is an Induction Chamber available in roughly one in four ARC drafts. Another subject of in-box variance is the availability of arcane damage prevention. Without enough Arcane Barrier or arcane prevention, Wizards have a tendency to run away with games. This is usually a knowledge check on the players at the table, and people should know to take Arcane Barrier when it is available. I also recommend getting a Salvage Shot or Over Loop if you’re playing Azalea or Dash to help with fatigue risk. . With all of this being said, there is a lot of flexibility in how decks can be built in Arcane Rising, and it is vastly underexplored due to being released at the outset of the pandemic. It is also a good set to choose if players have very different experience levels, as newer players can draft a simpler Dash deck while old hands can develop their Kano or Azalea combo and deck-tracking skills. Monarch: Ease of drafting 8/10, Ease of play 6/10, Depth and replay potential 6/10. A solid all-around set that employs more game mechanics and offers multiple drafting tensions (classes, talents, and specifically-used generics) accessible to intermediate players. This is another format where players will need some knowledge, such as how difficult it can be to block arcane damage, how to manage the destruction of Phantasm cards, and the risk and reward of large combo turns. This is a set that I think is roughly as challenging as Arcane Rising, and is primed for intermediate players looking to expand how they work around large pivot turns. Even though this set can be more mechanically challenging and require specific knowledge, it is also hard to draft an actively bad deck. Each of the four heroes has their own pool of class cards and shares their Light or Shadow pool with one other hero. Additionally, many generics also get split between heroes along high- and low- base power considerations. It is rare that Boltyn or Chane (whose class cards have low base power) will draft cards like Zealous Belting, just as it is rare that Prism or Levia (whose class cards have high base power) will draft a Belittle. This number of different pools with reduced competition makes most decks at least passable. With the exception of massively powerful cards like Luminaris and some Phantasm interactions, a lot of games will come down to player skill expression. This can manifest either through planning and executing large combo turns (oftentimes off of the rare Specializations) or through gradual incremental advantage. There is the ever-present caveat that all draft decks are imperfect and can be subject to some dead draws. This can be especially stark if you draw a lackluster hand and your opponent then sees their V of the Vanguard or other massively explosive combo card. The Blood Debt and Charge mechanics can push decks of the same hero into being somewhat similar to one another, with the only significant differences being in key combo cards and the chosen generics. Some of the fantastic standalone generics that will be highly contested are those with enough power to pop Phantasm attacks and the single-card closer of Surging Militia. Uprising: Ease of drafting 3/10, Ease of play 4/10, Depth and replay potential 6/10. A set that places more importance on the drafting phase than the game phase, Uprising requires extensive knowledge and is geared towards experienced players. Uprising is an extremely punishing draft format. I have previously discussed this here, so I’ll try not to rehash those points too much. Receiving three less cards makes a big impact on the baseline quality of a deck, and poorly-drafted decks can lead to games that are more one-sided than in any other set. This format requires experienced players who know how to specifically draft FaB and Uprising. Due to the general weakness and/or hyper-specificity of the Generic cards, a greater importance is put upon the class cards which are hotly contested from pick one or two. In most other FaB sets, many players prefer to draft only Generic or talent cards until pick five, six, or seven. In Uprising, this strategy of “staying open” for that long will almost always result in a thin deck. This set is a draft experience for players who have extensive FaB experience and want a lot of the focus on the draft evening to be on the actual drafting of cards rather than the games played afterwards. This is a perfectly valid preference, but all players around the table should know what they’re getting into and do their homework beforehand. Uprising drafts are usually won or lost when choosing your cards, as the in-game play can often feel linear or subject to poor card draws. Iyslander and Dromai in particular feel susceptible to these bad-feeling draws, as Iyslander wants some offensive blue Ice or Ice Fusion cards to arsenal, and Dromai needs to generate Ash. If these requirements cannot be met, it feels as if these heroes are not fully functional and as if they’ve lost a turn. Additionally, plenty of knowledge of game mechanics is required, particularly Iylander’s instant-speed interactions and the importance of the layer step in killing dragons. There are few clear archetype distinctions for Fai and Iyslander that can be built reliably. Opportunistically however, there are options for Fai to focus on cards that interact with Phoenix Flame or even a fatigue build. Dromai has a few deckbuilding options, being able to centre around named dragons, Ashwings, or Cenipai attacks depending on which cards present themselves. Conclusion Overall, I think Flesh and Blood offers excellent draft experiences. Now that there are five different sets to choose from, most being readily available, there are options for everyone. Whether your group is brand new to the game (Welcome to Rathe), generally familiar with the game (Tales of Aria), a mix of experienced and inexperienced (Arcane Rising, Monarch, and Welcome to Rathe), or very experienced (Uprising), there is a good choice for you. Everything discussed is my own opinion and should not be taken as gospel – some of my own FaB pals disagree with some of my takes here. Regardless, we still have fun drafting any set. As always – I will end my draft article with a recommendation to put a copy of each Token (heroes, weapons, and others) available in the set in front of newer players during the drafting phase. This allows them to have references for some of the most important and ever-present features of their decks when choosing their cards.
Which Flesh and Blood Draft Set is Right for You? Part One
By Dimos This is the first of two articles aimed at helping you find the right set of Flesh and Blood to draft with your local community, play group, or friends. Keep an eye out for part two next week. Draft is a unique format available in several card games that has players build a deck from a very limited pool of cards while competing against others over those cards. There are two key phases to a draft session: putting your card pool together and playing games against opponents. It can be a bit of a learning curve because it demands on-the-fly card evaluation and deckbuilding technique. Both of those skills are generally built over time, hence why starter decks exist. However, playing Welcome to Rathe draft is one of the things that really captured me about Flesh and Blood. Other than playing with a starter deck to learn the most basic rules of the game, a draft event at a local shop was my first significant FaB experience. It was a great way for me to be exposed to all the cards available in the set and to a myriad of different decks and playstyles. As such, draft is a format that I am a supporter of for players both green and weathered. However, FaB’s draftable sets are not made equal. Some are newbie friendly while others can be very punishing if you haven’t done your homework. I think that the sets ranked from friendliest to most challenging are: Welcome to Rathe, Tales of Aria, Arcane Rising, Monarch, and Uprising. My first recommendation is to familiarize yourself with the general play patterns of the heroes from each set before you draft them, then to work your way through the sets from simplest to most challenging. Today we’ll be discussing the sets that are best suited to newer players - Welcome to Rathe and Tales of Aria. Welcome to Rathe: Ease of drafting 8/10, Ease of play 9/10, Depth and replay potential 8/10. The best default option that accommodates a diverse range of players. Welcome to Rathe (WtR) was FaB’s first set, and is by far the most beginner friendly set to draft. The set uses only the most essential of the game mechanics in the form of on-hit effects and reactions. There isn’t arcane damage, instant-speed shenanigans or complex and dependant interactions. The only common tripping point for many players is the importance of the separation between Go Again and being able to attack a second time with Dawnblade as Dorinthea. This is a four-hero draft set, which makes it a bit easier to easily read draft signals and end up with two people playing each hero in an eight-person pod. The generic cards in the set are very powerful and are generally applicable in any deck. There is some distinction in the generics between the cost of cards, with archetypes that look to employ zero- and one-cost cards (like Nimblism, Nimble Strike, and Flock of the Feather Walkers) and two- and higher-cost cards (like Sloggism, Regurgitating Slog, and Demolition Crew). My favourite thing about this set is how easy it is to pick up and play with only a cursory knowledge of the game. Crucially, each of the heroes can be built in different and distinct ways. One could play Rhinar in three different drafts and have entirely different decks every single time. Rhinar has strong fatigue builds available due to the card-efficient attacks and weapon swings when he is not using discard effects. There is the “default” build that allows him to choose all the six power attacks and employ discard effects such as Primeval Bellow to break past defences. He can also build a deck on low-cost aggression, employing Nimblism, Nimble Strike, and Flock of the Feather Walkers in concert with powerful one-cost Brute cards like Savage Feast and Savage Swing. This deck makes efficient use of every pitched blue card. All of the other heroes have a similar breadth of options available to them, with Katsu in particular being extremely flexible. If you are willing to draft outside of what you know, I am confident that you can build a new, viable archetype of deck each time you draft Welcome to Rathe. This is the draft set that best accommodates players of different skill and experience. Even though I have been playing this game since WtR was in Alpha, I am confident I could draft this set with someone brand new to the game and we would both have a positive experience. Tales of Aria: Ease of drafting 9/10, Ease of play 7/10, Depth and replay potential 9/10. A strong option for inexperienced players who have some experience with card games, but are new to drafting. Tales of Aria (ToA) is my personal favourite set to draft because of the flexibility that the drafting process provides. So long as everyone knows the general rule to try and pick some Earth, Lightning, and Ice cards early, it is very difficult to go wrong in the rest of the process. I have been in pods with four Briars and still had it be a well-balanced experience. This is a three-hero set, which can lead to some awkward distribution of heroes between eight players, but the prevalence of Earth, Lightning, and Ice cards balances things out quite effectively. The fact that each hero has access to three distinct card pools (their two elements and their class-specific cards) gives each one a minimum of three viable decks to build. Even more options are available if you get creative. My personal favourite is the unexpectedly aggressive Oldhim deck that runs entirely on Entwine Earth, Earth cards, and anything that can buff the attack value of Entwine Earth. I find it much more interesting that the popular fatigue Oldhim deck, and also functions as a bit of a way to thin the strength of fatigue Oldhim by increasing the draft competition for his three-block cards. This set introduces some mechanics that are important to keep an eye on, especially for newer players. You cannot use a card to Fuse and then pitch it to pay for the same card that was Fused, arcane damage and “typeless” damage require distinctions from attack damage, and Ranger comes with a sometimes-challenging amount of arsenal management. Additionally, using Oldhim’s defense reaction to try and block future arcane damage can be a bit of a learning curve. Unfortunately, there are some cards in the set that can tilt the balance of the game in certain directions, such as the imbalance in the quality of Majestic-rarity cards (including the weapons), and how only a couple of defense reactions can invalidate the average Lexi deck. The standout in this set is how easy it is to draft a decent deck. Simply telling a new player to match the colours on cards (yellow and blue for Lexi for example) is enough. At a ToA draft skirmish, one player had to step out for the duration of the drafting process and was replaced by someone who had never played FaB before. The deck that the clueless player drafted made top 8 when piloted by the other player upon his return. This being said, there can be significant knowledge gaps between experienced and newer players in the play portion of the event that can make things feel unbalanced. If there is a significant gulf in game familiarity, ToA may not be the draft set for you. If the skill levels are relatively equal, I think ToA is the overall best draft experience, due to how rare it is to end up with an unsatisfying deck. Next week some of the more advanced draft sets will be discussed as we delve into Arcane Rising, Monarch, and Uprising. In the meanwhile, I encourage you to go back to basics and try out some WtR or ToA drafts with friends. Maybe you get a box as a gift for the holidays and want to share the joy through drafting together rather than just ripping the packs open in 15 minutes. As always – I will end my draft article with a recommendation to put a copy of each Token (heroes, weapons, and others) available in the set in front of newer players during the drafting phase. This allows them to have references for some of the most important and ever-present features of their decks when choosing their cards.
Weapons Decide Decks: Exploring Alternatives
By Dimos Weapons are one of the most important card types in Flesh and Blood. They can determine the entirety of a hero’s or deck’s strategy. Some weapons are universally lauded as fantastic while others are viewed as unplayable. In between those extremes is a very interesting spectrum of alternative strategies that I believe are underexplored. These options may not be the best, as it is very difficult to compete with the efficiency of Rosetta Thorn or the opportunities provided by Luminaris, but they are worth investigating. These strategies are often most viable at the Armory, Skirmish, or Pro Quest levels, as the novelty and surprise are often enough to make your opponent uncertain about their decisions or leave them with ineffective sideboarding options. This article aims to explore some of the more interesting and viable alternative weapons that you may not have considered or previously dismissed. Alternative weapons can be objectively worse than their counterparts (Bone Basher and Romping Club), or functionally similar with minor differences (Anothos and Sledge of Anvilheim). Some weapons require entirely different playstyles and decks, such as Raydn from Cintari Sabers or Annals of Sutcliffe from Rosetta Thorn. Today we will be discussing Quicksilver Dagger, Hexagore, Death Dealer, and Surgent Aethertide in a bit more depth. Quicksilver Dagger is the main card that inspired this article, as it further develops an archetype for Warrior that has not been popular since the Crucible of War era, where it saw some meaningful success. This style of deck integrates attack action cards with on-hit effects after weapon swings. Using reactions as a way to hide information from opponents and force them into uncertain decisions has been discussed before, and remains an important aspect in Warriors’ playbook. With the advent of Quicksilver Dagger, which addresses Warriors’ issue with action points, you can further press your opponents into making difficult decisions. In addition to deciding how much to block because of the threat of reactions, they now have to decide which attack to block. Offering your opponent more chances to make mistakes, or at least guess wrong about what your follow-up is, has proven effective. The general turn under this game plan would be to begin with giving Cintari Saber Go Again, through either an action or a reaction, which allows for Quicksilver Dagger to also attack with Go Again. Ideally, when Quicksilver Dagger attacks, you will still have one or more cards in hand. Your opponent is now forced into making a decision whether they block the dagger or keep their cards. Dedicating a card to block a single point of damage is almost never ideal, but with the threat of reactions possibly increasing the attack to four damage, it may be necessary. If your opponent does over-block, you are now free to play high-value attack action cards with on-hit effects. Snatch and Command and Conquer are foremost among the options, but there are many other strong attacks to end the chain with. Command and Conquer in particular is a strong option because players tend to arsenal defense reactions against Warriors, as discussed here. Hexagore is a fantastically powerful weapon, offering six damage for two resources with no activation restrictions. This puts it ahead of both Rok and Rosetta Thorn, except for its unique, self-damaging downside. In order to mitigate this, a Hexagore deck needs to be consistently filling the graveyard and banishing cards quickly. Over time, Levia has expanded the tools available to her to accomplish both of these goals. In Dynasty, Levia got Berserk, which includes an interesting clause that directly banishes any discarded six-power attack, which will likely have Blood Debt. This can be a way for Levia to skip her usual requirement of having three cards in the graveyard to banish, while still turning off Blood Debt. Additionally, Berserk often represents a free card into the graveyard, as it aims to replace itself. This increases both the risk and reward of the deck as it requires more cards with discard effects. Luckily, these cards, such as Pulping and Wild Ride, also work well with Hexagore. Graveling Growl, as an attack that deals seven damage and costs one resource, is the highest attack rate in FaB currently, and is always satisfying to play, as the reward is almost always worth the restriction. This parallels my feelings towards Hexagore, as the cost and damage for both cards are similar, and both are very satisfying to end the turn with. Hexagore decks are most effective in an aggressive beatdown strategy rather than a fatigue strategy due to the high Blood Debt requirement. Fatigue Levia can be very effective through the recycling of Howl from Beyond, but that is rarely a situation that a Hexagore deck finds itself in. This deck is not for the faint of heart, as attacking with Hexagore in the early game and taking two or three damage is often necessary to apply pressure and maintain tempo. Levia is not a hero without problems, but this type of press-your-luck deck can be both fun and powerful, if inconsistent. Death Dealer has one of the strongest effects in the game. Paying one resource to draw a card and refresh your action point is better than Gold or Silver. The caveat of being forced to interact with arrows is a significant downside, as it makes turns without arrows very challenging. It has long been my belief, even if better Ranger players disagree with me, that Azalea should run a deck with 15 to 20 blues. Three of these blues should definitely be Tri-shot, as they can mimic the effect of Three of a Kind in a deck with a high number of arrows. Oftentimes, Death Dealer is used as a way to allow a deck to run fewer blues, however I think that it should be used to extend turns with an already-pitched blue. I find similarities between this and how Brutes craft their Bloodrush Bellow turns when they draw two cards, wanting desperately to begin the turn by pitching a blue. Additionally, a strong base of blue cards allows Death Dealer decks, with Three of a Kind, Tri-shot, and Rain Razors to use Perch Grapplers effectively. A high amount of card draw, from Death Dealer, Tri-shot, Three of a Kind, and possibly even Art of War, combined with unlimited Go Again from Perch Grapplers, often results in very explosive turns. With so much card draw, and ways to pay for the turn, even Rapid Fire is playable in this deck (although it does reduce consistency as an additional non-arrow card). Surgent Aethertide is a new card that hints at the future to come. Although the activation only deals one damage, it provides a buff of X, based upon the damage dealt. It may be possible to buff this damage in the future. For the time being however, Surgent Aethertide is Wizard’s entry into a Runeblade playstyle that weaves attack actions and arcane damage together on the same turn. Once again, this style focuses on denying your opponent information to create bad guesses, much like Quicksilver Dagger does. The use of cards such as Life for a Life that provide Go Again and on-hit effects is the general idea behind this deck. Attacking with some arcane damage, through the staff, forces the opponent to decide whether it is worth pitching an entire card to block a single point of damage. If they do, you can play out the rest of the turn with attack action cards to make their pitch inefficient. Attacks like Rifting and Snatch are standouts here, and classics like Command and Conquer never go amiss. If they do not block it, you can now play powerful arcane damage actions like Sonic Boom, Lesson in Lava, or Mind Warp. I think that Kano is better suited to this than Iyslander, who already has her own partially-martial archetype. The only way a Wizard could try to poorly mimic a Runeblade and get away with it is because of the explosiveness of instant speed damage to close out a game. In order to do this in a deck with attack action cards, Opt is a very important keyword in this deck. This could see the return of Talismanic Lens as a headpiece and the use of the new Surge keyword from Dynasty. Prognosticate lets you Opt, Mind Warp offers disruption to your opponent, and Aether Quickening allows you to keep an action point for further follow up attacks or spells. While this deck is interesting and worth a try at an Armory, I think there needs to be further support for this archetype before it becomes broadly competitively viable. For the time being, I think this a fantastic way to try and capture the very fun experience of playing Kano in limited with an increased power level.
Flesh and Blood’s Casual Formats and Why You Should Consider Learning Them.
By Dimos Currently there is a bit of an off season for Flesh and Blood competitive events. The most recent major event was the largest and most competitive event in the history of the game: the World Championships. That event also had side events in some of the least competitive formats of the game. This article will be looking at those less-serious formats and how players can explore them. World’s had side events for just about any format you can name, some with substantial prizing. There was an Ultimate Pit Fight (UPF) event that had LSS-provided prize support, as well as Commoner, Shapeshifter Sealed, and Team Sealed events. Multiple Commoner events have now run with unique (and valuable) prizing, such as an official FaB lore book. Not only are these events interesting takes on the game that often require a different way of thinking and evaluation as they develop, they can also help you pay off your entry fees and travel costs. There are now direct incentives for having some broader knowledge of these formats. Alternative formats can also provide some interesting and fun takes on FaB. Politics is an ever-present consideration in UPF, and it can be interesting to see how passively you can play while slowly developing a board state without other players targeting you. Some of my favourite cards in the format are potions, just to provide an on-board threat and threat of retliation even after you’re forced to block with multiple cards. Energy Potion and Timesnap Potion are the favourites. Stacking Runechants is also a great way to accomplish this, but can make you a bit more of a target in my experience. When looking at any multiplayer format, consider how turn cycles change. You’ll see an increase in the relative power level of defensive cards that lose a counter each of your turns, or are destroyed at the start of your turn. These include Zen State tokens (made with Find Centre), Chains of Eminence, Runeblood Barrier and Dissolution Sphere. These cards don’t generally see play in more competitive formats, but are definitely worth a second look in multiplayer set-ups, whether that is UPF or the upcoming-but-mysterious Player vs Environment (PvE) format. There is an increased utility of arcane damage, as you can often target multiple targets at instant speed. In contrast, attacks need to be directed at one player for the entire Combat Chain. In particular, Runeblade cards that benefit from you having dealt arcane damage this turn may be better targeted at another hero, and not the target of your attack. If Consuming Volition always has its “discard on hit” effect active from dealing arcane damage (in this case to someone who is in league with you), it becomes a much stronger card. The other type of card that differs in multiplayer formats are cards that have the words “each hero”, “each other hero”, or “any hero” written on them. Chain Lightning, Coax a Commotion, Reaping Blade, This Round’s on me, and Silver Palms all have the very nature of their card text changed when a third or fourth player is sat at the table. Reinforce the Line and Snag are some of the only ways that you can defend another player from a third-party attack. Some of these can be used politically to try and help or hinder different players (mainly Coax a Commotion, and This Round’s on Me). Other cards, like Chain Lightning, have their power directly increased and allow a Wizard to be even more threatening at instant speed. I am very much looking forward to the teased player versus environment (PvE) format. Although there’s basically no information available other than that it is coming soon-ish, there are definitely some cards to look at prospectively. Silver Palms is the current standout, as it has almost no use in competitive formats, but would be a massive boon to any team-up of players. This Round’s on Me and Coax a Commotion are also good pieces to keep an eye on that give every player a benefit. Helping hand cards like Snag, Reinforce the Line, or Yoji, Royal Protector are some of the only ways that players can help one another out defensively. I hope this format comes out soon because I am more than keen to play it. In the meanwhile, I’ll be enjoying continuing playing in both competitive and casual formats.
Building For Arakni: Generic Cards to Fill Out a Shallow Pool
By Dimos K Last week’s philosophical discussion about Arakni’s design and capabilities was all well and good, but what cards should be in the deck to complement those strengths? Arakni has a limited selection of Assassin cards to pull from, and many of the attack cards serve nearly identical purposes. To round that out, we’ll have to pull from the pool of powerful Generic cards available. Firstly, you need to decide what kind of deck you’re building. If you want to try and fatigue everyone you play against, running lots of defense reactions and Oasis Respite is probably your play. I think there may be some mileage mirroring old Kavdaen builds if you want to go the pure fatigue route. If you want to go for a more dynamic, midrange deck, you may want a couple defense reactions and have the rest of your slots dedicated to focussing on Arakni’s strengths. Since they have no specific defensive abilities, this article will focus mostly around their Generic offensive options. Let’s get into some more practical deckbuilding decisions that complement those Assassin cards. Some cards just slot so well into Arakni’s deck that I would consider them to be no-brainers to try in the early stages of deckbuilding. These are cards that are a potent mix of efficiency, helpful to Assassin’s on-hit effects trigger, and provide Assassin attacks Go Again. Art of War is a fantastic choice as it does all of the above. The floating resource after pitching a blue to swing Spider’s Bite fits well with Art of War’s cost and the plentiful zero-cost attacks available to Assassin. Razor Reflex is another perfect fit in a deck that needs to make attacks hit and provide them Go Again. Additionally, the other excellent attack reactions available to Arakni make it more difficult to play around Razor Reflex as opponents will have to weigh the different effects of each reaction Cash In is extremely efficient in a deck that aims to generate one or more Silver each turn. It can easily turn a five-card hand into a six-card hand. Being able to expand hand size in this way usually has outsized impacts, as once your opponent runs out of cards they are able to block with, your on-hits (a key part of Assassin’s play) will always connect. Flock of the Feather Walkers is a card that can represent insane value, and has been in and out of top tier decks throughout FaB history. It is extremely efficient on its own, as cards that generate action points very rarely hit for as much damage as their non-action-point-generating counterparts, The Quicken token made by Flock of the Feather Walkers can be used to set up a next turn which could present three Assassin attacks, each one more powerful than the last due to Contracts applying to every attack on the chain. This could result in a single attack generating three Silver tokens. Alternatively, Flock can be used with Art of War or Razor Reflex to use the generated Quicken token on the turn it is played, which usually means a turn presenting 15 or more damage. The other considerations I have for Arakni all focus on one of three things: make attacks hit harder, give attacks Go Again, or complement the deck with further efficient attacks. Nimblism is a standard pump card that hits every Assassin attack except Surgical Extraction. Come to Fight can apply to any attack and blocks three. Captain’s Call can either buff attacks or give Go Again. Lead the Charge can be an effective way to ensure three attacks in a turn when combined with a likely hit trigger from Blacktek Whisperers. The action point gained will prevent the Go Again redundancy that can sometimes happen. Even Bigger than That is always a strong option for a deck with a one-damage, Go Again weapon, and will create an always-powerful Quicken token. Exude Confidence and Snatch are consistently amazing zero-cost attacks that hit for four damage. In a deck with Quicken tokens and attack reactions, the draw effect from Snatch is excellent. The defense restriction effect from Exude Confidence is amazing if it is played at the start of the chain, as it can prevent responses to attack reactions on Assassin attacks. This also ensures that the effect of Spider’s Bite is even harder to play around, as defense reactions, instants, and action cards all become difficult to block with. In terms of some more niche options, or at least less-obvious ones, we can look to the Everfest trinkets for some interesting lines of play. Talisman of Featherfoot works well with Art of War and with blue Cut to the Chase. Blue Cut to the Chase can be a great late-game disruption to an opposing pitch stack, as you get to disrupt the top of their deck twice. Although blue attack reactions are rarely favoured in decks, I think Cut to the Chase is uniquely strong and can be compared with blue Warrior favourites like Out for Blood. At blue, both block three, give a plus-one attack buff at reaction speed, and have an additional effect. With six plus-one effects in the deck, the Go Again from Talisman of Featherfoot is strongly worth considering. Another trinket to consider is Amulet of Assertiveness. Unlike Talisman of Featherfoot, Amulet of Assertiveness lets you choose when to use it. Which means that when paired with the effect of Blacktek Whisperers, can let you grant an attack Go Again and give you a card to continue the combat chain. If one attack has hit in a chain, it’s more likely that the next one will as well. This allows you to stack those Assassin on-hits and Silver generation, giving you enough Silver to buy back your boots with the attack played from Amulet of Assertiveness. The four-cards-in-hand restriction is a challenge, but can be worked around effectively with a zero-cost Assassin attack out of the arsenal. Both of the aforementioned trinkets are yellow, which can fund a decently powerful turn in a deck with as many one- and zero-cost cards as Assassin, and they do not consume an action point. As with all items, not blocking is always a risk, but I think this risk is worth considering. These trinkets will not be the best card in the deck by any means, and some people have written them off as distractions and unplayable, but I like to consider all options in deckbuilding, especially with new cards and new classes.
Assassins: New and Old Design Space in Flesh and Blood
By Dimos 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. . 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.
