My Dynasty Highlights
By Dimos K With any new set of cards comes a new set of opinions, evaluations, and hot takes. This article is going to look at some of the cards that I find most interesting or potentially impactful in Dynasty. I won’t discuss too much about the Legendary-rarity cards as those are always unique and interesting and usually see enough airtime in online discussions. I think the cards in this set heavily favour some classes and leave others out, and I wonder if this was intentional for metagame-balancing purposes. The clearest example of this is the absolutely amazing support that Ranger received in contrast to what Guardians received (not that they needed anything). There are also some clear design shifts that are moving classes in entirely new directions (Illusionist), or providing full and new archetypes (Mechanologist and Ninja). I’ll start with a prediction: I think that defense reactions (or other functionally similar cards like Reinforce the Line or Oasis Respite) will become necessary in more decks as a result of Dynasty. Guardian still has access to all the power it previously had, there is a new Assassin class full of sneaky attack reactions and on-hit effects, Ranger got an amazing new suite of arrows and buffs with devastating disruptive effects, and the Overpower keyword was introduced. It has long been my opinion that the Ranger class, specifically Azalea, was one good arrow away from being very good. Rangers received four excellent cards in this set that provide them relevant on-hits, which will be the hardest to block in the game outside of Pulverize. Hemorrhage Bore is an easily buffed and dominated attack that destroys an arsenal card, Dead Eye is a fantastic buff that allows you to discard a card of your choice from your opponent’s hand, Immobilizing Shot is similar enough to Red in the Ledger to be fantastic, and Heat Seeker effectively offers a draw on hit. Combine these effects with the existing suite of powerful Ranger buffs like Release the Tension and Seek and Destroy, and you have the makings of a very dangerous class. Sandscour Greatbow is likely the new bow of choice as it provides the Aim counters required to make these effects work, and I am glad to see the pieces come together. Ranger went from having too few options to possibly now having too many. Even the new armor-shredding arrow is strong, and compliments the rest of the class’ on-hit effects very well. If you haven’t put together an Azalea deck before, I think now is the time to try your hand at it. Illusionist received a whole new side to its design in the form of Auras (and an Ally!) with Ward that provide fantastically powerful effects if they survive to your next turn. Blessing of Spirits is a strong option, and Tome of Aeo is a powerful resource card. I am very glad that this is the direction that the class is moving, as I think everyone has now realised some of the inherent issues around creating further Spectra cards. These new cards definitely incentivize the doubling-down of the popular defensive Illusionist playstyle, as you will need enough defense reactions or other Ward effects to keep the beneficial ones around. This cements the duality of the class that can defend to set-up a robust board state or just keep pumping out ultra-efficient attacks for raw aggression. I think this dynamic puts Illusionist into a good position to be ready for the new hero. Ninjas have received a whole new archetype that can either provide discard fodder for Katsu’s hero ability, banish fodder for Art of War, or lead to massive combo turns with literal dozens of attacks. Katsu has finally received some non-attack actions (even if those actions create attack action cards), and they all block for three, which is great to see. My favourite part about the new Tiger cards is that the entire archetype is not dependent on hit triggers. The largest, most snowballing part of the combo (Tiger Swipe) is, but everything else is independent. I think a Katsu deck that focuses on Crouching Tigers and the Blackout Kick combo line would be effective against both decks that block well and decks that block poorly. It may not be the silver bullet Katsu needs, but it is a fantastic improvement. It leads to a lot of flexibility in deckbuilding, as Crouching Tigers are easily generated in small numbers and are the ideal discard targets for Katsu’s ability to find Combo cards from other combo lines. There are also some strong reasons for Fai to look at Crouching Tiger cards as options if his deck continues to shy away from being purely Draconic. If it turns out that Crouching Tigers are the silver bullet that Ninjas needed and the deck becomes wildly strong, Amulet of Echoes is a reasonable counter to consider. Although Mechanologists received an entirely new archetype and a new card type in the form of Hyper Driver support and the Nitro Mechanoid, I think their real strength in this set comes from the Boost support they’ve received. Pulsewave Harpoon is an all-around amazing card that is the perfect one-cost for a Mechanologist deck and could tip the scales into creating an overpowering critical mass of efficient Boost attacks. Hanabi Blaster also adds to the strength of Boost decks with its unparalleled efficiency. The new Nitro Mechanoid is very cool and I love the concept, and I am curious to see how it performs in both casual and competitive play. It is an amazing boost to a slower Dash deck and is still playable in a faster Dash deck that is willing to run Blessing of Ingenuity. I would advise that any deck that runs this card also runs some strong defensive options as an opponent could have a Smashing Good Time with your very expensive item. Some classes just got more of the same, such as Brute. Which is fine, as the class was in a perfectly fine place, but it isn’t exactly exciting. Brute got cards that really just cement the class into revolving even more around Bloodrush Bellow. The new cards that can only be played after you’ve discarded a card this turn are efficient, but will be difficult to play without the draw effect of Bloodrush Bellow. Until that card leaves the pool, I think Brute design space will be very limited. Primeval Bellow got an indirect buff from these cards, as it is the only zero-cost card with Go Again that discards a random card. LSS has reinforced that a discarded card is worth an additional two damage, or an extra two resources of pitch through the lackluster Madcap Muscle. Berserk in particular disappointed me. While it is a nice effect, I think this will join Poison the Tips as a card that looks decent but isn’t actually worth losing a card in hand to play out. Lastly, everyone has auras now, in the form of class-specific Blessings. This is a new direction for FaB, as Auras had been previously restricted to certain classes. Wizards and Runeblades got some very useful Blessings that directly and fantastically synergize with existing and popular class mechanics. Some classes got dull plus-three damage buffs or some build-around life gain. The gulf between these cards is one of the clearest indications that this expansion set was not made equally for each class. I think these Blessings will be better in classes with more action points who can play them at the end of the chain, or those who can play them at instant speed.
Peoria Regionals Tournament Report with Arceus/Goodra
By: Cyrus Davis Peoria Regionals Tournament Report with Arceus/Goodra Hello Red Riot Games readers, my name is Cyrus Davis, and this is my first article for Red Riot Games. For those of you that don’t know me, I am a professional Pokemon TCG Player from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. I’ve been playing for about 10 years casually, and 3 years competitively. I’ve had a lot of success and experience playing this game at a high level, and hope to be able to share some of my knowledge and expertise with the readers here. In this article, I will be discussing my recent top 16 finish at the 1084 player Peoria Regional Championships where I piloted Arceus VStar/Hisuian Goodra VStar to a very deep run where I eventually tied my win and in for top 8. I decided to play Goodra VStar as it seemed to have a very positive matchup against both Palkia VStar and Lost Zone Box, which I expected to be the biggest threats in day two. It also has a close to 50/50 matchup against both Giratina VStar and Kyurem VMAX and a positive matchup against most Arceus VStar variants. The biggest reason I played Goodra VStar over Duraludon VMAX though, was that the meta for the event was fresh and wide open, so I expected a lot of deck versatility. Rogue decks like Regigigas with Path to the Peak, Lunatone/Solrock, and weird Arceus VStar variants are much more manageable for Goodra VStar than Duraludon VMAX. All of these predictions about the metagame paid off for me big time. Palkia VStar was the most represented deck in day two, Lost Zone Box went on to win the event, I hit three Giratina VStar and two Kyurem VMAX in day 1, and Regigigas with Path to the Peak turned out to be the sleeper pick for the event so day two was full of them. Finally, with an understanding of the metagame that I was expecting and trying to come prepared for, let’s talk about the decklist. https://limitlesstcg.com/decks/list/5592 Card Explanations 4/2 Arceus VStar Four Arceus V I’m sure seems obvious, and that’s because it is; you have to play four Arceus V. Your early game is so exponentially better in most matchups with an Arceus V active to start the game. The two Arceus VStar is also pretty straightforward, most games you’re only going to want to use one Arceus VStar, and you have double Ordinary Rod, so we just play the bare minimum to not straight up lose if we prize an Arceus VStar, and for the situations where you need to pull out the second VStar. 2/2 Hisuian Goodra VStar There is definitely an argument to be made for playing a third Hisuian Goodra V, but it is generally just more important to maximize your odds of opening with an Arceus V than it is to protect against the rare chance that you prize a Goodra V and your opponent gets a turn two knockout on your only one and you don’t have access to one of your two ordinary rods. There are certainly games where you gain an edge by being able to set up two Goodra VStar super early but it isn’t super likely that you prize a Goodra V and starting Arceus V is always going to be step one to a strong early game. 1 Zamazenta V SSH Zamazenta V typically acts as a mostly one trick pony in this deck. I'll touch more on how to use this card in my breakdown of my matches but it is only in the deck as an answer to Kyurem VMAX. In my opinion this is the most reliable answer to the deck and it still only brings you to a close to 50/50 matchup. The Sword & Shield Base Set Zamazenta V is a much better answer to Kyurem VMAX than Zacian V or the Brilliant Stars Zamazenta V as either of those are immediately made useless if your opponent can knock them out with a quick Boss's Orders before they can attack. This Zamazenta V can often sit on the bench and wait for its time to shine as your opponent does not have an easy way to knockout it out in one hit, especially if you can get Radiant Gardevoir into play or a Big Charm to keep it out of Hydro Break range. 1 Radiant Gardevoir This is one of the cards that makes Goodra V feel like a more well rounded deck than Duraludon VMAX. Radiant Gardevoir’s damage reduction is so relevant in almost every matchup when combined with Big Charm, Hyper Potions, Crystal Caves, and Rolling Iron. Keeping your base Vs out of range of Palkia V's Hydro Break. Putting your VStars out of range of Giratina VStar’s Lost Impact or with a big charm, Hisuian Zoroark VStar’s Ticking Curse. Sometimes forcing an extra energy out of a Kyurem VMAX attack. Requiring Mew VMAX players to find an extra Power Tablet for each knockout. Reducing the damage output of Pokemon like Arceus VStar, or Flying Pikachu VMAX, to laughable numbers in combination with Rolling Iron. Even against Lost Box, an early game Radiant Gardevoir can give you a promote to absorb a hit from a Cramorant if your opponent has to play Escape Rope. Radiant Gardevoir had some use or another in almost every set I played in Peoria, Even against Regigigas I was able to leave it active for a turn just to buy time as it didn’t impact the prize trade. 4 Professor's Research/3 Marnie/2 Avery This draw support line did feel very strong but can sometimes leave your hand a little bit lacking. four Professor's Research felt obvious, it's the deepest draw supporter in the game and it is so important that you find all of the pieces you need to set up in the first few turns of the game or that you dig as hard as you can for Hyper Potions in the mid to late game. That being said, Marnie and Avery are what keep your opponent in check. Unlike a committed Stall deck like Mewtwo V-Union, most decks do have a way to beat Goodra VStar, Avery and Marnie are incredibly important tools for limiting your opponent's access to those options especially because they need to play so many of them at the same time to form an answer to the tankiness of Goodra. By the time they manage to have all the right pieces, it'll already be too late and with the pressure 180-200 damage per turn puts on you'll be able to seal the deal. 3 Boss's Orders Ultimately this deck definitely could not afford to play any less than three Boss's Orders but three was just enough. A fourth one could help you hit it more at the right times of course but most games you can get away with just playing one or two and in some matchups you don't need to play Boss's Orders at all. 1 Melony Many lists for this deck played three Melony and less of other draw supporters but I honestly don't know how I could play any less draw supporters other than Melony. Melony is a very strong card in this deck but it's not often that you can recover from a missed energy attachment turn one by using Melony turn two, it's usually easier to just use Trinity Charge. The strongest uses of Melony are definitely getting extra energy on the board for future Hyper Potions and setting up a third attacker without the use of Trinity Nova when your Arceus VStar has gone down already and it is great at doing those two things but most turns you need to play your other supporters to disrupt your opponent or maximize your chances of drawing into game winning healing options. 4 Quick Ball/4 Ultra Ball Not much explanation needed here, you need Arceus V turn one and Arceus VStar turn 2, every game. 3 Hyper Potion You don’t usually need a fourth Hyper Potion but two is definitely not enough, you need to be seeing one Hyper Potion minimum per game and the more the merrier, often you’re going to need to discard one at some point in the game with a Professor’s Research and you want to have the highest possible odds of finding one when you need it, sometimes you’ll even use three in one game. 2 Pokegear 3.0 Pokegear is incredibly powerful in this deck, finding the right supporter at the right time is super important throughout the game to maximize your chances of winning and you have no other way to search them out other than Starbirth which will usually be used for other targets earlier in the game. Two Pokegear was all I could fit but a third would be the first card I’d add if I could play sixty-one. 2 Ordinary Rod Two Ordinary Rod was an incredibly strong improvement for this deck. The main reason for playing double Ordinary Rod was to just draw one more consistently to play around Echoing Horn against Palkia VStar and Lost Box. Double Ordinary Rod also just makes finding access to extra energy throughout the game so much easier and also allows you to recover the Goodra VStar to set up a second one if you prized one or just need an increased odds of drawing into one. 1 Escape Rope/1 Switch Two switching outs is a must in case you prize one and the split between Escape Rope and Switch is very important. Escape is so much stronger throughout the game as your opponent tries to offset your prize trade or force you to attack into something they don’t care about while they try to find an answer to your board; however, having a regular switch is super important as it’s usually a stronger option on turn two into whatever Pokemon V or setup Pokemon your opponent may have opened. 2 Big Charm The synergy between Big Charm and the core strategy of the deck of tanking and healing is clear. Many players have opted for a Big Parasol in the list over the second Big Charm to prevent Giratina VStar’s Star Requiem but in testing, by the time they got to ten cards in the lost zone for Star Requiem, they could easily combo it with a Lost Vacuum to get rid of the Big Parasol. Big Charm is stronger in almost every other matchup, and is much better than Big Parasol in the early game against Giratina VStar. 3 Crystal Cave Three Crystal Cave felt like enough for this event, I think I could have stood to have it more often but overall I was able to find it when it was most important. I think it’s important to note that this card is much stronger than Lake Acuity as Lake Acuity with one use is weaker than Crystal Cave as a recovery card and often your opponent can simply bump the Lake Acuity before you even get a single use out of it, whereas Crystal Cave can secure you a sometimes game changing damage reduction as soon as it comes into play. 4 Double Turbo Energy/5 Metal Energy/4 Water Energy With two Ordinary Rods and a Melony, this energy counter felt like just enough. The Melony being able to recover a water being the main reason for playing four water and five metal. Additionally, with only four metal, setting up a Zamazenta V and a Goodra VStar in the same game becomes much less reliable. Other Options 2-4 Colress’s Experiment Colress’s Experiment is a card that I felt had a lot of potential in this deck going into the event but I didn’t have time to really give it a try and see if it was worth playing over something like Professor’s Research. Sackett Brehmer then went on to go 8-1 in Day 1 of the event with an Arceus VStar/Duraludon VMAX list with four Colress’s Experiment and zero Professor’s Research. Since the event I have experimented with Colress in the list and in initial testing, I missed the Professor’s Research, but I think that Colress is very strong in the deck. Colress allows you to keep crucial supporters for following turns, as well as Hyper Potions, Double Turbo Energies, and whatever else you might want to hold on to. The other strength of Colress is that you aren’t discarding your basic Pokemon Vs to leave them sitting in the discard pile to be brought back with Echoing Horn. Going forward I would definitely add Colress to the deck but I would still play at minimum three Professor’s Research, I haven’t settled on the perfect supporter mix yet but I think the key lies somewhere in cutting two in combination of Avery and Professor’s Research and then also cutting a non consistency card like the second Ordinary Rod, or the Third Hyper Potion. 2 Lost City/4 Crystal Cave/2 Lake Acuity Something that stands out to me as a difference between Peoria and future events and that’s Tord Reklev’s win at Peoria with a Lost Box list that played four Path to the Peak. This deck was already floating around before Peoria but most players seemed to agree that the deck was stronger with PokeStop. Moving forward we have to expect the Path to the Peak build to be most players’ pick due to its success. With this in mind, in addition to the increased popularity of Arceus VStar/Bibarel variants in online events over the past few weeks, I think that playing a higher stadium count may prove to be necessary to keep yourself from getting halted by a Path to the Peak in the first couple of turns. A fourth Crystal Cave is an easy option, the card is definitely strong in the deck, and a fourth copy would certainly not hurt. Lake Acuity is another solid option, the card has its strengths, and there are situations where it is stronger than a Crystal Cave so having access to both cards could be very strong. The third option is Lost City, another interesting innovation from Sackett Brehmer’s Duraludon VMAX list. Lost City improves your matchup against Lost Box exponentially by giving your opponent less access to attackers, namely Radiant Charizard. Lost City also improves your already strong Regigigas matchup and can be a solid disruption card against any other lost zone based decks that might want to recover cards like Sableye, Radiant Greninja, Giratina VStar, etc. 1 Drapion V Drapion V, the almighty Mew VMAX counter. Drapion V does not make Mew VMAX a free matchup by any means but it makes the matchup up so much more winnable, the same way that Zamazenta V makes the Kyurem VMAX matchup more winnable. Overall, Drapion V’s strength against Mew MVAX needs very little explanation but you only have room for either Drapion V or Zamazenta V, and Zamazenta V is tankier, has more uses against other matchups, and can be healed with Crystal Cave. With my meta prediction for Peoria, and my expected meta for future events, Zamazenta V is a no brainer, but if you expect to play against more Mew VMAX than Kyurem VMAX by a significant margin, Drapion V is always going to be your best option. Tournament Report Day 1 Round 1 WW VS Cody Hanson w/Giratina VStar (1-0) Round 2 LWL VS Isaiah Cheville w/Giratina VStar (1-1) Round 3 LWW VS Grayson Rohlfs w/Arceus VStar/Aggron VMAX (2-1) After getting donked game one I wasn’t feeling good. Aggron V’s Merciless Strike can do a whole lot of damage, up to 330 before considering the minimum 10 damage the Goodra VStar will have already taken to activate Aggron V’s attack, and then damage reduction from Rolling Iron and/or Radiant Gardevoir. I should have lost game two but my opponent thought that their Aggron V would be 10 damage short of knocking out my Goodra VStar to win the game because they didn’t factor in their Path to the Peak shutting off my Radiant Gardevoir’s ability. Their Aggron V had already taken a hit and I only had two prizes remaining so instead of attacking with the Aggron V to win the game, they opted to retreat into an Arceus VStar and use Trinity Nova. This Critical miscalculation from my opponent allowed me to use Boss’s Orders to knock out their Aggron V for my last two prize cards to win the game. Game three I had a much better start and was able to capitalize on my opponent whiffing the turn one attachment to take the lead. Round 4 WW VS Mark Dizon w/Giratina VStar (3-1) Round 5 LWL VS Julia Butenhoff w/Kyurem VMAX/Palkia VStar (3-2) These games were really interesting. My opponent won the coin flip so they were starting off with a natural advantage in game one. I tried to set up my Zamazenta V but I my Goodra VStar came too late and with their tech choice of one copy of Ditto V, my Zamazenta was not able to deal with three consecutive Palkia V/VStars, courtesy of Ditto V. Game two I was able to get the turn two Trinity Nova onto a Goodra V, starting attacking with Goodra VStar right away to put pressure on their Palkias, while my Zamazenta V sat on the bench, prepared to deal with Kyurem VMAX as soon as it became a threat, allowing me to win the prize race. In game three I open my Zamazenta V, disaster has already struck, this thing is a sitting duck and can’t do its job if it takes 180 damage from a Palkia VStar right off the back, or worse, gets knocked out by a Palkia V with a Choice Belt. Luckily my opponent doesn’t get the Hydro Break, but my Zamazenta of course takes a hit. Going into my second turn I have nothing going on in hand, my only draw supporter is a Professor’s Research, and I’m forced to discard two Hyper Potions with it. I draw my seven cards, and I have no way to find an Arceus VStar. This is where the game was over, I tried to recover, I got close, but it wasn’t enough without access to one more Hyper Potion. Round 6 WW VS Christopher Passolano w/Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX/Zebstrika/Inteleon (4-2) Round 7 LWT VS Daniel Zhou w/Palkia VStar/Inteleon (4-2-1) Round 8 WW VS Nathaniel Kirksey w/Mew VMAX (5-2-1) A very interesting set against a matchup that I did not want to see at 4-2-1 and I’m going second. On my first turn I opt to Trinity Charge onto a Zamazenta V, I know these Mew VMAX lists play one path to the peak but this Zamazenta V can buy me time at least. My opponent gets the turn two knockout on my Arceus V as you would expect but they discard a Cyllene and a Double Turbo energy in the process. This might be my chance, I bench an Arceus V, I bench a Goodra V, I Marnie, and I use Assault Tackle, that’s two Double Turbo Energy down. My opponent finds another energy, but no Path to the Peak, and no Boss, they use Max Miracle, now we’ve got a real chance. I Hyper Potion to heal the Zamazenta V and Assault Tackle again. They find the answer to kill the Zamazenta V. I finished off the Mew VMAX with a Trinity Nova. They play Cyllene after getting it back with Pal Pad on an earlier turn, double tails, they search their deck, no more energy, that’s game. I’m feeling good but not confident, I’m going second again, but I know I have a better shot going first in game three. This game my Zamazenta V is prized so we’re just rolling with Arceus VStars and Goodra. My opponent plays three Power Tablet on the first turn and proceeds to miss the Double Turbo Energy to take a knockout. I responded with a Boss’s Orders on Oricorio, Zamazenta V is the take off the prizes. My opponent finds a two prize KO with a Boss’s Orders on an Arceus V but they’re hand seems clogged and I saw a flash of what I think is their Path to the Peak in their hand, source of the clog I suppose. I use this info to my advantage, I play an Avery to limit their draw further and I Trinity Nova to the Zamazenta V, now they have to hold this Path to the Peak to deal with the Zamazenta but they aren’t going to be able to KO it in one hit easily with three Power Tablet in the discard pile. They set back up, take another two prizes, and I Avery again, this time combined with an Assault Tackle. Now they’re in really hot water, they’ve lost their energy, Ordinary Rod has denied them an Echoing Horn Tablet, they can’t kill my Zamazenta V that now has a Big Charm on it, and they have no more basic Pokemon left to build their bench back up, they dig as hard as they can for some sort of way out but give the turn back to me in a position where I can Boss’s Orders for my remaining prizes or simply Marnie to deck them out so I play the Marnie, and move up to 5-2-1. Round 9 WLW VS TJ Ortiz w/Kyurem VMAX/Palkia VStar (6-2-1) Day 2 Round 10 WW VS Tou Moua w/Arceus VStar/Aggron VMAX/Flying Pikachu VMAX (7-2-1) Round 11 WLW VS Zach Zamora w/Regigigas (8-2-1) Game two my opponent managed to win by stalling me out long enough with Regice to knock out my Goodra VStar with a Regigigas, and then surprised me with the Evolving Skies Regidrago to knock out my regular Goodra V. Games one and three here were very smooth, Regigigas has natural inconsistencies that a deck list Goodra VStar can really capitalize on by putting on pressure, being generally tanky, and disrupting their hand with Marnie. Round 12 WW VS Zander Bennett w/Palkia VStar/Inteleon (9-2-1) Round 13 LWT VS Isaiah Bradner w/Radiant Charizard Lost Box (9-2-2) Game one, I didn't find my Radiant Gardevoir early game allowing my opponent to Rope into my Goodra V twice to hit it with Cramorant before it could attack. I don’t find any Hyper Potions allowing my opponent to clean up my Goodra VStar with a Sableye, followed by knocking out my Arceus VStar, and an Echoing Horn + Radiant Charizard play to finish the game. Game two goes more like I’m used to in the matchup, I stream together Marnies, tank hits with Goodra VStar and healing cards, and my opponent runs out of resources before they can take six prize cards. With only a few minutes left on the clock going into game three, we opt to just ID and hope to win the rest. I’m still feeling good at this point, I’m 3-0-1 in day two, undefeated so far, the matchups at the top tables seem very good for Goodra VStar and I just need to win two more games to make top 8 and just one more to guarantee the Top 32 I was aiming for. Round 14 WW VS Chris Hoag w/Regigigas (10-2-2) Round 15 LWT VS Liam Petrie w/Palkia VStar/Inteleon (10-2-3) I’m feeling good going into this game, I’ve been on stream before, I know the matchup, once I get into the seat I feel confident and comfortable despite all the pressure, it’s just a couple more games of Pokemon. I won’t go super in depth here about how the match played out as it’s available to watch here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KKn5oeGqEw, but in summation, I have three games where I draw very suboptimally, especially in game one and game three, and my opponent draws incredibly well through the series, but misses the game winning Water Energy off of a draw three with Melony to turn a tie into at the end of game three. A tie is not what I was looking for and I felt like I played incredibly well through the day and the series but I ended my weekend with a record of 10-2-3 after going undefeated in day two to bubble into Top 16 at 16th place and secure myself 80 championship points, and some decent prize money.
Building Flesh and Blood Starter Decks to Help Advance Local Communities
By Dimos Flesh and Blood has a lot of appealing aspects, such as the ease of play, the back-and-forth elements, and the artwork. There are also some elements of FaB that are much less appealing to newer players, mainly the cost and how competitive players can be. Building a community can be one of the toughest things about the game. As someone who has moved cities and countries quite a bit recently, often into areas without FaB communities or with nascent communities, I’ve definitely been a part of this struggle. There is a lot of amazing information and resources available out there about getting a local community off the ground. The current gold standard is this Learn to Play kit from Joey Senart, which is regularly updated. In my experience, having starter decks of new players to play with (and even take home) makes a big difference. Additionally, the quality of starter decks offered has a big impact on whether or not they stick around for more games. I think that this is a key step in growing both nascent and established communities. This article is going to discuss what I think makes a good starter deck to give to new players. There are two key elements when building a deck for a new player: the mechanics included and the deck’s power level. The key question to ask yourself when building decks for new players is: “What game elements and strategies am I trying to teach with these cards?”. Players like to play games they are good at and can feel a sense of progression in. This means that whatever deck you are handing to a player should be understandable and have clear level-up strategies. Lord of Wind is a great card with an excellent payoff, as are a lot of cool Wizard combos. They can also be very confusing. You should be mindful about how familiar the deck user is with FaB and with card games in general. To some players these will be understandable, but they will leave many others lost. A clear level-up strategy is some element of a deck that can be used in different ways for different effects. Equipment and on-hit effects are often good gateways to this. Snatch and Razor Reflex is a good example, as is any strong card that requires support to see its power ceiling (like Steelblade Supremacy or Spreading Flames). Since we are trying to make players better at the game (which makes them more likely to become community members), we need to focus on how the cards we are giving them are communicating FaB lessons through gameplay. I always try to incorporate three things when I’m building a teaching deck: a power combo, some arsenal-centric cards, and at least one card that develops board state. These are all concepts that I consider to be at the second level of FaB strategy: the development and application of multi-turn thinking. The first level is playing hands efficiently and making sure to use every card every turn. I think that level can be achieved with just about any deck, so I focus the deckbuilding on how to expose players to the next level of strategy. I think this is something that the original LSS-built Welcome to Rathe decks did quite well, but what more recent blitz decks have been lacking in. Blitz decks feel balanced against one another rather than as a dedicated teaching product, which is a different aim from what we’re trying to do here. Power cards and powerful combos are key in any card game. Multi-turn thinking is a key part of FaB, and that requires having cards that are worth delaying gratification. Taking time to set up and wait for the right moment to play a game-shifting combo is often the path to victory. Oftentimes, starter decks lack power, but I don’t think this needs to be the case in Flesh and Blood. Generally speaking, a hero’s most powerful individual card (often a specialization) is a very cheap Majestic. Bloodrush Bellow, Crippling Crush, Steelblade Supremacy, Oaken Old, Lord of Wind, Red in the Ledger, Dominia, and Spreading Flames are all price-accessible in these decks, ranging from under $1 to $3. All of these cards are staples in decks because they are enough to single-handedly turn the flow of a game. Additionally, Super Rare cards are even cheaper, almost all under $1, and can have similarly large impacts. The aforementioned cards all also require some degree of set-up. You need to be able to pay for expensive Guardian attacks, you need to have enough attacks to follow up Spreading Flames to make it worthwhile, and you need a source of Go Again to make Steelblade Supremacy threatening. This does a good job of nudging new players towards multi-turn thinking. It also encourages the realization that a few big turns are better than many mediocre turns because of how FaB’s resource and card draw system works. If you choose not to include these Majestics, you can still set up powerful combos with just commons and rares. Any attack with an on-hit effect paired with an attack reaction is a good example of this. Snatch and Razor Reflex can be a blowout, as can Debilitate and Pummel. Giving these starter decks power seems simple, but it is key in helping these decks compete against whatever they may come up against at locals. Arsenal usage and cards that interact with the arsenal is often one of the first FaB-specific skills that new players can develop. It contributes to multi-turn thinking and enables players to push damage over a threshold that opponents are willing to block. In the starter decks that I build, I always like to include cards that work with the arsenal. New players often trade four-card hands back and forth, never making use of the arsenal, or they get a mediocre blue card stuck in arsenal and never use it again. Cards with Dominate, defense reactions, Plunder Run, Scour the Battlescape/Trade In/Promise of Plenty/Fervent Forerunner/Frontline Scout, Electrify/Polar Blast/Sow Tomorrow, Disable, Thunder Quake, Breaking Point, Nature’s Path Pilgrimage, and the entirety of the Ranger class all interact with the arsenal. These cards are also commons or rares that can be easily included in different decks. Each of these cards forces some degree of interaction with the arsenal in order to achieve their peak value. As mentioned earlier, optimizing the value of each individual hand is one of the first skills players develop. By introducing cards that have direct text encouraging arsenal usage to maximize value, players are forced to wait at least one turn cycle to see the payoff and are now using multi-turn thinking as a skill. Cards that develop a board state are important parts of the game, and new mechanics that advance board states have been released in every set so far. I have previously discussed how critical board states are here. I think that every starter deck should have an Energy Potion in it. It is a generic card that can be used in many different ways at different levels of play. It also enables massive, satisfying turns for new players that create a true combo feeling. Energy Potion usage can also help avoid bad-feeling play states where a player is one or two resources short of paying for a big turn. Rather than simply having to end their turn and end up with extra cards, players can pop the Energy Potion and play it out. I also think that teaching how critical null-block cards can be in hand is an important lesson. There are also other cards that serve similar purposes in different decks (Timesnap Potion, Talisman of Warfare, Teklo Pounder, etc.), but Energy Potion is the most broadly applicable. All of these cards teach multi-turn thinkingl, and often come with the significant initial investment of an action point. As much as players will learn how to use these items effectively, there will also be times where the core learning is when not to employ these strategies. Something that I would exclude from these decks, in the interest of making them playable against other decks, is bad cards. The original FaB starter decks featured blue Sigil of Solace. While it was one of the few examples of instant-speed mechanics in the set, it was also just horrible. Any blue card that blocks is better in that slot. There is an argument to be made that card evaluation and learning what makes a card bad is an important step. However, I think that learning is best done in a limited format where everyone has to make the same decisions. If you give this deck to a newer player and they show up to a local event and get punished for that irredeemably bad card while their opponent has no corollary, it’s a very bad feeling. Furthermore, that is why I think that starter decks should be as powerful as they can be. Giving them the best chance to compete with full-power majestic-heavy opposition helps to alleviate some of the buy-in pressure in FaB. “The game is super affordable after you buy your first few Legendaries and Generic staples, just over $500 or so.” is a common line in this game. If I can give a player a deck that helps bridge this gap with a few $1 Majestics and some cheap Temper equipment, they have a tendency to stick around longer and give the game more of a shot. I would be less concerned about balancing your custom starter decks against one another since that will usually be the minority of usage that these decks get. The LSS-built Blitz decks and Classic Battles are generally balanced against one another, where a higher-powered starter deck isn’t something that is currently available. My goal is always to provide someone with a starter deck that stands a chance at an Armory-level event, and something they can learn their next level of strategy from. Something not discussed so far is if these decks should use 20 life or 40 life heroes. I am pretty neutral on this topic, as I think both versions have advantages. 20 life games go faster and can be more engaging since you see more beginning-, middle-, and end-game states. However, 40 life games are much less punishing. A player can make numerous mistakes in a 40 life game and still end up triumphant, whereas a single mistake in a 20 life game is often enough to end the game. Ultimately, this is up to preference and what your community plays more often – there is little point in providing someone a blitz deck if all the armories are classic constructed. The starter decks that you make for community use should aim to be useful. They should be playable, reasonably powerful, and focus on providing players gameplay opportunities to learn new FaB skills and strategies.
Canadian Nationals 2022 Tournament Report
By Yuki Lee Bender Preparation Canadian Nationals landed on September 17-18th, just over 2 weeks after I arrived back from Lille on August 31st. This meant a very quick turnover time between events, and a completely fresh metagame due to Prism achieving Living Legend status. This change not only removed Prism, one of my comfort picks, but also shifted the metagame towards proactive Oldhim decks which were very hostile for my other two comfort picks, Viserai and Lexi. Early on in testing I decided I needed to explore new options in order to stay competitive in the emerging metagame. In my eyes this meant learning Dromai, Oldhim or Iyslander, all of which are quite challenging decks to pilot and decks I have little to no experience playing. Additionally, my day job as a highschool business teacher started back up in the first week of September, and demands quite a large amount of my time and energy at the start of the year. It was clear that testing hours going in were more limited than I would have liked, so I wanted to commit to a deck early. I spent the first week testing Oldhim, to better understand how the rest of the meta lined up against him. While I think Oldhim may be the top deck, I ultimately decided I wasn't confident enough in the mirror to bring him. At this point my friend and testing partner Nghia Tran convinced me to try out Iyslander. I really enjoyed Iyslander right away, it reminds me of a combination of Lexi's ability to balance tempo/setup with Prism's ability to play at instant speed and build a board state. The deck had a big learning curve at first but clicked for me pretty quickly. I really enjoy how Iyslander gives the pilot a lot of agency in the gameplay and gives me plenty of opportunities for player expression. Frequently in testing Nghia and I would see wildly different lines, both of which had their merits. The deck feels complex but also very rewarding to play. Come time for Nationals I felt like I had gameplans and about 3-5 reps into most of the major matchups with a few extra into Oldhim, which I had identified as the deck to beat. I definitely felt underprepared going into the event and would have liked time to get more practice, but I liked the deck and felt like it was quite well positioned. Day 1 Going into day 1 I had quite a few more tournament nerves than I usually do. I think it's mostly from wishing I had more practice on my CC deck. But, I was determined to stay positive, play my best and see where that took me. Round 1 CC - Oldhim I had hoped to get an easier opponent for the first couple rounds, but when I checked my gem pairings and saw none other than Isaak Krut; a player who I had met in semifinals last nationals and has since had many more accomplishments including a Top 8 at PT New Jersey. Not exactly who I was hoping to face off against right away. Early on in our game I was quite happy with my ability to set up three Insidious Chills and Amulets of Ice and preserve my life total. I had a big swing turn where after blocking a fused and pummeled Oaken Old, I got to Sigil of Solace from hand, play blue Strategic Planning from arsenal to setup an Ice Eternal in my pitch stack and bottom only 1 card. Then draw into an Insidious at the end of turn off of planning, after the discard effect resolved. Both of my tech cards for the matchup really put in work. However, the game got quite tight as I didn't see any Frost Hexes until the bottom 20 cards of my deck and had to take quite a lot of damage to set them up. Isaak was extremely close to decking me, but had an off turn with only a c&c which let me block with 2 cards, fuse an ice eternal for x=1 off an energy potion giving Isaak a frostbite and taking most of his hand on my turn, arsenaling the last Ice Eternal. On his turn I take the rest of his hand with a fused ice eternal for X=4 for lethal with the last five cards in my deck. Strategic planning proved to be extremely pivotal in this game. After beating Isaak a lot my initial nerves washed away and I gained some confidence going into the rest of my rounds. Game 2 CC - Belittle Briar (feature match) Briar started with two early Channel Mounts and managed to channel twice on both, but I was able to disrupt him nicely and maintain my life total with a combination of Coronet Peak, Channel Lake Frigid and Hypothermia. I also set up two Insidious Chills during this early part of the game, however I find myself down 36 to 20 on life. After the second CMH is gone I find time to pivot and start doing back to back Aether Ice Veins to trigger Insidious, take his hand, and claw back the life totals. After denying my opponent his Sow Tomorrow draw with Channel Bleak Expanse from arsenal, I blunder and sink a card to Sink Below and immediately realize I can't draw. This makes the game quite stressful but I manage to chip him down and finish him off with Storm Striders and Freezing Point for lethal. Game 3 CC - Oldhim - Dimos K I get paired against another extremely talented guardian player who I played late in nationals last year. My game goes very similarly to the one with Isaak early on with me establishing early Insidious Chills. However, Dimos is able to pressure me very effectively early and get my life total low fast. I see my Frost Hexes very late and a timely Tear Asunder on Chokeslam when I have my last Frost Hex and an Ice Eternal I want to arsenal in hand leaves me too far behind. I get forced to block and get decked out. Draft 1 I pick one pack one Insidious Chill which is one of the biggest bombs in the set in my eyes. However, pick 2 I get passed a Nekria and suspect an Iyslander common has been taken so I decide to stay open to Dromai. The next several picks Dromai continues to flow with cards like Red Sweeping Blows, Miragai and Cenipais, while Iyslander continues to be cut. I end up as 1 of 2 dromai at the table, with me to the right of the other Dromai. My deck is outrageous and is easily the best dromai deck I have drafted. The cards on the bottom right are sideboard. Round 4 - Fai I win the die roll choosing to go second. I start with an early Rake the Embers that my opponent decided to clear with Inflame, giving me space to make efficient plays like Embermaw Cenipai and dragons, while blocking with the rest of my hand. We continue to trade life but ultimately my opponent being forced to deal with my dragons lets me pull ahead and lock him out of the game with a bunch of ashwings when he is at 2 life. I end the game at 5. Round 5 - David Rood - Fai Another round and yet another TCG legend. Drood wins the dice roll and chooses to go second. He has a very strong Fai deck and manages to pressure me very consistently. I prioritize blocking, gaining ash and look for an opportunity to play a Cenipai which puts him to 12. I take some damage down to 9 to establish a Nekria which continues to pressure him for several turns. He ends up pushing me down to 5 life and has the option to put me to 1 life, but decides to make the disciplined play and clear Nekria. This gives me the space to pivot and force him on the back foot. We trade 2-3 card hands for a bit before I manage to land a Yendurai and a red Rake the Embers after an off turn to lock him out of the game. This is the first time I've gotten to properly meet and play with Drood, it was a pleasure. The game was extremely tight and he played very well. Round 6 - Fai I win the die roll and get to go second. I get to apply pressure early and establish a life lead. He pressures me quite heavily forcing blocks but I find a spot to take damage and resolve Nekria and arsenal Vynserikai, putting him down to 1. I block out, keep a blue in hand and resolve Vynserikai which alongside Nekria takes his entire hand and leaves him unable to clear them. I find a red starter next turn to lock up the game. Draft Pod 2 This draft I open one of the best packs I've ever seen. Notable cards include Red Fyendal's Fighting Spirit, Blaze Headlong, Spellfire Cloak, Red Aether Icevein, Red Aether Hail and a Blue Frosting. Additionally, I know some of the players passing to me have strong preferences and I expect the table to be: Dromai Iyslander Fai Fai ? ? ? me While I usually would slam the Spellfire Cloak, as I tend to prefer Iyslander, I decide to take a page out of Matt Roger's book and take Red Fyendal's with the plan to cut Dromai and put people down stream from me on Iyslander. I get rewarded at first with cards like Kyloria, Red Sweeping Blows and Dust Up, before Dromai starts to dry up. My first pack wheels and I see Spellfire Cloak and Aether Hail still in the pack with no dromai cards remaining and realize things have gone horribly wrong. However, it's too late to pivot to Iyslander at this point. The plan ended up failing because the players I was passing to wanted to avoid Iyslander and our table ended up being as follows: Dromai Iyslander Fai Fai Fai Dromai Fai Dromai (me) I end up with some strong cards and good equipment but only 28 playables. This forces me to play 2 Phoenix Flames and some middling cards. I end the drafting portion with regrets and pray for a 2-1 record. This draft solidifies my stance that I want to leave myself open and able to read the signals I get, instead of trying to send signals. Even in pod 1 at Nationals many players may not be comfortable with draft or may just have very strong preferences. As a result trying to force and send signals feels quite risky. Round 7 - Dromai - Tariq Patel (feature match) Tariq and I get asked to go on stream and we both sheepishly agree. Neither of us are thrilled with being one of three Dromai drafters. During the match we were both laughing and groaning at how poor our decks were. I win the die roll and decide to go second. This lets me exert pressure early with some early Dunebreaker Cenipais, Flamecall Awakenings and Transmogrifies. I have a popper for his Red Embermaw which gives me an early life lead of 12-8 and force him on the defensive. Cards in deck are a major consideration and I decide to make plays like save a yellow flex I could have played for 3, for a time I could pitch for it to get more value out of my deck. Neither of us is able to really control tempo as our threat quality is quite poor so we trade small hands and grind out small bits of value. I draw my first Red Rakes with limited ash and a clogged arsenal, forcing me to resolve one early to pressure Tariq while his life total is low. I end up misplaying and attacking with an ashwing when Tariq has quell from Silken Form up. I should have kept the ashwing back to clear his ashwing, should he choose to summon it. Tariq has the punish with a yellow rake and a red oasis to turn on go again, allowing him to clear my board. I play Kyloria into a yellow embermaw Cenipai which gives me tempo with Kyloria still on board and allows me to pull way ahead. On the following turn I play a red rake to clear his board, but a timely popper on Kyloria helps him stabilize at 2. I still have the advantage with Ashwings in play. Sand Cover, Strategic Planning, Miragai and some other red go agains I pitched early for ash come back around allowing me to clear his board and deck him out with only a few cards left in my own deck. Round 8 - Fai We both trade damage and try to get value out of our decks. It's clear neither deck is very optimal. My opponent has to make some plays like starting his turn by pitching a blue to grab a Phoenix Flame. However, a poor Fai deck is often more efficient than a poor Dromai deck thanks to Searing Emberblade so I start to fall behind on life. I decide to pop Silken Form early and take damage to play Miragai as I know dragons will be my main way of keeping up. I'm low and forced to block every turn while slowly losing life, but Miragai keeps chipping in for 2. My opponent decided to Breaking Point my Miragai when I'm at 5 for fear of me continuing to block out and win with Miragai. Luckily, I have Flamecall Awakening, ashwing attack into yellow Embermaw from arsenal when he started the turn at 7, forcing him to start blocking with multiple cards each turn. A Red Rake closes out the game. Game 9 - Iyslander - Mike Caronchia Despite my deck being poor, it actually has reasonable tools into Iyslander. I resolve an early Themai, but make the mistake of attacking with it instead of playing and attacking with Kyloria first. He has the only popper in his deck in hand and kills my Themai. However, I tend to prefer to make my opponent have it than to just sit back and wait. I try to pressure with efficient attacks where I can and conserve my life total by pitching to AB. However Mike is good at presenting lots of damage on his turn, forcing me to block, then chipping me for damage on my turn when my hand is depleted. My Rakes come quite late though, making it hard to get ashwings so I have to blow my Sand Cover and Oasis Respites early. He ultimately finds a Singe before I find my second Rake and manages to close out the game. He ends the game at 4 with less than 10 cards in deck. Despite the loss, I was thrilled to get a 2-1 draft with a mediocre deck. This draft is a great reminder that sometimes when your draft goes poorly, the rest of your pod may have also not ended up with strong decksl. At the end of day 1 I'm third seed, the highest of the x-2s, with only two players at x-1. I feel great about my spot after such a long grueling day of fab. The event had started at 10 am and ended at almost 8 pm, with some breaks and the draft portion causing the event to drag in some spots. But, overall the event was fairly well run and a big improvement over last year. Day 2 Round 10 CC - Iyslander I get paired against Victor whom I have tested with. I win the die roll and go first. Victor sees primarily damage and sigil of solaces early while I manage to find 2 Frost Hex and 2 Insidious Chills over the course of several turns. I try to preserve life, but go down 25 to 39 life as I set up. At this point I decide to turn the corner with fused Ice Veins on my turn and ice blues on his turn which do lots of damage thanks to the Frost Hexes. I get him down to 15 and go for a big Ice Eternal X=5 play taking his hand, but miscalculating his ability to pay through it thanks to Aluvion and Energy Potions. I should have made the play for X=4 which would still force the potions, but kept two cards in hand. Over extending causes me to have no arsenal and lets him start to catch back up. We trade life down to 12-7 and he fuses a Yellow Icevein triggering Insidious on his turn. In response I play a Coldsnap from Arsenal's and Striders ice eternal for x=2 with metacarpus nodes, allowing me to Amulet him and come in with Waning moon for a total of 8 damage for lethal through his interaction and arcane barrier. Round 11 CC - Rhinar I get paired against my friend and local, Ian Smith. He's a very talented and hardworking player who goes on to place second at the event, playing against Tariq Patel in the finals. This is a win and in for both of us. He played quite a grindy style of game focused on trading efficient attacks and making efficient blocks in order to outvalue me. However, my disruption lined up well with his potential power turns, managing to find all 3 Channel Lake Frigids early. Insidious Chills + Aether Ice Veins let me take control of the game. These tempo plays in combination with some minor inefficiencies on his part let me pull ahead early. I close out the game with Striders into Icevein. Round 12 CC - Iyslander - Mike Caronchia Mike was already locked for first seed and decided he'd rather have me on the other side of the bracket at second, so he conceded to me after deck check. This gave both of us time to relax and get coffee. Top 8 Quarters - Rhinar - Feature I play against friend and local, Clay DeAngelis who has been top 8ing almost every PQ or RTN he's played as Rhinar. I knew I would be in for a tough match. Luckily, I had an idea of his decklist and gameplan based on my game with his friend Ian Smith in round 11. In this game I managed to blank 2 early Blood Rush turns thanks to Hypothermia and Channel Lake Frigid, then later force him to pitch the 3rd one. Despite this, the game is grindy and we are trading a few points of life each turn cycle. Once we are both low, Clay almost clinches the game off a Barraging Beatdown into Alpha Rampage for 13 with 3 intimidates while I'm at 6, but a timely Sink Below in arsenal bails me out and lets me go to 2 and claw back some life. In another pivotal turn he plays a Barraging Beatdown while he is at 6 and I respond with a blue Ice Bolt from arsenal, bluffing that I can threaten lethal with waning moon and Striders if he doesn't block. However, in reality I have no red in hand. He chooses to block and move to my turn which allows me to maintain momentum and continue to chip him down to 3. At 3 he commits to an attack but a red Aether Hail from Striders in combination with Waning Moon allows me to close out the game. I end the game with only one red spell left in deck. This was one of the most intense and down to the wire games I played all weekend. It felt like my favourite kind of Flesh and Blood game where both players block and threaten lethal with their few remaining cards each turn. Semifinals - Oldhim I have a rematch with Tariq Patel, this time in CC. As the higher seed I go first and very quickly set up 3 Frost Hexes and an Insidious, but take quite a bit of damage to do so. Despite the life deficit, I'm feeling good about my spot with so many pieces set up. However, the game starts to slip away from me when I take damage from a pummel instead of blocking so I can arsenal an Insidious. Then, I draw all reds and face down C&C. I suspect the pummel and block for 9 with 3 reds assuming Tariq won't go for it because if I have a blue to play my arsenal, it is quite a blow out. However, Tariq calls my bluff and pummels my second Insidious out of arsenal. I sigil of solace with the last card in hand, so it’s not a complete disaster, but on the next turn he hits my 3rd insidious with fused Oaken Old. At this point I switch gears and try to get tempo with Aether Icevein as it's clear to me I don't have enough life to get to second cycle and set up enough discards to OTK. Instead, I try to leverage my frost hexes with cards like Blue Aetherhail and waning moon to do chunks of 5-7 damage. I end up getting Tariq down to 13 life but I'm just too low to find a way to close out the game and get run over by a flurry of Zealous Beltings, Enlightened Strikes and Rouse the Ancients. Looking back on the game, it's possible I should have just over blocked the C&C with 3 cards and Coronet Peak to avoid the pummel but I really didn't think he would go for it. It's also possible I should have changed gears sooner to just trading and using Frost Hexes, I got caught off guard by him being much more aggressive than I had expected. Tariq played the game very well and deserved the win. Reflections Of course I wish I had managed to have back to back nationals wins, but I'm still very happy with the top 4 finish and with how I played my matches this weekend. The Goldfoil Alluvion Constellas is gorgeous and feels fitting for the event. It's wild to think that less than a year ago I had not attended any major Flesh and Blood events and considered myself a fairly casual player. I'm amazed when I look back and see how far I've come this past year with a Nationals win, Nationals top 4, PT top 32 and Calling Top 8 to my name. Getting to travel the world to play cards at the highest level and meet so many amazing people is something I had only dreamed of. I can't believe I am fortunate enough to be able to do this. I'm proud of my accomplishments this year, and this weekend. I can't wait to see what Worlds and 2023 has in store as this year of Flesh and Blood has been truly life changing.
Uprising Draft Through a Casual Lens
By: Dimos I’ve seen a lot of discourse, particularly during the current Nationals season, about the quality of Uprising as a draft format. Some people think it is too high-variance and doesn’t reflect player skill, while some others think the opposite, and that it rewards strong drafters. People like it, people don’t like it. But I don’t think that it is a contentious statement to say that Uprising is a punishing draft format. A lot of games can be won or lost in the drafting portion of the game rather than in the playing portion of the game. Both are important parts, but I think that winning or losing before you draw your opening hand is a bad feeling for someone who is just playing this for a bit of fun. In general, there is little room for error, or even creativity, in this format, and I think that is less of a positive experience for casual players. This article is trying to put into words why Uprising may not be an ideal draft format for casual or unstudied players, but also why that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s bad overall. It is shocking to me how noticeable it is that there is one fewer card per pack. Even though the total pool of draftable cards to players is only reduced by 7% (45 versus 42), the amount of buffer room for non-playable cards drops by as much as 20% (15 versus 12). I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that Fai is the most drafted hero and also has a lower deck-building threshold, only needing 29 cards instead of 30. The single Phoenix Flame that starts in the graveyard goes a longer way than people think. To compound with the fewer draftable cards, it also feels that the generic cards in the set are… not stellar. In most decks, the common generic cards are usually just some blue filler cards or are tech cards against other specific decks. Part of the reason that these generics feel lackluster is because a lot of them are only applicable against certain matchups. Uprising draft demands that decks have a sideboard. Oasis Respite is necessary against Iyslander, but can often be a dead card in hand against the other two heroes. Singe is needed for wizards to deal with Dromai’s Ashwings, but is far below rate against other heroes. The list goes on. So now we have three fewer cards in our total pool and a few cards dedicated to our sideboard of answers. As the margin of how many unplayable cards you can draft thins, it means that early draft mistakes can echo much louder into the gameplay. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but I think that it makes things harder. People should be given warning and have an expectation that the draft can often overshadow any in-game decisions you make, much more so than in other FaB sets. At the end of the day, I find that the universal litmus test for deck success is if you can beat an average Fai deck. Can you compete with a consistent 12 damage per turn in one way or another (more damage, disruption, creating dragons fast enough, etc.). Because of this consistently high damage output, it is not uncommon for these games to last three turns or fewer. Over so few turns, it is easy to feel that there is not very much agency in the game itself, and it is only after the fact that many players realise that they lost the game during the draft phase. Uprising is a format that is quite reliant on sending and reading signals. That is a hard thing to do. It is a very particular learned skill that changes with every new set of cards. Cards that would be amazing in other sets, like Scar for a Scar or Breaking Point are often considered good-but-not-great in Uprising. This demonstrates that the context within a set also matters significantly in the draft. You are not evaluating individual cards that are passed to you, you are evaluating them against every other card in the set and how they work or don’t work within their own ecosystem. Because of the nature of generics in the set, it is often difficult to stay open while drafting a decent card in the early stages of the draft. This necessitates an early commitment, often before solid information flows down from the other side of the table. Newer players and experienced players alike can easily fall off this tightrope and end up with a deck that just feels dead in the water. There are also some slightly unintuitive elements of the Uprising draft format. I don’t think these are inherently bad, but they certainly steepen the learning curve. In every other FaB draft format, the ideal split of heroes is the most even split possible. The 4-hero sets of Welcome to Rathe, Arcane Rising, and Monarch thrive on a 2-2-2-2 split. Tales of Aria is generally at its best in a 3-3-2 split. Anecdotally, I think that the better Tales of Aria draft will have Lexi as the two-player hero in the format due to the higher amount of specific interactions necessary and the general importance of Over Flex as a card. In contrast, the general consensus for Uprising draft (or at least what has been told to me by better-practiced and more serious players) is that the draft thrives on a 4-2-2 split, with Fai as the four-player hero. If a newer player doesn’t know this, or isn’t familiar with the amount of redundancy on Fai’s cards (having multiple different 0-cost, 3-damage Go Again Draconic attacks), then Fai may go under-drafted and may gain the ability steamroll the comparatively weaker Dromai or Iyslander decks. This should be an exception in drafts, not a default for an evenly distributed draft. Additionally, Uprising has some complex rules interactions that use priority at times where it was previously not relevant, namely Iyslander attacking Dromai’s allies at instant speed in the layer step. This is often a difficult realisation for newer players to make, and can often be quite punishing. Not only is this an inherently challenging rule, it is one that is usually necessary for Iyslander to make use of in order to preserve life and play an effective game against Dromai. This is another learning curve for players new to Uprising to have to overcome. My personal gripe with the format is that I don’t like playing as Fai, and I don’t like how much of the draft that closes me off from (half of it, going off the 4-2-2 split discussed earlier). He isn’t a playstyle that I enjoy. Unlike Katsu, who can be built in a range of different ways, I haven’t found any alternative decks for Fai that are fun for me. Occasionally, Fai has access to different play patterns, but that is generally reliant on his opponent having a lackluster deck rather than his own deck being something interesting. All of that is fine, not every person will want to play every hero. However, in any other format, you’re losing fun across one quarter or one third of the hero pool, whereas in Uprising you can lose out on more. With all of this being said, I have played plenty of fun, interesting and enjoyable games of Uprising draft. But I have noticed that most of those games go very long due to both decks being generally weak. There are some interesting decisions to be made in late-game Dromai mirrors as players are desperate to keep their last red card and are holding back their last reliable damage source in the form of a sole Ashwing. Likewise, Iyslander mirrors can end in a reverse arms race where whoever tries to deal arcane damage to the opponent first will end up losing because instant-speed damage abilities resolve against their order of play. If you go skiing once every couple of years, you won’t be racing down the black diamond runs. People should advise you not to rush into them headlong, for your own enjoyment. I think that Uprising falls into the same boat. This is a slope that is best enjoyed by people who practice the hobby regularly. Others may end up stumbling and tripping their way through. Uprising can be a very interesting draft format, but there is a very steep learning curve that everyone should be aware of before jumping in. Casual players may not be aware of all of these things. If you are considering running Uprising draft at an event, I would urge you to ensure that the majority of the participants are either very familiar with drafting card games as a whole or that they are particularly experienced Flesh and Blood players. If you have newer players, I would encourage you to run a different draft format first to familiarize players in a more forgiving environment. I think the friendliest draft formats are Welcome to Rathe, due its strong focus on fundamentals and more simple rules suite, and Tales of Aria, because even inexperienced drafters will end up with strong decks by simply matching the colours of the elements. On a more procedural note, if you have newer players at your draft, please put tokens on the table before the first pack is opened. It is an invaluable asset for a newer player to have hero and weapon texts on demand when evaluating a card.
Long Games and Fatigue in Flesh and Blood Part 2: Adapting and Closing
By Dimos Well, it seems like it’s Oldhim season right now. Or at least that seems to be the outcome of the National Championships held this past weekend. Adding to the barrage of these wintery forces is Iyslander. Both of these Ice heroes have very strong end-game states and have a unique knack for winning games that go long. Hopefully this article can give you a few tips and tools to help combat this and come out with a late-game victory of your own. While the rest of this article aims to look at broader strategies of long games, I’ll put some brief notes specifically on Oldhim, Iyslander, and Dash here. None of these strategies are guaranteed, but they can provide you with some outs; these heroes have strong endgames that can’t always be overcome. Oldhim can quickly and effectively set up his powerful Guardian-card-fueled second cycle by using Crown of Seeds. With enough pressure in the early- and mid-game, you can force many Oldhim players to use Crown of Seeds in awkward ways. When presented damage in fragmented amounts that encourage pitching a card to use the effects of Crown of Seeds and Rampart of the Ram’s Head together, it is hard for Oldhim players to deny the efficiency of using their defensive equipment. Even if this comes at the cost of late-game organization. Additionally, any effect you have that can wreak havoc on the deck count or the pace of hands being drawn can negatively impact how their pitch stack comes up. Instead of seeing cards 1-2-3-4 they may see 1-2-3 and then 4-5-6-7. If card 4 is the Pulse of Isenloft that Oldhim needed to fuse Oaken Old, then you’ve effectively bought yourself an entire turn of pressure. If you can keep pressure up during this less-effective second cycle, you can possibly give yourself the advantage required to win. Watch out for Oldhim’s Ice reaction (or other disruption) as it will interfere with your own pace of drawing cards (since you’re seeing the affected card twice in a row), and could throw off the count for your second cycle. Iyslander and Dash have very similar endgame states and if they are trying to set these up, they expose themselves to being pressured and punished. Odds are you can race to kill them before they get to their ideal state. They both need to spend a lot of resources on building permanents on the board (Frost Hex, Induction Chamber, Plasma Purifier, and even Insidious Chill). Each item or aura that these heroes set up will cost them six (or more) points of value. They each take two full cards (one to pitch, one to play), and can consume a valuable action point (or Iyslander’s once-per-turn instant). Over the course of three pieces that cost your opponent 6 life apiece, you’re already halfway to killing them if you can keep up an adequate amount of pressure (an average of 12 damage per turn, or an equivalent amount of value in disruption). The general message here is to keep throwing damage. However, be careful and don’t overcommit since they can pivot away from these set-up strategies and both have strong tempo-based games. To pick up where we left off last week, you’ve now identified that a game is going to go long, and you’ve identified the different ways that it could go. All that’s left is to decide what your out is and how you’re going to push towards it. As a reminder, there are different fatigue states, soft and hard. Soft fatigue aims to run your opponent out of threats while you still have a few to keep pressuring. Hard fatigue forces them to block with every card in their deck because they’re out of options, then keep attacking after they have no cards to defend themselves with. Let’s decide what our out is now: Are you racing to kill your opponent before they set up? Are you trying to disrupt their second cycle so yours will be stronger? Or are you trying to be sneaky and hide the fact that the game will go long at all? The key question is: Will your late game be stronger than your opponent’s? Once you answer these questions, you should know how you’re trying to see the game to it’s end. The general strategies are listed below. Try to end the game as fast as possible. This is something that you only do when you know your opponent has inevitability on their side. Frost Hexes, Induction Chambers, or even just knowing that your opponent has a better second cycle (common against Guardians, and some mid-range classes). It can sometimes be a panic option, but it can also help make the best of a bad situation. It is important to count your opponent’s graveyard and your own. Know what immediate threats you have left and know what immediate threats they have left. One power card is rarely enough to get this job done, so you may have to arsenal some power ahead of time to get over their defenses. This could mean arsenalling a Crippling Crush and waiting to draw into another power card to guarantee strong back-to-back turns. Or it could mean arsenalling a Morded Tide while waiting to draw your last Revel in Runeblood to push a lethal amount of damage. Pitch a key combo to see on your second cycle: This is a strategy best used when it appears that neither nor your opponent has set-up for a strong late game. This requires a balance of life totals. Both players need to be low enough that a powerful combo will close the game, but your life total needs to be high enough to keep enough cards in hand to actually play out the combo. This can manifest itself in a few different ways. Each hero has strong combos, usually predicated off of two key cards. If you’re playing your deck, you should know what these are and how to pull them off. One of the advantages of pitching a combo is that you often have more resources than normal to pay for it, due to the high number of blues that have been previously pitched. This can add extra damage through resource sinks like Grasp of the Arknight, Metacarpus Nodes, Shock Charmers, or using the variable costs on cards like Sonata Arcanix or Ice Eternal. Rhinar can guarantee that he can swing both Mandible Claws and follow up with an extra attack after a Bloodrush Bellow because so much of what’s left to draw from the deck is blue cards. Even if this pitched combo doesn’t kill your opponent, it will hopefully leave them low enough that they need to dedicate nearly their entire hand to blocking from this point out, giving you the option for fatigue against them. Rely on your already-stacked second cycle. When you think you have identified that this is a long game before your opponent, you can start to set up and give yourself the edge, even if they have some type of endgame plan already. When you draw into this cycle, you will be able to send multiple, consecutive powerful turns at your opponent. If this doesn’t outright kill them, it will set you up to take advantage of a soft fatigue state because they have been forced to block with useful cards. Setting up an entire second cycle takes longer to do, and requires your opponent to give you a bit more space, or at least for your plan to start at a higher life total. You also have to be more deliberate with it, particularly about separating out the power cards into consecutive hands. Again, there is nothing wrong with counting your deck or graveyard. It is a key component of making sure that your late game plan goes well. It is a real blow when you think you’ve got the game on lock and draw into a hand that is too awkward to play out due to your own miscount. This can mean tactically blocking with cards in ways that may not be perfectly efficient so they don’t mess up your pitch stack or change how many cards you draw in a turn. Soft fatigue is a strong option if your opponent runs a deck that runs a conventional number of blues (which I would consider to be between 17 and 23) and you haven’t seen evidence that they are setting up a powerful endgame. Additionally, this can also be a strong option when your opponent has pitched well to set up a non-permanent endgame so long as you have well-timed defensive cards to weather the storm. Once again, it is very important to keep track, as best you can, of what your opponent is sending to the graveyard and what they are sending to the bottom of their deck. If you think your soft fatigue plan is going to work but your opponent still has four of their six power majestics in their deck, you may be in for a rude awakening when they start throwing a well-coordinated second cycle at you. Hard fatigue is something that either arises opportunistically, or your deck is very specifically geared towards it. Throughout the game, keep an eye on how thick your deck is relative to your opponent’s. Often if you ask to count your opponent’s deck too early, they can be alerted to the fact that you may be aiming to hard fatigue them. This requires basically all of the previous considerations to be checked off, in addition to you having tempo and having ways of keeping tempo to ensure that all your opponent is doing is blocking. If you are running a fatigue-oriented deck, this strategy shouldn’t be a surprise to you and you should just be conscious of making card-efficient plays. For example, red Thunder Quake takes three cards to play (Thunder Quake and two blues to pitch for it), but it only takes one card out of your deck. It requires your opponent to dedicate three or more cards to defending it to prevent damage. In contrast, the standard rate for a zero-cost card is four damage, which only takes one card to play and takes one card out of your deck, and likely one or two cards out of your opponent’s deck to defend. The upside is that three zero-cost cards will deal more damage than one six-cost card like Thunder Quake. They are more card efficient at the expense of being less deck efficient. Weapons are perfectly deck efficient, removing zero cards from your deck, and hard fatigue strategies usually rely heavily on consistent, high-quality weapons to get the job done. Bespoke strategies: These are pre-meditated outs in your 80-card list that you have as a back-up or as a counter to other decks trying to fatigue you. The single best example of this Last Ditch Effort. With a few blue resource cards and nothing more, one can put out an intense amount of damage at a point in the game that would otherwise have been written off. If you want to be extreme and actively look for yourself fatiguing as your out, you can run Mage Master Boots, Tome of Fyendal and one extra resource source (possibly an Energy Potion or a Tunic counter). With those, you can swing all three Last Ditch Efforts and a weapon all in one turn, usually for between 27 and 30 damage. For a self-fatigue option better suited to aggressive decks, Ravenous Rabble becomes a five-damage attack with go again and costs zero. That is hands down the best rate in the game, and is tough to survive such efficiency in the late game. Remembrance can go a very long way in enabling these strategies, as you’ll be playing or blocking with cards as the mid-game demands. Remembrance on its own can be a very powerful out for two reasons: It lets you cycle three key power cards back in and it lets you shuffle your deck to get rid of any poorly-stacked cards that you may have. If you are using remembrance, be mindful of the pace of the game. If you are on six life, it probably isn’t wise to shuffle back in Pulverize, as you can’t plan on ever having enough cards left in hand to play it out. Instead opt for some cheaper attacks that will make your two- or three-card hands more potent. Overall, games will probably be going longer these days, especially with Prism out of the picture. And that means that you will need a plan for them. You can set up any of the options provided here so long as you can identify how the game is going to run long. You can add cards into your 80-card list that makes it a lot easier to do so without the mental stress of counting all game (like Remembrance or Pulse of Candlehold). Whatever method you choose, it should be proactive; you don’t want your opponent to start working on their plan before you do. Whoever plans first can usually execute first. Remember that you can also plan to counteract your opponent’s late game strategies, by lining up pressure, disruption, or defense to address their threats. Finally, knowledge is power, and rifling through graveyards is about as free as knowledge gets in Flesh and Blood.
