News from the New Meta

Another week in Rathe means more stuff to talk about! Tournament results are in, the meta keeps changing, and man - have you seen these new spoilers? The expansion slot might just be one of the best things that they have done for the game after unifying the first and unlimited editions. Let's crack in to this week's notable news!

LSS has really been amping up their game over the past year in terms of written strategy content - still waiting on more Lore updates, though! Just recently, however, their YouTube presence has started to buff out as well: there are lifestyle videos,  Pack One Pick One Videos, matchup videos, Deck Tech videos for Victor and Prism, exciting trailers, keynote addresses so that players don't have to travel to stay looped in, and there is even a mini documentary. It makes me so excited to see more stuff come from the mothership: hopefully more is on the horizon as we move through the present competitive season. Plus, if you haven't tuned in to the livestreams, or their VODs, I suggest that you might be missing out: there is a lot that can be learned from watching games at these high level events.

The second week of Pro Quest Amsterdam is over, and some really neat decks have started to come to the surface. Rising from the depths, we have Riptide claiming 4 PQ wins, and Teklovossen bringing in 5 of his own, securing double-digit status on the Living Legend leaderboard. As expected, Kayo is taking quite a few games: he just puts out so, so much damage over the course of a game, and that sort of aggression will always do well as the meta shifts. Who knows where everything will settle, and even then there is barely a month before 3 new heroes and a neat set of expansion slot cards find their own way in to decks and strategies.

For now, however, things are in a real shakeup! Just this past weekend at the Battle Hardened: San Francisco, eight unique heroes took to the 8-person-podium, with a good mix of mage-types, techies, and beaters. We can always talk about how diverse the meta feels, but there's nothing quite like the cold hard data to back up the claims, and this meta has been delivering literally all year. Flesh and Blood really is a Player's Game, where you can get good with your hero in your expected meta and have a real chance at the win - a far cry from the Triangle Meta of early 2022, where Prism, Chane, and Starvo were the only heroes worth talking about.

Let's not forget the clever way that LSS has devised for sets going forward: the expansion slot. Even if your  hero or class isn't directly represented in the new set, the developers haven't forgotten about you: Olympia, Victor, Riptide, and Rangers in general, are each getting some pretty neat buffs to their decks. The mind reels with all of the cool new options on display - let us know if you have any neat ideas in the comments below!

For a quick reference of all the spoilers so far, as well as where to look for future spoilers, check this link. Personally, I'm really excited for the Victor and Riptide cards, but a few of my locals have been brewing with the Olympia specialization, and holy cow does it look spooky. Flesh and Blood is a fight to the death, sure, but the whirling dance of death that Olympia is about to put on is a whole new level of spooky.