Pro Tour Recap

Pro Tour 6 itself was an incredible event that saw 21 of the 27 heroes in attendance fighting it out over the course of two days. We saw a huge selection of new heroes, with 194 of the 390+ players opting to bring Nuu, Enigma, or Zen to the battleground. Kayo, Kassai, Rhinar, and Victor were also in attendance, although Betsty and Olympia stayed at home, preparing for future battles of their own in dojos of their own design.

Once the battle had ended, however, it wasn't a meta deck that took the crown and 50,000 gold - it was Shoma Yamamura, piloting a build of Uzuri that was built to prey on meta decks like the 194 Enigma, Zen, and Nuu that dared step foot on the sands. There were exactly two Uzuri who seized the opportunity, but only one would be crowned victor. An assassin stalks their prey and strikes best when circumstances line-up for them: Flesh and Blood gives ground to thematic play at every level, encouraging players to get good with the characters that they like and to strike while their irons are hot. A metagame that might be cooled for heroes like Betsy or Bravo, very well could be the hottest for other heroes like Uzuri - and that is increasingly exciting as more cards and more heroes and more circumstances develop and churn in the realms of possibilities of Flesh and Blood.

Accompanying the Pro Tour event was the keynote speech as delivered by Bryan Gottlieb. Here we learned:

• Two more Armory decks will be coming out this year, arriving in October and November/December. Now that there will be five by the end of this year, it makes sense that the cadence would slow down in the new year, as there will be a good number of choices for Armory hopefuls to pick up and play with.
• Set number 15 (fifteen!!) will be in January, and sweet 16 arrives in May. This continues to establish a strong trend of three-month-long percolation periods following every set. There had been discussion in the past about amping up to 4 sets in a year, and in a way that is still true, as next March there will be...
• Mastery Pack: Guardian, landing just in time for this old guardian's birthday. The set promises to include mostly (read: at least 51%, just to manage expectations) brand-new cards, and for most of the cards included to be from the Guardian class. Presumably there will be generic cards, but who knows: Elemental Guardian, Earth, and Ice are a few of the card types that we may just be treated to. The set promises Crack, Shuffle, Play capabilities, and.... you know, as excited as I, a Guardian main, am to see this, it also brings me a lot of joy just as an enthusiast of Flesh and Blood. Will there be mastery sets for the other classes? Is this how they might just... introduce a future class? I know I can't wait to find out!
• To celebrate the fifth year of Flesh and Blood, the fifth year of 100% great games played on the table across from our in the flesh and blood friends, special packs will be available exclusively at the World Tournament in Osaka, Japan this year. Who knows exactly what treasures will be held within, but I do know this: Flesh and Blood, and Legend Story Studios, have not earned a reputation of disappointment.

 We also got to see a load of new stuff from...

After just a few years, we are back in the land of Elements: Aria. This time, things are a bit different: new heroes, new card types, and new new ways to play abound in this forthcoming set, due out in September this year. We've known for a little while now that the world premier will be in the coastal city of Tampa in Florida, USA, but what we didn't know was:

• Split cards have finally come to FAB, and the ones we have seen so far appear to follow a bit of a formula. All of the Earth split cards appear to offer, as their “second” half, the option of Life, a 0-cost instant effect that heals for 1 life. Likewise, the revealed Lightning cards offer a 1-cost instant effect of 1 arcane damage to any target. These revealed split cards offer the options of playing either side for their printed cost, or paying both costs on the card to entwine and play out both effects. How will this interact with the chain, we will just have to wait and find out! Some of these split cards offer the further choice of Action or Instant, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see a Runeblade split card that offered something along the lines of Action paired with an Attack Action, or even Earth cards that offered a Defense Reaction and/or Instant effect.
• The Heroes, Revealed! Previously we had seen just the Runeblade heroes, but now after interminable weeks of waiting, we now know what the Wizard heroes are up to. How will these new heroes play? Come influence the metagame itself and throw your skills in to the fray.
• Limited play continues to be on the minds of the developers as we see renewed limited support in the form of a Macro card. This card functions as a rules reminder for any players who are seeking to enjoy a limited format. Limited formats include Draft, Sealed, Blitz Decks, and others like Limited Deck or Set Constructed. A limited format is one that only includes cards from a particular set, like only Rosetta cards. The Macro card for Rosetta, named Sanctuary of Aria, can produce some damage resistance - which is good in a set without any Arcane Barrier! - in these such formats. The part of me that can't help but tweak and re-imagine the games that I love likewise cannot wait to see what all Macro cards that might get produced for the Cube environment, or even limited environments of prior sets. Every door that LSS thinks that they are opening, indeed actually open several more doors for new designers, developers, and players to walk through.

I hope that tournaments like these continue to give you hope, as they do for me. Players of so many skill levels are welcome in Flesh and Blood, and the path to greatness is open for everybody. I can't wait to see what mastery pack follows the Guardian boon that is slated for March/April of 2025; I can't wait to see more players come to the game with their unique ideas, ready to exploit the established hierarchies. It has already been an incredible and exciting year for Flesh and Blood, with so many more on the horizon. Now is not the time to be quiet about Flesh and Blood: play out loud and in public spaces so that ever more people will be drawn to the grand melee that we call home.