It's 2020, and I'm reading articles about a new trading card game - a hobby I'm looking to refresh to pass the time stuck at home in the midst of a global pandemic. Drawn in by the mechanical similarities to the Dragon Ball Z TCG I played in my youth, I'm ready to pull the trigger and order a few boxes of Welcome to Rathe and Arcane Rising. For the time being, this is an at-home hobby, so I'll need to build a couple decks to goldfish on my kitchen table... but I already know which one will get first dibs on the best cards I open, because one hero captured my imagination from the outset.
As a day-one Azalea main, I've been luckier than most when it comes to Living Legend. Which is to say, for the past 5 years Living Legend has only ever benefited my raven-haired Ranger. My problems were quite the opposite: Azalea struggled to perform at a competitive level until Outsiders finally raised the Ranger profile to a high enough tier, and even then Azalea lagged behind until Lexi rotated. It was only recently that I began to consider that Azalea may not last in the game's standard format forever.
An interesting bit of trivia: three classes remain untouched by CC Living Legend as of July 2025. Brute is the closest to losing that designation, as Kayo, Armed and Dangerous is nearly 75% of the way there. Dorinthea Ironsong leads Warrior in the climb, but is still only at 614 after more than 5 years as the class figurehead. And making the list only via technicality, Necromancer is too young to see any hero claim that title.
I've had decks rotate out of Classic Constructed before - an inevitability as someone who likes to experience everything a game has to offer. But in most cases, the decks I had to pack away were diversions, side heroes I'd play to improve the diversity of my local Armory scene. Iyslander was the first hero I lost who had claimed some of my identity, though I'd never developed serious skill with the deck.
But 2025 has hit me like a truck, and after losing both Enigma and Nuu - heroes that really resonated with me in theme and mechanics - I was finally confronted with the ultimate farewell. My main had completed her FAB journey; my own would continue without her. I unsleeved my Azalea deck and scattered her cards to the Rangers who would take up her mantle.
It's here that I must acknowledge that there are other formats in Flesh and Blood. While Azalea, Ace in the Hole is no longer legal in Classic Constructed, the dedicated Living Legend format will always offer her a spot on its roster. Here, I can play the exact same 80 I closed the book on, though her position in the meta is now reset to the bottom of the tier list, facing once again the titans of the game who held her down for years. And if I'm truly craving topdeck dominate, I can reach for the young Azalea hero card, playable in Blitz, Commoner, and Ultimate Pit Fight - but there are problems with her in each of these formats, beginning with Ranger's tendency to block with its face. Rather than face those frustrations, it's better for the moment to consider her benched.
This is to say nothing of the investment. As collectibles, the cards you acquired along the way - not just the functional copies, but the premium alternates that communicated your allegiance - are still yours. But as game pieces, they no longer serve the same purpose. The marvel Sandscour Greatbow I once presented with pride at the start of my games now adorns the shelf in my game room, appreciated only by me. Those specializations are literally unplayable in Classic Constructed. We play a TCG in part because of how collectible and playable meet - but it's here they part ways again.
In time, I expect my allegiance to the Ranger class will grow and develop into a more robust version of my Azalea identity. Perhaps the next Ranger LL won't hit me this hard. But today, I join those of you who have come to the golden gates of Living Legend and had to part ways with your favorite hero. I get it now: the bittersweet acknowledgement of success, the complex realignment of allegiances, that inevitable disappointment when the successor doesn't scratch the same itch. I like to think that this is growth, but it's hard too.
You let their hand slip.
It's time.
So where do we go next?
When Enigma rotated, I fell back on a familiar pattern of setting down Illusionist until the next one comes along. I'd done this before with Dromai, and the original Prism before her, though neither spoke to me the way Enigma did. (Yes, there's still the Awakener of Sol, and I do have a deck for her, but Phantasm-leading Illusionists are their own breed.) With Nuu, I tried to explore the other Assassins, but concluded that none of them were offering the gameplay that had drawn me to her; ultimately, I sidelined that class too.
But thankfully, the Ranger roster was much more to my taste than these other classes. Sighting LL on Azalea's horizon, I'd begun to put work into Marlynn, and found her to be thoroughly engrossing. Since High Seas' release, she's occupied most of my thoughts, and at this point I'm essentially a Marlynn main. And with Azalea out of the way, I've developed an appreciation for Riptide, who'd formerly only paled in comparison to the Ace in the Hole.
The loss of your main also makes room for other classes. I've long loved Mechanologists, but only recently have I started putting in the work to make my own way through the class, rather than cribbing on decklists found online. I'm quite proud of what I've been able to develop in Mechanoid I/O, and have slowly begun making sense of Puffin's lines.
Also long overdue: a thorough exploration of the Wizard class. I never mastered Iyslander, and Kano was beyond me; but after collecting the Wizards of Rosetta, I've been putting in the time to understand Verdance and Oscilio. As it turns out, I love Verdance, and now consider her deck a comfort pick for competitive play.
If my sights were still narrowed in on Azalea, I might not have discovered any of this - or rather, like Iyslander, I'd have had only an inkling toward it, under-explored and undeveloped. There's a lot to be said for being pushed out of your comfort zone.
And once again, I'm the student. I play a deck to learn, rather than to teach. I am acquiring skill, not expressing it. It's a humbling thing to change channels in the FAB Discord and leave behind the authority with which you once spoke. You realize quickly how silo'ed most of us are - who are these people, and whose advice can I trust? Whose decklists are definitive of the class? Who are the innovators here?
Perhaps this is the true strength of the Living Legend system: it keeps us learning, keeps us growing. Standing still may feel comfortable, but it also breeds complacency. Rooted in my silo, surrounded by the same subset of the community, my views can stagnate, my allegiances grow rigid. It's time once more to roam, to meet new people and learn from them.
Azalea may be legend now, but I am still living.
