Thoughts and Baubles: Running Down the Roster in Rosetta's Meta

As Rosetta makes its debut, I find myself in an unusual spot. Runeblade and Wizard are perhaps the two classes I have the least expertise in, and so I face this new release with fresh eyes, unable to draw from prior experience to inform my opinion. While I'm eager to learn Verdance and tentatively excited for both Florian and Oscilio, I'm ill-suited to contribute to the hype of Rosetta's release.

But concurrent with Rosetta, Flesh and Blood's meta is undergoing a shake-up. Not only do we have 4 new arcane heroes to factor into our sideboarding, we also have the recent removal of a large swath of impactful cards - most notably Art of War - and the taming of Zen, the sun around which the entire competitive landscape revolved.

In that light, we're in a fairly wide open format at the moment, and it's an exciting time to reconsider everyone. And it's in that spirit that this article is written: taking stock of the full FAB hero roster, not in a tier list, but with an eye toward their current state and what there is to get excited about for them.

During the Mistveil meta, Zen held the spotlight - but in his shadow, Nuu (and Uzuri) found success as his foil. Designed as disruptors, can Assassins ever truly hold the top tier for long?

Nuu's Codex of Frailty managed to avoid the book burnings of the latest B&R, but that doesn't mean her position is secure. Heavily reliant on her equipment suite, Nuu will struggle to adapt to an arcane landscape without any Arcane Barrier built into her kit. Rosetta provides her with class-specific Arcane Barrier via the Widow set, but each one equipped reduces her on-hand attack reactions.

Nuu was benefiting from a meta that had to prepare for Zen's wide turns. Had Zen alone been nerfed, she might have found a new aggro deck at the top of the meta to prey on. But with card draw in general seeing a cooling, decks are free to use sideboard slots to round out their matchups in general, rather than hyper-focusing on the tyrant. Disruption decks have a harder time as the tournament landscape expands, and opponents may even have space in their sideboards to counter her specifically now. 

All of this attention spells uncertainty for Nuu. She's versatile to find a path forward - especially if the meta remains narrow - but the more things change the harder it is to make the targeted kills Assassins specialize in.

Uzuri was the breakout hero at Pro Tour: Amsterdam, but Shoma Yamamura didn't mince words when it came to his feelings about Wizards: "I don't want to see Kano." While Uzuri found good matchups into both Zen and Nuu, the fresh wave of arcane heroes could prove problematic. That said, Uzuri is less reliant on specific equipment than Nuu - for her, it's the cost to actually pitch to arcane barrier that makes the Widow set a liability.

Arakni continues to exist a distant third among CC Assassins. But there's reason to hope for his active fatigue style to play a role in this meta. Earth builds will be looking to feed their banished zones, but while Arakni will initially help them reach their quotas, in time the tables will turn and they'll only be hastening Arakni's gameplan along.

Sometimes it's better to simply deal damage. The Brutes are looking at the state of the game and seeing a field that can't rival their aggression - after all, they kept their Draw 2 Go Again in the form of Bloodrush Bellow...

It's a TCG truth that in early metas, the aggro decks tend to succeed - and you can't get much more aggro than Kayo. The meta tyrant before Mistveil, there was literally nothing wrong with Kayo to drive him from the top; Zen simply did aggro a little bit better. With Zen brought back in line, Kayo stands ready to resume his run to Living Legend.

But that doesn't mean he'll be unopposed. While it's hard to beat the value present in a Kayo deck, something must be said for trickier gameplay like what we saw in Mistveil. A rise in Enigma could be more difficult for Brutes than the phantasm-heavy Illusionists of the past. Additionally, Rosetta could revive the Runeblade days of yore - an era that wasn't kind to Brutes.

Despite their similarities, the divide between Kayo and Rhinar has only grown as the latter trends toward a more all-rounder posture. Rhinar is the deck that can block out and still keep pressure on. He's also becoming more tricky with age: the Rhinar of today is trying to strip your hand with Intimidate, then punish you for it. Is that a viable strategy? In Blitz, it certainly was, but in CC it feels like the consistency just isn't there. Rhinar is just a little too fair.

The biggest thing Levia has going right now is what everyone else has lost: card draw. Again, Brute's Bloodrush Bellow is now an incredibly powerful outlier. While she's feeling the loss of Art of War, Levia long ago moved beyond her dependence on it to provide an out for her Blood Debt.

The heroes of Rosetta are nothing new for Levia: she debuted alongside a Runeblade, and has the tools to manage arcane damage. And with each new card, she's been able to shed her worst liabilities; the deck simply has a higher quality of card these days. The loyalists have put in work, and I'd be entirely unsurprised to see a Levia take a major event this fall.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times - but overall, it's just business as usual for Guardians, who wait longingly for the Guardian Mastery expansion.

In Blitz, Terra has added excitement by bringing back the Elemental Guardian card pool; alongside an influx of new Earth cards, this 1st Striker is likely to make a name for himself among young heroes.

But in CC, there's only one Guardian who even noticed Rosetta's release.

Betsy is finally having a moment. Drink 'Em Under the Table is the sort of card you can build a deck around, and when you add in Bet Big, there's finally a unique reason to build a Guardian deck for Betsy in particular.

That said, this is still an unfavorable meta for a Guardian, whose blue-heavy pitch curve is a liability into Nuu and whose dense equipment offers no protection against arcane damage. If Betsy finds a path forward, it's going to be because of her uniquely aggressive posture, which stands in contrast to Bravo's balanced approach and Victor's decidedly defensive stance.

I've got to imagine there are Victor players out there ready to toss Ten Foot Tall and Bulletproof into their deck because why not? That's a hell of a way to win a clash!

Victor is a gatekeeper to the format, ensuring that decks don't sleep on the possibility an opponent simply blocks them out. Compared to decks with dedicated defense reactions, Victor is a relatively flexible fatigue deck that can pivot for a Wizard matchup without dead cards.

There's also new possibility in Count Your Blessings builds, which can stretch out a fatigue strategy with absurd life gain over the course of a game. Victor's fatigue strategy comes packaged with aggressive closers when it's time to pivot - The Golden Son is unrivaled in its endgame potential - making the deck's win condition more than just "outlast 'em".

Ever since Victor stole his thunder and Mistveil forced him underground, Bravo has been in a bad spot. Rosetta shows no signs of changing that, offering nothing of note for the decklist and ushering in a new era of arcane heroes who aren't impressed by the Guardians' dense armor or blocking capabilities.

But don't despair! The Guardian Mastery set is just on the horizon, which is sure to give Bravo a shot in the arm.

While we may only have 2 heroes to consider, there's never been greater diversity among Illusionists - and it would seem their moment has come once again.

Despite the significant loss of Tome of Divinity, Prism is in a good spot. The Prism faithful have put a ton of work into refining her list, while the fall of Zen has made her allies that much safer. Rosetta gifted Illusionists with a host of in-class arcane defenses, giving more synergy when Prism's forced off her primary equipment.

Because of her focus on heralds, Prism can engage opponents on a value axis, dealing more damage with her attacks to gain momentum across turn cycles. If she can avoid poppers (which, these days, have to be 7s to consistently pop her attacks), her 2- and 3-card hands can output superior damage.

With Zen nerfed and Nuu losing relevance, Enigma is finally getting her moment of recognition. Her wide boards of fragile wards would have remained easy pickings if not for LSS' more comprehensive approach to controlling card draw. Instead, Enigma is positioned well to build a board and defend it.

But while Ward on the Board would have probably been sufficient to justify playing her, Enigma's also capable of an entirely separate strategy. Reality Refractor offers a different path, built around a steady tempo of large weapon swings. This Bravo-like build offers a way to play Enigma that doesn't flounder in the face of unpreventable damage.

Mechanologists have long been overlooked - which has only been exacerbated by the class' lack of set presence outside their debut in Arcane Rising and their completely silo'ed set Bright Lights.  But between a leading position on the Living Legend leaderboard, a surging threat in Dash I/O, and the steady development of Maxx, they're about to force the player base to take notice.

While we've still got a month before Dash I/O goes turbo with her own Armory Deck, among aggro decks everything has already changed. Dash I/O may just be the best wide aggro deck in the game now. While Dash was making use of the now-banned Tome of Fyendal, being free of it may ultimately improve her consistency, as it was often the only miss for her boost effects but players felt compelled to use it anyway. The sheer quantity of 0-for-4s in this deck make it hard to withstand a sustained barrage; and Boom Grenades off the top of the deck can make any hit bigger than expected.

Whether Teklovossen can find success in this meta or not is going to depend on the tempo everyone wants to play at. If we're gearing up for a slower Earth era, Teklo will have an easier time getting to his late game, where the Mechnopotent is unrivaled in power. But if Lightning takes the lead, it may be hard for Teklo to block out enough to get there.

But there's reason for optimism. As I've noted several times already, the outer bounds of aggro have been pulled in, and Teklo already had some impressive armor blocks to get him through the wider turns. More significantly, his prior vulnerability to arcane damage has been patched up with the new expansion slot card, Adaptive Dissolver - which, most significantly, is a base for EVO purposes.

The Hype around Maxx is a deferred excitement for Supercell. I may personally be a fan of Nitro Mechanoid in Dash I/O, but the truth is it's better suited to Maxx at the moment, and Supercell unlocked some mad potential there - only it's been hard to explore it in a Zen format. When you add in Maximum Velocity and High Octane, the number of pop-off turns Maxx is capable of seeing is staggering.

If the Enigma meta comes to pass, decks like Maxx will be better suited to contend with wide wards than most. And if the landscape around Enigma is varied, boost decks are flexible aggro by definition - boost gets around the typical defensive penalty associated with go again - so Maxx can pivot to blocking where necessary.

I'll make this brief, like the expected duration of Dash's remaining CC career: throughout all metas, Dash has found a build that can get there. Her flexibility has remained her greatest asset.

Right now, Dash is the only Classic Constructed hero who could cross the Living Legend threshhold in a single large event; and while we don't have a Pro Tour or a World Championship in the near future, her standing far beyond the reach of the next-highest ranked hero is significant. We are looking at her last ride.

If you've ever wondered what it would look like for LSS to take an entire class back to the drawing board, take a look at the state of Ninja right now...

If you thought you had Zen figured out, the recent Banned and Restricted announcement turned that page decisively. Nothing is certain anymore, except that Zen will never be what he once was. Ultimately, most will agree that's for the best, but it's gotta be hard to be a Zen stan right now.

Almost certainly there are paths forward, but you've got to ask why you're playing Zen now. He's almost certainly still the best Ninja, but he's also been a target of hate for three months now. Players have refined their plans into you, and you're only worse now. Maybe they'll pivot off their counters, but that's hoping they'll disarm themselves enough to meet you at your new power level. 

It's been a good run, let him rest.

Everyone says Fai is completely irrelevant compared to Zen; but if Zen is essentially irrelevant for the moment himself, are we really comparing? Fai is fun, and he's the only Draconic hero in Classic Constructed. If you want to play him, don't feel bad about it. Any Ninja is a casual hero right now, Fai's just as valid as the rest of them!

Katsu lost more than Zen with the ban of Bonds of Ancestry. Functionally, with it went Dishonor. Gustwave of the Second Wind only shows that they intend to rebuild his combo lines; but for the moment, Katsu's reverted to his pre-Outsiders options. There are other combo lines to follow, but it's hard to stomach losing the most powerful one.

Between Riptide and Azalea, I'd be hard pressed to say who you should fear most. No matter how the Rosetta meta shapes up, it seems like Ranger has a major role to play.

It's hard to believe the bloated barnacle boi is a top tier threat these days, but every step has skewed in his favor. We're at a point where everyone seems to be uniquely disrupted by something Riptide does, and if you've never taken a hard loss to him you're unlikely to even see it coming. It feels like you're doing okay until you suddenly realize he's got you no matter how you play things out.

It's possible that Riptide finds Rosetta's heroes difficult, especially those with heavily arcane focuses. His defense reactions - often too many to side out entirely - will find limited application against Wizards. That may not be enough to count him out, however; Riptide is capable of surprising aggression when built right, so I'd expect to see him simply reconfigured toward aggression for a Wizard-heavy meta.

It's always advised to take my excitement for Azalea with a grain of salt, but this truly is a good opportunity for her. With so many decks looking to do their own thing, disruption can be extremely significant. While she already had the tools to deal with aggro decks in the form of Red in the Ledger and Immobilizing Shot - indeed, it's my belief that Azalea could have eventually found a path forward in the Zen meta - she's certainly not complaining that many of her foes have lost their card draw while she's retained hers.

I have to shout out the benefits of Sandscour Greatbow in this particular moment. Lightning heroes can't do anything with their extra actions while Red in the Ledger is on loop; Earth heroes will struggle to fully benefit from Embodiment tokens in the face of your tall dominated arrows; and with so many predicting Enigma's rise, we're glad to have Murkmire Grapnel readily on hand.

Runeblades are back - not to the forefront of the meta, mind you, but to respectable viability in a diverse meta that can't afford to target them uniquely. Historically, Chane reigned without equal, and then Briar dominated the competitive scene; but since that time, Runeblades found themselves spinning their wheels. It's time for a comeback.

Excitement is high for Florian, which will drive the refinement of his deck. Keep an eye on what the community is doing, or you'll find your build behind the curve!

Towards the end of her career, Briar began to develop a more durable, heavy-hitting gameplan. From early appearances, Florian seems to be picking up that mantle. Perhaps the biggest incidental advantage Florian possesses is the relative ease with which he can block out 4s, the bread and butter of aggro decks. Comfortable blocking while setting up for an overwhelming late game, Florian is just as happy to make incremental gains across several turn cycles, extracting growing value over time.

Rosetta's second Runeblade specializes in Lightning, and the difference is exactly what you'd expect: Aurora is here to race. The newest in the perennial archetype of go-wide aggro, Aurora's Lightning access gives her additional resilience when facing Spectra, as she can generate action points beyond relying on go again.

She's also well equipped to chain together attacks without go again - opening new possibilities for 2-wide turns that go much taller than expected. While the initial inclination of the player base will be to treat Aurora as a cheerios deck, there's interesting potential in the higher-cost cardpool found in her Runeblade heritage.

Word on the street is, Vynnset has finally arrived. Her inherent unpreventable damage is well prepared for Enigma, but she's also gained aura destruction from Rosetta's Runeblade card pool. On the other end of the meta spectrum, lowering of the aggro ceiling gives her what she's always needed: more time.

Across the new Runeblade cards, there's a theme of gaining bonuses 'if you've created an aura this turn'. Vynnset begins every turn by creating an aura, making this a zero-cost prerequisite. New additions like Face Purgatory, Snuff Out, and Succumb to Temptation add new layers of disruption to her gameplan and counterbalance her own short-handed gameplay. 

There's also Viserai.

Yes, he has new tools. Yes, he's got a fresh opportunity to find his niche. Yes, he can stack Runechants and One-Turn Kill like no one else, and that is a strategy in Flesh and Blood.

He's also probably the Runeblade with the lowest prospects of any here. Every other Runeblade has a + attached to their card pool, and those 2nd lanes make a big difference in their potential.

None of this is to say you can't succeed with Viserai - and he has the fandom that will find a way. But while Vis is stacking Runechants and avoiding making any attacks, Enigma is building a board full of auras that are also attacking you... it's hard out there for an edgelord.

While Warriors are not in a bad spot on the whole, they're not in a particularly strong spot either. If you're a strong Warrior player, you can out-perform the expectations; if you're just looking for something well-positioned, Warrior's probably not it. But that doesn't mean there's nothing going on in the class.

Dorinthea is probably still the best bet among Warriors (the rest of whom lost key cards with the book banning), and like everyone else in the class, she's happy to add Unsheathed as a strong 3-of. That said, it doesn't change anything about what you're doing in this deck, which pretty well leaves Dori behind as the meta moves forward.

This feels like an environment where you can get a lot of value out of Valiant Dynamo, so I'd definitely look at dual wielding over Dawnblade. But a lack of disruption in her kit feels like a non-starter with so many decks playing combos - and as Dori tries to stretch the game a little longer, she runs the risk of feeding into the late game value Earth hopes to extract.

Kassai took a hard hit when she lost Cash In, which saw more frequent play as a payoff card than Raise an Army. That leaves her much too dependent on Copper and Blood on Her Hands; indisputably, that's a big power turn, but getting there can be difficult.

Kassai is looking to extract value across a longer game, but like Dorinthea, going too long can shift the power to the other side of the table. The Warrior Fridge is as dense as ever, but won't help in an arcane meta. All told, it's just not her moment. Unsheathed can only do so much.

Olympia also misses the power of Cash In - but perhaps he can focus on Visit the Golden Anvil? Is that lemon worth the squeeze?

At this point, it's hard enough to justify a Warrior, let alone the niche, directionless Olympia. What's been said about Dorinthea and Kassai is largely true here too: that Olympia can play well into the late game with consistency. There's probably a legitimate fatigue Warrior deck for Olympia, if you look for it. But I do have to ask why you're not just sleeving up Dorinthea for essentially the same core gameplay with added power spikes.

I'd just started learning Solar Plexus Boltyn when Art of War - the power turn the whole deck is built around - took the ban hammer right over the head. What a catastrophe! So I guess we're back to Lumina Ascension...

Of all the consistent Warrior decks, his has the biggest power turn - but anyone who can withstand the Lumina Boomina will find Boltyn all out of gas on the other side. 6 attacks is great for overcoming defenses, but it's not enough into life gain, and Rosetta offers that in spades.

I took this list in alphabetical order by class, but it seems fitting to end with Wizards, who represent the biggest wildcard factor of the entire meta. After an eternity of Kano's narrow design - offset only by a brief ice age courtesy of Iyslander - the design space for Wizard is finally opening up, and what that looks like in the end is anyone's guess.

First, what we do know: Kano is back. A deck that rewards dedication, combo Kano looked like it might backslide with the significant rework required by the loss of tomes. But the community found a revised path forward, and in the process it seems Kano gained more strategic flexibility as well. This is no longer the rogue deck that can spike a tournament when arcane damage gets disrespected; Kano must now be considered for every competitive event.

The decks at the top of the speculative format reside there with full awareness of Kano. That said, he's never to be counted out; just because Enigma and Kayo and Dash and Florian are respecting him, doesn't mean they've got consistent gameplans into him. I wouldn't count out Kano becoming the true top deck of the format.

Kano isn't for everyone, and Rosetta has reopened the Wizard class to those of us who don't like winning via long-form math. Oscilio adds Lightning to the mix, allowing for wide turns that amp up the arcane finisher. His power offsets the disadvantage of Instants - which may have limited application and never block - while providing card cycling.

Early reports on Oscilio point to a complex hero who will take time to really solve, but there are sparks of brilliance when things come together. Many heroes are investments when they debut, but Oscilio more than most; I'd be surprised to see big things out of him before the next set release. That said, unknown decks can often exploit holes left in the meta when people aren't planning for them.

Life gain has occupied a narrow space in FAB thus far - incidental +1s and the odd Sigil of Solace constitute the majority of its use. Verdance looks to completely upend that, using life gain as a cushion that allows her the time to either assemble a combo or slowly burn you out. It's a gameplan that requires a timeline, and thus has to actively and aggressively counteract fast decks like Aurora and Kayo.

Games against Verdance will either end quickly - in her opponent's favor - or go very long - with Verdance steadily showing her inevitability. But what happens when an opponent is also playing a late game strategy? That's the question Verdance needs to answer. Can she consistently overwhelm other late-game decks? Will her arcane damage be evasive enough? Will Felling of the Crown and Plow Under provide the heavy damage she needs to close?

When I set out to do this article, I thought it'd provide a nice snapshot of each of the components of this fresh Rosetta meta. I did not properly assess the scale of this undertaking. Over the course of an entire week, I tried to get a pulse for each of these heroes - and I know I didn't do them all justice! The game has never been so wide open - truly, there is a place and a path for every type of player to find their niche.

Which is what Flesh and Blood has always been about. It's dangerous for a game to attempt to be everything for everyone, but if you begin with the premise that 'this is a competitive expression of creativity and skill', there's a lot of room to work with while still being true to the core promise. FAB is taking full advantage of that, and it's a hell of a lot of fun to watch - and compete in - that flourishing environment.