Has Flesh and Blood TCG changed? or simply evolved?

Written by Liam Bosecke

  

  

Playing a half finished trading card game is an exciting experience. It was thrilling to speculate on how the game will change before the release of the set Monarch. The game was much more simple back then, despite it's apparent complexity, with the introduction of Arcane Damage in the set Arcane Rising. Heroes didn't have talents and all classes had relatively equal support across the board after the release of the supplementary set, Crucible of War

Within our own local meta especially, players used to complain about the card Flic Flak and how it was seen as a "broken" card, back when Ira was a dominant force in the competitive scene. But now, Ninja as class struggles to catch up to those that offer more than just pure vanilla on-hit damage.

   

Flic Flak
   
   
Classes like Runeblade, which deal split damage in the form of both physical and arcane, offer a 1:2 ratio in card trade-off when your opponent blocks. With a game the centers around card management, this much disparity can create an unbalanced meta game, which has been discussed at great length in previous articles. 
   

It feels like the game is progressing to the power level it was intended to be at.

  
The idea of having a true 'control' style deck has only recently come into full fruition, with the introduction of hero talents, such as Ice. Control style decks have been around long before talents were introduced however, with Bravo and Katsu control decks which utilize slowing the game down with strong life gain and defensive capabilities. But now that the game has evolved past vanilla heroes and cards, we have a much clearer picture of how the game was intended to be played by it's designers. 
  
  
Channel Lake Frigid
   
    
This isn't a complaint about the state of the game as it is. Despite some mistakes made along the way, Legend Story Studio's have managed to create a non-rotational game that is fun and diverse to play still to this day. Even during the NZ or Australian nationals, with Briar being the deck to beat, it wasn't highly represented at the finals of either event, even in it's non-errata'd form
  
The power level and speed of the game has certainly increased since before the release of Monarch. Even Blitz as a format, has become a two or three turn game, where before it would be a format that could run to time. But as Connor Archer states: 'It feels like the game is progressing to the power level it was intended to be at'. When we speak about power level however, we are generally referring to Classic Constructed and will rarely refer to Blitz.
   
   
  
Example of the Metagame represented at the Australian National Championship
  
  
The game has certainly changed since it's launch in 2019 and it won't be to everyone's taste. But it can't be denied that this is a game that rewards skill. Time and time again we have seen players that specialize in one hero place highly in competition, despite that hero seemingly lacking compared to whatever is considered broken at the time.
  
The release of Everfest is just around the corner and we are already seeing a lot of very interesting cards being spoiled that will bring some heroes back from the dead (Dash being one). How will the game change in the future? No one will know, but it won't be as drastic as the changes that have already happened with the introduction of game play mechanics.
  
Now that the game is technically 'finished', Legend Story Studio's need to make sure the game can continue to be balanced and not over represented by any one class. The idea that you can take your favorite hero, no matter who they are, to Nationals and win is an exciting prospect and is an idea that is almost unique to this game.
   
We would love to know your opinion, has the game changed? Or simply evolved? Reach out to us on twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
   
   
   
   
   
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