Flesh & Blood (card game)

The creator intended for the game to go against the trend of online CCGs by bringing players back to a table seated across from their opponent.[4]

The game has been described as a contender with Magic: the Gathering (Magic), where other CCGs have failed[5] and has captured the interest of high profile Magic players.[6]

Gameplay is between two players using 60 card decks and no card may have more than three copies. Rounds last 50 minutes and if no winner is declared, 3 extra turns occur to determine a winner or else the match winds in a draw.[7] The game introduces a new "resource system" to the CCG industry.[8] Players pit their Hero against their opponent's Hero, and a player's deck is built around their Hero. Other cards used include Weapons, Equipment and Generic (Multifarious).[9]

In a game of Flesh and Blood, each player chooses a Hero card. Hero cards have a Class and/or Talent, and all cards in a player's deck must either match the Hero's Class or Talent, or else be Generic cards available to all Heroes. Players also choose a Weapon (or two "one-hand" weapons) and other Equipment, which is revealed and starts the game in play. Players shuffle their decks and draw cards according to their Hero card's Intellect stat to form their starting hands. Each hero has a starting life total, and the object of the game is to reduce the opposing hero's life to zero through attacks. On their turn, a player may attack using cards in their hand, in a special zone called the Armory, or using abilities on cards already in play. Doing so consumes an action point, and players may gain more action points through various effects. After an attack, the opponent can defend, there is a reaction phase in which both players may use additional cards to try to alter the outcome of the combat, and then the attack is resolved. If the attack power exceeds the defense, the difference is dealt to the enemy hero's life total. A player may attack or play additional actions as long as they have action points. At the end of the turn, the player draws cards to match their hero's Intellect, and play passes to the opponent.[10]

Flesh and Blood's resource system allows many cards can be "pitched" to generate resource points, which are used to play other cards or activate abilities. This allows players to use their most powerful cards even early in the game, rather than gradually ramping up as in other TCGs. The lack of dedicated "energy" or "land" cards also reduces the randomness of each game, by preventing situations where a player draws too many or too few energy cards. At the end of each turn, pitched cards are returned to the bottom of a player's deck in an order chosen by the player, and the player draws cards to refill their hand.

Flesh and Blood supports two Constructed formats, with slightly different deckbuilding rules. In Classic Constructed, which is used for most high-level tournament play, each player chooses a Hero card and up to 80 additional cards. After the players reveal their chosen hero, players select the weapons, equipment, and at least 60 non-weapon non-equipment cards to serve as their deck. The 80 card limit allows players to balance between bringing more weapon and equipment options to start the game with, or to bring more cards of other types to modify their deck. Once both players have made these choices, they shuffle their decks, reveal their weapons and equipment, and draw starting hands. In Classic Constructed, players may not bring more than three copies of any unique card. Card uniqueness is defined by the card's name and pitch cost together - the same card may be printed with up to three different pitch costs, signified by a color bar (red, yellow, or blue) at the top of the card, players may bring three copies of each pitch cost version, for a total of nine copies, if they wish. Legendary cards are limited to one copy. All cards in a player's deck must share a Class or Talent with the Hero card, or be Generic cards. Classic Constructed is generally played with a 50 minute time limit, using a single-game match.

The Blitz format is a faster version of the constructed format. Blitz allows only a subset of hero cards, called Young Heroes. Players start with a deck of exactly 40 cards, and may not bring any additional cards to modify it. However, players are still permitted to bring up to 11 inventory cards (weapons and equipment) to choose from after seeing the opponent's chosen Hero. Decks are limited to two copies of each unique card, using the same rules as above. Games are generally played with a 30 minute time limit, and single-game matches.

Flesh and Blood also supports a multiplayer constructed format called Ultimate Pit Fight. It uses a hybrid version of the above deck construction rules, with 60 card decks, 20 card inventories, and with young heroes recommended. Players only attack the players seated directly to their sides, and only defend themselves. This format is not intended for tournament play.

There are two limited formats for Flesh and Blood, where players build a deck using cards obtained at the event. The main difference is how the players' registered deck is formed. In Sealed, players open six booster packs, and all cards in those packs become their card pool. In Draft, players choose cards one at a time from a booster pack, and then pass the remaining cards around the table to be drafted, continuing until 3 packs have been opened for each player at the table. In both cases, players only need to build their deck using cards from their limited pools. They may choose any number of Young Hero and Weapon cards from the set being used for the event, and a sufficient number of such cards will generally be provided by the tournament organizer. If deck registration is required, players must choose a hero at the time of deck construction and use that hero throughout the tournament, otherwise, players may change heroes between rounds. Players may use Equipment cards, but must have those cards in their card pool. There is no restriction on using multiple copies of the same card, except that Legendary cards are still limited to one copy. At each match, players reveal their hero, then choose weapons, equipment, and a deck of at least 30 cards. Due to the rules about cards matching the Hero's Class or Talent, players may occasionally not have enough cards to build a legal 30 card deck. In this case, players are permitted to add token cards named Cracked Bauble, which have no use except to be pitched to provide two resource points. Rounds are played with single game matches and a 30 minute time limit.

Tournaments are played using a number of rounds based on the total number of entrants, using the swiss pairings system. Tournaments may award prizes based on record, or may also include a Top 4 or Top 8 playoff. Sealed events generally use a Top 8 draft, other tournaments will use the same format for the swiss and playoff rounds. In the playoff rounds, draws are not possible, and if time controls are being used, an end of match procedure determines the winner of the match, using life totals and continuing play under sudden death rules if life totals are tied.

To mitigate the risk of bribery and match fixing, especially towards the end of a high-level tournament, Flesh and Blood tournament rules prohibit asking for a concession once a match has begun, and award no points for a draw. Players are permitted to concede, but will be dropped from the tournament unless a judge is called and finds a "genuine reason" for them to need to concede, such as feeling unwell or having no plausible way to win the game. Tournament rules also prohibit note-taking, largely due to the "pitch" mechanic, where cards are placed on the bottom of each player's deck in an order chosen by the player. Allowing players to track this order would be excessively time consuming.

Organized play is divided into four tiers of events.[11] Tier 1 Organized Play primarily consists of events hosted by local game stores, including Skirmish and Armory scheduled events, On-Demand events, and Play Anywhere, which can be organized by any player. These are Casual level tournaments, and generally do not require deck registration.

Tier 2 includes the main qualifier events. The Road to Nationals events qualify players for the annual Tier 3 Nationals tournament in their country, and the Pro Quest will qualify players to the Pro Tour.

Tier 3 includes two events. Nationals are run annually, and are generally invitation-only, with invitations extended to players who achieve a certain finish in a Road to Nationals or achieve a certain ratings level. Calling events are weekend-long convention type events, with a multi-day main event as well as side events in a variety of formats. Calling events were run in APAC only until late 2021, when easing travel restrictions allowed the events to be scheduled in other regions.

Tier 4 includes two invitation-only events, the twice-annual Pro Tour and the annual World Championship, both of which are scheduled for their inaugural event in 2022. Invitations will be awarded for achieving a certain finish at specific events, or by rating.

Flesh & Blood Official website