Flesh & Blood is an epic Fantasy TCG that has exploded in recent years, amassing a massive following and bringing a fresh new game to the community! The game primarily involves taking on the role of an epic Hero and working to defeat your opponent's Hero through the use of offensive and defensive manoeuvres! The game has a unique set of mechanics that sets it apart from other TCGs and can be a little difficult to learn for those who are only familiar with Pokemon or MTG. Check out our quick overview of how to play below!
Heroes
Each game starts with your Hero and Weapon in play. Each hero has a number of Life Points and Intellect. Life Points represent how tough your Hero is and the main objective is to reduce the Life Points of your opponent's Hero before they reduce yours. Intellect determines how many cards you start with in your hand at the beginning of the game. As well as their Life Points and Intellect, each hero will also have a special ability or set of abilities called Hero Effects.
Zones
The field of play in Flesh & Blood is divided into zones! Each of these zones has a specific purpose!
Hero This is where you place your Hero!! Every deck in Flesh & Blood is based around an epic Hero with their character class, strengths, and weaknesses! There are over 30 heroes to choose from, so choose wisely!
Weapon Weapons can be used throughout the game as they return to their zones (to use again in a future turn), after being played.
Equipment Like Weapons, Equipment returns to its zones after combat.
Arsenal Below your Hero is a zone called the Arsenal. In this space, you can store a card for future use face down. At the end of your turn, before you draw, you can place 1 card face down as long the Arsenal is empty. The only way to utilise cards in the Arsenal is to play them (think casting in MTG), and can't use them to pitch costs or defend (more on this later).
Deck In Classic Constructed you can have up to 80 cards in your deck and up to 3 copies of unique cards. (A card is unique if it has a different card name or pitch value from any other card). You draw cards from your deck like in other TCGs.
Pitch The Pitch Zone is used to place cards that are used to pay costs. At the end of your turn, any cards in your Pitch Zone are placed on the bottom of your deck in any order.
Graveyard The Graveyard functions similarly to other TCGs and is where cards are placed once they have been played.
Banished The Banished zone is very similar to the Graveyard, but functions differently with different card effects.
Turn Order
As the main focus of the game is to reduce your opponent's Hero's life points to zero, you will find yourself attacking them! Combat is where most of the action of Flesh & Blood takes place!
Attacks have 2 main criteria that you must follow:
- 1) You can only use one action per turn (except if the action has Go Again
- 2) You must pay the resource cost of the action by pitching cards face up in your Pitch zone.
Pitching Cards When you play an action, you must pay the resource cost of that card by Pitching cards in the Pitch zone. The resource cost of an action is displayed in the top right corner of cards, and next to the action on cards like Weapons. The pitch value is displayed in the top left of the card and is also represented by its colour. Blue cards pitch for 3, Yellow pitch for 2 and Red pitches for 1. Pitching a card adds its pitch value to your pool, which is then used to pay a cost. At the end of your turn, before you draw, the cards in the Pitch zone are returned to the bottom of your deck in an order of your choosing.
Attack and Defence Each attack has an Attack Value that can be found next to the yellow spear symbol in the bottom left corner of the card. Likewise, each card also has a Defence Value that is displayed in the bottom right.
Chain Links Chain Links are the basic order of Combat and start when a player makes an attack action.
- Attack Step The attacking hero plays an attack (paying its cost, as described above) and places it at the start of the chain.
- Defending Window The defending player can now respond by revealing a card from their hand to defend. When you defend this way, you don't need to pay the resource cost.
- Reaction Window After the defending player has decided to defend (or not), it's time for the reaction window. The attacker has the first opportunity to use as many Attack Reactions as they wish. Once they’re done using Attack Reactions, the defending player can use any number of Defense Reactions, adding their Defense Value and resolving any abilities on them.
- Damage Calculation After the reactions have been decided, the total Attack Value of the attacker and the Total Defence value of the defender are compared. If the Attack Value is greater than the Defence Value, then the defender reduces the life points of their Hero by the difference. If damage is dealt this way, then the attack is considered a hit.
Go Again If a card has go again, you can play another action after you have resolved the current chain link. The first attack in a turn is known as Chain Link 1, the second as Chain Link 2 and so on.
End of Turn Unlike most TCGs, the draw phase in FAB is at the end of the turn. When ending your turn, you draw until you have cards in your hand equal to your Intellect value. This means that it is most often a good strategy to use as many cards from your hand as possible before the end of your turn.
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