DMArmada's 2024 in Review

It's been a year of milestones in the world of the Flesh and Blood Trading Card Game. We’ve watched the fledgling TCG celebrate five years in a cutthroat industry and blossom into arguably the best competitive card game in the space. We’ve also witnessed the game expand its reach to new regions of the world, including Japan and parts of  South America, all while creating new entry points into the game via brand new product lines. Of course, navigating the uncertain seas of the TCG space comes with its fair share of turbulence, and FAB is no exception. So as we approach 2025, let’s take a moment to reminisce on the ups and downs, the good, the bad, and the absolutely epic storylines of 2024.

The year began with the hotly anticipated release of Heavy Hitters, a set that was touted by many as a return to form (a hearkening back if you will) to the old days of FAB. Brute, Guardian, and Warrior fans rejoiced as we all were thrust into the Deathmatch Arena to fight for gold and glory. The set gave us a perfect mix of old and new, with classic heroes such as Rhinar, Kassai, and Kayo doing battle with the likes of newcomers Betsy, Victor, and Olympia. Heavy Hitters arrived with the fanfare of the first ever Celebrational tournament won by none other than Brodie Spurlock, as well as a limited format Calling in Queenstown won by Darryn Ying on fan-favorite Kassai. Looking back on Heavy Hitters, I am still quite convinced that it sits atop the tier list as the best set that Legend Story Studios has released in their 5 year history. Yes, we may still not know what the payoff is for Olympia (unless it was gold all along), and we may never know what the name of Victor’s rider is (because Victor is clearly still the horse), but Heavy Hitters is cemented in my mind as the set that encompasses the complete package: solid sealed format, great draft experience, and heroes that had impact in Constructed formats without warping them to degeneracy. It set the stage perfectly for a dramatic first Pro Tour of the year.

Players spent the month of February battling it out for coveted Nationals invitations during the Road To Nationals tournament series, throughout which we enjoyed what will perhaps be known as the most healthy Classic Constructed meta we’ve ever experienced. After four weeks of heated competition, 13 different heroes earned double-digit wins with Dromai, Ash Artist being crowned queen of the season, narrowly edging out Kayo 37 wins to 35. Do you remember Dromai? She was a Draconic Illusionist that made dragons that COULDN’T be protected by the player. Crazy, right? But I digress… These results laid the groundwork for the storylines we’d explore at the looming Pro Tour in LA. And oh what a storyline we’d experience…

Dromai, Ash Artist [HER059] (Promo) Cold Foil

$50.00

Set: Promo Finish: Cold Foil Type: Hero Rarity: Promo Class: Illusionist Draconic Life: 40 Intellect: 4 Dromai, Ash Artist // Dromai Whenever you pitch a red card, create an Ash token. (A red card is a card with a red… read more

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Now, I could sit here and wax poetic about how many players were at the event and how many grueling rounds of competition they played over the course of 3 days… but let's be honest: the story of this event was forged in the finals. If I had to point someone to the best game of Flesh and Blood ever played, I'm pointing them to this game. It had everything: giant plays, tension, excitement, and (I'm just going to say it) the best top deck we have ever seen in any trading card game. At the end of it all, Arthur Trehet stood alone on the mountaintop as the Pro Tour champion with his hero of choice, Dromai, Ash Artist. It was pure theatrical perfection and the perfect way to end a competitive year… except it's only March.

With Dromai’s victory at Pro Tour LA, she sat on the precipice of living legend status. She would reach it during the subsequent ProQuest season; just in time for the hype to build for a new illusionist of a much more blue persuasion. Part the Mistveil was on the horizon and the game was expanding its reach across the globe. FAB was on its way to the Land of the Rising Sun, and no one could predict what would happen over the next few months. 

As players dove headfirst into testing with the brand new Mystic heroes, one of the three started turning heads almost immediately. Zen, Tamer of Purpose had arrived on to the scene and brought with him an ability that allowed players to search their deck for a combo card at the low cost of pitching a chi. This, alongside the combo card Bonds of Ancestry, created an absolute monster in the metagame. After its discovery, Bonds Zen terrorized the Nationals season, winning a total of 15 out of 45 National Championships. And even though Nuu, Alluring Desire acted as a serviceable disruptive foil to Zen's all-out aggression, his overwhelming power led to a first-of-its-kind restriction to Bonds of Ancestry, forcing its play to only the red copies. 

Nuu, Alluring Desire (Marvel) [MST001] (Part the Mistveil) Cold Foil

$232.70

Set: Part the Mistveil Finish: Cold Foil Type: Hero Rarity: Marvel Class: Assassin Life: 40 Intellect: 4 Your attacks with stealth get "When this chain link resolves, banish all action cards defending this." Instant — [3 - Chi]: Look at… read more

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This landmark banning created an air of uncertainty leading up to Pro Tour Amsterdam, which took place at the end of July. Interestingly enough, news of Zen's untimely passing seemed to have been greatly exaggerated as three out of the top eight players carved their way through the field using Zen in his new form. Bartosz Ziemba beat out the other Zens on one side of the bracket and awaited his opponent in the finals, and in a shocking turn of events found himself face to face with Japanese card shop owner and player Shoma Yamamura on Uzuri, Switchblade. Yamamura’s strategy in the game was cold, clinical, and effective as Uzuri dissected her opponent in less than 40 minutes. And with that, we watched as our first Japanese Pro Tour champion was crowned on a deck that almost no one expected.

Uzuri, Switchblade [HER077] (Promo) Cold Foil

$75.00

Set: Promo Finish: Cold Foil Type: Hero Rarity: Promo Class: Assassin Life: 40 Intellect: 4 Once per Turn Attack Reaction — Banish a card from your hand face down: Turn the card banished this way face up. If it's an… read more

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With The Pro Tour circuit completed for the year, the waves of the competitive scene finally began to calm. August gave way to September, Summer to Autumn, and players prepared themselves to once again walk the leaf strewn pathways of Aria in the final set of the year: Rosetta. But before We could sit down in Tampa Bay and crack open the brand new set, James White had one more groundbreaking announcement to make… on September 4th, the game changed forever with the banning of:

• Art of War

• Bonds of Ancestry

• Cash In

• Orihon of Mystic Tenets

• Tome of Aetherwind

• Tome of Divinity

• Tome of Fyendal

• Tome of Firebrand

The above list includes some of the more iconic cards in the game such as Tome of Fyendal and Art of War. With this change, Zen saw his second indirect nerf in his short lifespan, and Kano (a hero who was truly rising to the forefront of the meta pre-Rosetta) was cut down at the stump. Regardless of where one stood on the changes, all could agree: we were ready to see what Rosetta would bring to the table. After the inordinate power of Part the Mistveil, would Rosetta follow suit or fall short?

Thankfully, we found out rather quickly that we had another gem on our hands. Rosetta was considered by some (particularly by me) to be their favorite limited set in the history of the game. It had an easy to grasp premise with a surprising amount of depth. The heroes folded into the Constructed metagame smoothly without breaking it wide open. Aurora, Shooting Star quickly rose the ranks to be one of the best aggro decks in the format (and still is today) but had enough fragility that she didn’t feel like Zen in his prime. The metagame had well and truly recentered itself after the highest highs of Part the Mistveil, and a new picture began to form. Aggressive heroes such as Aurora, Viserai, and Dash I/O did their best to answer the unrelenting boardstate created by Enigma, and Nuu served as a disruptive response to the aggression. The metagame seemed to be fairly well solved by the time that the World Championship in Osaka rolled around… except for one thing: Is this new Rosetta card called Count Your Blessings ACTUALLY real?

Count Your Blessings (Blue) [ROS225] (Rosetta) Rainbow Foil

$1.20

Set: Rosetta Finish: Rainbow Foil Type: Instant Rarity: Rare Class: Generic Cost: 2 Gain X{g}, where X is 1 plus the number of Count Your Blessings in your graveyard. … read more

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Well, it turned out that 8th seed Gregorz Kowalski had the answer as he rolled his way through the Top 8 of the World Championship to win it all playing Count Your Blessings Enigma. Leveraging the immense life gain available to heroes who play 9 copies of the card, Gregorz expertly navigated his way through the unrelenting aggression from his opponents to be crowned World Champion. He also managed to secure the legend of the 8th Seed who wins it all at Worlds (it has now happened at each and every World Championship in the game’s history). Following his dominating performance, LSS issued a restriction to Count Your Blessings, forcing players to only play the red and yellow copies of the card. That restriction, along with a slew of other bannings in the various other formats once again paves the way for a brand new metagame to flourish in the place of the previous.

It also begs the question: what’s next for Flesh and Blood? We celebrated the game’s five year anniversary this year. MinMaxGames will host FAB’s first Living Legend Calling in a few weeks. The Hunted, Flesh and Blood’s next set is on the horizon, due out in 2025. Another “all-timer” set awaits us in the summer of 2025 (James White’s words, not mine). A mysterious social play format(?) called Smash Palace will debut at Gen Con next year. There’s a lot to look forward to in 2025, but let’s not forget all the amazing events that took place this year. 2024 has certainly been one for the history books!


Except they still didn’t release a pirate hero.