2024 was a watershed year in the history of Flesh and Blood. By all accounts, the game is growing thanks in part to the groundwork LSS has laid in onboarding new players. 2024 saw regional expansion to Japan and South America alongside 1st Strike and Armory decks aimed at lowering the barrier to entry into FAB. And it worked. The player base is growing, singles sales are through the roof, and more new players are searching out resources than ever before. Taking into account this strong showing, LSS has a new challenge ahead of them in 2025: how do they keep and engage the new players that they’ve earned in 2024? Their answer may be right in front of them, or to put it more clearly, right behind them.
Flesh and Blood rang in its 5 year anniversary with pomp and circumstance in Osaka last October, celebrating the occasion with the 3rd annual World Championship. And after crowning our newest world champion, Grzegorz Kowalski, FaB shifted its focus to its ancillary formats. Skirmish Season 10 allowed the community to revisit the Blitz, Living Legend, and Rosetta sealed formats, Battle Hardened Portland put the Commoner format on display, and history was made as MinMax Games hosted the first ever Living Legend Calling event. Reviving these formats towards the end of the year as the competitive season wound down was a brilliant move by LSS. Blitz, Living Legend, and Commoner acted as a palate cleanser after a year's worth of grinding Classic Constructed culminated in the World Championship.
As the community dove back into these formats, we also discovered how fun and engaging they currently are. Blitz is still powerful but much more comfortably balanced after Zen and Data Doll received nerfs. Living Legend is a bit top heavy again with Starvo leading the pack, but in a far better place than a few months prior when Verdance terrorized Battle Hardened Atlanta. And while Commoner has a quartet of top tier heroes in Oldhim, Ira, Iyslander, and Chane, there is enough space for other heroes to carve out territory in the format.
The fact that these secondary formats are unique and engaging is a testament to the work that LSS has put into the care and balance of the game. We have reached a point where, no matter how you engage in the game of Flesh and Blood, you can have a fun and meaningful experience when you sit down to the table. Herein lies a potential answer to the question of new player engagement: year-round support of ancillary formats.
By featuring these formats more often throughout the year, it allows the community (both new and experienced) to engage with the game as they most enjoy it. For new players who may have recently joined the community via the 1st Strike Blitz decks, a commoner format ProQuest+ might be just the thing to encourage them into further competitive play. Couple that with the low cost to entry and almost anyone could be convinced to slap a few decks together and join the fray. The same thing can now be said for the LL format, thanks to pre-constructed Armory decks. Yes, they are intended for use in the CC format, but what’s to stop a player from picking up an Armory deck and entering it into a LL side event at a major tournament? Heck, why not run a special format tournament where players can only enter Armory decks? Will it be a hit? Who knows. Does it have the capacity to let new players feel comfortable and continue playing what is, quite clearly, a highly competitive and skill-based game? Absolutely. The more formats are available, the more chances new players have to stick with the beautiful and difficult game that is Flesh and Blood. So the question is: when will players be able to experience these formats next?
As it stands, skirmish season 11 is set to begin in March and although formats have not been announced, we can assume that Living Legend, Blitz, and Hunted sealed deck formats will all be available for stores to choose from. Outside of that however, the only opportunity to engage in the Blitz format at any competitive level would be the ProQuest+ Sunday event at the Battle Hardened Barcelona. Similarly, the only scheduled Living Legend format tournament takes place at the Battle Hardened of World Tour London in April. Of course, there are always side events running concurrently with major weekend tournaments. This is a fantastic way to feature formats like Blitz, Commoner, and Living Legend while maintaining the Classic Constructed-first mindset.
Keep in mind, these are also formats that can and should be propped up by local Armory events. Local stores that run consistent, weekly, rotating format events are MUCH more likely to see player growth than stores who simply slap CC on the table each week. Now keep in mind that all I have is anecdotal evidence to support this theory, but I’m seeing it work in my city right now. If every format in FAB is fun, unique, and engaging (I’d argue that they all currently are), then rotating through them let’s all players experience them and allows new members of the community top come in on a week where they feel that they have a shot to compete without feeling embarrassed by their lack of a collection.
While I believe that creating and supporting these secondary formats is a net positive for the game, I acknowledge that there is a glaring issue perhaps preventing these events from successfully firing. Flesh and blood has created for itself a competitive-first aura that its community has well and fully embraced at this point. At the core of this is the belief that the classic constructed format is not just the best format for competitive play, but THE way to experience the "purest” form of Flesh and Blood. If the community at large sees these side formats as “non-competitive”, then they're less likely to show up and engage in tournaments running those formats. LSS then sees the lower turnout for these types of events, and in the future schedules them as classic constructed tournaments. This further reinforces the stigma that classic constructed is the only format to truly represent the flesh and blood experience.
So how does LSS shift away from this cell repeating cycle? Can you run these side format tournaments in a way that still props up attendance for the tournament organizers and the community? The potential answer that has me by far the most excited is the team format. This is something LSS has done here and there in the past, and I for one would love to see them fully embrace in 2025. MinMax Games just announced that their Battle Hardened Wisconsin will be team Classic Constructed, so why not keep that momentum? If you're worried about attendance at a Blitz format Battle Hardened, why not make it a team Battle Hardened? Put up some exciting promos and other prizes that each member of the team receives if they make the Top 8, and watch players flock to it. Having participated in a number of team format Flesh and blood tournaments, I for one would jump at the chance to play in multiple team format events throughout a weekend.
This goes a long way in changing FAB’s competitive perception as well. Imagine telling a new player that they can team up with their friends, bounce ideas and strategies off of each other in real time, and possibly win some sweet prizes. That proposition carries with it far less stress than the prospects of entering a Classic Constructed tournament as a new player with a small collection. Team events also allow new players a chance to “ease into” a format with their friends. Never played Living Legend? Let's do it together. Have you played Rosetta sealed before? Let's join the team event on Sunday and give it a shot.
Let's be frank: supporting secondary formats and engaging new players are incredibly nuanced and complicated issues. After building the player base in 2024, LSS doesn't have the luxury of shying away from the challenge. The new players are here and LSS's actions in part will determine how long they stay. I'd love to see them announce a slew of secondary format tournaments with novel hooks and fun prizes to try and drive both new and established players into the unexplored spaces that Flesh and Blood still harbors. Whether they do or not will not make or break the game, and I am confident in their direction over the past few years. I believe that FAB will continue to grow in 2025 and LSS has a unique opportunity to foster that growth via support for the novel and exciting formats not named Classic Constructed.
And hey, if I don't get my #1 wish this year, maybe I can get my #2…
