So, when I first heard about this game via Team Covenant on their podcast and YouTube channel, I didn’t pay much attention. After all, it’s a trading card game (TCG) and I had no intentions of ever getting into that trap again after my experiences with Yu-Gi-Oh / Vs System / Raw Deal. Boy was I wrong.
I saw the starter decks being sold on pre order via the
Bearded Card Trader and I figured, I’d give the starter decks a punt, three of
the four ( I don’t know why) and then waited for my pre order to arrive. In the
meantime, I saw more F&B content being posted onto the Covenant YouTube
channel and heard more and more via their podcast too. So, when I saw the
latest Blitz decks being available for pre order on Zatu Games, I opted to also
pick them up too…… you see where this is going.
Anyway, the original starters arrived, and I opted to
keep them sealed until I would actually get to play them. However, the same
cant be said for the Blitz decks. Although at first I saw the prices of F&B
sky rocketing online, so a part of me thought “I might just hold off and resell
for some money”… which lasted all of 2 hours. I opened the Levia and Chane
Blitz decks first, because as you may already know, I’m much more aligned with
the bad guy side of things in… well… everything.
I stared at the cards for hours, with no clue what they
meant, did or how they would be used in the game. From there I ventured into
more online content of the game to learn how to play. I watched a few of
Covenant’s live plays, a few “Learn to Play” videos and some deck build tips
videos.
The game itself seems and on paper reads, very
complicated. Between layers, combat chains and keywords such as Boost, the game
screams complex. However, when you just watch the game being played, its not
that complicated. You take the LCG Marvel Champions cost system to play cards,
mix it up with a UFS style of combat, throw in a sprinkle of Warhammer 40K
Conquest and you get a game which brings a lot of depth!
With only one action point per turn and only four cards
in hand (most of the time), you must think about each move, not just their
costs, but also the follow up from that as well. As the opponent, you need to
select which cards you are willing to bin to defend your health, as when it
gets to your turn, you will only have left, what you had left at the end of the
attackers turn. Should you bin your whole hand, your turn can be a massive
waste.
There is the “arsenal” slot too, which you can use to
keep that key card for later or put your opponent on edge, not knowing quite
what potential massive hitter you’ve just put in a key position on your board.
This all brings a wonderful level of interaction between
the players, something I’ve felt is missing from the main TCG I’ve played over
the years, Yu-Gi-Oh. Where you just sit there and wait for the end in what will
most likely be a One Turn Kill (OTK) or First Turn Kill (FTK) situation. A most
depressing thought when sitting down to play.
My friend Stu and I sat to play the Levia and Prism Blitz
decks off against each other. Although it took over an hour to play this
15-20-minute game, you can understand why when you have two people that have no
real clue what they are doing. Yet, at the end of the game, it was really close,
and I couldn’t think about anything else, but playing again. Now I’ve not felt
that way about any competitive game since Warhammer 40K Conquest.
I toddled off and bought a sealed box of the Arcane
Rising booster set from eBay. Once it came, I had this mad idea of keeping it sealed,
using the Blitz decks to get my mates into the game and then suggesting a sealed
or draft event with the box. Boy, that lasted a week I think, then I opened the
boosters. I also bought an additional 18 booster packs and pre ordered 12
Monarch booster packs too. I’ve also spent an unfathomable amount on single cards
via eBay and Tecklo Cards.
What did that leave me with you may ask? Well I have opted
to only go with Blitz decks now due to the lack of playsets in my possession. So
I have built Dash, the Mechanologist hero first. Essentially, I love her
artwork, she looks like a mix of an Al Bhed from Final Fantasy X and one of
those Steampunk people. Also reading how the Mechanologist cards operate, I really
liked the idea of this fast furious assault which can take place should all the
cards come together in the right way. The Boost keyword makes this possible, by
banishing the top card of your deck and (fingers crossed) revealing another
Mechanologist card, the card your playing gets Go Again, a critical piece of
the puzzle. Go Again essentially means you get another action this turn.
Her ability to grab a cost 2 or lower item from your deck
to start the game with is phenomenal and gives this flurry an initial boost
(pardon the pun). Playing Dash you get this feeling of flying an X-Wing down
the Deathstar trench, that fast break-neck assault where should you put a foot
out of place, it will all fall apart quickly. I love it. Its so different to
anything I’ve ever played before and its an exciting playstyle. Of course, you
can play a different style where you focus on the Mechanologist guns, but I like
the Boost Flurry style myself.
The other deck I opted to go with was the Runeblade
warrior Viserai. This character is the polar opposite of Dash in almost every
way. His combination of witchcraft and swordsmanship gives him a much different
feel than Dash as the speed is replaced by a more tactical approach. Where Dash
throws this flurry of smaller attacks to weaken their opponent, my experience
with Viserai is that you build up your Runechant tokens and then throw a biggish
attack to hit your opponent for both Arcane (using the ability on the tokens) and
standard damage. My play testing saw me generate a whopping nine tokens over
two turns, so when I played an actual attack, all the tokens abilities
triggered, with all of them being destroyed to deal 1 Arcane damage per token
to the opponent. Good luck defending that!!
Although this feels almost brutish in its deployment, it doesn’t
have that mindless Hulk style violence feel that the Brute characters exude in
their playstyle. Runeblade have this almost Warrior-esque vibe while throwing
in a sprinkle of Wizard Arcane damage style. Overall I am really growing to enjoy
that Runeblade style of play.
Onto the third and fourth decks, at the time of writing
this, haven’t been built yet. My current choices are Levia, the Shadow Brute
and Rhinar, the normal Brute. Although, Rhinar is currently subject to change.
Two Brute decks, may just be overkill when I want to experience multiple styles
of play.
Regardless of what happens with my next two decks, I can
tell you this with a level of certainty, I’m gonna enjoy playing the decks I end
up building.
In summary, the play experience you get with Flesh and
Blood is very interactive, its engaging with the people playing on both players
turns and this brings you into the game in a way I’ve never really had in a competitive
environment. Yes, the rules seem abundant and overly complicated, but when you
actually just sit and play, it all kind of comes together. This game, the mechanics,
the lore and the artwork, all come together to bring a new kind of game, which gives
you a different feeling with every hero you play.
Thank you for reading, you can follow me on Twitter @bigboss010
or on Instagram @bigbossbookclub and even check out the podcast on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4WzsTV3YrQPfLWplbCWWFi?si=WN3w63NCQw6CJ2OwOsEcqQ&dl_branch=1
I’m Big Boss….. I’m out….. Peace!
