Flesh and Blood TCG – How To Play

Card Categories

Like every other trading card game, Flesh and Blood also has its own card types. We can classify the cards into these categories: Heroes, Weapons, Equipment, and Actions & Resources. For the duration of this article, I will be using game-like analogies so buckle up.

Heroes

A hero is your character. Every Flesh and Blood deck only has one hero, it’s like your character in games. Each hero has their own abilities, type, Intellect and Life Value. The Intellect stat dictates how many cards you may have in your hand, but it is not a limit. Same goes for the Life Value; the Life Value is how much life you have; reach 0 and it’s game over for you. This is how much life you have at the beginning but it is not a limit.

Each hero has a younger version of themselves used for the Blitz format, which is discussed later.

Some of the types heroes have are Guardian, Ranger, Wizard, Warrior and much more. Each type has a playstyle that resembles how these heroes fight. Warriors mostly deal damage with high damage hits while ninjas rely on long combos.

Weapons and Equipment

Weapons and equipment are equitable items for your hero. Each weapon and equipment have types that correspond to the heroes that can wear them. Weapons/Equipment under the warrior type can only be used/wielded by warrior type heroes.

Weapons are used for, you guessed it, attacking. Aside from the card types, we can categorize weapons further into two: 1 handed (1H) and 2 handed (2H) weapons. You can equip two 1H’s or one 2H’s. Each weapon has their own abilities that when utilized properly, can blow your opponent into bits.

Equipment is your armor, your basic defense. You can use them as defense cards which I will discuss later. Doing so will break your equipment so be careful!

Action

Actions can be used for either offense or defense. You can think of actions like this. If you want to engage your opponent, you use an action card. However, to use an action card, you must have an action point and enough resources. You can also use action cards to pitch for resources which will be mentioned later.

Defending with action cards, however, doesn’t require action points or resources. You can defend with any card that has a defense value, always remember that.

Attack Reaction

You can think of this as a second hit or a combo after your first attack. Attack reactions don’t need Action Points to be played but they require resources. This, like the action card, can also be used as a resource. Remember, you can only use attack reactions if you are in the attack reaction step.

Defense Reaction

You can think of this as a parry or a defense mid combat. If your opponent uses an action that targets your hero, you can use a defense reaction to guard against it. Contrary to action cards, defense reactions need resources in order to be played.

You can also use your equipment as defense but this causes them to break so make sure you use them wisely.

Instants

Basically, instants are reactions BUT you can play them as long as you have resources. Like the attack and defense reactions, you do not need action points for instants to take effect.

Action Points

Each turn, you’re given one action point. Yes, just one. “How am I going to make those awesome combos and what not?” I can hear you asking. The answer is Go Again. I don’t mean go again on your next turn; go again is a fundamental part of your action cards. Go Again is an attribute of an action card that lets you gain another action point. Gain another action point, more actions. Most attack cards that rely on combos have go again so fret not.

Resources & Pitching

I’ve mentioned resources and pitching earlier, but what is it? Your cards will have resource and pitch values that you can utilize. To play a card, you need to have resources, and to get them, you need to pitch. Pitching refers to using your cards as resources by discarding them into the pitch area on your mat. Each card has a pitch value that tells you how many resources you can gain by pitching a certain card. You can pitch a card that has a minimum of 2 resources or multiple cards that add up to 2 or more.

If you need to use a card that requires 2 resources, you can pitch a card that has 3 resources and you can still use the remaining 1 resource until the end of your turn.

After your turn, you return your pitched cards to the bottom of your deck.

Arsenal

The arsenal is a slot reserved for one card from your hand that you can use at a later turn. That’s about it. Use this wisely; this slot can contain your best weapon or your secret defense. You put a card face down on the arsenal slot on your end turn.

Fundamental Mechanics of the Game

How does a Flesh and Blood game normally start out? When a match begins, there will be a hero, equipment, weapons and the other card types on both players’ hands.

Contrary to most trading card games, Flesh and Blood matches start out with your Hero, equipment and weapons already in play. You can say that you start out in your best condition while slowly getting tired and your equipment rugged.

At the start of the game, you and your opponent will draw a certain amount of cards equal to the intellect stat of your hero. This mechanic is carried on to the next turn. You will draw cards until the number of your cards is equal to your intellect.

If the first turn is yours, you may play an action card, to which your opponent responds with another action card, an equipment, or a defense reaction. You can respond with another attack reaction, so on and so forth. This is called a link, the most exciting part of the game. Once a link is finished, that is when the damage is dealt. As I said, first to get their Life Value to Zero loses.

After this is the end phase. The end phase is when you put all of the cards you played into your graveyard. All of the pitched cards are returned to the bottom of your deck and lastly, you draw cards up to your hand size (intellect).

Flesh and Blood Formats

Flesh and Blood can be played in different ways. Most notable of them are the Blitz and the Classic Constructed.

The Classic Constructed utilizes the older versions of your heroes. You can have 60-80 cards equipment included. You can bring up to 11 pieces of equipment. You can have three copies of each card; cards are considered different if they have a different name or a same name but different pitch values. Remember that the card types must be aligned with your hero or have the card type generic. This format aims to have game sessions that last up to 50 minutes.

Blitz is a format that utilizes the younger versions of the heroes. Decks contain 40 no more, no less cards. The hero, weapon and equipment are separate from those 40 cards. You can bring 11 equipment cards and you equip your hero after both players reveal their heroes. You can bring up to 2 copies of each card. Blitz games are aimed at faster game sessions.

An important tool in your deck building arsenal is having a good Flesh and Blood card database to help you filter through different types of cards while building your deck. There are already several available that range in use and function. Pre-built decks are also available for those players who want to jump straight into action playing the game!

Conclusion

So there you have it. Sounds intriguing? It sure is. Flesh and Blood draws players near with its fancy game-play but makes them stay because of how exciting each match is. Flesh and Blood TCG is a must try, not only for trading card enthusiasts but beginners as well. It may sound daunting but like any other game, you will get better at it over time with practice.

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