Flesh and Blood (card game)

Flesh and Blood is a trading card game published by Legend Story Studios (LSS), an independent design studio based in Auckland, New Zealand. It was designed by James White, who had previously played Magic: The Gathering professionally. The game is based on elements of fantasy and, to some extent, science fiction. The name of the game is derived from the phrase "flesh and blood", meaning that the game was designed to be played in person instead of as an online game.

Gameplay


The game involves two or more players who assume the control of a hero, a character with equipment, abilities and set of cards. There are seven different card types, such as hero, equipment, weapon, action, reaction (attack and defense) and instant. Hero, weapon and equipment cards are in play at the start of the game. Most cards are discarded into a "graveyard" after play. Each hero has intellect and life points, and is in one of eleven classes: Assassin, Brute, Guardian, Illusionist, Mechanologist, Merchant, Ninja, Ranger, Runeblade, Warrior, or Wizard. Players draw cards equal to the hero's intellect. If a hero's life points reaches zero, the player controlling the hero loses the game.

Players build a deck of 60 cards, with no more than three copies of cards having the same name in one deck.

The two constructed game formats, Blitz and Classic Constructed, have a different version of each Hero card. The young version of each card is used in the Blitz format, which has a faster pace of play.

Tournaments
In October 2019, Legend Story Studios established an organised play programme dubbed "The Calling" for competitive sealed-deck play, with a prize pool of $10,000 per tournament. Temporarily suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme resumed in 2021. By November 2023, over 2000 game stores worldwide hosted such events. In October 2023, the company established Social Play game store events for casual players.

In November 2022, the company organised the first Flesh and Blood World Championships in San Jose, California, with a prize pool of $300,000.

For 2024, the company is organizing a "Pro Play 2024" circuit, with a prize pool of $1,500,000.

A Hero that wins a tournament accrues "Living Legend" points, which, upon reaching a certain amount, results in that hero's card being retired from official tournament play.

Sets
Each Flesh and Blood set used to be published in two editions. The initial set release was the collector-focused First Edition published using cold foil printing in a limited print run. This was followed by the Unlimited Edition, which was published based on market demand. This technique is common in the early stages of many trading card games as it allows collectors to secure value in First Edition cards while players still have accesses to affordable versions of important cards.

After the "FAB 2.0" update LSS did away with the 1st/Unlimited model and replaced it with a single box model.

Reception
Drew Cordell of SUPERJUMP magazine wrote favorably of the game.

Andrew Smith from the website Board Game Quest compared it to Magic: The Gathering, but noted that Flesh and Blood was easier to learn.

In 2021, ICv2 rated it as a "top collectible game".

Legend Story Studio was on the Deloitte Fast 50.

In November 2023, Legend Story Studios won the Excellence in Brand Storytelling Award at the New Zealand International Business Awards for their work on Flesh and Blood.