Flesh and Blood - November 11th Banlist Review

On November 11th, LSS once again updated their banned and restricted list. The new changes will affect all formats and prepare us for a few upcoming events.

The following cards are banned from Classic Constructed:

- High Octane (1).

- Count Your Blessings (3) (blue).

The following changes have been implemented in Blitz:

- Zen (and his signature weapon, Tiger Taming Khakkara) is no longer Living Legend status;

- Belittle (1) is banned.

- Hadron Collider (1) is banned.

The following changes have been implemented in Living Legend:

- Open the Flood Gates is restricted.

- Star Struck (2) is unrestricted.

And the following card is banned in Commoner:

- Aether Ironweave.

In the last Dev Talk (LSS's official podcast), the dev team mentioned the possibility of banning High Octane (1) soon, but, at the time, they decided to keep it in Classic Constructed for two reasons: it was only barely bannable, and they wanted to see it at Worlds.

Worlds came and went, two Dash I/O got to Top 8, and showed the world how High Octane (1) interacted with Cerebellum Processor, the new item. Dash's turns escalated quickly, drew you many cards, and even let you set up a scary combo with System Reset (2). She might not have been the best hero around, but her power level was so high the dev team just had to do something. Their answer was to ban High Octane (1), the card that created so many action points for Dash.

Besides this interaction, with this many action points, weapons like Symbiosis Shot often "fired" many times per turn. This is what Mechanologists are supposed to do, but attacking multiple times is often equal to drawing several cards per turn - and this was another reason why this card was banned.

Recently, control decks have been standing out more. Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry, for instance, became a "premium" hero for this strategy. Her many auras with Ward, game-finishing ability, and excellent equipment, like Phantasmal Footsteps, have made her the standard way to play this archetype. However, one card in particular has been making us ask ourselves if this archetype is healthy: Count Your Blessings.

This new Rosetta card, on its own, is not that strong, and also has clear weaknesses. For instance, to get a lot of value from it, you'll need time. It also can't block, costs 2, and the first copies you play will be too expensive, considering the payout. However, with enough time, you'll start gaining a lot of life.

However, so far, there is no apparent reason to ban this card. After all, this entire control strategy focuses on extracting value out of Count Your blessings. The issue is that we don't have anything to counter it directly nowadays. Apart from Poison the Well (3) (which a control player can play around perfectly), there is no card available in the game (so far) that counters lifegain. This makes this instant exceptional.

Nonetheless, the dev team stressed that, in 2025, they'll release many new tools to help heroes deal with meta-specific situations. Because we'll have to wait for them, they needed to nerf this control strategy, and that's why the blue version of Count Your Blessings was banned. It will most likely return to Classic Constructed in the future.

LSS made an important announcement regarding Blitz at Worlds. From now on, all heroes need to collect 1000 points to hit Living Legend status in Blitz (just like Classic Constructed). To prepare for this change, they doubled how many points each hero has in Blitz, so current Living Legend heroes will remain so and any hero that is close to leaving the format will also remain so. However, they didn't change how many points Zen has, so he'll "come back from the dead" and return to Blitz even though he already hit Living Legend status.

But why was he the only hero to get this "privilege"? Is the Living Legend system this flexible?

In my article about the last Skirmish season and the new Living Legend heroes, I discussed how frustrating Zen was for this format. He disrupted the entire season because he was very oppressive, and also rotated out of it very quickly (as he was only valid for two weeks). This means anyone who invested money in him basically lost their investment, and this was a very uncomfortable situation for everyone involved.

Returning him to the format without Art of War (2), Bonds of Ancestry (1), and Belittle (1) (which we'll discuss soon) was the way LSS found to redeem themselves for what happened last season. This return is not a sign that the Living Legend system doesn't work, but rather a rare situation - this was the best way LSS found to address this issue and redeem themselves with Blitz players.

Belittle (1) has been banned for a while in Commoner and Classic Constructed for the same reason: it consistently gives you resources by tutoring Minnowism (3). It also makes sure aggro decks can easily pay for all its costs. Now that Zen has returned, to make sure nothing goes wrong this time, this attack was banned.

Many players have never seen Hadron Collider (1) in their life before, so why has such a niche Mechanologist item been banned?

This ban is a preemptive measure to make sure Data Doll MKII stays under control. She got great new tools when Dash I/O's Armory deck came along, namely Cerebellum Processor and new equipment. As this deck was becoming dangerous, to avoid any issues, LSS decided to ban one of its offensive items.

She'll be watched closely during the next Skirmish season (which will start in two weeks, approximately). If her performance drops considerably, they might implement new changes.

Kano, Dracai of Aether was drawing cards too consistently. Besides the sets of Tome of Aetherwind (1) and Tome of Fyendal (2), the nine copies of the new card, Open The Flood Gates, were essentially nine extra "tomes" for him, so that's why LSS decided to restrict it.

Bravo, Star of the Show might have gotten a new set with Earth and Lightning, but he was beginning to lag behind. Aggressive decks, like Briar, Warden of Thorns, Aurora, Shooting Star, and Dash I/O also got new tools and started to perform really well in the format, so we needed a hero to prey on them. Returning his specialization means Bravo can be strong in Living Legend again and balance out other archetypes.

After Rosetta, Chane got great support in Commoner. Thanks to this support, he became one of the best heroes (if not the best) in the format. Considering how many events he won and Top 8s he conquered, LSS needed to nerf him a bit, and they decided to do it through Aether Ironweave. It was simply too consistent at creating resources, and, this way, opened the way for you to play a Hit the High Notes and attack with Rosetta Thorn.

Now that we've seen all of these changes, let's see how each format will be affected by them.

A More Balanced Classic Constructed

Dash I/O might have lost her main tool against fatigue, but she still has a vast arsenal to fight these strategies, like Bios Update (1) and Hanabi Blaster. She is still one of the best aggro decks around. Maxx 'The Hype' Nitro and Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire, however, will struggle a lot more because of this ban, as they lost some potential.

Banning only one version of Count Your Blessings to nerf control decks was a great idea. Some of them will probably lose their interest in this card, like Enigma and Nuu, which abused its blue version to transcend as well. Other decks, like Bravo, Showstopper, can still use it quite efficiently and won't necessarily forgo all of its lifegain.

A New Blitz

Blitz is in a great spot. Now that the point system has changed, more events will feature this format, and young heroes will rotate more slowly. This, in turn, means players will get to enjoy them for longer.

Considering Victor Goldmane is rotating out of the format soon, and the new Skirmish season is right around the corner, some aggressive decks, like Dash, Database and a much more balanced Zen, might become more popular. Despite all bans, Zen has already become an excellent choice in Classic Constructed, so we might see him doing something similar in Blitz.

Bravo is Back in the Show

Bravo is still a traumatic memory for many players. At the beginning of the Living Legend format, he made the entire format unplayable, but a few dozen restrictions nerfed his power considerably. In past announcements, LSS returned Channel Lake Frigid (3) to him - this move might be enough to put him back at the top of the format without necessarily breaking it.

Kano, Dracai of Aether will lose a lot after Open the Flood Gates is restricted, but will still be quite strong. We've seen before how an unprepared meta can be extremely beneficial to him, and, with less Iyslander, Stormbind around, he might just stand out and steal wins at many events.

More Eyes on Commoner

Commoner is already quite restricted, and any slightly unbalanced support card can make it quite unhealthy. This ban will make it more balanced and nerf Chane a bit, but will this be enough to make it healthy?

We'll probably find the answer to these questions at the first Commoner Battle Hardened, which will take place soon. Then we'll know if this common-focused format is finally balanced or if it is still dominated by Ira, Crimson Haze and Iyslander.

What about you? What did you think of these bans? Do you think they could ban other cards as well? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!