FaB - March 2nd Banlist Review for Silver Age

Today (March 2nd), LSS updated their banlist to balance Silver Age according to the data they gathered from the first competitive tournaments with it (the first Silver Age Callings and Pro Quest: Las Vegas).

The following changes are now valid:

- Burn Up // Shock is banned;

- Sirens of Safe Harbor (1) is banned;

- Aether Spindle (1) is banned;

- Lightning Press (1) is banned;

- Bracers of Belief is banned;

- Steelblade Shunt (1) is banned;

- Amulet of Ice (3) is unbanned;

- Rootbound Carapace (1) is unbanned;

- Rake the Embers (1) is unbanned.

Silver Age officially became a format now that Compendium of Rathe is out. In the last months of 2025, LSS used Battle Hardened tournaments to analyze the meta, so they didn't ban any cards.

But that didn't stop them from changing it before Silver Age released officially. Chane became dominant in competitive tournaments, and many professional players picked it up. As a result, he was the first hero LSS rotated out of the format.

Please note that in Silver Age heroes rotate out of the format through a community vote. At the end of each competitive season, three heroes are voted out (and the dev team picks another to leave the format). If in the following season these heroes aren't voted out again, they return.

Without Chane and with Compendium of Rathe, what does the format look like? Well, it has some issues.

Once Pro Quests centered around Silver Age were over (keep in mind we'll still get Classic Constructed bans), LSS clearly needed to do something about two heroes: Briar and Kayo.

In the first week, these two heroes won 56% of the games in Pro Quests, and in the second week they won 55% of the games, which is quite troublesome. It shows how the format is completely polarized.

The other heroes won a fair number of games (we can list Dorinthea, Kano, Ira, Crimson Haze, and Enigma), but Kayo and Briar are obviously far better. LSS had to do something to stop their reign of terror.

Silver Age Briar is very similar to Blitz Briar (R.I.P.) and Classic Constructed Briar, but she got a few new tools from the last sets. Besides cards like Jack Be Nimble, Malefic Incantation (1), and Second Strike (1), Compendium also gave us cards that improved the Briar game plan overall. Everything seems quite fair for her: attacks with 4 power and conditional go again as well as buffs that give cards 3 extra power. However, some cards needed to go.

Burn Up // Shock has been powerful since the Aurora, Shooting Star Classic Constructed. This non-attack action might be conditional, but it is extremely strong against other aggro decks because it doesn't cost anything and it deals five damage. Furthermore, thanks to the Embodiment of Earth Briar creates, this card ends up blocking for four in emergencies.

Lightning Press (1) might seem like a harmless 0-cost, 3 power card, but, because it is an instant and because you can play it in the reaction phase, it always puts opponents in uncomfortable spots. Even more if you play it with Flourish (2) to make sure Burn Up // Shock deals damage or to use Snatch (1)'s on-hit effect, for instance.

Goliath Gauntlet has been banned since the early days of this format because you don't need to meet any conditions to use its buff. Bracers of Belief is unfortunately very similar. It does have a condition, but it is simply too easy to meet if you play an entirely red deck (like Briar often does), so banning this equipment card makes a lot of sense.

The Kayo bans are more subtle than the Briar bans. They only banned Sirens of Safe Harbor (1) (which affects other heroes more than Kayo himself), but this ban is still somewhat relevant.

All competitive Kayo lists used at least the red and yellow version of this attack for a very simple reason: you always gain life with it - whether you use it to attack, block, or discard it with other abilities.

Now that Kayo can't use these cards anymore, he can't gain life for "free", but his main game plan is still intact. We'll see how this change will truly affect the format further on.

The two heroes above are dominating Silver Age, but two other heroes have been relevant, competitively speaking, lately. Kano won many high-tier events (Calling and Showdowns), whereas Dorinthea (and other Warriors in general) also performed well, particularly in decks centered around Decimator Great Axe.

Aether Spindle (1) made Kano a bit more consistent, as it allowed us to put the right card on the top of our deck so that we could use his ability. Meanwhile, Steelblade Shunt (1) was an excellent defense reaction with a great cost-to-benefit ratio (it cost 1 and blocked for 6) and punished heroes that relied too much on their weapons (like Guardians, for instance).

Nonetheless, this list got a few unbans as well. Amulet of Ice (3), Rootbound Carapace (1), and Rake the Embers (1) were unbanned to, supposedly, bring a radical change to the format.

Amulet of Ice was banned in lots of formats because it was severely disruptive with Iyslander. However, this Wizard currently struggles against hyper-aggressive lists and fatigue-centered lists. This item could help her find some footing in the meta.

Dromai is one of the most iconic FaB heroes, but she hasn't been able to handle fast decks lately. Rake the Embers (1) could help her keep up with aggression and can be useful in fatigue matchups as well.

We'll discuss Rootbound Carapace (1) further on.

Let's go through these changes with a broad perspective to see how they affect each hero in the format and which decks could start showing up.

Kayo, the Best Deck in the Format

Sirens of Safe Harbor (1) was banned, but Kayo will mostly remain unchanged. Buckwild (1) and Beaten Trackers will still see play and enable absurd turns. Considering this ban and the results from the last weeks, we can say Kayo will stay relevant, particularly considering Briar was hit a lot harder and Kayo still has great matchups in the format. He could still be a problem for some time.

Slowing Down the Format

The Amulet of Ice (3) and Rootbound Carapace (1) unbans mean LSS wants Silver Age to slow down. Carapace in particular is a great sign of this.

Florian was slowly rising in popularity in an OTK (One Turn Kill), very defensive strategy that finished the game with several Runechants. This defense reaction is another defensive option for him. It will also allow you to do one of the most important things in this game plan: Decompose, which enables this hero.

Verdance and Terra might not be too popular nowadays, but they can gain a lot from Carapace. Even Briar could change drastically and start focusing on Earth as a talent instead of Lightning because of this change.

A Puzzle to Solve

Some decks didn't change at all after these changes, but they could still find a way to shine in the meta. Fai is an aggressive deck that could start taking up more space. If this happens, Iyslander might show up as a counter, and then Enigma could counter Iyslander, and so on and so forth.

In the next few weeks, Classic Constructed will take center stage, competitively, but we'll be able to see how the Silver Age meta plays out in Showdowns and a few Callings. We'll see how these changes will affect the format.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!