Flesh and Blood: July 29th Banlist Review

After nearly a month, LSS once again updated their banned and restricted list, most particularly to balance the game before Pro Tour: Los Angeles, which will take place in a few weeks.

The following changes will be legal from July 6th onwards (after all national tournaments take place):

Classic Constructed:

- Skyward Serenade is unbanned.

- Electromagnetic Somersault (3) (the blue version only) is unbanned.

- Talk a Big Game is unbanned.

- Remembrance is banned.

Silver Age:

- Seeds of Agony (1) is unbanned.

- Steelblade Shunt (1) is unbanned.

- Cash In is unbanned.

- Vigorous Smashup (1) is unbanned.

Before we explore the actual changes above, we must discuss the fact that a hero hit Living Legend status and will be leaving the format. Hated by some and loved by others, Prism, Awakener of Sol never defined the meta but has always been in it, showing up in several tournaments and even incredibly competitive pods.

Unlike her first version, this Prism interacted with a unique mechanic featuring Figments and Angels. She could be quite aggressive with Heralds and also protect herself from damage by putting Allies in play.

She was considered, for a long time, the worst Illusionist, but, with time, she was gifted a few tools that supported her strategy. Eventually, she started to oppress decks that couldn't control her Angels, which made matches somewhat unfair. Even with 32 life points, she could protect herself so well, in so many ways, that she could hold off even the most aggressive strategies. Furthermore, the less Go Again attacks the opponent could play, the more cards like Arc Light Sentinel and Genesis made games unfavorable.

Prism is also the first legend to hit Living Legend status twice, with two different versions. And, finally, after this change we'll have more inventory slots for decks that need cards with 6 power or greater to activate Phantasm for their Attacks.

Omens of the Third Age didn't impact the meta much. Zyggy, Starlight has proved to be decent (not with its main weapon, Aphrodias), and Oscilio, Constella Intelligence has reinvented itself with two new lists (both of which proved to be quite powerful in competitive settings), but this set still hasn't been as relevant as the dev team wanted it to be, at least not in Classic Constructed.

To sum up, the data they got from internal testing is just different from reality, and the last Lightning-focused bans ended up making some heroes a lot weaker. This is quite clear considering the latest unbans.

We've mentioned several times that Skyward Serenade came out with a printing error that made it a lot stronger than it should be, and that prompted the dev team to ban it (to fix their "past mistakes"). However, Aurora, Legacy of Tempest isn't performing as well as they would have hoped. Cindra, Dracai of Retribution and Fai, Rising Rebellion, for instance, are similar to Aurora, but they are much better and perform a lot better too.

Unbanning Skyward Serenade might not have been what the dev team wanted to do, but it is the best solution to this problem. This will support Aurora but not make Oscilio, Constella Intelligence too powerful, as Oscilio is already an excellent hero. Like so, the idea is to level Aurora with the other aggro heroes.

We also commented last time we went through a banlist update that Electromagnetic Somersault (3) was a powerful tool, both in offense and in defense. But only its blue version seems great with Zyggy, Starlight, particularly in the Aphrodias version of the archetype. By unbanning this blue version only, the other, more aggressive Lightning heroes won't be able to use it, and Zyggy will be able to be more defensive.

A few months ago, when we were about to try out Super Slam for the first time, Talk a Big Game was banned preemptively. The idea was to prevent the new heroes from being too oppressive, but they ended up too weak.

At the time, some of them saw some play competitively, like Kayo, Underhanded Cheat, and Pleiades, Superstar, but today all of them barely see any play. Unbanning Talk a Big Game might seem like a risky decision, but it is the best way to improve these new, yet already forgotten, heroes.

The Only Proper Ban: Remembrance

The only card the dev team properly banned, Remembrance, has been at the center of many discussions regarding the banlist for years, particularly because it has been considered problematic for a long time. Its effect, which returns cards to your deck, makes one of the main principles of the game null and void (namely, that every card matters) and makes matches a lot longer. Once it hits the board, oftentimes the player using it will keep returning their best card to their deck and reusing it.

Removing it from the format will affect the game considerably. It was, after all, one of the best ways to beat fatigue. The dev team also mentioned that, if Remembrance ends up too important in that sense, that is, to beat fatigue, they might unban it.

When we reviewed Omens of the Third Age, we mentioned that, once the new set came out and Chane returned, Runeblades could end up dominating the format and pushing other decks out. But, in competitive settings, something else happened.

Briar definitely became one of the best decks in the format, but Iyslander, Blaze, Firemind, Dromai, and Oldhim, for instance, also proved to be decent competitors. This banlist update will improve a few particular decks to introduce these heroes in the meta as well.

Seeds of Agony (1) proved to be problematic in Classic Constructed, Blitz, and even Commoner. That's why it was banned in Silver Age before this even became a proper format.

However, unlike what most of us thought, Chane is not performing well in competitive settings. Seeds could improve him and make his "classic" version (the one that doesn't play so many cards with Rune Gate) more viable.

LSS banned Steelblade Shunt (1) as well as many other cards to, at the time, try to balance Kano, Briar, and Kayo. Today, things are very different, and, as Briar is once again one of the most relevant strategies in the meta, unbanning Steelblade Shunt (1) will give us a tool that we all know is strong against this Runeblade.

Cash In is pretty popular and was also banned before this format even came to be. Though it is quite strong, no deck that creates Gold (like Olympia, Kassai, and Gravy Bones) is relevant right now. Giving these decks a card like Cash In could improve them considerably.

When Kayo was still in the format, Vigorous Smashup (1) was a bit dangerous because it easily won Clashes and created Vigor, but now that this hero is out (for now), unbanning this card won't be a problem.

A lot will change before Pro Tour: Las Vegas.

Classic Constructed and Meta Changes

Many heroes are about to hit Living Legend status. Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty won't last long, as well as Dash I/O and Kassai, which could come up next. Once so many heroes leave the format, and the latest bans and unbans hit the game, a few new heroes could start seeing play.

Without Remembrance in the game, Arakni, Huntsman might become the real fatigue deck in the format, as players won't have to worry about their opponent returning cards to their deck. Once Dash I/O and Victor leave the format, decks like Oscilio, Constella Intelligence and Fai, Rising Rebellion might become the best aggressive decks in the format.

Only time will tell if Aurora, Legacy of Tempest and Lyath Goldmane will become competitive now that their tools are unbanned, but we'll see it for sure at the Pro Tour: Los Angeles.

A Delicate Sage

Each time a new banlist update comes around, Silver Age also changes considerably, and this time was no different. The idea behind the latest changes is to reintroduce new heroes to the meta, not try to balance anything that is strong right now. This includes Chane and Dorinthea, which would, undoubtedly, make the format more diverse, but will that be enough, considering Briar is still one of the best decks in the format? The meta definitely has space for many decks, but Briar's dominance might still limit these new upcoming strategies.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!