FaB - October 6th Banlist Review and How it Will Impact Living Legend!

Without any previous warning, the company behind FaB, LSS, decided to update their banned and restricted list, but only for the Living Legend format.

These are the changes:

Count Your Blessings (1) is restricted;

Zephyr Needle is banned;

Warmonger's Diplomacy is no longer restricted.

The next banlist update was scheduled for November 11th (and it still is), but this date is too close to the biggest competitive Flesh and Blood event of the year: the World Championship. The reason they schedule a banlist update after October and just before the World Championship is because there are many Pro Quests in October. This time window is an excellent opportunity to collect data and make the best balancing decisions before such a big event. So, they usually wait until this competitive season is over before they try to balance the game. However, Living Legend is one of the unique competitive formats featured at Worlds, and it needs different support when it comes to balancing.

One of the things that makes it different is that it is a lot less popular than Classic Constructed, which means LSS will have nearly the same data they have now once November 11th comes around. Players are also not that comfortable testing out this format in such a short window of time, and this is probably why they decided to update the banlist today.

Two years ago, nearly around the same time Living Legend was born, Warmonger's Diplomacy was restricted, mainly because it "disabled" Runeblades completely. Because this class naturally plays Attack Actions and Non-Attack Actions on the same turn, Warmonger's could push any hero out of the meta. It basically prevented this class from doing what it does naturally. Nonetheless, time has passed, this class has evolved, and we've seen heroes like Viserai, Rune Blood managing to "play around" this action in Classic Constructed.

This change could affect other Runeblade heroes, such as Briar, Warden of Thorns, but, considering the many options this class gained as it evolved in the last few years, returning all copies of this action to the format is a safe call. Furthermore, this decision could also hold back decks centered around very consistent combos, like Dash I/O.

Now that Warmonger's is free and Runeblades will be slowed down, it was obvious Ninjas would start dominating the format. Ira, Scarlet Revenger and Zen, Tamer of Purpose are already some of the best heroes in the format because of how recursive Zephyr Needle is with Retrieve (in cards like Up Sticks and Run (1), for instance). Furthermore, these heroes would also benefit a lot from Warmonger's.

LSS thought about restricting cards with Retrieve, but Zephyr Needle has already proved to be too problematic for Flesh and Blood, and, as such, they decided to ban it.

And once again we have to discuss Count Your Blessings (1). This Instant was banned in Classic Constructed a few months ago, but it hasn't been particularly problematic in Living Legend so far. The more aggressive decks were too fast to care about the little bit of life this Instant gave their opponents, so why restrict it?

One of the reasons is ties through time, which were also a problem in Classic Constructed. If two control lists faced each other, most of the time they would get a tie. Furthermore, any slower deck ended up playing 9 copies of this Instant to buy time: Florian, Nuu, Gravy Bones, Oldhim, and Jarl, for instance. As a result, they had to restrict it.

These three cards don't seem to impact a format like Living Legend all that much, but let's see how the meta will welcome these changes.

Slowing Down Aggressive Lists

Apart from the Ninjas, the most aggressive decks in the format want to play a lot of Attack Actions and Non-Attack Actions in the same turn: Dash I/O with their High Octane turns, Briar, Warden of Thorns with Skyward Serenade and Nimblism (1), as well as a few others. These new changes didn't change these decks directly, but Warmonger's Diplomacy is a must for the other decks that aren't too aggressive.

Runeblade heroes surpassed Warmonger's Diplomacy some time ago. When Viserai, Rune Blood was still in Classic Constructed, it played around this Action in many ways. For instance, by setting up with Mordred Tide and Malefic Incantation (1) or by playing several Attacks with Go Again. Briar could end up struggling a bit more, but that won't make her a lot worse. Today, this is the best deck in the format, but now we have tools to beat it.

Ninjas Will Suffer

The Zephyr Needle ban will hit Ninjas hard. Zen will still be a powerful list, with cards like Art of War and all the Mystic cards, but Ira, Scarlet Revenger could simply disappear from the competitive scene. Its strategy centers entirely around Needle, and, without it, the actual list could end up identical to the Classic Constructed version. And this build isn't compatible with a format like Living Legend.

Will Slower Decks Get More Space?

Historically, Living Legend never had space for slower decks. The ones that were most successful, like Iyslander, Stormbind and Nuu, Alluring Desire, were quite disruptive, but none that centered around fatigue performed all that well. Now that we don't have Count Your Blessings (1) anymore, they'll be even worse, but Warmonger's could help us hold off hyperaggressive decks and their destructive strategies. Only time will tell if this will be enough for these heroes to find space in the meta.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!