The Hunted Review: How The New Set Will Impact Each Class

Rosetta brought us joy and color, but The Hunted will bring us pain and violence. The Emperor is dead, and Volcar wants revenge, as well as the head of whoever was behind this. In the shadows, many plot against the dynasty. Now, the hunter has become the hunted.

Today, let's explore the latest Flesh and Blood set, The Hunted, which will be great for anyone who enjoyed Uprising and Dynasty.

The Hunted is one of the main draftable sets we get every year, which means we can play sealed formats with it. It includes support for three classes (Assassin, Ninja, and Warrior) and brought back Draconic cards. Three new heroes and a new exclusive hero for adult formats (Classic Constructed and Living Legend) are featured.

Let's go through each hero, mechanic, and see how this set will impact the game.

This set doesn't include many unseen mechanics, but, to understand how the new heroes work, we need to understand what their mechanics do.

Marked

This set's main mechanic is Marked, a status that, by itself, doesn't do anything directly. However, it does affect many cards.

Marked might not do anything immediately, but many cards are stronger when you use them against a Marked hero. For instance, Mark of the Black Widow (1) doesn't have a proper effect, but, if you deal damage to a Marked hero with it, your opponent will have to exile a card in their hand. We'll see how each hero interacts with this status soon, particularly Assassins.

However, you have to Mark your opponent first with cards like Pursue to the Edge of Oblivion (1). All heroes have different ways to Mark the opponent.

Finally, a player will remain Marked until their opponent deals attack damage to them.

Fealty

Fealty is the new exclusive token for Draconic cards. It works like an aura you can destroy to grant Draconic to the next card you play. However, if you don't create a Fealty or play a Draconic card that turn, this card will destroy itself.

Cards like For the Dracai (1) and Pledge Fealty (1) create this aura, and some cards, like Dragon Power (1), activate extra effects when they become Draconic. Others, like Hunt's End (1) get better according to how many Fealty you control.

Retrive

This mechanic is only featured in two cards in this set, but it is essential for Assassins and Ninjas.

It is simple: when you play a card with Retrive, like Up Sticks and Run (1), you can pay one resource and, if you do, you'll equip a Dagger from your graveyard. It is really simple.

This mechanic is quite important in sealed formats, considering there are many cards that destroy Daggers in them (we'll call them "Flick effects") and we need a way to get them back.

Just like in Outsiders e Part the Mistveil, Stealth has returned. It is one of the most important mechanics in its class.

Stealth doesn't do anything by itself: in fact, it does nothing, and a card with this keyword also doesn't have any bonus effects. However, many cards interact with Stealth attacks. For instance, Razor's Edge (1) buffs a Stealth attack by 3, the new hero, Arakni, Marionette also interacts with this status, and etc.

Now, let's see the new heroes in this set.

Assassin

This set includes two Assassins: one is only available in Classic Constructed and Living Legend, and the other is available in draft and all the other formats.

Arakni, Marionette

Arakni, Marionette is quite unusual, and its mechanic is one of the most unique mechanics in FaB. So, let's break it down.

The first detail I noticed was the fact it is a Chaos hero. This set didn't bring us many cards with this talent except for Schism of Chaos, and Spur Locked (3), but we might get more of them in the future.

Its first ability is incredibly strong because it buffs your Stealth attacks by +1 and gives them go again (which really resembles Beckoning Mistblade). And we all know an Assassin attacking multiple times in a turn with disruptive effects can be fatal.

However, Arakni's true potential is in its second ability.

After all, what are Agents of Chaos?

At the end of the turn, if your opponent is Marked, you'll roll a die and turn into one of the six possible Araknis (Black Widow, Funnel Web, Orb-Weaver, Redback, Tarantula, and Trap-Door). Each one has its own unique effects, but also one ability in common: Return to the Brood. At the end of your turn, you'll turn back into the original Arakni (in this case, Arakni, Marionette).

But that's not the only way to turn into an Arakni. The new Head specialization, Mask of Deceit, lets you pick an Arakni to turn into. Furthermore, Araknis are tokens and don't go in your deck, so old Araknis, like Arakni, Huntsman, can use this equipment and become new Agents of Chaos without necessarily being Chaos heroes.

With all these new cards and the new Marked mechanic, some new Stealth cards are definitely standing out. Mark of the Black Widow (1) and Mark of the Funnel Web (1) are critical Stealth cards for this hero, and Take Up the Mantle (2) and Savor Bloodshed (1) interact really well with what it does.

Marionette is one of the most aggressive Assassins we have in this format. Considering all Agents have great abilities and all the strong Stealth effects in this set, it should be very competitive, as well as quite disruptive.

Arakni, 5L!p3d 7hRu 7h3 cR4X

Arakni, 5L!p3d 7hRu 7h3 cR4X (yes, that's its name) is also a Chaos hero and has an ability similar to Arakni, Solitary Confinement. However, because its ability specifies "each turn", it includes your opponent's turn. This means your opponent will also have go again when they use their first attack with Stealth.

Its ability might be simple, but Arakni, Solitary Confinement has already shown us once how these attacks with go again are quite strong. Back when Outsiders was released, we could only use a few of them, like Infect (1) or Infiltrate (1), but Part the Mistveil brought us several new ones, like Bonds of Agony (3) and Persuasive Prognosis (3).

The Hunted also includes excellent cards for this Assassin - Kiss of Death (1), Orb-Weaver Spinneret (1), and Bite (1) are excellent if you want to create long combat chains. They're also great with the common Flick effects in this set.

Draconic

Cindra, Dracai of Retribution

Cindra's style and card pool are very similar to Fai, Rising Rebellion's.

So, what is the difference between these two Ninjas?

While Fai interacts with Phoenix Flame (1), Cindra focuses a lot more on her daggers and the many cards that benefit from them. As her weapons destroy themselves when the combat chain closes, and she gets them back, Cindra is excellent with Flicking effects like Blood Runs Deep (1) and Burning Blade Dance (1).

But this Ninja needs more than just daggers. Besides her vast card pool (identical to Fai), The Hunted brought more support for Draconic cards and cards that benefit from it, like Art of the Dragon: Blood (1) and Devotion Never Dies (1).

With these cards, Cindra can create longer Draconic chain links more easily. Fealty is important to her, so try to use cards that also work with the Marked mechanic too.

Fang, Dracai of Blades

So far, Warrior, as a class, leaned more midrange or fatigue, but what if we added something Draconic and its entire aggressive card pool to it?

Unlike other Warriors, Fang, Dracai of Blades is more aggressive and gains several attacks because he's Draconic. His main mechanics are also his weapons.

Obsidian Fire Vein's go again condition is as simple as it is aggressive. After you meet this condition, you can attack without spending any resources, which is incredibly strong. Particularly with the many Attack Reactions that play really well with this hero, like Long Whisker Loyalty and Affirm Loyalty.

So, don't be shy, and attack with Fang and everything you got. Show your loyalty and might to the dynasty.

Like all sets, a select group of Generics and Expansion slots from this set stand out.

Quickdodge Flexors is the first legendary "legs" equipment in the entire game, and it is already one of the best equipment cards around. It will be great to defend yourself against Go Wide decks, as it turns a single blue card into 6 defense. This equipment is a must in any defensive deck, particularly Guardian decks.

In that same sense, Shelter from the Storm (1) is one of the best Defense Reactions in the entire game alongside Sink Below (1) and Fate Foreseen (1). It might not have an effect when you block with it, but its Instant ability is critical to deal with broken damage like Runechant's or from small weapons, like Harmonized Kodachi. It will be a popular card in defensive decks and might even dethrone the Defense Reactions we play today.

We all know how powerful Command and Conquer (1) is. It had been a while since we got a reprint like this, and, though it is a legendary, adding more copies of it to the market is always nice.

Many heroes got new expansion slots for their decks. Katsu, the Wanderer, Vynnset, Iron Maiden, and Verdance, Thorn of the Rose stand out the most in this area, but many classes also got tools to deal with auras with Ward and ways to prevent arcane damage.

In a meta full of Part the Mistveil heroes, how will The Hunted find space?

An Attempt to Give Assassins a New Life

We all know Nuu, Alluring Desire is the best Assassin around, and that the other Assassins were simply too far behind her and forgotten. This new set will give us two new heroes that should make this class work a bit differently.

Uzuri, Switchblade got new, even "peculiar" tools (like a dagger with Stealth), so her attacks will be even more "mysterious" and harder to read. However, Arakni, Huntsman still didn't get what it needed. It got an excellent Head equipment, but the lack of attacks with Contract effectively froze it in time. It needed support for a mechanic that, counting this set, hasn't gotten support in over three sets with Assassins.

Warrior in Limbo

This set might focus on Draconic heroes, but a few pure Warrior cards will become staple to their class, like Provoke (3). Nonetheless, this set will probably not be enough to make it work. After all, Kassai and Dorinthea got incredibly strong cards, but Enigma is still in their way.

Fang is quite aggressive, but also quite predictable. So, any opponent that knows your deck well will be able to counter your big turns.

The Return of the Ninjas

Zen, Tamer of Purpose and Ira, Scarlet Revenger were great for a long time, and new sets only made them stronger (they even needed a ban). However, Fai and Katsu were quite obviously forgotten after their lists got a few aggressive bans.

With these many new cards, Fai might finally become a Living Legend. Despite his new counterpart, this Ninja's playerbase is very loyal to simple "go-wide" strategies, and they're eager to put him to the test. The new Road to Nationals season should show us how he is now.

What did you think of the new heroes? Will you play them? Which one is the strongest? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!