Part the Mistveil Review: The Impact of the New Set on Each Class

After a brutal set, with a lot of blood and sweat in the arena, the new Flesh and Blood set will take us to a calmer place. A place filled with mysteries, where you must carve your path in search for truth. Will you go down the tempting Snake Path, the calming Moon Path, or the lonely Tiger Path?

In today's article, we'll analyze Part the Mistveil, and discuss its mechanics, new heroes, and how they'll affect the meta.

Summary

Part the Mistveil includes three new heroes (and an extra "secret" hero), besides a new talent: Mystic. This entire set focuses on three classes: Assassin, Illusionist, and Ninja, and it is also draftable (this means you can play sealed formats with it).

Let's go ahead and discuss the new mechanics, which we need to understand first, and then head on to our heroes.

One of this set's main themes is blue cards. Just like Uprising, which had many cards with interactions whenever we played a red card, this new set includes many cards with interactions whenever we play and/or pitch blue cards.

For instance, Deep Blue Sea (3)'s stats, on their own, are not the greatest. It costs four, blocks only two, and isn't that strong for a 4-cost card. However, if we pitch a blue card, it gets stronger. Just like Tidal Surge (3)'s stats, which are decent for a blue card, but get stronger if we play another blue card before. If we do that, it will cost three and have 7 power (which is almost the stats of a red card).

Let's see another incredibly important mechanic in this set that is also tied to blue cards: Transcend.

Transcend

Besides Majestics, we have a kit of eight common cards with the Legendary keyword. Notice that they aren't Legendary in rarity, but rather carry the Legendary mechanic. This means you can only bring one copy of it in a constructed deck. These cards "Transcend" when we play a blue card before. Take a look at this example:

Homage to Ancestors (3) is an instant that costs zero and gives us one life. However, if we play a blue card before, it will Transcend.

But what does this mean?

All of these cards have two sides; on their back, they're Inner Chi. When we Transcend, these cards return to our hand transformed into Inner Chi (which are quite similar to gems), and this Chi is nothing more than just a new type of resource that creates a "blue resource". We can use it with your cards as you normally would, but some cards have effects when we use Chi to pay for their costs, and there are some abilities we can only use with Chi.

Unravel Aggression (3), for instance, is essentially an Unmovable (3), but if you use Chi with it, you'll draw a card. You can only use Mask of Recurring Nightmares's ability with a blue resource (Chi), so we can't use a regular resource with it. We can only use it with the Chi we created with Transcend cards.

It is important to remember that when Transcend cards transform, they remain Inner Chi until the end of the game. This means, when you reach the second cycle of the game, they'll be transformed. You also need to transform them back at the end of the game.

Ephemeral

The Ephemeral mechanic isn't exactly a new thing in Flesh and Blood. Introduced in Dynasty with Crouching Tiger (which returned in this set), you'll create Ephemeral cards with other cards, and, when they go to the graveyard, they disappear altogether. However, they are like any other card: you can send them to your arsenal or to your deck through an effect or other strategies.

Cloaked

Several equipment cards in this set have the new ability, Cloaked. These cards start the game face down. Your opponent won't know which card it is (only the slot they belong to), and what they do, but, to use their ability, you need to turn them face up.

For instance: Aqua Seeing Shell starts the game face down, but, at any point, you can use three resources, turn it face up, and draw a card. Your opponent won't know that your head equipment is Aqua Seeing Shell until you do that.

Now, let's talk about each new hero in this set.

Nuu, Alluring Desire has the best the Assassin class can offer. This hero focuses on the Stealth ability (introduced in Outsiders), which by itself doesn't mean anything, but several cards interact with it.

The first line in its ability is already quite strong, but its second ability lets us play our opponent's cards without paying their costs. The goal is clear: we must win with the tools our opponent can offer us.

Her deck focuses on banishing enemy cards. Cards like Bonds of Memory (1) and Persuasive Prognosis (3) let us pick the best cards to put in our opponent's banish zone, and then play them later when we can.

Does playing cards like Macho Grande (3), Teklo Core (3), or Widespread Annihilation (3) without paying for anything seem strong to you? That's what Nuu does.

However, Stealth attacks aren't that powerful on their own, so this set also brings an array of new Attack Reactions to guarantee you'll deal some damage with them.

With these new Attack Reactions, particularly as some are Mystic cards, this Assassin turns small attacks with Stealth into big threats for your opponent.

Just like Prism, Awakener of Sol focuses on Angels and Dromai, Ash Artist focuses on Dragons, Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry highly concentrates on Ward auras. Thanks to her Signature Weapon, Cosmo, Scroll of Ancestral Tapestry, Enigma's plan is to build a board full of Ward auras and attack with all of them. Her Spectral Shield will also help us with that.

This hero wants to do two things: play Ward auras, and somehow give them at least one +1 power counter so that they have go again. This set didn't bring us any Phantasm attack, so it is quite clear we should focus on our aura game plan. Cards like Manifestation of Miragai (3) represent really well what Enigma wants to do, which is playing auras on your opponent's turn and defending yourself with the Ward mechanic, or playing them on your turn and attacking with them.

Even though a few auras seem harmless, some tools give them +1 counters (so Spectral Shield will attack for four, for instance) or even a gigantic aura like 10,000 Year Reunion (1), which protects ten damage and threatens ten damage when you attack with it.

Zen and Ninja

Long-awaited for by Ninja players, Zen, Tamer of Purpose focuses on the Crouching Tiger mechanic, and brings several cards that buff your tiger's power or combo with them.

This set brought a lot of support for this mechanic. Many new cards that create tigers, like Tiger Form Incantation (1), were included, and various others buff your tigers as well. However, the true threats in this deck are the ones that combo with your tigers.

For instance: Qi Unleashed (1) is not that powerful compared to its cost, but when your last attack was a Crouching Tiger, it will be more powerful for a decent cost. And, thanks to Zen's ability, we can tutor from our deck our many combo cards. We'll be able to create huge combat chains and finish our opponent with explosive combos.

This set also includes various cards that aren't tied to any classes. There is a new array of generic cards and cards for the expansion slot. Let's go through the best of them.

The Weakest Link (1) has excellent stats, but its on-hit effect seems too situational. What makes it great is how it impacts extremely relevant decks in the meta of today, particularly Kayo, Armed and Dangerous, and Prism, Awakener of Sol. This makes it an exceptional choice for those who want to beat these decks.

Prismatic Leyline (2) is a bit situational too and doesn't really fit decks that focus on a certain color. However, in decks that use all colors really well, like Katsu, the Wanderer, this generic card may help you with explosive turns. It also fits decks that easily play all colors on a single turn.

The expansion slot brought us many great cards for the other heroes in the game, such as:

- Supercell (3) is great for Maxx 'The Hype' Nitro, and helps you create Hyper Driver (1) consistently, as well as keep them on the board;

- Visit the Golden Anvil (3) may give some purpose to Olympia, Prize Fighter, as it lets you build decks that are more defensive. It also breaks equipment cards without further issue;

- Murky Water (1) may let you play much more aggressively with Riptide, Lurker of the Deep, and become one of the best cards for this hero;

- Shadowrealm Horror (1) is already one of the best cards for Levia, Shadowborn Abomination, as it does everything she wants to do.

Bonus: Enigma, New Moon

In some booster boxes, there's a chance you'll get a golden package. Inside, there's a "secret" young legendary hero: Enigma, New Moon.

This Enigma's ability is quite different from the standard Enigma in this set. She focuses a lot more on the Cloaked mechanic. However, she creates Spectral Shields faster, and, like so, it is a better option in a slower Blitz meta.

Though it supports all these three classes, Part the Mistveil brings closed-off mechanics, and the other heroes might not want to use the tools this set will give them.

Nuu is the Best Assassin in the Game

Nuu, Alluring Desire combines the best Arakni, Huntsman and Uzuri, Switchblade have to offer: Stealth attacks with on-hit effects. However, unlike the other Nuu Assassins, she has Mystic cards and one of the best abilities in the game. She manipulates not only your opponent's deck, but also lets you use it for your benefit. With all the new Assassin cards made for her, and her strong, disruptive game plan, Nuu is possibly the best hero in this class.

Despite all these new cards, the only Assassin that will probably use them is Arakni, Solitary Confinement, as it will have an array of Stealth attacks and an exceptional Attack Reaction for its game plan: Just a Nick (1). Uzuri, Switchblade may end up using a few Stealth attacks as well.

Enigma May Change the Game Entirely

Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light and Dromai, Ash Artist have already shown us how great Illusionist as a class and a strong board state is powerful in Flesh and Blood. Even though Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry will struggle a bit more to keep the auras on the board at all times, some classes, like Guardian, may struggle quite a lot to deal with her.

This new Illusionist may not be as strong as the other ones, but its plan of keeping several auras on the board and using some (or even none) Phantasm (the main weakness of the previous Illusionists) may make her one of the best decks in Classic Constructed. It may even push out of the meta various decks, like Azalea, Ace in the Hole and Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty. This is a hero everyone should keep an eye on and see how the other heroes will react to her.

Zen Still Needs to be Put to the Test

Zen, Tamer of Purpose clearly wants to focus on Crouching Tiger, but the question is still: how strong is this strategy in Classic Constructed? Can it be aggressive enough to fit a metagame like the one we're playing today?

We already know that Katsu, the Wanderer is currently the best Ninja in the format with its explosive Bonds of Ancestry (1) combo, but will Zen go the same way? Will all these Mystic cards make him a great Ninja? Only time will tell us.

What did you think of this new set? Will Enigma turn the metagame upside down? Did this set raise the game's power level a bit more?

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!