James White gave his customary keynote address at the Flesh and Blood World Championship today, showing off the first look at the next booster release, the upcoming Organized Play roadmap, and more.
Product Releases
On the eve of the World Championship in Osaka, Japan, White revealed the product roadmap for Flesh and Blood in 2025. The schedule includes five Armory Decks, two booster releases, and the Mastery Pack Guardian supplemental product, which was moved back from March to August to better coordinate with an additional product called Smash Palace, but no other information on it was provided.
An extra product named Mastery Pack Archive will be available only in Japan. It will support the Armory Deck for Jarl and is 100 percent reprints. It will release in stores in Japan on December 20.
The Hunted
The next Flesh and Blood set will be The Hunted and is set to release on January 31.
The Hunted is Flesh and Blood’s 15th booster release and brings players back to the world of Volcor, focusing on two Dracai heroes and their hunt for vengeance following the assassination of the emperor back in Dynasty. Of course, while these heroes seek out Arakni, the assassin will also be hunting them.
Cindra, Dracai of Retribution is a new Royal Draconic Ninja and Fang, Dracai of Blades is a new Royal Draconic Warrior.
Of course, Arakni is an Assassin, but we know little else of why there appears to be six different versions of the hero in The Hunted.
Key Dates
- Preview Season: January 14-17
- World Premiere: January 17
- Calling: Prague (The Hunted Limited): January 18-19
- Pre-Release Events: January 24 – February 2
- Release Day: January 31
The World Premiere for The Hunted is slated for January 17-19 in Prague, featuring the usual Sealed World Premiere event on Friday, followed by the Limited Calling from the 18-19.
Take a look at a few of the preview cards with a focus on the new marking mechanic.
The booster configuration for The Hunted is:
- 265* card set (1 Fabled, 6 Legendary, 42 Majestic, 66 Rare, 130 Common, 16 Token, 17 Marvels)
- 16 cards per pack, 24 packs per display, 4 displays per case
- Designed for Booster Draft (3 packs), Sealed Deck (8 packs), and Constructed formats
- Available languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish
- *Japanese language The Hunted has 267 cards, with 2 additional Legendary cards (Braveforge Bracers, Valiant Dynamo)
There will be four Blitz decks for The Hunted, with two of the heroes yet to be revealed.
For more product information check out the official page from LSS.
Organized Play
The 2025 Organized Play roadmap looks similar to this year’s with an extra Skirmish season to give more love to format likes Blitz and Living Legend.
With the addition of a third Skirmish season, some changes are coming to the Blitz format.
- Upping the Living Legend threshold for Blitz from 500 to 1,000 points to mirror Classic Constructed
- All heroes will have their LL points doubled except Zen, brining the Mystic Ninja hero back
- Seasonal programs will have a fixed number of LL points
These changes will go into effect on November 12, the same day of a scheduled Banned & Restricted announcement that will impact Blitz. The update will make sure Zen is in line in the format, allowing the hero to exist in Blitz for more than one season.
Flesh and Blood is also giving their OP framework the World Tour branding, which will all culminate in a Player of the Year award given out at the World Championship.
2025 will once again feature two Pro Tours, a World Championship, National Championships, and a smattering of Callings and Battle Hardened events. Under the new system players will earn World Tour Points based on their final standings at Battle Hardened events, Callings, National Championships, Pro Tours, and the World Championship. At the end of Worlds, the player with the most points will be crowned the Player of the Year and take home their share of the $100,000 prize pool which will be spread out among top finishers.
Check out the Flesh and Blood World Championship Live Blog for more details on the keynote presentation and coverage of the 2024 World Championship all weekend long.
