Legend Story Studios (LSS) dropped a surprise update to the Flesh and Blood Banned and Restricted list, making three changes to the Living Legend format, which will be on display at the World Championship in November.
LSS had planned on sticking to its scheduled B&R update set for November 3 (which would go into effect on November 10, just three days before the World Championship starts in Philadelphia), but the article notes enough data is in for the studio to know what changes need to be made to balance Living Legend now rather than waiting a couple weeks.
Zephyr Needle — Banned
Zephyr Needle, the often-problematic Ninja weapon, has run its course in Living Legend. The two-handed weapon has proven to be too strong when games are played on a fast timeline and LL games are much faster than their Classic Constructed counterparts. Ira and Zen were gladly playing the full nine copies of Up Sticks and Run, which made Zephyr Needle’s downside negligible.
Count Your Blessings — Restricted
LSS has made it clear it wants to move away from Count Your Blessings being a control deck game plan due to its unfun play patterns and tournament logistics, especially in untimed rounds. A restriction on the card is about the same as a banning, as the card doesn’t pack the same punch when a deck can’t load up on the effect to get the most out of the life gain.
Warmonger’s Diplomacy — Unrestricted
Living Legend players can now go back to a full set of Warmonger’s Diplomacy as a way to disrupt decks that can consistently and easily pull off game-ending combos. Many of the top decks could deploy their game plans without fear of disruption and reliable interaction, but this change gives any deck the ability to run three copies of a card that can limit the busted things certain strategies rely on with the full card pool of Flesh and Blood at their disposal.
These changes go into effect today. Read the official announcement from LSS.
The next scheduled B&R update is still on November 3, but the window will likely only be used for an emergency situation due to its proximity to the World Championship.
