FaB: Past the Mistveil Leaves Classic Constructed - A Review!

This past weekend, on April 19th and 20th, Singapore hosted a Pro Quest, an event that qualifies its big winners for the Pro Tour: Singapore, scheduled for late April/early May. As Pro Quests are important events (namely, they're tier-2 events), they also award Living Legend points to the winning heroes, and, as such, some heroes have become Living Legends because of this event.

Coincidently, two heroes from the same set have become Living Legends this week: Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry and Zen, Tamer of Purpose. So, today, nearly all heroes from Part the Mistveil have become Living Legends. Let's take a deeper look at this set and understand how it became so strong in less than a year.

In June 2024, Flesh and Blood was going through one of the most diverse metas in all of its history. After Dromai, Ash Artist became a Living Legend, many decks started conquering space, and many new strategies came along. At the time, Kayo, Armed and Dangerous, Kassai of the Golden Sand, and Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty were popular on competitive tables, but there was a lot of space for other decks. Even Teklovossen, Esteemed Magnate found a home in the meta.

It was then that one of the most exciting and powerful Flesh and Blood sets was released: Part the Mistveil.

This set added three new heroes to the game - Nuu, Alluring Desire, Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry, and Zen, Tamer of Purpose - and a new talent, Mystic. These three heroes all leaned on a similar strategy: use blue cards in your deck, create Inner Chis and progress your game plan. Straight away, this set already seemed quite strong, and Enigma stood out as the new best deck in the format.

However, the meta changed considerably as time went on, and eventually became one of the most unbalanced Flesh and Blood metas of all time.

Initially, Zen, Tamer of Purpose seemed the weakest out of all the three heroes from the new set. The main reason why was that his ability was similar to Katsu, the Wanderer's, but you had to pay for it with Chi, and he also featured a mechanic centered around Crouching Tiger that didn't seem that interesting. Of course, we were all wrong about him.

The USA Nationals - the biggest Nationals of all - revealed Zen's true power. Using Zephyr Needle to be as aggressive as possible and cards that didn't rely so much on Crouching Tiger, Zen started to dominate all constructed formats, namely Classic Constructed, Blitz, and Living Legend.

With a practically free Art of War (2), Bonds of Ancestry enabled incredibly explosive and consistent turns for Zen. And, thanks to his ability, we could easily find all the cards we needed to play this combo in massive turns. Furthermore, Traverse the Universe - one of the strongest equipment cards ever released - gave us the Inner Chi we needed to play our combo at the right time.

LSS first tried to contain Zen's power by banning a few cards in his strategy, but it wasn't enough. He kept winning Nationals and other events, and dominated the entire Part the Mistveil season. He even pushed out many decks from the competitive scene altogether, and made Blitz one of the worst formats to play at the time.

When the "the great book burning" (that is, when LSS banned a bunch of cards) happened, Zen was hit considerably. At this point, he already had around 600 Living Legend points. Once so many of his cards were banned, his deck went from an aggressive/combo strategy to a midrange strategy, with cards like Command and Conquer and Censor. He also started to work with much smaller hands. And so he survived until his last competitive breath, conquering Living Legend points bit by bit.

Zen was, without a question, one of the biggest design mistakes in the history of Flesh and Blood. His explosive strategy pushed many decks out of the meta and made FaB less fun for a considerable amount of time. After all the bans, he was a bit more balanced, but, still, a powerful pack of cards including Chase the Tail and Aspect of Tiger: Body was enough to lead him straight to Living Legend status.

Zen will certainly be remembered by players as a big design mistake, but he wasn't the only one who left us recently.

We expected Enigma to be the best deck in the format, and she did have a great start, as she won a few events in the first few weeks of the Part the Mistveil season. However, Zen completely overshadowed her after that. She occasionally won a few matches in Nationals and other tournaments, but Zen was still the star then.

It was only in the Rosetta season, after all the major bans, that Enigma skyrocketed and got around 600 Living Legend points. She even won the Osaka World Championship.

What made her one of the best decks in Classic Constructed?

Illusionist, as a Class

For some time now, meta after meta, Illusionists have caused trouble. Enigma might not have been as problematic as Prism, with her Spectra auras, or Dromai, with her Dragons, but her Ward auras gave her two great advantages: they prevented damage and stopped the opponent from targeting them directly.

Thanks to Enigma's signature weapon, her game style was extremely defensive, but also let you attack with her auras for very little. Furthermore, cards like Astral Etchings (1) and Spectral Manifestations (1) turned Spectral Shield into a real threat.

With this strategy alone, Enigma was already a nightmare for classes like Warrior, Guardian, and other midrange heroes.

Nonetheless, her list still played one final, big bad guy - or, better yet, one final, big bad dragon: Manifestation of Miragai.

Manifestation of Miragai is one of the most powerful cards ever printed in Flesh and Blood. This is a blue aura that costs one Inner Chi (which you can get from your deck with Traverse the Universe), stops four damage, and threatens eight damage (and, to attack with it, you only need to spend one resource) with go again. It is insane in a deck that can keep it in play for a long time. You could also make it even more powerful with Astral Etchings (1) and Uphold Tradition.

Very few decks could handle this threat, and the few that could needed to do a lot to simply remove it from the board.

Enigma was also extremely versatile. Some of us played more aggressive versions with Command and Conquer and Pummel (3), others played "fatigue" versions with Count Your Blessings (1). A few even played midrange versions with Phantasmaclasm and Scar for a Scar (1), so they could play with very few cards in hand.

All of these versions were incredibly strong, and were always among the best decks in the format. We thought Enigma's reign of terror would be over when Aurora, Shooting Star came along, as she was supposed to handle this issue, but Enigma somehow came out on top and remained there.

After this long journey, Enigma finally said her goodbyes and showed us that Illusionist, as a class, can still be quite problematic for certain classes. She might have been the most palatable out of all the Illusionists, but she was also as efficient as they were in their own metas.

Nuu might be the only hero from Part the Mistveil in the format now, but her days are numbered. She only needs a bit over 200 points to reach Living Legend status, and has also gone through an incredible journey. After all, she was one of the most disruptive strategies in the history of the game.

Considering the new Stealth cards, Assassin, as a class, has never had such great tools to play as the ones in Part the Mistveil. With her ability, Nuu became a true threat for anyone who relied on decent blue cards, like Macho Grande (3) and Fruits of the Forest (3).

Furthermore, it was so disruptive that it even put aggressive decks in their place. Bonds of Agony removed powerful cards from the enemy deck, and constantly activating Mask of Recurring Nightmares removed cards from their hand.

With Count Your Blessings (1), Nu could also become a "fatigue" strategy. More defensive decks, like Enigma's, were a challenge for Nuu, but, in an aggressive meta, she might finally be able to reach Living Legend status. When she does, the entire Mystic set will be out of Classic Constructed.

Now that Zen and Enigma are gone, the meta will certainly change entirely, and old decks might be able to gain some space.

Aurora has been the best deck in the format for some time now. Even now, after Enigma and Zen have left, Aurora still has great matchups, so I won't be surprised if she remains strong. However, another Runeblade hero might be able to gain some space too.

Before, Florian, Rotwood Harbinger struggled against Enigma, but she's gone. Florian has been a promising hero since he was released, so, now that one of his worst enemies is out of the scene, he might finally get the chance to shine and become the new threat in the format.

Florian's excellent "late game" might finally make him the "force" that "leads" the meta. With cards as efficient as Felling of the Crown and Plow Under, Florian is a midrange deck that can deal damage bit by bit until you can activate his ability and finish with Germinate.

Aurora will still be a headache for Wizards, but a meta without Enigma may bring back a few slower decks, and Wizards will simply love that.

While Verdance and Oscilio are great battlemages and benefit from longer matches, Kano might also take advantage of this meta to find his combo pieces more easily and calmly, without resorting to desperate measures. So, we might see Wizard, as a class, reemerge from the ashes now that Wards are no longer constantly in play.

Enigma has left us, but one Illusionist is still in the format. Prism, Awakener of Sol has been standing out since Pro Tour: London, and might surprise anyone who thinks auras and Wards left the competitive scene for good.

However, her rise to the top might also bring into the spotlight decks that are ready to face her. Furthermore, she might struggle against other aggressive decks that are still in this format, like Aurora, for instance.

What did you think of Part the Mistveil and its departure from constructed formats? Is Flesh and Blood better off without this set? Tell us in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!