You know how you can tell that I’m boring?

Alright, don’t answer that. What I meant to get at is the fact that, while most of the community is talking about Battle Hardeneds and meta breakdowns and the confirmation that the next set is taking place in Misteria, I’m over here beyond stoked because Legend Story Studios recently announced preconstructed decks for Classic Constructed.

Yes, I’m boring, but I also love playing Flesh and Blood very casually these days, and hooking my other gaming friends into FAB with a good old-fashioned precon battle has had me very excited these past weeks. But with my recent venture into tabletop wargaming, I’m also acutely aware of some of the pitfalls and shortcomings that products geared towards newer players can fall into.

So let’s take some time to talk about the hows and whys of creating good introductory products for new players. And because this is still the internet, we’re doing it in list form!

No Chase Cards

This might seem counter-intuitive, but hear me out. If your goal is not just to move product but to create an on-ramp for new players to fall in love with your game, making sure that they can actually buy said product is step zero in your battle plan. It’s what has to go right so that everything else you have to do is even possible.

We’ve seen LSS misstep on this before with Classic Battles: Rhinar vs. Dorinthea, which was overpriced for players just buying the damn thing to start playing and also susceptible to scalping because of the printing of Glistening Steelblade.

Now, it’s not as bad as it could’ve been – Glistening Steelblade didn’t make Dorinthea Ironsong a meta monster, ensuring that there were still copies of the box available for purchase toward its intended purpose. But imagine how bad things could have gotten if they had chosen a different hero to reward with a unique and exclusive specialization, or if the specialization in question had been powerful enough to make them a top tier deck!

Reprints

FAB has it slightly better when it comes to its financial on-ramp for new players. The maximum number you need of any given card is three, and the really expensive stuff is generally fine as a one-off (looking at you, Crown of Providence and Balance of Justice).

Furthermore, the bulk of any deck is made up of commons and rares which are dirt cheap – which by extension means that the juicy reprints to get new players on their way need to be meaningfully rare and powerful. A tough balance to strike when you take into consideration that chase cards will make the precons fly off the shelves without getting anyone new into the game!

I think it can be done, but it will be tricky. Art of War, Command and Conquer and Enlightened Strike are basically impossible includes, simply because they are too generically powerful and ubiquitous. But powerful, rare, and otherwise pricy cards that are niche playable in their given hero or class will ensure that, while established players will sometimes pick up a copy of the precon just for the reprint, not every player will do so.

Prime candidates for this are things like Tear Asunder in a Bravo, Showstopper precon or the full Winds of Eternity line in Katsu, the Wanderer. Cards that are somewhat pricy make the deck marginally better, but aren’t exciting to buy.

Guides

Now this is a big one and, along with our next point on the agenda, the one where LSS needs to step up their game the most. The Blitz precons so far have basically come with nothing more than a QR Code that links to the game’s homepage to get people on their way to play Flesh and Blood. I can’t overstate how insane that is. There isn’t even a quick “this is how the turn works” sheet.

And yes, maybe I’m old and overestimate the amount of effort people have to put in to learn to play – after all, there are excellent community resources that teach people to play the game, like the great how to play video from Tolarian Community College (which got me started playing FAB).

But getting your intro straight from the company that makes the game is important for optics – and a way for LSS to tell people what they want their game to be. It’s a tone setter, and it’s welcoming. I wouldn’t want much more than a short rundown of a turn, the different card types, a short upgrade guide for the deck, and some basic strategy.

But I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen frustrated in their first game of FAB because they weren’t fully aware that just blocking with your whole hand is a perfectly valid option. Tell them, LSS! You can still keep the dang QR Code if you supplement it with something.

Community

Keep in mind that I am biased, but one of the greatest things about FAB is the community. A precon is the perfect place to advertise all the great content that people make (maybe just by pointing out hashtags or community resources like Fabrary or yours truly) – this gets people deeper into the game and helps bolster all the great content creators that further advertise your game for free.

The other greatest thing about FAB – which, granted, has to come with the qualification that it isn’t for everyone – is organized play. Most TCG veterans will know by now that this is FABs whole thing, but new players often don’t even know that that is an avenue they can pursue.

And with how good FAB is for competitive gameplay and organizing frequent, local tournaments, precons should point this out for the fledgling Michael Hamiltons all over the world! And, needless to say, once PvE is out, do the same thing with it – tell people what they can do within your game.

New Cards

Okay, bear with me. I know this goes completely against my introductory point, but I believe in the LSS design team. It is very possible to print new cards that fill a hole in a hero’s arsenal without going overboard and making a chase card that people will scalp the precons for.

I’m thinking of things that subtly nudge unfavored match-ups in another hero’s favor, sideboard all-stars, or niche specializations like Intoxicating Shot that are mainly good because they offer consistency or flexibility, or are just straight up fun.

This is the hardest to get right – it might even be harder than me not talking about Riptide in one of my articles. But if done well, this could be the best thing to come out of CC precons (besides the new players, obviously). I’ve spoken before about how great the inclusion of new cards worked in Round the Table, and LSS has a perfect setup to repeat their success here. And I can’t wait to sing their praises once they do.

Further Reading:

Is Flesh and Blood More Than Just a Math Game?

Battling Burnout in Flesh and Blood

Legends, Stories, and Immersive Gameplay in Flesh and Blood

Jonah Lara

Raised on a steady diet of fantasy storys and video games, Jonah discovered trading card games at the impressionable age of 12 and has since spent over half his life and about the same percentage of each monthly salary on card games. If he's not brewing new decks or catching up on the latest FaB news, he's probably dead - or painting a new Warhammer mini.