Flesh and Blood‘s newest expansion Rosetta has revitalized old archetypes and brought new heroes into the fray. It’s an exciting time to be a Flesh and Blood player, with several high-stakes tournaments on the horizon, such as the World Championship!

For new players, it’s a great time to hop on into the game, especially as a new expansion means more card flow into the ecosystem, plus the introduction of new beginner-friendly products such as the Rosetta Blitz Deck Collection.

With four decks, two booster packs, and a gorgeous playmat, newbies can enjoy the product as a standalone board game, or upgrade the deck into powerhouses. With four decks, we can even split the decks among a fresh playgroup — after all, Flesh and Blood is best enjoyed in the company of friends.

Priced at 70$ MSRP, each deck contains a foil copy of the featured hero, plus non-foil extended art versions of the deck’s centerpiece card.

Today, we’re looking at the two Runeblade heroes, Aurora and Florian, who, coincidentally dominated World Premiere Rosetta during Calling: Tampa Bay.

Aurora

With huge shoes to fill, Aurora is seen as some kind of second coming for Lexi or Briar, with an aggressive Elemental playstyle. However, this Blitz deck focuses on an aura subtheme, potentially to differentiate it from the 1st Strike Aurora deck we previously covered.

Her playstyle still remains the same, though: play fast and hammer the opponent with efficient attacks. But this time, we can use some tricks with our auras to grind out more value over the course of an admittedly short game.

Here’s the deck list for Aurora:

Blast to Oblivion creates a neat bounce effect, which lets us replay auras such as Sigil of Deadwood or Sigil of Lightning, or be used aggressively to deny opponents their token next turn.

Burn Up // Shock is one of the cards we were excited to see in Rosetta, and seems tailor made for Aurora – and with three block, it seems like an efficient card to auto-include.

Other new cards introduced include respectable attacks such as Lightning Form and Hit the High Notes (which seems to be her extended art card!).

The slew of attacks is rounded up by the usual suspects such as Fry, Flittering Charge, and Heaven's Claws.

Meat and Greet makes a welcome return, while Second Strike also plays off of dealing ping damage before utilizing them.

Trip the Light Fantastic is underwhelming given that most defenses are valued at three block per card, but the instant effect makes it a valuable asset in close games. We might see this card pop up more in Classic Constructed, though.

Bloodtorn Bodice isn’t as efficient as other chest pieces, since we need to forgo a token to gain an action point. However, when we have dupes of Embodiment of Lightning, we can just sac one to gain the resource. Flash of Brilliance builds off of the aura bounce subtheme. More importantly, though, it’s a Blade Break card, which is a needed addition at lower rarities.

Star Fall is just an irritating weapon and should be used every turn just to make blocks awkward for the opponent.

Overall, Aurora seems like a straightforward hero to play with some combat tricks here and there. More importantly, she teaches the importance of chain links and timing of instants. She should be easy to pick up and play, even for new players.

Florian

Quite possibly the most exciting hero of the four, Florian simply benefits from having Earth cards in our banished zone. While the setup to get there might be a bit tough, once we’re there, we essentially get a permanent Mordred Tide effect.

Thus, the game plan is to get Florian online ASAP, and start stacking our Runechants every turn to force the opponent to commit their cards.

Interestingly enough, Florian‘s adult version, Florian, Rotwood Harbinger, is the first time the adult version’s effect has been changed, alongside Verdance‘s. We’ll have to see how the adjustments shape up in Classic Constructed.

Here’s the deck list for Florian:

Arcane Cussing (Florian’s extended art card) is an aura which acts like a rattlesnake effect – essentially telling our opponents they will get hurt if they swing into us. It synergizes with Deadwood Dirge, as you can just destroy your own auras for a huge six Runechant proc.

Malefic Incantation also continues this theme, especially when paired with Vantage Point to close out games.

Arcane Seeds // Life is an insane card, especially since the former’s effect lets us create four tokens when Florian is online.

Condemn to Slaughter is a standout card from the rare slot this set, as it lets us combat the opponent’s pesky auras should there be something bothering us. Expect this to show up in sideboards every so often.

Fruits of the Forest is a neat little card, as it allows us to full up our graveyard with Earth cards a bit quicker. Together with Cadaverous Tilling, it presents a huge attack that demands a block.

The only other Decompose card in the deck, which mechanically lets us banish Earth cards, is Rootbound Carapace. Base stats wise, it’s already a respectable card. With Florian, though, it’s definitely best-in-slot. In all, the deck lets us banish up to 10 Earth cards.

Strong Yield and Sigil of Sanctuary are more passive ways to fill up our graveyard.

Helm of Lignum Vitae is just a decent helm, with a potential upside. Well Grounded is functionally the same, albeit at instant speed.

Rotwood Reaper presents four damage and is a great way to close out the turn. Since we’re creating Runechant every turn, the weapon’s condition will almost always be active.

Play with the game’s tempo at the beginning of the game. We can ether present a huge Earth attack or begin stacking up Runechant tokens. Once we have Florian online, we can begin shifting the game towards our side, presenting an annoying onslaught of Runechant pings every single turn.

Both decks present mechanically different ways to approach Runeblade. Aurora prefers to take the fast approach, while Florian goes for a slower one. In fact, given more cards in the pool, Florian could even become a defensive Guardian-style hero with an inevitable endgame. For more gameplay footage and the decks’ potentials, I highly encourage a look into the entirety of the World Premiere Rosetta VOD on Youtube.

Next installment, we’ll review the Elemental heroes Verdance and Oscilio. Till then, happy shuffling!

More Rosetta Reviews:

Rosetta Review – Florian

Rosetta Review – Verdance

Rosetta Review – Aurora

Rosetta Review – Oscilio

Rosetta Review – Generic + Expansion

The Best Rosetta Cards for Commoner