Welcome to the set review for the most unorthodox hero of Rosetta, Oscilio, Constella Intelligence. While I’ve dabbled with gold-fishing Kano, Dracai of Aether, and have brought Iyslander, Stormbind to success at her peak, I’m no Wizard main. Nonetheless, I am beyond excited to crack this puzzle. Thus, I have enlisted the help of some local Wizard enjoyers to dissect the puzzle that is Oscilio. Thanks to Kai Yang, Jin Han, and Ben Lim, all from sunny Singapore, for helping me out and giving a different perspective on Oscilio.

Without further ado, to the review! 

Oscilio, Constella Intelligence

Oscilio is an amalgamation of two halves that play very strange Flesh and Blood.

Firstly, as a Wizard, Oscilio’s niche compared to the rest of the cast is massive arcane damage. Whilst traditionally less efficient, it makes up for the loss of efficiency in the difficulty of blocking arcane, needing a combination of Arcane Barrier, spellvoid effects, and blues from hand. This weakness is also partially patched up via the usage of Oscilio’s signature weapon, Volzar, the Lightning Rod, amping the damage of Oscilio’s finishing blow with the number of Lightning cards that precede it.

Secondly, the Lightning cards in Rosetta play largely with the manipulation of action points and keeping Oscilio’s attacks unending. While untraditionally Wizard, Oscilio’s barrage of physical damage leaves opponents dealing with a flurry of efficient attacks. This feeds into Oscilio’s Wizard half which pushes the last blast of arcane that overwhelms defenses.

This combination of cards is hard to line up, thus Oscilio’s hero power aids in the consistency via providing the ability to cycle through instants to line up combos more optimally, or defend well in a pinch.

Kai Yang’s Thoughts of Oscilio

Oscilio, Constella Intelligence has an incredible hero ability to be able to filter an instant card from hand once per turn. It isn’t an ability you build around, but it is an ability that greatly supports whatever game plan you opt to build around instead by cycling cards.

Oscilio’s signature weapon, Volzar, the Lightning Rod, looks to be the most obvious card to build around given its potential to be able to generate high amounts of amp for just one resource (sometimes zero). The general play pattern would be similar to the Cheerios Briar of 2021, where you play a bunch of Lightning cards with go again to deal lots of physical damage with awkward breakpoints, but instead of ending the combat chain with a Rosetta Thorn activation, in Oscilio, you end it with a Volzar activation to amp the following Wizard spell you play. There are many crazy plays you can make with the synergy of Aether Bindings of the Third Age, Lightning Greaves, Gone in a Flash, Blast to Oblivion, and multiple Sigils, so have fun exploring!

With Oscilio’s hero ability being so flexible to accommodate any game plan, I doubt that this would be the only archetype that would surface during the Rosetta season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some vintage Kano-esque gameplay using Stir the Aetherwinds and Forked Lightning, or the development of some one-turn kill strategies.

Jin Han’s Thoughts of Oscilio

The term “cycling” refers to the act of discarding a card from hand to draw another. This term derives from Magic: the Gathering, and it enables flexible play lines and miraculous top-decks. One example is the finals of Flesh and Blood‘s Pro Tour: Los Angeles, where Arthur Trehet cycled into a Sigil of Solace off a Sink Below to clutch a Pro Tour win from the jaws of defeat.

Oscilio, Constella Intelligence ideally requires three different card types to have a functional turn. A Lightning, an instant, and an arcane damage action. This makes his hero ability great at fixing “dead” hands, leading to a lot of flexibility and skill expression to how Oscilio can craft his turn cycles. Tapping into the Lightning talent also makes Oscilio much more aggressive and unpredictable, as he weaves wide combat chains that can end on a tall arcane spell. This ability to go both tall and wide is what makes Oscilio a formidable foe. Arcane Barrier becomes inadequate to stem the tide of aggression that Oscilio can dish out.

Ben’s Thoughts of Oscilio

I feel like he was designed with the books Tome of Fyendal and Tome of Aetherwind in mind, yet is still brimming with potential. The puzzle to finding the correct ratios and game plan is critical to his success as he mimics Runeblades, whereby he wants his turns to be a mixture of three Lightning cards and an arcane finisher. Anything besides this precise ratio leads to a lot of lost value, either on Volzar, the Lightning Rod‘s activation or on lacking action points. Lastly, some cards require enablers from frail instants to extend your hand, thankfully aided by Oscilio’s hero power. On the bright side, some of your draws are absolutely mad, and you blast your opponent out of the water, and outright gives you a game ending combo, like Kano, Dracai of Aether with extremely frail blocks.

Sigils

First of all, the Sigils are Oscilio, Constella Intelligence‘s trademark bread and butter. These Sigils will trigger and set up large turns, or are used to bounce to hand to trigger their leaving play effects, enhancing your combos without costing you action points so you can continue your attack! They can also be discarded in a pinch to Oscilio’s ability, lest too many appear at once, or if you’re digging for raw damage to pressure an opponent.

The highlights of Oscilio’s arsenal are Sigil of Brilliance, Sigil of Conductivity, and Sigil of Aether. Sigil of Brilliance remains as one of the few ways to cheat on cards in Flesh and Blood, and as a base, amps your Volzar, the Lightning Rod charge for one, and sets up your following hand to be a five-card hand. However, with Lightning shenanigans (more on this later), Sigil of Brilliance can be bounced to hand over and over again, refreshing your hand while further pushing your Volzar amplification. 

Sigil of Aether is likewise, threatening one arcane damage, and if unblocked, an additional damage in the form of amp for your next arcane blast as well. Once again, occurring once is acceptable, however, combined with other cards to be used over and over again, it pressures your opponent to deplete their blocking resources to prevent this damage, opening them up to a surge attack later in the chain. Sigil of Aether also serves the dual purpose of being threatening, perhaps goading an opponent to committing a full card to block its effect, when your turn encompasses fully physical attacks.

Lastly, the Sigil of Conductivity is uniquely positioned as a Sigil that doesn’t leave the battlefield against most opponents, unlike its contemporary bread and butter, Sigil of Lightning. Arcane shelter will not be broken against heroes without access to arcane damage, allowing you to always have a Sigil active during the game to be bounced to provide the Embodiment of Lightning, and to keep Volzar free. Not the flashiest card, but a critical utility piece.

While other Sigils are definitely a consideration in Oscilio (and hold a lower deck building cost because of his hero power), they are less of standouts to the aforementioned three, due to not being Lightning cards, thus not Amping Volzar.

Lightning

Gone in a Flash

Gone in a Flash is a highlight of the set, and if triggered repeats itself for another hit, essentially granting another four damage and a Volzar charge every time it’s bounced. Thus, Gone in a Flash is the premier payoff for having excess action points and for activating the legendary Lightning Greaves. It can be compared to High Octane combos with Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire, where Gone in a Flash is the Teklo Plasma Pistol, instants are the boost cards, and Lightning Greaves represents High Octane.

Lightning Greaves

Lightning Greaves also has other applications, although with the departure of Tome of Fyendal and Tome of Aetherwind from the Classic Constructed metagame they remain rather tame.

Additional action points is always a broken thing in Flesh and Blood, and if combined with methods of card advantage, such as card draw in the form of Snatch, Sigil of Brilliance, and Channel Lightning Valley, or repeated card effects such as Eternal Inferno and Gone in a Flash, the combo attacks Oscilio can generate can be insane. The question isn’t if it is powerful, but how you line up the game state to set up the game swinging combo.

Eclectic Magnetism

Eclectic Magnetism is Kai Yang’s favorite Oscilio card for the set, so I’ll let him take it away!

While I think most people’s favorite Oscilio card would be Gone in a Flash or Sigil of Brilliance, mine instead is Eclectic Magnetism!

Having on-rate defense at three and offense at one resource for five damage is actually considered good for a card printed with the Lightning talent. Its effect is also just an upgraded Vela Flash without the cost of fusing.

What this card lacks in combo power compared to the above two cards, it surprises in terms of its flexibility. The opportunity to play a non-attack action as an instant allows you to go wide by playing cards like Sizzle to gain an action point while buffing the next attack action played. If going wide is not your style, playing out a Voltic Bolt to deal five arcane damage on top of Eclectic Magnetism’s five physical damage is extremely powerful too.

Cheating out action points is a rare opportunity in Flesh and Blood and is even impossible for most current heroes in the game. The flexibility of the card also acts as a mask to keep the opponent guessing as to what you are trying to achieve with its effect, potentially leading to their misplays.

Eclectic Magnetism is definitely a card that will make its way into every Lightning deck.

Blast to Oblivion

Blast to Oblivion is Ben’s favorite card so I’ll let him talk about the combos it can entail!

Blast to Oblivion serves as a critical piece for insane combo lines with Sigil of Brilliance to generate a massive amount of amp on Volzar, the Lightning Rod. It is the main catalyst that enables Sigil of Brilliance as a draw and action point generator with Lightning Greaves alongside Electromagnetic Somersault. Outside of the game-winning combo, Blast to Oblivion can also be used on off turns as a chain extender with Sigil of Conductivity. The main benefit of Blast is its flexibility, and it’s a card worth pondering over each time it’s drawn to maximize its use cases.

Electromagnetic Somersault

Lastly, this is Jin Han’s favourite card for Oscilio, and its many applications will be covered by him below!

This card is amazing in both defense and offense. It increases your “storm count” by two, amping Volzar, the Lightning Rod by triggering two Lightning cards for the price of one, turning cards like Flittering Charge into pseudo Gone in a Flash, all while powering up Volzar. This card also goes crazy with Blast to Oblivion on turns you have Sigil of Brilliance and Lightning Greaves activated.

Its defensive uses are also not to be scoffed at, sometimes being able to block for six by returning two blocking cards back to hand, somewhat functioning like what Three of a Kind did in Lexi, Livewire during her hay day, granting powerful turns while still defending well. Being able to defend a Spinal Crush without armor and present a counter-offense is a feat few aggressive decks can boast, and is part of Oscilio’s greatest strengths.

Utility Lightning Cards

Current Funnel is a powerful card that achieves many of the ratios that Oscilio, Constella Intelligence wants, granting Go Again to cards, being a Lightning card to charge Volzar, the Lightning Rod whilst also being a blue that blocks for 3! Thus, it is the perfect card to bridge together multiple cards in a long combat chain. These are all effects Oscilio is interested in, and is likely a core card in this deck.

Drawing a card, is a fundamental joy in card games. This card serves as a Lightning instant to trigger Blast to Oblivion and Gone in a Flash, but also replaces itself if the attack were to connect, all being threatened at Instant speed! As if that wasn’t enough, the card can stick around on the rare occasion Oscilio is pitching, threatening a larger turn to follow. Do take note that specifically with Gone in a Flash, it only triggers its bounce effect on the first instant you cast, thus it is unfortunately a non-bo for it, and needs to be cast before beginning your Gone in a Flash chains.

While it is not an auto-include, it is a card that threatens a lot of power in a deck that’s turns are begging for more cards, and in a hero whereby it’s Instant card type is less punishing.

Lastly, High Voltage serves as a powerful card for tall Arcane blasting builds, Amping 2 essentially with Volzar, pitching for Channel Lightning Valley and being able to be cycled by Oscilio. Unexciting, but possibly powerful in some builds!

Wizard Finishers

So how do we close our long combat chain? With torrents of arcane magic of course! The above are the premier Wizard finishers for Oscilio, Constella Intelligence, with Eternal Inferno abusing surge and action points from Lightning Greaves or Blink to provide an “on hit deal four.” Combos with other amp effects can potentially extend the applications for this card, however they are quite limited outside of funky Chorus of the Amphitheater turns.

Destructive Aethertide is likely a staple due to its easy blue cost, and powerful utility effect to deny an opponent an arsenal and keeping an opponent’s counter-attack lean. Blocking for three, it only wishes it was a Lightning card to fulfill all of Oscilio’s wishes.

Lastly, Etchings of Arcana is uniquely powerful in Oscilio, essentially saying “draw a card on a surge,” allowing him to replay a Sigil discarded or previously cracked, such as Sigil of Brilliance, to setup future turns. At the cost of zero, it is an easy finisher after Oscilio’s assault.

These cards are less of an auto-include, yet serve their own purposes. Comet Storm // Shock can be discarded to Oscilio’s ability to ensure that your hand remains less clunky, and is largely a flexible card, able to serve as a finisher when need be, a cycling card, or a card that blocks for three. Also, as an outlet for excess pitch, the Shock half of the card will amp Volzar, the Lightning Rod further to push Comet Storm’s damage. Lastly, it provides the rare surprise damage on your opponent’s turn to finish them off.

Glyph Overlay is useful as it keeps your Sigil effects efficient, as they would buff its damage on top of Volzar’s effect, followed by immediately triggering all of their abilities. However, it’s only useful on Sigil-heavy builds, and painfully removes them from the field, cashing them out immediately rather than leaving them on the battlefield for future use.

Lastly, Open the Flood Gates threatens a lot of potential. While under-rate, drawing two cards can be a powerful effect if built around, either via instants or once again cheating action points. While I’ve struggled to make the card work, it’s always a card that has to be watched out for in the future. Never underestimate a Tome effect on a card.

Lastly, Wizard’s legendary pushes Oscilio’s finishing blow to newer heights, amplifying a single attack off the charts for a single turn. It’s especially useful for pushing surge effects to trigger, such as Destructive Aethertide or Mind Warp, usually for two outside of absurd bounce effect turns. Innocuous but important to push Oscilio’s power even further. It even blocks for one!

Final Notes

I hope this cacophony of card combinations talks some sense into the great potential Oscilio, Constella Intelligence offers. I never imagined myself a member of Team Lightning, but the thrills Oscilio provides has me addicted, and I would count myself an honorary Wizard moving forward! 

Thanks again to Jin Han, Kai Yang, and Ben Lim for helping figure Oscilio out with me! Kai Yang can often be found speaking his mind on the state of Flesh and Blood here! 

Jin Han blogs his adventures and achievements (such as taking down our Nationals this year) on his blog  – https://enlightenedspike.substack.com

As for me, see you all at Worlds Osaka 🙂

More Rosetta Reviews:

Rosetta Review – Florian

Rosetta Review – Verdance

Rosetta Review – Aurora

Rosetta Review – Generic + Expansion

The Best Rosetta Cards for Commoner

Rosetta Blitz Deck Review – Aurora + Florian