With the release of Part the Mistveil, I’ve been on a little bit of a Nuu, Alluring Desire spree. Through all the deck conceptualizing, brewing, and playtesting, one concept has been on my mind as a big contributor to Nuu’s power: the power of unknown information.

What Do You Mean by Unknown Information?

Unknown information is less relevant in Flesh and Blood compared to other card games, as Flesh and Blood hinges on maximizing the value of each hand you draw to maximize redrawing to intellect. However, the arsenal and how you use the hand in any given assault is still hidden. This is where one can manipulate the effectiveness of your opponent’s blocks.

This is important as a lot of incidental value can be manipulated by devaluing your opponent’s blocks. This could be goading an opponent’s armor or improper block, baiting over-blocks on an innocuous threat, or an opponent holding onto blocks for on hit effects… that never come. Here are a couple of examples of using unknown information to your advantage.

Using Unknown Information

Goading Armor

The first example involves making your opponent use armor in inopportune situations so they can’t be used against future attacks. Most strong FAB players are very wary on using their armor, trying to maximize each point of value garnered from it, perhaps to avoid evasive attacks or answer critical breakpoints.

Thus, using breakpointed attacks whenever possible to draw armor opens the opponent to more vicious attacks later on. A common example is the use of Mounting Anger early in the combat chain to goad armor or defense reactions, to end a long Fai, Rising Rebellion combat chain with a Snatch to punish.

A more complex method of goading armor involves threatening an opponent with potential threats. The most common example is using Breaking Scales pushing a critical breakpoint forward allowing Katsu, the Wanderer to trigger his ability. The threat of its activation often forces opponents to over-block Whelming Gustwave by one to avoid the draw, and small edges gained across the game via these threats results in an opponent with few defensive options in the end game.

Attack Reactions

The second example mostly revolves around threats of attack reactions

Secondly, the reaction step is a critical point whereby unknown information can be very powerful. Traditionally versus Dawnblade Dorinthea Ironsong, preventing her from landing two swings is critical to prevent her weapon from snowballing. However, the strength of her ability involves not revealing her hand on her swing, presenting a wide variety of potential threats. Unlike Dorinthea, however, an opponent has to commit their blocks before the Dorinthea has to react, which allows her flexibility in how she deals with her defense.

Traditionally, the answer to prevent a Dawnblade attack is to over-block for three multiplied by the number of cards they have in their hand. This is subverted by the combination of Glint the Quicksilver and Twinning Blade, swinging a second time, while you as the opponent lack the defensive tools to answer the second attack. Keeping a stern poker face while an opponent is defending is crucial when using classes reliant on reactions to mount their attacks.

Follow-Up Attacks

The last example is threatening potential follow-up attacks. Often players save their blocking cards to maximize their effectiveness, often to negate on hit effects. One example is threatening powerful chain finishers. Snatch is the most ubiquitous one, hosting a powerful on hit, while other examples such as Salt the Wound and Tenacity would be significantly less powerful if an opponent knew they were coming.

However, other less obvious examples are present. Against Kayo, Armed and Dangerous for example, following a go again attack, players might often hold their blocking cards to ward off a potential Command and Conquer or Send Packing, however, this is punished by using Cast Bones and arsenalling an attack, presenting an even more devastating attack on the following turn. Another example is the use of Bolt'n Shot in Azalea, Ace in the Hole to imply a more powerful on hit effect later in the chain, such as Red in the Ledger. What’s important here is the threat of a future attack causes early chain-starting attacks which would otherwise be blocked to go through cleanly.

On the contrary, gaining go again on an attack otherwise expected can cause an opponent to be unprepared for an attack. This can be done via the usage of Snapdragon Scalers effects to continue the assault. One common example is using Snapdragons on an attack without go again to enable Codex of Frailty, threatening a debilitating on hit an opponent might not be expecting.

Relevance in Nuu’s Strength

The Assassin class uses all of these three to their maximum effect. Our newest Assassin, Nuu, Alluring Desire in particular, takes advantage of all of these, leaving her far more powerful than her cards initially assume.

Firstly, her dagger Beckoning Mistblade is prime for goading armor, as it lacks piercing – a double edged sword, if you will. However, the threat of it potentially extending a Nuu’s turn is powerful enough to force a block, despite Nuu following with a red*heavy hand instead. Given a long enough game, your opponent will be left without armor against an Assassin, a favorable endgame for certain. On top of this, Nuu’s deck is full of annoying breakpoints such as Surgical Extraction and Leave No Witnesses, forcing armor blocks which are further subverted by the four-power attack reaction Venomous Bite.

Also, between her attack reactions and Mask of Recurring Nightmares activation, it’s impossible to block Nuu correctly. If you were to overblock her, she punishes if she has the transcend card for Mask activation. If you block her exactly, she punishes with attack reactions. Lastly, if you were not to block, you succumb to Nuu’s powerful on hits.

Nuu’s Beckoning Mistblade also leaves the nature of her attacks unambiguous. Will she pour all her attack reactions onto her blue attack? Or is she splitting up her attack between two different attacks now that the blue attack has gained go again? This duality makes her even harder to block.

Lastly, Nuu has access to the powerful Undertow Stilettos, allowing her to pull a Slither at any point during the game to subvert over-blocks on an attack by continuing the assault later down the combat chain. This is exceptionally effective on low commitment attacks that are hugely threatening, such as Bonds of Agony, encouraging opponents to block heavily to avoid its detrimental effect, leaving the opponent open to Nuu’s follow up.

These effects in sum allow for Nuu to punch far above her weight, taking down far more powerful foes with her disruption and deception.

Not Having It

Threatening/Bluffing

Now, while the above dilemmas you present your opponent might seem powerful, not every hand in Flesh and Blood lines up perfectly. What’s important with unknown information is you don’t need to actually have the punish every time. A formidable opponent will know what you’re capable of through the nature of your blocks, how you have played your turn out so far either on the turn and throughout the game, guessing what you have in hand. However, it’s possible to misrepresent what you could have.

No matter how weathered a player is, pitching a blue for Command and Conquer with a Fyendal’s Spring Tunic counter up warrants fear of a potential Pummel. All Isolates imply a Command and Conquer waiting in the wings. You don’t need to have what you threaten, you just need to ensure that you play in an efficient manner so that bluffing your opponent into a potential misplay doesn’t hamper your value game. And trust me, once you introduce bluffing into your Flesh and Blood game, the game becomes so much more fun.

Playing around Unknown Information

Proactive Play

So how do we deal with unknown information? The best way, as with all things in Flesh and Blood, is to hit cards out of your opponents hand. Ambiguity is most powerful when an opponent has a large hand, and as you force blocks either via efficiency or on hit effects, what a player can threaten can be narrowed down. And while it’s possible for an opponent to grip their hand through their assault, if you had dealt massive damage to an opponent to keep their hand, regardless of how they punish you, you might have won the turn cycle. A Dorinthea Ironsong knocked down to a one-card hand at reaction step is infinitely easier to block and predict than a Dorinthea holding a full grip.

This is also the case for decks which win out via pure efficiency. If your deck or hand can ignore whatever possible interaction an opponent has, you can avoid the interaction game altogether to enact your game plan, forcing your opponent into answering you instead. The best answer to Nuu’s trickery is not to prevent it, but to find a way to hit her harder.

Risk Management

Another method is risk management. As the game plays out, one player will have the upper hand. If you’re on the back foot, the leeway you have to avoid blowouts from your opponent is strained, hence the best play is to play to your outs and pray they don’t have the punish. There’s no use playing around a Pummel if you lose if you were to play around it, so as the game wanes, you have to take riskier lines to gain back control of the game.

This also applies when you’re ahead. When you’re ahead, you can take safer lines to prevent an opponent from blowing you out from the other angle. Keep your opponent on the ropes and convert your advantage into a win. This can be done via blocking out further to maintain life advantages, to prioritizing defensive tools to prevent an opponent from mounting a comeback.

Reactive Tools

Lastly, defensive tools often give players the opportunity to interact with an opponent’s information. Saving defensive tools such as defense reactions or Snag can keep an opponent’s plays to a predictable line. These allow you agency to interact with an opponent’s diverse threat profile appropriately. With a Sink Below in arsenal, if a Dorinthea Ironsong were to buff their Dawnblade above your defense, you can block it out. Or if they were to subvert your block with Glint the Quicksilver and Twinning Blade, you have a tool to prevent being blown out from that angle too. Being conservative and maximizing your defensive tools for opportune moments to dull an opponent’s assault is critical to blocking well.

Conclusion

I hope this article has given you ideas on how to approach the mind game aspect of Flesh and Blood, and that you are enjoying Part the Mistveil as I have. Practice your poker face, and go have some fun!

Further Reading:

How to Win a Flesh and Blood Mirror Match

The Benefits of Team Play in Flesh and Blood

Pro Flesh and Blood Players Tank, and You Should Too!