We begin today’s Banned and Restricted announcement with an adjustment to two important policies.
Living Legend Multiplier
We will be adjusting the Living Legend multiplier for heroes in their first year of legality from 0.5x to 0.75x.
Early returns on the Living Legend multiplier have looked solid, giving strong heroes ample time to be adjusted and tweaked to acceptable levels while offering a modest and well dispersed replacement for the missing points via the 1.5x multiplier. However, a hero like Gravy Bones – one of the first to live his entire lifespan under the multiplier system – has probably garnered a bit too much protection for just how powerful he is.
If Gravy Bones represents the upper echelons of intrinsic hero power, we’d expect to see his life span range somewhere between 15-24 months. As it stands, he has a chance to exceed that range, especially now that strong tailored hate has started to arrive on the scene. If he had gained just a few more points during his stronger, less contested periods, his points total would be more in line with where we’d like to see them at this juncture.
We continue to closely monitor the 1.5x multiplier to ensure it is garnering the type of net point introduction necessary for the Living Legend system to function without creating negative player experience. Thus far, the multiplier is achieving its goals. Should that change, we will not hesitate to adjust.
Start of Game Procedure
As explained in today’s post from our rules team, we will be trialing a new pre-game procedure throughout IAR season. Simply put, players will now:
Simultaneously reveal their heroes, then
Simultaneously reveal their arena cards (weapons, equipment, etc.), then
Prepare their deck for presentation.
We have closely followed player concerns around the capacity for Oscilio to present two very distinct gameplans, and the impact of this versatility on player behavior in tournaments. We spent considerable time reviewing many potential policy changes and solutions. All have strengths and weaknesses. While we won’t discuss all of our considered options today, we did want to share our assessment of open decklists, and why we chose not to use this solution.
In our view, the damage open decklists would do to creativity in deckbuilding is slightly too high to justify it as a solution to what is mostly an Oscilio-centric problem. With these changes to policy, other offenders of the multiple playstyle dilemma, such as Decimator Great Axe Fang or Scepter of Pain Florian are reasonably well dealt with, and you are at least able to make deck composition decisions against an Oscilio packing Storm Striders, even if your Arcane Barrier decision must still be made in the blind. Furthermore, bans targeting the attacking version of Oscilio should further push that hero in a more predictable direction.
We also feel it is on us as designers to better provide options for hedging against arcane damage in the future. Cards like Shelter from the Storm and Fallen Herald are good examples of how our philosophy around arcane damage prevention has changed over the years.
We want to be clear that we do not view this policy change as a perfect solution to the Oscilio issue, but rather a safeguard against other similar issues arising in the future and a step towards harm mitigation in the brief present while Oscilio is still with us. Sometimes making the best decision for the long-term health of Flesh and Blood involves taking a half-measure rather than holding out for a perfect solution that simply may not exist. We recognize that some people will fear this doesn’t go far enough, and that some will miss the ability to offer unexpected weapon sidesteps like Decimator Great Axe or Scepter of Pain in the future. Both stances can be valid based on personal preference. As with all policy, we will monitor, review, and adjust as necessary to make Flesh and Blood the best game it can possibly be.
Classic Constructed
The following changes to Classic Constructed are effective from Friday, September 18, 2026:
Brand with Cinderclaw is unbanned.
Entwine Lightning is banned.
While diversity in Classic Constructed has remained impressive, Oscilio’s statistical performance has begun to cause concern. Certainly, this has not always manifested in tournament outcomes. In matchup data though, Oscilio is routinely showing the best win rates. Add in our desire to try to drive Oscilio down a more predictable deckbuilding path, and an Entwine Lightning hit is our most surgical option to make a small adjustment and also avoid splash damage to other Lightning decks.
We said the following when Brand with Cinderclaw was banned back in December:
“Today’s bans are, for the most part, not designed to target unacceptably powerful cards. They intend to take away tools from the decks that currently sit atop the format in hopes of shaking up the metagame. It is important to understand that as the format evolves, it is very likely that some, if not all of these cards eventually return to the legal card pool.”
It is fair to say that the format has, in fact, evolved. With the most recent Calling finals consisting of a Teklovossen vs Jarl slugfest, there is no question that control has risen back into contention once more. The time seems right to give the Draconic Ninja duo a little extra fire to keep pace as both heroes look to complete their march towards Living Legend ascension.
Silver Age
With the dramatic influx of new players to the Silver Age format, we thought it prudent to once again share our philosophy on Silver Age card legality, first published in March, 2026:
Silver Age Ban List Philosophy
We want to begin today’s Banned and Restricted announcement by sharing our philosophy of how we intend to use the ban list to manage the Silver Age format.
Silver Age is designed to be the primary form of “short-form FAB”, offering fun gameplay, an ever-evolving metagame, and accessibility to our world-leading organized play programs.
The ban list is an active tool to keep the metagame fresh, engaging, and strategically compelling throughout each organized play season.
Time is of the Essence
Our organized play seasons are four months long. Four months is a long time in the world of gaming.
At the conclusion of each season, community voting will bench a slate of heroes, dramatically reshaping the metagame. However, to keep the puzzle compelling, we believe there should also be meaningful change facilitated via the ban list.
Therefore, the intent of our ban list management in Silver Age is not to fine-tune win-rates via the smallest amount of tinkering possible, but rather to reset the puzzle with impactful changes that may include both bans and unbans.
We view each ban list as an exciting refresh opportunity, a moment in time where the format can shift in new and potentially unexpected ways.
Dollars and Sense
When we ban cards in Classic Constructed, we do so with careful consideration of the potential value impact on players and retailers who are invested in the secondary market ecosystem.
Silver Age operates under a different set of economic conditions. Because the format is built entirely on common, rare, and basic cards, there is significantly lower financial friction associated with card availability and replacement.
As such, you can expect us to take a more agile approach to the scope and volume of changes to the Silver Age ban list. Cards may move on and off the list more freely as we shape the format experience over time.
Change for Good
One of our goals with Silver Age is to create a format where change itself is part of the fun.
Rather than long periods of format stability, players should expect regular evolution created by a mix of new product releases, heroes being voted out of the format, and the ban list.
Engaging with new format puzzles, revisiting old cards, and adapting to metagame shifts are all intended parts of the Silver Age experience. In service of this goal, Silver Age banned list updates will not carry the same context explanations as their Classic Constructed analogues. Bans will simply be presented, and we will look forward to watching you all engage with the new puzzle.
Silver Age – Vote Results and Ban List
The following changes to Silver Age are effective from Friday, September 18, 2026:
Briar is benched for one season (33% community vote).
Oldhim is benched for one season (21% community vote).
Oscilio is benched for one season (15% community vote).
Chane is benched for two seasons (developer vote).
Ira, Crimson Haze is unbenched.
Kano is unbenched.
Kayo is unbenched.
Beckoning Haunt is unbanned.
Deathly Delight is unbanned.
Flourish is unbanned.
Sirens of Safe Harbor is unbanned.
Vantom Wraith is unbanned.
Absorb in Aether is banned.
Beaten Trackers is banned.
Emeritus Scolding is banned.
Harmonized Kodachi is banned.
Lightning Press is banned.
Pulping is banned.
Sigil of Suffering is banned.
Snapback is banned.
Next Scheduled Banned and Restricted Announcement
The next Banned and Restricted announcement will be on Monday, October 26, 2026.
