Part the Mistveil and Pro Tour Amsterdam
Pro Tour Amsterdam is just around the corner and players worldwide are gearing up once again to claim the title of Pro Tour Champion and earn their spot at World Championship Osaka. Pro Tour Amsterdam is not just a big event, but a celebration of Flesh and Blood with the global community and friends. Whether you’re aiming to compete on the world stage, or you’re someone who just learned how to play, we’re here to prime you on what to expect from the newest set, Part the Mistveil.
Alex Kivitz
Mechanics from Misteria
The mist beckons challengers forward, who will answer the call, take a step towards harnessing their Inner Chi, and embark on their journey to Transcend. Part the Mistveil introduced the “Mystic” talent on three new heroes. Zen, Nuu, and Enigma represent the three classes returning to us in Part the Mistveil, as Ninja, Assassin, and Illusionist respectively. The first unique thing you’ll notice is that each hero has an activated ability attached to their Hero card utilizing blue resource pips. The new Mystic heroes all harness the power of Chi to power themselves and this is the first main new mechanic of the set.
Part the Mistveil introduces the Transcend mechanic on several cards, and this is integral to the gameplay of the newest heroes. There are several cards with Transcend as a keyword. What this means is that, if you’ve played a blue card previously this turn, as the card with Transcend resolves, it flips to the other side and becomes an Inner Chi card in your hand. These Inner Chi cards now pitch for 3 Chi. Chi are resources that are used to pay for abilities with the blue resource pips like the ones on the Mystic heroes. These Chi Resources can also be used to pay for regular resource costs and are used first when taking resources from your resource pool.
The second big mechanic is the Cloaked mechanic. Several pieces of equipment in Part the Mistveil come with the Cloaked keyword. These pieces of equipment are placed in their respective zones like normal equipment, only at the beginning of the game do they stay face down and are not revealed. These cards are still in play, but their abilities are hidden. Their owners may look at them whenever they like and activate them when the proper conditions are met. Koi Blessed Kimono, for example, stays faced down until you begin your turn on exactly one health.
Drafting Part the Mistveil
This year, Flesh and Blood Pro Tour Amsterdam will be a combined Classic Constructed and Draft format. The unique factor of Part the Mistveil is that your decks are required to be exactly 30 cards. This new dynamic forces players to really evaluate what they need in their deck and make padding your deck with cards that simply block for three not an option.
The new Transcend cards and Cloaked equipment options make the game a lot more skill intensive and forces players to play around more options. To help with preparations, lets go over each of the new heroes, what they do, their cards, and most importantly, what to look out for when drafting Part the Mistveil.
Zen, Tamer of Purpose
Being the Ninja of the set, Zen specializes in extending the combat chain as wide as possible, stretching cards thin and breaking through with incremental bits of damage. Zen’s niche is his ability to create Crouching Tigers through his hero ability as well as through the Ninja cards in the set. These Crouching Tigers on their own are relatively harmless, however have synergy well with combo cards that require said Crouching Tigers to attack beforehand for devastating effects.
Now when drafting Zen, there are several key cards to look out for. Qi Unleashed is the tell-tale sign that you should be going into Zen, especially the red version. If it’s getting to pick 3 or 4 and you still see Qi Unleashed in your pack, that’s the players before you just shouting that Zen is wide open. Additionally, cards like Harmony of the Hunt and Companion of the Claw, attacks that easily make Crouching Tigers, are ones to pick fairly highly. Harmony of the Hunt has the bonus of being able to attack with itself, your weapon, and then the created tiger for a total of 6 damage over 3 attacks with only a single blue resource. Making Enigma work to defend her Ward cards on the field.
Almost every hero in Part the Mistveil relies on Chi to an extent, however in a sealed environment I believe Zen is the one deck to benefit the most from utilizing his hero ability. Zen’s hero ability allows him to search his deck for his most powerful combo cards, like Qi Unleashed, while simultaneously creating a crouching tiger to be played to ensure that the combo conditions are met. In my opinion, the best transcend cards for Zen include The Grain that Tips the Scale, Homage to Ancestors, and most importantly, Preserve Tradition to put the powerful combo pieces back into the deck.
When it comes to equipment pieces, there are two key pickups for a powerful draft deck. The first being Strides of Reprisal acting as a free Crouching Tiger should you not be able to create one for your turn. The best part is that it creates it in hand, allowing you to place it on the bottom for the Emissary cycle of cards in an absolute worst-case scenario. The second key piece is powerful for the same reason as Preserve Traditions. Mask of Wizened Whiskers allows you to set up a powerful turn with very minimal setup, often only requiring a Chi card in hand to tutor the card placed on the bottom of the deck.
Nuu, Alluring Desire
Nuu represents the Assassin class of the set and utilizes a combination of consistent low-to-the-ground attacks, attack reactions, and bits of life gain. Your attacks also come with the stipulation that if they’re blocked you banish the cards blocking them, but also if they hit you banish cards from their decks, graveyards, and everywhere else. The aim is to disrupt your opponents and chip away with attack reactions and attacks that are unappealing to block. Eventually you’ll want to close out the game with a powerful onslaught of attacks played from your opponents banish zone, using their strengths against them.
The key cards to look out for in Nuu are Hiss and Venomous Bite for general good use cards. Additionally, Nuu is the class of tech cards for other match-ups. While lacking in overall damage, Nuu can tailor her deck to better deal with the specific threats of Zen and Enigma. Pick to Pieces is the go-to attack if you see Enigma is closed off during a draft. The unpreventable damage makes this a high priority block target as if it were to hit with its effect, Enigma would lose all of her permanents with Ward. On the same line, Zen is a class that doesn’t enjoy blocking and would provide little value to Nuu’s game plan of playing cards from exile. Desires of Flesh provides an on hit effect of banishing cards straight from the opponent’s deck, filling the banish zone for your without them needing to block, while also providing some form of healing to stabilize yourself.
Nuu does not benefit from transcend cards as much as Zen does, as she aims to use them in the endgame to close out matches with high-value turns that can’t be fully blocked out. Where Zen wants around four transcend cards to have consistent powerful turns, Nuu only needs two or three. These cards can be used to get extra value in the mid-game for bonus attacks or maybe a couple of free Ward permanents from Enigma. In this set the most synergistic transcend cards are The Grain That Tips the Scale, Path Well Traveled, and perhaps most of all, Pass Over to banish a key card from your opponents graveyard to then play with the Chi you get from Transcending.
Nuu also has two key pieces of equipment to help her in making plays that come in the form of an arm piece and a leg piece. Undertow Stilettos acts as a great source of both Go again and an Attack reaction. Whether you’re simply looking to turn on the on-hit effect of Pick to Pieces or give an attack Go again to extend a turn, this piece has you covered. It even has battleworn, allowing you to defend and extract value from the reaction later when needed. The Slither token generated is even in hand, which means you can activate the reaction to turn on the on-hit and keep the go again for the next turn. It is the same with Arousing Wave, allowing you to block and keep up the threat of an attack reaction when needed for a free plus one damage.
Players alternate turns, attacking their opponent while the opponent attempts to block damage. To play an attack, there are two resources to keep track of – Resources and Action points. The easier of the two to track are resources. Resources are generated by pitching cards into the pitch zone and can only be generated when required to pay for a card. A player may not pitch a card for no reason. The second criteria for playing cards is having available action points. Each player begins their turn with a single action point, and playing an action consumes that action point. Unless a card has go again printed on it, no more cards can be played afterwards. Cards with go again generate a new action point when the card has fully resolved.
Now, how does an attack get played? Well, Player 1 begins their turn and wants to attack with Torrent of Tempo. They put Torrent of Tempo on the combat chain. Now they must take any of their other cards in their hand and place it in the Pitch Zone. That card will generate resources equal to it’s pitch value. Torrent of Tempo is now attacking and the action point and resource required are spent. If Torrent of Tempo hits, it will gain go again and a new action point will be generated for a follow-up attack. This is the general idea of how cards are played. Now let’s look at what an average turn of Flesh and Blood will look like.
Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry
Rounding out the cast for Part the Mistveil we have Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry. Engima can be quite complicated to learn and is the least straightforward of the heroes to understand and play. Engima plays around developing auras that stick around on the battlefield with ward, attacking with those auras, and then allowing them to absorb damage. The real skill comes in when you set up a board state that allows you to block out and still swing back with multiple auras. Engima also needs to consistently adapt, shifting from an offensive game plan and defensive game plan, taking into account what’s best for the board state and how to extract maximum offensive and defensive value from their cards.
The main cards you want to be on the lookout for are Waning Vengeance and Waxing Specter. A red Waxing Specter comes in with a plus +1 counter if a blue was pitched, representing an attack for four with go again as well as a ward 3 permanent. Additionally, Waning Vengeance has the important text of being able to develop another ward aura in the form of a spectral shield when Waning Vengeance dies.
The third valuable card to look out for is Spectral Manifestations. Notably, this card is an action with go again as opposed to being an instant. Instants in Flesh and Blood notably have no defensive value. Spectral Manifestations has the defensive option to block for two while also providing a spectral shield with potentially three +1 counters on it. If by picking three or four you’re seeing these cards continue to pass you by, it may be a sign that Enigma is ripe for the taking.
An honorable mention is Battlefront Bastion. While these are already very good cards in the limited environment, these shine even more in Enigma, allowing you to fully block two back to back daggers or Zen’s Tiger Taming Khakkara and a Crouching Tiger follow-up with just one card.
Enigma utilizes transcend cards exceedingly well. Without a weapon of her own to attack, she must keep up an aura with ward, and Enigma’s hero ability does just that. For one Chi, Enigma generates a spectral shield token with ward 1 and a +1 counter. What’s more, it’s an instant ability that can be timed to manipulate other cards in the set that get more powerful the more blues have been pitched that turn. Because Enigma doesn’t play very many attacks, the best transcend cards for her are ones that keep her alive, slow down the opponent, and can be played at any time. You’ll want to pick up Homage to Ancestors, A Drop in the Ocean, and Stir the Pot to bring previously pitched Chi back to the top.
In my opinion, there are two really good pieces of equipment for Enigma. This first the uncontested and what many believe to be one of the best pieces of equipment in the set, Uphold Tradition. Uphold Tradition represents go again on an attack, it represents ward 1, it represents +1 power, and it may be the difference between saving an aura losing it. Its versatility in when it’s used and how it’s used makes it extremely powerful in the right hands. The next one I believe is good is Aqua Seeing Shell. Being a piece of equipment that can block multiple times if the combat chain is broken as well as allowing you to cycle a card in an exceedingly blue hand. I believe this card also represents a lot of versatility in Enigma.
Whether you’re planning on playing in your upcoming National Championship or just playing casually at side events or armories, we hope this has been helpful in preparing you for the games to come. While you all prepare yourselves for the new post Part the Mistveil meta, we are working hard and looking forward to seeing how the meta-game will shape up before Pro Tour Amsterdam.
