The Big Three in trading card games have been the Big Three for more than a decade. Dozens and dozens of games, as well as game models (LCG, UCG, etc.), have appeared. But Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh still stand tall. And they remain the most popular by a margin. But in 2025 there is a contender. It has slogged for years to even have a peek at the summit, and shows the best potential yet of making it a Big Four. I dove in to see what Flesh & Blood (2019) is all about.
Rooted in common ground, Flesh & Blood is not radically different than any other popular TCG. If there is a TCG bell curve, it falls halfway between its fattest and thinnest points. Players spend resources to play cards to attack their opponent and drive their life total to zero. You've heard that before. The central combat engine of Flesh & Blood is, however, its own. It's where the game distinguishes itself, making for a singular TCG experience.
Flesh & Blood is a hero-based game. Players choose a hero, and inherent to it are certain classes of cards which guide deck construction. Players then choose their starting equipment and weapons, and sit down to duel their opponent. Each hero has its own special ability, meaning not only playstyles but matchups are varied and distinct. Some are based on big swing turns, some on combos, some on repeat actions, some on card replacement, some on engine building, etc. All heroes are unique, giving players a chance to explore and find which groove they fit.
The central engine of Flesh & Blood is what distinguishes the game on the TCG scene. Rather than: I-play-cards-you-play cards-and-we-math-out-who-wins, Flesh and Blood features a more complex form of combat. Players build chains of attacks which can be supplemented by equipment and attack reactions, while the opposing player can block or defend. Once all actions have been taken, the players switch positions (metaphorically) and the opposing player becomes the attacking player.
Every card in hand must be evaluated and played across a triangle of potential. A card can be played for attacking (damage or ability), discarded for resources, or used to block. No mixing of those possibilities. But the fact players cannot draw a new hand of cards before attacking is where this decision triangle becomes ultra-critical to understanding Flesh & Blood.
In Flesh & Blood, players draw a fresh hand of cards after attacking. This means whatever hand they draw is used for all three points of the triangle—defending their opponent's imminent attack, having resources to play cards on their next turn, and being able to attack on their next turn. Sacrifices must be made.
This model makes Flesh & Blood a decidedly offense-oriented game. Gameplay is not: Can I block all my opponent's attack damage?, but instead: How much can I block but still do the biggest attack on my next turn? If you play 100% defensively, you will lose 100% of the time because you won't be able to accomplish anything on offense. It amounts to a decision tug of war—an efficiency/effectiveness puzzle, which should appeal to players looking to find the “golden path” through each fresh hand of cards.
The triangle likewise makes for a nice balance of determinism and luck. In fact, Flesh & Blood may be the best balanced TCG out there. It feels fair. Certainly non-determinism is inherent to card draw, but the game beyond is dependent on skill, and even leaves room for skill expression. No mana flood, no super-uber comboes, nothing that will massively swing games because of the cookie crumbling a certain way. I won't get into the tournament side of the game here, but balance is certainly one of the biggest reasons the game is rising in competitive popularity. Players, regardless the hero they choose, feel they have a chance. And for people looking for that degree of balance at the kitchen table have it too.
As of the writing of this review, there are ~40 heroes for players to choose from and nine classes to construct decks within. A dozen+ cycles of cards have been released, giving players hundreds of cards per class to choose from. And it's exploring the heroes, the classes, and the cards available to each that huge amounts of fun are to be had in Flesh & Blood. Which leads to the question: Given there are a million new TCGs on the market the past few years, where does Flesh & Blood fit?
Flesh & Blood does have issues. One is that a lot of cards, or a lot of card hunting, may be needed if the player starts to get into the game beyond the kitchen table. If a person wants to build tournament competitive decks, they will need to purchase not one, but likely three or four booster boxes of one cycle to find enough cards to build a good deck. Given a booster box costs ~$100 USD, it will be a financial challenge. But wait, says the experienced gamer. You can buy single cards to build a deck. Yes, that's true. But that likewise requires effort and time and money—not ~$100 per box money, but potentially more or less depending how good of a deck you want to build. Exacerbating this is that certain cards can have nine—nine--copies in a deck. There are subtle differences (three of a color), but still, finding nine copies of a card can be tedious and expensive. Those nine are not needed for the kitchen table, but if players start to feel their deck is sub-optimal, a deeeeeep rabbit hole awaits.
There is, in fact, only one way to get decks to test and play without spending huge amounts. Formerly called Blitz decks and now First Strike and Armory decks, these preconstructed decks offer players the chance to try decks per hero. The Armory decks do contain enough cards for the full Flesh and Blood experience (60 cards), while the others have enough for the shorter Blitz format (40 cards). It is possible to transform the 40-card decks into full decks, but again, this requires purchasing booster boxes or packs to supplement. As of the writing of this review, there are only a handful of the Armory decks available, but they are growing.
One of the other challenges is that Flesh and Blood can be fiddly at times. While the majority of gameplay is straight forward (the rule sheet is only two pages), there are certain card effects and card interactions that are not obvious, nor are they spelled out on the cards. Players need to seek clarifications online. And try as hard as I like, I couldn't find a consolidated FAQ, which was likewise annoying. Not two pages, the complete rules currently stands at forty pages.
One other thing that will be an issue for some players yet thematic for others is end game. It slows down. Both players are looking to land the killing blow, meaning more cards are used to block compared to early-game trying to protect those last couple hit points. I enjoy this clawing and scratching. It feels like the end of a proper, bloody fight. But there will be people who feel the time curve should speed up rather than slow down at the climax, like with Star Wars Unlimited, for example. I dislike the Unlimited model. The player finally gets a good economy to splash big attacks, but its game over. One giant attack, and done. In Flesh and Blood those giant attacks occur early and relatively often, but slow down closer the payers get to dying. Love it or leave it, Flesh and Blood makes sure the end game feels scrappy.
And still one more potential issue is keyword creep. One of the reasons I dislike Magic is that you need a multi-page cheat sheet for all the keywords. Flesh and Blood is currently up to one sheet, and undoubtedly someday will need more. For people who prefer cleaner games where the rules are inherent to first principles, Flesh and Blood is steadily creeping away from that model.
In the end, Flesh & Blood is one of the best expandable card games to emerge in this, the second, golden age of TCGs. Learning its lessons from the failures of Magic: the Gathering, it offers players a truly balanced system with excellent combat. If players are using the preconstructed Blitz, Armory, or First Strike decks, things are fair and fun. Get into deck construction and things get more fun, but certainly more costly as multiple booster boxes or singles hunting are needed. Want to play competitively and thousands of dollars are needed. For people who enjoy expandable card games but haven't tried Flesh and Blood, do so. That way you can say you were in before it took out one of the Big Three.
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