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What is Clash?
Clash is an unofficial format that explores a fresh and thematic way to play young heroes on their journey to becoming fully realized adult heroes. With restrictive deck-building, this format lowers the barrier of entry while still exploring the depths of Flesh and Blood constructed gameplay.
To find out how to play Clash, check out this link to Fabrary.
The Brief History of Clash
Let's start from the beginning:
I tuned into Team Covenant doing a Commoner Flesh and Blood stream. As they played and enjoyed that amazing format, there was a commenter that said "I wish there was a format that was commons and rares." That had a domino effect of many expressing the same the sentiment, so much so that even Team Covenant took notice.
Man Sant was one of those that felt the same way and did the unthinkable. He made it reality. But he pushed it even further by not only including Commons and Rares but also allowing all Specializations, Mentors and Majestic Weapons. He created an inaugural tournament and even brought in Fabrary to be a part of it. He pulled something off that really only Man Sant could pull off!
But it all started from one person expressing this idea on stream. That person was me.
Since the inception of the format, I have been involved however I can. From suggesting that Mentors be involved from the get go, to creating well thought out and tested decks for each hero on Fabrary and more recently being involved with the updated rules to 52 card decks to match Blitz. Now, Man Sant has graciously handed the reins of the Clash format to me as we push it to be the best casual format in FaB.
Clash Goals
I think it's important to outline the goals of Clash. While I don't have a mission statement for Clash, I do have a couple of goals:
Create a format where every hero can be fun and enjoyable.
Create a budget friendly format that allows each hero to keep their identity.
Banned and Restricted Updates
The following ban and restricted updates will go into effect with the release of Bright Lights.
Drone of Brutality
When Clash was first created the banned cards were: Commoner Ban list + Duskblade + Drone of Brutality. When Skirmish Season 7 started, it came with some updated rules and the unbanning of Drone of Brutality. Man Sant and I had a discussion on Twitter that Clash should update it's deck size limitation to be in line with Blitz and since Blitz unbanned Drone of Brutality, so should Clash. I made this suggestion of the unban, which I know Man Sant didn't fully agree with, but it was to align the card pools closer.
LSS has now double downed on the 52 card deck by expanding it to UPF and Commoner which shows that we were correct in that. What I wasn't correct in is unbanning Drone of Brutality, which will go back on the banned list.
Rosetta Thorn
One common thing that I have heard a lot this past week as I was seeking opinions was Rosetta Thorn is OP. I know no one is surprised by this, and I truly believe the weapons LL'ing with their hero was created because of Rosetta Thorn.
My favorite suggestion that I have heard so far is to have the hero's weapon be unique to that hero, further solidifying each hero's uniqueness beyond their specializations. I loved this because it brought the LL system to Clash that was unique. My only hesitation was that there is nothing on the weapon that ties that hero to their weapon outside of a list that LSS has created and that might get cumbersome to track. Once I looked at the list though, I realized that it would also put the Assassin Class in a bind since Spider's Bite is Arakni's weapon and Orbitoclast belongs to Arakni, Solitary Confinement.
I have always felt like Rosetta Thorn should have been been an Elemental Runeblade weapon since it's release in Aria. Thematically it has always felt off in Viserai and Chane. I also feel like Rosetta Thorn isn't as crazy in Briar. Sometimes the simplest path is the correct path. Rosetta Thorn will be restricted to Briar only.
Watch List
There are a couple of things on the watch list currently but I feel need more data. Stubby Hammerers are top of the list currently. I have been hesitant to suggest their ban in the past because Boltyn actually used them in some builds and he needed all the help he could get. With Dusk til Dawn, he has the support he needs. Heat Wave is a great replacement but will never shine until Stubby Hammerers are banned.
As for heroes, Iyslander, Bravo, Oldhim are being watched closely.
Iyslander has too much power in the bullander form that I am looking at what is the best bans (I am open to suggestions!). I believer her to be the most powerful deck in the format. Even without many of her disruption tools at her disposal, it is still difficult to block 7 and then on your turn she hits you for 4-6 arcane. It's very difficult to come back from that.
Guardians have just received a total of 15 armor from the Around the Table. Clash being a casual format this may not be as big of an issue as most will not be looking to buy Around the Table for their Clash decks. But my hope would be that players try those decks and bring them into Clash for fun!
Suggestions for the Future
There are two diversions of thought when it comes to what makes FaB good. One is that high powered equipment allow for the game to be more fun since you can block more with equipment and keep more powerful hands. The other thought is that having weaker equipment forces you to block from hand more and thus forcing you to make more meaningful decisions with your cards.
Initially when Clash was being conceived, I was lucky enough to see an early preview of the format before it went to public. This version was following the original commoner rules, but a step up, by allowing up to two Majestic Weapons/Equipment/Mentors. This would later change to allowing Majestic Weapons and Mentors with no limitation. My understanding is that DMArmada was heavily against Majestic equipment, citing that they were too powerful and as such going with the idea that you should be forced to make difficult decisions with your hand.
I've never quite been able to get Majestic Equipment out of my head but I appreciated the deck building limitations. However, with the introduction of Around the Table, Guardians suddenly have access to 15 armor on equipment! I found myself looking back into what does Majestic equipment really do to the format?
The very first thing I did was check prices. Most equipment is extremely cheap, with the exception of a few that were over USD$10 and the priciest being Courage of Bladehold at around USD$15. What this did is in some cases more than doubled the price of a deck. The current average deck price being around USD$10 (the most expensive deck is actually Levia at around $40)
The second thing I did was test Viserai with Bloodsheath Skeleta and Vexing Quillhand and the new specialization, Sonata Fantasmia. In play testing it really didn't do much and Viserai did not feel OP (I let our resident Vis specialist play Viserai while I rotated through a few very powerful heroes). I felt that adding in Majestic's would create a fun new way to play and allow for some of the weaker Majestic's to find a home that do not fit in Blitz and CC. It would also align with being a more powerful commoner since that does allow all rare equipment.
When I went twitter about this, I was met with an unanimous NO! Each individual expressing (and thank you to all that expressed their opinions!) that they didn't feel like Majestic equipment should be added. Clash was a way that these players used their bulk to build fun decks. As much as I think Majestic equipment would be fun, I respect the fact that most players want to be able to build decks from their bulk and enjoy it that way. I'm also not blind to the fact that some Majestic equipment are so powerful that you use it in that slot every time.
This may be something that is revisited in the future and it is something that I will be actively testing and have simply dubbed Clash+ for testing purposes. However, Clash is a format that was created by the community and I am committed to it being for the community so there will not be sweeping changes like this without a massive amount of input from the community.
Conclusion
The future is bright for the Clash format. We have a Discord channel set up in the Bold Brew Games discord and I would love for anyone to chime in. You can find a link to the Discord here.
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