FaB Review - October 2nd Banlist and Dev Talk About the Future

Changes and More Eyes on Blitz

For a while now, Blitz players have felt this format was a bit ), namely a different scoring system for young and new heroes - besides an apology for all the problems in Blitz during the last season.

Burning the Tomes

In this podcast, they also gave us more details about the last banned and restricted list announced last month, and why they banned a few cards, like Art of War (2).

Besides all the reasons they presented to us in the ban article, they noticed two types of decks were prevailing: the decks that focused more on value and both blocked and attacked a little, and those that only followed the same explosive game plan because of the cards they banned.

The most explosive decks created very boring matches to watch. In many games, players would use the same strategies for several rounds, which, in a live, broadcast tournament, was just tedious for viewers, who felt like "they had seen that movie before".

So, to keep the game fresh, they had to remove a common element in all of those decks that were "boring to watch" - and this led to one of the most important bans in the game.

A Possible High Octane Ban

The community has often voiced their concerns about the new card, Cerebellum Processor, and how it can make Dash I/O too strong. However, this item is great in a vacuum, and all the ways to play it are acceptable, except for one, which can be a bit over the line: in turns with High Octane (1).

High Octane (1) is, today, just barely acceptable for the game, but, as more Mechanologist support comes out, it will become quite problematic.

Besides limiting future strategies for this class, this action gives you action points very easily for very little - which we know is problematic, considering Luminaris and Chane's ability. So, as a result, the dev team decided this card will be valid at Worlds, but they'll keep a close eye on Dash I/O and, eventually, they'll probably ban this iconic Mechanologist card.

After the Pro Quest + event that took place at the Milwaukee Battle Hardened, no one could say the Living Legend format was healthy. Because of how fast Verdance managed to draw cards with Kraken's Aethervein, defeat was inevitable. Something had to be done, and, fortunately, the FaB dev team did something fast enough to guarantee a healthy format at Worlds.

This podcast also brought us more tidbits about the future of the game. Besides a preview of what they'll announce for Blitz at the Osaka Worlds, the devs also shared their view of what a strong class card should be, and how this will guide them as they develop the game. Key pieces of information like these are what make us all truly anxious for the future of the game.

What did you think of this ban? Was it too fast, or should this weapon see more play in Living Legend for now? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!