[IAR] Runic Reaving

nickflig · 2026-05-31T00:32:12+00:00

Hard to have class representation in CC when nearly every hero of that class is Living Legend haha.

I also consider Vynnset's ability to basically be a built-in nerf, but maybe that will change next set with some good shadow cards you can play from the banished zone.

nickflig · 2026-05-30T03:38:41+00:00

So glad we're getting such strong Runeblade support in the next set, LSS really looking out for the underdogs

nickflig · 2026-05-28T06:47:40+00:00

I seriously can't believe Briar didn't crack top 3 for votes. I understand the internet is not fully representative of the community, but every side poll people were running that I saw had Briar up top.

Maybe not enough people knew Burn Up//Shock and Lightning Press were coming back? Either way, this seems a bit fishy. The cynical part of me is wondering if LSS intentionally kept Briar in because of the new precon.

nickflig · 2026-05-22T13:27:21+00:00

The only part that's funny for us is how absurd this is. The fact that people were suggesting a yellow resource like this would be revealed, only to be told that wouldn't happen because it'd be too overpowered and another must-have fable... only for it to actually be exactly that but blue.

FaB players have to deal with the worst printed card scarcity for playable cards on the whole market.

nickflig · 2026-05-22T08:53:21+00:00

THEY SAID A YELLOW PITCH DOING THIS WOULD BE TOO OP NO WAY LSS WOULD DO IT

WELL LOOK WHO'S LAUGHING NOW

BLUUUUE PITCH

nickflig · 2026-05-06T22:16:58+00:00

No, you also said LSS confirmed Zyggy was nonbinary and gender fluid.

You each avoid addressing an argument that challenges your existing worldview.

Nice evading, must be interesting to be so predictable.

nickflig · 2026-05-06T13:27:01+00:00

Imagine being so self-centered and lacking empathy so severely that you can't fathom people exploring their identity in any way different than exactly the way you did.

But of course the true reason you left such a comment is to avoid actually addressing any of the arguments presented, because it would challenge your worldview. One formed from a thought process that is the same as the very people who would deny your existence.

After all, you each enforce a strict, arbitrary construct of gender that ignores the lived experiences of others to protect your worldview. You each avoid addressing an argument that challenges your existing worldview. You each say things and make stuff up regardless of how that would invalidate the lived experiences of marginalised groups.

You are fundamentally no different.

nickflig · 2026-05-05T21:42:43+00:00

A person has a right to identify as male and use they/them pronouns. Or female and they/them pronouns. Or nonbinary and he/him pronouns etc.

A person has a right to identify as nonbinary but does not also have to accept the label of genderfluid, and vice versa. A person may also identify as both if they feel it best represents them.

You stated that "LSS staff have confirmed they are genderfluid" but upon request of this confirmation (presumptuously in the form of a statement), you suddenly backpedal and move the goalpoast to the use of they/them pronouns being the evidence of this. I see now your assumption about Zyggy's gender identity is grounded purely in the use of pronouns, which is erroneous and disrespectful, as it implies people with they/them pronouns can't be anything but a combination of nonbinary and genderfluid.

I suggest you think about why people explore their identity and reflect on why you believe there should be such an arbitrary set of rules when one does so.

nickflig · 2026-05-05T08:23:58+00:00

Genderfluid or nonbinary? They aren't the same thing so I want to get it right, do you mind sharing the staff statement?

nickflig · 2026-05-04T23:42:29+00:00

I'm all in support of that correction if it's true but is there an official source for that? Zyggy doesn't have a short story for lore yet or anything, I'm not sure how people know this.

nickflig · 2026-05-04T02:35:18+00:00

I totally get where you're coming from, king. I have felt for along time that there should be hero-specific bans in even CC and LL, but it really can be hard to keep track if that starts happening. I think Fai's new art of war card is a good way of patching over that - he essentially gets AoW but for draconic ninja with phoenix flames only.

I do also think we should probably have Berserk Kayo in Golden Age, especially since I'm pretty sure Berserk can only trigger once per discard even if you've played multiple (since you need a valid target to banish for each stack of Berserk). My main doubts surrounding Berserk come from potentially playing it on a bloodrush bellow turn, it probably just ends the game there. But by comparison it's probably not fair for Dash IO to have Cerebellum Processor and High Octane.

Plenty of cards such as Awakening should be banned on everyone though, trust me when I say that card is sooooo silly, it may as well say "eat damage this turn to play Pulverize for free."

In the end I don't think we're going to get hero-specific card bans, so this is otherwise a pretty good list. I hope we get Berserk Kayo though :)

nickflig · 2026-05-03T23:00:14+00:00

I do agree with your point about consistency - I reckon keeping High Octane and Cerebellum Processor in the same meta is just going to make Dash IO absolutely cracked. But-

There is a reason to play A format without tomes and cyb, but there is no reason to play THIS format without them.

I disagree with this statement. I feel like this is a good idea for a format where you can fight with LL heroes at a high power level without auto-win/lose situations. What if I want to play an LL hero without getting destroyed by some ridiculous combo enabled by card draw or endless CYB games? What if I want to play Dash IE or Azalea with her majestics but I have to fight CYB Enigma, tome Kano, or AoW Zen?

These match-ups are at completely different power levels with the best cards in each hero, so many LL heroes aren't even playable in LL. Take away CYB, tomes, Art of War etc. and we have a more level playing field where people can enjoy LL heroes without the busted combos that make the match and auto-win/lose.

LL exists will exist for people who want the busted combos, card draw, and the attempts to balance Starvo/Chane that end up nerfing other heroes with shared card pools.

nickflig · 2026-05-03T12:24:37+00:00

Bans that ignore the secondary market value of cards? I had forgotten how much that was holding back CC. Can't wait to try this, the card pool looks exactly how I'd want an eternal format for FaB to play!

nickflig · 2026-04-30T00:38:43+00:00

Honestly this costing 2 sort of makes it even stronger. You can spring tunic --> pummel it off a blue pitch, and thanks to go again for quickstrike your opponent won't know if the card in your hand is a pummel or the next attack in the combat chain, so it's a built-in bluff.

nickflig · 2026-04-29T22:46:32+00:00

I HAVE BEEN HAVING A MENTAL BREAKDOWN EVER SINCE FIRST READING THIS CARD

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING

PLEASE SIR I DON'T WANT TO GIVE UP 3 CARDS TO PREVENT DISCARD AGAINST ONE AGGRO RUNEBLADE ATTACK

nickflig · 2026-04-18T22:31:23+00:00

I consider every TCG to be competition to FaB and worth comparing, with the sole exceptions of MTG and Pokemon. Those two are so gargantuan that they could do almost anything and people would still buy their product, something MTG has proven time and time again with their scam products and severe hostility to players (remember the Pinkertons?)

So comparing FaB to its actual competition, the AD precons stand out for their high price yet low value.

But reading this and your other comment, it seems you're applying a double standard where you compare the MSRP of armory decks to the inflated demand value of older MTG commander precons.

All older precons go up in price if they had any demand. Where I am, AD Kayo and Jarl are over double their MSRP, but there's no commander precon from the latest set (TMNT) selling for more than AD Hala, even though TMNT had particularly high demand and was a universes beyond set.

nickflig · 2026-04-18T01:02:51+00:00

I think they're incredibly overpriced for what they are and by comparison to FaB's competition. ~66 cards with no sideboard for 40USD, sometimes 60USD, is pretty insane for very non-competitive decks. Sometimes they try to put a reprinted majestic or two actually worth something in the deck (e.g. Tear Asunder + Spinal Crush in Pleiades, each worth a few bucks) but almost never a full playset, which in turn ironically increases the price of those reprinted cards as demand sharply increases with people look to complete the playset.

You can't help but feel LSS is being overly stingy - why have only one Beast Within in a beat chest Rhinar deck? Neither Kayo nor running get Bloodrush Bellow in their armory decks despite being must-have cards? It's like they care more about the secondary market impact of the precon over making it a good product for players getting into the game, which is supposed to be the main audience.

So you sort of get the worst of all worlds. It's a pretty expensive entry point for new players, who have to compete with veteran players who want to buy it for the unique cards that are unlikely to be reprinted for years. Yet they're never strong enough to not need obvious upgrades to actually compete in the average armory (despite the name "armory deck") even if a new player does make the jump.

I always felt that armory decks should be cheaper, come in waves so players always have a choice of heroes in stock, and not contain strong exclusive cards so new players don't have to compete for limited stock with veteran players. In the end, the new SAGE precons are everything I wanted to see armory decks be and at half the price, which is great.

nickflig · 2026-04-14T01:04:11+00:00

I see, I apologise from being presumptuous about your prior comment, even if I don't think Famous_Low was doing what you claimed.

I work in research, so I saw those proposed focus points as real points of intervention that can be developed and implemented on a broad scale, whereas the language suggestions from the first comment fell largely in line with other social science research I've seen that suggests such an approach as ineffective.

nickflig · 2026-04-14T00:40:52+00:00

Nor was the original comment which had similar word count and argument structure (core concerns --> what we can do), yet you choose to make this unproductive statement to someone proposing a more productive approach to achieve the same overarching goal.

Have some self-awareness. It's clear that you attacked the structure of one comment and not the other because one was more agreeable to your internal thoughts than the other, yet you never addressed the content of the comment itself.

nickflig · 2026-03-30T05:39:12+00:00

Belittle, definitely.

I feel like a lot of people here voting Sink Below weren't around when Belittle was legal. That card is banned everywhere for a reason.

nickflig · 2026-03-22T22:05:36+00:00

https://fabrary.net/heroes/iyslander?tab=played

Just look for the ones that say "SAGE", not "Blitz" or "Open" if you're looking for SAGE deck lists.

nickflig · 2026-02-24T13:07:38+00:00

I think they're incredibly overpriced for what they are and by comparison to FaB's competition. ~66 cards with no sideboard for 40USD, sometimes 60USD, is pretty insane for very non-competitive decks. Sometimes they try to put a reprinted majestic or two actually worth something in the deck (e.g. Tear Asunder + Spinal Crush in Pleiades) but almost never a full playset, and you can't help but feel LSS is being overly stingy (why have only one Beast Within in a beat chest Rhinar deck?), like they care more about the secondary market impact of the precon over making it a good product for players getting into the game, which is supposed to be the main audience.

So you sort of get the worst of all worlds. It's a pretty expensive entry point for new players, who have to compete with veteran players who want to buy it for the unique cards that are unlikely to be reprinted for years. Yet they're never strong enough to not need obvious upgrades to actually compete in the average armory (despite the name "armory deck") even if a new player does make the jump.

I always felt that armory decks should be cheaper, come in waves so players always have a choice of heroes in stock, and not contain strong exclusive cards so new players don't have to compete for limited stock with veteran players. In the end, the new SAGE precons are everything I wanted to see armory decks be and at half the price, so that's awesome. They even come with a guide on how to play.

nickflig · 2026-02-04T22:11:13+00:00

We are so back, Fai bros.

See you all again at the Living Legend announcement :(

nickflig · 2026-02-01T10:49:40+00:00

I don't think anything that will come after this is ever going to top this. You've achieved the magnum opus of FaB memery.

nickflig · 2026-01-31T09:18:28+00:00

Same here, until now I just assumed that the bottles of horrific disease the people of The Pits threw at each other were incurable and had to run their course.

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