At the first glance, Flesh and Blood TCG may appear as if it’s just another variant of TCG. However, once you’ve played it, you would quickly realize the game is one of the most skill-dependent TCG game. Wether your own or opponent’s turn, you must make multiple decisions from numerous options. This game requires a unique way of thinking that are none like others.
In this series, I plan to compile logical approach articles for the game that I learned from watching/listening and reading many online resources. My hope is you can save your research time and start training your brain to think in a Flesh and Blood TCG way. You can then start building your own approach from there.
In this first of the series, I am starting with the fundamental aspect of the game, the card value.
What’s card value?
The card value here is not referring to the monetary value of the card. It refers to the method where you convert a card into a single number. The numerical representation of a card can then be used to compare two cards, used to help deciding which card to put in your deck, and aid in deciding optimal gameplay at a given moment.
Card value can be classified into two types:
- Total Value (TV)
- Expressed Value (EV)
Total Value
Total or design value is a card value looked from the designer’s perspective. The card game designers follow a certain rule when creating a new card so they won’t create degenerative cards or result in power creep. This is particularly important in a game like Flesh and Blood where there is no rotation. The official rule that the designers follow remains in a blackbox for players; however, we can reverse engineer on the existing card pool and hypothesize the total value.
The most widely accepted hypothesis for FAB total value is “rule of 8”, which is expressed as a following equation.
Total value (8) = Pitch value + Attack value + defense value – cost + text effect(s) + card type modifier
When you look at a vanilla cards like Wounding Blow, Critical Strike, Brutal Assault and Raging Onslaught, adding four corner values with cost being negative, the total adds up to 8. When there are text effects, the total value of four corners start to deviate from 8. Therefore, we can figure out how much point(s) designers have allocated to the text effect.
Such information could be useful to assess a card for its general strength by comparing the designer’s allocated value/point to the relative efficacy of the given text effect.
A classic example is Command and Conquer. It is the most expensive majestic rarity card in a game at the time of writing.
Its text effect has 0 point allocation ie free effect; therefore, command and conquer is simply superior to Brutal Assault. The arsenal disruption effect can have a major impact on gameplay when used in a right circumstance so having such effect for free bonus makes this card a very powerful card.
However, total value lacks practical application i.e. it won’t tell us how to use Command and Conquer in different situations.
Expressed Value
On the contrary to the total value, expressed value is a card value defined from the player’s perspective; hence, more relevant to players. This is the card value you want to learn and use.
In this article, we will be learning about expressed value based on the FAB’s first world champion, Michael Hamilton’s method.
*Both total and expressed values are made up word that I heard from Arsenal Pass podcast (Total value) and Vazerum Presents Youtube Channel (Expressed value).
Hamilton’s method of expressed value
Disclaimer: This is not endorsed by Michael Hamilton. Hopefully I got all the details correctly here as I tried to listen his podcasts multiple times, but there maybe areas error/deviation from his logic due to my personal interpretation.
Theory
[Expressed] value of card is defined as “how much damage it does (attempts)” or “how much damage it saves you.”
Michael Hamilton
For example, a red scar for a scar when used as an attack (i.e. played), it has 4 expressed value while used as a defense, it has only 2 expressed value. So this card is more efficient when used as an attack card rather than defense in most circumstances.
Property 1: Count damages imposed, not just damages inflicted.
Even if your attack does not result in reducing opponent hero’s life point, count all imposed attack as expressed value. It does not matter if the opponent used his/her equipment(s), card(s) to block all or part of damage. They have still used their resource to negate the damages. This reminds us that the life point is just one form of resource.
Property 2: Do not count over-block points.
If you block 1 point damage attack such as Harmonized Kodachi with Scar for a Scar red (2 block), you only count Scar for a Scar as having 1 expressed value. The extra block capability in the card did nothing and it is an inefficient block. This is one reason why many players do not block Harmonized Kodachi.
Property 3: Each resource point has 1 expressed value potential.
It is important to note that pitching a card and generating resource(s) do not count as expressed value in Hamilton’s method. Imagine a situation where you pitch blue to generate 3 resources but only use one of them during your turn. The other two points did nothing to change the game state.
So the value of resource is “how/when you use it” and not when you generate it. In general, 1 resource point has 1 expressed value potential when used properly.
The four vanilla cards above demonstrates each additional cost of the card adds 1 more attack point.
Property 4: Action point has 1 expressed value potential.
Similarly to the resource point, action point does not have direct expressed value. However, if you use it, it generally has 1 expressed value worth of effect.
When you compare Wounding blow to Head jab when played (used as attack cards), the difference is Head Jab does not consume action point while Wounding blow does. To compensate it, Wounding blow has 1 extra attack point. This example confirms 1 action point has 1 expressed value potential.
Turn/round expressed value
Let’s call sum of each card expressed value during a given turn or round as turn/round expressed value.
You goal is to maximize the value per card you get while minimizing your opponents.
Michael Hamilton
According to Michael Hamilton, your goal of winning Flesh and Blood game becomes to maximize the value per card while minimizing your opponents.
Average expressed value
| Per card | Per turn/round | |
|---|---|---|
| Limited | 3.25 | 13 |
| Construct | 3.5+ | 14+ |
According to Michael Hamilton, the average expressed value per turn/round for 4 card hands in a top tier decks should be 13 for limited and 14+ for constructed.
Following example was given as a decent Briar’s hand.
Start a turn with fused Bramble Spark, which gives 4 expressed value worth of attack. Next play Earthlore Surge using a blue pitch card. This gives another 5 expressed value worth of attack. The last card like Snatch red has go again due to Briar’s hero ability. Ignoring Snatch’s on hit effect, you will finish your turn with Rosetta Thorn 2 physical, 2 arcane damage attacks. The total turn expressed value from 4 card hand in this situation adds up to 17 or average 4.25 EV per card.
How to use expressed value
The general steps of using Hamilton’s expressed value during a game play is followings:
- Calculate the best expressed value you can get out from your hand.
- If opponent’s attack has on-hit effect, calculate expressed value if that effect triggers.
- Compare the two, and choose the option that maximize your expressed value while minimizing your opponent’s.
Impression
I have watched and listened to several Youtube videos about card value theory in Flesh and Blood, but nothing clicked until I heard about Hamilton’s method. This is not just logical but also practical.
As a casual player who has been playing the game for almost 6 months, I knew the game is skill-based. The balance between the block and attack is one of the most critical piece of decision one makes during the game. I truly enjoy the amount of decisions we make while playing FAB. However, independent of my match result, I can always find a mistake on my decision in any game I play. While I started compare life points, each options of my hand, guessing potential cards in opponent’s hand etc., I get confused and lose my focus. I just don’t know what is the best play for me at the given moment.
The expressed value system has changed my thinking process. It is still relatively new to me, so I cannot do it fast enough in real time, but I’ve already noticed that I know what to focus/how to think when evaluating my play during the game. I can review my game later and objectively assess what I did wrong.
Despite the theory is simple, being able to calculate expressed value on the fly and accurately require lots of experience, practice and intelligence. In order to be able to accurately estimate opponent’s expressed value potential, I need to know current meta and what is most likely cards that can be in opponent’s hand. I must know my deck in and out so I can quickly figure out the best expressed value of my given hand, which allows me to spend time on thinking other things.
This system is practical, logical and also robust. The expressed value can be used as a tool to determine optimal block, to help deciding color distribution in a given deck, to define deck archetype and deck play style, and to figure out who really has the tempo in the game. I am truly grateful I have discovered this method.
Referece
- Team Covenant Youtube – Michael Hamilton on the FAB World Championship
- Arsenal Pass Ep80 – Math with Michael
- M-n-R Episode 21 – Deck Building 101
- M-n-R Episode 31: Coach Hamilton’s Top Tips!