Legend Story Studios has announced Flesh and Blood: Bright Lights, an (almost) all-Mechanologist set launching October 6 with three new heroes including the character evolution of fan-favourite Dash.
IGN can reveal an exclusive trailer for Bright Lights (below) alongside an interview with James White, CEO and founder of LSS, who shared insight into the new Crack, Shuffle, Play! format, equipment cards that start in the deck, and a reprint of one of Flesh and Blood’s most sought after cards, Fyendal’s Spring Tunic.
Alongside the character evolution of Flesh and Blood’s original Mechanologist, referred to by White as Dash I/O, founder of Teklo Industries Teklovossen will also feature as a new hero alongside a so-far unannounced third character. Evo equipment also makes its debut in Bright Lights: cards which start in the deck and are played out over the course of the game, transforming base equipment into countless possible mech suit combinations.
“Each of the three heroes in Bright Lights have a proficiency that leans them towards one of three components within the product: Evo equipment, Items, and Boost,” said White. “However, most decks are interested in each of these components because the synergies that span these components offer the vast scope to experiment and innovate with different deck archetypes.
“Bright Lights has the more interconnecting parts than any set we’ve made yet, but at the same time, we have been mindful to make sure there is a simplicity to this all, as to not become overwhelming, through things such as new card borders to visually differentiate the card clusters, and many commons in the set being very simple in design and function.”
Bright Lights will feature more than 250 cards in total that continue the story of Metrix, Flesh and Blood’s steam-powered city of technology and innovation, and is built with Draft, four-pack Sealed, Classic Constructed (thanks to all three heroes having adult versions), and other formats in mind.
“We are always thinking about how we can create unique play experiences for fans, particularly for booster Draft,” said White. “The idea behind a single class set, in this instance Mechanologist, is [that] every card can be drafted and played together in the same deck, offering limitless card interactions and a wide array of different Draft archetypes.
“From our experience, this Draft format offers the most opportunity for innovation and experimentation, two traits that exactly capture the essence of the technology driven city of Metrix.”
Bright Lights also introduces the Crack, Shuffle, Play! format to Flesh and Blood, which grants easy access to the game for new and returning players as it only requires three booster packs. “Bright Lights is a great product to pick up and play Flesh and Blood for the first time,” said White.
“The new three-pack casual play format is a super easy way to play, in fact it’s as easy as Crack, Shuffle, Play! This innovative way to play completely removes deck construction from the equation, skipping you straight to the fun part: playing great games.”
A handful of non-Mechanologist cards will be included, however, in Flesh and Blood’s first Expansion Slots. These are high rarity cards for classes and talents not featured in the core set that include a mix of pieces that develop the story of Rathe, expand tournament level strategies for heroes outside of the featured classes, and serve as a way for LSS to reprint cards. Fyendal’s Spring Tunic will feature as one of the Expansion Slot cards in Bright Lights, which replace the token slot in approximately one in 15 booster packs.
Pre-release events for Bright Lights will run in over 1,000 local game stores around the world from September 29 to October 2, with Spoiler Season for the new cards beginning September 22.
Disclaimer: The author of this article has written for the Flesh and Blood website previously, reporting on the UK community and tournaments.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
