Flesh and Blood

Flesh and Blood is a trading card game originally launched in New Zealand with the intent to bring people face-to-face in an epic battle of flesh and blood! Similar to Vanguard and Magic the Gathering, you are taking the role of a “Hero” and fighting your opponent using Attack cards and boosting your offense or defense by using Equipment cards or Defense cards. Each hero has a starting Life total, and the object of the game is to reduce the opposing hero's life to zero through attacks.

In a game of Flesh and Blood, each player chooses a Hero card. Hero cards have a Class and/or Talent, and all cards in a player's deck must either match the Hero's Class or Talent, or else be Generic cards available to all Heroes. Players also choose a Weapon (or two "one-hand" weapons) and other Equipment, which starts the game in play.

Players shuffle their decks and draw cards according to their Hero card's Intellect stat to form their starting hand sizes. On their turn, a player may attack using cards in their hand, in a special zone called the Arsenal, or using abilities on cards already in play. Doing so consumes an Action Point, and players may gain more Action Points through various effects. After an attack, the opponent can defend with Equipment or cards from their hand, then there is a Reaction Phase in which both players may use additional Attack or Defense Reaction cards to try to change the outcome of the combat. After the Reaction Phase if the attack power exceeds the defense, the difference is dealt to the enemy hero's life total. A player may attack or play additional actions as long as they have action points. At the end of the turn, the player draws cards to match their hero's Intellect, and play passes to the opponent. Resources in Flesh & Blood allow many cards to be "pitched" to generate resource points, which are used to play other cards or activate abilities. This allows players to use their most powerful cards even early in the game, rather than gradually ramping up as in other TCGs such as Magic. At the end of each turn, pitched cards are returned to the bottom of a player's deck in an order chosen by the player, and the player draws cards to refill their hand. Flesh & Blood is best played in flesh & blood!