The Battle for Collectibility in Flesh and Blood

It’s time for a thought experiment: I want you to think about some of the most revered, iconic, and collectible trading cards in the history of the TCG space. Try to think of collectible pieces that have cemented themselves and their respective games into the zeitgeist of nerd culture for any number of reasons, be it playability, art, or nostalgia. Chances are, you probably included any or all of the cards posted below in your mental list.

Now, let’s do the same thought experiment with a more narrow focus: I want you to think about some of the most revered, iconic, and collectible trading cards in the history of Flesh and Blood. How does your list compare to what I’ve posted below?

Heart of Fyendal [WTR000-F] (Welcome to Rathe) Alpha Print Cold Foil

$7,000.00

Set: Welcome to Rathe Edition: Alpha Print Finish: Cold Foil Type: Resource Subtype: Gem Rarity: Fabled Class: Generic Legendary (You may only have 1 Heart of Fyendal in your deck.) When you pitch Heart of Fyendal, if you have less… read more

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Fyendal's Spring Tunic [U-WTR150] (Welcome to Rathe Unlimited) Unlimited Rainbow Foil

$161.00

Set: Welcome to Rathe Unlimited Edition: Unlimited Finish: Rainbow Foil Type: Equipment Subtype: Chest Rarity: Legendary Class: Generic At the start of your turn, if Fyendal's Spring Tunic has less than 3 energy counters on it, you may put an… read more

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Sigil of Solace (Red) [WTR173-R] (Welcome to Rathe) Alpha Print Rainbow Foil

$172.80

Set: Welcome to Rathe Edition: Alpha Print Finish: Rainbow Foil Type: Instant Rarity: Rare Class: Generic Cost: 0 Gain 3 [Life] … read more

Near Mint Alpha Print Rainbow Foil - $172.80

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Okay, maybe that last one is a bit of a joke, but the other two are as synonymous with Flesh and Blood as the cards above are with their respective games. It is important to note that many of the cards held up as “grails” within the FAB world are from the first few sets of the game: Welcome to Rathe, Arcane Rising, and Crucible of War. Looking beyond those first few sets where the print run was small and the cards iconic, one might struggle to think of any cards that can measure up to the impact and collectability of Fyendal’s Spring Tunic or Heart of Fyendal. This is by no means a knock on Flesh and Blood, as the same can be said for the TCGs above. Charizard, Black Lotus, and Blue Eyes White Dragon all benefit from scarcity, age, power, and nostalgia just as Heart of Fyendal and Tunic do. These cards ALL highlight a critical battle that TCGs engage in: the challenge to create both an engaging game, and a collectible one. So let’s take a walk together through the history of Flesh and Blood’s journey to collectability.

Before we dive in, however, let’s establish what makes an item collectible. Collectibility is driven by two main factors, the first of which being appeal. An item can be deemed collectible if it is sought after by a community engaged in acquiring it (collectors). A great example of this in the TCG world can be found in the Pokemon TCG: Charizard. Regardless of how powerful or playable a version of Charizard may be, there will almost always be demand for a newly printed version of Charizard because there is a community of collectors dedicated to maintaining their Charizard collection. Without appeal, an item cannot be considered a collectible. After all, if nobody wants it, nobody is collecting it.

This leads us to the second main factor denoting a collectible: rarity. If an item is difficult to find, then the allure of having that item skyrockets. Cold Foil Heart of Fyendal and Black Lotus are perfect examples of this. Not only are those cards powerful within their respective systems, but the sheer lack of supply means that only a small percentage of players may ever hold one in their hands. Rarity breeds collectibility. Lack of rarity, of course, has the opposite effect. When the market is flooded with an item, collectibility goes down. Even if a trading card is powerful, playable, and appealing, its collectibility plummets when the market is oversaturated with it.

Now that we have our terms established, let’s go back in time. Picture this: It’s 2019, cinema classic ‘The Addams Family’ has just released in theaters, and a small trading card game from New Zealand has christened the shelves of local game stores everywhere. And by everywhere I mean in a small contingent of LGS’s in the US and around the world. Remember, this is 2019 and Pokemon and Magic are king. The idea of a new TCG making any headway in the space was unheard of. Then here comes this upstart fantasy trading card game with its own intellectual property and grassroots funding, calling itself ‘The New Classic TCG’. This is pure theater. A David versus Goliath story through and through. A true slingshot underground mentality. The game releases a tight, controlled print run for set one and set two when COVID hits. But rather than laying down and dying, the game gets popular. Everyone has extra money to burn and not much to do at home, and here is this “Flesh and Blood” game with incredible art, gameplay to match, and some of the most beautiful foiling that anyone's ever seen. There are beautiful, powerful cards, and there aren't that many of them. This is a collector's dream. 

Welcome to Rathe, Arcane Rising, and Crucible of War all rapidly sell out of their first edition product. A second printing is announced and titled “Unlimited” (which did reach its limit eventually) and the fourth set, Monarch, is set to release upon the world that has rapidly consumed everything Flesh and Blood up to this point. Monarch, and its successor Tales of Aria, are different however. Their print runs are greatly expanded to meet demand, perhaps too much so. There was still demand for the product, but when supply goes up, collectibility goes down. Legend Story Studios saw the issue that the unlimited and first edition print runs created with regards to collectibility and have been battling to reestablish collectors with their products ever since.

Everfest saw the first ever print run of the Marvel rarity (though it didn't come to be known by that name until the next set, Uprising). The marvel version of Bravo, Star of the Show was nothing short of groundbreaking in the TCG world. A full art, double-sided, cold foil, spot foiled majesty cemented the direction that LSS was going to take when it came to highly collectible pieces moving forward. Foil extended art cards could also be found in Everfest, though their presence had already been seen since Monarch. Uprising continued the tradition and gave us some of the most breathtaking Marvel dragons in trading cards (if you disagree, you can kindly message me on Twitter…). And while the trend of cold foils, extended art foils, and marvels continued off and on for the next several sets, Legend Story studios’ next big move on the collectible side of the game came from last year's Light vs. Shadow set: Dusk till Dawn. To mark the return of Prism to the Classic Constructed format and to honor Chane for kindly shoving off into the living legend format, LSS released 20 serialized, cold foil marvel sketch variants of the two heroes. For clarity's sake: a serialized card is produced in a small, publicly disclosed amount. It is usually labeled with a number out of the maximum quantity made and tends to fetch a high price due to its extreme rarity. Like little Golden tickets, they were tucked away into booster packs and sent off to the far corners of the globe where one by one day waited to be discovered.

As a personal aside, I have mixed feelings about serialized cards. Technically speaking, every card is serialized in that a finite number of each are printed. The difference is that a serialized card is manufactured to be rare and publicized as such. If manufactured rarity is the only thing a collectible piece has going for it, I'm not a fan. That being said, these serialized heroes were a brilliant move, because they commemorated two community-loved heroes in a set all about the battle between them. There was intrinsic allure to these cards outside of their rarity, which in my eyes makes them a success. They're only downfall was the fact that they were printed in such small numbers that it was difficult for them to make a splash over the long term. And while many of the cards were found, several still remain at large. This would be fine if the set were more widely appealing, but because it focuses so heavily on light and shadow heroes, your main focus as a box opener at this point would be to try and find one of those needles in a haystack.

This leads us to the newest set of Flesh and Blood, Part the Mistveil, where LSS has employed a new method for collectibility, the Gold Pack. For those of you that are out of the loop, a gold pack of Part the Mistveil can be found at the bottom of random booster boxes. They appear in approximately one in 20 booster boxes and contain three cards. Two are spectral shields (simple tokens to protect the middle card), and the third is a unique version of Enigma subtitled New Moon. Most packs will contain a rainbow foil version of the new hero which can only be obtained through these packs, but a rare few will have a cold foil Marvel version of which there are only about 100 in existence. Hearkening back to Crucible of War and the legendary hero Shiyana, Enigma, New Moon is the ultimate chase card in Part the Mistveil and a clever new twist on the collectible “box topper” idea. It remains to be seen if this is a one-off idea or if this will be a mainstay within products going forward. If I know anything about Legend Story Studios, though, I'd wager a guess and say that this won't be the last time we see this type of collectible in the game. If it makes sense thematically within the set or if it tells a story within their story, I'd bet they do it again.

Every step of the way, Legend Story Studios has proven that collectibility matters to them. From cold foils and marvels to serialized cards and gold packs, it is clear that collectibility is a tent pole concept for Flesh and Blood. And while no game has the perfect answer to the challenge of collectibility, I for one am thankful that the game continues to explore new and exciting ideas about collectibles. Where will we go from here? Who knows!

But it had better include pirates.