World Tour Montreal gave us a real insight into the four newest heroes and two newest Talents for Flesh and Blood.
Super Slam, the third and final booster release for 2025 is coming out in 9 days time, as of the time of publishing. With the World Championships taking place in Philadelphia in November, we can look forward to multiple Limited Battle Hardened events to see more Draft and Sealed Super Slam to get ready for World's right?
NOPE! World Tour Montreal was the only event where premiere play for Super Slam will happen. Ever. The World Premier, its Calling - won by Sunny Yang, and the Battle Hardened, won by Tigran Grigorian will be the only premier events for Super Slam.
What's going on here? This article will take a closer look at how the World Premier weekend went down, and what we can expect from Super Slam as it goes into the metagame.
Super Slam Limited
The four heroes in this set, Tuffnut, Bumbling Hulkster, Pleiades, Superstar, Kayo, Underhanded Cheat, and Lyath Goldmane, Vile Savant were all deeply hard to evaluate on their first reveals. Each of these heroes are so deeply divorced from their parent classes of Brute and Guardian, and plays so strongly with their respective Reviled and Revered talents.
These Brutes look to be decks that may not even play Mandible Claw or Bloodrush Bellow. Guardian is defined by having attacks with the largest printed attack power yet, but Tyrion Lannister Lyath seeks to cut all those power stats in half.
During gameplay of numerous rounds of Sealed and Draft, and one game of day 1 Classic Constructed between legendary commentators Scott Mines and Pankaj Bohjwani, we got to see how these heroes truly play.
Lyath
Lyath Goldmane, Vile SavantThis unique take on Brute was seen to put out some of the most absurd attack values in recent memory. Despite having all his attacks reduced by half. Spoiler season confirmed that a good number of Auras of Suspense are available to Lyath, and that some of them provide immense boosts to attack power.
We saw Pankaj utterly steal the tide of tempo in his Classic Constructed show match by bringing a nearly unblocked attack for 22 across the table. While it requires some set up, it's easy to find these effects with a 5 card Intellect and the high number of Might Tokens that the hero can create.
Given that these Auras of Suspense can be played as Instants, and that they have block values, this also adds to the relative tanky gameplay that one can expect from Guardian.
This is one of the higher skill floor heroes. We can expect decks to need to undergo a great deal of refinement as the Super Slam metagame solidifies.
Kayo
The other Reviled Hero plays into the design space that Reviled handles so well. The Reviled attacks like Mocking Blow and Bully Tactics are all very low on their base power.
By being boo-ed, you get Vigor Tokens which will pay for the hefty cost of his hero power, turning that wimpy attack stat into something more substantial.
With the other front pumps that Brute has access to, and the easy access to Might Tokens from Brute cards past and present, and Reviled cards, each attack will come for much higher than its rate.
Because of this, and for lore reasons, this Kayo also only has one weapon zone. This makes his ability to play Bloodrush Bellow deeply unlikely, as he's not going to be Going Again quite as much as his first CC form Kayo, Armed and Dangerous. This also means he may leverage the hero power slightly more to buff smaller, Reviled attacks, rather than playing consistently high stat Brute attacks, with a good mix of some on rate Reviled cards.
A rules note that people should be aware of because Phantasm is a weird mechanic. Kayo's hero ability says "Target attack action card you control...". This is important to note that you do not control blocking cards. It's not a case where you can pay 4 to turn anything into a popper for an attack like Wartune Herald. Besides, that sounds like a horrendously inefficient play, and you're still a Brute whose deck should still have a density of poppers.
Tuffnut
What ended up being the break out deck of the World Tour Montreal, Tuffnut, Bumbling Hulkster looks to be the game's first defensively slanted Brute.
The hero ability reads as something of a value generating mystery. There are so few good Blue cards with 6 power to pitch from the top to gain both the maximum resources and the Toughness token. However the prevailing theory is that you jam the deck with Yellow 6s, since most Brute attacks are 2 cost.
That consistent source of resources from the top of the deck helps you mitigate the loss of a card in hand. We've seen in the World Premier that the benefit of Tuffnut's ability to block is helped by how well he wins Clashes. Tough Smashup and Vigorous Smashup are common Clash effects that Tuffnut loves to see, and offer the top of deck manipulation to ensure that a card that might win you a Clash but otherwise lose lose you on resources or Toughness is gone from the topdeck.
Against a hero who can be slower and methodical, the grindy play style of Tuffnut might suffer, but any deck which can go tall is something the bumbling Hulkster can play into very well.
Pleiades
The signpost hero from the set, and the one most players will think is strongest simply because she has an Armory deck.
This Guardian wants to play Auras, something not unheard of in the world of Guardians, since they have access to Imposing Visage. What's unique is that this Guardian hero wants to walk down the life totals to use Revered effects like Comeback Kid and Turning Point which get benefits if you're on a lower life total.
The setup you get to do whilst taking this damage is immense. Pleiades' hero ability will move the Suspense counters, which will keep the static effects like The Suspense is Killing Me and What Happens Next on the board, while ticking down benefitial effects like In the Palm of Your Hand or buffs like Edge of Their Seats.
If the Pleiades can roll over the Confidence tokens and pair huge buffs with patented Guardian disruption, then it could be a reliable force to be reckoned with in this sealed and Classic Constructed format.
Other Winning Decks
With 31 expansion slot cards in Super Slam, every class is receiving at least one card to support them, and some of these decks take a step into the spotlight. Before we look at these benefiting decks, however, the classes in Super Slam also feast from this improved power.
The numerous Brute cards put Kayo, Armed and Dangerous into the status of one of the best aggro decks in the format. Cards like Reckless Stampede punishes blocking but Strongest Survive represent respectable disruption. With his place relatively high on the Living Legend leader board, it's a distinct possibility that he leaves the game by the end of Pro Quest Season.
When a deck that goes tall is particularly strong, and the relative lack of Gravy Bones, Shipwrecked Looter as a meta force, Florian, Rotwood Harbinger's relative consistency and strong end game make him a force to contend with.
Calling Shizouka and Hamburg will set a strong precedent for the metagame going into this Super Slam metagame. Read all about it right here on fabtcg.gg