When Compendium of Rathe released, it brought with it the Silver Age preconstructed decks. One of (almost) every Class, these decks offer players an on ramp into Silver Age by playing well right out of the box, offering a taste of what their respective Classes can do, and with a booster pack to boot.
As a manager of a game store here in London, I'm writing this looking up at those decks, which have been instrumental at getting new players into the game.
In a shocking turn of events, LSS announced the contents of the Silver Age Chapter 3 decks a whopping four months early, and these changes will shake up the metagame.
Lyath Goldmane
After doing some impressive things at the AGE Open's first Silver Age event, Lyath Goldmane has been offering the divergent, go tall game plan that has had players such as Jason Rolfe so very interested in him.
While these decks would be released after Set 19, I don't imagine there'll be much in the way of new cards to supplement Lyath's play style. The right combination of Might generators like Cruel Ambition, the smaller Guardian cards like Short Shrift, and other buffs like Nimblism are the foundations of a Lyath Chapter 3 Silver Age Deck. A new deck like this may be the ripe opportunity to improve the Reviled Guardian's card pool, possibly including a Signature Weapon?
Gravy Bones
When I said earlier that nearly every Class was represented in the Chapter 1 and 2 decks, it's because Pirate and Necromancer are both too new and both bereft of a meaty card pool to fill in a whole deck. As someone who plays Gravy Bones on and off in both CC and Sage, his precon deck is very welcome. Especially given his Armory deck was designed for Blitz, which is a format long since a distant memory.
The first Necromancer makes the most sense to receive a Chapter 3 deck, given his on and off popularity in Classic Constructed. With certain nerfs to the meta incoming through the benchings, it's possible for the resident Necromancer to rise in popularity and play may increase.
Boltyn
The Warrior who's least like a Warrior has languished at the fringes of so many different metagames with the very nature of his play style demanding you to go card negative. Boltyn is a pet favourite for many players, and new cards from Compendium like Roaring Beam and Duty Bound Blitz do wonders for his play style in both CC and Silver Age.
His biggest stumbling block in Sage thus far was his weaponry. Beaming Blade was all that he had access to in this budget format, and while a weapon attacking for 5 is nice, needing to pitch a Yellow in Boltyn is a cost too steep for the rest of his card pool. LSS had the foresight to reward Light Warrior players by giving us his signature weapon, Raydn, Duskbane in the deck with a rarity downshift. This will do wonders for the hero's viability in the format, with some of his most powerful turns being fuelled by a staple in both formats: V of the Vanguard.
Briar
The boogeyman of the Silver Age tier list and previous tier 3 events, Briar is unshakeably strong, and will remain so until she likely hits the sidelines when the first vote for Silver Age legality is made public, before the release of Set 19 on June 5th.
Briar offers varying aggressive game plans, with numerous 0-for-4 Go Again attacks, that were prevalent in Aurora, Shooting Star, as well as the split damage of incidental arcane, and respectable defences in Sigil of Suffering.
While I imagine that Briar is likely to get hit by the community, LSS has ensured the players that this precon will not be legal for play, according to Caleb on World Tour Weekly.
Blaze
I remember scrambling like a madman during UK Games Expo and local Comic Cons to get my copy of Blaze, Firemind. She's still in her mini snap on my desk because I don't play much Wizard.
Her raw power as a tempo Wizard made her dominant in Blitz. With the removal of Waning Moon and the deck being low power enough not to include Eye of Ophidia, her power is greatly diminished in Silver Age compared to Blitz. Despite this, the way her hero ability interacts with Emeritus Scolding cannot be ignored. At the same time, the new support with Sigil of Fate tokens. It's because of these new sigils, that I expect Glyph Power Spell to become a power house in Blaze.
Wrap Up
The excitement around the first two waves of decks have the fledgling player base very engaged. Silver Age Chapter 3 will breathe new life into heroes on the fringes of one or both formats, and introduce a beloved fan favourite to Silver Age. If Blaze can be made legal, it gives me hope to see Dorinthea, Quicksilver Prodigy and Dawnblade Resplendent.
Keep up with fabtcg.gg for your news about Flesh and Blood TCG.
