Image courtesy of Legend Story Studios

Avast ye, mateys! The High Seas has set in and we’re on our way to raid the loot on Treasure Island in Flesh and Blood‘s newest expansion.

It’s been a long time coming since we’ve had new classes and talents, and today we’re going to feature someone who has both — Gravy Bones, Shipwrecked Looter, a Pirate Necromancer hero!

Priced at $39.90 USD, Armory Decks offer a quick route for new Flesh and Blood players to hop into the game at a reasonably competitive level. It’s one of the best ways to get into Classic Constructed, the main format of the game.

What’s In the Gravy Bones Armory Deck?

Designed as an introductory product, these Armory Decks outfit new players with a fully playable deck. Being a new combination of class and talent, this deck is full of playsets of cards that will definitely see play for new and experienced players alike. As a bonus, the deck contains a copy of Call to the Grave, a 40$ card, though it does not seem like the entire value of the deck is concentrated on this single card.

Here’s the decklist:

From Davy Jones’s Locker

As a Necromancer, Gravy Bones relies on the power of his allies to do his dirty work. With his ability and Compass of Sunken Depths, we’re able to play out allies with Watery Grave from our discard pile, thereby extending our hand. But do note the downside: these allies cannot block like normal action and reaction cards; they do not have block values.

Limpit, Hop-a-long seems to be one of the most aggressive cards for pressure, as the efficient attacker has innate Go Again, so we can swing in with one more ally. Riggermortis brings on the offense with six power for only a single resource.

Oysten, Heart of Gold is a tricky and perhaps sticky ally on the board. Since it has an on-death effect of generating Gold, players may choose to leave it alone. Anka, Drag Under, on the other hand, seems like a control card best left to the sideboard; this card can polarize matchups where the opponent can draw more cards than usual. Finally, Sawbones, Dock Hand is a great way to prevent pings and could even be good in Arcane Damage-based matchups — though of course, this unit will be removed immediately once it hits the table.

Dead Men Tell No Tales

That’s not all Gravy Bones has in store. Battalion Barque is one of the deck’s hardest hitters, while Paddle Faster is an efficient way to push damage with developing the board later on due to Go Again.

Another neat trick the deck can do is play Call to the Grave to bin Back Alley Breakline to generate an extra action point.

The deck has a critical mass of Watery Grave cards, so Jittery Bones and Restless Bones are both decent attacks that still block for three. Decisions also become easier as we use our off-hand to gain information on the top of our deck.

Avast Ye!, Loot the Arsenal, and Loot the Hold all provide on-hits which potentially generate Gold, which is an important resource for Gravy Bones, as we can loot and sculpt our hand on a turn-by-turn basis. Combined with our Watery Grave allies, we can still keep a hand full of blocks, while still playing out our allies from the discard pile.

The equipment suite isn’t bad either, specially for a starter product. Graven Justaucorpse has some great value, specially as an instant. Tricorn of Saltwater Death likewise gives us the opportunity to dig for defense reactions while fattening up our yard.

Washed Up Wave is a decent armpiece just for the above-rate block value for a common. Breakwater Undertow, however, doesn’t work at the moment, as Attack Reactions cannot be played during Ally attacks. So we expect the rules to be updated, or this card to receive an errata.

The Booty: Gravy Bones Armory Deck Upgrades

Let’s focus on allies first.

Wailer Humperdinck is one of the best-statted cards out there, but is a huge commitment, being six to play and six to attack. Swabbie, though, us much more efficient and is a threat that needs to be addressed immediately. Chum, Friendly First Mate, is another way to control the board and to soak up some damage our other allies can potentially take.

For games that go long, Chowder, Hearty Cook might just be the key card to keep our life total high. Kelpie, Tangled Mess definitely seems like another sideboard card where we’re the control player. Moray le Fay is another ally which provides late game inevitability, if she gets to stick around.

With that said, let’s also look at other options in High Seas.

Blood in the Water is just an insane defensive card in this deck, potentially blocking six for zero.

Conqueror of the High Seas is not quite a Command and Conquer replacement, but still has its own annoying ability: having go again. Battalion Barque yellow is also a respectable attack, which players on a budget may consider. Sea Legs has decent stats with an occasional upside, though I’m not certain if we’re going to shift to a Goldkiss Rum-focused build entirely.

To generate more resources, it feels like Chart the High Seas and Give No Quarter deserve spots in the decklist, as these are deterministic ways to extract more value out of our blues and yellows. Tip the Barkeep is also one more way to generate more ways to attack with our allies, so this could come as a package with Sea Legs, or just a standalone piece to occasionally push damage or develop our board a little further.

Gold-Baited Hook and Dead Threads look like the straight upgrades to our equipment suites, so dedicated Pirate and Necromancer players should look to pick these up.

The Card Gamer Verdict

As a new class and talent, we don’t have a frame of reference for how good this class can be yet in a constructed setting. We also have yet to receive an Armory Deck for any Illusionists (yet, but one is coming soon!), so we also cannot draw comparisons on deck composition or values from nonexistent products. Judging it solely from the value it brings to the table, I believe the Armory Deck: Gravy Bones is a great pick up for players who want to kick-start their Flesh and Blood journeys, or for more tenured players who just want a fast pass into building one of the new heroes.

I’m not certain how competitive Gravy Bones will be, but Ally-based decks have already ruled the metagame once. While Gravy Bones’s allies feels weaker in comparison to Dromai, we also have more options, and we can play more blues and better block cards to prolong the game and whittle the opponent down. Looking forward to the future, a pure Necromancer hero is definitely in the works, so this is only the beginning of more allies in the metagame.