High Seas Primer

High Seas is the latest swashbuckling way to play Flesh and Blood! Choose one of three Pirate captains, then chart a course in search of ancient treasure, big game sea monsters, and the adventure of a lifetime.

High Seas Sealed Deck uses EIGHT booster packs, with a main deck size of EXACTLY 30 cards. No more, no less. Open your packs and remove the last two cards in each pack, which will be either Basic cards, Legendary cards, and/or Expansion Slot cards. Set aside any non-basic cards removed this way, as they cannot be used in your limited deck.

Next, sort your cards by class and build your deck. Note that you can also use the cards from your special promo pack in your deck. Once you’re ready, choose a hero and a weapon, make sure you’ve got Gold tokens handy, and prepare to set sail!

Before we disembark, let’s run through the basics of seafaring.

Basic cards (formerly “Token cards”) are cards with the “B” rarity symbol that you always get to start with in play, such as your hero and weapon, or tokens you might create during the game, such as Gold. You do not need to open a specific Basic card in your packs in order to use it.

The symbol with an arrow in it means “tap”. To tap something, you rotate it sideways to indicate the ability has been used. All of your cards will “untap” (return to normal) at the end of your turn. You cannot tap a card if it is already tapped. Some cards will allow you to untap cards early, as shown by the symbol with a reverse arrow. Only tapped cards can be untapped.

If a card mentions color, it’s referring to the color strip located at the top of the card. This indicates how many resources the card gives when pitched. Red cards pitch for 1, yellow cards pitch for 2, and blue cards pitch for 3.

Many cards such as items or allies cost an action point to play, and have abilities you can activate once they are in the arena. If that ability is also an action, you’ll need to have go again when you play the card in order to then use its ability in the same turn.

Instants can be played at any time, even during the other hero's turn, and do not need an action point. Some cards in High Seas are not instants, but they have “Instant—” printed in their effect text. This is an ability on the card that can be activated like an instant while you control it.

Overpower is a keyword that stops your opponent defending an attack with more than one action card. However, they might still find other ways to prevent the damage, such as defending with equipment or “block” cards. Block cards simply defend - they can’t be “played” so make sure you don’t lock your arsenal with one.

Items are cards that stay in the arena when they are played or created, until they are destroyed or “stolen”. If you steal an item, control of it switches from your opponent over to you.

Crank and Galvanize are keywords found on Mechanologist cards. When you “crank” an item, you can choose to remove a “steam counter” from it when it enters the arena, which gives it go again. Galvanize is activated when you defend, scrapping an item you control to use its alloy for a bonus effect.

Allies are creatures that can attack under your command. They have a life value in the bottom right corner that shows how much damage needs to be dealt to them (in one turn) in order to kill them. Most allies start in your deck and must be played before they can attack. You cannot defend with allies from your hand, because they do not have a defense value.

Most allies in High Seas have the keyword Watery Grave. This means if they go to the graveyard from the arena, they are flipped face-down. They are not flipped face-down if they are sent directly to the graveyard from the hand or deck, only once they have been killed in battle. Face-down cards in your graveyard cannot be played, removed, or flipped face-up, and your opponent cannot look at them.

High Tide is a keyword on some Pirate cards that becomes active when you have two or more blue cards in your pitch zone. You can’t pitch a card for no reason—only when you are paying for a cost. So if you want to use the high tide ability on a card that costs 3 or less, you’ll need to pay for other costs first in order to get another blue card into your pitch zone.

High Seas Sealed Deck is played with the Treasure Island macro. This card always starts in the arena and both players will be fighting for the Gold it provides. Neither of you controls it, and it can’t be removed or destroyed.

The first time you attack your opponent (or they attack you), a counter is placed on Treasure Island (usually tracked with dice). When you deal damage to your opponent, remove counters equal to the damage dealt and make that many Gold tokens. This adds another exciting level to attacking and defending!

There are also a number of Pirate cards in High Seas that interact with Treasure Island in interesting ways…

Gravy Bones is a Pirate Necromancer. He can play Pirate and Necromancer cards. His weapon is Compass of Sunken Depths.

Gravy Bones likes to discard from his hand and destroy the top card of his deck to get his allies into the graveyard, then play a blue card (or send one to the graveyard in the same manner as the allies), in order to play an ally from his graveyard. The first ally he plays this way will get go again, allowing him to then attack with it (or use its other abilities).

Gravy Bones loves treasure! Getting lots of Gold helps Gravy Bones draw and discard his allies, or dig through his deck to find the cards he needs. The opponent will need to figure out if it’s better to attack the allies to remove them, or attack Gravy Bones himself.

When building a Gravy Bones deck, look for roughly 4-8 allies. Too few and you might get fatigued, too many and you might find it hard to defend. Look for lots of blue cards with go again to enable his hero ability, and lots of ways to make Gold. Attacks with go again are also very strong, as you can follow them up with an ally attack.

Puffin is a Pirate Mechanologist. She can play Pirate and Mechanologist cards. She has two different weapons to choose from: Cogwerx Blunderbuss and Spitfire.

Puffin likes to use her ability to turn Gold into Golden Cogs, which can be tapped in order to pay for extra damage or abilities when attacking. Note that Puffin’s hero ability doesn’t have go again, but if you crank the Golden Cog when it is created, you will regain your action point!

Puffin loves treasure! Golden Cogs generate more attack value on your cards and weapons, as well as unlocking other special effects to outplay the opponent. You can go with the tried and true Cogwerx Blunderbuss if you have a lot of blues and 1/2-cost cards, or you can go with Spitfire if you have lots of 0/1-cost cards.

When building a Puffin deck, look at what payoffs you have for creating Golden Cogs and decide which weapon is better suited to those cards. Build around those chosen cards with enough blue cards to pitch (roughly 8-12 for Cogwerx Blunderbuss), or more reds and yellows if you’re using Spitfire.

Marlynn is a Pirate Ranger. She can play Pirate and Ranger cards. She has two different weapons to choose from: Hammerhead, Harpoon Cannon and Redspine Manta.

Marlynn likes to draw cards in order to put arrow cards from her hand into her arsenal. This is because arrows can only be played from your arsenal. Once she’s locked and loaded, she’ll pump up the arrow to gigantic proportions and launch it at the opponent! Hammerhead, Harpoon Cannon gives Marlynn access to overpower on her arrows with “harpoon” in their name, which helps her get Gold from Treasure Island, and also force through lethal damage.

Marlynn loves treasure! Using Gold to draw cards is how she can get arrows into her arsenal without having to pass turn, which lets her keep up the pressure. She can also use Gold to create Goldfin Harpoons, meaning she will still have a way to attack if she doesn’t draw an arrow. Hammerhead giving a Goldfin Harpoon +4 and overpower, hitting and replacing the Gold, is a great endgame loop to keep yourself from fatiguing.

When building a Marlynn deck, look at the cost of your arrows, and how many blues you have to support them. If you have a lot of high cost cards, you’ll want roughly 12-16 blues in order to consistently pay for Hammerhead, Harpoon Cannon. If you have a lot of 0-cost cards with go again, you may want to try a red-heavy go-wide strategy with Redspine Manta instead.

Wait… didn’t I say there were THREE Pirates?!

Scurv, Stowaway is a sneaky freeloader hiding somewhere below deck. You can ONLY play this hero if you open him in your packs.

Scurv can only play Pirate and generic cards. This gives him less options than the other heroes, but because he’s also a Thief he unlocks hidden bonuses that they don’t have. Scurv doesn’t start with a weapon, instead he brings along his trusty sidekick Sticky Fingers, who begins the game perched at your side. When the opponent has a Gold token, send out Sticky Fingers to take it for yourself! Keep in mind, he’ll then be vulnerable to attacks.

Scurv likes to play big Pirate attacks and give them go again with Goldkiss Rum. His hero ability also gives him a resource bonus when you use Goldkiss Rum, allowing him to play bigger and nastier hands. Some cards in High Seas also have bonus effects that only activate if you are a Thief, which Scurv uses to push his big turns even further.

Scurv loves treasure! Spending a turn creating a Goldkiss Rum and putting a card in arsenal is how he sets up for huge hands that push over the top of the opponent’s defenses, eventually closing out the game from high damage or overpower. Constantly stripping both Treasure Island and the opponent of their Gold also has another advantage - all of the other heroes are marooned without it!

When building a Scurv deck, look for big Pirate attacks, especially the ones themed after ships. Since you don’t have a weapon, you’ll want enough big threats in your deck to take out the opponent before you fatigue. Yellow cards are also really good, since a lot of Pirate cards care about the color and you can afford to play more of them due to your hero ability. Lastly, don’t forget to include cards that have “Thief” effects - it’s the whole reason to play him!