With the upcoming election season, citizens of Rathe are asking an important question: Why does Chane not have to pay for rune gates? Several residents say they have noticed Chane often plays cards without paying. While no rules appear to have been broken, some wonder what this says about personal responsibility. With the launch of Flesh and Blood’s newest format, “Silver Age,” young Chane has been out on parole since he committed too many wrongdoings and was banished from the Blitz format in 2023. In just a month, Chane has already gotten himself in the hot seat of the public eye, winning multiple tournaments: the first three Silver Age Battle Hardeneds, Cash events, and a ProQuest+ in Vienna. This article will detail the misdeeds of Chane and advocate for his exile for a season so appropriate corrections can be made to the legal card pool.
“He just kept flipping cards off the top of the deck and saying he could play them. At first, I thought he was cheating, but I got the authorities involved, and they said everything was perfectly legal.” - Prism.
“Those cards were meant for me. I do not know why he thinks he has the right to play those.” - Vynnset.
“He is a terrific guy, big fan.” - Bravo, Star of the Show.
Chane’s ability to create a Soul Shackle to grant his next Runeblade or Shadow action go again has been a systemic issue in every format he is involved with. Folk tales say that Chane tricked the LSS staff by telling them that banishing cards from the top of the deck was a reasonable trade-off for his ability. Allegedly, Chane used his shadow arts to make the creators forget that they made cards that could be played from banish in Chane's debut set.
As stated earlier, we will explore the strengths (and few weaknesses) of Chane, what makes the silver age decklists so powerful, his impact on the meta, banlist implications, and what should be done regarding his legality in the format. With Legend Story Studios granting democratic power to the players of Silver Age, it is important that we are educated voters. If we want the format to succeed, we are now directly part of that process.
We have the privilege of living in ~30 Anno Magicae (in the Year of Magic: the Gathering), and in this era of post-enlightenment, we understand that getting extra cards each turn is crazy. Chane gets the best of both worlds, he gives free go again to two entirely different cardpools and he gets more and more cards banished as the game progresses. Each shackle presents the chance to hit a card that can be played from banish, in essence “drawing” cards because they can still be used. In slower matchups, Chane can sit on multiple blood debt cards in banish, waiting for a power turn that goes over the top of any deck. Versus aggro decks, he presents the chance to race with more cards than the opposing player has access to. Realistically, Chane could be split into two unique heroes, and both would be powerful. The combination of both granting go again and creating a shackle is the deadly duo that pushes him into the “broken design mistake” category.
Chane’s ability only ramps up as the game progresses, but it is also what fuels his powerful early turns. Imagine a perpetual motion machine that hits you over the head with a hammer ad infinitum: that’s kind of what it's like playing against Chane. The hero power means you're getting hit for a bunch of damage because it is giving cards not designed with “go again,” those two crucial words, while also adding shackles that turn into more future damage. While the first few turns of the game will still be powerful, when the soul shackles start hitting multiple cards a turn, that's when things become grim. Once the ball gets rolling, even Sisyphus cannot stop it.
Before we delve further into the inherent power of the hero power, we should establish what a Chane deck is. That sounds reductive, but it is important to have a baseline before discussing esoteric play lines and mechanics. These are the 3 Chane decks that have won all three of the Silver Age Battle Hardeneds.
Andrew Rothermel Battle Hardened: Seattle 1st
Petter Olsson Battle Hardened: Valencia
Evanking Chiu Battle Hardened: Hong Kong
It is important to note that the Chane lists you will likely face in Silver Age currently are centered around rune gate cost reduction, creating an engine with runechant generators, and rune gate cards that can be played from banish (put there via soul shackles). The specifics of those cards and playlines will be discussed shortly.
Chane has historically been powerful in every format, using whichever shadow tools he has access to. However, in recent years, he has taken on a unique form. Rune gate was a mechanic introduced in Dusk till Dawn, a set designed for the future of the shadow runeblade: one not involving Chane. Vynnset was the new replacement for the class + talent combo, showcasing a new kind of blood debt attack suite, rune gates. These attacks are tall and powerful, but require runechant thresholds to be online. The most common rune gate cards Chane uses are Vantom Banshee, Vantom Wraith, Deathly Delight, and Deathly Wail.
Previous runechant making cards (primarily from Arcane Rising) have simple design restrictions: they usually don’t have “go again.” Ending your turn after making 3 runechants with Read the Runes gives your opponent a window to push before you can attack and cash them in. Chane can grant these cards again and use the discount within the same turn, never letting his foot off the gas pedal. Think about a simple turn, such as banishing a Deathly Wail to a soul shackle and a red copy of Read the Runes. Use Chane - Read - play Deathly for free ends up being a 1 card 9 (not including the potential runechant wail could make). Value numbers like this scale when you factor in multiple rune gates with the addition of Malefic Incantation, Mauvrion Skies, and even equipment you always have access to, such as Sutcliffe's Suede Hides and Runehold Release. Everything in your deck as Chane either has “go again” or can give it with his ability. Most of your shackle hits are worth 6-7 (insert hand gesture) damage and make for powerful moments that appear out of thin air sometimes.
Soul Reaping is also an incredible card in the Silver Age format, being a specialization at rare, means you can play it in your deck. While most specializations are majestic, Chane gets another blessing he didn’t need. Your daily prayer is that every Chane you face gets unlucky and hits this card off a shackle. If they get to resolve it, you usually lose. This haymaker 1 in the deck is both a free 6 power attack and gives you resources. The requirement for such a powerful effect? Banishing cards. Wait a minute…that is just upside.
The Chane lists are built around 2 and 3 cost rune gates, which is a relevant threshold because of the runechant generators and blue count in the deck. You could realistically draw a dud hand with 2 rune gate attacks in it, but if you have the blues necessary, you can convert it to above rate damage anyway. Something as simple as Chane - Vantom Wraith - Reaping Blade is a 2-card 9, with the bonus of a Soul Shackle that is worth more throughout the course of the game. However, the curve means that 2 costs can simply be played for free with only a Spellblade Assault (and within the same turn if the Spellblade Assault is given go again with Chane’s ability), or a 3 cost if you have a Malefic or Runehold Release on the table.
Speaking of Runehold Release and synergistic equipment, while Chane doesn’t have good blocking armor, they do spike games and add consistency to the deck. Runehold Release has been talked about previously as a way to help hit rune gate thresholds easily during a turn, but Ebon Fold and Bloodtorn Bodice also deserve further discussion. Ebon Fold banishes a card to draw one. However, because you can banish a card that is playable from that zone, Ebon Fold basically says, “Pay 1, draw 1.” Bodice also works very well, usually combo’d with Arcane Cussing to break it immediately and get the 3 runechants (in addition to the 1 resource from Bodice). This enables powerful endgame lines where you can play a cussing - break it - and play a rune gate (given go again thanks to yours truly) into reaping with the 1 resource. The one downside of this equipment suite is that it has no block value. However, the offensive overlap outclasses that flaw.
In addition to that hypothetical 0 card 13 play with bodice and a cussing from a previous turn, there are other 0 card playlines as well. Something as simple as having a few runechants and Malefics on the board means you can double rune gate with the help of Chane. Think about starting your turn with at least 2 runechants (easier than you think with cards like Reduce to Runechant) + a malefic and a pair of 2 cost rune gates in banish, you hit from shackles at the start of your turn. Play the first rune gate (using Chane’s ability beforehand), trigger the Malefic, break Runehold, and play the other. Assuming these are red Vantoms, you’re looking at a potential 16 damage turn without a card in hand. Now this is Podracing.
What it means in the grand picture is that Chane can flex almost any number of cards. If you give him a 4-card hand, you are getting blasted, but if you manage to rip cards, it is not a guarantee that you are free from a power turn, since you are at the mercy of what the shackles hit for the turn. This does add some variance from game to game, and sometimes Chane will draw every rune gate card in his hand and banish all the generic runeblade engine pieces to shackles. However, the ratios of well-performing decks account for this and try to mitigate as much randomness as possible, so these instances are often statistical anomalies.
An important thing to note is that when we talk about these numbers, we are ignoring a very broken part of this equation: Chane presents mixed physical and arcane damage. The presence of on-rate arcane damage requires your opponent to sacrifice a sideboard slot to bring arcane barrier into the matchup, usually with the opportunity cost of a synergistic equipment for their game plan or a card balanced for physical value. An easy cross example would be Warrior in Classic Constructed, where each equipment piece is good at both blocking capability and activated use. Losing a slot to interact with one of two damage sources inherently favors runeblade. Not running Arcane Barrier 1 leaves you open to having the game stolen from you via unblockable damage from runechants and other arcane damage effects, so it is a sideboard requirement for the current meta. This has been a longstanding criticism of the runeblade class in general, and its strong presence in Chane only adds to the deck's strength.
Finally, there is also the presence of on hits. Pummel is easy to play when the card you’re dropping it on was free to cast, and sneaks extra damage your opponent wasn't expecting, and also strips a card from their hand. In a format with few defense reactions, there is not much of an answer to pummel thrown on top of an incoming rune gate attack. Over-blocking in anticipation is not a realistic option, since Chane can then sidestep by sending another attack or holding onto the pummel, putting you in the same position as the turn prior. Mauvrion Skies also presents a puzzle where letting it connect includes more runechants, which is both extra damage and resources, considering the threshold for rune gate cards.
The TLDR of this entire section can be summed up as: All of Chane’s turns are bonkers. Maybe once a tournament, the deck will implode, but most likely it will not. You are cooked if you give him five cards; you’re still cooked sometimes if he has 0 cards. You get the picture.
“I was able to play 2 turns,” said Gravy Bones, interviewed from his watery grave.
“He is making the rest of us Monarch heroes look bad. I think he’s a bully.” - Boltyn, recently sent to oblivion when he failed to deal 20 damage to Chane going 2nd.
“Huh?” - Tuffnut, who could not provide further comment when asked about how he felt about Chane being at tournaments.
Chane does a bunch of busted stuff, but how is he impacting the meta? That is a trick question, because he arguably is the meta. He's won almost every known major event and swept the competition. In theory, he would be a good gatekeeper for slow decks. The ability to pitch stack future blood debt cards to banish in the final turns of the game means he can almost deterministically end up with combo endgames involving three rune gate attacks in the same turn. Decks that can't race his late-game stack lose, so what about aggro decks? Looking at matchup data from the Battle Hardeneds, he is slightly unfavored against high-pressure decks like Bravo, Flattering Showman and Azalea, along with a close-to-even Ira matchup. However, we are seeing Chane beat these decks reliably in top 8 cuts. The rate of something like “banish a rune gate card, Chane ability, Spellblade Assault, rune gate attack” is an efficient line that goes way above the aggro deck values while still leaving cards ready for Chane to block important on-hits with. It’s hard to determine which archetype benefits the most from Chane being put on a seasonal sabbatical, because almost every deck is losing to him.
There is currently no reason to bring a hero besides Chane to a Silver Age event, given that you have practiced beforehand. While he is powerful and undoubtedly the best hero in the format right now, he is difficult to pilot. Every turn is a sequencing puzzle, you have to consider the probability of your possible outcomes. Additionally, while Chane can adapt to aggro and fatigue matchups, you must know how to play both well. Fatigue matchups are a unique skill check that require pitch stacking and executing the same endgame reliably. However, once you become a master of the dark arcane arts, nothing can stand in your way.
Chane can cover his bases with different tools in the deck. Slow matchups are solved with big runechant stacks thanks to cards like Blessing of Occult and pitch-stacking powerful endgame combos involving multiple rune gates and buffs like Putrid Stirrings. Aggro matchups are also easy to win with above rate defense reactions, along with Pummel disrupting the other player. Somehow, Flic Flak and Rootbound Carapace are banned, but Sigil of Suffering and Reduce to Runechant made it out unscathed. One can only speculate who is lobbying in Solana on his behalf.
Chane's leaving would give the meta more room to breathe. Slow and disruptive decks might be able to push out the hyper-aggressive strategies of Briar and Azalea. This might then create a counter-response of some cool picks we have not seen much of, such as Enigma or Nuu. Ira would probably end up in a fantastic spot as the new best deck because she's able to handle both of these pillars, but is inherently less powerful than Chane. This is all speculation, and the long-term impacts might not be as grand as half the tournaments being people not on the same hero.
The real question is, why would you want Chane to be allowed to enter the tournament halls? The obvious answer is that you like playing the deck, which is valid. Doing crazy things is fun sometimes, and Chane is the textbook definition of broken Flesh and Blood. However, I think it is worth considering that maybe his place is better suited for the eternal high-power format of LL and that he is less appropriate for Silver Age, which is intended as a more accessible format for both new and experienced players alike. The bans that would be required to sustain him below Tier 0 would most likely make Shadow/Runeblade heroes like Vynnset entirely useless, which could be a bad outcome considering that it’s her kit that Chane is abusing. Because Silver Age, so far, is a very math-focused format, and synergistic decks are nowhere to be found in the meta, except for Chane, he stands out as a point of interest. While Chane’s math is broken, he is also a hero who does something interesting outside the typical value crunching of 4-card hands.
However, that is just unbiased journalism. The citizens of Rathe have long-standing beef with their local Apostle of the Order. Pulling from the dark arts to win your matches is rarely going to go over well with good-meaning competitors. Some interview comments were deemed too vulgar to publish. A recent approval rating poll was conducted, which showed him in the 30% region. Another one was taken to gain insight into the thoughts of our fellow competitors.
“I can't trust someone who is friends with a guy like Ursur. I’ve heard rumors.” - Levia.
In a recent poll, Rathians seemed to overwhelmingly prefer the premier Shadow Runeblade candidate, Vynnset. The consensus was that she embodies the future of the class and promotes an equally fair game. In my unbiased opinion, she is much weaker than Chane despite what her fanatics would say. However, this seems to be part of her appeal. People always like an underdog. Chane has leveraged a lot to manipulate his position, and the corruption has reached a boiling point with the masses. Vynnset’s campaign slogan reads,
“A 4-turn format for everyone.”
Whether or not this promise is doable is debatable. Regardless, Vynnset aims to reclaim the rune gate cards given to her while promoting more steady and fair games while still doing exciting things. The worst outcome would be Chane remaining a part of the format and the tools being stripped, rendering Vynnset unplayable. We have seen this problem appear in other formats. Most recently, Starvo forced a Living Legend banlist into existence that invalidated all other guardians in the format just because he was so oppressive. This kind of collateral damage caused by a broken hero should be avoided when possible. Why should the innocent pay for the sins of the guilty?
After all, the cards were designed for Vynnset. Chane is not mirroring his original builds of cheap blood debt cards and ultra-wide turns. Instead of stealing the rune gate payoffs, he abuses the hero text on a whole new axis. Vynnset uses them as intended, a slow value engine that occasionally can chain together a couple attacks after a turn or so of setup. Read the Runes now leaves a window for the opponent to interact before the rune gates are opened. Additionally, any double rune gate turn now must be accomplished with a card like Mauvrion Skies or the one-time use of the Suede Hide boots. Vynnset provided a new path forward for Shadow Runeblade, as Chane has proven he cannot play fair.
So, what can be done to slow down Chane while he is in the format? After all, the new voting system includes the stipulation that a hero voted out must return for a season before going back on the ballot. I think the rune gate cards are too impactful of a ban for Vynnset, so we should look at cards that are more exclusive to Chane. The easiest bans would involve the engine for consistent rune gate turns: the runechant generators. Specifically, the ones from the Arcane Rising era, which were balanced around consuming your action point. This points me towards Spellblade Assault and Read the Runes being on trial.
Both of these cards are massive parts of the deck, enabling Chane to consistently play 1-2 Rune gates a turn without any previous setup. The slower passive generators, such as Runeblood and Malefic Incantation, are tailored for Vynnset, as she also creates a runechant at the start of the turn. Chane requires these higher threshold runechant makers, and can fix the downside of them. Most of the top 8 decklists from the three Battle Hardeneds included all 6 copies of Spellblade Assault, and in some cases, Deathly Duet, which functions similarly to Spellblade. If Spellblade is the correct ban, it’s probably also putting Duet on a watchlist or including it in the same ban announcement. Read the Runes is guilty of the same crime as it's an easy way to spike a rune gate with the help of Chane’s hero ability.
Chane has served past his prime. The era of flesh and blood he represents was a period of massive repression. Many heroes were barred from tournament success while he was in charge. He needs to be weakened in some capacity, with the ideal combination being a season off with a banlist change when he returns. An unchecked format might leave many feeling hopeless about the idea of traveling to compete for the format. While the vision of Flesh and Blood is uniting many across the globe with the shared language of card games, Chane aims to divide the meta and warp it to his will. He has found another format to torment, and the people of Rathe now have the power to decide for themselves what they want the Silver Age to look like. If a truly “new chapter of Flesh and Blood” is here, it is a future that does not involve the interdimenxxional demons of the past. It is for these reasons, and so many more, that I hereby call for the immediate banishment of Chane from Silver Age.