On Christmas Day in the US, a new lore article was released by LSS: A Grand Adventure. In the article, we learn about three young heroes of Aria who are traveling with Lexi to uncover a mystery. Most of the original version of this article was just covered by DM Armada on his YouTube channel through his own digging through the lore. Check out his video below. I’ll pivot and speculate about these heroes themselves.
From left to right, we have Yorick, a travelling bard; Lexi herself; Thawne, a dwarven blacksmith; and Māra, an aspiring magician. In my previous post, I mentioned that it’s likely that Everfest will bring us about six new young heroes. Half of them we have met here in this lore article and one more we were introduced to through the January Armory kit promotional materials—Velda Brightaxe. The other two (or more), I believe, we’ll meet at the Everfest Carnival itself in the lore. Kasharn Rao, the author of A Grand Adventure, teased on Facebook that more articles were to come.
For most of my readers, the visage of Yorick will be abundantly recognized by now. At the very least, we should be able to assume that he will lock in as one of our new young heroes to debut in the Everfest set due to his appearance on so many cards and his role in Lexi’s quest. Yorick armed with his lute will be a delight to have on the tabletop.
So how would a Bard in Flesh and Blood work? The community has floated several theories. I first speculated about potential Bard mechanics here when I thought we may see one in the Tales of Aria set.
As I speculated then, I believe that the Bard class will utilize auras in a similar, but distinct, way as Illusionists do. Enchanting Melody is a perfect example of how Bards could interact in Flesh and Blood. It’s an aura with a lovely effect that could, technically, not trigger before it disappears. We could see similar auras that buff damage, heal, deal arcane damage, cycle cards, recur cards from the graveyard, and so much more. Yorick, with lute in hand, should feel like a unique experience on the table—similar to how Kano plays in a unique fashion.
Furth, I’m going to assume that Yorick will not have a talent. One day, I’m sure, we’ll see talented bards, but I think LSS will grace us with a basic Bard first to flesh out the mechanics of the class. Now let’s look at another potential hero who might have a talent in this set.
Honestly, this may or may not be Thawne. They look similar enough, and they are both smiths. My hypothesis, though, is that Thawne, if he’s in the set, will be an Elemental Warrior with the essence of ice and or earth. The dwarven smith is only mentioned by name 6 times in the lore article.
We are told that he is a smith with a “keen eye for craftmanship”; he is seen having recognition of the mountain range around Yvor’s Peak; he cues in on a lever at the base of the statue of the Ancient of Ice and Thunder; once inside the chamber opened by the lever, Thawne becomes enthralled like a “kid in a sweetshop” by the giant weaponry inside what must have been an armory in the days of old; lastly, Thawne embraces Briar in an arm-wrestling match—his forehead drips with beads of sweat as she seems to defeat him quite easily 🥣⭕️.
Warriors have some of the most impressive equipment in Flesh and Blood. Certainly, they are able to soak more damage than the average hero with their armor. As a smith, I believe Thawne will focus on buffing and utilizing his weapon and equipment. He could be the first hero capable of removing -1 counters from equipment and he could utilize a generic or warrior-specific shield with a similar effect to Rotten Old Buckler.
We knew we’d be seeing some new weapons in Everfest, but I am very excited to see a mix of ancient Arian weapons and mystical/whimsical weapons from the Everfest Carnival itself.
Māra seems to be the most elusive adventurer to pin down into a class category. She’s called a magician and is said to have a “flair for the dramatic;” so what can we expect from her? Previously, I predicted seeing both a basic Illusionist and a talented Wizard in this set. I could be way off, but seeing a wizard with the essence of lightning makes the most sense to me. Granting the Wizard go again from cards like Flash would be a great way for a new wizard to compete with Kano’s instant ability while allowing the new hero access to a diverse talented card pool.
However, the magical effects that we see from Māra in the story don’t lend themselves to lightning magic. To light the way, Māra produces a “dancing rainbow flame.” The question here seems to be is this fire magic or an illusion? I certainly think that an illusion is a possibility based on the description of the flame. Just prior to this scene, Māra is shivering from the cold mountain air. Surely, if she could conjure fire, she would have done so to keep herself warm. Later, while trying to impress Oldhim, Māra produces a dove from her sleeve. She then transforms the bird into a “dazzling rainbow of aether flare.”
Aether certainly cues us to Kano and the powerful Wizard cards. However, it is important to note that aether is not only tied to fire nor to wizards. Cultists used “shadow aether” against Boltyn and his inquisitors. So what is aether?
Aether is the central knowledge base of all arcane arts in Rathe.
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For our only known Illusionist, Prism is said to have an “affinity with aether” which guided her to Sol and to becoming an Illusionists. It also important to note something about the illusions created by people of this profession. On Prism’s lore page, if you hover over the Illusionist’s icon, you get a nice description of what these illusions are really like: “breathtaking spectacles—powerful, tangible, illusions which are almost indistinguishable from reality.” So Māra is definitely manipulating aether, we are just unclear at this time as to what her affinity with it is.
If Yorick is in the set, and if I’m right about Bards utilizing auras, then we could see a number of Generic auras in the set that Māra could also utilize. Iris of Reality only interacts with Illusionist auras, but Māra could have some more interaction with auras on the board. I would love to see an effect that destroys auras for an effect or even returns an aura to the player’s hand. Of course, we’ll also see a new Illusionist weapon in this set as well.
In summary, I believe we could see these three young adventurers in the Everfest set as a generic Bard, an Elemental Warrior, and a generic Illusionist. In my last prediction post I mentioned several possibilities to fill out our (probably) 6 new young heroes. If we assume that the above 3 are in the set, then let’s speculate again about the remaining 3.
In Crucible of War, we saw 2 new classes (Shapeshifter and Merchant). I’m not as confident about seeing our friend the Braumeister in this set as once was, but seeing him or an Alchemist who can play creatively with potions would be a lot of fun. I do still believe that we’ll see both a Wizard and an Illusionist in this set. If Māra does turn out to be the Illusionist, then I think we could see an Elemental Wizard with the essence of all three elements from the Tales of Aria set. If Māra is Wizard, however, then I think we could see a wonderfully flamboyant Illusionist from the Everfest Carnival. Lastly, we have the lovely Velda to round out our new heroes.
This week I’ll be releasing another article that will go into detail about what to expect from Everfest in terms of how many cards each class and talent will receive, what the Legendaries could be, and some extra speculation about reprints.
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