one of my first matches when I began playing Flesh and Blood was Bravo vs. Gravy Bones in Silver Age format. I was intrigued by Gravy's necromantic playstyle, resurrecting and activating ally after ally and forcing me not only to block out turn after turn but, when I was afforded the opportunity to begin a turn with decent cards in my hand, I had to waste my awesome guardian strength on killing Gravy's allies instead of killing Gravy. my friend on the other side of the table, Rob, explained that Gravy used allies instead of a weapon--effectively, Gravy's allies are his weapons, he said--and slyly began several of his turns with "wanna see a magic trick?" before forcing me to block blow after blow lest I walk his dumbass plank. I was quickly mercked.

since then, I have had the great fortune of beating Gravy here and there, but my curiosity about necromancers has remained insatiable. the board control, evocative of a commander-in-chief rather than someone who themselves sees combat, remained intriguing to me. however, I had absolutely no interest in playing Gravy Bones myself. why? I'm comfortable admitting this: aesthetically, I don't like him. I don't want to be a fucking pirate or make anybody walk the plank. I don't want to be named "Gravy," as this is a food. I have to feel like I relate aesthetically and temperamentally to my heroes in Flesh and Blood, and Gravy just wasn't it for me.

I and several others at my local TCG shop agreed that a shadow necromancer would absolutely fuck. as a spooky goth bitch, shadow necromancy is way more up my alley. at the same time, I was sort of skeptical about the whole zombie thing. for one, what would the resurrection mechanics look like? for another, and way less consequentially, I've never been a "zombies" person.

when Usurp's promotional materials were finally released, however, I couldn't have converted more quickly to Zombie Person than if my brain had been munched on by Malice herself. not only does she boast the impressive ally deployment reminiscent of Gravy's style, but, instead of the "watery grave" resurrection format that simply pulls the same allies repeatedly from the graveyard, Malice's zombies actually undergo a transformation from decaying ally to permanent ally: the Corrupted Corpse. this forces her opponents to contend with constant 3-for-1 attacks, each with Go Again, putting them at high risk of fatigue at best and merciless slaughter at worst. (the blood debt Malice takes is therefore a small price to pay for the damage she can do if managed properly!)

suddenly, Malice was the talk of the town at the shop. a ton of us were excited about her release, especially me. but as Usurp's prerelease date grew closer, I have to admit that I had grown a little bit lukewarm about Flesh and Blood. it was right around the time that Usurp's promotional materials were released that Palworld 1.0 was released for PC, and the Palworld TCG was not far behind. further, I was very keenly aware that not only did three of my four decks need an absolute shit-ton of work to be even remotely competitive, but one of them, Oldhim, was at high risk of being benched for the season, anyway. Malice would need to be as exciting as poised for me to continue feeling good about the game.