Want to know the difference between rainbow foils and cold foils? Want to know what the fuss is and why some Flesh and Blood cards are already trading for thousands of pounds? Then read on…

Flesh and Blood, the card game, is a visceral slugfest between 2 heroes that’s easy to learn, exhilarating to play and comes with some of the most incredible card art that I’ve seen. The exceptional print quality is clearly evident and truly helps showcase the art in the best possible light. But the real heroes here are the foil cards. Legend Story Studios have really thought about how to treat their cards and how to create a collectible market that is designed to reward their truest fans.

So, with that said, let’s take a look at the 2 types of foil card from Flesh and Blood.

Rainbow Foils

Rainbow foils are your traditional foil cards. With rainbow foils the whole card is foil treated and will shine like a rainbow as it hits the light.  Rainbow foils can be found in all Flesh and Blood booster packs, and all foils pulled from an Unlimited pack will be rainbow foil and not cold foil.

 

Cold Foils

Cold foils are the creme-de-la-creme of Flesh and Blood foils. Created using a different foil technique, cold foils look more ‘metal’, with less colours that shine and typically only have certain elements of the card foiled. If you’re a Magic The Gathering player then you’d know these as etched foils. Legend Story Studios restrict Cold Foils to the Alpha or First Edition print runs of Flesh and Blood cards, or, in some special case, as promo cards in order to create something for the true collectors and the early adopters. It’s their thank-you gift to those who buy early and support the game on the frontline. Whether that works or whether it just creates a hyped up crazy Black Friday fight for First Edition boxes by scalpers is a valid debate but one for another time.

When you see or hear people talking about crazy prices for Flesh and Blood cards they are most likely talking about the Cold Foil version of a card which, for the most sought after chase cards, can change hands for thousands. However, to play Flesh and Blood and build a competitive deck you only need to spend a fraction of that (unless, for you, bling is king).

So, what does this mean when I’m cracking packs? What are my chances of pulling a Cold Foil and retiring early? Well, that sort of depends on what set you’re opening….

Welcome To Rathe

Welcome To Rathe contained a total of 226 cards across 6 standard rarities (see our rarity guide to learn more about Flesh and Blood card rarity).  Each pack contained 1 Premium Foil of random rarity with Unlimited packs containing only Rainbow Foils and Alpha edition packs including 1 Cold Foil in every 24 packs.   As Legend Story Studios has released the print run for the Alpha edition (400,000 booster packs) so we can calculate the supposed total number of Welcome To Rathe Cold Foils at 16,667.

Arcane Rising

A slightly smaller set than Welcome To Rathe, Arcane Rising contained 219 cards. The Alpha edition was replaced here by the First Edition which was also restricted to 400,000 booster packs and the same foil distribution as Welcome To Rathe.

 

Crucible Of War / Monarch

From Crucible of War onwards Legend Story Studios reduced the range of rarities from 6 standard types to 5 with Super Rare getting cut from the team.

We also saw a marked increase in the First Edition print run from 400,000 for the previous 2 sets up to 900,000 for Crucible Of War (Monarch’s print run is still TBC at time of writing). Legend Story Studios also increased the distribution of Cold Foils in the CoW and Monarch First Edition runs, with 1 in every 22 packs containing the mother lode. And for Tales Of Aria the distribution was increased once again, now with a Cold Foil in every 20 packs! As with all other sets Cold Foils were only obtainable from a First Edition pack with all Unlimited foils being the rainbow variety.

So there you have it. Cold Foils are the bees knees – they look great, they smell great (probably) and they can earn you a pretty penny if you’re lucky enough to pull the right one, or one at all for that matter. However, you will need to be cracking those First Edition boxes like the true Flesh and Blood disciple that Legend Story Studios designed Cold Foils for. Good luck in the great FaB Foil hunt!