Understanding Pitch in Flesh and Blood: The Resource System Explained

If you're new to Flesh and Blood, the pitch system is the first thing you need to truly internalise. It governs every resource decision in the game — and unlike most TCGs, your resources aren't separate from your cards. Your hand is your resource pool.

The Three Colours

Every card in FaB has a pitch value indicated by a coloured banner at the top of the card:

| Colour | Pitch Value | Typical Cost | |--------|------------|--------------| | Red | 1 | Low — fast, efficient but less powerful | | Yellow | 2 | Mid — balanced stats, used as pitch support | | Blue | 3 | High — expensive to play, but pitches for maximum resources |

Most decks contain multiple copies of the same card in different pitch values (known as "pitch sets" or "pitch variants"). The red copy is cheaper and often played directly. The blue copy pitches for 3 resources toward your main action.

How Pitch Works in Practice

On your turn, you draw 4 cards. To play a card, you pitch other cards from your hand into the resource zone — they go to the bottom of your deck at the end of your turn.

Example: You have a hand of:

• Crippling Crush (cost 9)
• Command and Conquer (blue, pitches for 3)
• Pummel (blue, pitches for 3)
• Seismic Surge (blue, pitches for 3)

Pitch all three blues → 9 resources → play Crippling Crush for free.

The three blues go to the bottom of your deck. They'll come back in 12–15 turns. Crippling Crush goes to the graveyard or acts as a block next turn depending on whether you played it as an attack.

The Pitch Stack

Here's what separates intermediate from advanced FaB players: the pitch stack is not random.

Because you pitch to the bottom of your deck and draw from the top, every pitch decision is a deliberate investment. The cards you pitch today become your hand in approximately one full cycle (usually 12–20 turns depending on deck size and card draw).

This means:

1. You can engineer a "power turn" — pitch 3 blues early to guarantee you'll have them back together when you need one massive attack
2. You can separate expensive cards to avoid "bricking" (drawing multiple un-pitchable cards in the same hand)
3. You should track whether you've cycled through your deck once, so you know what's coming

Pitch Order Matters

The order you pitch cards in matters because they stack sequentially at the bottom of your deck.

Scenario: You pitch Command and Conquer (blue), then Seismic Surge (blue). Later in the cycle, C&C comes back first, then SSurge. If you need them together again, you need to pitch them in the same hand — not separately.

Advanced players deliberately "stack" pitch to create specific future hands.

Building a Consistent Pitch Stack

When building decks, think in pitch ratios. A common approach:

• 40% red — cheap, proactive plays that you plan to attack with
• 30% yellow — blocking and mid-turn decisions
• 30% blue — heavy pitch to fund your best cards

Some aggressive decks (Fai, Ira) run heavily red and rely on cheap, repetitive pressure. Control decks (Oldhim, Bravo) run heavy blue to fund expensive attacks.

Common Mistakes

1. Pitching reds to fund attacks — red cards pitch for only 1 resource. If you're pitching 3 reds to fund a 3-cost attack, you've wasted three cards on a mediocre hit. Pitch blues and play reds.
2. Not thinking about the pitch stack cycle — randomly pitching without considering when those cards return means you'll hit "brick" turns where your hand has no cohesion.
3. Over-blocking early — every card you use as a block is a card not in your pitch stack. Early defensive decisions compound into late-game card disadvantage.

The pitch system rewards deliberate play and forward thinking. Once it clicks, FaB becomes one of the deepest strategic card games available.