The Living Legend system is designed to take heroes out of the format once they've hit that 1000 point total, and have proven that their meta dominance is high.
It's no secret to anyone who's been watching the leaderboard that Zen has been at the top for many months. With the first week of Pro Quest Singapore now in the books, we can confirm that Enigma and Zen will be leaving the format on April 25th.
Keep an eye out for a follow up article where we spotlight the results from Pro Quest Week One. In this article, we're going to look at the history of both heroes, at which decks benefit and which decks miss out with these heroes' absences.
Zen
When Part the Mistveil released, we immediately saw Zen becoming something of the best deck in format. It took multiple bannings to take kat007-bonds-of-ancestry-1-katsu-blitz-deck-precon away from him, and then effects which draw 2 cards away to balance him to the spot where he was during the Rosetta and Hunted seasons.
His raw power came from how well he was able to use jdg015-cf-art-of-war-2-judge-pack-season-2-promo. Other decks need to give cards to draw 2. If the Zen blocks with zen006-stride-of-reprisal-zen-blitz-deck-precon, then the Tiger that it makes is a free card to banish to then draw. They've only gained a large number of cards to attack you with, all with +1 thanks to Art of War.
In his later time in the meta, he became a value, midrange deck. Blocking efficiently with r-wtr092-flic-flak-1-welcome-to-rathe-unlimited-revised-booster, evr050-wax-on-1-everfest-booster, and evo239-wax-off-3-bright-lights-booster. However when the hand came along, he'd block with mst066-cf-traverse-the-universe-part-the-mistveil-booster to enable a turn of around 20 damage with dyn047-tiger-swipe-1-dynasty-booster and mst161-chase-the-tail-1-part-the-mistveil-booster.
His early meta dominance and respectable performance at the start of 2025 has put his securely at within just a few points of ascension, particularly for how good his matchup was into the then best deck, win007-cf-viserai-rune-blood-pro-tour-champion-cards-promo. There was a reasonable concern that he would not be legal for Pro Tour London.
The fact he didn't ascend during the events leading up to the PT are telling of themselves. It's indicative of how the meta has evolved from when he was strong. He is a proactive deck in other ways, but the metagame has moved on from him.
Unlike in his hay day, Zen does not have quite the meta relevance that he used to. Therefore, there won't be a great deal of decks that benefit or lose out from him leaving the format. His spot as the value driven midrange deck is likely to be filled by Ira or the Warriors. Only time will tell.
Enigma
Meanwhile, Enigma has been a dominant force in the wider metagame since Zen's fall from grace. She's gone through many iterations during her lifetime, but her power level was always evident.
When she started out, there were a few card choices that felt correct for the deck. Many Illusionist players were looking at the Bright Lights Expansion slot card evo244-phantom-tidemaw-3-bright-lights-booster and wondering if there was some use for building that as a finishing card alongside mst031-manifestation-of-miragai-3-part-the-mistveil-booster.
Some number of Spectra cards were seeing play in initial versions of Enigma. jdg026-cf-shimmers-of-silver-3-judge-pack-season-4-promo has obvious synergy with her signature weapon eng002-cosmo-scroll-of-ancestral-tapestry-enigma-blitz-deck-precon. It giving her aura's +1 and Go Again has always read as a powerful effect, especially with mst133-restless-coalescence-2-part-the-mistveil-booster, to convert that counter into another shield.
The further into her lifespan, the more of the generic staples she played main deck. Being proactive with r-wtr159-enlightened-strike-1-welcome-to-rathe-unlimited-revised-booster was the start for what made her so midrange. As well as this, she has the immensely powerful one card 7, with the fab001-gf-fyendals-spring-tunic-premier-organized-play-welcome-to-rathe-promo plus evr139-miraging-metamorph-1-everfest-booster; using your Tunic Resource to send an attack that demands a popper or two cards after you spent your whole turn defending your ward board is very strong.
Compared to Illusionists in the past, Enigma is probably the one printed that can best use mon091-phantasmaclasm-1-monarch-booster. It being hand attack stapled onto a huge attack is game breaking in some states.
Whether it's the beatdown of several huge attacks or a board full of ward, there are certain decks that cannot match that output. Largely, it's the non-esoteric classes. Brute, Guardian, and Warrior are all built to deliver consisted physical damage throughout each turn. These classes have a very hard time weathering the aggression well enough to then present any meaningful aggression back that isn't just absorbed by ward. I expect all three of these classes to get significantly better when Enigma leaves the format.
The deliberate meta checking deck, the defensive deck that can sometimes output absurd numbers, which will take Enigma's place looks to be ros001-florian-rotwood-harbinger-rosetta-booster. Florian plays into a similar gameplan where the first few turns of the game are spent blocking very efficiently whilst stacking up Runechants, then once his hero ability is active, he can send one immense turn that is impossible to deal with.
Wrap Up
We had very few decks ascend to Living Legend during 2024. Just upr001-dromai-ash-artist-uprising-booster in fact.
So far into 2025, we've seen 3 go, and with the rise of CYB Slap arc001-dash-inventor-extraordinaire-arcane-rising-booster on the rise from Pro Tour London and Battle Hardened Dublin, we may see her ascend too.
The year started with a very heavily Mistveil dominated metagame, but going into Nationals, or even the second week of Pro Quests, we might see something entirely different.
Keep up to date with all the news from Flesh and Blood right here on DotGG.
