Greetings and salutations, my fabulous FAB folks! I’m Donnie K, aka some random #fabdad, and you’re here today for another tournament coverage review article on FABREC! As tantalizing as Bryan Gottlieb’s keynote speech was, we’re here today to discuss the tournament attached to the Rosetta spoilers – Pro Tour: Amsterdam.

Mystics Clashing in the Mother of Cities!

At this point, do I really need to keep touting how good Savage Feats broadcasts are? ‘Cause I will gladly do so. ManSant has set the bar for Flesh and Blood coverage incredibly high and just does it best. This stream was no exception. Just more of the same excellent streaming quality we’ve come to expect. As a community, I hope the day doesn’t come when we take it for granted how good the coverage is. Especially for a game as young as ours.

ManSant was the man behind the camera, and the casting team were all familiar faces too. After revving up the crowd with his keynote, Bryan Gottlieb stepped into the caster’s booth once again. It’s always nice hearing him talk about how things were in development, and hearing it while great games are being played is just *chef’s kiss.* The rest of the casting team also did a great job all weekend long, keeping the games exciting and viewers like me invested in each play. Romain Nicolas, Kieran “Mr. Classic” McEntegart, Erika Forslof, and Pankaj Bhojwani rotated in and out and I was disappointed in none of them.

Sadly, on Twitter (X) after the event, I did see a tweet from Erika Forslof saying that they had experienced a bout of imposter syndrome after doing such an amazing job all weekend. I’m not sure if Erika might ever read this, but if so, please know that you were insightful and delightful as always and you absolutely deserve to be where you are. Please, keep up the good work.

Now, let’s get to some good stuff!

The Numbers We Always Want to Know…

Day One

Pro Tour: Amsterdam started on Friday with four rounds of Classic Constructed and three rounds of Part the Mistveil (MST) draft. Out of the 27 heroes available for the event, only 21 were represented. None of the 390+ players registered Arakni, Katsu, Olympia, Betsy, Viserai, or Vynnset for the main event.

The top five most represented heroes on Day One were Zen (90), Nuu (72), Enigma (32), Prism (32), and Kayo (31). The three heroes from Part the Mistveil made up over half of the field at the beginning of the event. In fact, together Zen and Nuu were played more than the six next most represented heroes combined.

Day Two

At the end of Day One, 187 players advanced to the second half of the main event. Of those, three were still undefeated. Christopher Iaali on Prism, Etienne Barioulet on Nuu, and Gabe Sher, also on Nuu, had a perfect run at this point. Day Two consisted of another three rounds of MST draft and then four more rounds of Classic Constructed before the final cut.

The top five heroes making it to Day Two saw a drop off of Kayo (8) and an uptick in Azalea (12), but were otherwise the same as Day One. Out of the 162 players who brought Zen or Nuu, 92 of them made the cut. (Fun fact, all two of the players who registered Uzuri managed to make the cut as well for a 100% conversion rate.) Fai, Kassai, and Teklovossen however, did not get a single player into the second half.

Top 8 Cut

Finally, after 14 rounds of Swiss, the Top 8 players from Pro Tour: Amsterdam who played in the Sunday elimination rounds were as follows:

1. Bartosz Ziemba – Poland (Zen)
2. Shing Tsang – Hong Kong (Nuu)
3. Tariq Patel – Canada (Nuu)
4. Pudding Tam – Hong Kong (Zen)
5. Kevin Zanker – Germany (Levia)
6. Gabe Sher – Netherlands (Nuu)
7. Shoma Yamamura – Japan (Uzuri)
8. Tom Tydecks – Germany (Zen)

Feature Match Highlights

As usual, I’m going to focus on the Classic Constructed portion of the event for these highlights. Due to some positive feedback, we’ll highlight two games from Day One and Day Two to begin with. Then, one game from each of the elimination rounds on Sunday before wrapping up.

Day One – Four Rounds Classic Constructed, Three Rounds MST Draft

Round Two – Alexandros Argyriou (Zen) vs Kevin Pennec (Azalea)

For the first time in what feels like forever, we saw the reigning Flesh and Blood World Champion, Alexandros Argyriou in action in Round Two. The Champ was playing Zen and faced Kevin Pennec on Azalea. Considering Alexander won the world championship with Fai, it’s not surprising that now he’s playing the new best Ninja hero. Zen/Alex went first, and Kevin managed to get a Sleep Dart into the graveyard on turn zero. It didn’t stay there long though. Kevin played Premeditate followed by Rain Razors and pitched into his bow. He didn’t load an arrow, but instead played a turn one Codex of Frailty to get the Sleep Dart and a Ponder token.

Alex gave up the whole hand, fueling his graveyard and preserving his life total to use later. Kevin gave no ground though and his next attack was a buffed up Remorseless. Kevin gave up three cards and his chest piece this time, being patient and sculpting his hand. Unfortunately for the champ, the perfect hand never really presented itself. Or if it did, the constant barrage of powerful arrows gave him no room to fire back. Kevin Pennec got the win with a dominated Red in the Ledger when Alex was on his last life point.

Round Three – Joakim Gustafsson (Victor Goldmane) vs Francesco Lorenzi (Maxx)

The glare from the sun hit the table (making it a little hard to see), and so did Francesco Lorenzi’s Maxx Nitro. Not long before Pro Tour: Amsterdam, Francesco had already seen some success with the hero, having won BH Bologna. Joakim was doing well with Victor so far today though, and was looking to crush the Mech on the way to the Draft rounds. Francesco started by setting up a Hyper Driver with Maxx’s hero power and, on his turn, Joakim started things off with a trip home to borrow some money from Daddy (Visit Goldmane Estate).

Thanks to the Crown of Dominion and Aurum Aegis, he got three Might tokens and a card from the trip. Sunlight from the lovely Amsterdam weather outside shined in through the roof onto The Golden Son as it crashed in for 10 with Overpower. Maxx was pummeled down to nine life from Victor’s constant barrage before finally getting into his mech suit. It was a little too late though, and the golden boy managed to dispel The Hype to clinch the win a few turns later.

Day Two – Three Rounds MST Draft, Four Rounds Classic Constructed

Round Thirteen – Tariq Patel (Nuu) vs Shoma Yamamura (Uzuri)

We saw Shoma Yamamura and his Uzuri earlier in the Swiss, but at this point in the event he was within striking range of making the Top 8. In his way was Tariq “Two Belts” Patel on Nuu, also looking to secure that prestigious slot on Sunday. This was a very long, grindy game as most Assassin mirrors tend to be. Shoma took an early life lead and managed to force The Grain that Tips the Scale from Tariq’s hand with a swap into The Weakest Link. Things took a turn for Shoma when he drew two Codex of Frailty on the same turn. A Hiss on Nuu’s Surgical Extraction got through and took the last Codex from his hand.

Tariq saved the Slither from the Hiss so he could play two Command and Conquers on his next turn, keeping the life totals even. Chip by chip, the Mystic Assassin wore her predecessor down. Eventually, Shoma only had one life point left and another red Hiss came over the one-card block to secure the win for Tariq.

Round Fourteen – David J Iglesias (Kayo) vs Kevin Zanker (Levia)

I always like watching the last two rounds of an event in particular. I think some of the best stories can come out of them. In the last Swiss round of Pro Tour: Amsterdam, two Brutes met in the feature match area for their win and in. David J. Iglesias and Kayo faced off against Kevin Zanker on Levia to see who would get to keep playing this great game on the Sunday stage. Bryan made a good joke about ManSant needing to be tied to his producer’s chair if Kevin/Levia won and the game got started.

The life totals melted quickly on both sides, as they tend to do in Brute games. It didn’t take long before Kevin was faced with the decision of blocking out a Swing Big to stay above 13 life. He went to 14 and had to hope that David didn’t find a Reckless Swing with his next hand. David drew up, Kevin swung his Claw and waited. No Reckless Swing in sight, so Levia was free to flip into her demi-hero. The Eye of Ophidia in Kevin’s next hand was really awkward as he had to defend against another Swing Big and Command and Conquer next turn. But, that wasn’t enough to stop the Shadow Brute and Levia managed to secure the win for Kevin Zanker soon after the flip.

Top 8 Cut

Quarterfinals – Bartosz Ziemba (Zen) vs Tom Tydecks (Zen)

Bartosz Ziemba was looking for redemption after making it all the way to the finals at Pro Tour: Lille in 2022. In the quarterfinals, he faced Tom Tydecks in a Zen mirror match. Tom was also in the Top 8 at Lille and was just as hungry for the win. Bartosz finished the Swiss in first place, so he had the honor of choosing to go second.

Tom had about as good a start as Zen can hope for, Transcending and being able to leak a few points of damage through. Bartosz’s first turn cost him both Zephyr Needles and an Art of War, but that allowed him to set up with tempo. Tom’s next hand had three instants in it and Bartosz was able Transcend as well while taking advantage of the lapse of defense. Tom went to 21 and wasn’t really able to apply the same pressure as Bartosz from there. Bartosz had a huge combo turn that got Tom’s equipment and forced cards from hand, then clinched the game the next turn when Tom wasn’t able to present lethal back.

In the other quarterfinal games, Gabe Sher defeated Tariq Patel, Pudding Tam defeated Kevin Zanker, and Shoma Yamamura eliminated Shing Tsang, leaving nothing but Ninjas and Assassins to duke it out.

Semifinals – Gabe Sher (Nuu) vs Shoma Yamamura (Uzuri)

Gabe Sher on Nuu seemed to start things off this round with a quick prayer before going first against Shoma Yamamura’s Uzuri. With only four Transcend cards in Gabe’s deck, being able to flip one on turn zero was pretty nice. However, Shoma’s first turn was an Isolate into Command and Conquer, eating Gabe’s Hiss from the arsenal. After the last few times we’d seen Shoma on camera, viewers expected another long grindy game.

That’s not what Shoma had in mind though. As soon as Uzuri established a hint of tempo, Gabe’s life total evaporated. Especially when Shoma played two Just a Nicks on a Persuasive Prognosis to end the game when Gabe still had 8 life left. This Assassin “mirror” ended faster than the Zen mirror in the previous round and Shoma moved on to the finals.

On the other side of the bracket, Bartosz Ziemba kept the redemption dream alive by eliminating Pudding Tam and advancing to meet Shoma in the finals.

Finals – Bartosz Ziemba (Zen) vs Shoma Yamamura (Uzuri)

The final game of Pro Tour: Amsterdam saw the finalist from Pro Tour: Lille taking on the first Japanese national to hit an international Sunday stage. I realize I might be burying the lede here, but I felt kind of bad for Bartosz while watching this game. Shoma’s Uzuri was a merciless, relentless machine from the moment the game started. Turn by turn, the Tamer of Purpose was picked apart and you could see the desperation written on Bartosz’s face as Uzuri laid into him. I will say he fought through the tilt very well and tried to give Shoma a real game.

Regardless of Bartosz’s excellent play, the Mystic Ninja never had a chance to keep the solid combo hand he really wanted. Once again, Bartosz made it to the finals of a Pro Tour only to lose in the last round, this time to a triple no-block hand against Shoma’s Command and Conquer. Shoma Yamamura and his Uzuri, Switchblade completely dominated the final rounds of the main event, securing Japan’s first Pro Tour trophy and all the goodies that come with it.

Final Thoughts

Pro Tour: Amsterdam was an awesome viewing experience all around. The casters were on point and the games were intense. I posted about this on Twitter, but probably my favorite moment of the whole Pro Tour was seeing Shoma’s reaction during the prize ceremony. The trophy was great, the giant check was awesome, but you could tell they weren’t what he wanted most. Hero identity is SO powerful in this game. Shoma said he has played Uzuri since Outsiders, he opened the world’s first card shop dedicated to Flesh and Blood, and he was one of only two players in Amsterdam to register his hero for the main event. It was obvious when Bryan Gottlieb presented the Pro Tour Champion Uzuri promo to him, that it meant the most to FAB’s newest Pro Tour Champion.

I’ve realized that I’ll never make it to that level of competitive play myself. The closest I’ll likely come is watching these moments live and living vicariously through the masters of the game. Going forward, I expect quite a few of those masters to hail from the Land of the Rising Sun and I’m eager to see what else they bring to the world’s best competitive TCG. Especially since Shoma happens to live in the Osaka, Japan area.

Further Reading:

The Levia Deck I Would’ve Played in Amsterdam

Unveiling Nuu’s Secrets

Choosing the Right Flesh and Blood Deck in a Wide Metagame