Greetings and salutations my fabulous FAB folk! Welcome back to another installment of our coverage review series here on FABREC! I’m Donnie K., aka some random #fabdad, and today we’re looking at the coverage/gameplay brought to us during Pro Tour: Los Angeles!

The action we saw on camera over the course of the event, and especially the finals, will be talked about for years to come. If you missed it live, I’m sure you’ve been spoiled to what happened; but go watch it anyway. Over 4000 people were on the edge of their seats in the live chat during the last game and the final moments are what legends are made of.

Now, let’s jump in!

Heavy Hitters Collide in the City of Angels!

Los Angeles saw many of the best players in Flesh and Blood gather to compete for the $200,000 prize pool and title of Pro Tour Champion this past weekend. Only three players in the world have previously held that most prestigious moniker: Pablo Pintor, Matthew Foulkes, and Michael Feng. (With honorable mentions to the winners of the World Championships, Michael Hamilton and Alexander Argyriou, of course.)

The live stream and coverage were brought to us by the Brutes over at Savage Feats via the Flesh and Blood official YouTube channel. Savage Feats continues to set the bar for what event coverage should look like and the casting team were on point all weekend. The team alternated between some of the best casters in FAB in Sam O’Byrne, Pankaj Bhojwani, Bryan Gottlieb, and Mitch Leslie. (Matt “Flake” Di Marco was sadly kept from attending due to the miserable failure of US/Canadian customs agents. #FreeFlake.) This might have been the best showcase of competitive Flesh and Blood we’ve had so far, and it’s all thanks to these incredibly talented people. Thanks for your hard work folks.

Now, on to the most important things.

The Pro Tour Numbers We Really Want to Know…

Day One

There were 388 juggernauts of FAB ready to compete at the start of Round One. The top five most represented heroes were Kayo, Armed and Dangerous with 76 players, Dromai, Ash Artist with 52, Dorinthea, Ironsong with 29, Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty with 28, and Azalea, Ace in the Hole with 24. A total of 16 other heroes were represented by at least one person in the main event and four that were left out in the cold. No one at PTLA felt confident enough in Olympia, Prized Fighter, Betsy, Skin in the Game, Riptide, Lurker of the Deep, or Maxx ‘The Hype’ Nitro to bring them into the main event.

At the end of Day One, only three players remained undefeated-

1. Tee Thebeau (Kayo, Armed and Dangerous)
2. Maximilian Klein (Dorinthea Ironsong)
3. Ilias Karamanis (Levia, Shadowborn Abomination)

Day Two

Going into Day Two, three heroes had failed to earn enough total wins to carry their pilots through the cut off. Arakni, Huntsman, Vynnset, Iron Maiden, and Fai, Rising Rebellion each tried and failed to break into the second half. A total of 11 different heroes managed to go undefeated through the opening Classic Constructed rounds. (Interestingly, that number includes one Viserai, Rune Blood!)

The top five heroes with highest day two conversion rates (not highest representation) were the one of Teklovossen, Esteemed Magnate (100% conversion rate), Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn (90% conversion rate), Dorinthea Ironsong (72% conversion rate), Viserai, Rune Blood (67% conversion rate), and a tie between Kayo, Armed and Dangerous and Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty with a 54% conversion rate.

Top 8 Cut

Finally, the Top 8 cut after eight rounds of Classic Constructed and six rounds of Heavy Hitters Draft came as a surprise to no one. Kayo, Armed and Dangerous dominated the slots in the elimination rounds. Four Kayos made it into the Top 8 along with two Dorinthea Ironsong, one Kano, Dracai of Aether, and one Dromai, Ash Artist. While there were only four different heroes in the Top 8, there were eight different countries represented.

• Daniel Correas (Spain) Kayo, Armed and Dangerous
• Peter Ward (Great Britain) Kayo, Armed and Dangerous
• Sebastian Grondal (Denmark) Kayo, Armed and Dangerous
• Maximilian Klein (Germany) Dorinthea Ironsong
• Joshua Lau (USA) Dorinthea Ironsong
• Joel Repta (Canada) Kayo, Armed and Dangerous
• Arthur Trehet (France) Dromai, Ash Artist
• Filipe Lima Cardoso (Brazil) Kano, Dracai of Aether

Round by Round Breakdown

As always, we’ll be focusing on the highlights from the Classic Constructed rounds for our coverage review. Every round of the event was exciting, but CC is the flagship format for Flesh and Blood. So, these rounds are the ones I want to call your attention to and most strongly suggest you go see for yourself because of the incredible game play and enthusiastic casting.

Day One (Four Rounds Classic Constructed, Three Rounds HVY Draft)

Round One – Taylor Crawford (Katsu, the Wanderer) vs Michael Feng (Kayo, Armed and Dangerous)

The opening round of the fourth Flesh and Blood Pro Tour set the tone for the whole weekend. Taylor Crawford and Katsu, the Wanderer faced off against the winner of Pro Tour Three, Michael Feng and Kayo, Armed and Dangerous. Michael hit the ground running and smashed Flesh and Blood‘s original Ninja with every tool in his arsenal. By turn four, Taylor was down to his last three life points and Michael had a commanding lead at 21. But, that’s when Taylor finally fired off the perfect combo hand, cracking his entire armor suite to fire off a MASSIVE amount of damage of his own. (If I counted correctly, he presented a total of 40 damage in one gigantic turn.) By the time the combat chain closed, Kayo was no longer a threat to the Wanderer and Taylor claimed the first feature match victory of PTLA.

Round Two – Roger Bodee (Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn) vs Jordan Long (Viserai, Rune Blood)

The second round of the main event saw Roger Bodee of the M-N-R Cast with Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn up against Jordan Long and Viserai, Rune Blood. Viserai has been on something of a hiatus from competitive Flesh and Blood since Briar, Warden of Thorns attained living legend status and took Rosetta Thorn with her. However, thanks to a few expansion slot injections, Viserai is recently finding new life with a “Turtle Burst” strategy being the method of choice for today’s Runeblade on the go.

The on/off turns of Viserai paired well into Roger’s Boltyn and the life totals of both players were walked down to the last few points on both sides in quick chunks. Eventually, Roger lost tempo to the split damage though. He couldn’t pull cards from Jordan’s hand and Viserai cleaned things up with Amplify the Arknight into a weapon swing to secure the win.

Day Two (Three Rounds HVY Draft, Four Rounds Classic Constructed)

Round Eleven – Allen Lau (Kayo, Armed and Dangerous) vs Pablo Pintor (Rhinar, Reckless Rampage)

By Round Eleven, Allen Lau and his Kayo, Armed and Dangerous had faced their share of giants in the event. In Round Three, he took down former World Champ Michael Hamilton in the mirror match on camera. However, now he faced Pablo Pintor, the original Pro Tour Champion, on Rhinar, Reckless Rampage. The Brute class got a significant power boost with Heavy Hitters, and while Rhinar doesn’t have access to as many blue sixes as Kayo, his power turns are just as effective thanks to one of Flesh and Blood‘s most powerful keywords: Intimidate. (And still having both arms to swing Mandible Claws doesn’t hurt.)

The game was a slug fest with Pablo seeming to maintain control of the pace most of the way through. Eventually, triple Intimidate into a Show No Mercy to take all but one card away from Allen left Kayo stumped. (Get it?) Ahem, anyway, that was all it took to close the game out with Allen on his last six life points.

Round Twelve – Joshua Lau (Dorinthea Ironsong) vs Ilias Karamanis (Levia, Shadowborn Abomination)

Joshua Lau might be the most well-known Warrior enthusiast on the planet. In Round Twelve, he and Dorinthea Ironsong met Ilias Karamanis and Levia, Shadowborn Abomination, each with a 9-2 record. This is where the final stretch towards the Top 8 really began.

The hatchets of Dorinthea put Levia through the meat grinder in one of the most mathematically sound games we could hope to watch. All of the games I caught during the weekend showcased super clean game play, but Josh vs Ilias was textbook level. Blasmophet eventually consumed Levia, but even the monster’s fury wasn’t enough to thwart Dorinthea’s steady grind. Step by step, Josh moved closer to a spot in the elimination rounds.

Top 8 Cut

Quarterfinals – Sebastian Grondal (Kayo, Armed and Dangerous) vs Joel Repta (Kayo, Armed and Dangerous)

There’s no telling how many Kayo mirror matches were played in that LA convention hall over the weekend. I’ve said in my previous work that Kayo is good, and we’re firmly in a Brute meta right now. In the third Quarterfinals match, Sebastian Grondal from Denmark faced off against Joel Repta from Canada in the final Kayo, Armed and Dangerous mirror match for PTLA.

Agility and Might tokens flew around almost constantly as the heroes fought for their player’s tournament lives. Life totals were depleted in massive chunks and the game was over on turn five with a final Bloodrush Bellow from Joel’s Kayo that Sebastian couldn’t completely cover due to an Intimidate trigger from Smash Instinct. Mirror matches at this level (when both players are equally skilled), are always a matter of luck, and variance favored Joel in this game.

In the other Quarterfinal games, Arthur Trehet (France) defeated Peter Ward (Great Britain), Maximilian Klein (Germany) eliminated Joshua Lau (USA) and Daniel Correas (Spain) ended Filipe Cardoso’s (Brazil) run with Kano to advance.

Semifinals – Daniel Correas (Kayo, Armed and Dangerous) vs Maximilian Klein (Dorinthea Ironsong)

Like Joshua Lau, Maximilian Klein (Germany) brought Dorinthea Ironsong to the tournament intending to smash every Brute they encountered. Daniel Correas (Spain) and Kayo, Armed and Dangerous weren’t about to just lay down and let Dori run them over. Kayo’s high rolls are nearly insurmountable between Cast Bones and Bloodrush Bellow providing huge spike turns.

Max survived the spike turns though, and as the game continued to go longer, the value of the hatchets did their relentless work. Kayo fell to Dori and Maximilian Klein secured his seat in the finals against Arthur Trehet.

Finals – Arthur Trehet (Dromai, Ash Artist) vs Maximilian Klein (Dorinthea Ironsong)

The finals of Pro Tour: Los Angeles between Arthur Trehet (France) on Dromai, Ash Artist and Maximilian Klein (Germany) with Dorinthea Ironsong may very well go down as the greatest game of Flesh and Blood ever played on camera. That’s not hyperbole, I mean it in all seriousness. If you didn’t watch this happen live, I strongly encourage you to do so after you’ve finished reading this recap. The energy from the casters was infectious and even on the second watch, it’s worth your time.

Arthur fought his way through two Kayos on his way to the final round and both games were master classes on the way Dromai must play that match. Dromai is strongly favored in the matchup against Hatchets Dori though, so one would have thought the game was decided from the start. Nonetheless, Max must have missed that memo, because the game started with Dromai firmly on the back foot. Dori developed a solid life lead, and for a while, it looked like Dromai’s dragons had taken the game off. Arthur eventually found his footing at 10 life and dragon claws dug their way back into the game.

The Final Turns

The final turn sequence is what will make this game legendary. With both players on their last life points, Arthur held back on a block with Sink Below to go to one and saved it to put in his arsenal. On his turn, he presented Burn Them All and Cromai with one card left in hand, the arcane damage putting Max at one as well.

Max presented Spill Blood, giving his hatchets +2 and Dominate for the turn and sent his first attack at Dromai for four. Arthur blocked with a dragon and the Sink Below from arsenal on the first swing, but with no armor left and no way to cover the second attack there was exactly one card in his deck that he could hope to draw from Sink Below to stay alive and maybe win the tournament the following turn: Sigil of Solace. Sink Below resolved. A card went to the bottom and a card was drawn.

Combat resolved and the second hatchet was sent across the table for five, ignoring the dragon on board. Dori was looking to claim victory for Maximilian Klein right then and there. Arthur blocked with another dragon, THEN PLAYED THE SIGIL HE’D DRAWN OFF THE SINK BELOW!!!! Max had no further actions and the arcane damage from the Burn Them All/Cromai ended the game on Arthur’s following turn!!

Arthur Trehet of France claimed victory, the $50,000 grand prize, and the prestigious title of Pro Tour Champion with Dromai, Ash Artist!

Final Thoughts on Pro Tour: Los Angeles

In the live chat, everything exploded the moment we recognized the art for Sigil of Solace. The casters were losing their minds as much as those of us watching around the world. We were all on the edge of our seats for every play made. To the casters and coverage team, once again, thank you for a job well done. (And to James White too, for bringing us all together in the first place.) Every game shown on camera (even the back-up games), was intense. The pressure these players were under would have crushed this humble writer in any given round. I can only dream of making it to that level myself one day. Pro Tour: LA was truly a Flesh and Blood event that we will never forget.

Congratulations to all the Top 8 competitors at Pro Tour: Los Angeles and especially to the champion, Arthur Trehet. Dromai, Ash Artist has now moved to 996 points on the Living Legend leaderboard, meaning her time in Classic Constructed is nearly finished. She’s all but guaranteed to earn the last four points during Pro Quest season (assuming she doesn’t win a Battle Hardened or Calling Phuket before then). Dromai mains of the world, start preparing yourselves for a change.

Were you there for The Sigil? What other moments from PT:LA stood out to you from the weekend of coverage? With back-to-back Pro Tour Top 8 appearances, is Maximilian Klein Flesh and Blood‘s German Juggernaut, like Kai Budde from Magic before him? Do you want to hear me and two other FAB nerds gush about the event on our podcast? Reach out to me on Discord or Twitter as Dracohominis87 to let me know!