Greetings and salutations once again, my fabulous FAB folk! Welcome to another installment in our coverage review series here on FABREC, the Armchair Quarterback! As always, I’m some random #fabdad, better known as Donnie K. And can I say, what a week in the world of Flesh and Blood it’s been!! All eyes have been on New Zealand since last Tuesday when the 2024 Celebrational started, and we were slammed with banger preview after banger preview from Heavy Hitters all week! (Ancestral Harmony looks AMAZING!!)

But you’re here today for the synopsis of what happened during the tournament and how FAB’s newest set impacted the results. Arguably, the most exciting part of this whole event was all the sweet new cards that none of us had gotten to see in action before. So in today’s article, I’ll put additional focus on the rounds featuring Heavy Hitters, but I would strongly recommend going back and watching the Underdog Blitz and Living Legend rounds for yourself. Without further ado, let’s get to it!

The World’s Coolest Tournament!

For the full list of invitees and a solid breakdown of why they were invited, check out the article Ethan (ManSant) Van Sant wrote here before the action began. Matt Di Marco and Craig Krempels did a fantastic job with casting the event all three days and Savage Feats kept the bar high for other aspiring event streamers out there with their devotion to quality. Great work, people!

The competitors were flown to New Zealand by LSS in VIP style to compete at the Celebrational in three days of action (with some of the tournament seats shared by teammates alternating between rounds). The first day of the tournament consisted of four rounds of Underdog Blitz (heroes with fewer than 100 living legend points) and three rounds of Heavy Hitters Blitz Preconstructed.

On Day Two, there was no cutoff based on record. Players continued regardless of Day One results with three rounds of Heavy Hitters Solo (Classic Constructed with ONLY cards from Heavy Hitters) and three rounds in the Living Legend format. Finally, after all that format jumping, two players were left standing to compete for the grand prize on Day Three in a best-of-three match. The formats for the finals were chosen by the competitors, starting with the player at the top of the rankings.

And what was that grand prize? The opportunity to design their very own Flesh and Blood card (action card only) for a future set, and to be immortalized with the winner’s likeness on it! (If you played Magic: the Gathering in the early 2000s like I did, that probably sounds familiar.) In my humble opinion, there is no greater flex in a TCG than winning an event like this and creating something amazing for the community to share.

Now, on to the action!

Day One

Rounds Five Through Seven (Heavy Hitters Preconstructed Blitz)

For each of these three rounds, the players received a random Heavy Hitters Blitz Preconstructed deck at the beginning of the round. We got to see Rhinar, Victor Goldmane, Betsy, Kassai, and Kayo show off the goods, but Olympia somehow missed the camera each time. Since the players were also seeing a lot of these cards for the first time as well, there was a lot of pausing to read.

Round Five

Melody (Rhinar) vs Saint (Victor Goldmane)

Two 4-0 players met this round for our first look at Heavy Hitters cards in action. Saint/Victor went first with an arsenal/pass play, but Melody/Rhinar was much more aggressive. A yellow Bonebreaker Bellow was the first Heavy Hitters card ever to be played on camera (excluding the equipment that started on the board, of course). It showcased the power of the new beat chest mechanic for all the FAB world to see. Rhinar’s intimidate trigger took a card from Saint and Melody showed us another powerful beat chest card in Rawhide Rumble. Thanks to the Bonebreaker Bellow, this attack came in for a whopping 10 and hit Saint with another intimidate trigger!

Several clash and intimidate triggers later, both players fell victim to the competitive card player’s ultimate menace… the dreaded round timer. It feels like an oversight on the part of Legend Story Studios that there wasn’t more time allotted to these games since the players were playing with cards they’d never seen before. With a little more time, it looked like Saint/Victor was in a position to claim the win, but we’ll never know for certain.

Round Six

Carolina (Betsy) vs Andrew (Rhinar)

Comparing this game to the previous one, it appears that Victor Goldmane is the more aggressive Guardian hero and Betsy wants to set up and go tall. Carolina appeared on camera again this round to show us what Betsy can do and faced off against the Dice Commando himself, Andrew, with another Rhinar. Rhinar traditionally likes to face slower/grindier decks and it looks like that’s how Betsy played it out.

Rhinar kept throwing large numbers, forcing inefficient blocks from Carolina/Betsy thanks to intimidate. Carolina showed a lot of resilience and mental fortitude by keeping her cool and giving herself an opportunity to make a comeback when the time came. However, Rhinar was able to close the game out before she was able to build up any momentum of her own.

Round Seven

Elliot (Kayo) vs Ahmed (Kassai)

We finally saw a Warrior in action in the third round, with Ahmed piloting the new Kassai. Ahmed started the action with what was dubbed by the casters as a future Warrior staple, Lead with Speed, giving Cintari Saber a buff and setting up an Agility token for their next turn. Once Elliot/Kayo’s turn in the driver’s seat came though, the pressure built quickly and the newest Brute hero kept showing off how strong their support from Heavy Hitters, even in yellow and blue, will be. Kassai tried to Take it on the Chin, but Kayo was on a Wild Ride and ended Kassai’s Hot Streak. (Man, I’m on fire here!)

Day Two

Rounds Eight Through Ten (Heavy Hitters Solo)

At the end of Day One, Kelvin Law stood at the top of the field (based on tie breakers) with a 6-1 record. Brodie Spurlock was right behind him at 6-1. Saint Hung and Melody were in third and fourth at 5-2, but since the final day featured a cut to top 2, Brodie and Kelvin were in the best possible position to make it all the way.

For this format of the event, the competitors were given a complete set of Heavy Hitters to build a Classic Constructed deck, using ONLY those cards. The breakdown of heroes chosen by the competitors were as follows: 1 Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty, 4 Betsy, Skin in the Game, 5 Kayo, Armed and Dangerous, 1 Rhinar, Reckless Rampage, 2 Kassai of the Golden Sand, and 1 Olympia, Prized Fighter.

Round Eight

Kelvin L. (Betsy, Skin in the Game) vs Brodie S. (Kayo, Armed and Dangerous)

Day Two started off with the top players from Day One facing each other in the first round of Heavy Hitters Solo Constructed. Kelvin L. chose Betsy, Skin in the Game to carry him through this portion of the event, and they faced the formidable Brodie S. with Kayo, Armed and Dangerous as their first challenge. These two players are literally at the top of the world when it comes to lifetime wins and what they included in their decks will probably be important for the coming Classic Constructed meta.

Kelvin used his turn zero to develop an aura, Bigger Than Big, and pass. Brodie discarded Agile Windup to set up an Agility token for the start of his own turn and filter his hand. The first attack we saw from Kayo was Runner Runner, which conveniently had go again thanks to the turn zero Agility token and created another Agility due to its effect. He followed that up with a yellow Bare Fangs for five, but Kelvin just let it all hit, going to 29 life.

The aura popped on Kelvin’s turn and the +3 buff was embellished by a Lead with Power and a Lead with Heart to give his next Guardian attack a staggering +9 total (with a setup of a Might and Agility carried forward)! Those buffs pumped up his High Riser‘s attack to 12 with a wager of a second Might token if it hits thanks to Bigger Than Big. And this was just the opening sequence of plays!!!

Kayo’s powerful Brute attacks backed up by a constant stream of Agility tokens proved too much for Betsy though, and eventually the new Guardian fell to the Armed and Dangerous hero.

Round Nine

Viet Pham (Olympia, Prized Fighter) vs Mara Faris (Betsy, Skin in the Game)

Mara went first and filtered her hand before setting up an arsenal card. Viet went straight to destroying his Flat Trackers for an Agility token for next turn. Then Viet showed us Commanding Performance, giving his next Warrior attack a buff and threatening Mara’s arsenal if she blocked with an attack action card. The first attack from Viet was a Wage Agility for 10 with the buff from Commanding Performance and a Wager to give him a Gold token if it hit. Mara saved her arsenal by blocking with a Test of Strength, but the clash ended in a draw, so neither player got a free Gold.

On her turn, Mara fired off a Lead with Heart buffing her Miller’s Grindstone. The hammer hit and, unfortunately for Mara, she lost the Clash. A -1 counter was put on the Hammer and it was Viet’s turn to fire back. Mara’s luck with clashes didn’t seem to improve throughout the rest of the game and Olympia piled up the Gold tokens, using them to keep all of the game’s momentum by filtering weaker cards away. To paraphrase Bryan Gottlieb who was casting this game, “Having Gold is its own pay off. That is a powerful token to have.” Viet definitely proved that with the whole FAB world watching.

On the final turn, Viet started with Cintari Saber given go again by the Agility token and buffed by a yellow Lead with Speed after using all three of his reds over the course of the game. Mara was at nine life and opted to not block the innocuous looking sword. Viet activated the ability of Olympia’s specialized helmet, the Prized Galea, to add a wager to the Cintari Saber and turn on the attack reactions in his hand. Two copies of Take the Upper Hand came down, pushing the four-power attack up to ten, ending the game with a final massive blow.

Round Ten

Melody (Kassai of the Golden Sand) vs Elliott (Kassai of the Golden Sand)

For the last round to feature Heavy Hitters exclusively, we were treated to one of the most hyped heroes we’ve seen released in Flesh and Blood so far in Kassai of the Golden Sands vs Kassai of the Golden Sands. Both Melody and Elliot needed to win this round and their Living Legend rounds to keep the dream of making it to the Final Two alive.

Both sides of the Arena sported the same equipment layout, the players seeming to have reached a consensus on the best kit for Kassai with no access to the rest of the Classic Constructed card pool. A Cintari Saber and Hot Streak combo in the weapon zones, Balance of Justice in the head slot, Beckon Applause on each hero’s hands, Grains of Bloodspill in the chest slot, and Flat Trackers on their feet.

Agile Windup made an Agility token for Melody to start the game with, and on Elliot’s turn he showed us Double Down and Edge Ahead, wagering double the normal number of tokens with the swing of a pumped up Cintari Saber for eight. Elliot continued to maintain control of the game with solid value lines, but Melody kept pushing back, searching for her opportunity to switch life total positions.

Things never really came back around for Melody though. Elliot always seemed to have what was needed on any given turn, and eventually he was able to respond to Melody’s Raise an Army for one Cintari Sellsword with his own cashed in for two of them. From there, Melody just couldn’t recover.

Day Three

(1^st) Brodie Spurlock vs (2^nd) Kelvin Law (Best of Three)

The final series of games were held on the third day of the Celebrational, and we were treated to a rematch between Brodie Spurlock who had finished in first seed and Kelvin Law who had managed to stay in second. As the first seed, Brodie had his choice of which format to play in the first game of the finals and he chose to start with Heavy Hitters Solo.

Game One – (Heavy Hitters Solo)

Things started off much better for Kelvin/Betsy this game with two Money Where Ya Mouth Is on a Wage Gold that was pumped and overpowered by Betsy’s ability to 14 total with three Gold tokens on the line! Brodie blocked what he could, but took 11 to go to 29 and Kelvin looked pretty well set up.

Brodie’s follow-up was a Runner Runner for seven/go again thanks to his Vigor and Might tokens he’d made to start things off on his side the previous turn. Kelvin blocked with two cards and then took five damage from the Bare Fangs that Brodie ended the turn with. (It hit a Cast Bones, so it wasn’t buffed, but the potential was there for a three-card-fourteen after blocking.)

The crazy value from Kayo overwhelmed Betsy again and Brodie eventually won the game with his non-stop stream of haymakers delivered courtesy of a one-armed Brute.

Game Two (Living Legend)

I generally try to keep things positive in my articles, but this game was excruciating to watch. Not only did it include a Lexi, Livewire (shudder), but it also took two hours to eventually decide a winner. It seemed like every time priority was passed, we as viewers had time for a coffee break. (And that’s excluding the actual bathroom break the players had to take in the middle of the game!!)

For reference, the game started at time stamp 1:17:00 and the “Winner” logo appeared on screen at 3:16:05.

As a frequent watcher of Flesh and Blood streams, I would love to see Legend Story Studios reevaluate their “no time limit in the elimination rounds” policy. Players should still be expected to make decisions at a reasonable pace and not hold the game state hostage every time they get priority. Even if there’s no final time limit on the game, at least a two-minute timer to make a decision for a single game action should be considered. That alone might have cut the time for this game in half and made it a better experience for everyone involved.

On the other hand, there is a lot on the line for the players; Flesh and Blood is a hard game, and the decisions are difficult to weigh, etc. I’ll freely admit that I’m not a player of that caliber myself, but I am a spectator and Flesh and Blood is being built up as a spectator sport. You want viewers on the edge of their seats! That kind of engagement doesn’t come if people are willing/able to walk away from the stream for an hour and feel like they missed nothing while they were gone.

Anyway, rant over. On to the game.

Brodie (Lexi) vs Kelvin (Bravo)

Brodie’s strategy going into this game was reported to be utilizing Winter's Bite to disrupt Kelvin’s hand and keep him off of the full casino turns as much as possible. Lexi went first and started with Arctic Incarceration to make Bravo’s first turn as uncomfortable as possible instead. Kelvin was still able to play his own Winter’s Bite and swing his Winter’s Wail on his turn, but who knows how big the turn could have been. Shortly later, Brodie’s first power turn with Three of a Kind was a bit of whiff where he found several non-arrows. He chose to cash in his Quiver of Rustling Leaves to find another arrow to shoot at Kelvin, but it wasn’t even close to what he actually wanted out of one of his most powerful cards.

Kelvin did eventually manage to get momentum going and brought Brodie down to four life points. Unfortunately for him, Brodie stuffed his momentum with a solid Winter’s Bite and Arctic Incarceration turn, giving Bravo four Frostbites to deal with. Kelvin answered with a Hypothermia and tried to get the pace back, but was never able to close out those last four points. He seemed to decide that his best path to victory lay in surviving Lexi’s onslaught and running her out of threats, but again, no such luck.

One final Winter’s Bite from Lexi stripped the second-to-last card from Kelvin’s hand and Brodie fired off a Heat Seeker to take Bravo’s last three life points over blocks.

Brodie Spurlock claimed victory at the 2024 Celebrational with a 2-0 finals performance and will have his likeness immortalized in a Flesh and Blood card that he gets to help design and create for a future release! Congratulations!

Final Thoughts

Aside from the final game, every round was an awesome experience to watch, and outside of the coverage, seeing the invitees posting on social media about their trip inspired a crazy amount of jealousy in me. Going to visit New Zealand is now firmly at the top of my bucket list.

As someone who played competitive Magic back in the early 2000s, learning about the grand prize for this event was a spike of nostalgia that I wasn’t expecting to ever experience again. I’m a dreamer, and the existence of the Celebrational has given me back a dream I didn’t know I wasn’t ready to let go. (Even if I’m not likely to ever compete at the level of Brodie Spurlock or Kelvin Law.)

As a Katsu main, I was firmly rooting for Kelvin to win the event and get his idea for another Gustwave printed. But, to be fair, Brodie’s card does look interesting and might be useful for one of my other favorite heroes, Vynnset, Iron Maiden. We don’t know how long it will be before the final version of Brodie’s card is released, but until then, we have plenty of amazing things coming soon with Heavy Hitters! (Look out, the Brute class looks STRONG….)

What do you think was the coolest thing showcased at the Celebrational? Did you watch the World Premiere or Calling: Queenstown too? Who knew that Gold tokens were so good!? Which Heavy Hitters card are you most excited for?

If you want to hear me and a couple of other FAB nerds chat about the Celebrational and other FAB news, check out our podcast, the Siblings in Cardboard Podcast, on Spotify or YouTube! Otherwise, hit me up on Discord or Twitter/X as Dracohominis87 for a chat and I’ll talk to you again next time!