The second of three Philippines Road to Nationals (RTN) 2023 events concluded in the final week of April with an unexpected outcome: the old school Welcome to Rathe stalwart Bravo, Showstopper managed to take down the 52-person tournament!

Here’s a snippet of the meta breakdown of the event, plus a conversation with the RTN Champion, Franco Regalado, with his thoughts on Bravo, the local metagame, and choosing Bravo versus Oldhim.

Please introduce yourself to the readers, your preferred pronouns, and your card gaming background, including how you got into Flesh and Blood.

Franco Antonio Regalado, he/him. I’ve been playing Flesh and Blood since 2020, and card games for a lot longer than that. I started with casual Magic: the Gathering around 94-95, ventured into Legend of the Five Rings and Spycraft as well.

I honestly got into Flesh and Blood at a time when I was a bit burned out on competitive card games, choosing to focus more on board game collection. This was a game that was getting some buzz in some online board game communities, so when I heard a nearby LGS (Scry Games) was carrying the game, I became curious and dropped by to learn it. Once I found out that it was a game that incorporated one of my favorite board game mechanisms — needing to discard/sacrifice cards to play other cards — into a 1v1 card game, I got hooked and started playing regularly.

Congratulations on taking down the RTN! What made you pick Bravo? Was it a meta call, or was it more of a budget or practical choice given card availability?

It was more of a comfort pick. I’ve been playing Bravo since 2020 — it was the first deck I sunk a good amount of time into learning how to play, and I just love how playing the deck well allows you to pivot between being reactive and being utterly disruptive against anything your opponent is trying to set up.

Related to the previous question, what decks did you predict would comprise the RTN meta?

We joke a lot about how the Philippine meta is basically the Wild West, where there will be a good chunk of people who will play what they want, international meta be damned (it makes tweaking sideboards really tricky, honestly).

I expected a lot of Rangers, Ninjas, and Runeblades, which was the meta at another local RTN. So imagine my surprise when I was paired against players on Bravo, Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire, Rhinar, Reckless Rampage, and Dorinthea Ironsong. I only played against one Viserai, Rune Blood, one Fai, Rising Rebellion, and zero Lexi, Livewire or Azalea, Ace in the Hole.

How confident were you leading up to the RTN?

Wasn’t so confident on the list — adding Stonewall Confidence and Lunging Press was a bit of a last-minute fever dream of a decision — but I was pretty confident with the amount of reps I’ve had with various Bravo builds over time. Stonewall Confidence was a random tip addition I got from some guy I played against in Talishar, but whose name I seem to forget. They said it was a good piece when testing for a Lexi-heavy field. Kudos to them, wherever they may be.

Was Talishar a tool you used to get games in?

Definitely a lot of Talishar, as I had moved to Cebu* earlier this year, and Armories only started there earlier this month. I spent a good amount of time online trying to navigate the Lexi, Azalea, and Dromai matchups when I was considering whether to run Bravo, Katsu, the Wanderer, or Dash.

* Cebu is an island located in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, approximately 830 kilometers away

People always say that Bravo is just a worse Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity. What do you think about this sentiment? What does Bravo have above the old man?

Bravo pushes a lot easier at mid and endgame via his dominate ability, plus he has Crippling Crush which Bravo, Star of the Show unfortunately abused too, back when he was legal. When used correctly, those two tools can help you bait out equipment and defense reactions early, guaranteeing you better disruptive capabilities as the game goes longer.

Any interesting games during the RTN?

I’d like to shoutout Kevin Pilapil, the Rhinar player who gave me my first loss in Swiss Round 4, and whom I faced again during Semis. Freaking clean plays; both our matches were nail-biters all the way to the end. Our Semis match ended with me at four life against a double Reckless Swing, with him only losing because the second one whiffed.

Any thoughts on the recently revealed Bravo specialty card Star Struck?

Big Crush the Weak energy. I like it.

We also had the opportunity to talk to Sergio Belarus, owner and founder of RTN host Toy Shogun on his thoughts on Flesh and Blood and the growth of the community.

How did you folks come upon Flesh and Blood? What made you decide you wanted to carry the product and cultivate a community?

Our brand is well known for carrying niche and new card games. So when I came across Flesh and Blood in 2022, I Immediately fell in love because of its Warcraft-themed gameplay. Heroes, equipments, weapons, and specializations. I introduced the game to my playgroup and community, and here we are, still loving it everyday.

Toy Shogun’s Flesh and Blood Road to Nationals 2023 event. Photo courtesy of Sergio Belarus

Congratulations on hosting a successful RTN! Did you expect the 52-person showing?

I did not. The day prior the event, we only had 32 confirmed attendees. Considering there was a typhoon approaching, I did not expect a huge number of players. But on the day itself, I was shocked because of the walk-ins. We accepted all of them and ended up with 52 players overall. Next time, I will rent a bigger venue or a mall for it.

The meta breakdown for the RTN showed an interesting breakdown with less of the usual culprits like Lexi, Azalea, and Oldhim. Why do you think this was the case?

I think because most players knew exactly how to counter these heroes. They wanted unexpected plays to catch their opponents off guard as much as possible.

Toy Shogun’s Flesh and Blood Road to Nationals 2023 event. Photo courtesy of Sergio Belarus

Thoughts on the current state and trajectory of FAB in the country?

Flesh and Blood is getting bigger and bigger every day. I notice this because lots of shops are carrying it, but not all of them have the passion to create a Flesh and Blood community. They’re just here for the hype, they don’t market and introduce it to new players. This is the problem with most card games here in the country. I hope it will not be a problem in the future for Flesh and Blood.

Meta Breakdown

The Top 8 had three Bravos, two Doris, one Dromai, Ash Artist, one Lexi, and one Rhinar.

The meta was dominated by Dromai and Bravo, comprising 31% of the field on the day. If you add in Dash, the three heroes make up 42% of the playing field. Meta giants like Oldhim and Lexi took a back seat with two and four players, respectively.

While personal playstyles may be a consideration, it must also be noted that majority of the most-played heroes are usually on the cheaper side, with Dromai being playable with just a Flamescale Furnace and the dragon suite, while Bravo just needs Tectonic Plating and Crater Fist, plus a slew of rares and lower-end majestics to get going. In particular, one Bravo player in the Top 8 was rocking Helm of Isen’s Peak! Dash, Katsu, Fai, and Dorinthea may also fall within these parameters, though I do know players also rolled up with fully kitted out decks with the Command and Conquer, Art of War, and Enlightened Strike trio.

It’s an interesting look into how the Philippine metagame, if one exists, is shaping up. Will the budget decks be dropped in favor of more expensive decks like Uzuri, Switchblade once they acquire her pieces, or will everyone switch to Prism 2.0 and Vynsett once they arrive?

Here is Franco’s RTN-winning Bravo list:

Further reading:

CnC (Casual and Competitive) – Bravo

Ultimate Pit Fight – A #FABDad’s Guide to Multiplayer Flesh and Blood

What to Ask and How to Answer