Singapore’s Nationals laid in the wake of the first wave of events, including the titans of American and Australian Nationals. I threw my hat in the ring and came barely short of the top eight cut. Join me as I discuss my preparation and my run in my retrospective of this National Season.

Preparation

After the initial wave of Dusk Till Dawn results came out, following the results of the various Battle Hardeneds and Callings, the meta was there for all to see. As discussed in my previous article, Iyslander, Stormbind, Dromai, Ash Artist, Bravo, Showstopper, and Lexi, Livewire were the decks to be feared.

In my arsenal, I had Uzuri, Switchblade, Rhinar, Reckless Rampage, Levia, Shadowborn Abomination, Lexi, Livewire, and Iyslander, Stormbind.

First I eliminated Lexi and Iyslander due to my lack of practice with these heroes in the current meta, having last played them during Everfest and Uprising‘s metagames, respectively. While I could probably play them to an Armory level, there was no chance I was winning the mirror with Singapore’s best when they are more than certainly practiced. As such, I discounted them early. This was soon followed by Levia, whom I could not get to consistently work, or turn a favorable matchup into either Iyslander or Lexi. This left me with Rhinar and Uzuri.

As the tournament approached, I made a spreadsheet with each qualified player and their likely deck choice. This gives an accurate prediction of the metagame to expect and is incredibly useful in a smaller metagame, and I highly recommend doing so if your metagame is localized.

Singapore’s metagame read as such: Lexi was common in the field, Ninja and Bravo were to be widespread on day one, Singapore’s strongest were on Dash, Lexi, or Iyslander, and we had a lack of active Dromai specialists. 

Rhinar was surprisingly well positioned in the metagame if you could avoid Lexi. Your Dromai, Bravo, and Iyslander matchups were favorable, but your Lexi matchup was next to unwinnable outside of an absurd Bloodrush Bellow draw on your end. Uzuri on the other hand had an absolutely miserable matchup into Iyslander, and a poor Dromai matchup, worsening as they leaned further into a heavy dragon build. Bravo barely felt even, but she boasted one of the only decks that had a favorable Lexi matchup. 

Their matchup spreads were opposing, and I saw Rhinar as a deck that could bring me to a trophy, but left the risk of being butchered early by poor gem pairings. Uzuri was more likely to carry me through day one, but left me in a minefield of bad matchups if I made day two or subsequently Top 8. Ultimately after switching my choices thrice in two days, I picked Uzuri, as I felt underprepared with Rhinar as I had not had games with high leveled Dromai or Iyslander in the past few months to feel confident, and would rather make day two and struggle rather than crash out early.

The Uzuri deck I configured for was to maximize the Dromai matchup. I also accounted for the rise of Fatigue Briar and Dorinthea from American and Taiwanese Nationals, respectively, with Shred and Give and Take over Hurl and additional defensive options like Oasis Respite. I also had to skim on my Frailty Trap count for better odds in the above matchups, and have felt reasonably confident in my Ninja and Lexi matchups. Lastly, I barely brought enough Arcane Barrier to have some game into Kano and Iyslander and present a proactive 60 that wasn’t embarrassing. Decklist Below.

Next, was Monarch Draft. We found out that Belgium and Japanese printed Monarch drafts were entirely different games of Flesh and Blood and I had barely double digit Belgium print drafts below my belt moving into Nationals. I’ve felt familiar on the Light heroes, but the Shadow heroes were less comfortable for me. I lacked the practice to pilot the complex Chane deck well, and only really understood the intricacies of drafting Boltyn moving into Nationals. I was gunning for two 2-1 drafts but was by no means confident.

And before you knew it, round one was paired. 

Round One: KC Wong on Briar

Charles Dunn’s win on Fatigue Briar was surprising to most, and left Briar as a deck that was ambiguous to your opponent, and how you were supposed to sideboard. I had caught wind this particular opponent was practicing fatigue Briar the day before. I sideboarded in my anti-fatigue package of Shred and Give and Take. He proceeded to present Rosetta Thorn and a smooth 60 indicating a Channel Mount Heroic variant. Successfully scammed.

As the game proceeded I knew I had to salvage my suboptimal deck to a win and was being punished, only drawing Codex of Frailty from my 65 card deck on the final turn of the game. My opponent suffered a number of awkward draws off of Channel Mount Heroic and general unfamiliarity with the Uzuri matchup. He never managed to wrest the game from my control as I closed the game with Codex. GG. 1-0

Round Two: Abbey Fong on Bravo

Abbey’s a prolific Guardian player since the days of Covid-based Blitz games, having had a 52 win streak with Oldhim over a Skirmish season. I had previous experience with Bravos and had done well against him with Rhinar and was feeling particularly confident.

He showed his expertise however, playing extremely patiently, having passed a turn to dismiss a double Bloodrot Spreading Plague and knew the win condition of the matchup, which was leveraging Anothos as a superior weapon. I then decided to pitch stack devastating Codex turns whilst evenly trading with him throughout the mid game, with certain key turns involving being forced to block with Crown of Providence to deny a Star Struck, proceeding to be destroyed by his Command and Conquers afterwards.

I stayed in the game by keeping him off tempo with Isolate–Shred-attacks. As I approached my pitch stack, I caught his Anothos with an Inertia Trap, which left him vulnerable to Codex of Frailty. However, he bested me by planning his pitch stack to counteract my turn, denying my Spiders Bite value by pitch stacking two Tear Asunders to block, and picking up Crippling Crush off my Codex to kill off the rest of my deck and me on the following turn. One of the best games of Flesh and Blood I had across the weekend. No easy games at Nationals. GG. 1-1

Round Three – Jason Chua on Lexi

Lexi was a matchup I was reasonably confident in, but after the previous season I’m certain Jason and his team had a solid plan into Uzuri. I had particularly middling draws with all three Codexes being within my first 10 cards, lacking any relevant disruptive cards in the middle 20 of my deck, and the game was pressed into the second cycle with me holding a life advantage but Jason with a formidable pitch stack.

The game came down to a turn where he stacked a Rain Razors and Art of War together, but having his Endless Arrow blocked barely with Fyendals Spring Tunic and two cards, and his remaining card not being an arrow but a Remembrance, leaving me room to end the game with Isolate into Death Touch. That game left me shaken as I was one card from a loss in the matchup I had chosen my deck for, with no realistic means of retaliation left in my deck if I were forced to block with my last two cards. GG. 2-1

At that point, it dawned on me that I had to deal with draft for the next few hours, and I don’t think anyone in the room was feeling certain moving into Round Four.

Draft One – Rounds Four to Six

I was placed into a seven-man pod, which I had never played for Belgium Print Monarch. The nature of Shadow decks meant for as much as possible I would like to avoid being one of the Shadow heroes due to the further lack of density of key power cards, unlikely able to support more than a single deck. Somewhere around mid-pack one I got into Levia after the Light heroes were obviously overdrafted and ended as Solo Levia. The deck was near perfect, with my only complaints being one or two too few blues to support my Deadwood Rumbler.

I received a bye moving into murdering one of three Prism players (Isaac Teo) before getting laid out by the Solo Boltyn (Bryan Kong please stop taking my ELO) after missing a Deadwood Rumbler trigger, ending the draft as 2-1, which was decent moving into the second draft. 

Also I drafted a Cold Foil Eclipse and Extended Art Herald of Erudition. Guess we win a little more than just two games. GG. 4-2

Draft Two  – Rounds Seven to Nine

Never had I drafted a more miserable Boltyn deck, having stayed open too long between Prism and Boltyn receiving confusing signals from the packs with extremely mediocre Boltyn cards and strange Prism cards that survived late pick. I ended on a fringe 30-card Boltyn deck with V of the Vanguard, Soul Shield and Plow Through as highlights. I lost miserably to one of two Prisms (Kah Deng) which had an extremely red Herald heavy deck and unable to draw my popper to return tempo, having lost about 12 life to dominated damage alone. I fatigued one of three Chanes (Nigel Lim) and won out in the Boltyn mirror (Jin Han) off of a hotter draw. 

2-1 once again, and honestly at this point most of my anxiety over the tournament had weathered away. I slept well and prepared for the following day. GG. 6-3

Round 10 – Reeve Chia on Iyslander

Oh the misery, the nightmare matchup. I checked out my bracket the night before and this was the matchup I was dreading, even more so than Dromai. However, throughout the game my opponent had subpar draw, failing to slow the game to a pace comfortable for Iyslander. Meanwhile, I was able to assemble decent four to five card hands, and general unfamiliarity with the Uzuri matchup alongside the wealth of Shred, the game looked as though it was on an even footing.

I lost some tempo due to Insidious Chill chains with Aether Icevein, but managed to catch an opening with an Isolate–Shred–Death Touch giving Inertia. This gave me respite from his disruption. At 11 life with Storm Striders held against my neck, I managed to sneak a win with an Isolate-Shred-Enlightened Strike. GG. 7-3

Round 11 – Tan Joon Chien on Lexi

Feeling justified for my Uzuri pick, I went into this game far stronger than the previous Lexi game. It started off miserably, having a Codex of Frailty trapped in arsenal holding a pair of Command and Conquer and a Codex of Frailty staring off three Frostbite from Arctic Incarceration. I bounced back however, having a disruptive opening and mid game.

My opponent’s draw was less amazing than my previous Lexi with numerous red-heavy draws and a particularly terrible Three of a Kind turn into a single Infecting Shot. It was obvious that he lacked Uzuri practice as well, being less comfortable with loops with Trench of Sunken Treasure and moments to surrender tempo to set up a larger turn. I cut the game short, ending early with about six life left in the bank, with an Isolated Death Touch. GG. 8-3.

Round 12 & Win and In – Jie Rui on Dash

I was expecting Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire and felt okay into the matchup with the anti-fatigue package being effective into Dash’s defensive plan. Mid-range Dash attempts to slow the game at the start to spawn in upgrades for the Teklo Plasma Pistol, such as Plasma Purifier and Induction Chamber. When their weapon is upgraded, they start taking trades that end up being more favorable. My role in this matchup is to take advantage of that early weakness and push.

Jie Rui played well, having plenty of games with me over numerous Armories. He leveraged Dash’s efficiency, pulled out his gun upgrades early, and, being familiar with Uzuri’s attacking patterns, blocked perfectly to keep the life totals even moving into the end game. I had depleted most of my stronger cards in the matchup early, leaving an end game where I had few outs back into the game and got grinded out by the gun. Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. GG! 8-4. Bubbled at 9th!

Retrospective

Looking back, I wouldn’t have changed my deck choice given my situation, but would have made a couple of small changes, such as switching the Amnesia to a more active card throughout a wider field as well as solidifying my Lexi matchup further. The Classic Constructed format is far from the worst Flesh and Blood has seen, but Lexi dominates, with few decks having the ability to contend with her tools, such as Three of a Kind and Codex of Frailty being an unparalleled comeback card, as well as Arctic Incarceration leaving other aggressive decks struggling in the metagame.

I’m also glad we’re moving away from Monarch‘s draft format towards Bright Lights, a format with more modern draft philosophies. Monarch, while an interesting draft, left many games out of player’s agency, with several unbeatable five card hands and both players fishing. The atmosphere of the tournament quelled most of the anxieties I had coming into the weekend, having lacked the time to indulge in the Flesh and Blood community as I had in the past, and seeing all the camaraderie between friends and countrymen revitalized my love for the game again.

Congrats to Singapore’s Top 8 and all the other winners around the world! See you all at Calling:Taipei and Worlds:Barcelona.