Let’s Celebrate!

There’s so much to celebrate as we kick off Flesh and Blood‘s fifth year of existence in 2024. Legend Story Studios would agree, it seems, as they’re set to host the first Celebrational January 17th-19th in Queenstown, New Zealand! I am one of the lucky few who not only was invited but also in charge of making sure this event is shared with you all around the world (look at me Mom, I made it!) 

So What is the Celebrational?

In short, LSS wants to give back to the community for our support in their five year journey. From varying categories of community members, LSS chose some stand-outs for a most expenses paid trip to New Zealand with the opportunity to participate in a unique event with an unbelievable grand prize… their likeness on a card (action card only) and the opportunity to help design it. 

Every competitor gets to submit their idea beforehand, and then the winner will continue on to help make it real. Each competitor will go in knowing what card they’re fighting for! For the viewers, I hope we get to share everyone’s ideas on stream. Imagine not only rooting for your favorite player, but rooting for your favorite idea!

Who’s Attending the Celebrational?

In total, LSS invited twenty-three people: two casters, two producers, two judges, and seventeen potential players. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of the invitees, and I’m sure everyone is committed to putting on an unforgettable show across a variety of skill levels and personalities. 

Players were invited for myriad reasons:

#1 Lifetime XP Regionally:

• Brodie Spurlock was invited for #1 90-day XP not just in the world, but specifically for North America.
• Kelvin Law got his invite through being #1 in the APAC on top of being #1 lifetime.
• Viet Pham rounds out the XP invites for being #1 in Europe!

Content Creators:

• Stephen Cookus, not even as his day job, is the prolific creator known as DMArmada!
• Andrew Heintz is one of the longest-term creators for FAB, releasing his first DiceCommando video all the way back on October 23, 2019!
• One Two Juice is a hilarious group out of Malaysia made up of the Ming brothers, Elliot, and Sophira. Like, some of them actually do stand-up for a living! 

Collector:

• Saint Hung is a huge advocate for the collecting side of FAB, talking at length about it on FaBled Hunters, RiddlermanGaming, and the Chad Cast.

Organized Play Support:

• Aurelie Violette is a true hero behind the scenes. She is not only a scorekeeper for most events in the EU, but she also created the tournament management tool PurpleFox!

Local Game Store:

• White Rabbit is a German LGS run by Heiner and Sascha that has hosted over 280 events from Nationals to Armories!

People’s Champion:

• Melody Wehipeihana stands strong as a positive influence on Twitter/X, host of the Pitch Perfect Pod, and co-creator of the RainbowPitchLeague!

Cosplayer:

• Carolina Alvarado, Star of the Show has 998 Cosplay Living Legends Points. Oh, and she plays Dash like a beast!

Scholar of Rathe:

• Mara Faris is fluent in English, Arcane, Solanian, Seers, Imperial, and Dragon-squawks. Not only a scholar and artist, I’m sure she is going to slay even if Dromai isn’t playable in a lot of these formats…

Ambassador:

• Yui Tokiwa is a huge player in the FAB scene in Japan! Not only as a content creator and caster but as a true ambassador of the game as it flourishes in a new region.

As far as the crew goes, there will be HORDES of LSS people with a few of us along for the ride:

Casters:

• Flake is the hottest personality in Rathe and host of the Instant Speed Podcast. I’m thrilled he’ll be our Play by Play for the event. Canada represent!
• Craig Krempels is an old name (and old man!) from the MtG scene, but stays frosty with FAB coming off a recent Top 4 at US Nationals, as well as being my teammate on the Runaways. He’ll be our Color Commentator for the event!

Judges:

• Amanda Coots works for NASA… and somehow has time to judge as well! 
• Nick Paqueo is a good personal friend and a new dad. We are in good hands!

Coverage:

• Nathan Dollman is my business partner for SavageFeats, along with running Savage Lands News. He is cool-headed, incredibly talented, and a great partner to help pull off this live stream.
• And me! With my two years of coverage experience, I am thrilled to have helped craft the game plan for this stream as well as being the live producer for five days of coverage back to back! That’s right, not just the Celebrational, but also Calling: Queenstown!

So What’s the Format for the Celebrational?

The Celebrational will be both a fierce competition and a uniquely formatted event. There are myriad formats in which to enjoy Flesh and Blood, and the Celebrational even introduces some new ones. Can’t lie, I am quite jealous I don’t get to play!

The contestants will all play in thirteen rounds across four formats before the final two players will face off (based on standing, this is a non-elim event). They will be playing:

• 4 Rounds of Underdog Blitz: The stipulation here over normal Blitz rules is that only heroes with less than 100 Living Legend points are playable. Initially coined as the ‘Living Lurker’ format by the Attack Action Podcast, I sense that Levia could actually be a top dog, especially with the next best decks potentially being Fai without Mask of the Pouncing Lynx, Prism, Advent of Thrones, and Yoji, Royal Protector…
• 3 Rounds of Heavy Hitters Precons: Players will simply be using one of the six new Heavy Hitters Blitz Precon decks, but with a fun twist. Each round a player will be given a deck from a particular class at random that they must play. By the end of the three rounds, they’ll have played one hero from each of the three classes!
• 3 Rounds of Heavy Hitters Solo: This is once again a nuanced format… And incredibly cool conceptually. All players will receive a full set of Heavy Hitters to build a CC deck composed ONLY of Heavy Hitters. I can’t wait to see the hero breakdown here, specifically of what some of the great minds like Brodie and Mara put together.
• 3 Rounds of Living Legend: While not a new format, we do have a new Banned and Restricted announcement in effect. With a lot of Bravo, Star of the Show‘s crippling cards restricted, this means the format will be wide open for innovation. For once, I will put my Viserai, Rune Blood hate aside if it means we see some crazy Bloodsheath Skeleta combos come back on stream!
  
• Finals Bo3 Playoff: For the FINALS of the Celebrational, with the prize card on the line, LSS has finally given us a Best-of-3 match. A lot of players have been interested to see what happens if a format like Blitz was played as a Bo3, and we will get a taste of it with players’ Underdog Blitz, Heavy Hitters Solo, and Living Legend decks coming back around. The highest seed will choose which format to play first, and the loser of that game will choose which format to play second. I really hope we get to game three!

So What’s the Plan for the Celebrational?

Now you’ve heard what it is, who’s coming, what’s being played, and the prize. But what about the schedule? Here’s the breakdown of the livestream. And yes, you read that right! ALL of these games will be streamed, with some fun segments in between and a venue you wouldn’t believe…

On top of that, the Skyline venue and Event Centre venues are open to the public! There will be viewing areas for both.

Day 1 – Wednesday January 17th, 2024 at Skyline Queenstown

• 4 rounds of Underdog Blitz
• 3 rounds of Heavy Hitters Blitz precon

Day 2 – Thursday January 18th, 2024 at Skyline Queenstown

• 3 rounds of Heavy Hitters Solo
• 3 rounds of Living Legend

Day 3 – Friday January 19th, 2024 at Queenstown Event Centre

• Top 2 Playoff

And that’s not all…

Friday’s stream will then feature the World Premiere of Heavy Hitters played as four rounds of Sealed.

Saturday and Sunday’s streams will feature Calling: Queenstown’s Heavy Hitters Sealed Swiss Rounds and then the first Heavy Hitters Draft as well!

So Are You Excited for the Celebrational?

You tell me! Leave a comment, share the article, and tell your friends! Who do you think will make finals? What kind of card will they design? Who is the true underdog of Blitz? All that and more, in just a week!