by Red Riot Games CA

By Yuki Lee Bender

 

The ProTour did not go especially well for me this time around, so I won’t spend much time recapping it, but here is a brief summary of what happened

Draft

I start off the ProTour as 2-1 after drafting Iyslander, losing the mirror match in round 1 as I lack equipment to mitigate arcane damage, but I manage to win against two Dromais. One of the games I even won through a turn 3 Ouvia which I was unable to kill, but timely Singes and strong red attacks let me narrowly close out the game before hitting fatigue. 

CC

Round 4 vs Pat Eshgy’s aggro Oldhim (L) - I wasn’t familiar with this style of play, it really caught me off guard and I quickly fell behind.

Round 5 vs midrange Oldhim (W) - I managed to hit some very good sequences early and attacked for a lot of damage early giving me a huge life lead making closing out the game quite easy.

Round 6 vs Pheano Black on Prism (L) We both ran very hot with him hitting double auras and me hitting strong Mordred Tide and Revel turns. At some point I have an off turn and then he chains together two Arc Light Sentinels which end up closing out the game.

Round 7 vs Cayle McCreath on Bravo (L) - Cayle manages to keep disruption rolling with pummels and crush effects while I have some very awkward draws early. While I get him down to single digits the game was never particularly close. It was a pleasure to meet and play against the legend himself, I just wish I could have had a slightly more competitive game.

After a disappointing 3-4 record at the end of Day 1 of the ProTour I was effectively out of contention for top 8 and would need to win all 7 games in order to get a PTI, with a small chance to bubble out of top 32 even if I were to win out. With all of this in mind I decided the best course of action would be to switch gears and play The Calling so I could get a fresh start. 

While playing The Calling wasn’t what I had hoped to be doing going into the weekend, it was a fairly easy decision for me given the circumstances. I was on the fence between Viserai and Prism for the PT, but it became very apparent to me that Viserai was not the deck I wanted to be playing for such high stakes, despite it being a solid choice for the event. I personally found the games into Bravo or aggressive strategies to be quite swingy and not that enjoyable. This weekend I learned that I’m not really an aggro player at heart, the games are just so condensed and simply racing isn’t what I enjoy about Flesh and Blood. I start out day 1 of The Calling excited to be playing Prism for a change of pace.

Round 1 - Dash - Win

I fly across the world to sit down and play against a player who I’ve played numerous times while traveling to Portland and Seattle area events; small world. He was playing Dash which is a matchup I had been testing extensively with Ian Zhang since the Calling Singapore. We found that boost Dash beats out herald aggro and auras, but can be fatigued quite easily by Prism should you board out auras. The issue however, is that I expected some Dash players at this event to have a bit more midrange approach which you require auras to beat. I decided to hedge and board out only some auras and adapt to my opponent. 

 

He was on a full pistol plan and had a very good start, quickly finding his items. Luckily for me I managed to double aura repeatedly despite the low aura count and snowball the board while soaking up damage using Phantasmal Footsteps against the pistol. This allowed me to pressure him as much with auras and heralds to narrowly close out the game with only 7 life left vs two purifiers and two chambers.

 

Round 2 - Briar - Lose

I think this matchup is a lot closer than people give it credit for, but the games can be very swingy for either hero and depend a lot on how the cards come up off the top. I managed to trade life down to 28 in order to establish a few auras early. Unfortunately for me, my opponent ran very hot with an early CMH accompanied with plenty of go again attacks to go along with it. I get pushed down to 7 life through my blocks by the time CMH is off the board. I draw into a hand that blocks for 5 but can play an ALS, but my opponent has teched Time Skippers for this matchup and has the required blue and attacks to follow up and close out the game.

 

Round 3 - Dash - Win

Feeling quite confident with my hedge board into the Dash from Round 1, I decide to board the same way. My opponent is once again on Dash, but this time starts with Teklo Pounder. Drawing into some clunky hands with lots of items, he decides to take his time to try and set up additional pounders and teklo cores to help him into fatigue. I capitalize on this with some heavy pressure with Heralds and play multiple parables that he has to answer before trying to pressure. This puts him down to 20 and takes quite a few cards from deck before he is able to pivot allowing me to transition smoothly into full block out fatigue. He decks out while I still have 12 life remaining.

 

Round 4 - Viserai - Win

I like to play Auras into Viserai and find the matchup to be quite dynamic and close. I get a great start by developing multiple auras while my opponent stumbles a bit with some awkward hands. Wanting to pressure, he is forced into using Creepers early and I am able to turn off his arcane damage while still being at 32 life making me feel way ahead. I have the opportunity to Arc Light Sentinel with Haze bending and multiple auras already on board, but he ends up drawing into lead the charge to clear, and pressures my life down to 22 while he is still at 18. He draws into a hand with multiple poppers facing down Miraging Metamorph and decidedes force me to have the aura which allows me to copy an Ode and really turn the corner quickly with my board.

 

Round 5 - Prism - Win

We have found that playing herald aggro with Fractals and Phantasmaclasm with Goliath Gauntlet to be highly effective in the mirror. The plan is to pressure hand with heralds, protect ourselves with yellow poppers and to try to clear auras with auras or spectral shields as much possible.

 

Turn 0 my opponent attacks me with a Herald forcing me to block with red Wartune to avoid taking damage, he follows up with Fractal causing me to leak 5 damage and give him soul while he still gets an arsenal. The game from here is quite close and life totals remain high as we trade heralds for poppers and auras for auras, although I’m behind slightly on soul. After several turns of trading he draws into all blues and can only play a blue aura and pass. This opens the door for me to play two yellow auras and clear his aura, leaving him still stuck on blues. This leads me to snowball the board with auras beyond what my opponent can keep up. He concedes the game facing down an Erudition for 7 with Parable, Ode and Haze Bending on board for my side, life totals are 33-15. This game was an example of how snowbally and punishing the Prism mirror can be if you stumble.

 

Round 6 - Dromai - Draw

Going into this matchup I don’t feel especially confident since I lack experience but I have been told to snowball the board with spectral shields to lock them out of the game. I feel way ahead at the start, managing to clear his board with heralds and poppers while pressuring his life total. I’m up on life 36 to 14 when I decide to switch into spectral shields, but end up being unable to protect them once my opponent lands Dominia. Around this time I realize I have also been too relaxed in my mindset and that there are only 15 minutes left in the round. Trying to play faster, I make a few blunders including pitching a blue instead of a yellow, and managing my soul a bit poorly making it hard to close out the game as my deck starts to run out of threats. These mistakes continue to drag out the game and the game ends on a draw with life totals of 25 to 8. This game ended up being much closer than the life totals would have looked as I was quite close to fatigue.

 

I ended the match being quite frustrated with myself after this match for being so relaxed in my mindset and letting the game go to time. I definitely could have won this game with better play and time management. I feel like lack of focus has been a major problem for me starting somewhere in Pro Quest season 2 or Road to Nationals and it has cost me crucial rounds. After the game I identified that my opponent was quite friendly and in my own efforts to be friendly and social I hurt my own focus. Pinpointing the cause of my poor focus felt like a big break through. Once I was able to identify the cause of it, I felt like I was able to mitigate it by making a point of changing gears and becoming more serious as the game is about to start.

 

Round 7 - Boltyn Sabers - Win

I knew I had to try to pressure as much as possible to make it hard for him to combo so I prioritized auras and played Heralds when it made sense to do so. I also made sure to preserve my life total above 35 so I wouldn’t be dead to the combo when he did hit it. My opponent was very experienced on Boltyn but ended up not seeing his combo turn until I was already presenting lethal. Had he found it one turn earlier it could have been a much more interesting game, but he ended up only being able to play a single Lumina due to forced blocks.

 

Round 8 - Briar - Win

After my previous Briar game I was feeling a bit nervous but I decided to stick with my aura plan and just play the best that I could. This game was more or less the opposite of the previous Briar game, my opponent had nothing going right for him and ended up not seeing any CMH turns, whiffing Sonata for x = 1 and revealing a blue off of Rabble. In addition to this I just continually played auras and managed to snowball the board quite heavily. After establishing my board I take damage down to 15 life in order to play Arc Light Sentinel + Haze Bending on my turn with three auras already in play. Next turn I effectively lock Briar out of the game with my aura snowball and a four card hand to pressure with.

 

Round 8 concludes day 1 and qualifies me for day 2 with a record of 6-1-1. At this point I’m still in contention for top 8 but have to win all 5 rounds on day 2 due to my early losses and the event having approximately 570 players.

 

Round 9 - Bravo - Win

One of the great things about Prism is you get to have a few games that are close to auto wins, and while I didn’t find any of those matchups in Day 1 I was happy to start off day 2 with one of them. My opponent tried to manage key auras and race me down, but Soul Shields in arsenal made it very difficult for him to effectively pressure my life total and stop my aura snowball.

 

Round 10 - Aura Prism - Win

My opponent plays Nullrune Gloves and Crown of Dichotomy and focuses on playing as many auras as possible. He wins the dice roll and plays double aura turn 0, letting me flash in Merciful Retribution before drawing back up. Thankfully, getting to play my own aura turn 0 means I’m not too far behind and focus on managing his board while pressuring his hand with heralds. Due to his double AB setup he is quite vulnerable to Eruditions and I manage to force one through early and get the life lead. The game is quite grindy and he manages to get ahead on board with two auras to my zero, but by the time he does he is at 12 life to my 32 and has to spend multiple cards defending making it hard to keep the snowball going. Phantasmaclasm was clutch as it stuck him on all blues once and ripped a popper from his hand twice.

 

Round 11 - Aura/Herald Prism - Win

My opponent is playing the same equipment loadout and a very similar list to my own. They win the die roll and play turn 0 Haze Bending allowing me to play Genesis before drawing back up. This allows me to follow up with a Parable and clear their board while having soul and a Spectral Shield which puts me way ahead; I arsenal Fractal. After my opponent pops Genesis on their turn with a herald, I play an Erudition with Parable still in play to protect it, forcing the crown block which allows me to fractal and play additional heralds putting my opponent down to 25 while I’m still at 40. Since I am ahead on life, ahead on board and my opponent has no soul to pop my auras the game snowballs out of control for them. 

 

Round 12 - Bravo - Win

My opponent is very pleasant and we have a great conversation before and after the game, but as mentioned before the Bravo matchup is very one sided. He tries to mostly ignore my auras, but my board gets way out of control.

 

Round 13 - Oldhim - Win

This is my win and in and as soon as I sit down my opponent congratulates me on the top 8. We play out the game for a few turns but Oldhim doesn’t really have the tools to pressure and clear auras. The game quickly snowballs out of control once I start playing Miraging Metamorphs for 13 damage with 3 Pierce reality in play. The game ends with me at 37 life and locks me for top 8 at 6th seed with a record of 11-1-1 after 13 rounds.

 

Quarterfinals - Briar

My opponent is the higher seed and gets to go first. My start doesn’t have any auras, but Briar’s hands don’t present much damage and I have lots of heralds, dropping him down to 20 life while I’m still at 31. At this point I start drawing into more auras and trade life for board state. I end up having Shimmers of Silver, Haze Bending and Parable in play while we are both at 19 life, with a Miraging Metamorph in arsenal. My opponent has a CMH in play with 1 flow counter, but I generally like my spot. So long as I can turtle up from here I should be able to leverage my board state and Miraging Metamorph to take over the game. I draw up into four blue auras, and my opponent plays two Force of Nature’s fused, followed by a C&C for 10 go again. I block out with Crown and my 2 blocks, and he follows up with snatch for 6 with Snapdragon Scalers for go again. He draws 3 cards and sort of whiffs, but manages to Runechant and Rosetta Thorn keeping Channel for an additional turn and getting an arsenal and leaving me at 8 life. My next hand blocks for 6 and my opponent attacks me for lethal through my blocks.

 

It didn’t feel like there were very many meaningful decision points I could have done differently in this game. I managed to navigate myself to a relatively favorable board state, but double Force of Nature with a hand that blocks 8 is simply too much to handle. I arguably could have sunk my Miraging Metamorph in arsenal to conserve health, but I knew there was no way I could block out a second attack with one card and a tunic, so I decided to just play to the out of him not having a follow up to the Command and Conquer. Arc Light Sentinel on either of the last two turns also could have been an out, but I didn’t draw it. My opponent navigated the game very well and sequences like this are exactly why Briar had such a successful weekend. It was definitely the deck to beat at both The Calling and the ProTour.

 

Denouement

I’m quite pleased with my performance in The Calling Lille and was also thrilled to see my friend and testing partner Ian Zhang top 8 the ProTour on a near identical list. Shoutout to him for sharing his deck and sideboard guide with me, although I played a role in testing and figuring out some of the matchups too. 

 

After watching the rest of the top 8 and seeing the venue erupt with Joy when Prism hit Living Legend, we received our Gold Foil prize cards from James White himself. I saw two players from the Sunflower Samurai opening their Gold Foils right away with Usagi opening Shuko and Akuma opening New Horizon. As soon as I saw the New Horizon, I knew I had to open my Gold Foil that I had planned to save to open with friends, on the off chance I could trade for the ranger equipment. I opened a beautiful Gold Foil Spellbound Creepers which Akuma was happy to accept as a trade for the New Horizon. This truly meant the world to me and was a cherry on top of what was already an incredible weekend. Moments like these where the Flesh and Blood community comes together are one of the most beautiful things about TCGs. Now I’m a proud owner of a Gold Foil New Horizon which I can’t wait to play with whenever the next time I decide to take Lexi out to a big event is.