Tyler Horspool, winner of The Calling Las Vegas, piloted his Prism deck to victory in a field dominated by Chane players, beating seasoned players and regular winners in his path to take the title of Champion. While he's been playing competitive TCG's for over ten years, and card games for even longer, he was only recently introduced to the world of Flesh and Blood.
'I was introduced to Flesh and Blood in July (2 months ago) by a few friends and I instantly fell in love. Everyone is so kind. This game is so much fun that all anyone wants is more people to play Flesh and Blood against.
The FAB community in Southern California, in particular, has been super inclusive which makes me want to be a part of it even more. Even after this short time, I've noticed so many familiar faces from Road to Nationals to The Calling, and I'm looking forward to seeing those faces in the future.'
Having only played for two months, testing and preparing for the event itself was a key aspect of deciding to compete in the Calling.
'Make no mistake, I was there to win. Despite my short time playing FAB I was able to catch up to speed and be able to play at a high level.
I had two big testing sessions a week for a month (Tuesday and Wednesday nights). On top of that I would hit up friends to play on Tabletop Simulator. I was looking to get in as many games as possible. My teammates at Operation Plus and Top Deck Keep were integral to helping me create this decklist and test it. Ultimately the deck is mine but it would not be possible without a great group of teammates with valuable input.'
Naturally, when discussing deckbuilding in the context of the current meta, one of the questions that comes up is how a Prism player prepares to face the most popular hero of the Monarch season.
'I knew that Chane would be the most played deck at the tournament going into it. I also knew that if I was going to try and win I had to be able to beat Chane. I never thought it would be 8 out of 14 matchups. While my deck is absolutely teched for Chane, I would not consider it just an anti-Chane deck. I have great matchups with Kano, Azalea, Bravo, Dorinthea and Boltyn, which I thought would also be a major part of the metagame. I played the list because there was no matchup I thought was unbeatable.'
While Prism was a strong hero going into The Calling, there were a number of heroes who dominated the Road to Nationals season, particularly Chane. In light of the metagame, Tyler's path to victory was impressive, beating seven out of the eight Chane players he faced; his victory streak shows that no one hero is out of the running for premiere events. How did he engineer his deck to manage the current meta?
'The 15 Auras + Tomes give you a great matchup into anything trying to go Tall with one attack per turn (Bravo, Dorinthea). The defense reaction package gives you some great games to not only try to Fatigue (Chane) but also try to trade blows vs. things with on-hit triggers (Katsu). The standout cards for me all weekend were Snag + Arclight Sentinel which play the role of Chane-Killer. Against other matchups Tome of Divinity + Great Library were the cards I was looking for to get ahead on card advantage.'
In fact, going into the Top 8 bracket, the player he was most worried about was the other person playing Prism, Kyle Waple. His immediate thought, seeing the Top 8 hero lineup?
'Please let me avoid that Prism! The other Prism decks are teched in such a way that I am the underdog in that matchup for sure. I also had the least testing for that matchup which made me unprepared.'
Tyler described a number of different cards when talking about standout moments from the final games of the Calling event. During the quarterfinals, "the big Ode to Wrath + Prismatic Shield turns made that matchup turn on its head", during the semifinals, "the double Arclight Sentinal vs Timesnap Potion play", and during the finals? "Feeling a bit frightened going into a big double rift bind turn with no Snag or Arclight Sentinel and then coming out of it knowing I had won."
"[Overall], my play could have been cleaned up a lot. Looking back there were some tunic triggers I missed, misjudgment of how much power a Herald had vs an Ursur token, and not knowing a lot of things that lead to a decent amount of judge calls. I think a big misconception is that the Calling winner must have played perfectly. The scary thing is I am nowhere near that and I still have a lot to learn."
An overarching theme, it seems, in this interview - Tyler may be new to FAB, but his recent success shows that determination and the drive to succeed gives anyone the potential to go far. Through lots of practice, careful deckbuilding, testing, and working alongside his team, Tyler took on the biggest FAB tournament to date and came out on top.
"It meant the world to take down the Calling. While the cash and the Tunic were nice, the most wonderful thing to me was to be able to prove to myself that I can take on the best players out there.
As much as everyone roots for their team or themselves I really think I have one of the best testing teams in the game right now. Brandon Abaraca and Adam Fiffles who both cashed day 2 come to mind. If I had to look outside of my teammates Sebastiano Cavallo played super solid in the finals despite having the disadvantage in the matchup. The next challenge could come from anywhere though and I will be looking to be prepared for it.
I will be attending The Calling in Dallas and definitely Nationals in Orlando. My next goal will be to understand the limited meta (both sealed and draft) as that will play an integral role in both of those tournaments."
And his advice to anyone else wanting to attend The Calling?
"Each decision in Flesh and Blood feels like a big one. This can take a toll when you are trying this round after round. While we can all get better at making sure we remember the little things (like tunic triggers!) the most important thing people could do is focus on things that are actually winning you the game."