We've invited some guest writers to contribute to fabtcg.com for the Skirmish season. Matt di Marco is known for both video and written content, including interviews, articles, and most recently, broadcasting. This is the second article in his five-part Elevating Your Game series.
Elevating Your Game From Casual to Competitive
Part Two: Setting the Foundation
Having made the conscious decision that you want to fan the spark of competitive fire that burns in your belly, there is no better time than now to ensure that the foundation is set and stable for the project. Having the determination and commitment is a massive part of what not only gets the ball rolling, but keeps it in motion throughout the peaks and valleys of your journey to winning big tournaments. Nourishing that flame is important.
In the first part of this series of articles, I outlined what it takes to go from weekend warrior buzzing around the local Armory events, to a competitive threat that is consistently converting your entry fees to a Top 8 finish. The expectations, challenges, and considerations can be daunting, but for those who are all in on the process, it is time to get to work. In this article, I will lay out the groundwork of how to best set yourself up for winning higher-stakes events. Keep in mind, we are knee-deep in Skirmish Season, and you’re going to have your hands full.
The Path Most Taken
The hardest part about success at a tournament, for me, starts well before I show up to the table. The stress, fatigue, roster of competitors, nor any of the matchups give me the kind of headaches deck building does. Creating a deck to overcome the field is in itself an art and deserves its own five-part series that, frankly, I’m not equipped to give an authoritative opinion on. I’m first to admit that deck building is by far my weakness, despite it being a foundational element to success at the tournament.
Lucky for me - and you! - there are many minds out there already getting the work done when it comes to the nuts and bolts aspect of proper, cohesive deck building. It is okay that you’re not the architect. Not all pilots are engineers in the card game landscape. There might be pride and recognition associated with taking down a major tournament with a homebrew that nobody has seen before. For the most part, however, it isn’t so much about reinventing the wheel as it is about choosing the right treads on the tire. Pride can be harmful, and I’ll be addressing it in a future article. For now, though, just come to terms with the fact that there is nothing wrong with taking tested data and applying it to your own circumstances.
The decks are out there. Some might be less than stellar, even possibly outdated, but the experience is rooted in those seemingly harmless lists we might scoop up from various different platforms online. There is a reason the meta is what it is, as thousands of players are running the collective gauntlet with the roster of heroes available. The cumulative wisdom will appear in how you interpret that information. Starvo is strong. Prism and viserai are major players. Chane and Briar are dark horses. A very superficial scan of the broad community opinion will automatically hone you into where you should be paying attention, and what to dig into. If you can get beyond the egotistic aspect of wanting to be the mastermind straight from the drawing board, then you’ll know where your precious time should be invested.
The path least taken is that way for a reason. By looking at the ground ahead of you, you’ll see the footsteps on the paths most other travelers have walked. They’re reliable and steady ways to get to where you’re going: a tournament win.
Some Assembly Required
Stephen Hawking once postulated the existence of multiple alternate universes. In an interview, he was asked by comedian John Oliver whether there was a universe where Oliver was smarter than Hawking. Hawking responded by saying “Yes, and also a universe where you’re funny.” What the late, great Hawking would never fathom is a universe where you can easily win a major tournament on your own.
With the metagame swimming around in your mind, and a firm grasp of the hero and playstyle you’ll be strapped into, building your deck will naturally flow. Piecing together the cards to form a strong, cohesive deck should be heavily influenced by your research into the basic meta landscape. Lists will be littered across the internet, and picking through the decks with pedigree should make deck construction a breeze. It may feel like simply ripping off another person’s hard work and efforts - that dreaded bad word known as “net-decking” - but taking existing designs to set the foundation is wise, not lazy. Not everyone is a visionary, but we can always be innovators.
The goal is to get an initial idea of what the deck should look like. Find commonalities amongst the lists you’ve studied, and get a feel for the nature of the deck. The deck should be more than just the sum of its parts. Asking questions about why the pitch distribution is heavily blue-leaning, or why the balance of Non-Attack Actions and Attack Actions are in a particular harmony is a good train of thought to start developing. Keep these curiosities floating, because they will help flesh out a fuller understanding of how to play the deck. You’ll have many opportunities to turn the dials and adjust the list as your progress and play more games. For now, however, merely settling on a set of 80 cards for Classic Constructed is an appropriate checkpoint.
With the list compiled, assembling a squad should be the next mission you tackle. Beyond a dedicated work ethic, professionals lean heavily on their network and testing team. This can often be one of the most difficult chasms to cross when it comes to professional advantage over the casual player.
Great teams are rarely cobbled together on a whim. The chemistry of a great squad takes time to develop before becoming that well-oiled machine that is constantly chugging and lurching you all forward. Your mission doesn’t hold the same gravity or dire consequences that your favourite comic book hero team-up may face, so cultivating your testing team won’t require planting seeds that will take years to harvest. You can assemble your team and score your eventual victory in a much shorter time frame. But you need to start now.
You’re already at the events playing a card game that many others have signed up to attend. The beauty is that the shared interest has already brought you all together, so the awkwardness of trying to find that common ground won’t be there. What you will find, however, are many other players who are seeking what you’re seeking: someone to play with and improve with. Upon the familiar territory of Flesh and Blood, offer a casual game before an event, or perhaps after. Socialising isn’t everyone’s forte, I fully understand that, but taking that leap politely will pay dividends.
When I first dove into Flesh and Blood, I was surrounded by strangers. It was intimidating to know that you were the new guy, outclassed and outmanoeuvred at the table. If it wasn’t for kind, welcoming people like Raymond Chow, Martin Ho or Gabe Sher, I would never have learned the game and improved. These aren’t exactly professionals, albeit they are incredibly talented card players. They helped get me sorted through a lot of the early issues I faced when trying to become a better, more competitively minded player.
Parlay those interactions into a network, be it through texting ideas back and forth, establishing a group of like-minded people on Discord, or whatever suits your fancy. Even if playing games regularly isn’t on the menu, having a larger group of minds to bounce ideas off of will shelter you from finding out the hard way that playing blue Razor Reflex is probably a bad idea in Katsu. Establishing a team mentality can do wonders for the overall development of your skill, but it also creates a safety net for when you hit the types of ruts that might otherwise derail the entire mission. I owe a lot to my team for throwing me an escape rope when I tumbled into some dark, discouraging pits. A good team does more than just playtest with you. They support you. Building these relationships is a cornerstone for consistently successful competitors, so ensure that the pillars you choose are sturdy. They’re going to need to carry a lot of weight if you start to weaken.
In part three, I’ll discuss the habits of a winner, and how to approach the rougher patches of becoming a competitive Flesh and Blood player.
Matt di Marco is a competitive Flesh and Blood player and author of content relating to gameplay and strategy. The opinions expressed in the above article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Legend Story Studios.