At the beginning of 2020, just before the release of Flesh and Blood’s second booster set, Arcane Rising, Limbo began playing FAB for the first time. As the store manager of Taoyuan Cat Foot Print, he was one of the first to see the game in Taiwan, researching the rules and helping customers to learn the game.
‘I was fascinated by Flesh and Blood when I first played; I remember researching the rules and talking through them with customers. We were still unfamiliar with the rules, so we sometimes misunderstood them, but it’s still a great memory for me. Our city was the first community in Taiwan for Flesh and Blood. We were the pioneers of the game here, and we built a team to research and practice. Our community is very close-knit and practises very hard, because I think that with Flesh and Blood, you need a team to practice together. Every player has their own thoughts and ways of interpreting the game, and there are so many skills and combos to be discussed. I always encourage fresh players to practice with stronger players, because every fight will make you stronger.’
Limbo has been involved with the community from day one, championing the way of the Ninja. He placed in the Top 8 of the 2020 Taiwan National Championship with his Katsu deck, and repeatedly made appearances throughout the Skirmish events of 2021 with Ira, Crimson Haze.
‘I chose to play Ninja as my first hero because I really like the Japanese style - I enjoy the Surging Strike combo, especially Mugenshi: RELEASE and Lord of Wind. It looks very cool, and it reminds me of Yasuo, a hero from League of Legends. I always yelled “HASAGI” when I used the combo, since it’s one of his voice lines from the game. I really like the way the game is set up, and I hope that there are more cool tricks and new heroes to come.
I’m good with Ninja and Illusionist in games, but these two heroes struggle to defeat Briar, so I instead chose to play Briar at the Taiwan National Championship. I estimated that there would be a lot of Briar players at the Championship, and that Briar will take advantage over other heroes, except for ice elemental heroes. So, I practiced to beat Briar and ice elemental heroes. I put in a lot of hours to make sure that I had a good deck, and could make good decisions during the game. The preparation paid off, because I faced five Briars at the Championship and I didn’t lose to a single one.’
A lot of Nationals players prepped by playtesting with teams and getting plenty of games in, but with his busy schedule, Limbo complimented playtesting with watching YouTube videos and going to events.
‘I can’t match the playtesting times with my team, so I watched a lot of videos on youtube and participated in a lot of events to practice and hone my skills. Watching Briar mirror match videos on YouTube helped a lot, and I also shared my thoughts with my team, because the discussions helped me to get a better grasp on my strategy.
I expected there to be a lot of Briar players at the Championship - at the moment, I don’t think that the meta is varied enough. The variety of heroes is the most attractive part of Flesh and Blood, and I was disappointed that I couldn’t use my favourite hero to participate in the Taiwan National Championship, because the hero I love isn’t strong enough in the current meta to win the Championship. Therefore, I felt like I had to play a hero and class I’m not familiar with. However, I think that instead of nerfing Briar, it would be better for every class if they saw enhancements and stronger cards.
At the Championship, I was most worried about playing against Kano or Oldhim. I can’t defeat the Wizard if he attacks first, and I might deckout before I can defeat the Guardian. Fortunately, Kano isn’t popular at tournaments, and Oldhim is more easily defeated by other classes, so I didn’t face these two heroes.’
In spite of talking about Briar’s strengths in the game, however, Limbo chose to draft Oldhim, stating that Briar’s popularity was the reason he chose to lean into the Guardian’s mantle instead.
‘Briar is very good at drafting, so I guessed that many players would try to draft Briar. So, I chose to draft Oldhim, because he would not be drafted by most players. The Lightning Lexi and Briar aren’t strong enough, because everyone wants to play Elemental Runeblade, so I can get all the strong cards for Oldhim. I won five out of my six draft matches. I got 5-6 defense reactions and strong cards for Oldhim at both drafts, and with a deck average of 37 cards, I could deckout all of my opponents.
Going into the Top 8, I knew Oldhim was the biggest threat. Oldhim can defend all of my attack cards and let me deckout. Thankfully, my standings after the Swiss rounds was number 1, so I had a big advantage, because I could attack first.’
Limbo faced Oldhim player Li-hong Yeh in the final match of the Championship, preparing to battle the hero he’d already identified as his biggest challenge in his path to victory.
‘I was afraid that Oldhim would try to force me to deckout, so I abandoned my life to make sure that I got to a point where I had more cards in my deck than Oldhim. I chose a preservation strategy, breaking out the attack action cards once every three turns. I wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t waste any resources. I used Fyendal’s Spring Tunic to collect pitch, put Plunder Run in the arsenal, and used red Electrify to make Oldhim defend the attack. I wanted to make sure that every attack action card could exceed 7 power. Oldhim would be hard to attack with my weapon, so the only way to defeat him was to make sure that he uses all of the cards in his hand to defend my attack actions, and can’t block all of the damage. Afterwards, I would prepare the arsenal and the next attack action.’
‘I really wanted to become the 2021 National Champion, because the status of Champion helps me to promote Flesh and Blood. I’m working hard to hold meetings to teach new players, and help beginners learn the right concepts and experience the fun of the game.
Flesh and Blood is my favourite game, and I intend to use the title to promote the game in Taiwan. For example, I will cooperate with Fayble to hold competitions like “Challenge the National Champion” or teach new players at beginner meetings, write new articles to introduce the game, film promotions videos… I am very excited about winning the Championship. There are so many things that I’m looking forward to; I want to participate at every competition in the future, and I hope that I can compete with all of the excellent players around the world.’
在2020年初，也就是血肉之戰第二彈Arcane Rising發售之前，Limbo開始接觸了血肉之戰這款遊戲。當時身為貓腳印桃園店店長的他，是台灣最先接觸血肉之戰這款遊戲的玩家之一，也是最先開始研究規則、推廣這款遊戲的玩家。
據Limbo說
在一次機緣之下體驗了血肉之戰就為此遊戲著迷，當時我們對於遊戲規則還不熟悉，因此常常會出現對規則誤解的情形，現在想起來還是一段很有趣的經歷。由於我們的縣市是第一個遊玩血肉之戰的社群，我們是這個遊戲的先驅者，我們也組建了一個團隊去研究和練習。我們的社群非常的團結也練習得相當勤奮，因為我認為血肉之戰這款遊戲會非常需要團隊的練習。每位玩家都有自己的想法和對於這個遊戲的理解。許多的技巧和套路都會需要一起討論。我總是鼓勵玩家們去和有經驗有強度的玩家練習，從彼此的對戰可以更進一步磨練自身的技巧。
Limbo從第一天起就開始參與社群的活動，就用忍者這個職業闖出了名號。他在2020年國家冠軍賽使用Katsu取得了TOP8的成績，仍後在2021年的衝突戰使用了Ira,Crimson Hazec打出了傑出的表現。
據Limbo說
因為我非常喜歡日系風格，所以後來我選擇了忍者這個職業。我非常喜歡Surging Strike這段套路，尤其是Release和LORD OF WIND，真的非常的帥氣 。使用這些牌時總是讓我想到英雄聯盟裡的Yasuo。當我打出這段套路時，我都會喊出’’HASGI''，Yasuo在英雄聯盟裡的台詞。我很喜歡這款遊戲的設定。希望未來有更多酷炫的大招以及英雄套路。
我很擅長使用忍者和幻術師這兩個英雄職業，但這兩個職業實在太難打敗Briar。所以最後我選擇了使用Briar參加了今年的國家冠軍賽。我評估今年會有許多使用Briar的參賽者，而且Briar除了面對冰系的元素英雄外，對於其他的英雄都能夠取得優勢。因此我在賽前練習了很多與Briar之間的內戰和面對冰系英雄的應對，來確保我能夠調整出最好的套牌配置以及在比賽時能夠做出最好的判斷。事實證明我成功了，在國冠賽中我遇到了5組元素魔劍，取得了5-0的好成績。
許多國家冠軍賽的參賽者利用了團隊做賽前準備，以其花費了大量時間練習。但對於Limbo來說，因為工作繁忙的原因，他只能看觀看Youtube大量的影片和參與店家比賽來練習。
據Limbo說
因為工作的原因，我的時間沒辦法與我的團隊配合，因此我只能透過Youtube和參加大量的店比賽，來練習和磨練我的技巧。當然我也會與我的團一起分享我對於賽場的想法，因為只有透過大量的討論我才能更進一步改善我的策略。
這次國家冠軍賽我預期會有非多的Briar使用者，我認為現在的賽場環境並不足多元。豐富且多樣的英雄是血肉之戰最吸引人的地方，同時我也對因為自己最喜的英雄在這個賽場不夠強勢，無法拿來參加國家冠軍賽感到沮喪。因此為了在國家冠軍賽有好的表現，我不得不選擇了自己並不熟悉的職業。然而我認為與其現在去削弱Briar，我認為更的做法是去提升且強化其他職業。
在這次的國家冠軍賽，我最擔心會遇到Kano或是Oldhim，如果面對Kano的時候我無法取得先手的優勢，我可能會無法擊敗他。面對Oldhim時候我有可能會因為打不穿他的防守然後因為抽乾牌庫，輸掉了這場比賽。
所幸Kano在CC的賽場上並不常見，Oldhim並不容易擊敗其他職業的英雄。因此我在賽場上並不會遇到太多這兩個英雄。
Briar 是個非常好的輪抽選擇，因此我認為其他玩家在輪抽的第一選擇會是Briar，所以我在輪抽會以Oldhim為首抽選擇。雷系的Lexi和Briar會因為每位玩家都想打元素魔劍，導致在這個輪抽池中被弱化。也因為這樣我更能夠取得Oldhim的每張強牌。事實證明我的策略也是正確的，我在六回合的輪抽賽事裡取得了5勝，我兩場輪抽平均取得了5~6張的防禦反應牌或Oldhim的強牌，我的套牌張數平均37張，讓我有機會能夠靠打乾對手的牌庫取勝。
當我打進8強後，我認為Oldhim會是我最大的敵人。Oldhim可以擋下我的所有攻擊，讓我先打乾我的牌庫。所幸我的排名在結束瑞士制後市第一，因此我可以選擇先攻，讓我在8強賽裡有巨大的優勢。
Limbo 在國家冠軍賽決賽面對使用Oldhim的玩家 Li-Hong Yeh，在他取得勝利的道路上，準備面對他認為最艱難的挑戰。
我最害怕Oldhim 會試圖讓我先打乾牌庫，因此我在前期放棄我的血量確保我的牌庫會比對手有更多的牌。我選擇了保守的策略，然後每三回會爆發一次攻擊，我想要確保我不會浪費任何資源。我使用了 Fyendal’s Spring Tunic去收集Pitch，然後把Plunder Run放在Arsenal，然後使用紅色的Electirfy去迫使Oldhim做出防禦。我想要確保每次的攻擊都能夠達到七點以上的攻擊力，因為這樣在Oldhim防禦完後會很難再去使用他的武器攻擊。因此唯一打敗Oldhim的方式就是確保他會再當回合使用完所有手牌去防禦，但卻無法完全防禦完所有的傷害。之後我會再把牌蓋在Arsenal然後續準備下一次的爆發攻擊。
這次我真的很想成為2021年的國家冠軍，因為這個國家冠軍的頭銜會幫助我更好的推廣血肉之戰這款遊戲。我近期很努力的在舉辦新手教學會，去幫助更多剛接觸這款遊戲的玩家建立觀念和體驗這個遊戲的樂趣。
血肉之戰是我最喜歡的遊戲，我會試著使用台灣冠軍的頭銜在台灣做出更多的推廣。像是配合台灣代理商飛博舉辦挑戰國家冠軍的比賽、舉辦更多的新手教學會，寫文章去介紹這款新的遊戲、拍攝推廣影片。我對於能夠贏得冠軍感到非常的興奮。有太多的事情是我期待可以去做的。當然我也會在未來舉辦的各種賽事，我希望我能夠與世界上更多的玩家對戰。
A huge thank you to the team at Fayble for helping us translate this article into Mandarin!