Interview: Nam Vo, Champion of The Calling: Dallas Fort Worth

The Calling: Dallas Fort Worth saw over 500 players take to the battlefield for the main event, vying for their share of a $10,000 prize pool, a Professional Tournament Invite (PTI), and a Gold Cold Foil Legendary card. Coming off the heels of his performance at the previous Calling in Las Vegas, Nam fought his way into the top cut, taking up the mantle of Oldhim to rise through the Top 8 and claim his place as champion. With another Calling event and the US National Championship on the horizon, Nam Vo shares his experiences in the Flesh and Blood, and looks forward to seeing his team to Nationals.

Nam first got into Flesh and Blood via a group of friends, now his teammates.

"I was at my local card shop playing another game when my now teammates taught me how to play. I instantly fell in love with the mechanics of the game. Later that day, my good buddy Chase literally chased me out the door to hand me a Bravo deck for free and to this day that is my main classic constructed deck."

Nam's first official FAB event was a Monarch pre-release event at Showcase Games in May, and he emphasized how welcoming the community is.

"I love this community. Everyone that I have met playing this game have all been super kind and supportive."

Nam's involvement in community and particularly, his commitment to his teammates, shows repeatedly throughout the interview, as he reflects on his goals going into The Calling: Dallas.

" My goal was to ultimately win the event but, at minimum, learn the format to better prepare for nationals.

I wanted to follow up my 23rd place finish in Vegas and to show I am able to perform just as well in the limited format. I wanted to keep our team on top after our 2nd place finish in Vegas."

He here refers to Sebastiano Cavallo, another member of The Card Guyz team, who placed 2nd at The Calling: Las Vegas. The team tested extensively in their preparation for the event.

"I played in every pre-release available, read all the cards in depth, and played in multiple drafts at our local card shops. We had tested drafting every deck and every variant of each deck. Fatigue was one that stood out and dominated all the other compositions."

The current state of the meta was a factor in Nam's decision to aim for Oldhim, believing that others might pass over him in the draft, which ultimately left him with a wider pool of card choices.

"Briar was a huge contender being able to deal unblockable arcane damage. Lexi can’t deal with the arcane damage while Oldhim is the only hero to be able to negate some of the damage with his defense reaction.

Going into the event, I already had the plan of playing fatigue Oldhim being about to block most if not all the damage from both the other heroes while still being about to apply pressure using only the hammer.

I thought more people had already caught onto this strategy but not too many people were playing more than 34 cards. I did expect people to fight over the Briar cards and so they did especially in the Top 8. I noticed all the strong Oldhim cards were still available in the packs. I strongly believed that Oldhim was being overlooked and very open to draft."

When he realised that he was the only Oldhim in the Top 8, he said that he felt "super confident in winning the event."

"The best cards in my deck were the defense reactions being Turn Timber and Biting Gale. Being able to block the taller attacks when dominated by the opponent’s card abilities. Another outstanding card is Summer[wood] Shelter, this card helped me block multiple strong attacks while being able to buy it back from the graveyard with Plume of Evergrowth."

Nam went on to say that some of the highlights between games were "being able to meet up with my teammates and see how they performed." Nam was the only one in his team to make the Top 64 cut for this event, but both Nam and Sebastiano made the Top 32 cut at The Calling Las Vegas, with every player coming out of the swiss rounds with at least a 5-2 record.

His goals for the future are simple.

"More events win, more fun, and possibly a trip to New Zealand."

And what is he looking over his shoulder at, come Nationals?"

"I am looking for my teammates to be right behind me."