ProQuest Season 2 Retrospective

We've officially reached the end of ProQuest Season 2! The final events of the season took place over the weekend, with players around the world turning out in force for one final push with their favourite heroes. We've run the numbers and crunched the data, and can confirm that Chane, Bound by Shadow has officially reached Living Legend status! He'll join Bravo, Star of the Show in the history books with the next Banned & Suspended announcement on June 24th.

Chane bowed out in his final week with a massive 20 events in his final week, with players from France to Taiwan, but he was by far the most popular in the United States, where he won 12 events. Bravo similarly pulled off a grand finale for his last performance before retirement, with wins at 32 events in 15 countries.

With the Runeblade and Guardian out of the format, Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light is the closest hero to the Living Legends threshold, inching closer with another 17 wins to her total. She won 5 events in the United States with Zayne Johnson, Dung Yung Le, Emmanuel Onate, Roger Bodee, and Michael Lau; 3 in Australia with Kenneth Habunite, Shawn Wang, and Philip Hadley McKay; and 1 each with Bob de Jong in Belgium, Jyri Ollila in Finland, Franscisc Loghin in Hungary, Damiano de Prosperis in Italy, Julius Jonauskas in Lithuania, Matt Rogers in New Zealand, Chu Heng Eng in Singapore, Gaetan Bovey in Taiwan, and Frederick Wong in Brunei.

Briar, Warden of Thorns is the next reigning Runeblade after her predecessor Chane, winning 9 events with Roman Legíň in Czechia, Stefano Cocca in Italy, Mauro Giuseppe Di Lauro in Italy, Niklas Bengtsson in Sweden, Erika Forslöf in Sweden, and Don Gallitz, Jesse Hudak, Taylor Crawford, and Connor Bryant in United States. Unfortunately, the first and final member of the triptych, Viserai, Rune Blood didn't pick up any more events for his tally, keeping his total score for the season to just one win.

Original Guardian Bravo, Showstopper did successfully add another 4 wins to his ProQuest belt, courtesy of Christophe Joseph in France, João Martins in Portugal, Jas Tin Lim in the United Kingdom, and Joel Grizzelle in the United States. Fellow Welcome to Rathe alumni and stars of the Classic Battle set, Rhinar, Reckless Rampage picked up one more event in the United States with Ulrich Sovitzky, and Dorinthea Ironsong claimed two more victories for the Light with Oscar Kruse in Norway, and Chih Wei Huang in Taiwan.

Arcane Rising star and wunderkind Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire found the tools to success at 2 events with Wilson Tran in the United States, and Khánh Bình Nguyễn Đình in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Kano, Dracai of Aether celebrated the upcoming return to Volcor, winning one event with Yan Garito in France; we can also now confirm that he won an earlier event in Czechia with Vít Stříteský.

Azalea, Ace in the Hole was the only Arcane Rising hero who didn't pick up a win this week, and the only hero who failed to win an event this season. She did, however, make it into the Top 8 of events in Poland with Stanislau Chykileuski, and France with Grégory Lefebvre. Fellow Ranger Lexi, Livewire won two final events for the season with Zachary Cauchi in Australia, and Michael Ramsey in the United States.

Of the heroes of Monarch, Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn sadly remains on just one win for the season, despite making the Top 4 of events in the United States with Alex Tyler and Bryce Henschel, and Bulgaria with Aleksandar Atanasov. However, Levia, Shadowborn Abomination has successfully added a second event to her record for the ProQuest season, ending the final week on a high note with devoted follower Ethan van Sant in the United States.

Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity wound down the season with two final wins, leaving his mark with Dawid Mrówczyński Poland, and Chris Brummett in the United States. Meanwhile, as a brand new Ninja prepares to enter the Classic Constructed format for the first time since Welcome to Rathe, Katsu, the Wanderer struck out for the final week of ProQuest Season 2, despite making the Top 8 at 23 events, including a finals finish with Hubert Pszczółkowski in Poland, and Aaron Khoo in Singapore.

Congratulations to all of our ProQuest winners! In particular, a massive congratulations are in order for Pablo Pintor from Spain, and Minh Toan Nguyen from Switzerland, who both won three ProQuest events; and also to our two-time ProQuest winners listed below. If you want to know whether you qualified for the Pro Tour, check out our invited players list here. We look forward to seeing you at the Pro Tour: Lille in August!

Two-time ProQuest Winners

Seventh Dimension - United Kingdom

"For our first ProQuest the vibe in the shop was overall amazing! Players were interactive and our judge made sure everything went smoothly. Players enjoyed the event and are looking forward to the next big event!"

Top 8:

1st: Matthew Duggan - Chane, Bound by Shadow
2nd: Ian Holland - Bravo, Star of the Show
3rd-4th: Stephen McKeever - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light
3rd-4th: Ryan Porter - Briar, Warden of Thorns
5th-8th: Carl Boyle - Lexi, Livewire
5th-8th: John Cornett - Lexi, Livewire
5th-8th: Courtney Jane Sproule - Katsu, the Wanderer
5th-8th: Simon Willis - Briar, Warden of Thorns

Jeux Kingdom - Singapore

"The event had what we believe to be the biggest turnout for a Flesh and Blood event in Singapore to date. Our June 4th ProQuest saw 47 participants battling it out through a 6-round swiss, followed by the top 8 fighting for 1st place and the invitation to Pro Tour Lille."

Top 8:

1st: Chu Heng Eng - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light
2nd: Aaron Khoo - Katsu, the Wanderer
3rd-4th: Gideon Law - Bravo, Star of the Show
3rd-4th: Bryan Kong - Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire
5th-8th: See Fen Fei - Lexi, Livewire
5th-8th: Ho Wei Jie - Bravo, Star of the Show
5th-8th: Shan Rievan - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light
5th-8th: Dawcious Chen - Chane, Bound by Shadow

Unison Games Cafe - United States

"The event was a hit! We pulled in people from 5 states and had 23 players in a very diverse field. Prism, Briar, Kano, and Lexi were all well represented with Katsu and Levia making appearances. We door prized out some promos and credit and the coffee was flowing!"

Top 8:

1st: Connor Bryant - Briar, Warden of Thorns
2nd: James Silver - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light
3rd-4th: Bartlomiej Bartkowiak - Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity
3rd-4th: Pheano Black - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light
5th-8th: John DelVento - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light
5th-8th: Lucas Molho - Chane, Bound by Shadow
5th-8th: Timothy Barron - Chane, Bound by Shadow
5th-8th: Kevin Canales - Briar, Warden of Thorns

Red Riot Games - Canada

"This event had nearly every top talented player in Toronto showing up, however, the special part of the event was seeing our local Dash player (Brandon Bianco), who has believed in his girl from day 1, take down the top titan Starvo.

Generally, we don't often see players who "aren't as well known" get overlooked, however in special cases like this, character specialists really shine. Another outlandish deck that shocked many of the local players was Philip Dickinson who showed that an off metta Levia can be a threat to the big decks. Taking many strong local players to task as he pummeled his way to victory one Starvo at a time.

While of course, the usual suspect characters took the top spots, we were treated to unique games with Double Kano's facing off in a "who strikes first may not strike last" duel of the ticking tunics. As well as a plethora of fun and exciting matches all around.

We look forward to many more fun matches and highly competitive games in the future."

Top 8:

1st: Richard Wiradharma - Bravo, Star of the Show
2nd: Gabe Sher - Bravo, Star of the Show
3rd-4th: Shawn Dhaliwal - Bravo, Star of the Show
3rd-4th: Michael Hennick - Chane, Bound by Shadow
5th-8th: Derek Chiu - Chane, Bound by Shadow
5th-8th: Brandon Bianco - Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire
5th-8th: Philip Dickinson - Levia, Shadowborn Abomination
5th-8th: Nghia Tran - Bravo, Star of the Show

AK Games Centre - Malaysia

"Many thanks to LSS for providing us the chance to host AK Proquest 2.0, we look forward to the high-level gameplay moving into the Uprising season. Players are all hyped about Uprising and are watching the previews in-between matches. Hope to be able to run more events for FAB and grow the Malaysian community together."

Top 8:

1st: Aimran Kamarul Bahrin - Bravo, Star of the Show
2nd: Yi Jun Loh - Lexi, Livewire
3rd-4th: Derk Hua Lee - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light
3rd-4th: Quah Hee Aun - Briar, Warden of Thorns
5th-8th: Benjamin Foo - Rhinar, Reckless Rampage
5th-8th: Ling Clement - Katsu, the Wanderer
5th-8th: Keng Fai Lee - Lexi, Livewire
5th-8th: Keith Yong - Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity

Fable Hobby - United States

"32 Players from all across the Pacific Northwest ventured to Portland to compete in the Fable Hobby ProQuest to close out Season 2. Top 8 Featured a diverse mix of heroes, represented by 3 Chane, 1 Starvo, 1 Rhinar, 2 Prism, and 1 Lexi. In the end, it was a preview of the first two heroes to reach Living Legend, Archer commanding Chane, and Austin piloting Starvo. Congratulations to Portland resident Archer Taylor, besting the field with Chane, notching his first ProQuest Victory, and punching his ticket to Pro Tour #2 in Lille, France."

Top 8:

1st: Archer Taylor - Chane, Bound by Shadow
2nd: Austin Yost - Bravo, Star of the Show
3rd-4th: Yuki Lee Bender - Chane, Bound by Shadow
3rd-4th: Clay De DeAngelis - Rhinar, Reckless Rampage
5th-8th: Tim Chambers - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light
5th-8th: Kevin Ho - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light
5th-8th: Ian Smith - Chane, Bound by Shadow
5th-8th: Spencer Heaps - Lexi, Livewire

Mr. Bill's Collectible World - United States

"Heroes collide in the Great Pacific Northwest with the local Flagrant Brutes defending the pride of the pack! Some of the finest competitors in the Great Pacific Northwest as well as some Canadian Legends converged on the harborside of Bremerton Washington United States for all-out WAR! Five grueling rounds of Swiss produced some real nail biters leaving the field with 8 bloodied heroes ready to taste the wines of France!

Top 8 first round of cut:

Dexter Canright Piloting Briar found Donghee Kim a bridge too far with his Bravo Star of the Show, eliminating Dexter in the first round of the cut. Steven Rodriguez daunting Chane, Bound by Shadow looked to silence Tsubasa Ueda with his favored Bravo Star of the Show yet that pipe dream withered in blood debt leaving Bravo to move forward. Austin Yost piloting Bravo Star of the Show found the beautiful yet deadly Lexi Livewire fielded by none other than Yuki Lee Bender, Canada's reigning National Champion! This wild match surely left both competitors mentally drained with Bravo holding the field by the slimmest of margins. Both are Pro Tour Veterans, this was a match for the ages! Lastly, Philip 'Reid' Parker with the Flagrant Brutes commanding Bravo Star of the Show was forced to battle some close kin as Clay DeAngelis Savage lands entry of Rhinar Reckless Rampage forced a head to head challenge. Avast! Bravo proved to overcome Rhinar's brutish instincts, such a Staunch Response to say the least...

Top 4 second round of cut:

With the field narrowed down to ONLY BRAVO STAR OF THE SHOW, the rest is just triple fused Oaken Old back to back and the rest is history. Tsubasa's Bravo Star of the Show overcame Donghee's Mirror match to advance to the final table, leaving Austin Yost to have his Bravo Star of the Show come up short to the Flagrant Brutes paradigm of hope Philip 'Reid' Parker in the mirror match The finale!

Philip 'Reid' Parker and Tsubasa Ueda locked gazes throwing down hammer after hammer blow bloodying their beautifully crafted show suits. Blow after blow, Staunch Response just to be mirrored by Staunch Response. The turns ebbed and momentum came and went until Philp 'Reid' Parker finally landed the final crushing blow to see the fields of France on the horizon...Good Luck Brute Brother Reid!"

Top 8:

1st: Philip Parker - Bravo, Star of the Show
2nd: Tsubasa Ueda - Bravo, Star of the Show
3rd-4th: Austin Yost - Bravo, Star of the Show
3rd-4th: Donghee Kim - Bravo, Star of the Show
5th-8th: Clay DeAngelis - Rhinar, Reckless Rampage
5th-8th: Yuki Lee Bender - Lexi, Livewire
5th-8th: Steven Rodriguez - Chane, Bound by Shadow
5th-8th: Dexter Canright - Briar, Warden of Thorns

Azkaban Juegos - Spain

"With 33 players in the event, we played 6 rounds, making this PQ the one with more people. As a curious fact only TWO players chose Bravo, Star of the Show; having more Dash and the same as Kano. Another curious fact is that five members of the Gin&Tunic team managed to make Top8 and the 4 players who made Top4 belonged to that team. We also had the presence of the winner of the PT, Pablo Pintor.

The final was disputed between Alvaro and Adrian; both Content Creator with very active channels and of great weight in the Spanish-speaking community (Alvaro, Flesh and Vlog on YouTube, and Adrian, adrifencing on Twitch) and are very well known.

After a mirror of Chanes against his teammate, Adrian, finally Alvaro wins (they played during the Swiss and the result was victory for Adrian) getting his invite for Lille; which confirms us that he will go; and his Gold Cold Foil, Snapdragon Scalers!

Alvaro's results in these last tournaments have been very good:

• PQ S1 Valencia winner
• PQ S1 Jupiter Central Top 4
• BH Madrid Top 8
• PT day 2
• PQs S2 Padis Top 4"

Top 8:

1st: Alvaro Francisco Toledano Benito - Chane, Bound by Shadow
2nd: Adrián Ruiz Yague - Chane, Bound by Shadow
3rd-4th: Jorge Moreno - Chane, Bound by Shadow
3rd-4th: Guillermo Pedernal - Bravo, Star of the Show
5th-8th: Mario Donoso - Chane, Bound by Shadow
5th-8th: Javier Endika García Campo - Lexi, Livewire
5th-8th: Sergio Ruiz "Clenyu" - Katsu, the Wanderer
5th-8th: Sergio Sanz Guerrero - Chane, Bound by Shadow

Honor's Ground - Philippines

"This ProQuest 2022 event was HGround Hobby Shop's first major caliber event for Flesh and Blood - which also had the most number of participants in the country to date. This was a one-day event that lasted for 10 hours (from 1 pm to 11 pm). The final match was between the reigning ProQuest Champion and a rookie player (who just started playing this year and whose first event was this one). It lasted for more than an hour culminating in experience winning over-enthusiasm - where a Gold Foil Courage of Bladehold was uncovered by the victor."

Top 8:

1st: Richard Anthony Bustamante - Bravo, Star of the Show
2nd: Janbert Dela Cruz - Viserai, Rune Blood
3rd-4th: Ferdinand Mendoza - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light
3rd-4th: Antonio Regalado Franco - Chane, Bound by Shadow
5th-8th: Mark Alvin Mendoza - Chane, Bound by Shadow
5th-8th: Ralph Gomeri - Katsu, the Wanderer
5th-8th: Bryle Alos - Katsu, the Wanderer
5th-8th: Carl Cedric Celera - Kano, Dracai of Aether

Drawstep - Portugal

"We had an amazing ProQuest, 21 players showed up ready to fight, and we had a diverse meta after some evolution from the other 2 ProQuests in the country that were mostly dominated by Chane.

We had 6 Briar players, 3 OG Bravo, and only 2 Chane and 2 Starvo players in total. Our Top 4 had 4 different heroes! Briar Warden of Thorns, Dorinthea Ironsong, Bravo, Showstopper, and Bravo Star of the Show were all in the fight. In the end, Bravo Showstopper was too strong and brought down the Warden of Thorns securing a spot in the finals. Dorinthea faced down Bravo Star of the Show and was the underdog of the match, especially against a controlling build, the game came down to the wire with both players below 5 hit points, but Dorinthea managed to find a way to push the last points of damage.

In the end, it felt like a blast to the past, Dorinthea faced down the original Guardian, the game was unforgiving from both players with Bravo starting off with a Show Time to Pulverize his opponent, and Dorinthea basically started the game at 29 hitpoints from that move but managed to claw it back with the help of some new tricks like Glistening Steelblade, alas, in the end, Bravo proved to be the strongest hero once again, and the game was over with a dominated Crippling Crush.

We cannot wait for Uprising to bring us even more heroes and grow this incredible game which will lead to even more incredible events!"

Top 8:

1st: João Martins - Bravo, Showstopper
2nd: José Guimarães - Dorinthea Ironsong
3rd-4th: João Gomes Bravo, Star of the Show
3rd-4th: Filipe Camacho - Briar, Warden of Thorns
5th-8th: Mário Abrantes - Bravo, Star of the Show
5th-8th: Ernesto Silva - Bravo, Star of the Show
5th-8th: André Cardoso - Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light
5th-8th: Nuno Paiva - Briar, Warden of Thorns

The Uncommon Shop - Switzerland

"We had a big turnout (I believe we had the most participants in Swiss ProQuests) The atmosphere was amazing and the fair play and competitive spirit were just beautiful. The event went smoothly and we had very positive feedback from the community. Overall it was an amazing experience and we were very happy to be part of it. Our store mascot (the little dog called Daxia) had the time of her life since she was constantly petted and played with in-between rounds when players finished early."

Top 8:

1st: Minh Toan Nguyen - Bravo, Star of the Show
2nd: Moritz Waeckerle - Kano, Dracai of Aether
3rd-4th: Rafael Boog
3rd-4th: Pascal Weiler
5th-8th: Matias Baumeler
5th-8th: Ragnar Marbo
5th-8th: Patrik Koller
5th-8th: Manuel Wachouschek