Recap: Road to Nationals 2023, Week 2

The path to greatness continues with week 2! The rest of the world joined in the action this weekend, battling to secure a spot in the upcoming National Championships.

We'll dive into some more meta analysis this week, covering breakout stars this season, first timers on the Living Legend board, some thoughts regarding the meta at Calling: Antwerp, and also a particularly grumpy old man who's been ushered into retirement.

For now, check out some of the highlights from week 2 below!

Board Knight - United States

"Being our first Road to Nationals, it was a pretty great event! We had a very diverse metagame (2 Lexi, 2 Bravo, 2 Briar, 1 Fai, 1 Dromai, 1 Uzuri, 1 Azalea, 1 Iyslander, 1 Dash, 1 Viserai, and 1 Rhinar). We raffled off 1st edition Monarch packs in honor of Dusk till Dawn. Thank you for letting us hold this event, everyone had a blast."

1st: Scott Krehbiel - Fai, Rising Rebellion

2nd: Jeremy Stowe - Lexi, Livewire

Gamersaurus Rex - Singapore

"Gamersaurus Rex hosted a humble turnout of 25 players for our Road to Nationals, with the surprising appearance of only a SINGLE Lexi. Despite being the solo representative, Fauzi worked his way through the field of Bravo, Dash, and a variety of other heroes to make his way into the finals, only to be met by Jose on Uzuri. Following his previous week's success, Jose displayed his knowledge of the matchup, taking full control of the game even through Three of a Kind turns and winning his 2nd Road to National event in a row. Congrats!"

1st: Jose Lau - Uzuri, Switchblade

2nd: Fauzi I - Lexi, Livewire

Hobby Hub - Australia

"A truly awesome day made possible by our wonderful community, with several members making a day-long drive to be a part of the event. An interesting mix of heroes amongst our 19 players, with 3 Viserai, 2 Dromai, 1 Bravo, 1 Oldhim, and 1 Azalea making it to the Top 8! Our final game boiled down to Oldhim versus Azalea, with the Grandfather of Eternity emerging victorious!"

1st: Phawat Chuenchai - Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity

2nd: Nick McGrath - Azalea, Ace in the Hole

Plenty of Games - Australia

"We here at Plenty of Games were so excited to be able to host our first Road to Nationals event. We had 59 amazing players show up on the day with an remarkably diverse field. After 6 rounds of swiss we had our top 8 which consisted of Calling Auckland Champion Sam Sutherland, Australian Nationals Top 8 Competitor Fahad Safa, as well as a host of other highly talented players. It was an incredibly diverse top 8 with 7 different heroes represented, Dromai being the only hero with multiple copies. It came down to Justin Lim with his Lexi against Sam Sutherland on his golden Dash. It was an even and close fought final with both players dropping to 1 life, but it was Justin Lim and his Lexi deck walking away as our victor. We would like to thank everyone in the Melbourne community for making the effort to come out to the event. It's the community that makes these events so special. Cant wait for the next one!"

1st: Justin Lim - Lexi, Livewire

2nd: Sam Sutherland - Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire

TableGameCafeShuffle - Japan

我々の店舗は1フロアが小さく、階段の上り下りが大変でしたが、誰も滑り落ちる事は無く、失格になるような非紳士的なプレイヤーも居なくて、円滑にイベントが進められました。ご協力ありがとうございました！ 関西プレイヤーが多く居ましたが、九州、シンガポールからも参加していただいて嬉しいです。 日本初の公認店舗としてRtN2023を開催出来て、とても誇りに思います。

"Our store is one small floor and it was difficult to get up and down the stairs, but the event ran smoothly with no one slipping and falling and no ungentlemanly players getting disqualified. Thank you! There were many Kansai players, but we were happy to have participants from Kyushu and Singapore as well. We are very proud to host RtN2023 as the first authorized store in Japan."

1st: Travis Wong - Dromai, Ash Artist

2nd: Fukuhara Ryou - Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn

One of One Collectibles - Singapore

"32 players entered our Road to Nationals vying for a chance to earn their qualification for Nationals! 3 out of the 5 Lexis managed to make Top 8 but Briar proved to be the superior aggressive deck, channeling out mountains to take out the last Lexi in the finals!"

1st: Denny Koh - Briar, Warden of Thorns

2nd: Gideon Law - Lexi, Livewire

Mox Valley Games - United States

"We had a very successful event and two incredible judges (Scott and Maddie) to assist us. We had players that travelled from Washington and California as well as from other parts of our state (Oregon). We were gifted an art print of Concealed Blade from the Arthouse Syndicate that we raffled as a fun door prize. Kate handed out her fan made tokens for participation and raffled off a playmat."

1st: Isaac Jessen - Dromai, Ash Artist

2nd: Thor Hoffman - Uzuri, Switchblade

The Comic Book Store - United States

"All of our players had a great time. Bryan Apfelbaum, who got 2nd place, plays every week at our store, and did amazing in the event. Adam Tran is another local player who made it into the top 4, and Christopher D'Agostino and Darryl Thompson are local players who made it into the top 8. The event had great vibes, and we look forward to host it again."

1st: Eli Brawerman - Lexi, Livewire

2nd: Bryan Apfelbaum - Katsu, the Wanderer

Flow Games - Brazil

"Once again, Flow Games hosted a great event for Brazilian players of Flesh and Blood, demonstrating all the potential that Brazil has in the game. We gathered more than 50 players, who competed minute by minute for vacancies in a fantastic event, which lasted more than 11 hours of intense competition. We had many emotions throughout this incredible day, with the participation of the judges, Gustavo Marin and Gustavo Degering, who masterfully conducted the event. Interesting to note that all players were aware of their XP for the nationals, so we had almost no drops throughout the matches, and there were still players with breath left for a Monarch draft afterwards. In the field, despite the dominance of Dromai, we had Lexi taking our dear Leonardo Pessoa to victory. Everything went as smoothly as possible, with a high level of play and behavior, which proves once again that Brazil and Flow are great grounds for high-profile players."

1st: Leonardo Pessôa - Lexi, Livewire

2nd: Ricardo de Campos Dorini - Azalea, Ace in the Hole

Gilded Raven Games - United States

"It was a stormy day, but our competitors rose up and met the challenge anyways. The event went off without a hitch, every draft executed flawlessly, every match clean. It was such a beautiful sight, seeing people laughing, smiling, and having a good time despite the significant prizes on the line. The vibes were good, friendships began, and fond memories were formed this day."

1st: Daniel Rutkowski - Benji, the Piercing Wind

2nd: Yuanji Li - Riptide

Decked Out Gaming - Australia

"A healthy, diverse meta was on display at our Classic Constructed Road to Nationals, with 28 players representing 13 (of 19 possible) heroes at our event. 6 of these heroes made it through the 5 swiss rounds and into the top 8! We loved the climatic finals, a mirror match between Hayden Dale and Nick Butcher, both seasoned players playing Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity. With decklists that were the same down to the last card, Nick defeated the renowned Hayden Dale in the perfect mirror for the win! Thanks to all the players who made it out to the event and to our judge, Beckett McNeil, for the great day of FAB and making it a pleasure to host."

1st: Nick Butcher - Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity

2nd: Hayden Dale - Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity

Bali Awakening Zone - Indonesia

"Our second Road to Nationals event in Bali. The community was so enthusiastic about it. The prizes were great, and the top 4 were happy to get an invitation to Nationals. Players were split into two pods and played three swiss rounds before we got the top 8 players. Another draft pod assembled and the room was filled with screams of joy because someone managed to pull a Marvel! Uzuri was crowned champion after defeating Katsu in the final match."

1st: Jeppe Moisgaard Nielsen - Uzuri

2nd: Iwan Somanatta - Katsu

Wizard Tower - Canada

"Everybody had a great time, FAB players are the perfect example of a great gaming community! We had some players from Kingston come for the first time, and they've since joined our local discord. So now both communities are making plans to travel to play at the weekly armories. Just like last time, the pictures were taken by our wonderful judge, teacher, player, card-provider, photographer and private Jonathan Cameron who ran a very smooth event that granted him not one, but two rounds of applause after his opening speech."

1st: Eric Gaudreault - Azalea, Ace in the Hole

2nd: Jimmy Niro Demers - Katsu, the Wanderer

Paladin's Place - Germany

Chris (Winner): "It was great to see familiar faces and be there with my friends from Heidelberg. Darmstadt is always very cool. My main goal was just to qualify for the Nationals because I haven't been able to play much lately due to work, and I could only participate in the Road to Nationals. The first-place finish was just a really cool bonus!"

1st: Christoph Hofmann - Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire

2nd: Isabelle Block - Lexi, Livewire

Dice Addiction - United States

"The event ran extremely well with 23 total entrants. We were not surprised to see Brodie take the event, especially since he won our Pro Quest earlier this year. The Top 8 and Top 4 matches were all exciting to watch with some fantastic players battling out for their Nationals invite and the prize support given to us by LSS as well as a booster case of Outsiders thrown in by our store for Top 8."

1st: Brodie Spurlock - Lexi, Livewire

2nd: Evan Dyck - Dromai, Ash Artist

Once Upon a Memory Treasures - United States

"First off thank you for the opportunity, it was a blast to host as well as one of the best turn outs for a event we have ever had. The field consisted of many local players trying out their first big event, as well as players from two states away! The day started out great with some victories grabbed pretty quickly until the Oldhims started blocking and it turned into a grindy game of who could outlast who. It was pretty clear right from the start who had quite a few reps with their decks and builds, but the best part was watching the community getting along and conversing, laughing, and learning. The first 5 rounds went smoothly with great prize distribution and instore raffle in between swiss and the cut to top 8. The top cut had some familiar faces as well as some newcomers. There could only be one winner, congratulations to Elise Symmes - she taught us that in a world of Lexis, it pays to be an Uzuri..."

1st: Elise Symmes - Uzuri, Switchblade

2nd: Joseph Kaiser - Dromai, Ash Artist