Our second week of the Skirmish season saw 173 events take place across 31 countries. GameForce in the Netherlands hosted the largest event of the week with 44 players, closely followed by Games Haven Hobby in Singapore with 40. Mana Vault Games in the United States and Classroom Cafeteria in Malaysia tied for third place with 36 players each.
15 heroes claimed wins worldwide, and 23 heroes claimed their place in the Top 8. Viserai, Oldhim, and Kassai, Cintari Sellsword were some of the most prominent heroes of the week, with 490 appearances in the Top 8 between them. Kano and Rhinar also enjoyed the spotlight at events worldwide this week, with Kavdaen the only young hero who failed to make himself known. So far this season, only three players have showed up to events with Kavdaen. Genis Wotchuneed and Shiyana, Diamond Gemini have eight players each in events so far, and both have seen at least one Top 8 placement.
This week, Ira's sole win came courtesy of Spanish player Gwydion Martín, who has been joining Skirmish events since the first season in 2021, where Ira, Crimson Haze burst onto the stage with wins worldwide. Lexi was similarly represented by Tyson Au, who won Mythos Games' Skirmish with the Elemental Ranger this week.
Rhinar was represented by players such as Cody Williams, who made the semifinals at the US National Championship; Sam Dando, a semifinalist at the Calling: Indianapolis; and Rafael Fernandes, a Levia player in Skirmish seasons past. Fellow brute Levia's champions of the week were Elijah Hewlett, winning the Megazone Game Store event in New Zealand, and Chandler To, who won the Geekery LLC event in the United States.
Kano winners included kiwi Kieran Carnegie, a Top 8 player in events like the Calling: Auckland 2021 and the NZ National Championship; and Søren Madsen, who has been representing Kano at Skirmish events for several seasons. Alexander Vore also saw a win with Kano this week, after previously taking the wizard to Day Two at the Calling: Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the Elemental Wizard, Iyslander, saw eight wins this week, with Antonio Otero winning two events in the United States. Other representatives included Kevin Zänker in Germany, and Kung-nan Huang in Taiwan.
Dash saw eight wins this week with players like Patrick Weiss of the US, Miroslav Košař of the Czech Republic, Florin Mazilu of Scotland, and Yong Soon Ooi of France. While her older counterpart is enjoying success in Classic Constructed, Prism was represented twice in the winner's circle this week by Australian player Connor Archer, and Danish player Felix Larsen Stenderup.
Of the Runeblades of Rathe, Chane saw two wins with Che-Kai Hsu in Taiwan and Armando D'Alessandro in Canada, Briar saw one win in Canada with Phil Samms, and four in the United States courtesy of Sebastian Patterson, Brandon Boyer, Evan Hutto and Josh Johnson. Viserai, however, saw wins across Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, the Phillipines, Poland, Spain, Taiwan, the UK and the US. Winners included Kevin Lerens (Belgium National Champion), Jamie Faulkner (winner of Battle Hardened: Leeds), Matthew Foulkes (UK National Champion), Philip van Donselaar (Netherlands National Champion), Wojciech Klimczyk (Poland), George Karampinis (Greece), and twice with CYK Lionel (Taiwan).
For our warriors of Solana, sadly Boltyn didn't see any victories this week, while Dorinthea saw four victories - three in the United States with Jared Griffith, Zachary Grieves and Matt Kohls, and one in Sweden with Niklas Bengtsson. Kassai, Cintari Sellsword, warrior of Volcor, claimed victory at 22 events. She was represented in the United Kingdom by Alan Bainbridge and Matthew Whewell; Robin Lesage in Belgium; Hazazi Latif in Brunei; Plamen Marekov in Bulgaria; Juri Maik in Germany; Błażej Maj in Poland; Alberto Hilario Guiot in Spain; Italo Molina in Sweden; and in the United States by 13 players, including Jesse Valdez, Max Morell, Jacob Clements and Timothy Long. One of her most impressive winners this week is Silas Benton, who won an event at the Blue Post. He previously made the Top 8 of a Road to Nationals last year at just eight years old!
Finally, we have our Guardians. Bravo took two wins this week with Canadian player Ryan Leveiller and kiwi Marko Zutic, while Oldhim won 25 events this week. His champions include both Yuki Lee Bender, our Canadian National Champion, and Shawn Dhaliwal, who lost to her in the finals and claimed second place; Hong Kong players Kelvin Law and Galaxy Yang, who have long been competing in Skirmish events; Roy Lai, who came second at the Australian National Championship; and Pat Eshghy, a quarter-finalist at the Calling: Indianapolis.
Congratulations to Lexi and Prism for picking up their first wins of the season this week. Out of 25 heroes, 16 have picked up wins so far this season, and all have picked up at least one Top 8 finish. We look forward to seeing what heroes can claim their place on the leaderboard next week!
Good Games Adelaide - Australia
"The event was an absolute blast. Our Head Judge was very effective and supportive, and the diversity of the decks in our Top 8 was wonderful to see with 8 unique decks. Our community is getting stronger and stronger and watching the community grow is such a joy. We here at Good Games Adelaide see a massive future in this game and can not wait to see what is next."
Top 8:
1st: Connor Archer - Prism
2nd: Alex Forndran - Bravo
3rd-4th: Alex McDonald - Viserai
3rd-4th: Zachary Gable - Lexi
5th-8th: Ryan Hearing - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
5th-8th: Ren Springlea - Briar
5th-8th: Lachlan Maddaford - Boltyn
5th-8th: Mason Dutcher - Dorinthea
Cat's Foot Print Hsinchu 貓腳印新竹店 - Taiwan
"Iyslander went undefeated, and was certainly the Dark Horse of the day. Our Champion, who is also a Wizard main, says Wizard should not be underrated, and has proved himself in the tournament! A lot of players didn't know how to go against the Wizard class, therefore resulting in some awkward plays where the Wizard caught their opponent off guard and dealt massive damage — in both players' turns."
Top 4:
1st: Kung-nan Huang - Iyslander
2nd: CYK Lionel - Viserai
3rd-4th: Shing Tak Li
3rd-4th: Chih Wei Huang
Couple of Mana Dorks - United States
"We all had a great time at this event! We had a smaller turn out than anticipated however we still had a blast and the players couldn't have been more happier.
We handed out an Ultimate Guard Ammonite Anti-theft backpack to a random participant as well as handed out a People's Champion Playmat to a participant. Our Playmat winner was in the top 8 and was very happy! The winner of the backpack was very excited and eventually went on to place first. This is his very first big win and we couldn't be more happier for him and he is very excited!
Every player also left with their cold foil copper tokens as well as a First Edition Everfest pack!"
Top 8:
1st: Ethan Bridges - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
2nd: Andrew Lorenz - Bravo
3rd-4th: Naib Mobassir - Oldhim
3rd-4th: Walker Stephens - Briar
5th-8th: Andrew Eisenmenger - Oldhim
5th-8th: Raymond Cardona - Rhinar
5th-8th: Brent Anderson - Viserai
5th-8th: William Seritt - Dorinthea
Dice Jar Games - New Zealand
"The event was a great time from start to finish. Not the biggest Skirmish ever with 20 players but everything ran smoothly. The live stream was a great success. We had an incredible commentary team of Iain Kenderdine, Matt Rogers, and Nick Butcher too. We recently had a simple software developed for on-screen displays which have been added to the stream at all points I had time to manage it. I plan to further develop to allow for presenting cards in hand also which I'm excited to hopefully have sorted for ProQuest season."
Top 8:
1st: Liam Spronken - Oldhim
2nd: Elijah Hewlett - Ira, Crimson Haze
3rd-4th: Thomas Bailey Galbraith- Oldhim
3rd-4th: Calum Rogers - Briar
5th-8th: Rowan Simmons - Dorinthea
5th-8th: Samuel Bates - Viserai
5th-8th: Jesse Watts - Kano
5th-8th: Michael Glover - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
Kraken Cards - United States
"Our Finalist, Nathan Dollman, ended up winning two of his matches by dealing lethal damage with his Reckless Swing! He also won his Top 4 match by playing two Barraging Beatdowns, then going to 1 health after triggering Beast Within when he was at 3 health. He had a decent chance of hitting a lethal amount of cards that were not attacks for Beast Within.
Though our attendance was small, the quality of players was fairly high. We had the previously ranked #8 in the world in terms of Constructed ELO after the Nationals season. Justin Salmon is now ranked #30 after the Calling Indianapolis. Additionally, our winner Jesse Valdez is #48 in the world right now!"
Top 8:
1st: Jesse Valdez - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
2nd: Nathan Dollman - Rhinar
3rd-4th: Jacob Nickel - Viserai
3rd-4th: Justin Salmon - Oldhim
5th-8th: Madison Thompson- Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
5th-8th: Donovan Lemay- Viserai
5th-8th: Mitchell Tillery - Kano
5th-8th: Jacob Willard - Briar
Fyendal Hobby - Singapore
"After our success with in-person ProQuest, Skirmish proved to be another event that shows that everyone is looking forward to having in-person play and larger scale events! We could have had a larger turnout, however covid still took a toll on some of our players. We're glad that they have informed us and stayed at home instead. Being well is the utmost importance for themselves and everyone else in the community.
With the new tools from Everfest, we were expecting more of the Crucible of War Heroes to be represented! However, Benji, Data Doll, Kayo, and Shiyana seem to be missing in action!
The final match was a recount of the final swiss round for the champion and the finalist, but with a different result! Kano still proved a force to be reckoned with, especially with the tools from the newest set, Everfest —Emeritus Scolding and Aether Wildfire. However, it is the original arcane rising trick that took down the win! Not one Stir the Aetherwinds with Forked Lightning, but two Stir the Aetherwinds with Forked Lightning!
Kano took a full brunt of the fused Endless Winter that allowed him to Stir the Aetherwinds with Forked Lightning with Metacarpus Node on his turn and allowed him to keep his last card (another Stir the Aetherwinds) in his arsenal. On the subsequent turns, Kano's ability was activated, banishing a Forked Lightning boosted by instant speed Stir the Aetherwinds enabled by the Storm Striders!"
Top 8:
1st: Jin Han Toh - Kano
2nd: Marco Ng - Oldhim
3rd-4th: Aloysius Goh - Kano
3rd-4th: M Ramzi - Kano
5th-8th: Ryan Leong - Oldhim
5th-8th: Wen Jie - Viserai
5th-8th: Tan Joon Chien - Viserai
5th-8th: Andrew T - Viserai
Boutique Awesome - Canada
"Boutique Awesome in Saint-Hubert, Quebec hosted a Tales of Aria Win-a-Case Blitz Skirmish on Saturday, April 2nd. 19 awesome players, including some driving in from Ontario, battled it out for the top prize of a case and the Spring Tidings playmat (and lots of other prizes, too!)
After five rounds of swiss, 8 players separated themselves from the rest, playing a diverse list of heroes: Frank Hung, Oscar Ojeda Gomez, Benson Lai, and Alexandre Lefebvre on Viserai, Darcy Noonan and Dave Pruneau on Oldhim, Nicolas Bouffard on Dash, and Shawn Hill on Kano! After a hard-fought top 8, it was Frank Hung, piloting Christmas Viserai who ended up on top, going undefeated through the Swiss and making Father Vistmas proud! His budget brew included no legendaries, and he had this to say about the event: 'You dim sum and you lose some. But mostly you dim sum.'
Fun facts about the event:
- Nine different heroes were played in the tournament, across six different classes!
- Despite being the most played hero of the tournament, none of the six Kassai players made the top 8!
- Conversely, all four Viserai players made the top 8!"
Top 8:
1st: Frank Hung - Viserai
2nd: Darcy Noonan - Oldhim
3rd-4th: Nicolas Bouffard - Dash
3rd-4th: Oscar Ojeda Gomez - Viserai
5th-8th: Shawn Hill - Kano
5th-8th: Biing Chyn "Benson" Lai - Viserai
5th-8th: Alexandre Lefebvre - Viserai
5th-8th: Dave Pruneau - Oldhim
Decked Out Gaming - Australia
"26 players arrived for Decked Out Gaming's Skirmish! 3 Kassai players made it into the top 4 of the finals, but Roy's Oldhim held off against them patiently twice in a row to win the event. A great day of Flesh and Blood and we're looking forward to running more events in the future!"
Top 8:
1st: Roy Lai - Oldhim
2nd: Shawn Wang - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
3rd-4th: John Wardan - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
3rd-4th: Valentine Nguyen - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
5th-8th: James Paola - Viserai
5th-8th: Ryan Bell - Dorinthea
5th-8th: Hayden Dale - Dash
5th-8th: Matteo Gallo - Chane
Huzzah Hobbies - United States
"Our awesome players voted for our weekly tournament organizer to receive the Player's Champ mat which was awesome (he also sported the only Genis Wotchuneed deck of the day). Was the largest FaB event we've had in the store to date, and according to our Judge one of the largest in the area. Lots of new players to the store, some to the game and a good showing of our regulars. A very Wizard heavy top 8 which was great to see!"
Top 8:
1st: Don Gallitz - Kano
2nd: Illia Stadnyk - Kano
3rd-4th: Evan McGrew - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
3rd-4th: Adam Pannone - Rhinar
5th-8th: Luke Edwards - Viserai
5th-8th: Scott Simoneau - Iyslander
5th-8th: Haik Voskerchian - Oldhim
5th-8th: Evan Gassman - Rhinar
Event Photos
Hobby Master - New Zealand
"Hobby Master was proud to welcome our Flesh and Blood players to Skirmish Season 4! Some top talent playing on our tables and some new faces too which is always great to see.
We congratulate our top 8, especially Marko for claiming 1st place and winning the Season 4 Skirmish playmat."
Top 8:
1st: Marko Zutic - Bravo
2nd: Dennis Zhang - Oldhim
3rd-4th: Ash Singh - Briar
3rd-4th: Andrew Yee - Viserai
5th-8th: Cayle McCreath - Bravo
5th-8th: Regan Herbert - Dorinthea
5th-8th: Dirk Crasto - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
5th-8th: CJ Quitazol - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword