Skirmish Season 4 Retrospective

The fourth season of Skirmish events saw one of the most diverse Blitz metagames so far, with new heroes crowned every single week. 17 heroes picked up victories at over 500 events, with every single hero making a Top 8 appearance.

Azalea, Boltyn, Data Doll, Genis, Kavdaen, Kayo, Shiyana, and Valda all failed to secure a victory during the Skirmish season, despite a total of 96 Top 8 placings between them. Some players came close, however - Kayo made the finals of an event in the United States with Bradley Llewellyn, Azalea came close in Indonesia with Septian Yudistira taking her to the final match, and Menion Croll was one of many players across the season to bring Valda just shy of the finish line.

Valda's fellow Guardian Bravo picked up a win this week for the second time with Marko Zutic of New Zealand, while Oldhim picked up a series of wins across the United States. Players such as David Elrod in the United States, Abbey Fong in Singapore, Ludovic Guilmard in France, and James Medland in Australia picked up the Elemental Guardian for the final week of events.

Fellow Australian player Tom Dagan claimed Shadow Brute Levia's sole win for the week, one of five across the season. Rhinar picked up three more victories with Bert D'Huyvetter in Belgium, Denny Sunarjo in Singapore, and Ma Kang Shuo in Taiwan.

The Wizard Kano picked up one final win in Canada with Michael Caronchia, while his Elemental counterpart won five more tournaments. Iyslander saw wins with Canadian player Shea Ashbee, Malaysian player Keith Yong, UK player Shahmir Samee, American player Andrew DiLullo, and Australian player Kori Valentine. This is Kori's second consecutive Skirmish win with Iyslander!

Prism's sole win of the week came courtesy of American player Michael Riddle, while fellow Solanian Dorinthea won three tournaments with Michaela Picard in New Zealand, James Brookes in the United Kingdom, and Michael Ramsey in the United States. Despite her initial momentum at the beginning of the season, the Warrior Kassai only picked up five more wins in the final week; Chris Hancock of Australia, Laksana Eka S.P. of Indonesia, and Gregory Stout, Dan Groseclose, and Christian Gibert of the United States.

Dash added five tournaments to her final tally, with Nicolas Bouffard in Canada, Ricky Lianto in Indonesia, Michael Wachouschek in Switzerland, Merrick Kemp in the United States, and Yong Soon Ooi for the second time in France. Finally, we have Viserai, who picked up wins across the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Congratulations are in order for all of our winners, but I'd like to draw attention to some of the players who won multiple events. You can read the full list below, but there are a few players in particular who were representing some more stand-out heroes in the current metagame, fighting against the current to bring their favorite hero to the field.

Soon Ooi Yong of France won two events with Dash, while Rose Smyth won one event with the Mechanologist, and one with the Elemental Wizard Iyslander. Iyslander won two events with Kori Valentine in Australia, and three with American player Antonio Otero.

While preparing and travelling, Calling Krakow Champion Yuanji Li also found time to win two Skirmish events with fellow Wizard Kano. Matt Kohls won two events with our classic Warrior Dorinthea in the United States, and in Australia, Hayden Dale won one event with the Brute Rhinar, and then switched tactics to win another event with Runeblade Briar three days later. Similarly, Lucas Birch won one event with Ira, Crimson Haze in the United States, and a second event with Oldhim, representing polar opposite heroes with completely different playstyles.

Congratulations also to Frederic Fuessmann, a German player who was our sole recorded Benji winner for the season; fellow Ninja player Zachary Powers in the United States, our sole recorded Katsu winner; and our two Lexi winners for the season, Alexander Labiano Seranno of Spain, and Tyson Au of the United States.

A huge thank you to all of the local game stores who took part in Skirmish Season 4, hosting events for players around the world; to all of the players who participated and brought their favorite heroes, decks, and strategies to the table; and to everyone else around the world who cheered them on. We look forward to the next season of Skirmish with you all!

In the meantime, you can check out our organised play page for details on upcoming events.

Skirmish Players With Multiple Wins

Red Riot Games - Canada

"This event was amazing, we had 33 hungry players chomping a the bits for a 2k price pool we provided to heighten the play experience of all our dedicated player base. The players came with the hardest hitting Oldhim and Viserais they could, but at the end, it was the old guard of Mike C the legend playing his day one Skirmish Champion KANO.

Together they threw fire and brought the lightning as they channeled the aether all the way through the runeblade defense actions! Kano and Mike proved that the right deck with the right driver behind it brings out the best and strongest and best the game has to offer!"

Top 8:

1st: Michael Caronchia - Kano
2nd: James Warburton - Viserai
3rd-4th: Aaron Shantz - Viserai
3rd-4th: Matthew Dilks - Viserai
5th-8th: Sacha Akow - Briar
5th-8th: Sau Hoang - Viserai
5th-8th: Raymond Chow - Viserai
5th-8th: Chris Borecky - Dash

Invictus Forge - Malaysia

"48 players participation, highest so far in Malaysia. Also a lady player reached top 4 (the first time in Malaysia. We don't have many lady players to begin with). She was so stressed out wondering if she would even get to the Top 8 and we were like 'seeing as you won your first four games, chances are you're getting into the Top 8'.

Iyslander won 1st place against a Bravo with AB3 in the final! Very close fight and Emeritus Scolding ends it all."

Top 8:

1st: Keith Yong - Iyslander
2nd: Kok Bin Ng - Bravo
3rd-4th: Mingy Ho - Kano
3rd-4th: Nita Kalaichelvan - Rhinar
5th-8th: Saiful Bahari Hassan - Viserai
5th-8th: Stephen Hill - Viserai
5th-8th: NWNS Davis - Rhinar
5th-8th: Yehan Lim - Dorinthea

Top Deck Keep - United States

"Twenty amazing players made it out to our Blitz Skirmish event on Saturday. The event featured a variety of heroes led by 5 Oldhim, 3 Iyslander, and 3 Viserai. But after the swiss rounds, the lone Rhinar player, Adrian Mendez, was the first seed going into the playoffs! Justin Pastrana on Dash aggro ended Adrian's streak in the quarterfinals though and boosted his way into the finals where he met our eventual champion: Randy Wood on Viserai!"

Top 8:

1st: Randy Wood - Viserai
2nd: Justin Pastrana - Dash
3rd-4th: Justin Liwag - Iyslander
3rd-4th: Evan Bridges - Viserai
5th-8th: Adrian Mendez - Rhinar
5th-8th: David Gosney - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
5th-8th: Ryann Lagrou - Oldhim
5th-8th: John Zapata - Viserai

Vagabond - New Zealand

"29 Players battled it out to become Skirmish S4 champion at Vagabond Games Auckland City. A healthy metagame with 12+ heroes saw our players fight through 6 rounds of swiss play, with some newcomers beating out some Pro Tour competitors on their way to the Top 8. 7 different heroes came together to play out the single elimination rounds to crown a winner. The finals featured multiple Skirmish winner Marko Zutic on his rainbow Pummel build of Bravo vs. King of Northland Jacob Kingi on the fiery Kano. The players traded blows, Kano pushed hard when his windows appeared but it was the sneaky Pummels, Marko’s signature card got him the victory. Marko is sure one to watch and I feel a Pro Tour appearance is in his future."

Top 8:

1st: Marko Zutic - Bravo
2nd: Jacob Kingi - Kano
3rd-4th: Regan Herbert
3rd-4th: James Arnesen
5th-8th: James Wakefield
5th-8th: Georgia Sumner
5th-8th: Dennis Zhang
5th-8th: Minjoon Lim

Mox Saga - Hong Kong

"Although we had to hold this event online on Discord, participants were happy and enjoyed the games. Even cats would like to play too; it made the game's atmosphere more interesting. Other than that, when some group of players finished their games, they will move to another Discord room to watch the unfinished players enthusiastically.

Thanks for inviting us to hold such a great event, we are looking forward to the next season of Skirmish."

Top 8:

1st: ALD - Oldhim
2nd: Galaxy Yang - Ira, Crimson Haze
3rd-4th: David Kwong Man Yau - Kano
3rd-4th: Powerful Dickson - Iyslander
5th-8th: A_Man Hung - Rhinar
5th-8th: Kaiser Wong - Prism
5th-8th: Kelvin Ng - Viserai
5th-8th: Vincent Yuen - Viserai

Bali Awakening Zone - Indonesia

"This is the very first Skirmish in Bali. As the biggest Flesh and Blood tournament we have so far, everyone in our community was very excited. Moreover, the prize provided was very interesting. Even a new player that hadn't been playing for more than 2 weeks also joined the fun to share the experience together.

The best moments were during the prize distribution, as the players win the People's Champion playmat while the other pulled an Extended Art Cold Foil Equipment. Another interesting moment was when Azalea managed to advance to the final round, unfortunately, she will still have to wait for her first trophy.

Starting tomorrow, everyone will be looking forward to an even-bigger upcoming event, the Pro-Quest."

Top 4:

1st: Laksana Eka S.P. - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
2nd: Septian Yudistira - Azalea
3rd-4th: Abdurrahman Putra - Briar
3rd-4th: Randy Stephen - Ira, Crimson Haze

Jester's Gallery - United States

"We had a great FAB-filled afternoon in the cold Michigan spring. New players and grizzled veterans lined up before the doors opened and everyone was brimming with excitement for what was sure to be a day of highs and lows at Jester's Gallery. Surprisingly, where many of our local players expected to see Oldhim, Kassai, and Viserai, we had a fairly diverse event. Rhinar, Lexi, Dash, Kano and Benji were all represented and Benji nearly won the event!

Kassai ended up being our winner after facing off against runner-up Benji in the final round of swiss and again in the Final match. After their first close game, both players knew the final match would be difficult to win. With both players at 1 life, Kassai was able to make the killing blow with a pumped Cintari Saber!"

Top 8:

1st: Derek Brothers - Kassai, Cintari Sellsword
2nd: Chuck Hutchins - Benji, Piercing Wind
3rd-4th: Andy Modell - Viserai
3rd-4th: Aidan Schmeling - Dash