Keyan Monadjem
Age: 23
Hometown: Auckland NZ
What was your favorite moment this weekend? Learning more of how the game worked and the intricacies behind it.
What was your favorite card in the Ira deck? Head Jab.
What hero are you looking most forward to in Welcome to Rathe? Guardian.
What are you most looking forward to in the world of Flesh and Blood? Everything. It’s all so novel, and I just want to see how it all comes together!
Bohdan Temnyk
Age: 26
Hometown: NSW, Australia
What was your favorite moment this weekend? Resolving Whirling Mist Blossom.
What was your favorite card in the Ira deck? Torrent of Tempo.
What hero are you looking most forward to in Welcome to Rathe? Brute.
What are you most looking forward to in the world of Flesh and Blood? The friends I’ll make along the way.
Matt Rogers
Age: 29
Hometown: Auckland, NZ
What was your favorite moment this weekend? Beating Jason Chung after he said he’d beat me going first when I said going second was favoured.
What was your favorite card in the Ira deck? Springboard Somersault.
What hero are you looking most forward to in Welcome to Rathe? Guardian.
What are you most looking forward to in the world of Flesh and Blood? Trying the Limited format.
Jeremy T. Hines
Age: 19
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Currently living in Auckland)
What was your favorite moment this weekend? Getting to meet a bunch of new people from different card game communities and hang out with some of my brothers friends.
What was your favorite card in the Ira deck? Definitely Bittering Thorns. It helped keep damage at 4, which were awkward to block without wasting resources.
What hero are you looking most forward to in Welcome to Rathe? Definitely Warrior and Guardian. I like Bravo's character design and what I've heard about the Guardian class. I was really interested in seeing how Warrior with Dorinthea deck will be built as it is based around the weapon from what I saw on display. Looking forward to trying both out and the other two as well!
What are you most looking forward to in the world of Flesh and Blood? I personally haven't gotten a chance to read the backstory of the world, I only learnt about the game the night before the event from my younger brother who brought home a starter deck for us to play against each other and I was hooked instantly. I want to read the lore and see what other cool new characters (and potentially classes) come out. I really like the idea of having a character who if you really enjoy you can "main" and try to build a deck around their ability and weapon(s).
Luke Badger
Age: 38
Hometown: Auckland, NZ
What was your favorite moment this weekend? Starting on table 56 and seeing all the people sitting between me and the top tables.
What was your favorite card in the Ira deck? Springboard Somersault.
What hero are you looking most forward to in Welcome to Rathe? Keen for the guardian - he has the swagger!
What are you most looking forward to in the world of Flesh and Blood? I want to find out a bit more about this jungle the brutes live in - looks awesome!
Connor Bryson
Age: 28
Hometown: Tauranga, NZ.
What was your favorite moment this weekend? When I triple scarred Bohdan.
What was your favorite card in the Ira deck? Scar for a Scar.
What hero are you looking most forward to in Welcome to Rathe? Warrior.
What are you most looking forward to in the world of Flesh and Blood? Playing a new TCG from release and seeing if the YGO and MTG communities come together.
Asher Baker
Age: 14
Hometown: Auckland, NZ
What was your favorite moment this weekend? Winning the game that put me into the top 8.
What was your favorite card in the Ira deck? Scar for a Scar or Flying Kick.
What hero are you looking most forward to in Welcome to Rathe? Don’t know, haven’t had a good look yet.
What are you most looking forward to in the world of Flesh and Blood? A good prize structure and event structure with opportunities to advance without traveling far and wide.
Darryn Ying
Age: 43
Hometown: Auckland, NZ
What was your favorite moment this weekend? Catching up with friends from every different card game I've played in the past all in one place at the same time. I'm old so that's a lot of blasts from the past.
What was your favorite card in the Ira deck? Lunging Press.
What hero are you looking most forward to in Welcome to Rathe? Warrior and Guardian.
What are you most looking forward to in the world of Flesh and Blood? Learning new mechanics of how the other heroes play, but teaching my son how to play has also been fun!