The Flesh and Blood 2024 National Championship season kicks off this weekend with the United States front and center. The first of more than 40 National Championships will set the tone for Classic Constructed and Part the Mistveil Draft as many of the best players in the country converge on Minneapolis, Minnesota for three days of playing great games in the flesh and blood.
US Nationals will play out over three days with Friday and Saturday featuring seven rounds of Swiss (four rounds of Classic Constructed and three rounds of Part the Mistveil Draft each day) culminating with a single-elimination Top 8 bracket on Sunday showcasing Classic Constructed. All Top 8 players earn an invitation to the World Championship, their share of the event’s $50,000 prize pool, a Gold Foil Legendary Black Envelope, and an exclusive playmat, but the winner takes home the trophy, $10,000, and the title of National Champion.
| Place | Prize Money | Promos, Invites, Additional Prizes |
| 1st | $10,000 | Trophy, Gold Foil Legendary Black Envelope, 2024 World Championship Invitation, Exclusive Playmat |
| 2nd | $4,000 | Gold Foil Legendary Black Envelope, 2024 World Championship Invitation, Exclusive Playmat |
| 3rd-4th | $2,500 | Gold Foil Legendary Black Envelope, 2024 World Championship Invitation, Exclusive Playmat |
| 5th-8th | $1,250 | Gold Foil Legendary Black Envelope, 2024 World Championship Invitation, Exclusive Playmat |
| 9th-16th | $750 | 2024 World Championship Invitation, Exclusive Playmat |
| 17th-32nd | $750 | |
| 33rd-64th | $250 | |
| Participation | Cold Foil Extended Art Timesnap Potion Promo |
On top of the National Championship, the weekend will also feature a Classic Constructed Calling, Classic Constructed Battle Hardened, a Pro Quest+, and a full schedule of public side events on each day. On top of all the competitive and social tournaments, the National Championship will have special guests, a cosplay contest, and more. The National Championship will be streamed on the Flesh and Blood YouTube channel with commentary from Bryan Gottlieb, Craig Krempels, Pankaj Bhojwani, and Erik Lonnquist.
Event Packages
Flesh and Blood players looking to get the biggest bang for their buck at Nationals can purchase event packages for the Calling, Battle Hardened, or all the side events one can handle.
Fabled Main Event Package
The Fabled Main Event package includes:
- One (1) Fable Event Voucher – Good for entry into the Calling, Battle Hardened or any open-entry event.
- One (1) Silver Side Event Voucher
- Two (2) Bronze Side Event Vouchers
- Sacred Art: Jade Tiger Domain Playmat
- Three-Card Rainbow Foil Extended Art Promo Pack (Undercurrent Desires, Sacred Art Jade Tiger Domain, Sacred Art: Immortal Lunar Shrine)
Buy the Fabled Main Event package.
Go Again Event Package
The Go Again Event package includes:
- Two (2) Silver Side Event Voucher
- Two (2) Bronze Side Event Vouchers
- Sacred Art: Jade Tiger Domain Playmat
- Three-Card Rainbow Foil Extended Art Promo Pack (Undercurrent Desires, Sacred Art Jade Tiger Domain, Sacred Art: Immortal Lunar Shrine)
Buy the Go Again Event package.
Players can also opt for the basic Calling and Battle Hardened registration options.
Cosplay Contest
Cosplayers can join in on the fun in Minneapolis with a special cosplay contest on Saturday. All participants receive a Needle promo card and a Fabric of Blossoms promo card, with more prizes for top finishers. First place gets a cold foil Taylor promo card and a Venomback Fabric playmat. Second through fourth place take home a Venomback Fabric promo card and a Venomback Fabric playmat, while fifth through eighth place get a Needle playmat.
Register by June 13 to compete in the cosplay contest.
Format Overviews
Part the Mistveil released two weeks ago and has already made an impact on Classic Constructed. With results from four of the first five Classic Constructed tournaments since its release (Montreal Pro Quest+, Singapore Battle Hardened, and the Las Vegas Battle Hardened and Pro Quest+), all three mystic heroes are making a splash. Of the 32 heroes to fill out those Top 8s, 12 of the slots go to heroes from Part the Mistveil. Nuu, Alluring Desire leads the way for all heroes with six Top 8s while her mystic counterparts, Zen, Tamer of Purpose and Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry accumulated four and two Top 8s, respectively.
Noah Clark won the first large event, the Pro Quest+ in Montreal with Enigma on June 1. The next weekend Brodie Spurlock won the Las Vegas Battle Hardened with Azalea, Ace in the Hole, Barrett Goss won the Las Vegas Pro Quest+ with Prism, Awakener of Sol, and Bryan Kong won the Singapore Battle Hardened with Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire. Hero Top 8s and wins so far with Part the Mistveil legal can be seen below.
| Hero | Top 8s | Wins |
| Nuu, Alluring Desire | 6 | 0 |
| Azalea, Ace in the Hole | 4 | 1 |
| Zen, Tamer of Purpose | 4 | 0 |
| Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire | 3 | 1 |
| Kayo, Armed and Dangerous | 3 | 0 |
| Katsu, the Wanderer | 3 | 0 |
| Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry | 2 | 1 |
| Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty | 2 | 0 |
| Kano, Dracai of Aether | 2 | 0 |
| Prism, Awakener of Sol | 2 | 1 |
| Dorinthea Ironsong | 1 | 0 |
Part the Mistveil Draft is still a fresh format with the biggest spotlight coming from the World Premiere in Tokyo. The Calling in Tokyo showcased all three heroes with a Top 8 split of three copies of Nuu and Zen along with two copies of Enigma. While Michael Feng dazzled with Enigma all weekend long, Oh Oh claimed the trophy with Zen, defeating the Pro Tour champ in the finals. The Battle Hardened in Tokyo also featured Part the Mistveil Limited, with Florin-Cristian Loghin winning the Top 8 Draft with Nuu. On top of winning the Pro Quest+ in Montreal, Clark won the Limited Battle Hardened in MTL as well, taking down the Top 8 Draft with Enigma. Each hero has a win in high-profile Top 8 Drafts and the format looks to be wide open.
Previous US Champs Q&A
As we prepare to crown a fourth US National Champion, let’s hear from the previous three champs on what they expect to see this weekend in Classic Constructed and Part the Mistveil Draft. (All interviews were conducted before this past weekend’s results).
Q: Do any of the heroes from Part the Mistveil have what it takes to shake up the Classic Constructed meta?
A: I think all three heroes in MST are top tier meta heroes. As it currently stands, I believe the format to be a rock-paper-scissors between the three MST heroes, with Zen beating Enigma, Enigma beating Nuu and Nuu beating Zen.
Q: What are the top heroes in Classic Constructed and why?
A: I believe Enigma and Zen to be the top two heroes. But there are a variety of other decks that are still very playable depending on what your play style is or what decks you want to attack. These include Prism, Kayo, Kano, Levia, Katsu and Dash.
Q: Which heroes got the most out of the expansion slot in Part the Mistveil?
A: Likely Levia, having an additional two-cost six-attack with go again is huge. Dread Screamer was already arguably one of the best cards in the deck and now the deck has access to a functional second version of its best card.
Q: What are your thoughts on the Draft format? Is it balanced? Deep? Are there underexplored strategies?
A: The mechanic of this draft set (transcend) is extremely fun. I have also really enjoyed the change to the restricted 30-card decks meaning you’re less incentivized to jam every block three card regardless of synergy, or lack thereof. I would still like to see the day where we end up with a draft format where we are only required to play closer to 60 percent of our draft picks rather than closer to 80 percent, it would make it a lot more fun to pivot around different strategies and read the table.
In terms of depth, that’s a hard question to answer and is predicated largely by my aforementioned point. Given the constraints on deck building every good build of X hero will almost look like a carbon copy of anyone else’s version of the deck. That isn’t to say that medium decks cant 3-0, its just that everyone going into a draft has roughly the same ideal when it comes to what a good deck of said hero will look like, and that can lead to monotonous drafts where you’re close to auto picking cards past Pack 1.
In terms of underexplored strategies, the set is very fresh and my prospective can be warped by small sample size, so really every hero and every strategy is currently underexplored and we may learn new things headed into the upcoming season.
Q: Who is the hero to beat in Draft?
A: With respect to balance and the hero to beat in draft, I think the clear tier list is currently Enigma, Zen, Nuu. I personally enter a draft needing a reason not to be Enigma and will actively cut the players down stream from me. There are obviously opportunities to be Zen and Nuu but the enticing cards in both classes are both few and highly coveted by anyone else also in those classes.
Q: Do any of the heroes from Part the Mistveil have what it takes to shake up the Classic Constructed meta?
A: The short answer here is yes. The mystic talent opens up access to a lot of really powerful cards. Both Levels of Enlightenment and Traverse the Universe are two of the strongest cards we’ve seen this year, and are both locked behind the mystic talent. All three heroes also have pretty impactful hero powers that will be a key part of their game plans. I have my eyes set on one specific hero, but I think all three of the heroes will likely be a part of the metagame.
Q: What are the top heroes in Classic Constructed and why?
A: It’s hard to answer anything other than Kayo and Azalea. They’ve both been top dogs for a while and put up a lot of great results. I think Kano, Prism, Levia, and all three MST heroes are all capable of competing with these top two decks, but those two are the only obvious slam dunk answers. Of course, anything could happen at Nationals and we’ll likely see that all shaken up depending on what competitors find.
Q: Which heroes got the most out of the expansion slot in Part the Mistveil?
A: Levia, Kano, Victor, Riptide, and Vynnset all got pretty huge expansion slot upgrades. Which is a lot of heroes, but the expansion slot cards are quite good this time around. Shadowrealm Horror is probably the star of this. It’s like a hybrid between Hungering Slaughterbeast and Dread Screamer but better than either. Occasionally you hit three successful banishes and just get so much value. Kindle is a small but noticeable upgrade to Kano, and Visit Goldmane Estate is very powerful in Victor. Victor isn’t currently in the best spot meta wise, but there’s no denying the power level of this card. For the last two, I wouldn’t bet on Vynnset or Riptide to make any deep runs in bigger events soon, but keep your eyes open. Their new cards are quite powerful as well.
Q: What are your thoughts on the Draft format? Is it balanced? Deep? Are there underexplored strategies?
A: It’s hard to say what is or isn’t underexplored in a new format. There’s not really a general consensus out there and this format is quite a difficult one. The shift to a 30-card maximum deck size lets you be more flexible during the draft process which is a really nice change. It’s definitely deep and there is a lot I need to figure out still before Nationals. Currently, I have seen all three heroes do some very powerful things, and they all also have their weaknesses. I would say that it seems at least as balanced as a set needs to be to have a good draft format.
Q: Who is the hero to beat in Draft?
A: Since draft is self correcting, even if there is a best hero by a reasonable margin, multiple people competing for their premium cards will lower the power level of that hero. Because of that, I don’t really think there is a hero to beat in draft. It is important to make sure your deck has a plan for all three possible heroes you could face. Even in like Uprising where lots of people talked about Fai and forcing Fai being really good, I found a lot of success with all three heroes, and the Fai decks in four-Fai pods were usually quite bad. I think this set is balanced well enough that you will do better by drafting your seat than by forcing a hero.
Q: Do any of the heroes from Part the Mistveil have what it takes to shake up the Classic Constructed meta?
A: Absolutely! The power level of the new mystic heroes is very high, and I expect all three of them to make an immediate impact on the CC meta.
Q: What are the top heroes in Classic Constructed and why?
A: I think Kayo should still be the default top deck in the format, despite lack of support in Part the Mistveil. He was by far the strongest deck in the previous season and he can still compete with all of the new heroes. After Kayo, Azalea looks like another strong option. The Ranger expansion slot card, Longdraw Half-glove should give her a decent boost when she faces down her most potent hate card, Warmonger’s Diplomacy. I do also expect some or all of the new mystic heroes to also appear near the top of the metagame, but it remains to be seen exactly how well they line up against the established decks.
Q: Which heroes got the most out of the expansion slot in Part the Mistveil?
A: Levia! Shadowrealm Horror is an amazingly powerful card that helps Levia go wide more often and provide a ton of value if you can banish all three attacks with six power. Victor also got a huge boost in the Visit Goldmane Estate. Since it always draws a card with Victor’s hero power, it provides Gold and Might tokens nearly for free!
Q: What are your thoughts on the Draft format? Is it balanced? Deep? Are there underexplored strategies?
A: This draft format is a bit of a mixed bag for me. On one hand, the gameplay is great, with lots of combat tricks, and complex considerations. On the other hand, I feel like the heroes and their strategies don’t have as much variety as we saw in previous sets. Every Zen deck plays very similarly to every other Zen deck. We don’t really see multiple ways to play the same class that we saw in Heavy Hitters or Outsiders Draft formats, and to this point, I don’t really see many underexplored strategies. I think the format as a whole is relatively well balanced though. Draft is naturally balancing, so even if one hero is slightly weaker than the others on average, when less people are drafting it, you can make your deck that much better.
Q: Who is the hero to beat in Draft?
A: I think Zen is the probably the best hero in draft, but not by much. He has a straightforward plan of play a bunch of attacks and swing with his weapon. The onus is on the opponent to figure out how to deal with his consistent aggression.
LSS Lead Developer Interview
We also get to hear from Bryan Gottlieb, a Senior Game Designer and Lead Developer for Flesh and Blood. Gottlieb will be joining the all-star casting team of Craig Krempels, Pankaj Bhojwani, and Erik Lonnquist as a commentator this weekend as well.
Q: What are you most looking forward to seeing at US Nationals?
A: Is it too sappy to say “my friends?” Flesh and Blood tournaments have become the highlight of a lot of people’s lives because of the community, first and foremost. Getting to catch up with all of the best players in the US, my co-casters and producers, and plenty of friends from around the world who are making the trip for the Calling has me counting down the days.
Q: Which expansion slot cards do you think will make the biggest impact in Classic Constructed this weekend?
A: Shadowrealm Horror. Levia was already one of the best decks in the format in the hands of a skilled pilot, and she’s got a decent matchup spread against the new Part the Mistveil heroes as well.
Q: What do you think players still have to discover about the Part the Mistveil draft format?
A: Archetypes. Players have identified the facially best cards and strategies. Now the time has come to see if they can find the hidden gems lurking just below the surface that can completely reset pick order and gameplay priorities.
Q: What were your major takeaways from watching the Part the Mistveil World Premiere?
A: Players get very good, very quickly these days. Folks like Oh Oh and Michael Feng played and drafted their heroes at a high level, playing with cards in a foreign language, with the set not even released yet. How good are they going to be with weeks more of prep under their belt?
Q: What are your predictions for US Nationals (not necessarily just who will win)?
A: Part the Mistveil’s contribution to the metagame will not simply be additive. Players need to reset expectations around what heroes they expect to see as they get to crunch time rounds, and preparing for the old matchup spreads will be a recipe for disaster.
Coverage
Streaming coverage of each day starts at 9 AM ET on the Flesh and Blood YouTube channel. Catch all the action as the next US National Champion is crowned.
Register for US Nationals or the Calling: Minneapolis today.
