Michael Hamilton capped a year of dominance in Flesh and Blood by winning the inaugural World Championship this weekend in San Jose, California.
Since exactly last year today, Hamilton has won two Callings (Orlando 2021, Indianapolis 2022), US Nationals, and a Battle Hardened in Lille. To put a bow on the breakout year of Flesh and Blood organized play, Hamilton won the 364-person World Championship, playing Iyslander in every format. After wining Nationals with a unique take on Iyslander, Hamilton updated the deck for Classic Constructed, while also bringing the Elemental Wizard to Blitz, and drafting her both times in the Uprising drafts.
Hamilton squeaked into the Top 8 as the No. 8 seed after a rough patch on Day 2, cushioned by a strong performance on Day 1. Once in the elimination rounds, Hamilton took down Viet Pham in the Iyslander mirror before facing two Briar players. A win over Pei-Tung Liao set up the finals match against Chris Iaali, guaranteeing a US player would become the first world champ.
In a tense final game, Hamilton navigated the match to get Iaali within striking distance thanks to an Enlightened Strike on the penultimate turn. That led to an explosive output of damage on Iaali’s turn, in response to his Sonata Arcanix, that allowed Hamilton to burn him out for the title. Hamilton took home $100,000, a World Championship prize card, a promo Iyslander Pro Tour card, a gold cold foil Coronet Peak, a PTI, and all the glory of becoming the game’s first world champion.
Classic Constructed and Blitz decklists for the Top 8 players can be found here.