Grzegorz Kowalski became the third Flesh and Blood World Champion, winning with Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry this past weekend in Osaka, Japan.
The Polish TCG veteran outlasted 456 players by playing a controlling, fatigue build of Enigma, utilizing the full nine copies of Count Your Blessings, a divisive card from Rosetta.
Kowalski squeaked into the Top 8 as the No. 8 seed — the only player with 11 wins to make the single-elimination bracket — with a record of 7-2 in Classic Constructed and 4-2 in Rosetta Draft. He joined former World Champion, Michael Hamilton, and international all-stars like Sam Sutherland of Australia and Allen Lau of Hong Kong on the Sunday stage. The Top 8 featured five different heroes with two copies of Enigma, Aurora, and Dash I/O and solo copies of Viserai and Nuu.
Kowalski won his quarterfinals in a marathon match against Rob Catton, on Aurora, where he reduced Catton of all offensive resources after falling to five life. Lau, on Dash I/O, got Kowalski within striking distance in the semifinals, but again, Kowalski clung to life at three when Lau’s Mechanologist ran out of steam.
Mercy Bickell, of the United States, awaited Kowalski in the finals with Aurora. Unlike Catton from before, Bickell had a couple copies of Poison the Well to combat the life gain from Kowalski’s Count Your Blessings. While the tech card showed up for Bickell and created some tough spots for Kowalski, they weren’t quite enough. Kowalski was able to work around the instant from Dusk till Dawn and exhaust Bickell of all her resources while sitting at a comfortable 21 life.
Kowalski, a Magic: The Gathering World Championship runner-up in 2018, finally took home a massive first-place prize thanks to his victory in Osaka. Kowalski earned $100,000, a Champion’s Prize Card for Enigma, a PTI, and a Gold Foil Legendary Black Envelope. Bickell took home $25,000, a PTI, and a Gold Foil Legendary Black Envelope for herself.
The five most-played heroes in the event were all represented in the Top 8. Enigma paced the field with 78 copies of the 456 heroes registered, followed by Aurora at 72 and Dash I/O and Nuu at 53 copies, respectively. Viserai took the fifth spot at 52, and Zen, despite all the bans his deck has seen, still was the sixth most-played deck at 44.
Top 8 decklists from the World Championship, Calling, and Battle Hardened in Osaka can be found on the Flesh and Blood decklists page.
Check out the World Championship Live Blog for more coverage of all the events this past weekend in Osaka.
