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Nationals 2026 week 2 has come and gone. The games have been unforgettable, and the landscape of Classic Constructed will be determined by these wins.
We can't also forget that these results confer varying numbers of Living Legend points to the winning heroes of each nation. We're all expecting the heroes at the top of the chart to rotate out of legality, but the one that has left this week has been a surprise to us all. (link to the LL Prism article end of that sentence)
As we mentioned in our article for the results of week 1, we're going to briefly spotlight each country in turn, then talk about the winning CC deck for each country where available.
Nationals 2026 Week 2
Belgium
83 players congregated in a large store in Belgium for their national championships. With an Arakni, Huntsman getting the bye in round 1, there was much to play for over 7 rounds of Classic Constructed and 3 rounds of Omens Draft.
Showdown Rotterdam winner Warre Stevens is the 2026 Belgium National Championship on Dash I/O. Despite the presence of Victor Goldmane in the meta, there were only 5 copies in the room. His standings were greatly improved having dodged the deck's worst matchup.
Stevens' list is packing the new anti-Mario tech in Boots of Omnis Ward. It was previously a race, but being able to deny a critical Flick Knives use is key on flipping the matchup.
The remainder of the deck includes Blue evo086-rf-boom-grenade-3-bright-lights-booster to push through even more incidental damage. The inclusion of Plasma Mainline also increases the longevity of your items. The usual suspects of powerful items and boost attacks will always be included in the potent Mechanologist deck.
Brazil
As we saw during Calling Sao Paulo, the Brazilian Flesh and Blood community is very passionate. The 120 players that attended all brought their best, and over 7 rounds of CC and 3 rounds of Draft, Lightning struck a 3rd time in Brazil.
Michel Verissimo da Silva Luiz is the 2026 Brazilian National Champion, bringing everyone's favourite Elemental War Criminal, Oscilio, Constella Intelligence. This list looks to be a take on the 0-for-4 soup that Majinbae was playing during US Nationals. The combination of all the attack actions, and many new Instants from Omens gave the original Lightning Wizard multiple new deckbuilding directions.
No, your eyes do not deceive you. Gloves of Astral Sanctuary in Prerelease Cold Foil made the deck list simply because Lightning Greaves is too important a card to cut in the Mario matchup, but being able to have the tap, prevent a Flick Knives is too important.
Cyprus
It's so easy for players in bigger communities to think of an event like Nationals only being attended by 19 players to be a tiny event. By comparison, it is a tiny event. But for the 19 players at Cyprus Nationals this year, they set some remarkable trends. For those who keep track of events like this, there's a lot to unpack from the winning deck.
The Cypriot National Champion 2026 is Nicolas Kyriakou, playing Zyggy Starlight. Sure a smaller event with players that might not have the necessary reps would be able to spike a tournament, but there's a lot to consider when looking at the event as a whole.
Many players may have expected to sit down across from Reality Refractor, and try to pressure the value deck out of converting an efficient hand. Kyriakou is on Iris of Reality. This version seeks to present consistent pressure with multiple break points, all alongside Auras that grow in attack power thanks to Shimmers of Silver. Into slower matchups, I imagine this list was trying to enact the Spectral Shield printer plan from early Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry days, by pairing Shimmers with Restless Coalescence to make many shields.
Denmark
The community in Denmark is deeply enfranchised, with players with the acclaim of Simon Nielsen in among 49 others for the Danish Nationals. It was at this other event that we heard Bowie music somewhere in the distance.
Victor Brøcker won the Denmark National Championship 2026, also playing Zyggy Starlight. With both of the (then) legal Illusionists in the top 4, Brøcker was able to eke out a tense victory against Jarl Vetreiði.
This build is on Reality Refractor. It's leveraging all the Embodiment of Lightning generation that your Illusionist attacks like Phantasmaclasm needs to get Go Again, in order to follow with an Aura for 5. As with most Zyggy lists, it's playing Lightning Greaves with Gone in a Flash, because frankly, it is the most powerful thing you can be doing in Lightning.
The deck then looks to pressure by consistently playing good Auras. The main use for Lightning Flow and Zyggy's effect is to flicker Cosmic Space Dust which the deck is running 8 of a possible 9 copies of. Spectral Manifestations is an additional Ward threat to develop after your board is cleared.
This version is also very well teched for Wizard and Tall Damage in the form of a unique Compendium Equipment: Stormweaver's Aegis. A similar effect to Cap of Quick Thinking, we get to see Instants cashed in for damage prevention.
Finland
It was a cold day in Finland when 68 players sat down 6 rounds of Classic Constructed and 3 rounds of Draft.
Jirka Ilomäki won in Finland playing Jarl. This versatile decklist looks to be able to pressure anyone else trying to Fatigue, while also weathering the storm against aggro or arcane.
Rampart of the Ram's Head looks to perfectly cover most annoying breakpoints, as the deck is usually quite comfortable pitching on its own turn. The tech choices of Blizzard into Aggro, Glacial Footsteps as a finisher into anything, Channel Mount Isen as an alternate source of chip damage, means that this version of Jarl can board into multiple different strategies, or even pivot mid game.
France
The home of Arthur Trehet and Enki Dupaquier brought 143 players from all over the nation to compete across 10 mixed rounds before the cut to top 8.
Giles Molina won the France National Championship in 2026, with the Light Illusionist Prism, Awakener of Sol. Aside from how much money is in this deck, with Riches of Trōpal-Dhani, Light of Sol, and Great Library of Solana, there is also much new innovation from Compendium in Prism Deck Building.
Solforge Gauntlet being the only arms equipment over cards like Calming Gesture or [card]Dream Weavers is very telling. It's become best in slot for Prism and some builds of Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn, as it offers soul, arcane barrier, and enough block to cover a break point.
The new Herald of Victoria is another factor that adds to the fact that 6 is not a sufficient number to block a Phantasm attack. It also functions like Fearless Confrontation if you attack an angel.
With Prism hitting Living Legend off this win, and her win in Iceland, it's nice to consider the deck's final form.
Hong Kong
84 players in the Hong Kong Region gathered for competitive Flesh and Blood. It's ionteresting that in such a new market for the game, the level of competition was so steep among the 6 CC and 3 Draft rounds.
Gravy Bones, Shipwrecked Looter brought Colin Li to the Hong Kong National Championship.
The hypothetical AB 4 between Scuttle Toes and Arcanite Skullcap, card filtering in Carrion Crown, and Quickdodge Flexors for the aggro matchup.
The full set of Red Saltwater Swell puts this version on a slightly more aggressive slant than usual Gravy lists. The two Cheating Scoundrel also pushes aggression and gold generation.
The inclusion of 2 Anka, Drag Under to counter Victor Goldmane's card advantage is quite key for a favoured but tricky matchup. Apart from that, and the lonely Scooba, Salty Sea Dog, the ally suite looks fairly standard.
Eye of Ophidia has been in and out of Gravy lists for a long time, given that it's a Blue you can't convert aggressively to attack your opponents or open your graveyard. Given that this list is on 6 Swells, there's upside to randomly flipping it or Back Alley Breakline, but those times are marginal.
Iceland
In Iceland, 24 of their finest players gathered to determine their next best player.
In the end, Birgir Hrafn Buason took Prism, Awakener of Sol to the Championship spot. We see the same glut of yellow cards we can come to expect from a Prism deck. We see a slight distribution of a few alternate Heralds such as fab033-rf-herald-of-rebirth-2-marketing-content-creators-monarch-promo to push the long game on.
Other tech Herald cards like Herald of Sekem also works well into clearing Gravy's zombies.
As stated above for France's win, these two wins are what brought Prism to Living Legend.
Mexico
78 players congregated in Mexico for their National Championships. Latin American fans have been eager for the first Mexico Calling later this year, and had this event to pique their competitive spirit.
David Lewis is the Mexico National Champion for 2026. He was playing Puffin, Hightail.
This version looks to bring the same cog midrange, with a little bit of Boost aggression that we've come to expect from Puffin. New card Crash Site Salvage brings the extension and gold generation the deck somewhat needed. It's noteworthy that the other new card Gear Turner is omitted, as it offers an extra Cog from the deck as a turn extender.
Netherlands
78 players gathered for the 7 rounds of CC and 3 rounds of Omens Draft for the Netherlands National Championship.
Laurens Van der Beek won the two day event playing an arcane slanted Oscilio, Constella Intelligence deck.
Once again, the 0-for-4 pile is what was on show here. New card Flowstate Embodiment offered the generation of extra Embodiment of Lightning tokens to extend their turn. We still see a smattering of Arcane with Comet Collision and Echoflash, all amped with a well timed use of Aether Bindings of the Third Age.
It's interesting that this version saw considerably more play this week compared to the heavy arcane last week. The jury is still out as to which flavour of the Lightning Wizard will end up being the more preferred take in this emerging Omens metagame.
Slovakia
The intimate, 20 player Nationals had a very eclectic field, where round 1 featured the Revered Mirror, Pleiades, Superstar vs Tuffnut, Bumbling Hulkster.
James Vincent Wong won the Slovakian National Championship bringing the Shadow Runeblade, Vynnset, Iron Maiden.
This deck has come on leaps in its power level ever since they unveiled Deep Recesses of Existence. By being able to loop back key cards to send them again truly extends your turn. Need a non-attack for Vynnset? Use it to banish a Cull or Funeral Moon from your graveyard. Want to send an attack with your millions of Runechants? You have your pick of the litter, with Succumb to Temptation as an extender and disruption.
Vynnset is a highly skill intensive deck that rewards repetitions and dedication.
South Korea
The Korean player base is being rewarded for their devotion to the game with the World Premier of Usurp the Shadow Throne coming to their shores on September 11th. The 54 players in attendance had all to play for.
Hojin Choi is the 2026 South Korean National Champion off the back of Jarl. This defensive version of Jarl looks to block profitably and gain back lost life through Fiddler's Green and Sigil of Solace. Playing into Mangle is a cute proactive line the deck is able to play, alongside other classic Elemental Guardian threats like Command and Conquer and Oaken Old.
The deck then presents so much inevitability in popping equipment with Imposing Visage to find your copies of Crumble to Eternity, and Frozen to Death to pop key equipment, with aps018-macho-grande-3-armory-deck-pleiades-superstar-precon and Tear Asunder to close games, all with Remembrance (for now) and Everbloom||Life to recycle threats into deck.
Taiwan
The 98 players in Taiwan brought their absolute best to compete for the Taiwanese National Championship title.
Lee Ming-Han took down the event playing Kassai of the Golden Sand. AB1 on the boots slot with the rise of Oscilio, given that the Wizard feels like a Wizard again.
All 3 copies of Raise an Army can be a necessary evil with the amount of Fatigue in the format with the one of That All You Got? to snipe the aggro decks.
To enable the gold heavy plan, they're on a greater number of attack reactions than the average Kassai list. In the Swing and Ironsong Response have been in and out of lists for a while, but cards like this do wonders to go over the top of blocks. Jagged Edge is probably the strongest of the 1-for-3s, as making the damage unpreventable has some relevance in a world with a Ward Illusionist and Shelter From the Storm.
The funny tech is the one off Gore Belching. Traditionally, this card is present in decks with few attack actions, to suddenly reveal a Rouse the Ancients in your blue base, turning it into a 0-for-7. Ming-Han is running Overcrowded as the attack action of choice, since it has Ambush, and works so well against the Assassin play line Codex of Frailty into Leave No Witnesses. Despite this loss of power, sending a 0-for-6 after 1 or 2 sword attacks can be all the difference.
Wrap Up
Nationals 2026 Week 2 brought us an eclectic spread of winners from across the world, and the departure of a hero that we were expecting, but not before we lost Victor Goldmane. With one week remaining on this season, truly anything could happen.
Keep your eyes to fabtcg.gg for the latest in competitive Flesh and Blood news.
