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Flesh and Blood Nationals 2026 Week 1 is in, and the results from all over the world are eclectic and diverse as this new meta emerges.
The National Championship series happens once a year all over the world, with the best players from each country who qualified from winning, or having good win rates in, their respective Road To Nationals events. Much like how we did last year, we're going to profile the overall field and spotlight the winning deck from the countries that competed country by country.
Nationals 2026 Week 1
Bulgaria
The European community is deeply passionate and competitive. The intimate Bulgarian National Championships boasted only 22 players, with an eclectic spread of meta mainstays and off the wall picks such as Hala, Bladesaint of the Vow.
Bozhidar Kyorov is the 2026 Bulgarian National Champion off the back of Ira, Scarlet Revenger. Their list looks relatively standard, with expected tech cards such as Censor and The Weakest Link that Ira leverages better than most decks. The most noteworthy inclusion is Cutting Retort. With the number of Aura Tokens that are used by most decks, there are usually targets to sink your resources into.
A deck designed to disrupt that also provides consistent pressure with two Harmonized Kodachi, it is often better suited later into a metagame when the decks are more solved and expected. Mastering a deck in a smaller field will help a player find their footing and their winnings.
Japan
The 118 passionate players in the Japanese gaming community battled over 10 rounds split between Omens Draft and CC before an eclectic, Warrior Heavy Top 8 did battle. Big shout out to Pro Tour Amsterdam winner Shoma Yamamura making Top 4 on Kassai of the Golden Sand.
The winner, and 2026 Japanese National Champion is Tsunaki Sawai, playing Oscilio, Constella Intelligence. It's been pretty much confirmed that Oscilio as a pure Arcane combo deck is the best way to play at present. The tall Arcane presented by Aether Bindings of the Third Age on a critical turn. Pair that with the unexpected kill with Storm Striders; which has always been a potent way to close out games.
This deck shows the two different styles of Oscilio that are starting to emerge. If the opponent is playing Aether Bindings, they;re likely to be playing all 9 copies of Aether Flare to combo alongside the Instant Speed arcane damage effects like Flash Bolt, Strike Twice, or Snapback
Lithuania
The passion of the European community in their comparatively cosy National Championships always stuns enfranchised players. 14 gamers competed to become Lithuania National Champion, in what looks to be one of the most eclectic fields I've seen in a very long time. The meta mainstays were up against fringe decks like Riptide, Lurker of the Deep, Arakni, Huntsman, and...
Tomas Liutvinas became Lithuania's 2026 National Champion off the back of Teklovossen, Esteemed Magnate. After the numerous upgrades from Compendium of Rathe, Teklo has grown to be a potential meta contender.
For the first time, pilots have a benefit to boosting in Teklovossen. There's also a great deal of power behind the big cards like Terminator Tank and War Machine. The deck is also teched with cards like Pulsewave Protocol to pull a key utility equipment. A cards considered unplayable garbage in the form of Aether Sink shines in the Wizard matchup, offering a resource sink for your AB2, especially after you flip into Singularity.
New Zealand
The birthplace of Flesh and Blood brought intense competition. 95 players congregated not too far from the LSS offices for their National Championships.
Known entity Dennis Zhang brought the current best deck in format, Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty to the top spot, and secured his spot as New Zealand National Champion.
It's expected at this point to see three copies of Remembrance to go alongside Visit Goldmane Estate to ensure the tall and inevitable damage in The Golden Son. The deck is also teched for Gravy Bones, its worst matchup, with all three copies of Pilfer the Tomb to banish Zombies before they're on board.
The biggest new form of tech is in the new Omens card Boots of Omnis Ward. This one card denies Marionette a key Flick Knives activation, which has contributed to the Assassin's steep meta decline. Get your copies now (or use a Boots of Astral Sanctuary Cold Foil left over from Prerelease).
Zhang's version of the deck also has a slightly higher number of attacks that Clash attacks to ensure that reliable Clashes happen.
Romania
The 32 player Romanian National Championships boasted a diverse roster and eclectic metagame. That eclectic metagame went into a more homogeneous Top 8 with two Oscilio and 3 Victor Goldmane.
Despite how much Victor their was, Andrei Sebastian Suciu won with Oscilio, Constella Intelligence.
Unlike the Japanese Nationals winner, this deck is not on the full rainbow copies of Flare (just the Reds) or Aether Bindings. Instead, they are leveraging the yellow Starfall Instants to deal incidental Arcane Damage on both player's turns. By also using Metacarpus Nodes to get the maximum points of damage across the entire turn.
Singapore
The city nation that once hosted a Pro Tour saw 116 players arrive to win the Championship. A big shout out to the local legend and Pro Tour Singapore Champion Shirui Wu dusting off Gravy Bones to make Top 8 at this National Championship.
Theodore Tan took down an incredibly tough matchup in a Victor to take the Singaporean National Championship. This version of the deck maintains its heavy redline stance, with only 3 Blue cards in the entire list. This version sports a high number of Defence Reactions, as Cindra is now highly incentivised to block in matchups where they're expecting disruption.
Once again we're seeing Boots of Omnis Ward in the Leg Slot. Being able to prevent a random Flick against Mario or the mirror can be crucial on a key turn.
Slovenia
Slovenia's National Championship saw 16 players compete for prestige, with Warrior and Mechanologist mirrors in the first round.
Dash I/O brought Samo Planinc to the title of Slovenia National Champion. Their deck list looks pretty stock standard, with some unique tech choices. Hyper Scrapper in the Blue slot makes for an amazing end game play in second cycle. The toolboxy nature of their items, being on 1 Blue Boom Grenade and only one Null Time Zone makes it significantly versatile off Spark of Genius. Prismatic Lens also acts as additional card draw, or to set up Bios Update boosts.
With this additional density of items, the three copies of Soup Up make a great deal of sense, especially as it preserves cards in deck.
Vietnam
The international scope of Flesh and Blood shows just the spread of events that took place during Nationals 2026 Week 1. All my love to the 38 players, and the ones maverick enough to register Hala, Bladesaint of the Vow and Aurora, Legacy of Tempest.
All my admiration to the Rhinar, Reckless Rampage that made the final, however it was Hoàng Đặng Minh who was crowned Vietnam National Champion 2026.
This player's version of Victor looks to be significantly more proactive than most. It skimps on tech pieces like Pilfer the Tomb and Remembrance, and instead plays two Rouse the Ancients for proactive Go Again. It also makes space for Shelter from the Storm as a versatile defensive option that can also cover flicks or Arcane.
Endless respect for them also playing the one off Pulverize.
Wrap Up
The Nationals Season has started strong, with numerous decks finding success during Nationals 2026 Week 1. We can only expect the landscape to change even more drastically as decks hit Living Legend and more solved considerations of matchups are figured out.
Victor Goldmane secured two Nationals wins this week. However, at the time this article was published, he is still live for one more week, sitting at X Living Legend points.
Keep your eyes to fabtcg.gg for the latest in Flesh and Blood news.
