The first event of the Super Slam Meta. The Classic Constructed Calling gave us a look at almost all the new heroes in this metagame, and the Battle Hardened gave us a hope at what we can expect from Living Legend for the multiple formats for Worlds coming in November.
This event truly shook my expectations, and we can see the metagame going through immense motions to compensate going ahead.
Classic Constructed Calling
The Japanese community has been known for producing some of the finest and most intense players of this, and any competitive game. We saw Pro Tour Amsterdam winner Shoma Yamamura bring an unconventional meta pick back in the Zen meta, and we see the metagame converge around certain heroes here.
This take on the metagame would be almost exactly what we were expecting. The abundance of Kayo, Armed and Dangerous is as expected. As stated in the article about Montreal, the overall boost in power level for the Brute Class put Kayo into a level of aggression that many could hope would make him the best deck in the game. That increase of Brute power cards also added to the presence of Rhinar, Reckless Rampage and Levia, Shadowborn Abomination.
At the same time, the surge of what may be the best decks in the game: Florian, Rotwood Harbinger, Cindra, Dracai of Retribution, and Gravy Bones, Shipwrecked Looter. These decks represent the pillars of board state, defence, and aggro, and they all hold very strong spots at the top of the metagame.
The increased presence of Kassai of the Golden Sand thanks to Blood Follows Blade and Arakni, Huntsman thanks to Hunter or Hunted?.
With this metagame, the conversion rates tell a story that some players were deeply not expecting.
The conversion rates of Kayo, what some considered to be high power, utterly tanked. The massive representation of Cindra however shows the power of the Draconic Ninja in this otherwise Earth-heavy metagame. Her Gravy Bones metagame was always very favoured.
The players battled for multiple rounds of Swiss until Top 8 started, which also held a healthy spread of differing decks.
That deeply eclectic metagame is no lie. We see two Gravy Bones, 2 Cindra, 1 Florian, 1 Verdance, 1 Kayo, and yes, 1 Rhinar.
Being paired into something that can deal a great deal of arcane damage in response to Intimidate is what's key.
Justin Cu's Gravy Bones deck was able to stabilise after Soya Okuda's stumbling turns in the semi final, but was heavily pressured by winner Takuya Kojima's winning Cindra plays.
Living Legend Battle Hardened
The Battle Hardened brought us the eternal format for Flesh and Blood. Heroes who have hit the fabled heights of Living Legend were all over the top 8 bracket. Briar, Warden of Thorns, 2 Chane, Bound by Shadow, 2 Ira, Scarlet Revenger, Viserai, Rune Blood, 2 Zen, Tamer of Purpose.
The metagame is very aggressively slanted between Runeblade and Ninja. The power of being able to pressure the opponent with Zephyr Needle and retrieve effects is very powerful. At the same time, the above rate nature of the split damage that the Runeblade has always been able to deal. This all adds up to what looks to be a very aggressive format.
Nova Chan's Viserai brew is what prevailed over all, and
Wrap Up
World Tour Shizouka has deeply shaken our expectations on what the Classic Constructed metagame could look like. We thought that we were Brute gaming in the Super Slam metagame, only to see last season's decks in the top spot, only to see the best 3 decks of last season stay at their best. We all believed that the Living Legend metagame is made with Chane and Bravo, Star of the Show only to see it's not so.
We can all look with great interest at the upcoming meta for both sets. For that, we can look closely at Fabtcg.gg for more looks at the world of Flesh and Blood trading card game.
