Play the Game and See the World, But First…

The Flesh and Blood World Tour shines its spotlight upon household names on the biggest stage of all. The highest caliber of play consists of the highest caliber of players. All these seasoned veterans have to have gotten their start from somewhere. Locals are where most, if not all, of these players sharpen their steel on their journey to becoming World Tour Champions. Before names like Michael Hamilton, Michael Jaszczur, and many more hoisted up their glistening trophies, they were figuring out how to even declare that they’re pitching a card at their local game store. 

“Play the game, see the world.” James White, creator of Flesh and Blood, continues to push this sentiment across all his platforms. This simple sentence opens up one’s view as to how truly global Flesh and Blood has become with numerous tournaments happening almost every week all over the globe. It’s truly a gift to be able to see previously unexplored regions while playing the game that you love. As we branch out and find ourselves in newfound places, it’s important to remember that our grassroots Flesh and Blood scenes are just as important, if not more. The echoes of James White’s famous quote doesn’t mention the significance of building that foundation for a brand new player to fall head-over-heels for this game.

Players are drawn to Flesh and Blood for a wide variety of reasons– whether it be the eye-catching art design or the overwhelming need to fill a void that a previous TCG left behind, every Flesh and Blood player begins their hero’s journey at the local scene. “Come to Locals.” This is a simple phrase I’ve coined to get my local community of players to come out to our local game store week after week to play our game. It’s also a statement that I believe should preface that of “Play the game, see the World”. The fanfare of the broadcast professional-level events often overshadow the underground, yet just as important, moments happening at the local level.

You can’t Write this $h1t

To argue my case I present first one of the greatest on-stream moments in FAB. In the finals of Pro Tour: Los Angeles: Arthur Trehet used Sink Below to draw (blindly) into Sigil of Solace to survive lethal damage and keep his hopes alive. Sprinkle on some Mitch Leslie and Bryan Gottlieb from the coverage desk and it made for a moment that was truly epic. However, the mental space that specific moment occupies in my mind sits at a tier below when David, from my local armory, finally achieved his goal of getting off a Moonshot for 12 damage only to get his dreams absolutely crushed by a Riptide’s well-timed Buzzsaw Trap. This is the same David that brought Decimator Great Axe Dorinthea to our Living Legend armory and tried to negate lethal damage with Morlock Hill. There’s beauty in the more personal moments that coming to locals captures that simply cannot be replicated on even the biggest of Flesh and Blood’s competitive stages.

Still not convinced? Allow me to paint another picture of an armory night that happened not too long ago. I managed to squeak out a fast victory in an Aggro Mirror against my Round 1 opponent and got some time to explore the rest of the matches to see what everyone was playing that night. To my left, There was a Betsy player wielding dual Miller’s Grindstone, stating the reason for such a loadout is that it gives you a backup in case you lose a clash and one gets a -1 counter. To my right, there was a Vynnset player who was taking a break from Levia, their standard hero of choice, to explore the other side of the Shadow Realm, but got buried by mountains of Blood Debt because they kept getting Scoured by Verdance. Across the room, there was a brand new player with the Ira Armory Deck suited up against a grinder playing Florian (moments before his LL announcement) in preparation for an RTN.

These are the picturesque views of coming to locals, where rogue deck ideas come into the spotlight trying to thrive–but usually end up self-destructing instead. Every week, you can take your new brilliant brew and test it against your friends who are likely doing the same. You get to be the mad scientist who receives a harsh, but fair, peer review (and the ridicule to go along with it).. This is the exact environment I’ve worked tremendously hard to create and nurture at Kingslayer Games in Fountain Valley, California.

This Is How We Do It In My Hood

When I first started working at KSG as a Retail Associate, I was heavily addicted to Flesh and Blood and would look to attend the weekly Armory every chance I got. I still do this today and our Armories have evolved quite a bit over time. Our scene has had so many different players come and go throughout the years. I’ve seen friends leave the game, but I’ve also welcomed just as many fresh faces into the fold.

Over time, we’ve morphed our entry fee, prizing structure, amount of rounds, and formats all with one goal in mind: provide the most fun environment for our Flesh and Blood players to enjoy. At Kingslayer Games, we love to include an entry pack just for participating because we want everyone to feel like they got something out of their night (even if “Double Miller Time” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Our prizing model, however, scales with performance. Whether it’s your night or not, it’s our goal to make sure that you go home with something in your hands and with a memorable experience to match. 

So You Want to Have Fun Locals Too…

My personal piece of advice is to heed the feedback of your community heavily. Whether or not players are enjoying themselves and one another is the sole driving force when I make decisions about how to format weekly armories.

It’s also important to know that attendance will come and go in waves. A couple of years ago, our store took in over 25 players per week for a whole month. This is a staggering amount of people for an Armory, and I had thought we had finally hit the end game. Once that holiday season rolled around and some new TCGs announced their arrival, we lost our large player count and soon averaged around 8 to 10 players. Despite this, we still stood strong and continued to host our weekly Armory. Interest may wax and wane as time passes, but being an ever-present place that can host great games of Flesh and Blood gives players the comfort of knowing that you’ll be there whenever they’re ready. I feel a personal sense of duty to provide that space not because I know players will come, but because I know that if they do, they’ll have a great time they can cherish.

I’ve tried a lot of methods to bolster attendance throughout the years, like changing the main format from Classic Constructed to Living Legend, Blitz, and Draft. We’ve also done some community-building events prior to the regular Armory start time. We promote the pre-Armory event as a time and space for players to congregate to do a multitude of things–where players hone their FAB skills by getting in additional games and/or enjoy their leisure time with some party games I’ve recommended to them: like Monopoly Deal or Cockroach. Regardless of the activity, there’s always some fun going on before, during, and after the Armory.

Aside from changing the format and indulging in some non-Flesh and Blood activities, my favorite thing to do is stay behind after the Armory finishes to survey the players and catch up with them in general. This is where I receive a lot of that all-important feedback about the players’ experiences. I use this feedback to improve the events in any way I can, just to make sure we’re always adapting to what our current community likes and dislikes. They’re different depending on your regulars and gathering this information is the best way to find out if your players see your Armory as time well-spent.. Besides that, you can cultivate online feedback as well by starting up a Discord server for your store. Here you can place announcements about upcoming events, and create polls and posts to further engage your community. Having a Discord presence can be great for a multitude of reasons: it can be a great way for regular players to communicate with you without having to be present at the shop, but it can also serve as a way for other TCG communities from your store to learn about Flesh and Blood–they’ll likely see all the announcements and discussions being made since they’ll all be on the same server.

Here’s the kicker: none of what I’ve told you so far stands up to good old fashioned relationship-building. Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care, and people will only trust you with their locals once they know you care about their community as much as they do. Don’t know what to talk about? How about how your players got into FAB? Before Flesh and Blood, my only card game experience came from Hearthstone. I had thought this was the norm but it turns out that it’s quite the opposite in my scene. A ton of our players come from other TCGs, often having played them for a long time before settling on their new forever home. Start with an interest that you share and let the conversation go where it will. You’ll find, as I did, that your community is made up of a rich mosaic of backgrounds and walks of life, even if it’s a singular thing that brings us all together.

The Gateway

The local scene is where new players can meet people that turn into life-long friends. Surrounding yourself with like-minded people that enjoy the same passion you have for a hobby breeds a sense of comfort and belonging. It gives people something to look forward to every week. They’re able to continually indulge in the experience you provide and relish all of its offerings. To provide a physical and cultural outlet is to provide a home away from home for players to spend their well-deserved leisure time in a safe, fun space. 

More often than not, a Flesh and Blood player’s first LSS-sanctioned event will be that of their local game store. Let’s set the stage. They’ve shown interest in the game for various personal reasons and have now acquired some beginner-friendly products to start playing the game in a more “official” capacity. They learn the ropes and begin to think that they could do this with the big kids. After becoming a seasoned veteran in Flesh and Blood at the kitchen table level, they’ve mustered the courage to attend their LGS’ weekly Armory event. This is the exact moment where having a properly set foundation for a new player will open them up to all that Flesh and Blood has to offer. 

Armory events help establish a symbiotic relationship between wily veterans and fiery newcomers. I always tell my teammates from the AGE Pro Team to “Come to Locals”, as I truly believe there’s no better practice than paper reps. With nothing being automated or done for you, it serves as a great tool to remember all aspects of your game. Being at the local Armory allows for the already-established competitive player to get more “real-world” experience. From the other side, the greenhorn gets to learn the game from players that are absolute experts at their craft. The old guard have vast wells of valuable knowledge to give to the rookie looking upward toward the climb up FAB mountain. The gateway is not just made up of introductory products, but also a swift education from helpful killers. This fast track font of knowledge is lost if strong players start sticking to their testing groups and stop coming to locals. 

A Quick How-To

If you’re an entity looking to build your very own Flesh and Blood scene, look no further than Flesh and Blood’s website. Game and Event Management, or G.E.M, is Flesh and Blood’s all-in-one tool to ensure tournament organizing goes smoothly. It’s an easy-to-use platform that serves as a hub for all things Flesh and Blood as it relates to your store. If you're an owner or player looking to set up a Flesh and Blood account for your store, you’ll want to navigate to gem.fabtcg.com. From there, you’ll register your LGS by clicking Store Registration and then filling out all the pertinent information. There will be a brief approval process after submitting your application but, after that, you’ll have a G.E.M. account!

Once you hear the grandiose news, you’ll be all set up to have sanctioned Flesh and Blood events at your store and cultivate a brand new FAB scene. Exciting stuff! The step after this is the most important part: host some events and use player feedback to determine the format(s) players want to play, how to award prizing, and how to provide an experience that is the most fun and rewarding for your players. This preliminary period (before your scene really takes off) can be your testing grounds to see what works and what doesn’t. There is no one method that fits all molds so it is essential that you sculpt your Armory into one that satisfies the majority of your locals’ desires. Don’t be afraid to fail and use trial and error to slowly create the perfect structure.

As your attendance grows and becomes consistent, your store will receive GEM Packs: promotional card packs that contain unique art treatments of existing Flesh and Blood cards. Sometimes these packs can even contain cards that are unique solely to the GEM Packs themselves. These packs serve as an additional way for players to receive prizing on top of what you’re already offering in-store.

If you’re able to maintain strong attendance and grow your scene, your store will likely be approved for more premier-level events like set Prereleases, Road to Nationals, or ProQuests. These events are officially sanctioned by LSS and usually contain unique prizing that can only come from these types of events, like exclusive Promotional Cards, Playmats, and tournament invites to events across the globe. These events are in the highest tier that LSS allows local game stores to host. Receiving one is a prestigious honor that is bestowed upon only the most worthy of locales.

It's not Just Locals

As a leaving note, I’ve met some of my closest friends playing Flesh and Blood, and I wouldn’t have done so without diving headfirst into playing locally. It’s been a blessing to work at the same store in which I started my own FAB journey and I’m constantly striving to provide the same energy and passion that I felt during my early days to every new hopeful that walks through the door of KSG. It’s at places like Kingslayer Games that Flesh and Blood lives or dies so get out there, build your own home for great games to be played.