Recapping Pro Tour Amsterdam
Another amazing Pro Tour Amsterdam has come to a close. Let’s look back on what the event had to offer, most importantly, how the meta played out.
Alex Kivitz
Pro Tour Amsterdam
The mist beckoned, and players worldwide answered its call. Countless players enter the arena, walking a well-travelled path, aiming to claim their share of the $200,000 prize pool. The room is brimming with anticipation as everyone prepared for this specific moment! This past weekend, the international community came together through the language of playing great games. Here’s everything that happened at Pro Tour Amsterdam.
Part the Mistveil
Entering RAI Center Amsterdam, Enigma graced us with her presence atop a larger-than-life banner. Welcome to Pro Tour Amsterdam, it was impossible to miss. Attendees could pick up their map of the venue here to guide them around the arena. To the right of the entrance was the prize wall, stacked with Flesh and Blood prizes. Players could purchase their shirts adorned with their favorite Mistveil heroes, or an exclusive Pro Tour Amsterdam top. New additions included the Legend Story Studios snapback baseball cap and the stunning Enigma New Moon Dragonshield card sleeves. Just to the left of the main entrance, we had the all-new Learn To Play stand. Making its debut in Calling Tokyo, this area had become a mainstay at events. This was the perfect place to bring friends and family to get started on their Flesh and Blood journey.
Just ahead of the event, we had the fenced-off Pro Tour Arena, leaving enough space for spectators to watch some of the highest levels of gameplay without interfering with the players and judges. For those who could not make it in person but wanted to see the action live, we had the stream station right behind the arena.
Pro Tour Amsterdam included several featured artists at the Artists Alley. Federico Musetti, Joseph Qiu, Kevin Sidharta, and Nathan Himawan were all present to share their artwork. Players lined up to meet the artists behind their most iconic cards, and maybe even get their playmats signed by the creators of the masterpieces themselves.
Parting the venue down the middle, we had the Midtown Market. Merchants from all over gathered here to pedal their wares. We saw players filling out their collections, trading for some gorgeous marvels, and competitors finalizing their decks before the weekend’s events to come. There was also a grading company on-site for on the spot grading at the beginnning of the weekend. Finally, at the far end of the hall, we had the feature match stage and catering area. This was the perfect place to watch the live stream on the big screen while hanging out with friends, grabbing a bite to eat, and relaxing between your games or events at Pro Tour Amsterdam.
Pro Tour Metagame
Nearly 400 qualified players from around the world turned up to battle for the title of Pro Tour Champion. As expected from our recent deck tech, 25% of players brought Zen, Tamer of Purpose as their hero of choice. Zen’s powerful consistent gameplan and high damage output have proven to be a force to be reckoned with.
Aiming to hunt down the abundance of Zen in the meta, we had 72 Nuus showing up in force. After that, there was an even split between the illusionists with 32 Prisms and Enigmas. The prevalence of heroes showed how many are viable, either as a threat themselves through their game plan or for their ability to hunt down some of the top decks in the metagame. Seeing fan-favorite heroes like Levia, Riptide, and Boltyn played by some of the best players is something we loved to see.
After a grueling four rounds of classic constructed and six rounds of the draft, we had our day two qualified players and their heroes. With some outliers like Uzuri with a 100% conversion rate, two of them, we saw a fairly balanced spread of heroes progressing to the next stage of the competition. One large surprise is Kayo. The dominant deck pre-Mistveil, saw only a quarter of the pilots pass onto the next segment of the Pro Tour. Most heroes saw between a 45% to 55% conversion rate on day 2.
The Pro Tour rounded out with a very international Top 8. Ending the tournament at the very top of the standing was legendary Polish player Bartoz Ziemba. Blue Pitch Teammates Pudding Tam and Shing Tsang from Hong Kong followed up their World Championship top 8 placements yet again here in Amsterdam. Tom Tydecks and Kevin Zanker brought German representation while Gabe Sher placed under the Dutch Flag. We had Shoma Yamamura flying the Japanese flag and from the complete opposite side of the world representing North America, we had Tariq Patel from Canada claiming a spot of his own.
In the end, it was the biggest underdog who came out on top. Only two Uzuri’s entered Pro Tour Amsterdam. Shoho Yamamura had to fight through the World Championship Barcelona’s runner-up Shing Tsang. He had to beat Gabe Sher who, like Shing, was piloting the “new and improved” assassin deck everyone thought was superior. And in the finals, Shoho had to face Bartosz, now two-time Pro Tour finalist piloting Zen. Surmounting all odds, Shoho Yamamura traveled halfway across the globe to not only play in his first-ever Pro Tour but also be crowned Champion of Pro Tour Amsterdam.
Playing Great Games
In addition to the Pro Tour alongside day 2, we also had Calling Amsterdam open for all entries with a Living Legend Battle Hardened kicking off on the Sunday, and side events galore throughout the weekend. A huge thank you goes out to all the amazing staff, judges, tournament organizers, and everyone else who made the weekend as amazing as it was.
Starting from Day 1, attendees filled the tables eager to build their sealed decks. Hundreds of players sat down to do what card gamers love most, cracking packs. Across the hall, we saw marvels opened, legendaries shown off, and sounds of applause for fableds. Players were quick to begin putting together their decks and soon they were off to their first opponents. One of the biggest draws to Pro Tour Amsterdam was the Dutch culturally inspired promo cards given out exclusively here in Amsterdam. Everyone was eager to join in the festivities to get their hand on the full set of such beautiful null rune equipment.
For those who had aspirations of glory, Saturday marked the start of Calling Amsterdam. A whole day of classic construction with only the most resilient of players moving on to the second day of the event. This time we saw over 600 players enter the Calling with nearly 100 players on Zen. The metagame saw the same heroes in the 10 that were most represented, but in a fun change, Kayo took the event by storm being the third most played. At the end of the day, it truly was the Zen show with him making up half of the Top 8. After facing off in the mirror and two of Zen’s worst matchups, former US champion Charles Dunn emerged as the champion of Calling Amsterdam.
Rounding out the trifecta, we had the Living Legend Battle Hardened. With what has to have been one of the most diverse metagames yet, Living Legend proved to be one of the funniest, craziest, and most powerful formats. The top 8 was pure nostalgia, showing off the most powerful heroes of Flesh and Blood History. Seven different heroes were represented in the top 8, with old school heroes like Chane and Prism, all the way up to newcomer Zen once again. Oldhim made his return, and despite the serious nerfs, Bravo, Star of the Show still made an appearance. At the end of the day, it was Alexander Vore on Kano, Dracai of Aether, who took the tournament down in a blaze of glory against Nova Chan on Zen showing that sometimes newer may not always be better. We always love a good wizard game and we are so excited for Rosetta and all the new wizard shenanigans it will bring.
Rising Sun, Setting Moon
As with all great things, Pro Tour Amsterdam has come and gone, and we are honored to have been able to be a part of this experience. Champions were crowned, bonds were formed, and memories were made. This was an event for the books and we hope to see you all at the next one.