Interview with Hayden Dale | Flesh and Blood TCG

Summary

In a captivating interview, Hayden Dale, a renowned figure in the Flesh and Blood Trading Card Game (TCG) community and former Australian Nationals champion, shares his journey and insights with the host. Hayden, widely recognized for his strategic mastery of the game, discusses his early days playing with limited knowledge of the game to his current status as a key player in major events. The discussion covers his favorite decks, particularly his affinity for the hero Kano, renowned strategies, and his thoughts on the evolving TCG landscape. Highlights from the conversation also touch on Hayden's rigorous preparation, the mental mindset required for competitive play, and valuable advice for both new players and seasoned veterans. The interview is a treasure trove of wisdom for anyone involved in the Flesh and Blood community.

Highlights

• Hayden Dale shares his humble beginnings with the Flesh and Blood TCG, starting with minimal knowledge but deep enthusiasm. 🌱
• He revealed his attachment to different heroes, specifically Kano, due to their unique gameplay styles and strategies. 🦸‍♂️
• Hayden discusses the unexpected success of his Kano deck at major events, surprising other well-prepared competitors. 🎯
• He emphasizes the importance of preparation and strategic mindset in dealing with high-pressure situations. 😤
• Hayden offers practical advice for newcomers, highlighting the learning curve and the need to pick a play style that suits them. 🌟

Key Takeaways

• Hayden Dale's journey from the early days of Flesh and Blood to becoming a champion is truly inspiring. 🚀
• Kano, despite being a complex hero, can be mastered with strategic focus and preparation. 🔥
• The world of TCG is constantly evolving, and adapting is key to success. 🌟
• Consistency and mental clarity are crucial in competitive play, as per Hayden's experience. 🧠
• Networking and learning from top players can elevate your game significantly. 📈

Overview

Hayden Dale's journey in the world of Flesh and Blood TCG is nothing short of extraordinary. Starting his journey in October 2019, Hayden quickly became enamored with the game, participating in its first-ever calling event in Australia. His enthusiasm and skill grew, establishing him as a significant competitor in the community. Known for his strategic gameplay, particularly with the hero Kano, he has captured the attention of players worldwide.

In the interview, Hayden discusses his favorite hero, Kano, shedding light on the thought process and testing that led to his success in major tournaments. He delineates the strategic rigor required to succeed, from preparation to execution. By recounting his experiences, Hayden offers invaluable insights into the mindset needed for competitive gaming, emphasizing the importance of focus and mental clarity during events.

For anyone entering the world of Flesh and Blood, Hayden's advice stands as a guiding beacon. He stresses the significance of understanding one's play style, picking a hero that matches it, and learning through consistent practice and observation. His thoughtful approach underscores the dynamic nature of TCGs, where adaptability and learning are always in motion. Throughout the conversation, Hayden's passion for the game and its community shines brightly.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Interview with Hayden Dale The chapter introduces Hayden Dale, a prominent figure from Arsenal Pass, known for his achievements in the card-game community. Hayden is a former Australian Nationals champion and frequently makes his presence felt at major events. The segment sets the stage for a discussion with Hayden, highlighting his reputation and contributions to the scene.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Welcoming Hayden Dale The chapter "Welcoming Hayden Dale" features a discussion where the host expresses admiration and gratitude for Hayden Dale's presence on the channel. Hayden, a prominent figure with a successful channel known for deck techs, acknowledges being a Kano fan. The host shares their excitement and appreciation for Hayden's agreement to appear on the show, highlighting the significance of Hayden's visit. Both express mutual respect and enthusiasm for the conversation ahead.
• 01:30 - 03:00: Hayden's Journey into Flesh and Blood TCG In this chapter titled 'Hayden's Journey into Flesh and Blood TCG', the speaker expresses excitement and gratitude for having Hayden as a guest, especially after his impressive performance with the character Kano at the Worlds event. The speaker reflects on the notable guests that have previously been featured on the channel, setting the stage for an anticipated conversation about Hayden's experiences and strategies in the TCG (Trading Card Game) arena. This sets a positive and enthusiastic tone for the discussion to follow.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Hayden's Experiences with Traveling for Tournaments The chapter discusses the influx of new players in the game after a major tournament called 'Worlds' and focuses on how one player, Hayden, got started with the Flesh and Blood Trading Card Game. Hayden began playing in October 2019, experimenting with the IRA decks before the official release of the game.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Discussion on Favorite Decks The chapter discusses the speaker's experience with the unveiling of the new game and favorite decks. Initially, very few cards had been revealed, notably the IRA deck, and there was no hint of other card versions like Cycles or different card tempos. The speaker recalls the excitement during the game's preview season and spoilers that gradually got them hooked. They share an anecdote about attending the first 'calling' event in Australia, where they won playing a limited sealed game. This chapter captures the anticipation and joy in discovering and mastering their favorite decks.
• 05:00 - 07:30: Origins of Playing Kano Deck The chapter discusses the initial attraction to playing Kano in the top eight drafts, despite challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic impacting live events. The community and online play helped maintain engagement. The speaker shares experiences from participating in the first year of organized Flesh and Blood play, including three Pro Tours, a Pro Tour, Worlds, and various global events, highlighting the opportunities to play and travel, describing the experience as fantastic.
• 07:30 - 10:00: Strategy and Surprises with Kano at Pro Tour 1 The chapter titled 'Strategy and Surprises with Kano at Pro Tour 1' begins with a conversation highlighting the extensive travel involved in attending Pro Tour 1, particularly the long flights from Australia to the United States. The speaker reflects on a 24-hour journey to the East Coast for PT1, expressing that the trip to the Worlds, by contrast, felt easier with a single 14-hour flight to San Francisco followed by a short drive. The conversation sets the stage for discussing the strategic elements and unexpected aspects encountered by Kano at Pro Tour 1.
• 10:00 - 15:00: World Championship Experience with Kano The chapter discusses the speaker's experience at the World Championship, highlighting the challenges of long travel times, such as a 30-hour trip to Europe. Despite these challenges, their dedication to participating and performing well in competitions is evident. The speaker is recognized for piloting unique and interesting decks, with a notable shift from being associated with the ‘Rhinar’ deck in the past to more recently playing and succeeding with the ‘Kano’ deck.
• 15:00 - 18:00: Testing Strategies for Major Events The chapter discusses the phenomenon of players getting associated with specific heroes or decks in major events, intentionally or not. It mentions examples like Count McRae with 'Bravo' and Matt Rogers with 'Dash', implying that such associations can become synonymous with the player's identity in the gaming world. The conversation revolves around what leads individuals to select particular decks for big events and how these choices impact their reputations.
• 18:00 - 20:00: Deciding on Deck and Card Choices The chapter discusses the speaker's attachment to different Heroes and card choices in their gaming journey. The speaker reflects on their history, mentioning winning Australian Nationals with Visceral and playing characters like Breyer and Kano in various events. They highlight their special attachment to Reiner, a hero from 'Welcome to Wraith,' due to its play style, with a particular fondness for the Romping Club and Intimidators.
• 20:00 - 23:00: Advice for New Flesh and Blood Players The chapter discusses the unique mechanics of the game Flesh and Blood, particularly in comparison to Magic the Gathering. The narrator shares their experience and fascination with the game mechanics, especially those associated with certain heroes like Kano, introduced during the Arcane Rising set. The introduction of Arcane damage was a novel concept within the game, influencing the narrator's preference for specific heroes.
• 23:00 - 28:00: Mindset and Preparation for Tournaments The chapter discusses the mindset and preparation required for participating in tournaments. There is a brief interruption due to the speaker's daughter sneaking into the room, but the focus remains on the topic. The discussion highlights the introduction of new heroes, Kano and Viceroy, in Arcane Rising, who play on different axes compared to what is typically seen in the flesh and blood metagame.
• 28:00 - 33:00: Technical Strategies for Playing Kano The chapter discusses the technical strategies for playing Kano in a trading card game. Initially, the speaker describes how they were drawn to Kano after playing other heroes. Despite struggling and not finding much success with Kano initially, the speaker experimented with different decks like Moon Wish Sunkiss and incorporated Goliath Gauntlet. With the introduction of Crucible of War, there were many new strategies to explore, but the speaker distanced themselves from Kano for a while. However, they eventually revisited and played Kano extensively in Blitz format, which reignited their interest.
• 33:00 - 35:00: Kano in the New Dynasty Set The chapter discusses how a group of players, by introducing the 'Ragamuffins build', shifted attention back to the character Kano in the game. Originally, the gaming field was dominated by characters like Starvo, Chain, and Prism. But the innovative strategies around Kano, particularly the use of ragamuffins build, brought a significant surprise to the competitive scene.
• 35:00 - 37:00: Conclusion and Appreciation for Hayden Dale In this chapter, the discussion revolves around the confidence and decisions made by individuals in a challenging environment. Despite the banning of certain elements, the process of decision-making and testing led to bringing 'Kano' into the mix. This shift was largely influenced by the efforts of Sasha and Brynden during the early testing phases. The context also touches upon changes following the banning of 'walk up' and the 'starvometer' receiving a hit, which indicates adjustments within the strategic landscape. The narrative underlines the thought process and changes navigated by the key players during this time.

Interview with Hayden Dale | Flesh and Blood TCG Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 foreign [Music] I have the legend Hayden Dale from Arsenal pass which you know I'm sure everybody's familiar with uh not that he needs an introduction but Hayden is the former Australian Nationals champion and is consistently in the spotlight at any major event that he goes to so welcome
• 00:30 - 01:00 Hayden I really appreciate you being on the channel today yeah thanks have me on it's uh that's good to be on you know I'm a obviously a big Kano fan so uh always good to have a chat yeah I I have to admit I'm a little star struck right now in fact uh when I messaged you and you agreed to to be on the channel I said you know what that that's that's pretty awesome especially because you have such a successful Channel already and I know that you go through all the deck techs and things of that nature so I just want to mention that because uh you know I really do appreciate you taking the time
• 01:00 - 01:30 out of your day to to you know talk to me and you know our viewers yeah not not a problem looking forward to it I think um you know you've had some awesome people come on like far hard and talk about Kano in the past and absolutely uh yeah yeah it's cool awesome so I'll just kind of get right to it right so like I said I've always wanted to bring you on the channel uh and after you not only brought Kano to Worlds but performed extremely well with him I had to reach out and again I'm super excited for you to be here and talk about that so with that said I'd
• 01:30 - 02:00 like to kind of start from the beginning right so I think after worlds there's been a lot of new players that have kind of been uh where we've been having an influx of new players to the game and I think it would be really nice to kind of hear how you started out with flesh and blood Trading Card Game yeah of course I mean I've started right at the beginning of of Flesh and Blood effectively um October 2019 so uh first started with like the IRA decks before the game even released I had the chance to to try the
• 02:00 - 02:30 game and at that point there was no there was no you know no cards had really been revealed other than the IRA deck so we didn't even know about Cycles at the point you know it was like Scarface is a red there was no other versions you know and um so the Torrance Tempo is a red there's no other versions so uh managed to play with IRA and then slowly the game the preview season the spoilers happened of what this game would look like and it just it just got me hooked pretty quickly you know hearing how the game would work that the premise of it and then playing I went to the first ever uh calling here in Australia um which I actually managed to win playing uh limited so sealed and then
• 02:30 - 03:00 top eight drafts and um from there I was just really honestly hooked and obviously you know through through covert and and all that um made it hard to obviously play but you know just the kind of community and the online play that happened just kept the sort of I guess the want to play the game live and coming through the other side into this first year of organized play for flesh and blood was the first three Pro tours of the pro tour one pro tour and worlds plus you know callings around the world it's been an um it's been an awesome opportunity to play the game and travel so yeah it's been fantastic yeah right
• 03:00 - 03:30 you know before we started this conversation you know you and I were having some pleasantries and I was just saying like how nice it must be for you to to have a little bit of a breather from traveling you've been going all over the place and I think going from uh Australia to the states I mean that's like a 24-hour plane trip right yeah East Coast is so flying to PT one took about yeah about 24 hours uh worlds was good comparatively it's about 14 hours it's just one one single flight to San Francisco and then a short drive down to
• 03:30 - 04:00 San Jose so comparatively that was a bit of a treat but yeah it often even to Europe as well you know almost 30 hours so wow 30 hours couldn't imagine it well I'm glad you uh you're willing to take the trip and we all get to watch you on stream and and uh you know pilot some really interesting decks so you know on that note you know everyone kind of has their their pet deck right and whenever I Associated you with a pet deck it was always rhinar for some reason um but obviously you've been playing Kano and piloting Kano very successfully
• 04:00 - 04:30 so you know when did you start playing him and you know what what kind of brought you to to bring the deck to to all these big events yeah it's a great question I think it's so interesting people I think get associated with with heroes or dicks whether they you know whether they try to or not I think you look at someone like count mcrae's right and it's like you know everyone's like kale guy like it's synonymous right with with Bravo like it's it's kind of always sit that way or like you know Matt Rogers and dash maybe you know like I think kale cultivates that obviously you
• 04:30 - 05:00 know the way he never plays anything else but someone like Matt gets attached to Heroes and he plays a lot of different things and I think I look back at my history you know I won Australian Nationals with visceral I've played a lot of Rune blade and my time played Breyer at pt2 but I played I had played Kano to mass events this year World Championships in in pt1 and I think um you know Reiner I think my attachment to Reiner came really from um the early days of Welcome to rape it was the first hero that I really took like an affinity to I think in the game uh I think romping Club in particular just the play style and Intimidators
• 05:00 - 05:30 mechanic just was so interesting to me coming from you know other games like magic the Gathering where a mechanic just doesn't exist like that really so um that's kind of how I think I became so I guess enamored with that hero and what it does and I played it a lot um and then I guess the Kano side of it came I played a lot of Canada during Arcane Rising like I thought that that hero was you know it was so different to how everything else played in the game we got vicerai and we got um canon in the same set with Arcane rising and in both those Heroes with Arcane damage you know it's new it's
• 05:30 - 06:00 different right you want to play them um oh sorry no sorry about that thank you I didn't mean to interrupt but uh my daughter just kind of snuck into here so I'm gonna pause one sec all right so sorry for that brief Interruption uh my I'm on daughter duty tonight and she snuck downstairs so uh so Hayden I thank you for your patience uh I believe the last thing you were talking about was uh Arcane Rising yeah just you know Kano and Viceroy came out knocking rising and these two Heroes that played on different axes to what we've seen so far with with flesh and
• 06:00 - 06:30 blood so those two Heroes then grab my attention after playing you know he takes like Ryan up for quite a while and um that's I played a lot of Kano during that time unsuccessfully most of it to be honest you know I think a lot of people found that I played a lot of uh uh Moon wish sunkiss uh Kano decks with goliathcon that is like you know things like that and then with Crucible of War uh you know there's just so much to do and I didn't really play as much Kano during that but then did revisit it and um to be honest I just have always played it a little bit played it a lot in Blitz and that's probably what brought my attention back to Canada and
• 06:30 - 07:00 probably our whole sort of group that we sort of have played with brought the attention back to Kano and that's kind of how it led to to playing Cana for for pt1 really I think it's just more exploration of that hero got it so so yeah I mean obviously you made the ragamuffins build pretty famous uh and that's pretty much all I see anymore is people running the ragamuffins build or different variations of it so you know obviously it was a pretty big surprise I think when you guys brought it everybody you know The Big Field was starvo chain prism right then all of a sudden you guys showed up with Kano and and blew a
• 07:00 - 07:30 lot of people out of the water um so what like LED you to that in terms of I know you know we were kind of in this low a b environment but what made you confident enough to bring Kano yeah so the the kind of sort of process I think started with primarily with with Sasha and brynden quite early on in the testing process back before the Banning of um uh walk up banned in that middle uh and starvometer when starvo got the hit uh
• 07:30 - 08:00 sorry when they got yeah when I got the changes so before that and and this right Vince Gillard was still around so when we still had Skyler that's what we were seeing people um it was uh yeah scalada sort of meta okay we're finding kind of really good into that because it just naturally played really well into what vicero was doing you the way you wanted to play with scalada dicks as you often wanted to to tap out or you had to go like Shields down effectively to be able to sit at these turns or have these good aggro draws so um that was like a dig that was on the table and then when the sort of changes
• 08:00 - 08:30 happen the band suspended announcement happened and uh Skyler got hit and it was like okay you know prism's like really back on the table now I was like okay maybe we put Ken away and I don't think anyone in the group sort of touched it for quite a while but it was like the deck for a while before the paintings um and then just kind of I think Sasha and Brendan Revisited the deck in sort of the last few days leading into the PT because at the time I was actually gonna play Dash I had been testing literally just only dash for the for the whole time I thought it was in a really good spot
• 08:30 - 09:00 um in in the middle and I also just I didn't really enjoy I didn't want to play starvo I knew that and my backup was just playing chain uh so like I was working a lot on dash and others in the team working on like chain and I think some people playing prison for a bit um and then I think about three or four days before they had like Revisited canine and found sort of ways to play into stavo that felt like a really good repeatable game plans the Reagan muffins build was like the build to look at at that time and then um I literally only stopped onto the
• 09:00 - 09:30 deck like the day before they convinced me not to play Dash like you don't think you should play the stick we don't think it's scary before Oh my God yeah yeah I wish I'm I'm glad I made the change like I was really hesitant to make the change after putting so much time in different into the Dash deck but I think if you're gonna play an event like the pro tour and there's a deck on the table there I think you just maybe have to chance it sometimes and that's kind of what happened and I had had a lot of experience with Kane on the past where I played it just so like almost Non-Stop and Blitz had played it like I said in in previous constructive formats so yeah okay yeah so I mean that makes a lot of
• 09:30 - 10:00 sense and now how did that evolve into World Championships I mean I think you were one of the only kanos in the top you know x amount of players yeah it's funny um one of our tasting group Gabe share from Canada he knows the Netherlands but he actually did on the same record as me uh and then but he kind of did it the other way he had a bit of a bad start to day two but then won out the last sort of I think even four one in in blitz so um and ended up on the same record playing Kano as well so there was I think there's four Canon players at the world championships and three of them
• 10:00 - 10:30 from our testing group it was myself Gabe share and Mike cronkier yeah yeah and so uh Mike ended up dropping I think at X3 to go play the calling and then uh me and Gabe I think finished day I think game might have been X3 at the end of day one and stayed playing with X2 and then yeah he ended up basically on the same record but I think he was out of the he was out of the ptis just because of break is right it was such a long tail down to uh down to those Point Breakers so um basically how it came about and then I think the fourth person playing at the
• 10:30 - 11:00 world championships was was Mo box who does does some content as well and is known for playing Kano um the way it kind of came actually was mostly through like Sasha and Brendan after the PT like Sasha was just like at pt2 we played Breyer and we felt like we had the best prior list we could but you just plan to aggro mirrors and it's just the agency doesn't feel like it's there you you might have a better list and you might have an extra five attempts in Edge but in reality that's not enough to I think you know guarantee that you can consistently win these games and win an event so uh Sasha was really into the
• 11:00 - 11:30 idea of just like going back to the world with Kano just refine it if the hero is so powerful just find the best list possible find the best game plans into into Heroes and with the release of of Uprising uh waning moon was like a really big addition right so um you know even these Decks that had high a b because that's how people thought was created playing to Icelander for so long was to have a high a b before you know the the ball landed list came about uh it was like okay we'll just play waning moon and you can just like grind down these Decks that try and be attrition based and you actually you get
• 11:30 - 12:00 so much value you can you can win these games pretty handily so that's kind of where it came to and then as we headed towards uh the PT like I sort of said I think once I started testing for the world championship so I took about like two or three weeks down time didn't really do anything after pt2 and then once I joined in the testing group I was like yeah okay I'm locked on playing Canada as well so yeah I mean that that's fantastic uh makes a lot of sense to me and I'm really glad you did put on an incredible show uh so you know you've mentioned a couple of times that you
• 12:00 - 12:30 have a number of people all top players obviously who you play with you know so how do you approach how do you approach testing for such a large event I mean do you have like a list of decks and then modify those decks and play against them or you know do you have a checklist do you keep a record um what what do you guys do yeah so it's um it's really interesting I think a lot of groups approach it in different ways and and for us it really depends on who is joining us for any particular event so we've traditionally had different people for for different
• 12:30 - 13:00 events just based on Purely things like time zone uh because it's really hard to coordinate across the globe when you want to play with specific people you want to test with specific people but you know it might not be feasible or possible for certain people so um generally once we kind of have an idea of who's gonna who's gonna test with us and and what the event is we usually start with like a strategy meeting to be honest it's just about okay what what's the put thoughts on the wall like what is this format about like what are the what are the boogeyman the format what do we expect to shop for a particular event so for World
• 13:00 - 13:30 Championships it came off the back of PT and we know there's no changes outside of potential Banner suspended announcement so we wait till the banner suspended announcement uh and then that's when we really start to strategize so we might be playing some games in between just learning about dicks we don't know much about things that we think could be good and and if we think if we think there's going to be specific bands you know like it's like okay well you know we know the prisms are the format so what does that mean for certain things that's that's an immediate thing you can start to work out you know uh things like I stand to get better let's learn how to play Icelander so those things happen then you generally you'll get a band
• 13:30 - 14:00 assistant announcement in the lead up to an event and that's when a lot of like the the work will start so we usually jump on a call with with Hoovers and in the testing group and it'll be okay what do we how do we expect people to react to this we try and work that out first okay we expect people to think Iceland is a lot better so we expect a lot of Iceland at this event we think old term is still really good we expect a lot of ultim uh we expect that fire is the most premium Agro deck based on what we know so far so we'll come up with these assumptions basically and then we'll go and test those assumptions that's generally where we'll start it's like okay work out what what actually is the best deck and are these assumptions true
• 14:00 - 14:30 because every other testing group will probably do the same thing so we want to to get a step ahead of them we first have to work out you know what is the assumptions and are they true and then generally after that we'll we'll make some decisions about okay the stick is best positioned for the expected meta or you know we think this is the most uh has the most ability to be kind of of um you know but I don't say busted but you know the potential to break it you know there's something there that you could do that is over above on the power level that people uh won't expect so for pt2 for example it was like okay we couldn't
• 14:30 - 15:00 break the format we couldn't find something like a pt1 Kano style thing to come in and just take it sort of by surprise Brian we thought was the best the best hero the most powerful hero in the format let's find the best possible version of that and find these things that people aren't doing and exploit that so we thought Force nature and creepers were just like the most you know outside of China Iraq the next most powerful thing you could do so how do we build a deck around that so um and that that's that's the kind of what what Sasha does a lot of and then yeah that's that's kind of it you're just then going through a gauntlet of testing okay want to understand you
• 15:00 - 15:30 can't test everything and unless you have a massive Group which gets it has its own other problems as well in terms of actually coordinating data and stuff you have to make some uh you have to come to some conclusions without testing you have to use Theory you have to use your understanding of the game and I think that's what the best players can do is they can just make inferences based on the knowledge they have and actually that the deeper understanding of the game yeah so so I appreciate you you going through that you know one thing that I I heard a lot of people talk about out of pro tour one was like they everybody kind of got into their
• 15:30 - 16:00 incubation Chambers but then they became kind of echo Chambers and they didn't expect a lot of the things that they saw so is there any type of method or process that you guys use to kind of go outside of your group to try to gain as much information as you can yeah it's just keeping your ear to the ground I think it's just being it's just trying not to get siled like you just said within your you know you can become ether chambers of like oh this thing's so good and you're just testing you're playing let's say you're playing a matchup of like Kano into ultimate someone might come back and be like oh this matchup is so good for Kano because
• 16:00 - 16:30 XYZ and then you you go okay well hold up what if the ultim doesn't play in that way what if the open player plays differently let's let's go and approach from that angle so we make sure that we're always checking each other I think and and trying to check the the results that people come back with like or never I think we learned our lesson around like Nationals time earlier this year of like just because someone plays a matchup in a particular way it doesn't mean that's what you're going to experience so because you know flesh and blood is so the play style can be so personal so if someone comes up with a result it's like okay the next step is to fact check them effectively right
• 16:30 - 17:00 someone else to other people go and play that match up or you maybe you don't have an expert on dorinthia okay well go and go and like talk to someone who plays dorynthia or go and like run some games with someone who plays to rent Theory and like find out like get the information you need so and then the other piece is just like just listen to what Community saying you know Twitter's a great place like I think even for us like we we talk about the game a lot being you know having sort of Arsenal pass in the podcast and uh we you know we're not hiding what we think of the format and I think people will be hearing that so it's kind of tough
• 17:00 - 17:30 because we also be careful that we're not influencing people you know I don't I don't want to be seen as like oh they said X Y and Z because they want that to have an advantage for them like we try and keep I think what we do with testing and what we do with like content really separate if we can because you know it can cause some issues I think yeah yeah absolutely absolutely and uh one thing that you said I absolutely love which is the fact that like playstyle can be very personal and that's what I think is really one of the great things about this game in particular and I think that
• 17:30 - 18:00 makes a lot of sense because I mean when I was trying to learn prism um you know every single person that tried teaching me how to play Prism played it entirely different and then I had them all in one group arguing about why they chose different cards over another um so so that brings me to my next question which is how do you decide when specific cards make the cut so what's motivating that question is you know my Kano Blitz deck I feel like it's the tightest it's ever been where there's no room for for deviation but
• 18:00 - 18:30 um for classic instructed you know you have a larger card pool so I feel like I started with core cards that I don't think can change and then cards that I need to bring in against certain matchups but then there's still like six cards that I don't really know if they're the right pick or something else is the right pick so like how do you kind of approach that yeah it's really tough I think there's so many ways you can approach it like just going off your last question you talked about you know people three different people playing prism differently and trying to show you that
• 18:30 - 19:00 they might have different card choices because of that and they could all be 100 correct right because of their play style you know someone who plays more aggressively doesn't want to play defense reactions versus someone who wants to take the time and play for the slight edges and play for these Aura setups everyone's going to play differently and that that's the beauty of this game it's why it's so amazing um so I think that really influences card choice and in terms of even to the point actually just off of that like the three players that were like really sort of like the Kano experienced players in our group which that were testing for
• 19:00 - 19:30 this event so outside of outside of Brendan myself Sasha and and Mike we all played the deck kind of differently and we all had different we actually all ends up on different lists slightly different lists based on the cards that we wanted for the way that we played so I played a card like etherclare for instance which the other guys don't really like that card whereas the way I like to play into dicks like fire and stuff I think that card's super important so um how are we sort of end on like in I think one thing you I think as you get more experience this game and you maybe play for events like pts things like that I think one of the biggest sort of
• 19:30 - 20:00 level UPS you can have is that like no card is an auto include I think that's like a really important thing to to learn because the the decks and the the format can change so much so let's say like okay ate the wildfire and K9 right that's the most obvious like it's an auto including classic instructor there's no way you'd ever not play that card but that's of the assumption that that's how you should win games but what if that's not not how you should win games what if actually the formats changed so much that you should take a completely different access to playing a dick like Kano and maybe attack actions should be correct in a deck for some reason or defense reactions and it's not
• 20:00 - 20:30 about combo it's about value maybe stir the eighth of ones and you know maybe some new cards like blessings and things like that that's more important so in that case maybe you shouldn't play Kano maybe you should play a different hero but that's something a journey that you should go through and I think it's any any card can be on the table uh to be cut and I think when you're trying to choose cards the the inverse of that it's like okay what do I what do I really want my deck to do in any given matchup and what cards do I need to execute that so like you know let's talk about a card like cindering foresight like how do I use this card because people would say oh you should play it some people say you
• 20:30 - 21:00 shouldn't play this card but it really depends on like how do you want to use this card and that should always inform whether you actually play cards in a deck or not I think that's probably the biggest thing but so many different ways you can approach it it's so difficult no you know that makes a so much sense to me uh before the bands I cut after Wildfire well after the the strider's ban in Blitz right but before The Ether Wildfire band I just cut after a wildfire I'm like this isn't gonna gonna help and all of a sudden I started playing Kano so much differently and I felt like I became a better better Keno player because I wasn't
• 21:00 - 21:30 okay let me just block and get wildfire in the into the Arsenal and then wait for the combo all of a sudden I realized things like for me at least my personal play style you know potion of deja vu and centering foresights are now my MVPs um and I and I enjoy playing it that way again going back to the to the Personal Touch so so thank you for that um so you know I'm thinking about um you know again going back to all these these new players right and I'd
• 21:30 - 22:00 love to kind of hear from your perspective what advice you would give to people who are just starting flesh and blood today yeah great question um I think it first of all you've got to work out what you want from the game if you if you're starting in this this game is going to be a hobby that you're going to play with your friends and and go to local armies and stuff I think one thing you have to decide is how much time you want to put into this game because it is an in you can know it's an endless well like you could put your whole life into this game trying to you know learn as much as possible and and cultivate an
• 22:00 - 22:30 understanding and I think that's gonna influence the reason I say this because the influence probably where you should start in terms of like hero selection um you know my advice during these people is like just just pick a hero you know go watch some content talk to some people at your local game store or people that you might know who've convinced you to get into the game and just pick a hero that you think will fit what you want to do and you don't have to commit to that hero right but maybe it's a good place to start learn as much as possible um and and go from there you know really
• 22:30 - 23:00 try and focus in on one aspect of the game first so maybe it's uh in traditional maybe say other games you know traditionally you liked aggressive dicks okay well help get someone to help you pick an aggressive dick something like fire and and go and learn the inside and outside of that and maybe you know you don't want to play Phi after that and you can pivot to another aggro deck but try and learn how aggro Works in this game and how blocking and how you know sort of leaking damage and value works and I think you want to go concept by concept if you if you can ideally it's hard but this game there's so many Concepts and they're probably not well defined I know people try you I
• 23:00 - 23:30 know you've tried it we've tried everyone tries to Define them but you know the the aspects of like plane turn Cycles uh you know attacking and defending and those are some of the most important things to learn so I think pick a dick start with trying to understand those Concepts and how to win turn cycles and uh and go from there perfect uh I I think I'm going back to thinking about how I learned how to play Flesh and Blood Cano all those things and actually I have to I owe a lot to uh it used to be called The Gauntlet right uh Brandon used to run it with Dante I
• 23:30 - 24:00 believe uh in In the Flesh and Blood Discord and I would watch Like Mike C and people playing and in the top eight I'd get really excited for Monday nights and uh and and you're right it's really oh why did they pitch that as opposed to play it oh they must be playing for their second cycle things of that nature so um really really important things to hear um imagine second cycle being relevant exactly um so one thing I I talk a lot about uh
• 24:00 - 24:30 with my team and my professional life and then also you know just people um you know in my personal life is the idea of mindset right so you know when going to big events when playing a deck like Kano which is notorious for being you know quote unquote big brain uh it's like how do you how do you mentally prepare for something like that where you're playing so many games over x amount of days and switching formats and having to calculate things you know what do you do to prepare yourself
• 24:30 - 25:00 the I mean the short answer is just play one game at a time that's that that's the the quite unquote easy answer um but it's not you know as you all know it's not as simple as that it's not as simple as just take what's in front of you at every every step because so many things going through your mind right even to the point of like I'm getting hungry you know where am I gonna get food you know things like that start to come into your head so I'm thirsty I need water you know just just Basic Instincts so um I think mindset in in flesh and blood and actually any any sport any game is like super important to to competing at
• 25:00 - 25:30 the highest level you you sometimes Can Be Your Own Worst Enemy right like you've got the person sitting in front of you playing their game but you've also got to you've got to master what you're doing on your side of the table as well so I think you have to have a particular I mean you can have it you can have different mindsets I think but if I speak for like what what works for me in a particular way is like it is really focusing on on what's what's ahead of me what's happening right now so one literally one game at a time that's what I tell myself when I'm playing an event like this it's like okay it might be 16 rounds but this
• 25:30 - 26:00 round right now is the most important thing happening in my whole world it's just this one round right now and then it's the next round and then you get to the end of the day and and you know you stop playing and now you can take a breath and you can reflect on things like um you know maybe maybe I make a mistake in an event in a game it's like you know that the reflection of that will happen at the end of the day that doesn't happen during the round I think that's how you know you get into your own head and um you know I think you can go and tilt you know people say go and tilt things like that and I think you've if you have
• 26:00 - 26:30 the the right mindset you can avoid those kind of situations and the best way is really just to focus on like what's happening right now and and I guess the ways you can support that sort of mindset is be as prepared as possible so I think preparation is literally the the best thing you can do from an event like this down to you know I have my cyborg notes all written out I know exactly how I want to play in every given match up so I'm not expending any you know uh mental sort of Taxation at the start of a around trying to work out what I should and shouldn't be sideboarding in um you know I've got my food ready for the day I've got my two bottles of order
• 26:30 - 27:00 even you know small things like that I know how I'm gonna get to the venue I know what time I'm going to get there like just just being prepared I think allows you to have this like really clear clear mindset I think in an event like this and it's the same for people when they they go to work right like you most people it's built around routine like you've got to work every day at a certain time you get into the office or wherever you work and and you have your day ahead of you and you know you don't go to these events every day so you need to have a bit more preparation around it but I think that's how you can sort of set your I guess get into the mindset you need to for these events yeah that's awesome so
• 27:00 - 27:30 just reducing mental taxation by being as prepared as you can um and a lot of people don't realize that you are allowed to um write in terms of like your what Your sideboard should do right before each match and you're allowed to present your hero look at the sideboard uh guide that you have for yourself before you you know present your equipment and all that other stuff so um I think that's really important right have those notes written down or or at least the guide so that you can
• 27:30 - 28:00 um you know have less things that you need to worry about yeah I think I think people know that you can write you know a lot a lot of people will know that you can write this and all the sad or you know your cards you can also write yourself a few notes about the matchup as well which I think is know that is really important yeah you can you can have you can have you can because you're allowed to bring up a couple pieces of paper with your notes to look at beforehand those could be notes like in this matchup this is how you want to win the game you know just yeah if simple few reminders to yourself things like that or you know uh most important card in this matchup is Tom I find out from Arsenal something like that so you know
• 28:00 - 28:30 you can have these little reminders and and these are things that I like to do as well yeah no that's that's huge because honestly I didn't realize that I thought it had to be limited to like plus minuses didn't realize you could have notes for the matchup as well so that's really helpful so thinking about Kano in particular right so one thing from my conversation my interview with Alexander voor is he talked about like card counting essentially right so let's say you have I don't know 33 Blues in your deck right you see four blues in
• 28:30 - 29:00 your hand so now you say minus four uh so you're you're constantly doing that to figure out okay if I'm gonna uh if I'm gonna try to cane off the top like How likely is it that I'm gonna hit a blue or something of that nature is there anything that you do to kind of shortcut so I know like you obviously I just sorry I know that I just asked you a question I'm about to talk a little bit more but um like it's really important for people who are interested in this definitely go watch Your Arsenal pass Deck Tech on
• 29:00 - 29:30 Kano understanding the thresholds right the the um the ether Wildfire thresholds and things of that nature that's really important so like that that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about do you have any shortcuts that you use when playing Kano specifically uh definitely I I think there is like the the one you point out is probably the biggest one is is just knowing uh break points for Arcane barrier that and what that's going to do to your Wildfire tones I think is is like if you're playing a dick that still I mean Kano at
• 29:30 - 30:00 this point I think for most builds are still going to revolve in some way around Wildfire even with new Dynasty cards so that's a really important one to to know I think that's the first thing that we we taught everyone who wanted to jump on the deck before the event was like okay you need to you need to look at this document like we have a little like a spreadsheet that's like if you know plus one minus one based on your resources and the Arcane barrier your opponent has versus your your Buffs you know your middle campus nodes or your Crucible um that's like a really important place to start and yeah you can check out that video I think we break it down but you can also just literally just lay the cards out yourself and you can go
• 30:00 - 30:30 through it and you can see what that looks like like you know if this is okay this is ab2 this is what it means this is ab1 this is what it means and you'll you'll see it's like it's pretty um it's pretty easy to actually understand once you once you get it sort of laid out it's you know plus four here plus one here plus two here um other things I think uh so it's really interesting because I think that I try and simplify as much as possible when it comes to to playing a game of Flesh and Blood and I want to have like a really set game plan into any given matchup and for some some dicks like maybe if I just want to eighth a wildfire run that's going to look the
• 30:30 - 31:00 same thing and that's going to be my most important thing but maybe it's a maybe it's not Canaan maybe it's a different dick in my mentioned my way I play the matchup changes into you know three or four different uh Rune blades or three or four different decks whatever it is I want to be focused on the the things that are going to help me do that so you like you said you like shortcuts but also it's just it's actually goes back to that preparation thing it's like what are the key points in the matchup what are the key cards I need to look for what are the key things I need to do so if I talk about like the Icelander matchup for instance in in class constructed like Thomas finder
• 31:00 - 31:30 from Arsenal is like the most important thing you can do because it brings you back up on life when you guys are trading you're trading damage with the Icelander and allows you to like push a big turn that could potentially make them go sort of shields down pitch pitch their cards to stop damage on your turn so that on their turn you can do something like a wildfire combo or a big lot of damage with like a Deja Vu turn so um those are the kind of I guess my shortcuts I don't have anything in in particular like so pitch stacking for instance I don't have like particular shortcuts I use for for pitch decking I
• 31:30 - 32:00 just will remember things like okay I've got my key card there's like three blues Wildfire three blues Tome I'm just trying to remember like specific key cards so I won't I don't need to know what the blues are I just need to know they're blue I don't need to know uh if it's say it's like a voltage Vault or some sort of damage spell I don't need to know what damage spell it was I just need to know it was a red damage spell for instance so I try and simplify those but to be honest I don't have like a lot of I know like I've listened to Alexander vortalk he has like a lot of like these kind of shortcuts and things he likes to use and for me it's probably I'm probably not as as technical as
• 32:00 - 32:30 someone like um like Alexander so for me it's more about just like simplifying the matchup as much as possible and like thinking about key things that can happen he's someone that can go into a game and he can he can adapt to a matchup on the Fly I think based on the sort of the rules and how much he knows Kano and the little tricks and things he has um whereas I definitely need a lot more preparation I'm like okay and this matchup I wanna I need like my bullet point into the list when I'm testing of like these are the key things to remember yeah no I I definitely um I I have much more I'm much more on
• 32:30 - 33:00 the side of of simplification right for everything that I do I get I could get pretty mentally fatigued after you know four or five hours of playing so I need to just have fundamental principles to like live by or work by or play by whatever um card counting for me I tried it just doesn't work I lose track very quickly yeah at least check very quickly but um but no I think you know simplifying is definitely more my style as well it's repetitions is what if I simplify what I
• 33:00 - 33:30 just said it's repetitions like if I sit down at World Championships I've played through Iceland as like I sat down to play Icelander I know exactly how I want the matchup to go and I know exactly the key things like I just said Tommy finder from Arsenal it's uh pushing damage on on my turn try not to give them too much living value like these are the little like bullet points that are going through my head as I play this match because I've played it a dozen times before if I had to go and play against dick I hadn't played before uh that's what's gonna be scary to me and like I said someone like Alex might have all these tips and tricks that are Keno specific that he knows you can do whereas for me it's like I need the
• 33:30 - 34:00 match up specific notes that's that's the thing that's most important to me those are my my sort of hacks and and sort of shortcuts is match up specific knowledge got it awesome so I have one more question for you uh you know so Dynasty just came out right uh and looking ahead how do you feel about Kano with the release of the new set yeah I think it's exciting I think there's so much that you can potentially do I think Kano has I think most of the blitz I think is there's lots of different Avenues you could potentially go down with new cards
• 34:00 - 34:30 um the uh search is like such a interesting that's what it's called surge right yeah yeah really interesting mechanic on cards like sap and swell Tidings I think there's going to be other archetypes out there whether those uh better than you know just a kind of a wildfire combo that has just damage around it I'm not sure but I think we'll probably see the Wildfire combo continue to be the backbone of of the deck but you know in in high Arcane barrier Midas so maybe people are respecting Keno a bit more or they just you know they know how powerful it is expected to show up
• 34:30 - 35:00 so they're packing their Arcane barrier you need to have other things to do and so I think cards like like a swell Tidings is effectively another Baltic ball at worst right like that's that's a you know exciting potential addition at worst it's already a straight upgrade on multiple uh so you know I think we've already the bump that Kano gets is is definitely there um it will be interesting to see how relevant some of the cards we've seen with like Ward and things like that and Dynasty are so far it looks like maybe they're not that relevant so it could it could be really good for Kano and you get access to more zero cost blues that
• 35:00 - 35:30 deal damage so great for Wildfire combo for instance you get access to more effective uh zaps you know two new zaps effectively what do you want to do with those is in our a zero cost or a really low cost build of of Canada that you could play I think the possibilities are endless but I think people will probably stick around that Wildfire combo to start with yeah yeah and have you seen that brainstorm built that's the other thing I was going to say yes so essential otk brainstorm builds things like that like I I I think
• 35:30 - 36:00 it's real like I think brainstorm is a real card and I think you know there's someone like Jason Chung and the development team who have no doubt spent endless time on a card like brainstorm because he's a massive Kano fan and uh I I think that thing's real and I you know I've talked to people about what you can potentially do you know there's things obviously that the kind of bass line is like you know pitch Tech tone blue blue tone blue you know to just to go through you know a potion of luck Etc um but even it could just be a different
• 36:00 - 36:30 way to present damage like maybe you just have one in the deck and you you can play it with something like potion of like I don't know I don't know whether you go full into it or you potentially just have it as an option in the deck somewhere but um at the very least it looks cool and it looks like lots of fun and I'm definitely going to try out whether it's good or good or not yeah yeah I have not tried it yet but it looks awesome like I just I have to try it um so Hayden I really really appreciate you taking the time this was a fantastic conversation a lot of really great information I think both new and veteran
• 36:30 - 37:00 players will will find a lot of value in it so yeah I wish you the best of luck in your future Flesh and Blood Endeavors and uh again really grateful for you being on the the channel today yeah thanks for having me on