Last night I went to my local game store to play Flesh and Blood.
After getting a box of Tales of Aria, then playing Sealed Deck online, I was excited to make time over the weekend to get out of the house and play a few matches in person. To prepare, I rummaged around for a messenger bag and an old World of Warcraft TCG starter deck box to carry around my sealed pool and Briar blitz deck with some old Ultra Pro "Vizkopa Guildmage" sleeves, plus the other two Tales of Aria blitz decks in case the store didn't have any welcome decks.
I also took an hour earlier in the day before my afternoon work to review my sealed games, look over the rules again (I'm getting familiar with the basics but not the details just yet), and do a little fussing with my deck. I wanted to be able to stand my ground against someone with a more competitive constructed deck but still be able to play against new players and the other blitz decks, so all I did was replace a couple of cards in the pre-constructed Briar deck that weren't exciting, then designate a chunk of the rest of my sealed pool as "sideboard" cards.
That afternoon I ended up caregiving for an hour longer than I expected, mostly having a long, meandering conversation about some important things we need to keep in mind and answering good questions. Usually this isn't a burden, and wasn't stressful on its own, but it takes energy out of me and, this time, cut into the time I would have to change, pack, eat, and head over.
When I got back home, I ended up getting nervous about the time I would have to re-sleeve and review my deck, and settle down and relax before the pairings started. So instead of taking half an hour to settle myself before driving to the store, I spent ten minutes running around and only getting a few munches of food in belly.
Once I was actually at the store, I saw that things were fairly slow with just a few people playing Magic (Commander) in the back and a few other people coming in to look around for a while (either casually "window shopping" or checking out singles for Magic and maybe some Pokemon cards). It was nice and very relaxed overall, and although there was a bit of noise it wasn't too distracting.
One thing that helped was seeing exactly the brand and types of deck boxes and card sleeves I wanted to get (GameGenic box, KMC Perfect Fit inner sleeves, and Dragon Shield clear matte sleeves), and learning they weren't too expensive.
Everything packed neatly away back at home.
What to Do When Nobody Shows Up
After a minute of looking around the singles cases then the Commander game (and seeing many rows of familiar art, and some unfamiliar art with familiar names from the newer Adventures in the Forgotten Realms and Innistrad: Midnight Hunt sets), I sat down, popped open the deck box and sleeves, and set to meditatively un-sleeving, re-sleeving, then double-sleeving my deck for blitz.
Then I waited. Pondered. Listened to the Commander players and started re-sleeving the rest of my as-yet-unused sealed pool for a possibly future Lexi deck. Then waited some more. Half an hour or a bit more more went by, and the friendly store clerk came over to let me know that "Well, it looks like nobody showed up today" which I responded to by casually, calmly, knowingly nodding having already accepted the situation.
It wasn't all for nothing, though, and the clerk told me I could still get a promo if I bought a FAB booster pack (the "ticket" to enter the events) and gave them my GEM Player ID.
Loot Material
After I logged into the FAB website to find my ID while they tended to
other customers, I bought one booster pack ($4.27 after tax) and a random promo
card of the color/pitch value of my choice. Having no preference nor knowledge of which cards I might get, nor a strong desire for anything, I chose red.
My foil promo prize.
Choosing which booster pack puzzled me more than I thought it would. I almost got a Tales of Aria pack but figured I had plenty of those already, so I went backwards one set and got a Monarch pack.
The contents of my entry pack.
A foil shadow brute action card with an incredible name: Convolution from the Bellows of Hell.
Very cool.
A majestic rare light action: Soul Food.
I also decided to open up one Tales of Aria booster pack to add to my collection in case I get the chance to set up a webcam to play FAB on Discord soon.
The contents of my Tales of Aria pack.
A very pretty Rites of Replenishment as my foil card.
A new card I hadn't seen yet: Flicker Wisp (yellow), a majestic elemental runeblade action with lightning fusion.
Loot Immaterial
While opening these, I finished sleeving a few cards I left on the table while listening to random customers, the videos on their TV (some with Becca Scott talking about a new board game, others with B. Dave Walters roleplaying during a match of Magic, and game trailers I hadn't seen yet. I considered offering to teach a few of the people roaming around or lingering late, but didn't get the feeling they were in the mood to learn a new card game, so I just watched and listened contently.
Eventually I warmed up a little when a conversation caught my ear, and I joined in. Over the next ten minutes or so I warmed up a little more, and ended up talking with the clerk about card games, roleplaying games, and asked a lot of questions about the store.
Although I didn't gain any experience with Flesh and Blood, and I didn't teach anyone, I did gain experience socializing (albeit only a small amount). More importantly, I think, I got to feel more comfortable in the store learning more about its customers and "vibe" if you will (it's a typical and friendly local game store).
I also got to thinking about how to get other players to show up, who I might be able to convince (and how I might do so without too much effort or time that I don't currently have), and got to wondering about how I could help the store create a better new player experience for anyone that wants to play on Saturdays.
As I left, the clerk gave me one of the Ira welcome decks, which I learned didn't have any equipment, as well as another free welcome deck and rules pamphlet for another game they just got in stock a couple of months ago (Gate Ruler, which I had never heard of and new nothing about until looking it up on BoardGameGeek which had the barest amount of information but led me to learn it is made by Bushiroad, the same publishers of Cardfight!! Vanguard and Weiß Schawrz).
Ira, Crimson Haze. A ninja hero with great art, which only has a young version and is only available as a free welcome deck for new players or the first time you come to an event.
All-in-all, I enjoyed the event, or rather I enjoyed people-watching, pondering, and socializing in a new place beyond the walls of my room and stuffy apartment.
If anyone is from Nebraska or Colorado and plays Flesh and Blood, let me know how your experience has been, where you play, and if you are anywhere near Game On in Kearney, NE or Grand Island, NE. If you know anyone that wants to learn a new dueling card game, I'd love to teach them!
I'll be going to the Kearney store every Saturday at 6 p.m. for FAB Blitz, and possibly Classic Constructed after a couple of weeks.
Thanks for reading! Until next time, take care.
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