In the spirit of our promo card, we asked people to submit stories of people who are building communities around this amazing game. And we had some great stories shared with us! But first, our winners' list...
Owen Rasch and nominee Kyle Gatlin
Jake Suyak and nominee Riker Chance
Charles and nominee Dylan Bailey
Mike Bryant and nominee John Anderson
AJ DeSantis and nominee Kris Schnell
Michael Tong and nominee Yaqiong Ju
We'll be e-mailing our winners to discuss shipping; if your name is on the list and you don't hear from us this weekend, please reach out.
We've picked out some highlights from the stories shared by our entries. I hope you see yourself and your community represented in some of the themes below, and realize that people notice even the small things.
"Jon is an avid FaB fan who was willing to make sacrifices for his fellow fans that make him an unsung hero. For the ProTour Baltimore, he gave up his shot to judge the event in order to help make sure that our local Rachel (the cosplay winning Nitro Mechanoid) setup for Saturday. Due to costume failures during transit, Jon also gave up his chance to play at the Calling to help support the costume."
"Marcus works in conjunction with [our local shop] to market/advertise, and run Blitz events there. He has built a library of bulk cards for newer players to pick through and create deck lists. He's active in assisting them with learning the game and beginning their journey with any given hero. He's a super knowledgeable player to work with and is always active there, and in our community's local Discords."
"Jerrica and her husband Mike are pillars of the community. They are incredibly kind to new and enfranchised players, offering to bring them the commons and rares out of their bulk and helping them get off the ground. They both have taken the level 1 judge tests so they can do that when needed; there are many times when Jerrica has chosen to not play in an Armory to help out the new players with the rules. They have both helped to cultivate a culture of kindness at our Armory events. People are willing to let others take things back when they realize a mistake, and we've all come to learn to pass on the CF promo each kit once we have one, to help spread the love."
"Our store shut down a month ago, and It was very disappointing to lose [our FAB scene]. Two of our local players wanted to see it continue; so in less that a month's time, they reopened it under a different name and business, and made it Rathe themed, literally looks like an old time tavern, it's insane!"
"Yaqiong Ju has single-handedly amplified the FAB scene in Singapore. When the market was collector-heavy, she was the one building dozens of starter decks to give out on her own time. She’s literally brought hundreds of players into the FAB scene and done it in such a way that they not only feel her love for the game but [pass on] that feeling. Every area should be lucky enough to have an organizer of her caliber; the scene in Singapore would not be where it’s at now without her."
Editor's Note: Yaqiong Ju was nominated 3 times!
"Don was instrumental in getting FAB started in our local community - and throughout the country. Him and his team spend time building large amounts of starter decks for heroes. If anyone has a hero deck with a critical games sticker on the box, that came from Don. I know this numbered into the hundreds."
"Despite the tough job of running a store, Richard always puts the locals first. I got into the game in November and he got me a great intro to the game. I picked a hero and bought some singles, and at my first Armory he had an Iyslander mat set aside for me! I’ve never known someone more generous. Recently he hosted and ran a charity tournament for a player who lost his whole collection in a car crash."
"Kyle frequently gives away playmats that he wins as People's Champion. Kyle actively advocates recycling and goes around the game shops in my local area collecting wrappers and boxes. He has even turned common cards and plastic wrappers into pin badges and key chains."
"Adam is an incredibly good and generous player. I know he could beat me at FaB any day of the week, with any deck; but he sometimes brings along jank decks for fun, because he knows that the game is about more than just winning every time."
"Elias is a rock in my community. With his positive spirit, excitement and openness, he helps all kinds of players into the community, from TCG veterans to those new to the TCG genre. For the kids in our community, he is a role model. He helps them with tips, cards and entries, but also gives solid life advice, fostering a new generation of FAB players."
"'Daddy Tino' as we like to call him is giving away cards to new players for free. They tell him what hero they want to play and he will give them a big stack of commons and rares to get started. When I got into the game last year he gave me way over 100 ranger cards to get started for my now favorite hero Azalea. I can tell you that his good deeds for the community didn‘t go unnoticed."
"There are a lot of upstanding members of my community, but one that sticks out is Jonathen. He is a player that is friends with everyone in the community both local and at large. He also has been working with other players to try to develop his own Flesh and Blood subgame called Kan-Kan where players play a Kano mirror using a shared deck!"
"Chris had known I was a major Assassin fan. He not only gifted me his ProTour Arakni package, but also took time out of his play to grab me a site exclusive Arakni Huntsman mat."
"When I was new to FAB, Steve was one of the reasons I kept coming back to my LGS. He's friendly to a fault, and he never failed to greet me, ask me how I was doing, and give me a tip or two on how to improve my game. It took away the sting of the losses and helped me to feel like a part of the FAB community, rather than just an outsider."
"KC comes in 2 hours early to every armory to teach new players, and then once they get hooked, will lend out any and all legendaries they need for their decks from a quiver filled with all the legendaries in the game that he brings for that purpose."
"Howard is an L2 judge that took me under his wing to mentor for L2 and does awesome things for the community. His most recent deed is making rainbow foil buttons out of foil FAB cards that he had me had out to people I had positive interactions with."
"I just recently got Ben into [the game], but he’s hooked! He actually bought me a cold foil Lexi for Frederico to sign as thanks for getting him into the game!"
Thank you to everyone who entered and shared their amazing stories of community builders!