Reflections on FAB Nationals 2026

Two weeks on from the 5th Vietnamese National Championship the dust has settled. Let's take this time to reflect on what actually happened.

Victor Goldmane 5

Arakni, Marionette   4

Kassai of the Golden Sand   3

Fai, Rising Rebellion   3

Rhinar, Reckless Rampage  3 

Vynnset, Iron Maiden   2

Gravy Bones, 2

Katsu, the Wanderer   2

Dash I/O  2

1 of Heros

Fang, Dracai of Blades   

Kayo, Underhanded Cheat   

Maxx 'The Hype' Nitro   

Oscilio, Constella Intelligence   

Marlynn, Treasure Hunter   

Cindra, Dracai of Retribution   

Jarl Vetreiði   

Prism, Awakener of Sol   

Hala, Bladesaint of the Vow   

Aurora, Legacy of Tempest   

Ser Boltyn

Constructed Metagame

            With such a diverse hero spread there was no obvious hero to attack the metagame. In these situations the best choice is simply, the best deck. For 2026 in my opinion this was Victor, Fai or Gravy Bones. As Simon Nielsen says, if you are not playing the best deck you are playing a bad deck.

I am completely aware that for the majority of our community the best deck is the deck we have at home. However, these are the kinds of thought experiments which are interesting but also important for those who wish to take FAB more seriously. If I had to pick a hero knowing that this would be the field I think the best choice was actually Oscilio, Constella Intelligence.

Draft Metagame

Pod 1 – Winner – Aurora. 1 Ziggy, 3 Oscillio, 4 Aurora

Pod 2 – Winner – Oscillio. 1 Oscillio, 3 Ziggy, 4 Aurora

Pod 3 – Winner – Oscillio. 2 Oscillio, 3 Ziggy, 3 Aurora

Pod 4 – Winner Solo Aurora

Pod 5 – Winner Solo Oscillio

In almost every case the least drafted hero won their draft pods which should be no surprise. What was suprising however was that there was a solo drafter in 4/5 pods. This was probably due to the lack of class ratios in packs which is new in FAB and then a weakness in reading signals across our community. Something to work on.

In Omens draft the deck archetypes are very narrow, the respective decks all look the same. For example any Ziggy deck is a pile of fragment cards and 1-3 Auric Shards to end the game. If you compare with High Seas from last year a Gravy deck could have 1 ally or it could be up to 5 and the way which that deck plays is significantly different. Puffin and Marlynn had 2 weapons to build their decks around. In time I think we will look back on Omens as an OK draft set, not great and not bad. I understand that making the Majestics weak in draft makes the games less swingy ( Manifestations of Miragai ) but there also needs to be elements to reward creative deckbuilding.

What is really good about FAB limited is that building/drafting your deck is not the be all and end all, you also have to play the game. I was able to win my pod despite being 1 of 4 Aurora because I intentionally arsenaled 1 of my 2 tall arcane prevention cards even at the sacrifice of tempo. Ziggy and Oscillio always try to kill you with tall arcane but commit their hand to doing so, having an answer at that time often ended the game.  

Top 8 Bracket

        Looking at the final bracket things look really good for our Oscillio, if he can get past Rhinar, which is pretty 50/50, he has two byes. Mario and Kassai are absent despite high representation which interestingly we also saw worldwide.

In terms of our players, 5 of the Top 8 including both finalists achieved the goal of a Nationals Top 8 for the first time. This is fantastic to see and a big congratulations to them!

Now take a moment to pretend that you are in this top 8 with the hero that you took to your nationals and see if you would be happy.

Dash I/O – may as well drop to play the WCQ.

Kassai – don’t hate it don’t love it.

Gravy Bones – no mistakes I should win.

Perhaps you just needed to improve your draft record - every Pod winner except for the bottom pod made the Top 8. Or perhaps you already made your first mistake at deck registration.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope that it was useful to you or at least thought provoking in a positive way.