When I signed up to play at seven Disney 🔯Lorcana Set Championships over two weekends, I just wanted to have as many chances as possible to finish in the top four. That’s the cut-off to earn the promo card - an Enchanted version of Stitch, Rock Star - and I had very little confidence that I would be able to do it.
Lorcana 🧜is my first physical TCG, and these Set Championship events would be my first taste of competitive card playing. I’ve invested so much of my ti🦩me, energy, and money into this game that the idea of not winning at least one Stitch was unacceptable to me. So I signed up for every event I could, just to increase my chances.
My goal was one promo card in seven ♐tries, and after the first four events, I’ve already won four, plus one second-place playmat, and one champion playmat. I’m confident that makes me the first person in the world to win a full playset of promos. If thinking about playing in four events over three days exhausts you, just imagine how tired I am.
The Hardest Part Of Lorcana's First Set Championship Is Choosing The Right Deck
There🧸 are plenty of great decks to choose from, but whi💎ch one is best for Into the Inklands' Set Championship?
I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how I did it, where I played, what my matchups were like, and how I managed to squeeze four full events into one weeken🀅d. Mostly, people just keep asking me wh♉y I would do this to myself.
I took a lot of notes throughout the weekend as a way to empty my mind between rounds and stay in the moment during each game, so now that it’s over I can tell you exactly how I managed to pull it off. Hopefully, something here will help you succeed in your own Set Championships. It will almost certainly make you feel better about not competing in four events over three days. There was a price🌊 to be paid for glory, and though I don’t regret any of it, I doubt I’ll ever do anything like this again.
Day 1 - GMI Games In Riverside, California
11:30am - I have a coaching session scheduled with , an incredibly accomplished player with a dozen top-eight finishes at large Lorcana tournaments. I have been practicing hard for this Set Championship. I play twice a week at my local game store, Kingslayer Games, and I’m constantly testing new ideas on Pixelborn. I recently started a team with a few friends, including co-host James Riley, and we’ve been working togetheꦐr as much as possible to prepare for these events.
Just before leaving for the event, Zach and I spend an hour talking about my Ruby/Amethyst deck, my matchups, and my plan for the weekend. It’s half strategy, half therapy session as I unload all of the stress and the pressure I’m putting on myself to s🧔ucceed. We talk about confidence and mindset more than the actual game, but he also coaches me through a few matches on Pixelborn just to make sure my play lines are right and I’m making the best decisions in the moment.
Just as our session is ending he watches me ink a game-winning Madam Mim, Snake and lose to a Ruby/Sapphire deck. That game didn’t matter, but a mistake like that could rui🌜n my chance of getting a Stitch this weekend. I think ab🧸out that misplay the entire 45-mile drive to GMI Games.
If you like this kind of hour-to-hour breakdown, you should check out , a fantastic travelogue about our trip to Japan for last year's Pokemon World Championship.
6:30pm - I arrive at GMI and meet up with my teammate James. This is the only store within two hours running an event today, and it normally doesn’t have its own Lorcana scene. I recognize a lot of well-known competitive TCG players from 😼Orange County and some Lorcana content creators. This is a 53-player tournament, and I’ve already decided there’s no chance I’🔯m winning a Stitch here. I relax a bit. This one is just for practice.
10:00pm - I somehow breeze through my first three rounds, taking down two Steelsong and an Emerald/Amethyst deck 2-0. These are matchups I have a lot of practice playing aꦏgainst at my local store and I’m confident against them. But in round four I’m paired up against the one deck I was hoping to dodge the entire weekend: Emerald/Steel Aggro Discard.
Last week, Ryan Miles won a 5K tournament at SCG Atlanta, and the deck instantly became the new hotness at my local store. 🥀Aggro and Discard are both difficult archetypes for Ruby/Amethyst; put them together and you’ve got an extremely unfavorable matchup for my deck.
Our first round is a complete blow-up. My opponent wins the die roll and floods the board with Flynn Riders and Cursed Merfolk to win the game on turn six. In game two his Prince John, Greediest of All is nowhere to be found, and I’m able to starve him out of cards and win the game. I’m back on the draw ꦿin the next game, but this time I’m able to keep my hand size healthy with multiple Merlin, Rabbits in play and slow his momentum just in time to turn things around. I win 2-1 and go into the next round undefeated.
11:00pm - I’m now the only undefeated player in the tournament. Because it’s getting so late, the store owner decides that we’re only going to play one more game before top cut instead of the t🎃wo more that were planned. My next opponent is a Pixelborn Grand Master who goes b🦹y .
He’s tied one game, and 🐼losing one could put him out of contention for top cut. I offer him the draw instead so we can both take a break. James has already lost two gam♎es, so he decides to head back to the hotel we’re sharing to get some sleep.
12:30am - My top eight oppon💟ent is playing an Amber/Ruby deck that’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. In our first game he plays Painting the Roses Red on turn two just to draw a card, and on turn three he plays Dinner Bell. I have no idea what I’m up against, so I do my best to curve out and I take the first game easily.
Game two goes much be꧟tter for him, but I still win in the end. I continued to hear stories about this player all throughout the weekend at different events. People were terrified of this deck. ꦰApparently, it’s very good, and he got very unlucky in our match. Empty Apartment wins his top eight match too.
1:30am - I’m now in the top four and guaranteed to win a Stitch. My opponent is playing Ruby/Amethyst as well. I make a joke about the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:coin-flip problem by saying that I guess we’ll let the die roll decide who wins. He thinks I’m being serious a💦nd is eager to take me up on that offer. He tells me he has to be at w🅷ork in two hours.
I want to play it out, he goes first, and we have three hard-fought rounds. In game three I don’t see a single Merlin, Rabbit until it’s almost over. My opponent 🉐takes the win, but I’m happy with my promo card.
3:00am - My top four opponent concedes in the final so he can make it to work on time, we’re all given our prizes, including a bunch of pins and promo cards from the store's organized play kit, and I make the 20-minute drive to the hotel. My head hits the pillow right before 4am, and I’m out like a light.
4:30am - I wake up to the unmistaka🥀ble sound of a deep, horrifying, wall-shaking death rattle. I 🌄am certain a killer has broken into our hotel room and is cutting James in half with a chainsaw. A second later my brain starts working properly and I realize that horrible sound is James snoring.
I know I’m not𓃲 going to make it through this weekend without a few hours of sleep, so I leave the room and climb into the backseat of my car. It takes me another hour to settle in there, but I manage to knock out for threeꦉ solid hours.
Day 2 - Ready, Set, Game In Menifee And TinyTCGShop In Pomona, California
10:30am - I show up just in time for the next event. James is already here, and so is one of my other teammates, Scott. This is Scott’s home store, and the players at this event are a mix of re♑gulars and people I saw at GMI the night before. Some people are frustrated about💛 the way that event was run and the sudden end of Swiss after Round 5.
One person offers to buy my Stitch. James reminds me that ⛎we’re registered for another tournament in Pomona at 6:30, so if we scrub out before the top cut here we’ll have time to make it thꦛere. I realize that I need to set a new goal if I’m going to play in all these events, so I set my sights on a playmat.
I oꦬpen my ten prize packs from last night,🅰 and pull an Enchanted Chernabog.
11:00am - The tournament begins and my first opponent introduces himself. I beat his brother ♒in the first round at GMI the night before, and now they’re both here for a second try. I beat him, then get rematched with his brother in round two. I tell him to call his parents down here because I’m taking down the whole family. His deck is slightly diඣfferent from the night before, but I have no problem taking this match 2-0 as well.
2:00pm - James and I are both 3-0 going into round four and we get matched up. We decide we’d rather both have a shot at making top cut 🦂so we intentionally draw and spend an hour eating lunch instead. Scott is 1-1-1 now, and he thinks he doesn’t have a chance anymore, but plays anyway.
In the next round, my opponent is the only undefeated player at 4-0 after a first-round bye. He🌸 and I, as well as James and his opponent, all take another draw to guarantee our spots. Scott finishes Swiss 3-1-1 and makes the t✃op cut too. Unfortunately, he and I get paired against each other.
4:00pm - Scott has two extremely unfortunate starting hands and I’m able to win our ma🌠tch 2-0. James wins his match, so now I have two Rock Stars and James just got his first.
5:00pm - If we don’t leave now, we won’t make it to Pomona in time to pla🃏y in the next event. I’m exhausted and want to stay and play it out for the playmat, but James doesn’t feel confident he can win the next𒁃 round. We decide to concede to our opponents and leave them to fight for first place. This is widely regarded as a very stupid thing to do by everyone, except the two players we conceded to.
6:00pm - We make it to TinyTCGShop in Pomona, and true to its name, it’s an astonishingly small store. Four of the 15 players in the tournament had tℱo play next door in a tax prep off♉ice.
Before we start, the organizer explains that running Swiss and cutting to top four will take too much time, and since th🔯e store isn’t in a safe area, the top cut players will have to come back the next day. No one likes that, so instead he decides we’re 🧔just going to play Swiss until we have one undefeated player and let the tournament software decide the top four.
My first round is against a 🌞B🧔lue/Steel deck, the first one I’ve played against all weekend. We end up drawing, but my opponent and I both agree I would have won the third game if we had a little more time.
10:00pm - I play a mirror match in round two and win 2-0. James and I are paired up for round three and he’s already lost one game, so we have no choice but to play it out. We’re both deliriously tired but I manage to 🐻beat him 2-0.
My fourth and final round is against a Ruby/Sapphire player🃏 and I ൲beat him 2-0 as well. My final record is 3-0-1, which means I’m in second place and I get my third Stitch and first playmat. The only prize left to win is the champion playmat.
11:00pm - I try to leave as quickly and incon🌌spicuously as possible, suddenly very aware of the value of the items in my backpack. As I leave the store, a sex worker shouts something at me from across the ☂street.
I turn the corner and head down the unlit street where my car is parked, and start🐼 running. I’m home 40 minutes later with three Enchanted Stitch promos, a playmat, and an Enchanted Chernabog that I didn’t have the day before.
Day 3 - Atomic Comics In Artesia, California
8:30am - I show 🐓up for my fourth and final event of the weekend at a store I haven’t played at since The First Chapter. Atomic Comics used to be one of my weekly go-tos when it was much harder to find cards, but it had the most expensive product, the highest entry fees, and the worst prizes of all the stores I tried, so after a couple of months I stopped going. James is playing at a different store today so I really stick out like a sore thumb here.
As people roll in for the 24-player event the vibe is very casual. Everyone here is a league player and they all know each other. Many of them are brothers and sisters or boyfriend and g🍸irlf⛦riend. There’s a mom and dad there playing with their young kid.
Before we start I’m getting a lot of looks and questions about where I’m from. I tell everyone who asks that I used to play at this store🌌 frequently. I learned about a few house rules this league has, like giving the win to the player who has the most lore when time runs out in a𒊎 round. Thankfully, the store owner, Eric, says they’re going to follow the actual rules for this event. Eric is also participating in the tournament, so he’s brought a friend in to judge.
9:30am - After a lot of confusion about using the tournament system, we finally kick things off with round one. My opponent is playing an Amethyst/Steel Jafar deck with 80 cards. He tells me he had to cut his list down from 100. I start🔯 to think I have a real chance at finishing this weekend with a complete playset of promos, but I push any thoughts of the champion playmat out of my mind so I can focus on the game in front of me.
12:30pm - I’m 3-0 aft💝er the🐻 first three rounds and I haven’t dropped a single game. Everyone else I’ve played against is running popular meta decks. At the end of round three, Eric announces we’re taking a lunch break and everyone chips in for pizza. I run out to get a sandwich instead, but I come back to eat with everyone else when their food arrives.
I can feel the tension around me after winning my first three rounds, so I use lun🐼ch time to try to get to know the people there better. Their energy and enthusiasm is infectious and it seems like a really fun league to be part of. I mention my work for TheGamer and 🉐the I made with co-designer and brand manager Ryan Miller, and that manages to win a lot of them over. Most of them had seen that video and recognize me from it. The mood shifts a bit going into round four.
1:30pm - My opponent for round four has a 2-1 record and won’t have a shot at making the top cut if I beat her, so I offer her a draw instead. She takes the draw but she wants to play anyway to see what would happen, and Iℱ win 2-0.
In the final round of Swiss, my opponent introduces himself and says this is a full-circle moment for him. He tells me that right when The First Chapter came out, I taught him how to play Lorcana here at this store. We intentionally draw, and I⛎ take a bathroom break.
When I return, Eric the store owner scolds me for intentionally drawing. He says I didn’t ask if that was allowed and everyone else is here to play the game. I tell him there’s no rule against drawing in Lorcana but he’s still upset about it. Despite taking time out of his match to argue with me about draws, he wins his game and ends up in 8th place, 🎃making the top cut.
Intentio♕nally drawing is a common event 💙in competitive TCG.
5:30 - My top eight opponent is the mom, and to🌊p four was my round-five opponent I drew with. They both played Steelsong, an🎀d I won both games decisively 2-0. My final opponent is the dad playing a Ruby/Amethyst deck.
He wins the die roll, and has an explosive start in game one. He plays Pinocchio on turn two to exert and banish my Raജfiki, then floods the board with surfer Minnies and Prince Erics so fast that I can’t stop him. When he reaches 20 lore, I’m still at zero.
Game two is m🀅uch easier to control. He still tries to raceꦆ me with his characters, but I’m able to stay ahead of him while taking favorable trades. He’s playing like he wants to get this game over fast so he can start the next game and go first again.
In game three I keep three oꦕne-drops in my hand in the mulligan. I ink a Minnie Mouse, Always Classy and play my Raf♎iki, expecting him to pull the same Pinnochio trick again. He does, and I play another Rafiki on turn two.
This forces him to sl🅠ow down just enough that I eventually get control of the board before he can close it out and force him into top deck mode. I’m able to remove his characters one at a time with Lady Tremaines and Madame Medusas, and win the final game of the championship.
6:30 - It’s been 48 hours since I arrived at GMI Games in Riverside to play in my first competitive Lorcana event, and I now have a full playset of Stitch promos and both tournament playmats. I experienced a full spectrum of Set Championship events from fairly casual to hyper-competitive, and while I certainly wouldn’t compare this experience to playing in an actual large-scale tourname൲nt like the upcoming Disney Lorcana Challenge in Atlanta, I’m proud of what I managed to achieve this weekend.
I didn’t lose a single match in Swiss rounds the entire weekend, and while I intentionally drew five times across four events, none of them helped me make top cut; they were just n꧟ice mental breaks that helped me make it all the way through four events.
I learned a lot about what it takes to succeed in a competitive environment, and I’m happy that I can use what I’ve learned to encourage other people entering their first tournaments. I couldn’t have asked for better results from my first go, and I can’t believe I have three mo💮re chances to compete next weekend. Many others will complete their playsets - and some have already outperformed me by finishing first in multiple events - but damn does it feel good to be the first.
