One of my favorite things about attending the Pokemon World Championship Series each year are the side events. These tournaments aren't streamed, you don't need to qualify to enter them, and you might not even know if they exist if you're not in the competitive Pokemon TCG scene, but side events are the lifeblood of the Pokemon community - and equally important to the tournament itself. These creative, casual events let everyone get involved regardless of their skill level or seasonal record, and offer the opportunity to experience the Pokemon TCG in new and refreshing ways.
I'd like to believe that Lorcana will have its own version of Pokemon Worlds someday. Starting in Summer 2024, Ravensburger will launch an official tournament circuit for the game, which is something I'm excited to cover, participate in, and watch as it grows and matures. As much as I'm looking forward to seeing what the competitive environment for Lorcana looks like, I'm even more excited for the side events. If there was ever a TCG built for wacky, experimental game modes, it's Lorcana.
Pokemon side events include a wide range of interesting formats. The most popular is the Gym Leader Challenge, in which participants must build heavily-restricted decks that only contain one color or type of Pokemon, no more than one copy of each card, and only cards without rule boxes. The format allows for more experimentation than Standard and always results in unique builds with lots of off-meta cards, making matches more exciting because you never know what your opponent will do next. Other side events include Palace Format, which let's players use much older cards and build decks based on a custom power system, 2v2, which has a unique three-lane board layout, and and Raid Format, a cooperative game mode where players work together to take down a giant raid boss Pokemon. None of these game modes are formats players will typically play at their LGS league night, which makes the opportunity to play them at an event even more exciting.
It's Getting Easier To Recognize Bad Lorcana Cards With Good Abilities
Understanꦓding the meta and why the best decks are so strong can help us make better predictions about new Lorcana cards.
We've already seen some of the side events that could be featured at a Lorcana tournament. At Pax Unplugged last month, Ravensburger hosted a 2v2 event and introduced a new game mode called Willpower League: a king-of-the-hill style competition in which players earn more points the longer they go undefeated. These are just the start of the kinds of side events that could be offered at an official tournament, but it's easy to imagine so many more ways to play Lorcana.
With multiplayer being such a big focus for Lorcana, it's possible we'll see 2v2 become a full-fledged competitive game mode eventually. As a casual game mode, there could be separate events for three-player, four-player, even all the way up to eight or more. There's also potential for asymmetrical game modes where teams of different sizes have different rule sets. Imagine a raid boss event where everyone plays against one super-powered player.
Mono-color decks could have their own format, but fans would be even happier to see events for theme decks based on characters, movies, or classifications. Frozen decks, Princess decks, and Pirate decks might not have a place in the meta (yet) but side events could carve out a place for them and give people a way to play with their favorite homebrews on an even play♑ing field.
The competitive circuit is only one kind of Lorcana event we'll see next year. Ravensburger also announced that it will be hosting fan events too, so players that aren't focused on the competitive side of the game will have a way to meet up and celebrate Lorcana as well. I can only assume a lot of these casual game modes will find a place at those events as well, but I hope big competitive events will always have a space for every kind of Lorcana player too. The sweats still need a way to kick back and enjoy some less serious ways to play the game once they're knocked out of the tournament, after all.
Lorcana's flexibility is one of its best qualities, and I can't wait to see what kind of unique and creative side events Ravensburger comes up with to complement the competitive scene. If Willpower League and 2v2 at PAX are any indication, there will be plenty of focus on events other than 1v1 once events officially kick off next summer.
