It’s crazy that Lorcana hasn’t been out for even a year because it’s already established such a solid place in our lives. Between league nights, friends made through the games, playing at home and online, and constant discussion of existing and upcoming cards, we feel like we’ve been playing Lorcana for years (and that’s a good thing).
However, as a relatively newer game, Lorcana is still building the foundations of its gameplay and community. Among other changes, we have seen tweaks on how League Nights are handled and supported, and the amount of product produced and sold is increasing to meet demand. Their next big feat is establishing their official competitive scene.
Lorcana’s Challenge events, their first official large tournaments, are on the horizon with Atlanta kicking everything off at the end of May (we’ll be there). But first, local shops would be holding their own officially sponsored store championships. Ravensburger unveiled that they would start holding Set Championships. Participating stores would hold tournaments with top prizes including four Enchanted Rockstar Stitch cards and two Rockstar Stitch playmats. Local bragging rights and a limited edition card!
When those were revealed, we immediately knew we needed to figure out how to win one. Of course, everyone else we knew who played Lorcana also felt the same way. As lovers of Stitch as both the character and the card (Rockstar Stitch was a staple of our set 1 Lorcana deck), we felt a sentimental connection to the prize.
Wishes and hopes will only get people so far though, so we knew we needed a game plan.
PREPARING FOR SET CHAMPIONSHIPS:
As soon as set championships were announced, our local community began discussing what decks they would be playing, and as the tournaments drew even nearer, that topic blew up. People were switching up and fine tuning decks. Some wanted to playtest them and ask for feedback. Others were keeping their competitive deck secret, hoping to get an edge through surprise. All the meta relevant decks were popping up. Some went with deck lists straight from winners of unofficial tournaments. Others tried switching them up enough to fit their playstyle, combat other potential meta decks, or to give themselves a bit of unpredictability during games.
While we love building wacky decks and trying to make our own ideas work (see my “Hydra Suppression,” “Challenge and Climb,” or “Mill Wheel” decks), we figured our best shot at victory would be leaning into established meta decks.
The obvious choice seemed be Ruby/Amethyst (RA), which has an established streak of dominance. Yet, we still had our doubts. Would we end up in a bunch of mirror matches, or were we boarding a train that had passed its prime? RA isn’t the king of the mountain that it once was. Lorcana’s competitive circuit has become a lot healthier with many different deck types being viable in serious competition. RA shines because of its draw and removal power, but items and aggro can be serious problems. Even if we went with RA, there are several versions out there. Include locations with Jim Hawkins or forgo him? Madam Medusa or Tremaine? Are either Maleficent Dragon or the little sorceress still worth running? So many questions.
Through Pixelborn, we could test out and play any deck we wanted. The reality, however, is that our actual decks are limited by the cards we own. Without spending a bunch of money to buy singles or borrowing cards, we had to work within our current collection. This really hurt our prospects of playing Emerald since we didn’t own a playset of the double-singer Ursula (we’ve since opened our fourth one!), and Steel was a little more limited by our lack of big Robin Hoods and Tragic Beasts. We also had to factor in a few missing key cards that could impact the shape our decks took in our colors, such as Gifted-with-Healing Rapunzel in Amber or Tamatoa in Sapphire.
Thankfully, after finally deciding on going with RA for myself, Chaos, we discovered we pretty much had what we needed to make that deck work. I went with a deck build that I felt more comfortable playing. I chose Madam Medusa over Tremaine for her targeted removal, but also threw in Dragon Fire and Dragon Maleficent to handle larger threats. I prefer quick draw, so I kept in the sorceress Maleficent and avoided Jim Hawins, but I did include some Queens Castles for potential location lore. I put in one Spellbook to help with the mirror match up. Pinocchio, Merlin crab, and my rushers would help with removal through challenges. Outside of those choices I stuck close to the standard bounce and draw packages that a lot of RA decks run.
Confetti was kind enough to let me choose my deck first because she argues I’m the better player (we disagree there). This made her deck decision even more limited because now she couldn’t do anything with Ruby since we definitely didn’t have enough of the good cards to split between two decks. Amethyst would be iffy, but we had a lot more spare parts to work with there.
Up until game day, Confetti couldn’t decide what to run. She kept coming back to Amber Steel (Steel Song), but she also experimented with Amber/Amethyst aggro and Steel/Amethyst tempo decks, along with a few others. She really wanted to make Sapphire Steel work, but we just couldn’t crack that nut confidently. In the end, she decided Steel Song was probably her best bet, even if she wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable with its playstyle. As I previously stated, we were missing a few big Steel pieces, so we made some substitutions like adding a Big Tinker Bell.
We both kept questioning our deck choices and buildings, but eventually we had to accept that we had what we’d be playing with and we’d just have to do our best. Thankfully, most of the other people I knew locally also seemed to have doubts about their competitive decks and choices, so we were in good company.
Now, all that was left was to compete.
The store we consider our local game store and that we’ve been playing at since Lorana dropped is One Eyed Jacques. We built up a good community there and we’re happy to see so many familiar faces amongst the twenty-six competitors for the first local Set Championship. Confetti felt confident I could win an Enchanted Stitch. I felt much less confident, and simply kept repeating that I’d take it one game at a time and do my best.
Round 1:
Chaos: I was bummed to see that I would be facing one of my good friends first, since that meant one of us would definitely be taking an early game loss. We both played Ruby Amethyst, but our deck builds were very divergent. He went with a more location heavy build, utilizing Jim Hawkins. Through the use of my rushers like Maui, I kept his locations off the board. My Spellbook proved to be my MVP. With a guaranteed one lore per turn, and with my opponent having no item removal, I was able to slowly climb my way to victory each game by simply using enough removal to slow my opponent down. I ended up taking the round 2-0.
Confetti: Confetti sadly got paired with one of the more intense, and often seen as better, local players. He played a more location heavy RA. Confetti admits that she was still getting used to her Steel Song deck, which definitely takes a lot more finesse to properly play and execute, and made some questionable decisions during play. In the end, she ended up 1-2, taking a first round loss.
Round 2:
Chaos: This round, I faced a Steel Song player, who clearly wasn’t as comfortable with his deck. He admitted that he just made the switch this week, and this was his first time playing the deck. These games were extremely one sided, and I took the win 2-0.
Confetti: A mistake was made in the win submissions from the last round, so Confetti was marked as having won her first match up. The error wasn’t realized until the end of the round. This meant that her previous opponent got paired down and Confetti got paired up to a tougher opponent. Thankfully, this didn’t stop a now warmed up Confetti from doing her thing. She went 2-0 this round.
Round 3:
Chaos: It was time for me to face another Steel Song player, but one who was much more capable with the deck. In fact, this player demolished me earlier in the week at league, when I tried taking Confetti’s Steel Song deck out for an in-person test drive. These games were neck and neck, and each one ended within a few points of each other. Thankfully, I proved either a little bit better/or a tiny bit luckier. I took this one 2-1 in my favor.
Confetti: Confetti took on a local player, who doesn’t always have the best win/loss track record, but who was trying an off meta ruby/emerald build that was proving decently successful lately. Confetti reintroduced him to his losing ways and toppled him 2-0.
Round 4:
Chaos: Now we come to my most stressful round. Ugh. I knew if I could win this game, I would be a lock for the top eight cut. The pressure was on. My opponent this round also brought RA to the competition, but he came with a lot of experience with the deck. The two of us have a history of going to time-limit draw because of very even matchups. Knowing his deck and playstyle, I knew I could beat him, but it wouldn’t be easy. Then, he quickly found himself beating me 18-2 lore during our first game. I was being trounced. Yet, somehow, I held him down long enough while I climbed that I beat him in our first game. Our second game stayed neck and neck until he could drop his Merlin goat to squeeze out the one point he needed, otherwise, I would have won on my next turn. Our final game seemed to swing back and forth in terms of control, but I held onto it for most of the game. In fact, it was the first game between us where I ever took the early lead. I managed to maintain the upper hand, and finally ended the round 2-1.
Confetti: Confetti found herself in a rough spot this round, with multiple factors moving against her: 1) A mirror match where the other player got to go first, so she had to compete from behind, 2) She faced my round 3 opponent, the one who crushed Confetti’s deck (under my control) earlier in the week, 3) Confetti sat where she had a good line of sight on me and my face. Confetti claims the stress on my face was evident during this round and it was super distracting. It probably didn’t help that I could also see her, so I definitely made some faces in her direction. Confetti ended this round 1-2, but she said they were all close games.
Round 5:
Chaos: Somehow I found myself one of only two people to have gone 4-0 in my rounds so far, and technically slotted in first overall. I sat down ready to take on my opponent who came off as a bit intense. Then, he asked if I was ready to put in the intentional draw. The what? Turns out all of the other top eight players were putting in intentional draws, to guarantee their slots in the top eight cut. This was new to me. I accepted the draw, since it technically didn’t affect my standing, but it definitely felt odd and anti-climatic (the more I learned about intentional draws over the weekend and their normality at competitions, the more I feel conflicted over them). So, my final record for the swiss tournaments came in as 4-0-1, putting me in top overall for the swiss tournament.
Confetti: Confetti finished off with a strong win. She faced my opponent from round 2, the unconfident Steel Song player. Since I had the time, I came over to watch part of her game. Her opponent definitely improved in playing and avoided several mistakes he made earlier, but Confetti still dominated her match up. Being Confetti she felt a bit bad about it as he took her last round 2-0, and finished with an overall winning record of 3-2.
Top Eight:
Despite Confetti and several others saying they all assumed I’d make the top eight easily, I was in shock. Then I was stressed because I would hate to get so close to winning an Enchanted Stitch (only rewarded to the top four) and to fall short. Of course, this matchup was against a steel emerald discard deck, one of my decks weaknesses. Through some miracle, I picked up the first game win, something that others were impressed and shocked by since they assumed my deck wouldn’t get any wins off the discard deck. The second game went exactly as one would expect, and I took a hard loss. Having trained a bit against discard decks, I knew the avenue that I had to take to have any chance. The third game, I quickly got to inking, playing out my hand, and doing whatever I could do to slow my opponent’s early game down. This put me in a weird place of having to top deck what I needed, but it hurt my opponent’s ability to prey on my hand, and with enough ink down, I could only hope that whatever I drew was worthwhile. In the end, my top deck draws proved a bit better than what my opponent could muster, and I finished 2-1, advancing to the top four.
Top four:
My opponent had a family event going on and conceded the match to me. He was the person I faced and 2-0ed in the first round, so he assumed the same would happen here. Also, he really had to go. All I could do was accept the free win, and advance to the finals.
Finals:
And of course, my final opponent would also be running the emerald steel discard. Sigh. Our first two games were close and split them 1-1. By this time I felt I had a good handle on the discard deck and as long as I was willing to make some hard calls, and got a little lucky, I could pull off the miracle. Then, my deck decided to stop working. My starting hand, even after the mulligan, kept me from playing anything before my fourth turn. By the time I finally had enough ink to hit the field, the game was already decided. I went a few turns trying to do anything, but I was simply delaying the inevitable. I ended the round 1-2 and in second overall for the store championship. Both yay and sigh.
On the brightside, I left with an enchanted Rockstar Stitch card, a new playmat, and a box of booster packs. Overall, a big win and the achievement of something that I didn’t think I could do, even with five shots over the course of a week.
THE OTHER STORE CHAMPIONSHIPS:
This post is probably already long enough, so I won’t go into a full breakdown of the other store championship tournaments I entered (I couldn’t help myself), but I’ll give a quick overview.
Once again, I came wielding a Ruby Amethyst deck. My first three rounds were wins over a decent variety of decks: ruby amethyst, ruby sapphire, and emerald amethyst. At least two of those match ups were ones I didn’t think my deck would handle well. They were close, but I ended up eeking out wins.
Then, during the fourth and fifth round, intentional drawing happened again, once again guaranteeing me my top eight finish. This time I felt a lot crumbier about it, especially since it happened so early. I went with what the expectations seemed to be around me, but I didn’t feel great about it. It makes me happy that this should be less of an issue with Lorcana’s upcoming two-game format for competitions. I think I really need to sit down with myself and evaluate whether I accept that intentional drawing is legal and just part of the competitive scene or whether I need to say I’ll play things out, even if it might hurt me or my opponent’s standings. Intentional draws also reduce the amount of playing I get to do, which is a bit sad in its own way.
My top eight match just added to my guilt. I found myself paired with a local friend, who I really wanted to see win a Stitch. He brought a ruby sapphire deck. I admitted his deck might be the one I feared most. He responded that he wasn’t afraid of my deck, he was afraid of me. I beat my friend 2-0, and felt bad. He was a good sport and seemed to harbor no hard feelings.
Making it to the top four guaranteed me another Stitch. During my Semifinals match, I got matched up with the ruby amethyst deck that I 2-0ed in the first round of the day. This time the game went extremely differently. The first game was close, but didn’t fall in my favor. Then, the second game I drew into all my high cost uninkables while my ink pool was low. This stalling out of my deck put me too far behind, and I ended the round 0-2.
I didn’t do quite as well as the day before, but I still got an enchanted Stitch and a bunch of booster packs. The guy I lost against in the semi finals went on to become store champion (though he actually lost the finals and then gave up most of his prizing to his opponent to be allowed to put in the win, so… that happened). I had a lot of fun while playing and left the game store feeling like a winner, since I still claimed some prizing.
Having already claimed two Stitches, I decided to switch things up. I came with an Amethyst/Sapphire deck that was way off meta that Confetti mostly put together. This oddball deck did pretty well and caught a lot of people off guard (including me sometimes, since it was only a day or two old, and my first time playing this deck in person) In the end though, the deck ended with a winning record of 3-2.
This placed me in 5th place out of 16, which was just outside of this store’s top four cut. It’s worth nothing that this time I found myself on the wrong end of intentional drawing. After watching another player lose, during the final round, two guys realized if they drew mid game, they could both get into the top four. By doing this, they squeezed me out. It sucked to not make the top and lose my chance at competing for the champion status, but I didn’t have any hard feelings. I can’t use a tool and then get mad when it’s used against me. Also, this resulted in four completely new people getting their hands on enchanted Stitches.
Also important, I enjoyed another few hours playing a fun game with good people. The Blurple (as Confetti calls it) deck is a wacky good time.
Originally Confetti and I were going to be able to go to this tournament together. Then, my mother had to pull out of babysitting. I offered to let Confetti go, or to simply skip this one all together, but she really pushed for my participation. She wanted me to become a champion and to support the other store I attend regularly for Lorcana League.
I decided to go, with the understanding that I’d dip out early if my win/loss record started to look bad. Once again, I put together the Ruby/Amethyst deck and headed out to battle.
My swiss record ended up as 3-1-1, securing the 4th place and entry into the top eight single elimination round. To get there, I beat emerald/amethyst, ruby/sapphire, and emerald/steel decks. My loss was to a ruby/amethyst deck that overran me with locations. Losing in the second round made me nervous, but I bounced back fine, even if it meant beating some people I consider friends.
Of course, my quarter finals match was against a good friend of mine. I hated that one of us might knock the other out. I also hated that I felt he might have the better matchup against me. In the end, I 2-0ed him. It does suck to end a friend’s run. It also turned out that I was the only one to beat him so far in any of the tournaments he participated in that week.
With that win I secured another Stitch, but I wouldn’t go any further than that. My next match was against the ruby/amethyst that beat me earlier in the day. My match up against him once again went 1-2. Both rounds, our first two games were close, but the third ended up very lopsided in his favor.
Alas, I didn’t make it to the finals, but I still claimed third place and left with a bunch of packs and a very shiny card.
Unplugged hosted the final set championship tournament in the area, though one also ran slightly earlier in the day across town. It turns out I ended up at the location with the larger turn out, and what I would consider the tougher competition. I had no regrets though because it also happened to be the location with more people I consider myself closer to, and the later start time also meant I had more time with my son in the morning.
Mirroring the day before, my swiss record came in as 3-1-1, with the loss coming in during the second round. This time my loss came at the hands of a ruby/amber deck that had a crazy draw and board presence. I wish I had the cards to build that deck list.
Once again, I made the top eight, and again I found myself sitting across from a friend. He admittedly was super nervous about the game, even though I assured him that he had it. He had a super strong match up against my deck unless I drew exactly the cards I needed at just the right time. Those magical draws did happen… during our second game. The first and second were firmly his the whole time.
It stunk not completing my playset of Stitches, but I enjoyed getting to play. Also, two of my friends who hadn’t earned Stitches won theirs that day, which made me happy too.
THE WRAP UP:
Since I’ve definitely said enough at this point, all I can say is that I liked getting to play Lorcana competitively. I am both excited and nervous about the upcoming Atlanta challenge event, but I am hoping for the best. I am also keeping high hopes that there will be another round of set championships announced not too far into the future.
It would be nice though if everyone got a promo card and they extended enchanted promos to the top eight. I know it really hurts for people to make the top eight cut and then miss the promo by one round. Maybe I’m too much of a softie, but I would love for more people to be able to leave with something.
Chaos & Confetti 
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