Chaos & Confetti

Chaos here!

IT CALLS ME

I mentioned before that I played Magic: The Gathering at an earlier stage of my life, even going as far as co-founding a Magic club back in high school.  During my MTG days, I played with friends, went to game stores, and even took part in a few local competitions.  

Meanwhile, Confetti never played a single trading card game.  When we first started dating, I mentioned I used to play Magic and missed it a bit, but that TCGs can be a big hobby and I accepted letting them go.  She encouraged me to play again if I wanted to, but showed no interest in TCGs herself.  I offered to teach her a few times with decks I had around.  She always declined.

So, when Disney and Ravenburger announced their trading card game Lorcana, I took interest because it mixed my love of Disney animation and card games but I also accepted that I probably wouldn’t be playing.  However, if you follow our blog or social media accounts, you already know that I did end up playing Lorcana.  Not only that, Confetti also picked up the game with me as some of the first people playing back at GenCon 2023.  

Since then, I’ve become a regular at our local leagues, Confetti has logged countless hours on Pixelborn (an online version of Lorcana), and we’ve competed in our local set championships.  The funny thing is that even though I really enjoy the game, I don’t think I’d be as invested and involved if it wasn’t for Confetti.  She loves Lorcana!

You can double check with her, but I’m pretty sure Lorcana is her absolute number one game right now.  It calls her. She must play, collect, and play some more.

A WHOLE NEW WORLD

When Ravensburger announced that they would be holding Challenge events, major competitions with big prizes, we knew we had to go.  We ended up not landing any tickets during the original sales window, but thankfully, joining the waitlist paid off and we snagged tickets when the player cap grew from 512 to 2048.

I said that I’ve been to some larger local tournaments for MTG back in the day, and both Confetti and I have been tried our hands at Set Championships about a month ago, but The Lorcana Challenge event would be a whole new world to us.

The challenge would also be a new kind of beast for most players thanks to the shift from a best-of-three format to a two game format.  Let’s look at the tournament details:

The Challenge would be held over two days.  The first day would be made up of nine rounds of swiss, with each round lasting 45 minutes. Every round would also be contested in a two game format.  Each player would have a chance to go first once, with a randomly decided player (usually by dice roll) getting to pick whether they would be on the play or draw first.  

Each win would count as three points, with a perfect 2-0 victory over an opponent awarding an additional point, for the possibility of seven points total.  So, a player could end a round with an additional 0 points for no wins, 3 points for one win, or 7 points for two wins.  

It should be noted that the number of second game wins would be considered if tie breakers were needed.

The second day of the Challenge would revert to a single elimination style tournament, with rounds being held in a best-of-three fashion.

With Atlanta being the first ever Lorcana Challenge, many were looking to make history. 

BE PREPARED

Since the Atlanta Lorcana Challenge was scheduled to take place only a week after the game store release of set 4, Ursula’s Return, only set three and earlier cards would be legal for the main tournament (newer cards could be used in side events).

We were thankful for that decision for a few reasons.  The biggest was that we wouldn’t have to scramble to get cards and assemble decks in less than a week.  We also felt we knew the current meta and card library pretty well.  Finally, we had a few set three decks assembled, so we had a foundation to start with.

Now the challenge became figuring out what to take to Atlanta.  I decided to go with a ruby/amethyst build.  Ruby/Amethyst earned me three enchanted Stitches locally, so I felt comfortable with the deck as a whole.  However, I had seen the meta starting to trend faster with a lot more emerald decks popping up, so I shifted my deck to have a lower and more aggro curve.  I dropped my large Maleficent dragons, cut down a Be Prepared, and removed a lot of my tech cards (Maui’s Fishhook, Teeth and Ambitions, etc.).  Instead, I opted for an additional one drop, adding in evasive 3-drop Minnie Mouses, and a few quicker options.  Most importantly, I added some Pan’s Shadows as my new evasive counter, who could also quest for two lore when needed.

Confetti had a lot more difficulty choosing which deck to run.  Her heart told her Sapphire/Amethyst (Blurple), but she questioned that decision since it would be an off-meta choice that seemed to either dominate a game or whimper out without the proper draw and ramp components.  For weeks, Confetti practiced with Blurple, while also throwing together and playtesting other decks, including Steel Song, hyper-aggro, and an emerald/amethyst tempo deck.  In the end, she finally committed to Blurple, recognizing that even though she wasn’t 100% confident in her deck, almost no one going would be.

For those curious, Confetti’s deck used detective Mickeys and One Jump Aheads to ramp.  She included the standard purple bounce package but included the seven-drop Dragon Mim as a potential closer.  Cruella De Vil acted as both a hitter and an answer to evasive.  Her draw came through Chernabog’s Followers, Merlin Rabbits, a single 3-drop Grandma Tala, and Friends on the Other Side.  Cogsworth would be protecting her board state with his gift of resist.  Confetti worried a bit about removal, but Hades could handle most threats, while a Talkative Pupet Pinocchio could open up some threats to elimination.  She also ran the larger Yzma for removal, but it did come with the drawback of giving opponents cards.  Finally, Confetti included some McDuck Manors for passive lore gain.

On Pixelborn, Confetti tended to win more than she lost, and she hoped that an off-meta deck might catch a few opponents off guard, giving her a slight advantage as they tried to figure out what to do against her. 

Leading up to the Challenge Event, we logged countless in-person and digital games with our decks.  As much as possible, we wanted to be prepared, but eventually the time came.  Ready or not, we were off to Atlanta.  

GO THE DISTANCE

This isn’t a travel blog, so I’ll keep this short.  We drove eight hours to get to Atlanta, and thankfully, we saw almost no real traffic.  Once Ravensburger announced that early check-in would result in a free promo for guests, we also made sure to get in earlier on Friday, so we could grab our Flotsam & Jetsam cards.

While we didn’t get to see as much of Atlanta because of the competition, it still seemed to have a lot to offer.  We hit up the World of Coke, while others we knew did things like visit the aquarium, check out the College Football Hall of Fame, and attend a Braves game.  

MomoCon also took place in the same building as The Lorana Challenge.  While we didn’t get to see much of it, it was really neat seeing so much awesome cosplay.

I’VE GOT A DREAM

For everyone going to Atlanta, if they made it to the third round of play they would get a special Dragon Fire promo card.  After that, the only additional promos and prizes would be awarded to the top 64 and above.  I heard people mentioning some of the top prizes might be able to go for a total of over six-figures.  

Confetti and I both dreamt of making it to day two, but feared it might be out of reach.  Somehow making it to the top 128-ish also seemed like a longshot, but that was what we set our sights on.  We had a dream. Could we make it happen?

HOW FAR I’LL GO (CONFETTI’S VERSION)

Confetti came in a bit nervous that she’d embarrass herself, losing games left and right.  I tried to remind her that we could only do our best, but that she also tended to play well with the deck she had.  Confetti decided to set a goal for herself.  She aimed to be in the top half of all players at the event.

Confetti’s final results were three 2-game wins, one 2-game loss, and 5 1-1 game splits for a total of 36 points.  Despite her fears, Confetti did very well.  Her purple faced a bunch of different types of decks, except for ruby/amethyst which is unfortunate since she feels she does best against it.  

From our local league competitor’s Confetti ended up with the second highest number of points.  In terms of the overall competition, she ended up in 453rd place, well above her goal of just being in the top half.  Confetti actually came in as one of the top 22% of Atlanta competitors.  

BE KING UNDISPUTED (CHAO’S VERSION)

I definitely had my nerves too and also didn’t want to embarrass myself.  Locally, I do really well, but I wasn’t sure how I’d do against a much larger pool of players.  After Confetti set her own personal goal, I set my own too.  I told myself, I wanted to get more wins than losses during my tournament run.  

My first game of the day was a mirror match, which I somehow beat 2-0.  It was a thrill to immediately come out of the games strongly.  Then, I hit a series of split games, going 1-1 over and over.  For five rounds, I just couldn’t get the two wins together, no matter which type of deck I played.  Oddly, a lot of my wins came when I was on the draw instead of the play.

The, during another mirror match in the 7th round, my nightmare happened.  I got 0-2ed, and couldn’t pick up a single win.  Heartbreak!  I just couldn’t get any draw or removal going as my deck floundered too games in a row.  While I already knew day two was out of reach, that game loss knocked me out of all contention for a top 128th spot.  

I could have called it a day at that point, but I wanted to finish out the day and see an accurate measure of my final ranking.  Of course, with no pressure left, I ended up going 2-0 my last two rounds, including over an Amber/Ruby Mufasa deck, which I traditionally really struggle with.

My final points tally was 36 (tying with Confetti) and an overall ranking of 414, making me the highest ranked player from my local leagues.  It sucked not being king undisputed and making it to day two, but I still felt proud of my performance.  I loved getting to play and coming in the top 20% of players for the day felt like a real accomplishment.

FRIENDS ON THE OTHER SIDE

One of my favorite parts of the entire Challenge experience was being around others who also cared about and were into Lorcana.  From players to judges, there was excitement and investment into the game.  While there were definitely some people who might have let the game/competition bring out an uglier side (especially when they weren’t winning), for the most part, people were pretty cool at the event.

I also really enjoyed that about twenty people from my local leagues made the trip to Atlanta.  Many of us were checking in between rounds, catching up, discussing standings, and cheering each other on.  It really showed how much our local Lorcana player base has grown, not just as players, but as friends and a community.

REFLECTION

The two game format seems to have a lot of naysayers, but I personally found it fine since we all knew what we’d be getting into.  Personally, I might have done better with a third game, since the best-of-three format tends to favor Ruby/Amethyst, but I support Ravensburger’s attempt to minimize the first turn advantage.

The two game format allows for tons of movement in player ranking, thus creating more incentive for players to stick with things, even if they get a poor start.  Of course, it also means that those with a strong lead in points early on have to still be careful about slipping down the leaderboard.  A two-game loss in a round hurts, but the 2-0 wins are incredible score boosts and matter a bunch.  My 1-1 splits were fine, but it’s really those racking up 2-0 wins (7 points) that can cement a lead.  While it didn’t work out for me in the end, I liked that I felt like I could come out in a decent position almost all the way into the competition.   

I won’t say I like the two-game format over best-of-three but I think they both provide a fun way to play.  

ZERO TO HERO

Throughout the weekend, there were also Lorcana side events happening.  Players could sign up for events ranging from constructed to draft to sealed to multiplayer to team battles.  There were even a few Disney Villainous events.  Each event followed a similar three-round best-of-three format.  Players received two tickets for participating, and then two more tickets for each round win.  If a player managed to go 3-0 across all three rounds they earned an extra ticket.  

The tickets were then refundable at the prize wall then included Lorcana products and merchandise.  There were also promo cards available, even non-foil versions of what the main competition gave to its higher performing players.

Since we didn’t make day two of the main competition, we decided to try our hand at one side event before hitting the road back to home.  Unfortunately, Sunday morning ended up being a bit of a kerfuffle due to melee and side event registration issues.  Thankfully, the event organizers recognized frustrations and decided to double all earned tickets that day.  Suddenly, we went from possibly being able to get one promo card to two if we pooled our tickets (and played well).  

After some line waiting and some delays, we finally got to play in a draft.  This was Confetti’s first draft.  Personally, I have an almost perfect record in Lorcana draft.  I’ve only ever not gone 3-0 once, and it was mostly because of an easily avoided misplay in the last turn that kept me from going for the final lore.  Sigh.

We were in different draft pods, which would then be playing separately, but we were able to check in a bit between rounds.  During the first round, I went 2-0 over my opponent and Confetti went 2-1 over hers.  We were off to a strong start.  

The second had me face someone who had two big shift Mulans in their deck.  Thankfully, I had some big bodied friends like Benja and Chien-Po to not only do their thing but also set off my three lore a turn gaining Flynn Ryder.  I barely escaped with a 2-1 win.  Confetti wasn’t quite as lucky.  She lost her second round going 1-2 against someone who made the top 128 in the previous day’s main event.

My final round was a nail biter since I had to win to earn exactly enough tickets to afford both promo cards.  The first match, I got trounced.  The second I aggro-ed the heck out of the game with Annas and won by turn five.  The final game, I aggroed quickly again and then Chien-Po stood guard as I took home the win.  My almost perfect 3-0 streak continued!!!

My win meant that we now had the exactly 26 tickets we needed for the prize wall.  Anything further than Confetti won would just be icing on the cake.  I finished my games first, so I went to see how Confetti was faring.  As she noticed me approaching, I gave her the thumbs up, signaling that I had gone 3-0.  With that, she conceded her game, giving her opponent the final tickets he also needed.  They were already 1-1 and Confetti felt she had a good chance of winning her final game, but since our tickets would just be extra, Confetti felt it would only be right to make someone else’s life a little easier.

We may not have been the top dogs the day before, but we set a goal on day two and we accomplished it, going from zeroes to heroes just like that.

TREASURES UNTOLD

By the end of the weekend, we snagged quite a few goodies.  We gained some more playable cards through the draft, but our big prizes were our promo cards.  Here’s what we got:

• Flotsam & Jetsam promo (for early registration)
• Scrooge McDuck Promo (an extra given to all players since not everyone could make early registration)
• Dragon Fire promo (given to all main event competitors who played at least three rounds)
• Non-foil Cinderella promo (earned off the prize wall for 12 tickets)
• Non-foil Rapunzel promo (earned off the wall for 14 tickets)

LET THE STORM RAGE ON

With the Atlanta Challenge now behind us, we are refocusing on our local league and looking into what we want to build as our main decks with set 4 incorporated.  We’ll be playtesting a few different styles and seeing what feels right and what we actually enjoy playing.  With the next round of set championships only so far away, I’m sure you’ll hear about our new decks before too long.  Until then, let the storm rage on and keep questing!