ALC NorCal Regionals: Top 8 Tournament Report

We last left off on taking a bit of a break from GA. This mostly meant skipping the Final Cut TCG Store Championship as I still attended 4/8 locals before Regionals along with the 2 GA Academy Learn-to-Plays. It was a very difficult decision to skip Final Cut because I knew it would be my last chance to win a Store Championship and that sweet Lurking Assailant. However, a 2+ hour drive on a Sunday and my poor mental state after losing the Sparks SC were enough reasons to make me skip. 

Since Day One

I brought the so-called "Blog List" to CardArt Sunday and Magitek Wednesday. I wanted to make sure I had enough practice with the deck so that I wouldn't be rusty for Regionals on Saturday. I ended up going 6-0 which was great for the confidence. I wanted to go to Game Kastle Redwood City to try to get a 9-0 sweep of locals for the week and to see some SoCal players, but I decided it would be better to stay home and save my mental energy for the big day. On Thursday night, I did learn that Justin would not be competing because he instead chose to commentate for the event. I was a bit disappointed because I wanted him, John, and myself to all top together, but I respected his decision to take a mental break and to help our community that was desperate for talented commentary. We ended up having hotpot and drinks late at night, so it probably wasn't the best preparation for me, but it sure was fun.

There's no greater joy in life than eating with your loved ones

I fell asleep around 3 a.m. that night and woke up around 6 a.m.. I showered, walked my dogs, and got ready. I thought I would be in pretty bad shape because of my lack of sleep and because of the stress of handling the business around the house before leaving. I was able to spend some time with my wife by getting Philz Coffee together before she dropped me off at Magitek. I arrived around 9:30 a.m. and surprisingly I was far from the first one there. Christian pulled up right as I was getting out and I waved my finger at him, mouthing, "No, no, no." He smiled and gave me a thumbs up. There was quite a bit of nervous energy around the store, but I found a table near Kevin, Jason, Monica, and other locals and tried to zone everything out. It was great to see many familiar faces from the other Store Championships that I have been to, but there were also many unknown faces from SoCal. John also gave all of us a scare because the event was about to start and he was nowhere to be found, but luckily he arrived just in time. 

Round 1 starts and I end up matched against Bobby, a fellow local.

Round 1 - Bobby, Wind Allies

Bobby had been on Fire Diana for a while, but switched over to Wind Allies after asking me for a bit of advice. It was a bit amusing to have to run into the mirror because of the circumstances, but I was pretty confident that I had an advantage because of the time and thought I had put into this matchup. 

I take the first game pretty convincingly, but he resolves a Hurricane Sweep in the second game and puts me behind pretty early. I make a grave error by not conceding sooner in game two because I think he might make a mistake and I could steal the game back. But, he ends up closing it out and we are short on time. 

We start game 3 with about 10 minutes left. I keep nudging him that we have to go quickly because a draw this early on won't help anyone. We progress through the game quickly and I end up having a superior draw and taking the match. 

Record 1-0

I was one of the final matches to finish, so I wasn't able to scout any of the tables, but many people knew what I was running at this point. If anyone was a local to NorCal or read this blog, they probably already knew that I was running the Blog List. A few locals were surprised that I openly stated that I was playing the deck I posted card-for-card. My philosophy was: my deck was solid enough that even if people knew exactly what I was running, it would make no difference. I believed in the mastery I had with the deck and the matchup %'s I had against the field. I felt confident in the mirror and if the whole field decided to play my horrible matchup in Luxem Zander, I would just accept it and try my best to race. 

Round 2- Justin T., Erupting

Another local. Quite disappointing to run into a friend this early on, but we had to do what we had to do.

Before the game, he tells me something along the lines of, "I want you to take it, but I still hope I can win." A very nice thing to say and I think he knew how much this meant to me.

He tells me he tech'd for this matchup and I soon see what he meant. He opted for a lot of heavy removal in his deck so it is difficult for me to keep a board. Luckily, my deck doesn't stall out and I have a healthy amount of 2/3's, but not enough for any Attune plays. He doesn't get fooled by any of my Innervate Fury outplays, but eventually I push enough damage before he can get the combo off.

Game 2 I'm even more favored because I side in the Grail, Azure, Safeguard, and my Raccoons. I grail on my second materialization with the Lantern underneath. I'm able to run away with the game after that.

Record 2-0. 

I saw that Eustace and John got matched up and were playing a Wind Allies mirror. I highly recommend that everyone watch that match. It features two great players playing at a high level and might be one of the best recorded games of GA. This is what the matchup looks like when both players have mastered the basics. It looks less like a street fight and more like a boxing or chess match. 

Round 3 - Jared, Fire Diana

I finally get matched up against someone I don't know and they are from SoCal on top of it. I had been hoping to play people from out of the area to see if I was actually good enough beyond my local scene. 

He had a bye last round, so I was paired down. It was very important for me to win this match, otherwise my tiebreakers would be really bad.

Game one, I see that he has Ranger cards and I go fast. This is usually my easiest matchup because Diana often goes too low on cards to fight back. He surprises me a bit by pointing all of his damage at my face. He gets pretty close, but I'm able to close it out.

Game two, he has a much better start and is able to open with Creative + Floating and Fast Cure on his first two end phases. It gets very close, but this time he is able to put on too much damage. I also misplay by Zephyring his Quickdraw Piercer, forgetting that it nets him a card when it leaves. He also has another bullet in his hand, so he is able to shoot me anyways.

Game three I have a nutty opening with double Ally, then Gildas, then Attune over the course of three turns. The pressure is too much and even though he Rocket Jumps my 5 attack Gildas, eventually I hear the magic words, "If only I had one more turn or one more card." The margins of error are very low when you play both with and against Wind Allies.

Record 3-0.

I was starting to feel a bit confident at this point. It was the halfway point and I was still undefeated. I basically only needed to 2-1 to make it and I have never gone negative in an event since returning to GA in February. The top tables were infested with Water and Wind Allies, so I felt very favored going into it. 

Round 4 - Clement, Wind Allies Tonoris

I get another SoCal opponent and I'm quite interested. He is Ascendent and you can kind of tell by a person's demeanor if they feel like they are strong TCG players in the GA community.

Game one, I go first and do the book move of Swift Recruit and hold up defensives (I drew 4 Deflecting Edges). My eyes light up when I see the Spirit of Wind into Allies on his turn. 

I live for this shit. 

He plays very aggressively and points a lot of the damage at my Champion. I play the matchup the way I believe is correct with trading and defensives. When he does try to trade, he gets stopped by a Deflecting each time. When he does a final push to trade, I show him the 4th and he cannot believe it. He was a good sport about it and we move on to game two. I don't believe having so many Deflectings was ideal, but if you can bait your opponent into going all in to clear your board, you can swing the match into your favor.

Game two, he chooses to go second. It already goes against my theory, but SoCal players seem to want to just bash your face in; I chalk it up to Rai being so popular in their area. I go off my standard plays and run out a Swift Recruit and my sixth sense tells me I should Favorable Winds even though he can play another Ally to clear it. He does so, deliberates for a bit, and completely taps out to play a Raccoon. If he had left my Floating, that would have been great because it meant easy level ups and a free Eye of Argus, but this made me even happier because he completely tapped out his hand and pretty much played a Squirrel for two. This tells me he probably mainboards the Raccoons, which is good against the field but is a disaster in the mirror. I clear his board easily the next turn. The rest of the game plays out very similarly and I'm able to take control of the board with good value trades and a well-timed Tariff Ring. By all metrics except for Champion health, I am winning, but I make a tactical error by going all in, thinking I had lethal, but was 1 off. He punishes me for not clearing his Aesan and Squirrel and shows me a Heavy Swing while I have no Deflecting in hand. 

Game three, we don't have much time. I puzzled him a bit with my playstyle and use of Tariff Ring so he took some time on key turns. I don't feel like it was slow play at all though; the matchup requires thought and gets very grindy. We are both in agreement that we should go as fast as we can to determine a winner so we both play very quickly with only 10 minutes left. I end up pretty much having the nuts by keeping a balanced Gildas on board over 3 turns. To add insult to injury, his last ditch effort was stopped by another Deflecting Edge. 

Record 4-0

I felt like I was pretty much a lock at this point. The other undefeated won against John in a Wind Allies mirror. It was the matchup I had studied and played the most, so I was favored, and even if I lost, I would be in good shape to make top 8. There ended up being two ties in the top tables. 

My opponent approached me and asked if I was undefeated as well. He asked me if I wanted to intentional draw (ID). He explained to me that because table 2 and 3 both have ties, the winners of those matches would play us no matter what. If we ID with them as well, all 4 of us would be guaranteed top 8. I deliberated for a long time because I did feel a bit favored if the rest of my matches would be mirrors. Also, I had a bit of pride for my locals, NorCal, and the chance to be the champion. However, I looked at the math and saw that I could guarantee that Weiyee and I would top along with most likely 3 SoCal players. I also saw that it would give a better chance for a few local players to make it into the top 8 as well because it would turn their games into win-and-in's. 

Round 5- Ryan, Wind Allies

So I made the decision to shake hands. It would have been nice to be the champion, but I will take the guaranteed win. A champion playmat is not worth possibly losing my spot because I wanted a moral victory. Being able to ID at this point is great. I basically won the tournament in 4 rounds and can just enjoy the victory. This is the privilege of those who go undefeated and are winners.

Record 4-0-1

Round 6 - Charlotte, Wind Allies

We shake hands again.

Record 4-0-2

RESULT: 5th

There it is, folks. My first major TCG win in my 20 years of playing TCGs. It was agonizing waiting the 2 hours of the final 2 rounds and just hoping no weird math put me out of contention. 

If you saw me sitting pensively and thought you saw me tearing up, you were right. This tournament meant so much to me for many reasons. When I came back to GA in February, I decided to devote my life to improving at the game and improving the community. I also wanted to see what would happen if I tried my absolute best and put as much thought as possible into the game. I thought I would just be a middling player, but I felt like I found something on the day everyone meme'd and brought Wind Allies on the St. Patrick's Day Store Championship at CardArt. I felt like the deck was really solid and only really felt bad against the Luxem matchup. I went X-1 at that SC, losing only to Christian. I went 2nd at Victory Point Cafe as well, losing in the finals to Weiyee. It was off a choke and I felt like I should have won, but was just not good enough yet. 

Somehow I leveled up a lot in time for the Sparks SC. I only lost to Christian in the finals and it felt very close. I played in a way where I was not ashamed of my moves, but it still hurt to lose. In my last post, this was when my pscyhe was completely shot. I really contemplated quitting the game because I felt like I reached the point where I should be winning, but for some reason I couldn't breakthrough. 

My wife's uncle ended up passing away after losing a 3-year battle with cancer in between the Sparks and Final Cut SC. The funeral service would be held during the NorCal TCG SC and of course I was going to be there for the family. I felt like I should be going to Final Cut because that would be my last chance to win a SC. However, with the death in the family, my shattered mental health, and it being 2+ hours away on a Sunday, I decided to skip. 

It really weighed on my mind that my SC run was done this season. I had vowed to give it my all and not miss any of them. I knew I was doing the right thing, but it did pain me that I had to choose duty over dreams. 

I decided to bet everything on Regionals. This would be my last run. I told my wife that if I didn't do well, I would take it as a sign and quit competitive play. I would be satisfied collecting, building the community, and playing in locals. 

My wife bought me some omamori from Japan: the Water Dragon for good luck and the Phoenix for victory. She told me to break the cycle and to claim my rightful place. She also made me a coin with John's, Justin's and Eva's, and my name to remind me that my friends are always with me, to remember what GA was and still is to me, and to always go back to those old happy days in case I felt down or lost during the tournament. Some people might have noticed these things in my dice case recently. I also want to highlight my material deck sleeves. People always noted how I would use the same sleeves for my main and material deck, but out of the blue I had switched over to using Final Fantasy character sleeves for the material deck. 

When I used to play FFTCG, I collected lots of rare accessories like sleeves. There was a player named Dan Nguyen who was a great player and one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He used sleeves just like these. I had quit FFTCG over frustration with the community and the state of the game before I could ever use my sleeves, but Dan and I became fast online pen pals during the COVID era due to our love of Gunpla and TCGs. He never pestered me about FFTCG, and only said, "You're too good to not have success one day. If you ever want to talk or come back to it, I'm here, otherwise I won't mention it again." Sadly, a few years ago, he passed away in his sleep. I had vowed to never use the sleeves until I was confident that I could win a big TCG event like Dan did so many times. I asked my wife if I was finally worthy and she felt like it was time as well.

So, in short, the locals this week and the Regionals were dedicated to my friend Dan and my Uncle Tuan. I didn't lose a single match this week.

I was very proud of my deck, and in my hands it had a great performance this season. Across 3 SCs and the 1 regional, it had a match record of X-3. 3rd/Omni 2nd at CardArt (Losing to winner Christian), 2nd at VPC (Losing in finals to winner Weiyee), 2nd/Omni 3rd at Sparks (Losing in finals to winner Christian), and Undefeated/Omni 5th at regionals. It also went 3-0 at every locals I brought it to. My Omnidex win rate is around 80%, but goes even higher if you only count when I play Allies, more specifically Wind Allies and even more specifically this Blog List: it sits at around 90%. I played against every matchup in the meta and somehow stole matches against very unfavored decks as well. I am super happy the deck retires a winner this season.

There's a lot of people I want to thank for coming with me on this journey. Justin T., Ryan, and all of the new generation that have recently joined our locals, thanks for supporting me and believing that this was my time. I wanted to be your big brother and show that our store doesn't just party, we're also home to winners. It was my time this time, but I firmly believe that the rest of you are too good not to get there next time. I also really appreciated you guys yelling "DO IT, PETER!! COMPLETE YOUR STORY!"

To the Magitek homies, Kevin, Jason, Johnny, Dylan, and Laurent: Thanks for hyping me up and believing that I would take this one and defend home court. You guys hyped me up before the tournament, checked in on me every round, and were all so proud of me.

To Jason and Monica, who had enough faith in me to run my Blog List: Thanks for testing it and discussing it with me. The information was super valuable and it was awesome to hear that you guys got good results with it. It really highlighted to me that the deck was very strong on its own and in the hands of a skilled pilot, you could take it even farther.

To the strongest players, Christian, Shawn, Weiyee, and Sevon: It meant alot to me for Shawn to say he believed in me during the event and Sevon mirroring the sentiment, saying, "You got this!" Weiyee and Christian really pushed me into trying to get better at the game. The losses were heartbreaking, but really fueled a desire to keep pushing my play to higher levels. It was really awesome to hear that Shawn and Christian were proud of me after the event and respected the grind I went through. I have a newfound respect for them as well because they always perform at every event and the level they are at is so high that it takes an insane amount of dedication to get there. In February, I was at home just watching them on stream. I cheered for them when they were at Nats. I saw them as these insane players and there was no way I'd ever be able to be like them. I'm still nowhere near that level, but I hope to get there someday.

Of course I have to thank my best friends in the community. Justin, John, and Eustace. Eustace sincerely congratulated me and told me I deserved it. This meant a lot to me because we started out as fated rivals and played in a brutal mirror two consecutive matches in a row in my first SC. We were pretty even in skill level and we pretty much had the same career trajectory this season. He's taken 2nd at least twice, so he's been one of the stronger players this season as well. I hope he gets there because he also deserves it. 

When I'm with John and Justin, sometimes I totally forget all about GA and whatever event we just played because we just spend our whole time laughing and making jokes. Thanks for always being there and for coming to celebrate with hotpot, alcohol, and cigars. Justin made a crazy claim that I would win at Regionals. I pretty much did, so I am glad I was able to live up to his faith in me. 

Finally, I would like to thank my wife. She's been super supportive of me following GA as the biggest passion in my life. She's seen me go through so many TCGs and events never winning and has never stopped believing in me. She deserves to be with a winner and now she can say that.

The best part about TCGs are going to eat together after. Thanks for celebrating with me!

It's a weird feeling to have everyone think you can do it after feeling like such a failure for so long. It was also a weird feeling being at that Regionals. I honestly felt like the strongest player there and that nobody could stop me. My card luck was a bit below average to average, but I was able to play into wins. I think because I reached this high level of play already, I was capable of topping, I just needed to get the final result. It's a bit like going Super Saiyan. The first time is difficult, but once you get there it's easier. I had reached this point already when I faced Christian at Sparks, so I just needed to keep it going. 

To anyone who might look at me the same way I see Christian or Shawn, do you want me to tell you the secret to success? Go 3-3-1 at your first Regionals. Lose on stream without being able to play the game. Go X-2 at your first two SCs. Quit the game because you think you suck. Come back. Go X-2 at your next SC. Get outplayed by the National Champ at your next one. Choke in the finals of the next SC because you don't even remember what your own cards do. Have everyone joke and laugh at you. Lose in the finals of the next SC to the National Champ to a huge outplay again. Question your life and place in this game. Bounce back and go undefeated at regionals.

So what's the secret? Lose. Cry. Eat. Sleep. Get stronger. Win.

Keep at it. If it can happen for me, it can happen for anyone. If you think you aren't talented enough, you are wrong. Genius isn't an innate thing. It is an obsession to improve and learn. TCGs are about training your brain to use a strategic mindset. So the next time you ask yourself , "How do I get to the level of play that Peter/Christian/Shawn are at?", you should also ask yourself if you have put in the time, effort, testing, and thinking that we've put into the game as well. I think to reach a certain level, it is almost like a deep love, obsession, or addiction to the game. 

What's next for me? I continue, of course! I found a team for the 3v3 at Worlds, and I want to see if I can do well enough to make it to Nats next time. I'm super glad I won the Orb of Hubris because it's one of my favorite arts/cards in the game. I think a huge burden has been lifted off of my shoulders. I will keep trying my best, but I don't think it will be devastating if I never win again. Nobody can ever take this one from me!

Congratulations to my friends and fellow NorCal players for topping: Ken 1st, Weiyee 3rd, Remetic 7th, and Ruijing 8th, you guys did great and I'm proud of you!