ALC Victory Point Cafe Store Championship 2nd Place Tournament Report

That's a lot of top ranked players and then there's me lol

(P/C Fome)

Hey guys, going to write a bit about my experience over the past week with all the Grand Archive I've been playing. 

I started talking with an old Final Fantasy TCG friend named Anson, who has been doing well in online tournaments and even got 10th place at Nationals. He was on a Water Tonoris deck and we started tweaking it a bit. I tuned my version to be more aggressive so that I could still outpace the control decks while eating up other Ally and aggro decks. It really didn't go too well. My version ended up losing too much card advantage and it would turn every game into a slogfest. One Wednesday locals at Magitek was enough to melt my brain and I instantly unsleeved after the event was over. 

I had really thought the deck would be the answer to every other deck, so I found myself trying to solve a puzzle on "the" deck that had game against everything since the meta has become so varied. Water Allies always seems like the answer because of Frostbind + Fracturize, the allies package, and burst potential from Scepter. The community tends to have knee-jerk reactions though and I knew after the Oceania Nationals, lots of people would be trying Merlin again which Water Allies can have a pretty tough time against, in my opinion. 

Luckily on Friday, Keith wanted to playtest hours before locals in GK RWC, so it gave me the opportunity to try some other decks I wanted to test, but didn't have the time to because I wanted to grind enough CP to reach Gold this season. I got to practice Serene Luxem Zander against Wind Diana Allies for 2-3 hours. It's highly favored for Zander, so it felt good for the mental and confidence to beat the deck that knocked me out at the CardArt SC. I did learn that the deck can be hard to navigate though because of the decision points with the first turn glimpse 6. It is also super frustrating if you can't find your heals or kills in the endgame. I decided the deck wasn't really my playstyle and that I clearly did not have enough reps with it.

I played probably my favorite deck: Caban's Wind Crux from Nationals during the event. I seemed to do well enough with it, but I wasn't quite sure if it would be good enough as the players running it at Magitek and CardArt Store Championships did not have much success with it. (I ended up defeating them both).

I stood at a crossroads 11pm the night before the VPC SC. Should I try to run a deck like Luxem Zander that people say is the best deck in the format, but with not enough reps? Should I run Fire Gloamspire Diana to counter the expected Merlins? I understand the decks in theory, but have nowhere near the practice on them. Should I go with Water allies which has answers and firepower? Should I go Wind allies because it's comfortable, fast, and because I had success with it at CardArt? I went back and forth all week on it, but finally decided on Wind allies because I enjoy playing it, because Wind is my favorite element, and because of the comfort. I felt like I had good matchups into Water allies, Turbo Diana, and Merlin. I was worried about Wind Diana Allies and Luxem Zander, but I resolved to just hope to dodge those and if I did get them, try to high roll.

I played 4 of these and then promptly got deck checked after LOL

My good pal Justin thankfully let me ride with him to VPC. We got there and got the final parking spot sniped by Christian, the National Champ and his pals. (He's always in our way!! Lol). I'm a bit superstitious, so I took it as a bad sign, but we ended up finding a spot anyways. 

Lots of people showed up, even from Final Cut TCG and it was cool seeing some faces that I played last season at regionals and SCs like Sevon and Brooks. I was hoping I could put up a good performance to show that I had improved as a player. 

Round 1 vs Max D.- Fire Tonoris Erupting

I like to think I play very meaningfully when I play allies. If I go turn one, I try to play something they can't interact with like a stealth, a Swift Recruit, or just try to protect a 2/3. If I go second, it's two 3-cost 2/3s to try to push 4 damage instantly. Then try to blow them out by going another 2/3 and Attune the Winds. 

I was able to take game one by clearing his minions and pressing the damage. Game two I missed a lethal with Inspiring Call and just going face instead of clearing his minions. He ended up surprising me by playing Erupting. I promptly sided back in my Nullifying Lantern and Quicksilver Grail right after. My first materialize was the Lantern under the Grail. He wasn't able to fight through that along with the pressure from my allies and I ended up taking the match. 

Record: 1-0

I felt a bit rattled after missing the lethal, but tried to calm down and tell myself that I won't make any mistakes like that again. I took some breaths, and walked around so that I could scout what everyone's decks were. 

Round 2 vs Austin - Fire Rai

I had just met Austin at the start of the event because I found out he was teammates with my good friends Eustace and John. I commented that I never noticed how cool the art on Bedivere was until I saw it blown up on his playmat. 

Game one I saw him banish an arcane to level into Rai, so I just went totally all in and he could not catch up. Game two it was the same deal and I was able to play 4 Windrider Vanguards and land an Attune. He ended up playing a Vanish from Sight, but I had the answer of 2 Trained Hawks and a live  Sword of Seeking for exact lethal.

Record 2-0

Round 3 vs John - Water Zander Allies

It's both nice and bad to be matched up against a friend from your locals. You get to have a more relaxed match, but at the same time, in a setting like Store Champs where it's winner take all, one of us will be eliminated. I asked if he wanted a serious match or a fun one since I have a bad habit of trolling and making him laugh during matches which can make him lose focus. He asked for a serious match, but I think I ended up trolling unconsciously anyways (Sorry!!). 

I saw that John was running anti-allies things like Freezing Hail, Lunete, etc.. I've been grinding allies matchups since my return in February/March so I knew how hard the matchup was against Wind and how to navigate it from both sides. I was able to make effective trades and win out the first game. The second game he had a very strong opening of Lunete and Gildas balanced. I developed a Shimmercloak since the only way he could interact with it would be Freezing Hail. I went into Sword of Seeking the next turn, swung the Shimmercloak into his Gildas, he let it go, then I swung to finish her, and he let her die. He claims he had a way to save her and that I would have wasted my sword attack as well, but he misplayed it and sadly I think it tilted him. I loaded my board up after that and ran out a Swift Recruit as Frostbind bait, which he took. He went into Scepter his next turn, so he minus'd his card advantage too much that he could only play one 3-cost 2/3 per turn. He could not catch up after that. The fact that you have to minus and spend a turn on Scepter was a big reason I didn't want to play Water Allies. The deck is powerful, but you waste a few materialization turns when I could have the same effect getting to 3 minions and landing Inspiring Calls and/or Attunes.

Record 3-0

Round 4 vs Sevon - Turbo Fire Diana

It was starting to feel a bit real that I was in contention at this point. If I won, I would be through to the final playoff between Christian or Weiyee. Sevon was already eliminated, but he was playing for top 8, prizing and ELO still. He was going to make me work for it, but I also wanted to see if I could get some revenge for the last SC. 

He opened pretty poorly in the first game and I did Wind Ally things. He had a better opening in game two, but still couldn't get things going too well. I was able to capitalize on Turbo Diana always being super low on cards and him sadly bricking and not getting anything going. I had a perfect lethal turn with double inspiring and a Woodland Squirrels on an already board of 3.

Record 4-0!

Grand Finals vs Weiyee - Wind Lorraine Crux

It's honestly really cool playing against a friend like Weiyee because we have met and played each other at every SC. He beat me the first time and I took the last two. I beat him in this exact matchup last time, but he had more knowledge and reps at this point. He was also running hot enough to beat both Christian, the National Champ and Sevon who are both top 10 in the world. The matchup is unfavored for me, but I could still steal wins by playing well and the Crux player not finding Hurricane Sweep, Veiling Breeze, or the cards to develop to level 3 at the right time. My gameplan was to try to stick a board of 3 and land the Attune. I also had my own tech which was my own Hurricane Sweeps which were to beat other allies, but was useful in this matchup as well because I could wipe their board as well.

Game one he smokes me the way the deck is supposed to. You get to Lorraine 3, then you play the Ghosts and it's over for me if I don't have enough pressure. I could have came back with a topdecked Sweep, but it was the next card. 

Game two I play a great game, I blank his Hurricane Sweep with a double Favorable Winds and sneak an exact lethal on him to the ooh's and aah's of the crowd. 

Game three I have an amazing start and am able to land an Attune on a board of 3 and then a second Attune on two of the minions. I figured a 4/5 would be super tough to deal with. Sadly, most of the allies I buffed were only 2 health and not my stealthers. We're in a very tricky endgame where I'm trying to leverage enough damage to win, but he is slowly wiping my board. I decide I have to kill him over two turns, but when I all in, he had the Veiling for my Squirrel. I thought he was able to offer me his fist bump of concession. He goes to swing all at me next turn thinking I have a Deflecting or Veiling to win, but is shocked when I offer him my fist in concession. 

Congrats VPC SC Weiyee!

(P/C: Fome)

Result: 2nd Place

So sadly, we didn't get there this time. I asked Justin if he saw any plays I did wrong. He tried to cheer me up saying I played super well and it's a miracle I got the second game and pushed the third so far since the matchup is dreadful. He asked me why I didn't Hurricane Sweep the turn after my Tariff Ring turn. I told him I intended to, but I didn't have the 4 damage to clear his Ghosts of Pendragons. He said Lorraine 2 + Sword + Sweep = 4. I instantly facepalmed realizing my blunder. For some reason I did not count the damage from Hurricane Sweep itself in my calculations. It is very likely that I would have won if I played it as Weiyee only had those two Ghosts fighting me the whole game. I could have cleared his board, did 4 damage (I was only off by one at the end of the game) and drawn 3 cards to put me in a huge winning spot. The miscalculating led me to a line of having to kill over 2 turns and hoping he doesn't Veiling. Unfortunately, I guess the mental stress got to me. My hands had been shaking, people said I looked stressed, so it was a battle of wills. 

Hurricane Sweep whyyyyyy

Congratulations to Weiyee, it's super cool that even with all the big names and high ranks in our community, that others can still succeed. (He is still a top-100 player that has played at nats as well though!). 

It definitely does sting that I choked in the finals. I've never won a big event in all my years playing TCGs, but got 2nd many times. It also hurts that I lost against a deck that I love and because of one of my favorite cards that I tech'd into my deck that I could have used to win in style. I'm hoping I get another chance someday, but you never know with so many good players in your area and skilled new players steadily popping up. I honestly considered quitting TCGs again because I thought maybe I just don't have it in me. I had to remember to tell myself to play because it's fun and not because I want to win though. I really wanted to win the Lurking Assailant and give the playmat to Justin, but I wasn't good enough this time. 

Special thanks to Fome and Andrew for organizing and judging. Also thanks to them and Eva for inviting me and Justin to eat and have boba after. That's what TCGs are all about! And super thanks to Justin of course for driving my lazy ass and hyping me up during the finals. I'll get you the mat next time, bro!

I can't honestly say I practiced enough or thought about winning the tournament more than anyone else, but I play locals 4x a week and keep trying to refine my play. It's become quite the grind and I'm afraid of burnout. Hopefully it does payoff someday. My goal is to be a good player who does well enough at big events to be in the top 100 and win a prize spirit someday. The season is still going though and I have 3 more SCs and a Regionals to prep for! Let's hope I reach Gold this season!