Analysis - Disney Lorcana Challenges - Vegas and Birmingham!

Hey there, everyone!

In my first article about Lorcana, Disney's wonderful traading card game, I'm going to analyze the results of two gigantic recent tournaments: the “Disney Lorcana Challenge” (DLC) from Vegas (USA) and Birmingham (UK)! Let's go!

The DLCs are “open” tournaments (which means anyone can play, no prior qualification is required), with a special prize pool that consists of different promos, serialized cards, playmats and other items, and also qualification for the respective Championships (USA or Europe).

The DLC's are 2-day tournaments, where in Day 1 we have 9 rounds of play, swiss-pairings, Best of 2, and on Day 2 only the Top 64 plays, single- elimination, Best of 3.

“Best of 3” is reasonably self-explanatory and already known to those who play other cardgames - basically, the first player to reach 2 wins is considered the winner of the “match”.

“Best of 2” is a particular innovation from Lorcana to the world of card games, inspired on sports championships that have a “home game” and “away game”. Basically, the 2 players will always play 2 games, which balances nicely with each one being "on the play" for at least one game. Each game-win adds 3 points to the winner, and if one of the players wins 2-0 they receive an extra point. So, in the end, you can receive 7, 3 or 0 points for each match.

Vegas DLC

The Challenge in Las Vegas had 1903 participants. After 9 rounds of Swiss, the cut-off for the top64 was at 45 points, with the final slots defined on tie-breaks (leaving 9 players with 45 points outside the top64).

The following day, at the end of the elimination rounds, Zan Syed (who finished 32nd in the Swiss) became champion of the event, playing Emerald/Steel Discard , with a strategy to exhaust the opponent's resources using characters like [ [Diablo - Devoted Herald]] and songs like We Don't Talk About Bruno. It is worth noting that Zach Bivens, who finished in 1st place on Day 1 after the 9 swiss rounds, was also playing a version of the deck (although not the exact same list), but was eliminated in the top64.

This event was a "coming out party" for the deck, with three players in the top4 using a version of the deck (a mirror-match in the finals), and it drew a lot of attention, as discard decks were considered “dead” after the recent “nerf” on Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor.

Birmingham DLC

The Challenge in Birmingham had 2012 participants. After 9 rounds of Swiss, the cutoff for the top64 was also at 45 points, with only 4 participants on 45 points being left out.

At the end of the qualifiers, Federico Marinangeli (who finished 5th in the Swiss) became champion of the event with the Ruby/Sapphire Ramp deck, a deck that combines cards that control the board such as Be Prepared and Maui - Hero to All with high-cost cards like Sisu ​​- Empowered Sibling and Maleficent - Monstrous Dragon that come into play quickly thanks to several cards in the deck that increase your inkwell.

First of all, it is worth highlighting how much variety there is in the game, with all ink colors present in some way in competitive decks. This allows for greater customization in the decks, which can be seen in the winning decks of both events - no other deck of the same combination in the top64 was exactly the same.

However, it is also worth noting that the "aggro" strategies (focused on basically ignoring the opponent to a certain extent and just “rushing” the 20 lore points needed to win) were not very successful, largely due to the amount of board control tools available - in particular songs, which allow you to answer your opponent's board without spending resources from your own inkwell.

Let's also point out that the Emerald/Steel Discard deck, the winner in Vegas and with several other representatives in the top64, was basically absent in Birmingham. It remains to be seen how the metagame will adjust in the coming weeks. The next Challenge, in Seattle, at the end of October, will be the opportunity to see if the discard strategy will stand its ground or if it was just an “outlier”.

Finally, it's great to see that virtually every set in the game (five, so far) contributes something to the competitive decks in some way, which is a good indication of synergic designs between sets, as well as a reasonably adequate playtesting (with the only “incident”, so far, being the already mentioned bizarre “nerf” on Bucky ).

Lorcana brings us a healthy, fun TCG with many options - both competitive and casual - that pleases both Disney fans and fans of strategic games. To infinity and beyond!

Thanks for your attention and see you next time!