June 19, 2026 • 44 mins
This week, Lesley, Brittany and Nikki recap a packed Set Championship weekend across Arizona, from Team Muses top cuts and tough matchups to dogs, toys, Blurple and surprise tournament math. Then we look ahead to Attack of the Vines, early reveals, rotation prep and our hopes for Monsters Inc., Up, ward answers and more location support.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:08):
Welcome back to the Larcana Music Podcast.
I'm Leslie.
I'm Brittany.
And I'm Nikki.
All right, let's dive on intoday.
SPEAKER_00 (00:15):
All right, weekend update.
So this weekend we had League,we had Set Champs, and we had a
whole lot of Lorcana.
Um played a little bit atLeague.
I only played three rounds and Iwent home because I was tired.
But I played well.
I think it was really fun.
It was definitely a smallercrowd than it had been the last
(00:36):
few weeks, or I hadn't reallybeen to League in a few weeks.
But it was, it was nice and itwas just pretty chill evening.
And then on Saturday, I playedin a set champs that had I want
to say 23 people.
Good ground.
And I did okay in that.
Uh I think I ended up getting11th.
(00:58):
So like about mid.
About mid.
Yeah.
Right.
And then, but I think I stillplayed relatively well,
especially since I got 11thafter playing against two
different blurple players.
And the Ruby Amethyst is likethat's a that's a tough match.
That's the matchup you didn'twant it.
It's that's the one I I know.
I was like, talked about it lastweek.
Um it is the Cope Tonight.
Uh and then on Sunday I playedat Meeples and beyond and had a
(01:25):
really great time and playedvery well.
And it was a smaller set champs,and so we only had four rounds,
and I ended up getting top fourbecause it was four rounds cut
to top four, so I got got topfour.
There was three of our teammatesin the top four.
So shout out to Team Muses.
We're doing really great thisweekend across the city, not
(01:46):
just at the one, not just at theset champs I was playing at.
Our team did well playing allover.
Um I heard really good thingsabout the camaraderie and how
everybody was being sosupportive and so proud team
captain here.
And then so I ended up in topfour and I played against Mikey,
and he beat me with his toysdeck, which was surprising
(02:07):
because most of the time thatmatch goes in my favor with Ruby
Am at this, and he just hadreally, really fantastic
playlines and it played superwell.
And so he uh beat me in the topfour, and then he ended up
winning the mat.
And awesome.
Big shout out to him forwinning.
He had a really great time.
He we all we also carpool allthe time, so he was part of the
(02:29):
carpool, so you know, carpoolgot got lots of lots of prizing.
Daryl got top eight there, so weended up doing very well
throughout the weekend becausehe had gotten top eight at
Gamers Guild Tempe the daybefore.
So we ended up with threewoodies for the household over
the weekend, which with thepricing right now wasn't a bad
call.
(02:50):
Yeah, I feel like the setchamps, the set are more busy
because of the crazy secondhandmarket of cards right now, and
it's a lot more competitive inthe It does feel that way, but
I'm also just impressed thateven though it feels extra
competitive, everybody is stillplaying nicely.
That's what it feels like.
I was expecting it to be alittle bit more cutthroat.
SPEAKER_02 (03:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:14):
Um, but I think people are still playing with
that level of camaraderie thatwe have come to know and love.
And so I I'm just impressed thateven with the increase of the
pricing for how the pricing isso expensive now, it everybody
in the community is saying, no,like we'll we'll be more
competitive, but we're notgonna, you know, stoop to a
(03:36):
level that and we're gonna makesure that we're all playing by
the same rules.
SPEAKER_01 (03:40):
Yeah.
I mean, I I say this everysingle episode, but I love the
Arizona community of Lacanaplayers because that's just how
we are.
And even if we have our teamsand we have our, you know,
groups that we hang out with andplay with a lot, it's like
everybody still supportseverybody.
And if you walk up and ask, youknow, one of the great players
here for help, they will helpyou regardless of whether you're
(04:00):
on their team or not.
Or, you know, or if you need toborrow cards to make a deck, or
there's always people willing tohelp out.
And I think that's one of thethings that makes Arizona such a
great place to play beyond thecompetitiveness and the
resources.
SPEAKER_00 (04:14):
Yeah, and I think that we support a lot of the
different styles of play too.
I will say we have a really bigArizona Discord, and there's
conversations both for likehelping people get ready for set
champs or getting ready to playat Indy for, you know, Infinity.
There's also like new playerswho are asking, hey, what are
(04:34):
the stores that are a little bitless competitive and things like
that, so that everybody feelsthat they can go and play and
learn and you know continue tohave fun with this game at the
various levels that people areplaying.
SPEAKER_01 (04:48):
Yeah, and last week when we were at Mox, there we
were having our set champsthere, and somebody came in and
was like, Hey, can I learn howto play Lorcana?
And uh Mitchell, who's theperson running Mox's set champs,
was like, sure, I'm sitting herejust waiting for the tournament
to be over.
Let me teach you how to play.
And then he like learned how toplay right then and there, and
that's pretty cool.
So I think that's just the typeof people we have in our
(05:08):
community, which is why it'sgrown so big and it's been so
great.
SPEAKER_00 (05:12):
Yeah.
And I'm I'm grateful that whileToy Story has brought a lot of,
you know, the collectors to thegame.
Yeah, it's also brought newplayers to the game.
And I I'm always wanting thisgame because new players means
that the game is continuing tobe healthy and has that turn it
does have turnover just likeevery game.
(05:33):
But when we get new players,that means that that turnover
means that we're gonna continueto have players and having a
community that's growing.
SPEAKER_01 (05:40):
Yeah, that just means we need to get rid of all
the degenerate decks.
Throw them away.
We do try.
SPEAKER_00 (05:45):
We we do try to try, we need to try and balance out
yeah, the decks that feel thatthey're dominating the meta.
But I will say I felt like everyroom I was in this weekend felt
like there was a balance ofdecks.
I know we talked about lastepisode, we talked about there
was a lot of dogs, but I thinkthat was only one set champs,
and then the rest of the setchamps have felt more balanced
(06:08):
than that.
Yeah.
Um, and I don't know ifeverybody was so nervous after
that first one showed so manydogs in the room, or if it was
just a fluke for the one store,you know?
SPEAKER_01 (06:18):
Well, I think it's really funny because I think
people thought dogs or toys,like the Amber Emerald Aggro
decks, would be the onestopping.
And most of the set champs,Amber Emerald has been winning,
but less people are bringing itbecause more people
overcorrected for it by bringinganti-dogs or anti-toy aggro
essentially.
And the fun it had a funnyeffect of some rooms had so many
(06:41):
anti-agro decks that they wereplaying each other and knocking
each other out, and then in thefinals would be the aggro amber
emerald dogs list, and theywould win the tournament because
they didn't see any aggro or anyanti-aggro decks.
Yeah.
So it's just, I think, you know,the first weekend everybody
showed up with dogs, andobviously that was a grind.
(07:02):
And then uh the next weekendeveryone overcorrected, and the
people who stuck with dogs kindof had better success, I think.
SPEAKER_00 (07:09):
Yeah, so in the top four, we had Amber Emerald, Ruby
Amethyst, Emerald Sapphire, andAmber Amethyst.
So we had four vastly differentlists all playing in the top
four.
SPEAKER_01 (07:27):
That's crazy.
Uh amazing discoveries thisweekend where Chris and I played
set champs.
We had two dogs in the finalsand very phenomenal dog players.
Um, Andy, who has made the hasgotten a nationals invite, and
then Logan, who got his firstmat this weekend on Team Mises.
So shout out to Logan for takingfirst at one of his tournaments.
He's a phenomenal player aswell.
(07:49):
And I had to face him in thefirst round.
And then in top four again, whenI I squeaked my way into top
four this weekend on mydegenerate deck list, which was
I switched to blue green thisweekend.
Yeah, I hesitated to do it.
So Blurple was just letting medown.
So I decided to take a plungeand try blue green.
And when I got to the room and Isaw Andy and Logan there, I
(08:11):
said, I brought the wrong deckbecause that deck is unless your
opponent bricks and everythinggoes right for you, you that
deck just does not beat dogs.
It's like how Blurple is foryou.
And so, of course, my firstround, I got paired against
Logan and I said, Well, I thinkI'm just gonna go home today.
He handily beat me in like 10minutes, and then we called it.
(08:33):
Goodness.
But you kept at it, and youstill made top four.
Yeah, well, I think actually theway the math worked out was
really funny because there wasonly I think 15 or 16 people
there, and 15, it was 15 people,and uh and losing to Logan in
the first round actually securedmy way to the top four, I think,
because all the other dogplayers were sitting in the top
(08:56):
bracket and I didn't have toplay any of them in the bottom
bracket.
Not to, I mean, the So sometimeslosing first helps you in the
long run.
It depends, right?
If you can win the rest of yourgames, because if I had lost a
single game, my opponent winpercentages, which is what
determines tiebreakers, would betoo low.
But because I lost my first gameand it happened to be a person
(09:17):
who also made top four, and thenI won the rest.
Well, I got a buy, and then Iwon the other two, then that
secured me enough points to maketop four, even though my
opponent win percentages werevery low.
So I wouldn't recommend thatpath.
But just because you lose thefirst round, a lot of people
say, Oh, you lose the firstround, like it's really hard to
climb out from there.
(09:37):
It's if you lose after that,then it is a little harder.
But if you do get the points forit, I think it's still fine,
which is what happened to me.
Fortunately, I got matched intoanother Sapphire Amber.
It was really interesting.
Um, it was puppies and the shiftuh bolt, super bolt with Dale on
the board.
So he hits first seven.
(09:58):
Oh, that's interesting.
And it was a terror.
I was sitting there sweating thewhole time, and it was piloted
by a local uh six-year-old or Iguess seven or eight-year-old
prodigy.
I always say I call it callerprodigy, but I think to have the
attention stand to sit through awhole tournament at that age and
be able to read your cards andblend, not just simple decks, is
(10:19):
pretty darn cool.
And uh so she was making mesweat and work for it the whole
time because she had and I wonthe first game, the second game,
she quested to 20 before I couldeven get my Claribel on the
board.
Wow.
And it was it was I was sittingthere shaking.
I was like, oh my goodness, I'mI'm gonna get knocked out right
now.
And then the last list I playedagainst was a blue steel player,
(10:41):
which is a great matchup for me,unfortunately for him.
But the biggest thing that I'mproud of myself of this weekend
was I didn't apologize foranything I played.
Good.
Except to Leah, because I feellike, you know, bullying a
little kid to get away to topfour was a little cruel, but No,
we do not apologize.
Yeah, she was really cutebecause I said, Oh, I it was I
(11:02):
played my Prince Philip combo,and then the next turn I played
my Prince Philip combo again,and I was like, I'm so sorry.
And she was really sweet.
She's like, Why are youapologizing?
SPEAKER_00 (11:12):
And I'm like, Okay, I can't do that anymore.
Oh my gosh.
I told her the last time weplayed, I'm like, Leah, do not
apologize for winning.
Yeah, do not apologize whenyou're losing.
Yeah, you play the game the bestyou can every time.
SPEAKER_01 (11:24):
Yeah, yeah.
I know she's really sweet.
Um, but yeah, so that was reallyfun to do that.
Um, that was just Sunday becauseChris and I were only able to go
to one set champs this weekend.
We went to the Ed Sheeranconcert on Saturday night, which
was phenomenal.
Um, and that was really fun.
Just danced a lot.
And man, that man can play aguitar.
SPEAKER_00 (11:43):
I heard a there was a lot of local players that
went.
Yeah.
We have a bunch of Ed Sheeranfans that play Lorcana.
SPEAKER_01 (11:51):
Yeah, we didn't see each other there.
So the next day, a lot of uswere at Amazing Discoveries, and
we were all like that Spider-Manmeme where you're like, you,
you.
We're like, you went there too.
So yeah, there was a lot ofpeople there, and I think the
show is just amazing.
I I think I've told you thisbefore, but he's one of my
favorite artists, and it's likeif you've never heard him build
a song from scratch, it soundsjust like his studio album
(12:13):
because that's how he records alot of his music, and so his
live music sounds exactly likehe does on his albums because
that's how he records his songs,and absolutely amazing.
What that man can do with aguitar and new pedal is blows my
mind.
SPEAKER_00 (12:25):
I I'm always thoroughly impressed by
musicians that can do all thethings, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
We're just like, wow, that'simpressive.
And then they write too, and I'mjust like, Yeah, how much talent
can one person have?
SPEAKER_01 (12:37):
Right?
Save some talent for the rest ofus.
No, but that's the that's whatmakes him like that's what makes
me so impressed with him becauseI always appreciate good
artistry and good songwriting.
But the fact that he can thentake what he imagines and build
the entire thing by himselfbecause most of his concert is
just him, a guitar, and a looppedal on stage.
There's no like band, there's noproduction.
(12:58):
I mean, obviously there'sproduction because it's a show,
but it's not like a big, like,you know, I love Taylor Swift.
The heiress tour was absolutelyamazing.
So amazing.
But it takes like three trucksof things to get.
Oh, of course.
Yes, of course.
It is a it is a full show.
It is a one, yes.
And for him, it was just everyonce in a while, somebody would
come up on stage and hand him anew guitar because it would go
(13:21):
out of two it or something.
And that was like the show,which is really cool to me, I
think, to have like a wholeentire stadium filled with
people just admiring that.
I think is cool.
SPEAKER_00 (13:30):
And it's just fun to know that hey, they're friends,
like they and and well, it'strue.
And then and they all theyappreciate each other as
artists.
Yes, that that's my favoritepart.
Oh, yeah, that's what I is likewhen musicians like appreciate
that their artistry isdifferent, but are like help
each other.
SPEAKER_01 (13:46):
Yeah, I don't I mean, I wasn't doing the
comparison just because I waslike, oh, one's better than the
other.
No, I think they're phenomenal,and I think that it it's so so
cool that everybody has theirown approach to it and find
success in what they'recomfortable with.
But yeah, he I like him a lottoo, because he's really down to
earth.
At one point in the show, hemissed the loop pedal and that
the music completely stopped.
And he's like, see, that's howyou know it's live because I
(14:06):
just missed the loop pedal, andthen he like continued singing,
and it was just like reallyfunny.
He's such a dork.
unknown (14:11):
That was great.
SPEAKER_01 (14:12):
But yeah, that was our weekend.
We went to Ed Sheeran.
Chris was playing a meme deck.
He said, We meme a meme deck.
We said, Don't let your memes bedreams.
And he brought a red steellocations deck that's been
making its rounds, and he said,I lost my way into the top eight
somehow because he lost hisfirst round, he lost his no, he
(14:36):
got a bye, he lost his firstround, he lost his second round,
and then he won his fourth roundand made top eight because the
people he lost to were Logan andBrad, who both made top eight.
And so it was like, he's like, Ididn't even play today, I lost
my way into the top eight.
SPEAKER_00 (14:51):
Sometimes the tournament math is just wild.
It's wild, yeah.
Sometimes it's wild in bad ways,and then sometimes it's wild in
good ways.
And you're just always a mathfulmath.
SPEAKER_01 (15:00):
Yeah, I don't ever do the math.
I see like a lot of peoplesitting there, like, oh, if I
make this and I tie and I dothis, and I'm like, I'm just
gonna play because like I don't,I don't want to think about the
math.
I feel like thinking about themath makes it like more
stressful for me.
SPEAKER_00 (15:13):
Yeah, and and for me, I don't ever do a full
calculation, but I do like tryto, you know, see where things
lie in the whole room justbecause I think, you know, turn
two two two turns ahead.
I do that in the game too, butlike I think about that for
tournaments because I want toplay well at really large
tournaments.
(15:34):
So I feel I always practice atthe smaller tournaments doing
the math there.
SPEAKER_01 (15:37):
That makes sense.
I think in general, it's like weknow three ones usually make it
in.
You know, like you play enoughof the tournaments that you kind
of have a general idea of whatthe points are, but the math,
the tiebreaker stuff, like Ijust don't bother because it's
really disappointing when you dothe math and you're like,
there's a really good chance Icould make it in, and then you
like bubble out at ninth orsomething.
It can be really disheartening.
(15:59):
And actually, I didn't even knowI was gonna make top four until
I was in my last round playingand it looked like I was gonna
win.
And so Brad came over and waslike, Well, he didn't say
anything to me because I was inthe game, but I heard him
telling Chris, he's like, Doesshe know?
And I'm like, that sounds likethey're talking about me.
Not that I'm like, you know,self-centered thinking
everyone's talking about me allthe time, but I was the only
person left playing.
So he's like, Does she know?
(16:20):
And I was like, No what?
And he's like, Nothing, nothing.
And then as soon as I finishedmy match, he's like, I think you
made top four.
And I was like, What?
I was ready to go home afterround one today.
I told Chris, I was like, Ithink I brought the wrong deck
to this room.
Yeah, I mean, you just neverknow.
SPEAKER_00 (16:36):
You just never know.
SPEAKER_01 (16:36):
You never know.
Well, I mean, as soon as wematched in top four, I I matched
against Logan.
And Logan, we, we, you know,shuffled up.
I was like, I there's no way I'mgonna win this.
So because he's been hot forlike two days, he we shuffled up
and then he's like, Let me showyou the hand I'm keeping and I'm
gonna scoop.
He's like, I know also know howthis goes, and you could just go
home.
Yeah, well, and I mean we didplay it out, but it didn't last
(16:59):
much longer than the house.
I told him I have to make youwork for it, okay?
That's fair, that's fair.
But yeah, so that was ourweekend.
What did you do this weekend?
SPEAKER_02 (17:08):
Yeah, so I'm sure our listeners are like, Does
Nikki actually play?
I do, but I'm still getting myfeet wet and back into the game.
So I have opted not to play anyset champs just yet.
Yeah, because I'm still tryingto find my footing again and
learning, you know, some of thethe card mechanics that I really
didn't familiarize myself withbeing away for well, probably
(17:32):
just one set.
So, what did we do?
We saw the Mandalorian movie,which was really good.
However, oh, okay.
I I just feel like it could havebeen like a miniseries instead
of a movie.
So, like how it is now.
Yeah, but I feel that they couldhave incorporated the Boba Fett
(17:54):
storyline into it, as they havebefore in the series.
I think there was so much morethey could do with the the film
that it was just lacking thestoryline.
There was a lot of action, but Ithink there could have been so
much more with a story, and itcould have been a really nice
mini stri series to kind ofclose out both ends of
(18:15):
Mandalorian and Boba Fett,because I feel like Boba Fett
left on a cliffhanger in theseries.
So I just think I think it wouldhave worked very well.
Okay, but I enjoyed it, I didenjoy it.
SPEAKER_00 (18:26):
So I'll watch it again on Disney.
SPEAKER_02 (18:28):
That's not the first that is not the first time I've
heard that.
SPEAKER_00 (18:30):
Yeah.
So I'm I I was impressed, Iwasn't wanting to hear because I
haven't finished the series yet,so I haven't gone to see the
movie because I want to finishit before I see it.
Yeah.
And so I I'm getting a lot ofopinions on it, but everybody's
opinion is basically likethere's not enough story for it.
There's not like it's but itblows up real good.
SPEAKER_02 (18:50):
It does.
I mean, yeah, there's plenty ofaction, there's plenty of, you
know, combat, whatever.
SPEAKER_01 (18:55):
But yeah, I just so cool creatures.
We talked about before wherelike I'm not a big Star Wars
fan, so I've never seen any ofthat.
But shockingly, I've also heardthat feedback about they were
like, the Mandalorian is this,and I'm like, what's the
Mandalorian?
I'm just kidding, I'm not thatignorant.
I know what the Mandalorian is,I've just never seen it.
But yeah, it's I've heard thatfeedback too.
SPEAKER_02 (19:15):
Yeah, I mean, I yeah.
Will I watch it again?
Sure.
But will I go pay to see itagain?
No.
I guess I'm paying for DisneyPlus anyway, but whatever.
SPEAKER_01 (19:24):
The mouse gets our money.
Uh-huh.
In all ways, in all ways.
SPEAKER_02 (19:30):
Before the weekend, though, Brittany and I went to
the theater.
We did the theater of thetheater.
And uh, we saw the Wizard of Oz,which was so cool.
SPEAKER_00 (19:41):
It was really well done.
Yes.
I love so we went to the HaleTheater, which is a local
theater, and they do anexcellent job every time I've
been to a show there.
But the singing was phenomenal.
Beautiful.
The young kid that did thepuppetry for Tono, he was so
impressive.
SPEAKER_02 (20:01):
He was, he was like in character.
Didn't really need to be incharacter.
Wait, wait, wait, no, spoilersbecause Chris and I are gonna go
see at this very acting wasimpressive.
SPEAKER_01 (20:11):
Okay, yeah, I was like, obviously, everybody knows
the story.
Yeah, with stories, but I justum I don't want to know, like,
yeah, because we've seen we lovethe Hale Theatre so much, we
bought season tickets to them,and we've seen a lot of shows
there, and it's always so, sowell done.
The what the cast can do withsuch a small cast and the
limited space is justmind-blowing.
SPEAKER_02 (20:30):
It was my first time, so it was like I'd just
think that the 360s stage.
I thought it was really cool,and I'm like, okay, well, we
were in a section where likecharacters were coming down,
like right next to us.
So I was like, I don't know if Iwant this new time I come here
because it was it would it was alittle hard to be like turning
and looking and you know, tryingto like Especially when they
(20:53):
stop and sing right next to you,yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:55):
This is a little bit too immersive of a theater
experience.
SPEAKER_02 (20:58):
Um the cowardly lion, but it's a bit close.
SPEAKER_00 (21:01):
But yeah, it was and the audio quality, I feel like
improved since the last time Iwent there, and it was not bad
the last time I went.
Yeah, so I'm wondering if theylike upgraded their audio system
because I think their theirscreens got upgraded too.
Oh, interesting.
I know that they recently didrenovations, so I don't know if
that was part of theirrenovations.
Probably was, but I it wasgreat.
(21:23):
It was great, it was it wassuper fun, and I didn't mean to
forget.
I was just not a good idea.
SPEAKER_02 (21:28):
No, no, it's just something I hopped into my head.
I didn't write it down on mylist.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was like technically it wasThursday.
SPEAKER_00 (21:36):
I was so tired.
SPEAKER_02 (21:38):
Oh my god, so was I.
I ended up taking two naps, catnaps, but like I was so wiped.
So wiped.
SPEAKER_00 (21:46):
How old can you be when you you stay out till
eleven thirty and you're tiredof the stuff?
No, it's the next day.
And we still had to go to workthe next day.
SPEAKER_02 (21:53):
Yeah, pretty ugly.
So yeah, I was glad when my bosscanceled our five AM meeting
because I was not prepared.
Also, why are you having 5 a.m.
meetings though?
That's when I start my shift andmy boss is in Scotland.
So for her, it's lunch.
Okay.
All right.
SPEAKER_01 (22:10):
I guess that's understandable, but I I mean,
even when I was workingcorporate, I'm like, dude, don't
schedule meetings before 6 a.m.
SPEAKER_00 (22:16):
Like, I'm not big.
I often have 5 a.m.
meetings.
Well, I guess it makes sensebecause I work in construction.
SPEAKER_01 (22:22):
Yeah, that okay.
That's fair.
I'm just I'm just a spoiled uhcorporate girly, I guess.
SPEAKER_00 (22:29):
I was like, I took you I technically work in
corporate, but it's theconstruction, it's the
construction side of corporate.
SPEAKER_01 (22:35):
So I'm a spoiled ex-corporate girly, usually.
I wanted to pick up on somethingthat you said earlier, which is
like because you're getting backinto the set, you're not really
sure about doing set champs.
But I guess my question is, isit because you're just not
confident in like your playlinesor are you just nervous about
coming to like competitivescene?
SPEAKER_02 (22:55):
Yeah, I mean, a little bit of both.
I mean, I, you know, I did aleague night already and it went
fairly well.
I'm still trying to familiarizemyself with the deck that I put
together and trying to makechanges to it.
And then I feel like, oh, Ishouldn't have made those
changes.
So I'm constantly questioningwhat I'm doing.
Yeah.
(23:15):
And yeah, right.
So I I feel I do need to buildup my confidence.
And part of me is like, maybe Ishould just do it and put myself
on the line and just see whathappens to just dive headfirst
into it, um, which might not bea bad idea.
It's a thought.
But it's a scary thought, butit's a scary thought because I
(23:36):
know what kind of players wehave in our community, and not
like they're like scary andthey're mean or anything.
It's just they're good.
Yeah, they're really good.
And we've already talked aboutthem.
So I think, you know, for me,it's just yeah, building up that
confidence again.
Because I know I can play thegame.
I mean, the first time I everdid a set champs, I did make a
(23:57):
top eight.
We didn't have prizing gun likewe do now, but but still, I
enjoyed it when I did play.
So yeah, it's kind of a thoughtthat I've been teetering with
just maybe just jump in, hiding.
SPEAKER_00 (24:10):
I think just do it.
Yeah, honestly, I RebeccaQuests, who's one of my favorite
people in this community, likelarger Lurkana community, she's
fantastic.
She recently posted, I thinkthis weekend, about how she was
a loser.
And but she like she like tookit on and she was like, because
there's honestly, there's moreof us than there are winners.
(24:31):
And she took it on as hey, we'rehere and we're still playing,
and we might not always be themost competitive players in the
room, but there's a space inLarcana for everyone.
SPEAKER_01 (24:40):
Yeah, that's uh I was gonna say was like, I don't
know.
I mean, this is now a team usestherapy session, apparently, but
yes, are you charging me forthis?
I do you take insurance?
Yeah, right.
I was just gonna say that, youknow, I don't think there's
anything to be so intimidatedby.
And I think that's like a goodmessage to not not to say that
it's not scary, right?
(25:01):
Because even I play it every setchance and I still show up and
I'm like, oh my gosh, I betterleave.
Like, what am I doing?
Yeah, but I there's people whoshow up and they're like,
they're playing their cards, andyou're like, wait, what does
this card do again?
I'm like, it's your deck, whyare you asking me?
Oh no, I do it all the time.
But like, that's a but I thinkour community, and we talked
about this, is so great thatyeah, it it's fine, you know?
And I think the thing that keepsa lot of people from trying is
(25:25):
they come in with theexpectation that it's like, hey,
I'm a smart person, I should beable to win.
But it's like the game is a lotmore competitive than you think
it is, even if it is a Disneyquote unquote card game.
But if you come in and say, I'mjust here for the experience and
I'm here to hang out withfriends and learn, like I think
you're gonna take a lot out of aset champs that is more than
just, you know, going for thetop eight cards.
(25:45):
And I've seen a lot of players,like, I mean, on our own team,
Tony and Nate were like thattoo, where they're like, Well, I
don't want to play well, Tonywasn't like that because we
didn't really know him thatwell, but Nate was like, I don't
want to be competitive, and thenhe jumped in and just started
showing up, and now he's kickingbutt.
It's awesome.
And so, and Tony too.
Tony just showed up, and thefirst time I ever met him was
his third or fourth time playingin the wild.
(26:08):
And he showed up with a deckthat was homebrewed, and he lost
every single round of the setchamps, and he he came back the
next day, and I was like, wow,that's awesome! And now he's
kicking butt as well.
Just I think it's just puttingyourself in situations where you
get a chance to practice and youget a chance to see what other
players are doing and how theyrun the same 60 cards you're
(26:30):
running, because I think that'show we learn, right?
It's just yeah, seeing how otherpeople who have put more
practice or have had moreexperience with something like
run the deck differently.
That also helps you learn.
SPEAKER_02 (26:41):
Yeah, I agree with you.
And that's actually something Ithought about too was like,
would I be like a weird creeperif I just went and watched
people play?
SPEAKER_00 (26:49):
We actually have a few people who have done that.
Yeah.
And we've had like communitymembers come and be like, I just
want to watch because I want toknow what I should be doing.
Yeah.
Right?
Or like what it could look like,what decks might be interesting
to me.
And seeing gameplay in person, Ifeel like it's so thoroughly
different than watching games onlike video and things like that.
(27:10):
Like watching DLC play by playsis always interesting, and it's
good to watch that high level ofcompetitive play, but especially
when you're still like wantingto learn at a more like local
level, right?
Seeing how you know regulareveryday players are playing.
SPEAKER_01 (27:28):
Yeah, I wouldn't buy a ticket to a DLC just to go
watch somebody play for thefirst time.
No, that's a big investment.
No, exactly.
Yeah, but but locally, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:38):
For sure.
Um, and then honestly, I justfeel like the the environment
feels a little bit differentbecause you're there longer than
it's a normal league day.
It's a daytime start.
Most of the time, it's a daytimestart.
And it's just like people are ina different environment.
Like for me, I play so muchbetter on the weekends because
it starts in the morning than Iever do at league nights because
(28:00):
I am not a night person.
I'm like, I am I am my brain iscooked.
Yeah.
I have been working all day,especially by Friday night.
I I go there and I do not expectto do well because I still want
to go and practice, but I havenot had enough sleep by that
time.
I haven't had enough, you know,caffeine to to help the world,
(28:23):
but I play so much better when Iplay in the morning.
And so like I feel I'm alwaysexcited when the tournaments
start early.
SPEAKER_01 (28:30):
As everyone collectively groans at like 8
a.m.
Yeah, I know.
No, I'm like, please, let's dothe floor 8 a.m.
SPEAKER_02 (28:36):
CRTM year before noon.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (28:38):
Yeah, I want to be able to have the rest of my day.
SPEAKER_01 (28:41):
Yeah.
I agree with that.
So well, back to the watchingthing, because like even I do
that when I'm in the set champs.
If I finish my match early, Iwill go around and watch.
And especially the nice thingabout I mean, we have our
teammates who allow this aswell, but don't obviously you
don't say anything during thematch, but after the match,
sometimes I'll be like, hey, Ihave a question, like, why did
you do that instead of this?
Right.
And it's like not a challengingtheir decision, it's me to like
(29:04):
learning reasoning because I'mlike, oh, that's a really good
point that I didn't think about.
Or I'll say something like,actually, I didn't, I don't know
why I did that.
I should have done somethingdifferent, and here's why,
because they know their deckbetter than I do.
Um, and so it's just like reallyinteresting to see.
And and I haven't run into anyplayers that have had any issues
with me like asking questionsafter the fact.
Yeah, sometimes there are ultracompetitive players.
(29:26):
You're like, I don't want totalk about my deck before the
tournament's over, which istotally fair.
And that's fine too.
But they've never ever been rudeabout it or like, you know, they
they just say, like, I don'tfeel comfortable talking about
it right now, but after thetournament, you're welcome to
ask me.
And like that's that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (29:41):
That's fair too.
Fair.
I mean, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (29:44):
Yeah.
Uh the first time in a longtime, because Daryl ended up
with the bye in round one in ourset champs, which for some
reason happens.
SPEAKER_01 (29:52):
He is the luckiest man often.
And I if there's a raffle, he'swinning it.
SPEAKER_00 (29:57):
Yeah, like if there's a buy, he's getting it.
He's super lucky.
And I I I mean, I luck out allthe time because he is so lucky.
As the one who was married tohim.
I totally understand it.
So I I benefit from it veryoften, but he got the bye.
And so he was walking around andhe wanted to watch my gameplay,
and he stood behind the otherplayer, and and that guy was
(30:19):
like, Oh, can you like go watchfrom a different angle?
Basically, and it was the firsttime anybody'd ever asked, and
he was like, Yeah, for sure.
But I think the other guy wasworried that he was gonna like
tell me things as the game washappening.
Well, first of all, I would likenot even look at him because
that is so not like me.
I would freak before I ever hadeven like the inclination of
(30:42):
cheating.
I would yeah, I would be like,judge on myself.
I looked at his size, he told mewhat to play.
Um, but also I also I ask him toleave watching me play all the
time because I just don't enjoyhaving hovering.
Only him.
I don't mind other I don't mindother teammates, but it's just
different when it's yourhusband.
(31:02):
Yeah.
Uh but yeah, that was the firsttime and I was like, yeah,
totally.
Like makes complete sense.
Yeah, but it was just funnybecause we have people that
watch gameplay all the time andnobody has ever said anything
before.
SPEAKER_01 (31:15):
Yeah, yeah.
I sometimes I'll get in thosemoods where I'm like, man, I'm
just not playing well.
And so I'll ask Chris to likewatch me play, and he's learned
very quickly to be like, no,because like, you know, we get
in arguments about it, but it'slike he knows me and he knows
like I know what I'm doing wrongalready.
And it's sometimes I just getinto those streaks that are
(31:36):
like, I'm just tired, like hesaid, not thinking, making
mistakes left and right, andthen I get really down on
myself.
So him being the wonderfulpartner that he is is not like
I'm not gonna add on to thatbecause you already know what
you're doing wrong, and I thinkyou just need to relax.
And I'm like, what's that?
unknown (31:51):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (31:52):
So yeah, what's relaxing?
But yeah, so I think he alsodoes like we don't we watch each
other play, but we don't ever,you know, like post mortem the
game or something.
SPEAKER_00 (32:03):
Yeah, I I I try not to analyze too much during the
tournament because I feel likeit psyches me out for the next
round.
But I always write down my matchand like what they were playing
after I play so that I can thinkabout it after the tournament.
I've gotten I I was very goodabout it.
SPEAKER_01 (32:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (32:20):
Before in previous sets.
SPEAKER_01 (32:22):
And this set I've kind of Yeah, it's your it's
your uh set.
SPEAKER_00 (32:25):
It's my break set.
And I just still I got my goalof still getting a top of eight,
right?
Yeah so like I I did my goal.
So now it's just it's still mybreak set, but um I'm starting
to like look look past and tryto think about what could I play
post-rotation.
So I'm trying to think aboutwhat in my deck can I take out
that is gonna be rotated out,and based on what cards that we
(32:48):
know obviously that are stayingfrom sets eight and above,
right?
Not eight, nine, nine.
I was like, no, nope.
I was missing in my head and itwasn't from sets nine and above.
So I'm gonna, I think, startchanging my deck to be all
post-rotation or very close topost-rotation.
Now we don't know what else iscoming, but that is definitely
(33:09):
something to think about is likewhat could there be coming to
kind of replace those pieces?
So thinking about what's coming.
SPEAKER_02 (33:16):
Well, well, well, we can segue into the very special
lore cast that will be Tuesday,June 23rd at 10 a.m.
Pacific time or any local timewhere you are.
SPEAKER_00 (33:27):
Yeah, so there's a special lore cast coming up
where they're gonna startreveals, but actually they're
gonna start reveals this weekendat the DLC.
That makes sense during the DLCcoverage.
So if you are not in a setchamps this weekend, you can
watch some DLC coverage to seesome early attack of the vine
attack of the mine and then somedegenerate gameplay.
SPEAKER_01 (33:47):
And some infinity gameplay.
Like I said, degenerategameplay.
SPEAKER_00 (33:52):
And we have lots of Arizona community members going
to that.
So a big shout out to ourArizona crew going out to go
play in that tournament.
Hopefully, you do well.
Good luck.
Bring another invite to ArizonaPeeps.
We need to see that.
Yeah, we do.
And then I'm just I amthoroughly excited to see what's
gonna go on the vine.
Also, I'm thinking about what mynail set's gonna look like.
(34:15):
I already started looking at myPinterest board and being like,
okay, what kind of vine nailsshould I look at?
Because as as I currently haveAtlantis nails, and so I'm like
trying, I know it's a sillything, but I always like try to
match what's happening to astory nail.
So yeah, we're good.
SPEAKER_02 (34:32):
Yeah, we'd like to theme.
SPEAKER_00 (34:34):
Yeah, I like I like my nails to have a theme, and I
want it to kind of go with thetheme of the new set, and I
think the vine would be cool.
Yeah.
Uh I know in some of the teaserswe've seen, like up is one of
the things, and Monster Zinc iscoming, and so I could also do
like Monsters Inc.
nails depending on how manymonsters ink characters there
are.
(34:54):
Uh Sully nails would be so cute.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (34:57):
Sully and Mike Wazalski.
SPEAKER_00 (34:59):
Like just have one Mike Wazowski with half an eye
kind of hiding behind something.
I'm not a nail with uh Mikey inthe car on the drive uh with
Mark as well.
So like a lot of teammates inthe car who were joking about
Sully being an iconic card, andbut it would be a Sully and Mike
(35:20):
card.
Right.
But Mike is hiding.
He's covered by the text box.
And I just think that's it'sjust so on on theme.
Yeah, that'd be so funny.
Uh but I was, yeah, that's myone of my predictions is that
Sully will be an iconic, but notboth of them.
Or or maybe Mike Gwazelski willbe an iconic, sort of.
(35:41):
And then probably a princess forthe other one.
But yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (35:45):
What I think even funnier would be if Mike
Wazelski was the only thing inthe iconic and it'd be like the
background of monstersincorporated, and it's just his
little like head.
SPEAKER_00 (35:54):
Oh my gosh.
That would that would be reallyfunny too.
But we also Mikey had the hopethat it would be a Randall card
would be there, but it wouldonly be Randall's eyes.
Yeah.
So you can't, because he's goesinvisible.
And I was like, and then on theepic version, you can if you
turn the foiling, you can seehim.
SPEAKER_01 (36:14):
Oh my gosh, that would be so elaborate.
I know, but I was like, maybethey could do it.
I don't think possibly.
Yeah, I mean, they've done somebeautiful stuff with the art, so
you never know.
SPEAKER_00 (36:24):
So we're just kind of making some predictions there
as to characters that could beon cards.
SPEAKER_01 (36:29):
Well, and boo has got to be a card, right?
Like they can't think about Boo.
That's how cute.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (36:36):
I'm just looking forward to the up cards because
up is my absolute favorite.
Yeah.
They're gonna be sad cards.
They're gonna be a little sadfor, especially for me.
Like Carl and Ellie.
Carl and Ellie.
But uh, yeah, those are thecards I'm looking forward to the
most.
They're very sentimental to me.
So but yeah, I wanna see a Kevincard and and Russell and Doug.
(36:58):
I think Doug would be cool.
SPEAKER_00 (37:00):
That's I think that's gonna be kind of an
action part of the card.
I just I love the constantfeeling of like, hey, we're
moving forward, we're havingfun, the game is constantly
changing.
It feels fresh.
It feels like I was a littleworried that dogs was gonna
continue just to be over, overmenacing, but it this weekend
(37:22):
showed me that there's so muchof variants still, and I'm not
worried about it, at least onthe local level, not sure what
it looks like everywhere else.
But here I feel like we have avery healthy meta.
SPEAKER_03 (37:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:33):
Um, and so I just want to continue, you know,
playing this game, loving theDisney IP and how Disneylor Cana
is just being supported, gettingexcited to ramp up for um the
LCQ at the end of the summer andyou know, nationals going to
Disneyland beforehand.
SPEAKER_01 (37:50):
Yeah, we had a whole month where it was just a lot of
waiting for things to happen.
And then now the time has come,like things are happening,
right?
Set champs is gonna lead intothe DLC, is gonna lead into the
LCQ, and so things are like alot of stuff is happening.
Well, the new set of movement.
Yeah, lots of movement, which isalways exciting.
SPEAKER_00 (38:08):
Yeah, I like the forward movement, and I know a
lot of people are get frustratedby how often the game rolls
over, but honestly, this gamemoves slightly slower than a lot
of some of the other TCGs thatyou know release new things
every other week.
Right.
We say as Magic the Gatheringhas a big release this weekend.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:26):
Well, I feel like Magic has gotten on the extreme
end of releasing things becauseit used to be about four times a
year, which I think is a greatpacing because it keeps the game
fresh.
It keeps the game like alive inthe sense that you know it
doesn't the meta doesn't getstale.
It's not the same two or threedecks every single time winning.
And I agree with you, like withrotation and the new sets coming
(38:48):
out, that like the meta is sohealthy right now because even
though there are dominant decks,of course, like you know, dogs
and blurb was dominating for avery long time, there were
always decks that, you know,quote unquote came out of
nowhere winning big tournaments,and it made people really
excited to try different colorsand try different combinations
and see if they can crack thenext like awkward, like new deck
(39:09):
that can win a big tournamenttoo.
Uh but now magic is I don't wantto say an attempts to money
grab, but it's an intenso moneygrab of releasing new sets uh
every single month.
And I think I hope Lurcana nevergets to that point because it
feels too like too much.
It's exhausting for collectorswho want all the like cards,
it's exhausting for players andmonetarily like very hard to
(39:32):
keep up with getting new productand like they're playing on the
fact that people have FOMO andlike don't want to miss out on
the latest, strongest cards.
And it's I think it just makesit really unfair to the player
base.
SPEAKER_00 (39:43):
Yeah, and I don't think the Disney Lorcana will
ever do that.
I think that they focus more onthe pla the player base as it
also being a family game andtrying to have it be that is
part of the focus.
They do have the competitiveside and all of that, but so I
don't think they're gonnaincrease the like the amount of
(40:04):
sets that are getting printedand things like that.
SPEAKER_01 (40:06):
I mean, magic has been around for a long, long
time, right?
Yeah.
So I feel like in the earlydays, it took them probably 10
or 15 years before they startedprinting more um sets in a year.
Uh but they stuck to the atfirst it was like two or three
and then four, and then theystuck with that for a long time.
So I feel like it justinevitably happens with every
(40:27):
card game that stays successful,is that, you know, less it's
like a cycle, right?
So you start out and everyone'ssuper interested.
They buy a lot of product andthen you slow roll everything
out, and then eventually um, youknow, there's enough turnover or
there's enough uh interest thatpeople feel like they can
overcreate or overprint sets andthings like that, and then it
(40:48):
like becomes a cycle.
Yeah.
So I mean, I don't know if wecan say like Lorcana will never
get there, but I think it'll behopefully a very, very long time
before they get to that point.
So yeah.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (41:00):
Um prediction from the new set before we that's an
excellent question.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (41:06):
I because I feel like we don't have enough
information yet.
SPEAKER_00 (41:09):
But this is the time, this is why we make
predictions before we haveinformation.
SPEAKER_01 (41:14):
Well, I have one.
I it's more of a hope than aprediction, but I hope they
print something that takes awayward temporarily.
Because I feel like that wouldbe such a great thing for the
game to keep the game healthy.
So yeah.
I like that.
Yeah.
Could just be like a second itemto remove ward or ignore ward or
like play this action to to likecan target ward characters or
(41:36):
something.
Yeah.
I hope that happens because wardis insane.
SPEAKER_02 (41:40):
Did something with like some kind of like the
monsters indoors, you know?
Maybe there's something like wecan incorporate with that.
I don't know what, but just kindof something that kind of popped
in my head.
It's a scream canister.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (41:54):
The scream canister removes ward.
SPEAKER_01 (41:56):
Yeah, that would be cool.
Um the door thing kind ofreminds me of the pull the lever
wrong lever, pull the lever.
It could be something like thatwhere it's like you walk into
like Monster's World or not.
SPEAKER_00 (42:06):
That'd be fun.
Yeah, I like that.
I also like want there to be auh we scare because we care.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (42:15):
Uh that's that'd be fun.
SPEAKER_00 (42:16):
So, and I want it to have like some kind of unique
canic that has to do withlocations because I just feel
like that I think MonstersInc.'s gonna have some locations
with it because yeah, like theygo to different rooms and they
have um so I just think this wescare before because we care
might have to do like havelocations.
And I I want more locationsupport in the game because I
(42:37):
love locations.
SPEAKER_01 (42:38):
I was just gonna say that.
I'm like, I hope this set is aset they support locations.
SPEAKER_00 (42:42):
Because I want that to come back.
Um I won't I think that they'vetried many times, like with the
Elsa card that they recentlyprinted with the legendary, and
then people still aren't playinglocations.
So I'm hoping that with thisrotation, they're gonna support
locations.
SPEAKER_01 (42:58):
So well, I hope that they put so we recently revisit
or played the Reign of Jafarlike board game, and they have
for the locations on in Jafar'sdeck, like the obstacles, right?
So it's like bodyguard forlocations, and I think that
would make locations way moreviable in this game if there was
something like bodyguards forlocations, because locations is
(43:20):
just basically a sidewayscharacter that gains you passive
lore a lot of times, and andit's so easy to take out with
all these big strength peoplebig strength glimmers that are
in the game now.
So I think having like anobstacle that could be a great
keyword to not introduce to thegame because it already exists,
but actually in the competitiveside of it.
SPEAKER_00 (43:40):
Yeah, because it only exists in the Jafar game.
Yeah, I have so like putting itinto the main game might be a
good idea.
I liked it a lot.
All right.
Well, have a good week,everyone, and happy questing.
SPEAKER_02 (43:51):
Happy questing.
Welcome back to the Larcana Music Podcast.
I'm Leslie.
I'm Brittany.
And I'm Nikki.
All right, let's dive on intoday.
SPEAKER_00 (00:15):
All right, weekend update.
So this weekend we had League,we had Set Champs, and we had a
whole lot of Lorcana.
Um played a little bit atLeague.
I only played three rounds and Iwent home because I was tired.
But I played well.
I think it was really fun.
It was definitely a smallercrowd than it had been the last
(00:36):
few weeks, or I hadn't reallybeen to League in a few weeks.
But it was, it was nice and itwas just pretty chill evening.
And then on Saturday, I playedin a set champs that had I want
to say 23 people.
Good ground.
And I did okay in that.
Uh I think I ended up getting11th.
(00:58):
So like about mid.
About mid.
Yeah.
Right.
And then, but I think I stillplayed relatively well,
especially since I got 11thafter playing against two
different blurple players.
And the Ruby Amethyst is likethat's a that's a tough match.
That's the matchup you didn'twant it.
It's that's the one I I know.
I was like, talked about it lastweek.
Um it is the Cope Tonight.
Uh and then on Sunday I playedat Meeples and beyond and had a
(01:25):
really great time and playedvery well.
And it was a smaller set champs,and so we only had four rounds,
and I ended up getting top fourbecause it was four rounds cut
to top four, so I got got topfour.
There was three of our teammatesin the top four.
So shout out to Team Muses.
We're doing really great thisweekend across the city, not
(01:46):
just at the one, not just at theset champs I was playing at.
Our team did well playing allover.
Um I heard really good thingsabout the camaraderie and how
everybody was being sosupportive and so proud team
captain here.
And then so I ended up in topfour and I played against Mikey,
and he beat me with his toysdeck, which was surprising
(02:07):
because most of the time thatmatch goes in my favor with Ruby
Am at this, and he just hadreally, really fantastic
playlines and it played superwell.
And so he uh beat me in the topfour, and then he ended up
winning the mat.
And awesome.
Big shout out to him forwinning.
He had a really great time.
He we all we also carpool allthe time, so he was part of the
(02:29):
carpool, so you know, carpoolgot got lots of lots of prizing.
Daryl got top eight there, so weended up doing very well
throughout the weekend becausehe had gotten top eight at
Gamers Guild Tempe the daybefore.
So we ended up with threewoodies for the household over
the weekend, which with thepricing right now wasn't a bad
call.
(02:50):
Yeah, I feel like the setchamps, the set are more busy
because of the crazy secondhandmarket of cards right now, and
it's a lot more competitive inthe It does feel that way, but
I'm also just impressed thateven though it feels extra
competitive, everybody is stillplaying nicely.
That's what it feels like.
I was expecting it to be alittle bit more cutthroat.
SPEAKER_02 (03:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:14):
Um, but I think people are still playing with
that level of camaraderie thatwe have come to know and love.
And so I I'm just impressed thateven with the increase of the
pricing for how the pricing isso expensive now, it everybody
in the community is saying, no,like we'll we'll be more
competitive, but we're notgonna, you know, stoop to a
(03:36):
level that and we're gonna makesure that we're all playing by
the same rules.
SPEAKER_01 (03:40):
Yeah.
I mean, I I say this everysingle episode, but I love the
Arizona community of Lacanaplayers because that's just how
we are.
And even if we have our teamsand we have our, you know,
groups that we hang out with andplay with a lot, it's like
everybody still supportseverybody.
And if you walk up and ask, youknow, one of the great players
here for help, they will helpyou regardless of whether you're
(04:00):
on their team or not.
Or, you know, or if you need toborrow cards to make a deck, or
there's always people willing tohelp out.
And I think that's one of thethings that makes Arizona such a
great place to play beyond thecompetitiveness and the
resources.
SPEAKER_00 (04:14):
Yeah, and I think that we support a lot of the
different styles of play too.
I will say we have a really bigArizona Discord, and there's
conversations both for likehelping people get ready for set
champs or getting ready to playat Indy for, you know, Infinity.
There's also like new playerswho are asking, hey, what are
(04:34):
the stores that are a little bitless competitive and things like
that, so that everybody feelsthat they can go and play and
learn and you know continue tohave fun with this game at the
various levels that people areplaying.
SPEAKER_01 (04:48):
Yeah, and last week when we were at Mox, there we
were having our set champsthere, and somebody came in and
was like, Hey, can I learn howto play Lorcana?
And uh Mitchell, who's theperson running Mox's set champs,
was like, sure, I'm sitting herejust waiting for the tournament
to be over.
Let me teach you how to play.
And then he like learned how toplay right then and there, and
that's pretty cool.
So I think that's just the typeof people we have in our
(05:08):
community, which is why it'sgrown so big and it's been so
great.
SPEAKER_00 (05:12):
Yeah.
And I'm I'm grateful that whileToy Story has brought a lot of,
you know, the collectors to thegame.
Yeah, it's also brought newplayers to the game.
And I I'm always wanting thisgame because new players means
that the game is continuing tobe healthy and has that turn it
does have turnover just likeevery game.
(05:33):
But when we get new players,that means that that turnover
means that we're gonna continueto have players and having a
community that's growing.
SPEAKER_01 (05:40):
Yeah, that just means we need to get rid of all
the degenerate decks.
Throw them away.
We do try.
SPEAKER_00 (05:45):
We we do try to try, we need to try and balance out
yeah, the decks that feel thatthey're dominating the meta.
But I will say I felt like everyroom I was in this weekend felt
like there was a balance ofdecks.
I know we talked about lastepisode, we talked about there
was a lot of dogs, but I thinkthat was only one set champs,
and then the rest of the setchamps have felt more balanced
(06:08):
than that.
Yeah.
Um, and I don't know ifeverybody was so nervous after
that first one showed so manydogs in the room, or if it was
just a fluke for the one store,you know?
SPEAKER_01 (06:18):
Well, I think it's really funny because I think
people thought dogs or toys,like the Amber Emerald Aggro
decks, would be the onestopping.
And most of the set champs,Amber Emerald has been winning,
but less people are bringing itbecause more people
overcorrected for it by bringinganti-dogs or anti-toy aggro
essentially.
And the fun it had a funnyeffect of some rooms had so many
(06:41):
anti-agro decks that they wereplaying each other and knocking
each other out, and then in thefinals would be the aggro amber
emerald dogs list, and theywould win the tournament because
they didn't see any aggro or anyanti-aggro decks.
Yeah.
So it's just, I think, you know,the first weekend everybody
showed up with dogs, andobviously that was a grind.
(07:02):
And then uh the next weekendeveryone overcorrected, and the
people who stuck with dogs kindof had better success, I think.
SPEAKER_00 (07:09):
Yeah, so in the top four, we had Amber Emerald, Ruby
Amethyst, Emerald Sapphire, andAmber Amethyst.
So we had four vastly differentlists all playing in the top
four.
SPEAKER_01 (07:27):
That's crazy.
Uh amazing discoveries thisweekend where Chris and I played
set champs.
We had two dogs in the finalsand very phenomenal dog players.
Um, Andy, who has made the hasgotten a nationals invite, and
then Logan, who got his firstmat this weekend on Team Mises.
So shout out to Logan for takingfirst at one of his tournaments.
He's a phenomenal player aswell.
(07:49):
And I had to face him in thefirst round.
And then in top four again, whenI I squeaked my way into top
four this weekend on mydegenerate deck list, which was
I switched to blue green thisweekend.
Yeah, I hesitated to do it.
So Blurple was just letting medown.
So I decided to take a plungeand try blue green.
And when I got to the room and Isaw Andy and Logan there, I
(08:11):
said, I brought the wrong deckbecause that deck is unless your
opponent bricks and everythinggoes right for you, you that
deck just does not beat dogs.
It's like how Blurple is foryou.
And so, of course, my firstround, I got paired against
Logan and I said, Well, I thinkI'm just gonna go home today.
He handily beat me in like 10minutes, and then we called it.
(08:33):
Goodness.
But you kept at it, and youstill made top four.
Yeah, well, I think actually theway the math worked out was
really funny because there wasonly I think 15 or 16 people
there, and 15, it was 15 people,and uh and losing to Logan in
the first round actually securedmy way to the top four, I think,
because all the other dogplayers were sitting in the top
(08:56):
bracket and I didn't have toplay any of them in the bottom
bracket.
Not to, I mean, the So sometimeslosing first helps you in the
long run.
It depends, right?
If you can win the rest of yourgames, because if I had lost a
single game, my opponent winpercentages, which is what
determines tiebreakers, would betoo low.
But because I lost my first gameand it happened to be a person
(09:17):
who also made top four, and thenI won the rest.
Well, I got a buy, and then Iwon the other two, then that
secured me enough points to maketop four, even though my
opponent win percentages werevery low.
So I wouldn't recommend thatpath.
But just because you lose thefirst round, a lot of people
say, Oh, you lose the firstround, like it's really hard to
climb out from there.
(09:37):
It's if you lose after that,then it is a little harder.
But if you do get the points forit, I think it's still fine,
which is what happened to me.
Fortunately, I got matched intoanother Sapphire Amber.
It was really interesting.
Um, it was puppies and the shiftuh bolt, super bolt with Dale on
the board.
So he hits first seven.
(09:58):
Oh, that's interesting.
And it was a terror.
I was sitting there sweating thewhole time, and it was piloted
by a local uh six-year-old or Iguess seven or eight-year-old
prodigy.
I always say I call it callerprodigy, but I think to have the
attention stand to sit through awhole tournament at that age and
be able to read your cards andblend, not just simple decks, is
(10:19):
pretty darn cool.
And uh so she was making mesweat and work for it the whole
time because she had and I wonthe first game, the second game,
she quested to 20 before I couldeven get my Claribel on the
board.
Wow.
And it was it was I was sittingthere shaking.
I was like, oh my goodness, I'mI'm gonna get knocked out right
now.
And then the last list I playedagainst was a blue steel player,
(10:41):
which is a great matchup for me,unfortunately for him.
But the biggest thing that I'mproud of myself of this weekend
was I didn't apologize foranything I played.
Good.
Except to Leah, because I feellike, you know, bullying a
little kid to get away to topfour was a little cruel, but No,
we do not apologize.
Yeah, she was really cutebecause I said, Oh, I it was I
(11:02):
played my Prince Philip combo,and then the next turn I played
my Prince Philip combo again,and I was like, I'm so sorry.
And she was really sweet.
She's like, Why are youapologizing?
SPEAKER_00 (11:12):
And I'm like, Okay, I can't do that anymore.
Oh my gosh.
I told her the last time weplayed, I'm like, Leah, do not
apologize for winning.
Yeah, do not apologize whenyou're losing.
Yeah, you play the game the bestyou can every time.
SPEAKER_01 (11:24):
Yeah, yeah.
I know she's really sweet.
Um, but yeah, so that was reallyfun to do that.
Um, that was just Sunday becauseChris and I were only able to go
to one set champs this weekend.
We went to the Ed Sheeranconcert on Saturday night, which
was phenomenal.
Um, and that was really fun.
Just danced a lot.
And man, that man can play aguitar.
SPEAKER_00 (11:43):
I heard a there was a lot of local players that
went.
Yeah.
We have a bunch of Ed Sheeranfans that play Lorcana.
SPEAKER_01 (11:51):
Yeah, we didn't see each other there.
So the next day, a lot of uswere at Amazing Discoveries, and
we were all like that Spider-Manmeme where you're like, you,
you.
We're like, you went there too.
So yeah, there was a lot ofpeople there, and I think the
show is just amazing.
I I think I've told you thisbefore, but he's one of my
favorite artists, and it's likeif you've never heard him build
a song from scratch, it soundsjust like his studio album
(12:13):
because that's how he records alot of his music, and so his
live music sounds exactly likehe does on his albums because
that's how he records his songs,and absolutely amazing.
What that man can do with aguitar and new pedal is blows my
mind.
SPEAKER_00 (12:25):
I I'm always thoroughly impressed by
musicians that can do all thethings, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
We're just like, wow, that'simpressive.
And then they write too, and I'mjust like, Yeah, how much talent
can one person have?
SPEAKER_01 (12:37):
Right?
Save some talent for the rest ofus.
No, but that's the that's whatmakes him like that's what makes
me so impressed with him becauseI always appreciate good
artistry and good songwriting.
But the fact that he can thentake what he imagines and build
the entire thing by himselfbecause most of his concert is
just him, a guitar, and a looppedal on stage.
There's no like band, there's noproduction.
(12:58):
I mean, obviously there'sproduction because it's a show,
but it's not like a big, like,you know, I love Taylor Swift.
The heiress tour was absolutelyamazing.
So amazing.
But it takes like three trucksof things to get.
Oh, of course.
Yes, of course.
It is a it is a full show.
It is a one, yes.
And for him, it was just everyonce in a while, somebody would
come up on stage and hand him anew guitar because it would go
(13:21):
out of two it or something.
And that was like the show,which is really cool to me, I
think, to have like a wholeentire stadium filled with
people just admiring that.
I think is cool.
SPEAKER_00 (13:30):
And it's just fun to know that hey, they're friends,
like they and and well, it'strue.
And then and they all theyappreciate each other as
artists.
Yes, that that's my favoritepart.
Oh, yeah, that's what I is likewhen musicians like appreciate
that their artistry isdifferent, but are like help
each other.
SPEAKER_01 (13:46):
Yeah, I don't I mean, I wasn't doing the
comparison just because I waslike, oh, one's better than the
other.
No, I think they're phenomenal,and I think that it it's so so
cool that everybody has theirown approach to it and find
success in what they'recomfortable with.
But yeah, he I like him a lottoo, because he's really down to
earth.
At one point in the show, hemissed the loop pedal and that
the music completely stopped.
And he's like, see, that's howyou know it's live because I
(14:06):
just missed the loop pedal, andthen he like continued singing,
and it was just like reallyfunny.
He's such a dork.
unknown (14:11):
That was great.
SPEAKER_01 (14:12):
But yeah, that was our weekend.
We went to Ed Sheeran.
Chris was playing a meme deck.
He said, We meme a meme deck.
We said, Don't let your memes bedreams.
And he brought a red steellocations deck that's been
making its rounds, and he said,I lost my way into the top eight
somehow because he lost hisfirst round, he lost his no, he
(14:36):
got a bye, he lost his firstround, he lost his second round,
and then he won his fourth roundand made top eight because the
people he lost to were Logan andBrad, who both made top eight.
And so it was like, he's like, Ididn't even play today, I lost
my way into the top eight.
SPEAKER_00 (14:51):
Sometimes the tournament math is just wild.
It's wild, yeah.
Sometimes it's wild in bad ways,and then sometimes it's wild in
good ways.
And you're just always a mathfulmath.
SPEAKER_01 (15:00):
Yeah, I don't ever do the math.
I see like a lot of peoplesitting there, like, oh, if I
make this and I tie and I dothis, and I'm like, I'm just
gonna play because like I don't,I don't want to think about the
math.
I feel like thinking about themath makes it like more
stressful for me.
SPEAKER_00 (15:13):
Yeah, and and for me, I don't ever do a full
calculation, but I do like tryto, you know, see where things
lie in the whole room justbecause I think, you know, turn
two two two turns ahead.
I do that in the game too, butlike I think about that for
tournaments because I want toplay well at really large
tournaments.
(15:34):
So I feel I always practice atthe smaller tournaments doing
the math there.
SPEAKER_01 (15:37):
That makes sense.
I think in general, it's like weknow three ones usually make it
in.
You know, like you play enoughof the tournaments that you kind
of have a general idea of whatthe points are, but the math,
the tiebreaker stuff, like Ijust don't bother because it's
really disappointing when you dothe math and you're like,
there's a really good chance Icould make it in, and then you
like bubble out at ninth orsomething.
It can be really disheartening.
(15:59):
And actually, I didn't even knowI was gonna make top four until
I was in my last round playingand it looked like I was gonna
win.
And so Brad came over and waslike, Well, he didn't say
anything to me because I was inthe game, but I heard him
telling Chris, he's like, Doesshe know?
And I'm like, that sounds likethey're talking about me.
Not that I'm like, you know,self-centered thinking
everyone's talking about me allthe time, but I was the only
person left playing.
So he's like, Does she know?
(16:20):
And I was like, No what?
And he's like, Nothing, nothing.
And then as soon as I finishedmy match, he's like, I think you
made top four.
And I was like, What?
I was ready to go home afterround one today.
I told Chris, I was like, Ithink I brought the wrong deck
to this room.
Yeah, I mean, you just neverknow.
SPEAKER_00 (16:36):
You just never know.
SPEAKER_01 (16:36):
You never know.
Well, I mean, as soon as wematched in top four, I I matched
against Logan.
And Logan, we, we, you know,shuffled up.
I was like, I there's no way I'mgonna win this.
So because he's been hot forlike two days, he we shuffled up
and then he's like, Let me showyou the hand I'm keeping and I'm
gonna scoop.
He's like, I know also know howthis goes, and you could just go
home.
Yeah, well, and I mean we didplay it out, but it didn't last
(16:59):
much longer than the house.
I told him I have to make youwork for it, okay?
That's fair, that's fair.
But yeah, so that was ourweekend.
What did you do this weekend?
SPEAKER_02 (17:08):
Yeah, so I'm sure our listeners are like, Does
Nikki actually play?
I do, but I'm still getting myfeet wet and back into the game.
So I have opted not to play anyset champs just yet.
Yeah, because I'm still tryingto find my footing again and
learning, you know, some of thethe card mechanics that I really
didn't familiarize myself withbeing away for well, probably
(17:32):
just one set.
So, what did we do?
We saw the Mandalorian movie,which was really good.
However, oh, okay.
I I just feel like it could havebeen like a miniseries instead
of a movie.
So, like how it is now.
Yeah, but I feel that they couldhave incorporated the Boba Fett
(17:54):
storyline into it, as they havebefore in the series.
I think there was so much morethey could do with the the film
that it was just lacking thestoryline.
There was a lot of action, but Ithink there could have been so
much more with a story, and itcould have been a really nice
mini stri series to kind ofclose out both ends of
(18:15):
Mandalorian and Boba Fett,because I feel like Boba Fett
left on a cliffhanger in theseries.
So I just think I think it wouldhave worked very well.
Okay, but I enjoyed it, I didenjoy it.
SPEAKER_00 (18:26):
So I'll watch it again on Disney.
SPEAKER_02 (18:28):
That's not the first that is not the first time I've
heard that.
SPEAKER_00 (18:30):
Yeah.
So I'm I I was impressed, Iwasn't wanting to hear because I
haven't finished the series yet,so I haven't gone to see the
movie because I want to finishit before I see it.
Yeah.
And so I I'm getting a lot ofopinions on it, but everybody's
opinion is basically likethere's not enough story for it.
There's not like it's but itblows up real good.
SPEAKER_02 (18:50):
It does.
I mean, yeah, there's plenty ofaction, there's plenty of, you
know, combat, whatever.
SPEAKER_01 (18:55):
But yeah, I just so cool creatures.
We talked about before wherelike I'm not a big Star Wars
fan, so I've never seen any ofthat.
But shockingly, I've also heardthat feedback about they were
like, the Mandalorian is this,and I'm like, what's the
Mandalorian?
I'm just kidding, I'm not thatignorant.
I know what the Mandalorian is,I've just never seen it.
But yeah, it's I've heard thatfeedback too.
SPEAKER_02 (19:15):
Yeah, I mean, I yeah.
Will I watch it again?
Sure.
But will I go pay to see itagain?
No.
I guess I'm paying for DisneyPlus anyway, but whatever.
SPEAKER_01 (19:24):
The mouse gets our money.
Uh-huh.
In all ways, in all ways.
SPEAKER_02 (19:30):
Before the weekend, though, Brittany and I went to
the theater.
We did the theater of thetheater.
And uh, we saw the Wizard of Oz,which was so cool.
SPEAKER_00 (19:41):
It was really well done.
Yes.
I love so we went to the HaleTheater, which is a local
theater, and they do anexcellent job every time I've
been to a show there.
But the singing was phenomenal.
Beautiful.
The young kid that did thepuppetry for Tono, he was so
impressive.
SPEAKER_02 (20:01):
He was, he was like in character.
Didn't really need to be incharacter.
Wait, wait, wait, no, spoilersbecause Chris and I are gonna go
see at this very acting wasimpressive.
SPEAKER_01 (20:11):
Okay, yeah, I was like, obviously, everybody knows
the story.
Yeah, with stories, but I justum I don't want to know, like,
yeah, because we've seen we lovethe Hale Theatre so much, we
bought season tickets to them,and we've seen a lot of shows
there, and it's always so, sowell done.
The what the cast can do withsuch a small cast and the
limited space is justmind-blowing.
SPEAKER_02 (20:30):
It was my first time, so it was like I'd just
think that the 360s stage.
I thought it was really cool,and I'm like, okay, well, we
were in a section where likecharacters were coming down,
like right next to us.
So I was like, I don't know if Iwant this new time I come here
because it was it would it was alittle hard to be like turning
and looking and you know, tryingto like Especially when they
(20:53):
stop and sing right next to you,yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:55):
This is a little bit too immersive of a theater
experience.
SPEAKER_02 (20:58):
Um the cowardly lion, but it's a bit close.
SPEAKER_00 (21:01):
But yeah, it was and the audio quality, I feel like
improved since the last time Iwent there, and it was not bad
the last time I went.
Yeah, so I'm wondering if theylike upgraded their audio system
because I think their theirscreens got upgraded too.
Oh, interesting.
I know that they recently didrenovations, so I don't know if
that was part of theirrenovations.
Probably was, but I it wasgreat.
(21:23):
It was great, it was it wassuper fun, and I didn't mean to
forget.
I was just not a good idea.
SPEAKER_02 (21:28):
No, no, it's just something I hopped into my head.
I didn't write it down on mylist.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was like technically it wasThursday.
SPEAKER_00 (21:36):
I was so tired.
SPEAKER_02 (21:38):
Oh my god, so was I.
I ended up taking two naps, catnaps, but like I was so wiped.
So wiped.
SPEAKER_00 (21:46):
How old can you be when you you stay out till
eleven thirty and you're tiredof the stuff?
No, it's the next day.
And we still had to go to workthe next day.
SPEAKER_02 (21:53):
Yeah, pretty ugly.
So yeah, I was glad when my bosscanceled our five AM meeting
because I was not prepared.
Also, why are you having 5 a.m.
meetings though?
That's when I start my shift andmy boss is in Scotland.
So for her, it's lunch.
Okay.
All right.
SPEAKER_01 (22:10):
I guess that's understandable, but I I mean,
even when I was workingcorporate, I'm like, dude, don't
schedule meetings before 6 a.m.
SPEAKER_00 (22:16):
Like, I'm not big.
I often have 5 a.m.
meetings.
Well, I guess it makes sensebecause I work in construction.
SPEAKER_01 (22:22):
Yeah, that okay.
That's fair.
I'm just I'm just a spoiled uhcorporate girly, I guess.
SPEAKER_00 (22:29):
I was like, I took you I technically work in
corporate, but it's theconstruction, it's the
construction side of corporate.
SPEAKER_01 (22:35):
So I'm a spoiled ex-corporate girly, usually.
I wanted to pick up on somethingthat you said earlier, which is
like because you're getting backinto the set, you're not really
sure about doing set champs.
But I guess my question is, isit because you're just not
confident in like your playlinesor are you just nervous about
coming to like competitivescene?
SPEAKER_02 (22:55):
Yeah, I mean, a little bit of both.
I mean, I, you know, I did aleague night already and it went
fairly well.
I'm still trying to familiarizemyself with the deck that I put
together and trying to makechanges to it.
And then I feel like, oh, Ishouldn't have made those
changes.
So I'm constantly questioningwhat I'm doing.
Yeah.
(23:15):
And yeah, right.
So I I feel I do need to buildup my confidence.
And part of me is like, maybe Ishould just do it and put myself
on the line and just see whathappens to just dive headfirst
into it, um, which might not bea bad idea.
It's a thought.
But it's a scary thought, butit's a scary thought because I
(23:36):
know what kind of players wehave in our community, and not
like they're like scary andthey're mean or anything.
It's just they're good.
Yeah, they're really good.
And we've already talked aboutthem.
So I think, you know, for me,it's just yeah, building up that
confidence again.
Because I know I can play thegame.
I mean, the first time I everdid a set champs, I did make a
(23:57):
top eight.
We didn't have prizing gun likewe do now, but but still, I
enjoyed it when I did play.
So yeah, it's kind of a thoughtthat I've been teetering with
just maybe just jump in, hiding.
SPEAKER_00 (24:10):
I think just do it.
Yeah, honestly, I RebeccaQuests, who's one of my favorite
people in this community, likelarger Lurkana community, she's
fantastic.
She recently posted, I thinkthis weekend, about how she was
a loser.
And but she like she like tookit on and she was like, because
there's honestly, there's moreof us than there are winners.
(24:31):
And she took it on as hey, we'rehere and we're still playing,
and we might not always be themost competitive players in the
room, but there's a space inLarcana for everyone.
SPEAKER_01 (24:40):
Yeah, that's uh I was gonna say was like, I don't
know.
I mean, this is now a team usestherapy session, apparently, but
yes, are you charging me forthis?
I do you take insurance?
Yeah, right.
I was just gonna say that, youknow, I don't think there's
anything to be so intimidatedby.
And I think that's like a goodmessage to not not to say that
it's not scary, right?
(25:01):
Because even I play it every setchance and I still show up and
I'm like, oh my gosh, I betterleave.
Like, what am I doing?
Yeah, but I there's people whoshow up and they're like,
they're playing their cards, andyou're like, wait, what does
this card do again?
I'm like, it's your deck, whyare you asking me?
Oh no, I do it all the time.
But like, that's a but I thinkour community, and we talked
about this, is so great thatyeah, it it's fine, you know?
And I think the thing that keepsa lot of people from trying is
(25:25):
they come in with theexpectation that it's like, hey,
I'm a smart person, I should beable to win.
But it's like the game is a lotmore competitive than you think
it is, even if it is a Disneyquote unquote card game.
But if you come in and say, I'mjust here for the experience and
I'm here to hang out withfriends and learn, like I think
you're gonna take a lot out of aset champs that is more than
just, you know, going for thetop eight cards.
(25:45):
And I've seen a lot of players,like, I mean, on our own team,
Tony and Nate were like thattoo, where they're like, Well, I
don't want to play well, Tonywasn't like that because we
didn't really know him thatwell, but Nate was like, I don't
want to be competitive, and thenhe jumped in and just started
showing up, and now he's kickingbutt.
It's awesome.
And so, and Tony too.
Tony just showed up, and thefirst time I ever met him was
his third or fourth time playingin the wild.
(26:08):
And he showed up with a deckthat was homebrewed, and he lost
every single round of the setchamps, and he he came back the
next day, and I was like, wow,that's awesome! And now he's
kicking butt as well.
Just I think it's just puttingyourself in situations where you
get a chance to practice and youget a chance to see what other
players are doing and how theyrun the same 60 cards you're
(26:30):
running, because I think that'show we learn, right?
It's just yeah, seeing how otherpeople who have put more
practice or have had moreexperience with something like
run the deck differently.
That also helps you learn.
SPEAKER_02 (26:41):
Yeah, I agree with you.
And that's actually something Ithought about too was like,
would I be like a weird creeperif I just went and watched
people play?
SPEAKER_00 (26:49):
We actually have a few people who have done that.
Yeah.
And we've had like communitymembers come and be like, I just
want to watch because I want toknow what I should be doing.
Yeah.
Right?
Or like what it could look like,what decks might be interesting
to me.
And seeing gameplay in person, Ifeel like it's so thoroughly
different than watching games onlike video and things like that.
(27:10):
Like watching DLC play by playsis always interesting, and it's
good to watch that high level ofcompetitive play, but especially
when you're still like wantingto learn at a more like local
level, right?
Seeing how you know regulareveryday players are playing.
SPEAKER_01 (27:28):
Yeah, I wouldn't buy a ticket to a DLC just to go
watch somebody play for thefirst time.
No, that's a big investment.
No, exactly.
Yeah, but but locally, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (27:38):
For sure.
Um, and then honestly, I justfeel like the the environment
feels a little bit differentbecause you're there longer than
it's a normal league day.
It's a daytime start.
Most of the time, it's a daytimestart.
And it's just like people are ina different environment.
Like for me, I play so muchbetter on the weekends because
it starts in the morning than Iever do at league nights because
(28:00):
I am not a night person.
I'm like, I am I am my brain iscooked.
Yeah.
I have been working all day,especially by Friday night.
I I go there and I do not expectto do well because I still want
to go and practice, but I havenot had enough sleep by that
time.
I haven't had enough, you know,caffeine to to help the world,
(28:23):
but I play so much better when Iplay in the morning.
And so like I feel I'm alwaysexcited when the tournaments
start early.
SPEAKER_01 (28:30):
As everyone collectively groans at like 8
a.m.
Yeah, I know.
No, I'm like, please, let's dothe floor 8 a.m.
SPEAKER_02 (28:36):
CRTM year before noon.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (28:38):
Yeah, I want to be able to have the rest of my day.
SPEAKER_01 (28:41):
Yeah.
I agree with that.
So well, back to the watchingthing, because like even I do
that when I'm in the set champs.
If I finish my match early, Iwill go around and watch.
And especially the nice thingabout I mean, we have our
teammates who allow this aswell, but don't obviously you
don't say anything during thematch, but after the match,
sometimes I'll be like, hey, Ihave a question, like, why did
you do that instead of this?
Right.
And it's like not a challengingtheir decision, it's me to like
(29:04):
learning reasoning because I'mlike, oh, that's a really good
point that I didn't think about.
Or I'll say something like,actually, I didn't, I don't know
why I did that.
I should have done somethingdifferent, and here's why,
because they know their deckbetter than I do.
Um, and so it's just like reallyinteresting to see.
And and I haven't run into anyplayers that have had any issues
with me like asking questionsafter the fact.
Yeah, sometimes there are ultracompetitive players.
(29:26):
You're like, I don't want totalk about my deck before the
tournament's over, which istotally fair.
And that's fine too.
But they've never ever been rudeabout it or like, you know, they
they just say, like, I don'tfeel comfortable talking about
it right now, but after thetournament, you're welcome to
ask me.
And like that's that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (29:41):
That's fair too.
Fair.
I mean, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (29:44):
Yeah.
Uh the first time in a longtime, because Daryl ended up
with the bye in round one in ourset champs, which for some
reason happens.
SPEAKER_01 (29:52):
He is the luckiest man often.
And I if there's a raffle, he'swinning it.
SPEAKER_00 (29:57):
Yeah, like if there's a buy, he's getting it.
He's super lucky.
And I I I mean, I luck out allthe time because he is so lucky.
As the one who was married tohim.
I totally understand it.
So I I benefit from it veryoften, but he got the bye.
And so he was walking around andhe wanted to watch my gameplay,
and he stood behind the otherplayer, and and that guy was
(30:19):
like, Oh, can you like go watchfrom a different angle?
Basically, and it was the firsttime anybody'd ever asked, and
he was like, Yeah, for sure.
But I think the other guy wasworried that he was gonna like
tell me things as the game washappening.
Well, first of all, I would likenot even look at him because
that is so not like me.
I would freak before I ever hadeven like the inclination of
(30:42):
cheating.
I would yeah, I would be like,judge on myself.
I looked at his size, he told mewhat to play.
Um, but also I also I ask him toleave watching me play all the
time because I just don't enjoyhaving hovering.
Only him.
I don't mind other I don't mindother teammates, but it's just
different when it's yourhusband.
(31:02):
Yeah.
Uh but yeah, that was the firsttime and I was like, yeah,
totally.
Like makes complete sense.
Yeah, but it was just funnybecause we have people that
watch gameplay all the time andnobody has ever said anything
before.
SPEAKER_01 (31:15):
Yeah, yeah.
I sometimes I'll get in thosemoods where I'm like, man, I'm
just not playing well.
And so I'll ask Chris to likewatch me play, and he's learned
very quickly to be like, no,because like, you know, we get
in arguments about it, but it'slike he knows me and he knows
like I know what I'm doing wrongalready.
And it's sometimes I just getinto those streaks that are
(31:36):
like, I'm just tired, like hesaid, not thinking, making
mistakes left and right, andthen I get really down on
myself.
So him being the wonderfulpartner that he is is not like
I'm not gonna add on to thatbecause you already know what
you're doing wrong, and I thinkyou just need to relax.
And I'm like, what's that?
unknown (31:51):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (31:52):
So yeah, what's relaxing?
But yeah, so I think he alsodoes like we don't we watch each
other play, but we don't ever,you know, like post mortem the
game or something.
SPEAKER_00 (32:03):
Yeah, I I I try not to analyze too much during the
tournament because I feel likeit psyches me out for the next
round.
But I always write down my matchand like what they were playing
after I play so that I can thinkabout it after the tournament.
I've gotten I I was very goodabout it.
SPEAKER_01 (32:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (32:20):
Before in previous sets.
SPEAKER_01 (32:22):
And this set I've kind of Yeah, it's your it's
your uh set.
SPEAKER_00 (32:25):
It's my break set.
And I just still I got my goalof still getting a top of eight,
right?
Yeah so like I I did my goal.
So now it's just it's still mybreak set, but um I'm starting
to like look look past and tryto think about what could I play
post-rotation.
So I'm trying to think aboutwhat in my deck can I take out
that is gonna be rotated out,and based on what cards that we
(32:48):
know obviously that are stayingfrom sets eight and above,
right?
Not eight, nine, nine.
I was like, no, nope.
I was missing in my head and itwasn't from sets nine and above.
So I'm gonna, I think, startchanging my deck to be all
post-rotation or very close topost-rotation.
Now we don't know what else iscoming, but that is definitely
(33:09):
something to think about is likewhat could there be coming to
kind of replace those pieces?
So thinking about what's coming.
SPEAKER_02 (33:16):
Well, well, well, we can segue into the very special
lore cast that will be Tuesday,June 23rd at 10 a.m.
Pacific time or any local timewhere you are.
SPEAKER_00 (33:27):
Yeah, so there's a special lore cast coming up
where they're gonna startreveals, but actually they're
gonna start reveals this weekendat the DLC.
That makes sense during the DLCcoverage.
So if you are not in a setchamps this weekend, you can
watch some DLC coverage to seesome early attack of the vine
attack of the mine and then somedegenerate gameplay.
SPEAKER_01 (33:47):
And some infinity gameplay.
Like I said, degenerategameplay.
SPEAKER_00 (33:52):
And we have lots of Arizona community members going
to that.
So a big shout out to ourArizona crew going out to go
play in that tournament.
Hopefully, you do well.
Good luck.
Bring another invite to ArizonaPeeps.
We need to see that.
Yeah, we do.
And then I'm just I amthoroughly excited to see what's
gonna go on the vine.
Also, I'm thinking about what mynail set's gonna look like.
(34:15):
I already started looking at myPinterest board and being like,
okay, what kind of vine nailsshould I look at?
Because as as I currently haveAtlantis nails, and so I'm like
trying, I know it's a sillything, but I always like try to
match what's happening to astory nail.
So yeah, we're good.
SPEAKER_02 (34:32):
Yeah, we'd like to theme.
SPEAKER_00 (34:34):
Yeah, I like I like my nails to have a theme, and I
want it to kind of go with thetheme of the new set, and I
think the vine would be cool.
Yeah.
Uh I know in some of the teaserswe've seen, like up is one of
the things, and Monster Zinc iscoming, and so I could also do
like Monsters Inc.
nails depending on how manymonsters ink characters there
are.
(34:54):
Uh Sully nails would be so cute.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (34:57):
Sully and Mike Wazalski.
SPEAKER_00 (34:59):
Like just have one Mike Wazowski with half an eye
kind of hiding behind something.
I'm not a nail with uh Mikey inthe car on the drive uh with
Mark as well.
So like a lot of teammates inthe car who were joking about
Sully being an iconic card, andbut it would be a Sully and Mike
(35:20):
card.
Right.
But Mike is hiding.
He's covered by the text box.
And I just think that's it'sjust so on on theme.
Yeah, that'd be so funny.
Uh but I was, yeah, that's myone of my predictions is that
Sully will be an iconic, but notboth of them.
Or or maybe Mike Gwazelski willbe an iconic, sort of.
(35:41):
And then probably a princess forthe other one.
But yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (35:45):
What I think even funnier would be if Mike
Wazelski was the only thing inthe iconic and it'd be like the
background of monstersincorporated, and it's just his
little like head.
SPEAKER_00 (35:54):
Oh my gosh.
That would that would be reallyfunny too.
But we also Mikey had the hopethat it would be a Randall card
would be there, but it wouldonly be Randall's eyes.
Yeah.
So you can't, because he's goesinvisible.
And I was like, and then on theepic version, you can if you
turn the foiling, you can seehim.
SPEAKER_01 (36:14):
Oh my gosh, that would be so elaborate.
I know, but I was like, maybethey could do it.
I don't think possibly.
Yeah, I mean, they've done somebeautiful stuff with the art, so
you never know.
SPEAKER_00 (36:24):
So we're just kind of making some predictions there
as to characters that could beon cards.
SPEAKER_01 (36:29):
Well, and boo has got to be a card, right?
Like they can't think about Boo.
That's how cute.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (36:36):
I'm just looking forward to the up cards because
up is my absolute favorite.
Yeah.
They're gonna be sad cards.
They're gonna be a little sadfor, especially for me.
Like Carl and Ellie.
Carl and Ellie.
But uh, yeah, those are thecards I'm looking forward to the
most.
They're very sentimental to me.
So but yeah, I wanna see a Kevincard and and Russell and Doug.
(36:58):
I think Doug would be cool.
SPEAKER_00 (37:00):
That's I think that's gonna be kind of an
action part of the card.
I just I love the constantfeeling of like, hey, we're
moving forward, we're havingfun, the game is constantly
changing.
It feels fresh.
It feels like I was a littleworried that dogs was gonna
continue just to be over, overmenacing, but it this weekend
(37:22):
showed me that there's so muchof variants still, and I'm not
worried about it, at least onthe local level, not sure what
it looks like everywhere else.
But here I feel like we have avery healthy meta.
SPEAKER_03 (37:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:33):
Um, and so I just want to continue, you know,
playing this game, loving theDisney IP and how Disneylor Cana
is just being supported, gettingexcited to ramp up for um the
LCQ at the end of the summer andyou know, nationals going to
Disneyland beforehand.
SPEAKER_01 (37:50):
Yeah, we had a whole month where it was just a lot of
waiting for things to happen.
And then now the time has come,like things are happening,
right?
Set champs is gonna lead intothe DLC, is gonna lead into the
LCQ, and so things are like alot of stuff is happening.
Well, the new set of movement.
Yeah, lots of movement, which isalways exciting.
SPEAKER_00 (38:08):
Yeah, I like the forward movement, and I know a
lot of people are get frustratedby how often the game rolls
over, but honestly, this gamemoves slightly slower than a lot
of some of the other TCGs thatyou know release new things
every other week.
Right.
We say as Magic the Gatheringhas a big release this weekend.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:26):
Well, I feel like Magic has gotten on the extreme
end of releasing things becauseit used to be about four times a
year, which I think is a greatpacing because it keeps the game
fresh.
It keeps the game like alive inthe sense that you know it
doesn't the meta doesn't getstale.
It's not the same two or threedecks every single time winning.
And I agree with you, like withrotation and the new sets coming
(38:48):
out, that like the meta is sohealthy right now because even
though there are dominant decks,of course, like you know, dogs
and blurb was dominating for avery long time, there were
always decks that, you know,quote unquote came out of
nowhere winning big tournaments,and it made people really
excited to try different colorsand try different combinations
and see if they can crack thenext like awkward, like new deck
(39:09):
that can win a big tournamenttoo.
Uh but now magic is I don't wantto say an attempts to money
grab, but it's an intenso moneygrab of releasing new sets uh
every single month.
And I think I hope Lurcana nevergets to that point because it
feels too like too much.
It's exhausting for collectorswho want all the like cards,
it's exhausting for players andmonetarily like very hard to
(39:32):
keep up with getting new productand like they're playing on the
fact that people have FOMO andlike don't want to miss out on
the latest, strongest cards.
And it's I think it just makesit really unfair to the player
base.
SPEAKER_00 (39:43):
Yeah, and I don't think the Disney Lorcana will
ever do that.
I think that they focus more onthe pla the player base as it
also being a family game andtrying to have it be that is
part of the focus.
They do have the competitiveside and all of that, but so I
don't think they're gonnaincrease the like the amount of
(40:04):
sets that are getting printedand things like that.
SPEAKER_01 (40:06):
I mean, magic has been around for a long, long
time, right?
Yeah.
So I feel like in the earlydays, it took them probably 10
or 15 years before they startedprinting more um sets in a year.
Uh but they stuck to the atfirst it was like two or three
and then four, and then theystuck with that for a long time.
So I feel like it justinevitably happens with every
(40:27):
card game that stays successful,is that, you know, less it's
like a cycle, right?
So you start out and everyone'ssuper interested.
They buy a lot of product andthen you slow roll everything
out, and then eventually um, youknow, there's enough turnover or
there's enough uh interest thatpeople feel like they can
overcreate or overprint sets andthings like that, and then it
(40:48):
like becomes a cycle.
Yeah.
So I mean, I don't know if wecan say like Lorcana will never
get there, but I think it'll behopefully a very, very long time
before they get to that point.
So yeah.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (41:00):
Um prediction from the new set before we that's an
excellent question.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (41:06):
I because I feel like we don't have enough
information yet.
SPEAKER_00 (41:09):
But this is the time, this is why we make
predictions before we haveinformation.
SPEAKER_01 (41:14):
Well, I have one.
I it's more of a hope than aprediction, but I hope they
print something that takes awayward temporarily.
Because I feel like that wouldbe such a great thing for the
game to keep the game healthy.
So yeah.
I like that.
Yeah.
Could just be like a second itemto remove ward or ignore ward or
like play this action to to likecan target ward characters or
(41:36):
something.
Yeah.
I hope that happens because wardis insane.
SPEAKER_02 (41:40):
Did something with like some kind of like the
monsters indoors, you know?
Maybe there's something like wecan incorporate with that.
I don't know what, but just kindof something that kind of popped
in my head.
It's a scream canister.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (41:54):
The scream canister removes ward.
SPEAKER_01 (41:56):
Yeah, that would be cool.
Um the door thing kind ofreminds me of the pull the lever
wrong lever, pull the lever.
It could be something like thatwhere it's like you walk into
like Monster's World or not.
SPEAKER_00 (42:06):
That'd be fun.
Yeah, I like that.
I also like want there to be auh we scare because we care.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (42:15):
Uh that's that'd be fun.
SPEAKER_00 (42:16):
So, and I want it to have like some kind of unique
canic that has to do withlocations because I just feel
like that I think MonstersInc.'s gonna have some locations
with it because yeah, like theygo to different rooms and they
have um so I just think this wescare before because we care
might have to do like havelocations.
And I I want more locationsupport in the game because I
(42:37):
love locations.
SPEAKER_01 (42:38):
I was just gonna say that.
I'm like, I hope this set is aset they support locations.
SPEAKER_00 (42:42):
Because I want that to come back.
Um I won't I think that they'vetried many times, like with the
Elsa card that they recentlyprinted with the legendary, and
then people still aren't playinglocations.
So I'm hoping that with thisrotation, they're gonna support
locations.
SPEAKER_01 (42:58):
So well, I hope that they put so we recently revisit
or played the Reign of Jafarlike board game, and they have
for the locations on in Jafar'sdeck, like the obstacles, right?
So it's like bodyguard forlocations, and I think that
would make locations way moreviable in this game if there was
something like bodyguards forlocations, because locations is
(43:20):
just basically a sidewayscharacter that gains you passive
lore a lot of times, and andit's so easy to take out with
all these big strength peoplebig strength glimmers that are
in the game now.
So I think having like anobstacle that could be a great
keyword to not introduce to thegame because it already exists,
but actually in the competitiveside of it.
SPEAKER_00 (43:40):
Yeah, because it only exists in the Jafar game.
Yeah, I have so like putting itinto the main game might be a
good idea.
I liked it a lot.
All right.
Well, have a good week,everyone, and happy questing.
SPEAKER_02 (43:51):
Happy questing.
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