Nationals Weekend
So we end up deciding to go to the LCQ to try and qualify
for Nationals one last time. Thursday is hectic and we arrive at our hotel
around 11pm. Funny enough, the first person we are greeted by is none other
than Matthew Okimoto. We exchange our greetings and meet Kyle Mcginty, another
member of MetaPotion whom I really wanted to meet. After that, we meet up with
our NorCal group upstairs and meet up with our old friend Thomas who previously
moved away. We also met Dan Nguyen who is a really chill and fun dude to hang
with.
My Seattle CC friends (Matt Okimoto, Pat, Joey, Burckley, Virgil, Jeremiah): Thanks for
lifting us up when we were on the verge of quitting. I think somehow it was
destiny that we reached such a low, but you were right there when we needed you
to pick us up. Also thanks for showing me new deck ideas and new card choices
that aren’t as prevalent in NorCal. It really helped my deckbuilding.
It’s great to see so many familiar faces around and some
people that I recognize from the Facebook groups, but the true best thing was
that the hotel lobby was taken over by FFTCG players and all the tables and
chairs had people jamming games. I couldn’t resist and ended up jamming games
with good friend Azul until 3am.
The day of the LCQ, there was a lot of nervous energy in the
air. You could tell that many people there really wanted to qualify. The
biggest goal that me and mostly likely everyone else had was to dodge playing
against your friends. (We all ended up playing against one another.) After the
player meeting, I’m raring to go so I look at my first pairing.
Round 1 BYE
(1-0)
Well, that’s a good start. Byes don’t really affect you
negatively in this game, so you just take the win. You also get the added bonus
of getting at least 30 mins to walk around and scout people. All of NorCal +
Thomas except one get the first win.
Round 2 Mono Lightning
I sit down for my real first match, win the dice roll and
elect to go second. My opponent seems a bit confused and clarifies with me
twice that I chose to go second. At this point he must think I’m a beginner,
but I’m on a deck that likes to go second. He plays a slow 4 CP Edea backup
first turn and I god-hand him with Vanille-Vincent-Yuffie. He takes 5 minutes
on his turn and just sits dumbfounded staring at the board. 2 turns later, he’s
at 6 damage and hasn’t been able to withstand the assault of an early 3 strong
forwards. He baits a block with his Illua and tries to Cyclops to kill my 9k
Vincent. I inform him that it trades because it is 9k, and he realizes his
mistake, but can’t take it back at this level of competition.
(2-0)
NorCal + Thomas -1 is all (2-0) at this point and the
chances to run into each other are getting higher.
Round 3 Mono Water Fusoya
I’m at table 1, so if I win this one, I’m pretty much
guaranteed to be in. I open a reasonable hand with Yang and Vincent, but I was
taught to mull for better. I mull into literally one of the worst possible
hands. Turn 1 Yuffie. I actually get my opponent to almost dead and almost
decked out, but once he stabilized I never really had a shot. He also got
fortunate Famfrits on me.
(2-1)
All of us took a loss here so the chances to Top 8 lower and
the chance to run into each other increase.
Round 4 Lightning/Water
So Thomas and I run into each other here. Very unfortunate
because the loser here is pretty much eliminated. We know what each is playing
so he wins the roll and elects to take second away from me. I open reasonably
with Vanille-Wol, but he has all the answers throughout the game. Good game!
(2-2)
Everyone but me won so 3 of us are in good shape to top.
Round 5 Mono Lightning
I open godly once again and my opponent has no idea what is
going on. The game ends very quickly with a resolved attack from brave Vincent
into Death Penalty.
(3-2)
Phil is X-1, Thomas X-2, Nghia X-2, Me X-2, Athena X-3. Phil
is likely in no matter what, Athena is out, and the rest of us have to win out
and pray.
Round 6 Scions
I put on early pressure and my opponent almost stabilizes,
but Mustadio, Cecil, and Ttian off EX help tremendously. Cockatrice seals the
game for me.
(4-2)
Phil is X-1 and in. Sadly, Nghia and Thomas fight each other,
with Thomas winning. So Thomas and I need to pray, but I was 19th
before final standings, so I knew I probably would not make it in.
Final standings: Phil 2nd, Thomas 9th,
Me 11th, Nghia 19th.
My season is over. I feel terrible for myself and Thomas, but
I know I probably wasn’t ready or good enough yet. I resolve to not let it
bother me for now because my focus should be to cheer on Phil and help him out
with anything he needs.
We played the same deck and he cruises to the Finals, but
falls short of winning behind a very hard to see lethal. It feels great that
someone from NorCal did so well in LCQ, took a trophy, and qualified. I take
some solace that my deck choice was very good and I could have very well been
in Phil’s position if I had made one or two better decisions, but I went X-2 so
there is nothing for me to be ashamed of.
We meet up with Blue and Gerbi, the other NorCal qualifiers
and have dinner. We celebrate Phil’s qualification and move to help them decide
on deck choices for the next day. Even though Athena and I aren’t qualified, we
offer to get them food, drinks, and whatever they need. (We had the time and
not like we had anything better to do!) I knew they would do the same for us if
the situation was reversed, so we tried to be the best pit crew/friends/teammates we
could in solidarity of NorCal success.
The first day of Nats rolls by and Blue ends up 2nd
place with a (7-1) record, Phil is 30th at (5-3), and sadly Gerbi is
out. It feels great that two of us made it and that Blue is crushing it. They
just need to win 2 Bo3 matches to go to London! Once again, everyone eliminated
does everything they can to help the two qualified, whether it is food runs,
testing matchups, or making sure people go to sleep on time and waking up.
Sadly, the dream ends with both of our guys losing their
win-and-in. We mess around with side events a bit, but Nationals weekend came
and ended quickly.
I’ve had a lot of ups and downs this season. I’ve been
collecting since Opus 1, but didn’t find a store to play at until the end of
Opus 5 this year. I went from being a casual player and then wanting to be
competitive. I went from being indifferent about the game, to loving it, to
hating it, and then loving it again. The reason why I started to hate the game
was because I invested too much emotion into results. I would go into a
tournament and then misplay or lose a game and suddenly would feel awful
because I felt like I wasted time and money.
My new SoCal friends that I met in Seattle were a big factor
in changing my mindset. I saw how none of those guys cared whether they won or
lost and just hung out after and didn’t even talk about it.
By the end of Nats, I realized how much of what I gained
from this game is owed to other people. So here’s my list of thank yous:
NorCal Crew (TBZ, Council, etc..): Thanks for being a great
home to play. Thanks for building such great decks to play and helping me with
cards I need and with rulings I don’t know.
Phil and Nghia: You guys are super welcoming and were great
to me from the start, thanks for being so cool.
AX Crew (Greg Cole, Greg Martinez, Will, Shereena, Rodrigo,
Jennifer, Peter, Kyle, Van): This is where I started to become competitive.
Thanks for your generosity and kindness. Without that weekend, I wouldn’t be
where I am today.
Stan, Thomas, Peter Wong: You guys are such great buddies to
have. Thanks for always checking up on me and inviting me to play or to be a
part of your crew. You guys have been there for me even when I was down, and it
means the world to me.
Finally, my teammates (Athena, Max, John): Thanks for all
the laughs, good times, and fun games. There will be plenty more to come! I
hope we can all crash some events together next season.
There’s so many more people I could thank and much more that
I could write about them, but it would just never end. I met many people at AX
and some said they wouldn’t keep playing, but they continued. A few people even
came up to me at the LCQ and told me that they started or kept playing because
of me. I traded with some people and they offered very lopsided trades and one
guy even offered to just give me his whole binder.
“You’re the reason I kept playing. You were so nice and
welcoming. I also think you’re a great player so I aspire to be as good as you
someday. As far as I know, all of the good experiences I had in this game are
because of you.”
Hearing things like that brings tears to my eyes. All I did
was encourage people to play because it’s fun and that as long as we both keep
playing, we will be friends and meet each other again. It’s great to be a part
of growing this community and very humbling to know that people think an
average player like me is any good at this game or kept playing because of me.
My philosophy is this: your experiences are your own and you get what you put
in. I hope I continue to keep playing and all the people I met this year do as
well.
Here’s to another great year!
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