This Is Why It’s Called The Happiest Place On Earth

Seven months of competition and six Disney Lorcana Challenge events across the United States and Canada all came down to this. The North American Continental Championship brought together the top 16 players from each NA DLC (as well as 1,000 hopeful Last Chance Qualifier participants) for the biggest high-stakes tournament this side of the Atlantic.

Ravensburger and tournament organizer Pro-Play Games pulled out all the stops to deliver the most impressive Lorcana event yet. If you couldn’t attend this year’s event in Anaheim, California, or watch the tournament broadcast over the weekend, here’s everything that happened at the first-ever NACC.

Last Chance Qualifier

This year’s NACC was hosted at the Disneyland Hotel – a fitting destination for a Lorcana Championship and undoubtedly the most opulent setting of all the DLC locations so far. Players and attendees entering the Disneyland Grand Ballroom were immediately met with a massive sunken seating area where attendees could watch the weekend’s featured matches on a giant screen.

The nearby greeting area was swarmed with fans when I arrived at 11am Friday morning, and never once thinned out over the entire weekend. Co-designers Ryan Miller and Steve Warner, creative director Shane Hartley, and a number of other developers were on deck the entire weekend to take pictures, sign autographs, and play games of pack rush with fans. Next to them, three Lorcana artists – Amber Kommavongsa, Whitney Pollett, and Koni – spent the weekend signing cards and mini-prints for fans.

This is also the area where attendees got to take pictures with Mickey Mouse on Saturday – a Disney park tradition. Mickey was also there to sign the Mickey Mouse, True Friend promo card that came included in the attendee goodie bag.

The tournament kicked off Friday morning with a Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) event. This single-elimination tournament gave 1,024 players (32 pods of 32) one last chance to qualify for the main event on Saturday. After five rounds, only the 32 undefeated players – one from each pod – got to move on. The rest were invited to compete in a variety of consolation and revival tournaments, depending on how far into the LCQ they survived.

The LCQ was scheduled to start at 9am, but was delayed nearly two hours while players waited in their seats. One Ravensburger rep told me that some 70 players were refunded their tickets due to the fires in Los Angeles, and that the time it took to register new players to fill the empty spots was the cause for the delay.

Meanwhile, LCQ players I spoke to said judges were telling them the delay was because Melee, the software used for matchmaking and score tracking, wasn’t working properly. Knowing how many issues Melee has caused at past events, I suspect the delay was caused by some combination of the two.

Though it ran later than expected, the LCQ eventually started around 11am and continued until just 32 players remained. One notable LCQ winner is Joseph Quigley, an Amethyst/Sapphire player who went on to compete in the Top 16, facing off against DLC Vegas winner Zan Syed in the Octo-Finals.

NACC Day 1 – Swiss Rounds

The first day of the NA Championship featured seven rounds of Swiss, utilizing Lorcana’s controversial Two-Game Format. 121 players competed to earn as many points as possible throughout the day, with just the top 16 moving on to Day 2.

The metagame included ten different ink color combinations with a breakdown fairly close to most expectations. Ruby/Sapphire represented a whopping 32 percent of the field with 40 decks, followed by Amber/Steel at 18 percent (22 decks) and Amethyst/Ruby and just 12 percent (15). The biggest surprise may have been Amethyst/Emerald with just 6 percent of the field (seven decks), considering how impressive its performance has been in the Azurite Sea meta.

It was a remarkable competition to watch right from the jump. All of these players have already proven themselves to be top contenders, so every match featured familiar faces and fan favorites. With less delay between the matches and the broadcasts than ever before, the spectator experience had an added sense of being part of the action that wasn’t there at previous DLCs. Bigger events create bigger hype, but the prestige surrounding the setting and the sophistication of the setup added a lot of energy to the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the broadcast was constantly freezing for a few seconds at a time all day Saturday and most of Sunday. Stream watchers may not have seen this, but in person, it was difficult to enjoy the competition at times.

Throughout the weekend, attendees could participate in a wide variety of side events. The goodie bag included two Turbo Tickets which could be exchanged for a best-of-three match of either Pack Rush, core constructed, or multiplayer. Each ticket also entitled players to one of each non-foil version of the weekend’s promo cards: Kuzco, Temperamental Emperor and Baymax, Armored Companion.

You could also get a promo for participating in any of the scheduled side events, and there were dozens to choose from. Constructed, sealed, multiplayer, and draft were available to sign up for at various times throughout the weekend. I got to play in a Sealed Chaos event on Friday, which is a normal 40-card sealed three-round event, but you get one pack from each of the first six sets. This format lends itself to the most unpredictable and interesting sealed matches I’ve ever played, and I highly recommend it – if you happen to have a pack from each set.

I also played in the new 2v2 event, which is a sealed event with a little bit of co-op. You and your partner can exchange cards while building your decks, and during your 1v1 matches, you can assist each other with decision-making. It’s a great way for experienced players to help guide less experienced players, and I’d recommend it for couples and parents. It’s not what I expected a 2v2 event to be, but I enjoyed it.

This event didn’t feature the typical prize wall where attendees can exchange the tickets they earned from playing in events for packs, accessories, and merch. Instead, players were given a promo card at the start of each event, and a single pack for each round they won. With only the potential to earn up to three packs, and the going price for promos ($70 each throughout the weekend), many were treating side events as a convoluted way to buy promo cards, and skipping the actual competition.

None of my opponents showed up to play after the first round during the Friday sealed event. One attendee I spoke to told me their assigned Pack Rush opponent in the turbo zone asked them to split rather than play their match. Waiting until the last round to hand out promos might have mitigated this, but it was the lack of a prize wall that seemed to make people feel like playing for the sake of playing wasn’t worth their time. Luckily, it was never hard to find someone friendly to play with.

The Top 16 decks included six Ruby/Sapphire, three Amber/Steel, one Amethyst/Ruby, two Amethyst/Steel, two Amethyst/Sapphire, one Emerald/Steel, and one Amethyst/Emerald. Most ink color combos converted fairly evenly, except Amethyst/Ruby and Sapphire/Steel, which underperformed, and Amethyst/Sapphire, which overperformed.

Day 1 ended after seven rounds, and the 16 players with the most points made the top cut. First seed was Morgan Shamblin, the only Amethyst/Emerald player in the Top 16. Other notable top cut players included Las Vegas DLC Winner Zan Syed, Fort Worth DLC winner Edmond Chiu, content creators and LAB team members Pierre-Marc “S4iler” Duguay and Ryan “R_M_B” Beaupre, and hometown hero Zach Bivens.

NACC Day 2 – Top 16

Day 2 kicked off shortly after 10am with the Octo-Finals. Onsite attendees were treated to real-time casting from designers Sam Johanson and Etienne Bonin, who were previously part of the DLC Seattle casting team. Sunday also featured a revival event for players eliminated from the main event, as well as those who finished second in their pod during the LCQ. This seven-round event had scaling prizes depending on how many points you earned, with the potential to earn tons of promos and playmats.

In one way, the Octo-Finals were the most important round of the day. The eight winners of this round not only moved one step closer to the finals, but also secured their invite to the World Championship later this year. These eight players were Pierre-Marc Duguay, Shawn Leung, Zach Bivens, Morgan Shamblin, Patrick Côté, Zan Syed, Scott Markeson, and Edmond Chiu. Since Syed and Chiu already have invitations from winning DLCs, their invite rolled down to the ninth and tenth-place players, Kurt Spiess and Humza Khan.

The Quarter-Finals began at 12:30 with some interesting matchups. Amethyst/Emerald Stalwart Mo Shamblin was eliminated by Zan Syed, piloting an Emerald/Steel deck quite similar to the one he won Las Vegas with. Meanwhile, Amethyst/Steel players Zach Bivens and Patrick Côté faced off in a mirror match. Despite going second, the lower seed Côté managed to win the best of three.

Semi-Finals featured Zan Syed vs. Edmond Chiu in a battle of the DLC winners, while Ruby/Sapphire master Scott Markeson faced off with Patrick Côté. Chiu took down Syed 2-1 in one of the closest game threes of the weekend, while Markeson proved why Ruby/Sapphire is considered the most dangerous deck in the meta.

Fortunately for Chiu, his deck was specifically built with Ruby/Sapphire in mind, and he proved his mastery as both a player and a deck builder when he took down Markeson 3-1 in the finals. Despite Chiu’s deck being favored in this matchup, all four games were perfect examples of the kind of knuckle-biting, edge-of-your-seat competition Lorcana offers at the highest level. Both players demonstrated flawless execution throughout the series, but Chiu’s decision to control the control deck paid off, and he was soon crowned the first-ever North American Continental Champion.

A Wonderful Event, But One That Leaves Us With Big Questions

During closing ceremonies, while delivering a heartfelt speech to the crowd, Miller briefly misspoke when he called this the last North American event. He quickly corrected himself by saying, since the World Championship in Orlando is technically the last known event, but when he called this the last, it was hard not to think about the fact that, after this weekend, the future of competitive Lorcana is almost completely unknown.

This is something that was on a lot of people’s minds as I spoke to them throughout the weekend. Casual conversations almost inevitably led to concerns about the lack of information about what’s coming next. Those expecting some details about the World Championship were left disappointed when the only announcement made at the tournament was the release date of Archazia’s Island (March 7 at local game stores, March 21 elsewhere) and the reveal that it will include Lady and the Tramp.

The World Championship will happen, and there’s little doubt a new season of DLCs will follow it, but without information, it’s easy to imagine the worst. How many months will we have to wait for Worlds? How long will we have to plan a trip to Orlando? How long after that will it take before the next DLC? When are social fans going to get a chance to experience the Lorcana Quest events first announced at D23 Expo?

There’s so much momentum behind Lorcana right now, and after such an incredible in-person event, it was hard leaving not knowing if or when I’ll be seeing all my TCG friends again. Even when considering the frustrations and growing pains, this was an incredible first season of competitive Lorcana that came together bigger, better, and faster than I ever expected it to. The fans want more, and not having information about the future is causing some anxiety in the community.

When the next Lorcana events start up again – whenever that might be – I wholeheartedly recommend you attend. Whether you’re a competitive grinder or a casual collector, you owe it to yourself as a Lorcana fan to be part of these experiences. Seeing the community gather together to celebrate the game they love has brought me closer to the game and to the people who play it, and I’m grateful for every opportunity I’ve had to be part of the Lorcana journey so far. I’ve met hundreds of players at DLCs around the country over the last year, and they all tell me they feel the same way.

There’s always room for improvement, and the first year had some bumps along the way, but competitive Lorcana is off to an incredible start, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.