Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Banned & Restricted, Ascent Results, and more! - Episode 20b
25 Plays28 days ago
Follow us on Twitter: https://x.com/CarefulStudyPod
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:03
Speaker
Hello adventurer! Have you come to the Grand Archive for careful study? Yes? Well you're in the right place for knowledge on the world of Cambria and beyond. Come with me and we'll get you started.
Weather Talk and Personal Stories
00:00:17
Speaker
Welcome everyone to another episode of Careful Study. I'm David Morris and joining me today is Steve-O. How you doing today?
00:00:28
Speaker
cold I'm getting tired of it being like zero degrees. I mean, I believe that's supposed to continue for like another two weeks here. it's not so but Every weather channel I watch is just like, it's the worst we've seen.
00:00:40
Speaker
I mean, it's it's it's particularly bad near my house because right now um all like the the snow that was on my roof is melting from the sun. Yeah, yeah. And then it's going straight down onto my patio, which then freezes because it is like 20 degrees colder at the ground level than it is on my roof. so ah my My house shares a driveway with my neighbor. where it's like I own like not like my property line is like 90% of the driveway. So they have the 10%.
00:01:12
Speaker
Technically speaking, it's one of those like my property line is actually at the entrance of the driveway. So it's like the right away thing will all where they're allowed still to use it to get in. But I was snow blowing it after the storm and they were they came out to to like, brush off their car or whatever. And they're just like, you know, that's fine. You don't have to do anymore because I was doing their part. And I'm just like, ah no, I'm doing all of it. This shit ain't melting for the next like three weeks. who but I'm getting rid of all of this. Yeah. And I can't get rid of this ice that's on my patio now. It's it's it's like it's all there dude it's like cement, man. I don't know how bad it was in your area because it seemed to bury like even though we only like live 40 minutes away. Yeah. Some people that live 40 minutes out towards Harrisburg where the other guys are, there's a huge difference. like I had one inch of ice.
00:01:58
Speaker
of like sleet and ice build up on the top of my snow.
Recent Ascents Tournaments Recap
00:02:01
Speaker
So even the snow blower was just like, like crunching all that. it's a good thing you have a snow blower. I have blessed.
00:02:10
Speaker
I have this little, we have this like little chair and table on the patio and with all the water, like that fell fell down on it. the the The chair is almost entirely encased in ice now. And it's like, it's just, it's chair shaped.
00:02:23
Speaker
So it's, yeah. And um it's supposed to snow again, possibly this weekend. Yeah. ah It was actually almost a chance of snowing up here.
00:02:34
Speaker
Like when we're recording yesterday and today, I think there was a chance. but Yeah, there was a minor chance, but yeah. yeah North Carolina and South Carolina and Virginia are just getting f freaking clobbered. I think that that that was the chance that it was going to hit us, and I think they got hit with like anywhere from 6 to 12 inches on top of what they got last week.
00:02:50
Speaker
Well, here's hoping that it warms up by the the end of the month. We have a lot of things to go over because we did record an episode um right in the new year, but Oops, 10 minutes into it, all the audio recording just disappeared.
00:03:10
Speaker
Yay. So here we are again, recording episode 20 with a B on it. um And let's let's go over some of the ah the tournaments that happened recently. We had two Ascents. We had London and Manila.
00:03:25
Speaker
And then we had a pretty sizable regional that I think we should look at as well. So um Manila was first. We had, oh let me pull it up so I make sure. So that was a Tristan win.
00:03:39
Speaker
um Top eight was two Tristans, two Dragons, a Crux Lorraine, a Chicken, Luxem. And Merlin. Love to see a Merlin still in there. She's still kicking.
00:03:53
Speaker
Good old Kingslayer. um can't understate how strong Merlin and Ghost of Pendragon even to this day. it's It's fine. It's just fine.
00:04:03
Speaker
um London, the turtle came back, um and Gembu took it.
00:04:11
Speaker
I am tired of seeing Fate Stones and Gwoja just stop. So, yeah, we had we had a Gembu. We had two dragons again, two Aether Wings, one Water, one Fire, Fractals ah piloted by Kaven, two Tristans. And yeah, like, Gembu just took that. That was... um it's just It's a very interesting top eight to look at. um And with those two ascents...
00:04:41
Speaker
I know me personally, like like seeing it go go into this. and i Actually, when i when I was over talking to Dan on Recollection Step, I thought it was going to be completely Dragon dominated. And here we are where, you know, yeah, Dragon was everywhere, but there was only two of them in the top eight.
00:05:02
Speaker
If Dragon is is so powerful, is so good, why do you think it's not dominating more and seeing like full top eights? I think part of the reason would be, what's the word?
00:05:17
Speaker
Self-devouring. Like there's a certain point where towards the top ends on especially day one and early day two, because you can get repaired into the same players. There's definitely a point where you get where you start having win-series mirrors.
00:05:30
Speaker
um Like it's funny you say that. And if you look at London and browse down to the top like 30, There's literally a stretch of six wins, Sarah, you like almost in a row.
00:05:42
Speaker
And it's from from 20th to 26th. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just like, it's really gross because it's they're all one win away from being able to get in into top eight. That's how close they are.
00:05:53
Speaker
So it's honestly a case of, I think, self devouring. And also sometimes, you know, when Woja just loses, i mean, it can, it's not like it's, you know, and unbeatable.
00:06:06
Speaker
But also on top of that, I think it's more impactfully from just the meta.
Player Skills and Deck Familiarity
00:06:10
Speaker
I mean, people are trying everything. They're throwing everything they can in the kitchen sink to beat that deck. Like, yeah think you asked every single professional player what is the best deck in the format right now, it is either Winseru or Tristan.
00:06:25
Speaker
And then maybe you have some people that might say, like, something else, like maybe you' maybe CL or Watery Thering, Diane, or, like, some some other deck. i don't know. But, like, Tristan's up there and Seru's up there.
00:06:35
Speaker
And every single professional player is just going into these events knowing I have to bring something that's going to beat, you know, this area. Yeah, I know. That's how frustrated I It's so aggressive. Yeah. No, but it's like everyone and their mother is bringing something to beat it and tech it.
00:06:50
Speaker
um And then it's just a game of watch. Like can we watch some of those games on stream where you have a wins Woja versus like a win Tristan. When Tristan has like the best matchup against win Woja. And then you just watch one go just sit there with their fate stone, not flipping it And they're like, all right, I'm just going to wait until I play Regal.
00:07:07
Speaker
And I'm going Regal check that you don't have anything. and if you don't have anything, then I'm going to go for it. I'm not going lie from a player perspective, like just watching games like that, it's kind of boring because we're just watching two people draw pass, draw pass until one of them goes for the kill.
00:07:22
Speaker
it's it's it's It's fairly non-interactive. Yeah, yeah. That's the key word. is like and this is my tangent on Regal. I hate Regal because I think it's a really uninteractive card. But I think that's the reason that Wingwoja is where it's at.
00:07:35
Speaker
I mean, you're going to... If you ran London over and over and over again, you could end up with six Serios in the top eight. You could end up with six Tristans in the top eight. You could end up with multiple bits of Water Diana, Aetherwing, and all these other decks.
00:07:49
Speaker
All of these decks can easily get top eight. It's just a question of matchup lottery, luck of the draw, And, you know, are they playing mirror matches or whatnot? Just how that day's going. So I think it's, it's not so much a, why don't we see it? We see it because again, if you look at these top cuts and the portion of the pie that the wind dragon is taking up, it's taking up a lot.
00:08:10
Speaker
It is. Yeah. I think, I think the fractal of insight it gives conversion rate, right? So if you go by archetype, Sarah, you versus the baseline rate, like the day to conversion, you mean?
00:08:25
Speaker
Uh, yes. If you go to conversion rate by archetype, it will show you the amount of decks that are converting and it'll give you a verse baseline and verse expected quantity. There were 2.5
Banned and Restricted List Overview
00:08:37
Speaker
times more win series converting to day two than there were before. And I think that's because a lot of the professional players said, screw it.
00:08:43
Speaker
We can't beat this deck. We're just going to play it. So like you said, you just had Saryu eating its own tail at that point. Pretty much, yeah. And I mean, it gives you deck quantities. Like there were 22, 21 Saryu players or 24 Tristan players. Like I think only four Tristan players, if I'm reading this right, only four Tristans made day two, which is crazy to think about considering I think two of them made top eight, which again just goes to say, it's just good good players. I mean, it's good players. It's what deck they pick. If they were on win Saryu, maybe they were top eight with that instead.
00:09:15
Speaker
Yeah, the conversion rate wise, it's absurd. It's absurd. The London. Yeah, the the conversion rate for Shadow Strike Tristan was only four of the 24 decks actually made it to day two, which is insane.
00:09:29
Speaker
i think day two for London because it was I think London was eight rounds because it it had that. I think it was five to one was the minimum to get in. um I think day two, they only had like 30 players or something. It was a really low amount.
00:09:45
Speaker
um Yeah, and and i and I think you see things like like like you said, the you see a lot of player skill impacting that that that that going through that. We we have a ah local Tristan player who, ah Fern, who is just...
00:10:00
Speaker
so meticulous about everything he does with Tristan. And like, I consider him like the the most calculating, tri one of the most calculating Tristan players I know. um but like, that's the kind of thing, um that's the kind of player I'm thinking of when I think of these low conversion rates.
00:10:19
Speaker
Same thing with the Aetherwing decks. That is not an easy deck to pilot. at all that is that is a really cool deck but we have wherere we're we're seeing you know three of 11 aether wing decks made it into um day two the water aether wing decks anyway yeah it's it's some numbers are are nice to see that uh you have these players getting in with these decks and i'm sure as the the meta develops it'll you know
00:10:51
Speaker
You'll start to see more of those oddball decks like Water Aether when you become more mainstream in the top cuts. Well, i if we go to one of the more recent regionals, the Core TCG um regional, the winner of that one was a Water Crocs Merlin deck, Kingslayer.
00:11:14
Speaker
So Water Merlin. Huh? Yeah. I finally figured out how to pronounce that that guy's name because I always kept saying it's... I i found out
Lunar Merch Drop Challenges
00:11:24
Speaker
it's pronounced Sarik Longtard.
00:11:28
Speaker
Sarik Longtard? Okay, I wasn't even trying to pronounce his name because yeah there's not enough vowels in my opinion there.
00:11:40
Speaker
ah But this is this is quite interesting um to see a Water Kingslayer ah jump into jump into the meta. And then we saw some of you ah we saw both Aku and Oblation Xiao. And I know you've been a huge ah fan and proponent of the ah the Fire Xiao lists.
00:12:03
Speaker
And have been pretty surprised that we haven't seen a lot of top eights from them. I honestly think part of the reason is just people playing it.
00:12:14
Speaker
if you If you go back to London, for example, and look at the amount of players playing Umbra Guardian, Umbra Guardian is separate from Ablation. There's only four players playing that deck, and there's only five people on Ablation. That's nine people playing CL out of 180-player event. yeah that's That's nothing compared to what the that is being played.
00:12:35
Speaker
So it's one of those things where I think it's part population count has to do with it. And again, it's the more competitive players, but it's also the deck. I mean, Oblation sometimes just loses it to itself. sometimes It has Orb of Sealing to deal with it, but I think that's why. Are you saying you don't always just get the advent in your opening hand and then discard it immediately? Like what happened to me on Locals? I give him any deck to play and he'll just open the nuts. Like it's new player luck, I'm telling you.
00:13:03
Speaker
that That man had a god hand every time. i still did it to you too, right? What's that? He did it to you too, right? ah Yes and no.
00:13:15
Speaker
game Game three that we played, I was thinking about it this morning actually. um I'll probably make a video on it because it was like a fun little lethal puzzle. I think he did it in the most – he did it in ah the – what's the word?
00:13:29
Speaker
i think he did it in the wrong order because obviously i didn't lineage release just because one i didn't kind of care uh but if i lineage release then i survive and then i go to level three and then he just loses um well that sounds that does sound like a like the idea of a of a puzzle it sounds like a good video to put together yeah yeah but it it it was one of those things where i he he did it to me but not as bad as you
00:13:55
Speaker
Yeah, you just got – I got stomped. Yeah. But, yeah, this is Water Crux. This this guy, Sarek Longtar, which I forget his name. I'm horrible with names. i want to say it starts with a K. But he's been on Water water Merlin since he played the game.
00:14:14
Speaker
That's amazing. Yeah, he's the guy I always tell people that when anyone wants to to bitch and moan about the price of the game being too high, I'm going to assume that his story is true because he has locals that will vouch for him.
00:14:29
Speaker
And I know this because he also started out playing Banatas Allies. um He claims that he has not purchased product.
00:14:40
Speaker
He has only played with stuff he has gotten from winning events or topping events, which is why he sticks to Water Merlin almost exclusively
Upcoming Banish Zone Regional
00:14:50
Speaker
at every single event. because he doesn't have the funds or resources to invest in every other deck.
00:14:55
Speaker
He's a free-to-play gotcha player. Pretty much, yeah. and That's amazing. that's that's what Again, this guy is like my biggest argument for when people complain about the price of the game. Sure, you don't get to play everything you want to play.
00:15:08
Speaker
Life sucks. I get it. At the same time, this guy has been topping the West Coast events like multiple times with the same Water Merlin deck running like the same 50 cards and then just splashing in new stuff every now and then.
00:15:21
Speaker
And he's been doing it for the past like two years without spending a dime on the game. Right. And that, you know, that again, that goes back to something that we bring up all the time where you have someone who is just kind of like a master of a particular deck. yeah And if that's all you play, it takes a particular kind of person to play something like that to you. You know that ah going into a lot of things that, oh, I'm just going to get my shit kicked in because I know I lose to X, Y, Z.
00:15:49
Speaker
But your mastery of that deck, the knowing those ins and outs and knowing how you play poorly into certain decks, it can be very advantageous for you to turn those into your favor.
00:16:04
Speaker
I think it was a Bruce Lee quote or maybe someone butchered a Bruce Lee quote. i don't know. It's like, I fear not the man who has practiced a thousand kicks, but a man who has practiced a single kick a thousand times. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. yeah You just just keep keep keep practicing that over and over and over again.
00:16:21
Speaker
um So, yeah, you know I like seeing this mix. I like seeing people like that ah make their make their tops. um So I'm hoping to see more of that.
00:16:33
Speaker
Are you, moving moving into kind of our our next topic here, are you expecting these and B altar cards to really change anything or bring any new decks forefront? Nope, absolutely not.
00:16:46
Speaker
actually Okay, I will say maybe Wind Allies Gin. Other than that, absolutely not. no it's Not a doubt in my mind. we I'll shave all of my facial hair for the next episode that we record if it does change. That takes you like seven months to grow too. I know. this is This has been my summer beard because there's some here, some here, some here.
00:17:08
Speaker
You're not even a father. You can't make dad jokes like that. That's how you know I'm going to be a good dad. I don't even know if you're a kid yet. There are some decent ah win cards that that I think are are coming out of Alter. I like Gusguard quite a bit.
00:17:26
Speaker
um
00:17:30
Speaker
Let me put her in front of me. You know, she's a but she's got a Guardian class bonus of fast activation, and on energy prevents the next two damage that would be dealt to another target unit.
00:17:42
Speaker
I think that's great. Power creep allies. That's just raw power creep allies, baby. That's just fantastic. Now, it's got to be Guardian allies, but still, that's that's that's fun. That's fun.
00:17:56
Speaker
Torching Reach, I think, is also interesting. It's a Ranger Creative Shock ah for two. I think that could see some play.
00:18:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, probably like it's weird because this would be really good in like the OG Taser Lock Fire Diana, I think. Yeah. I don't know how good it would be in something like the current Fire
Future Content Ideas and Conclusion
00:18:20
Speaker
Aether Wing Diana, for example.
00:18:22
Speaker
Oh, probably not. Yeah. Yeah. Probably not. I don't think it it plays to that. um Technically, the other thing you could do is like anyone can do this and fire to you just go back step.
00:18:33
Speaker
It's just sure back step and then torching reach, which you kind of like that's a little. I mean, that's a lot of steps. Yeah, it's a lot of steps for not a lot of value.
00:18:43
Speaker
um Exeojin got a little love with the Scarlet Tassel, you know, give something Omnishroud, but it seems like a lot of steps to get it.
00:18:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you're already, like, stuck materializing so much out of your deck anyway, and obviously this has to come in after the fact. Now, you can Grail this, so this way here, you you don't have to bring it out yeah before the Shwanji, because usually you bring out Shwanji when you go for the kill. Mm-hmm.
00:19:15
Speaker
I don't know. I feel like obscure offering is just a little bit better because Omnishroud versus Spellshroud is a big difference in terms of that it protects Omnishroud, protects everything. um What is the only other thing in the game right now that isn't a spell that's going to flicker your regalia? Baby green.
00:19:33
Speaker
And, you know, I mean, like, do we really need to take a turn off to get tasseled just for baby green? Maybe. Maybe. I'm not to say you don't, but I would say you probably don't care when you play two in Rages and then cleave the board for 30.
00:19:47
Speaker
I mean, so that's pretty good. So I don't know. It's a card this one This one wasn't on the list I sent you, but it was actually just mentioned in our in our Discord, which is ah Heard of the Hearth.
00:20:04
Speaker
And animal and beast allies you control get plus one until end of turn. Horse allies you control get on attack, draw a card, then discard a card until end of turn.
00:20:16
Speaker
Horse meta? No. Am I banned?
00:20:25
Speaker
I drafted horses this weekend. Dude, your draft was insane. The fact that you had three brisk wind trotters and two of the horse that on enter got ranged to... Like, you had two units that were in draft were a 4-3 on enter.
00:20:40
Speaker
What? Like, that's that's just insane. ah and and then And then we have the best boy of this altar set, which is the pole-armed steed.
00:20:53
Speaker
I was looking at the hail finch thinking you were going to say hail finch. Hail finch? Hail finch seems interesting. think bird up. Bird up. I'm not entirely sure where it fits.
00:21:05
Speaker
Where you can... I'm sure that there is something there. But... Polearm steed. they just They just strapped a bunch of polearms to a horse. Yeah.
00:21:19
Speaker
It's amazing. It's literally just on enter Beseech. It's it's just a three cost neutral ally that just says Beseech is zero cost Polar. So like now you can play Jhin as if you were Lorraine because now you can just grab Huaji because I think Huaji's a Polar.
00:21:34
Speaker
So if you go imagine like the Lorraine Huaji builds that are running Sunsei and everything. Now imagine you have that except you have Jhin. And Jhin's level one is pretty good because you get the one attack bonus every time he swings.
00:21:48
Speaker
So I Like I said, Wind Allies Jhin, maybe. But other than don't see it. You would think that a Wind Allies Jhin is going to stay pretty low to the ground, correct? Oh, yeah. It's going be like level 1 Jhin. I think you would run level 2 Jhin just for like reach because of the wake-up.
00:22:03
Speaker
So yeah you could swing with like a polearm, wake up, and then swing again and get plus 2 power from his from his inherited ability.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yeah, no, I would agree with that. um But everything else... Nothing really sticks out to me. um They did reprint ah three visits with the eroded text on it now.
00:22:30
Speaker
ah So it's not full art anymore. We did get to see all the non full art you ours. And if anyone pulls an Everflame staff CSR,
00:22:45
Speaker
Leo blade is looking for one. So let us know. Shout out to him. Give him something good. Are, are we just, are we kind of just hand waving altar here? Do you feel that there are some like really powerful cards in this altar set that we're just aren't seeing? Let us know in the comments below. Let's talk about it. Let's, let's, let's, let's find some, ah some use for some of these altar cards. Let's make Steve shave his beard. Let's make Steve shave his beard, man. Let's do it.
00:23:16
Speaker
Because it'll take him another say seven months to get that back. i we We'll have to call him Babyface Steve-O. Don't do this to me. I only ever trim it. I don't shave it all off.
00:23:26
Speaker
As you see, i've i've I took mine off. Yeah, but yours grows back in like two days. I write. Yeah, it's real fast. um So moving on to the Banned and Restricted that came out after London.
00:23:44
Speaker
Oh boy, did they put a lot of Cat Ones up here. and Thank God. think this kind of hurt the community. This is a hell of a list. I'm going to read down the list. Grim Pistache, Incandescent Reliquary, Topsy Decree, Baby Green Slime, Ranger Strides, Alkahest, and Unmake Duality. now I'm going to speak for the comments before they comment them. Grim Pistache?
00:24:09
Speaker
I thought it was Pistache? Pistache? Yeah, it's Pistache. it's preitche
00:24:16
Speaker
You got it. I heard pistachio and I'm like, oh, what? Grim grim pistachio. There we go. Yeah. So they have some notes here. Because there's so many, I'm going to read some of their notes and then we can comment on it here. So...
00:24:30
Speaker
um Grim Pistache, this card provides a highly flexible tool in CL decks, although CL's core champion design was built around the toolbox strategy. Grim Pistache provides too much recursion to go along with that toolbox, often exaggerating the benefits of certain cards when seen in multiples. Who would have thought that when you make things not cost anything, they're good?
00:24:55
Speaker
Who would have thought? I think the bigger issue is who would have thought being able to just spam certain abilities on cards that were intended to only be a certain quantity index is an issue a pair of regals you what you don't like regal looping no i don't think regal is a card that should ever exist i mean like we watched on stream in dtr sean on like on stream regal loop a gin and just mill him out it was just the most ugliest thing to watch I don't i don't actually think Regal is as big of a problem.
00:25:32
Speaker
I think that looping it is a huge problem. yeah i don't yeah But Regal on its own, I don't feel is the issue. Which is which is why I'm fairly certain we don't see Regal here.
00:25:45
Speaker
so Yeah, because they should be putting it in Cat 3. Thank you. I'm glad we have a Cog. Regal is fine. But I think Grim Pastiche is just a design...
00:25:57
Speaker
nightmare because it is. It allows you to clone up to a five cost and do it at fast speed. and So like there's slow there's slow spells that you could use like Peaceful Reunion that you can clone with Grim Pastiche at fast speed that allows you, the player, to attack on your turn.
00:26:17
Speaker
And then it's your opponent's turn. They materialize something and you go Grim Pastiche Peaceful Reunion. And they can't attack. So it's it is a design issue, I think. And I think they're just doing this preemptively. i don't think there's anything currently in the meta that makes Scrim Prestige giga broken, but I could see down the line how this card can just... It's inevitable.
00:26:35
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. so Something will break. Like, this will break something. I mean, Seattle already abuses a lot of cards that really are not intended to be in his deck. if there's If there's ever a champion's entire design or kit that screams, I'm going to break it.
00:26:54
Speaker
It's CL. CL is at a glass house with a hammer in his hand waiting. if If anyone is going to lead to them making deck deck construction rule changes, it would be CL. Yeah. and um So next we have Incandescent Reliquary. This card was designed to help the Luxum player catch up in influence while also supporting the turbo to three play style. Boy, howdy does it.
00:27:20
Speaker
Although achieving its purpose successfully, the one based memory card cost makes this card extremely difficult to interact with with certain decks. Sure does. I think it's a war crime that they said the Luxem player as if Xander should ever be included in the same boat as the monster of this like 12 year old looking child.
00:27:40
Speaker
I'm sorry that Luxem? The Luxem player. Yes, the Luxem player. The dragon player you mean. Yeah, Gwoja.
00:27:50
Speaker
Wait, Gwoja is Luxem? Yeah, exactly. when When's the last time you've seen a single Luxem card outside of, like, Excalibur in her deck? Like, get out of here, dude. The Luxem player. All right. isn't there a Isn't there a deer that sometimes... There's a stag people play sometimes, right? Right? Okay, sometimes, sure. and Honestly, I feel like that's, like, almost a slur because that that lumps her in with Xander at this point.
00:28:15
Speaker
The Luxem player. Yeah. Good lord. this This just makes the, like, it really makes Dragon just so freaking fast and punishment so difficult to interact with. Yeah.
00:28:29
Speaker
There's nothing more enjoyable in the world than watching Dragon Turbo to three, have two influence, and then their next turn have five cards in hand because they go, i already had Lost Providence, so I'm going to Reliquary, draw for Reliquary, draw off Lost Providence, draw for turn, and then you're just sitting there like, oh, I thought it.
00:28:46
Speaker
I thought it was hot it was it was punishing to go to level three. Huh? And then you just die to a serious command, Biancos, anyway. Yeah, like, we got to leave the turbo to three with two cards and then having tons of cards in hand to King Slayer. Like, no one but Merlin can have that.
00:29:02
Speaker
That's Merlin's thing. But honestly, I think that Ghost is a fine card. Like, it's obviously, it's really good, but there's so much interaction with Ghosts. Yeah. You can interact with Regalia. You can interact with Ghost with Stifle. And on top of that, it is a main deck card.
00:29:18
Speaker
Like there's a huge difference between having your value, like your recursion for getting influence back. It's a big difference between it being on a regalia card, excuse me, and it being in a main deck card that you can only run four of.
00:29:33
Speaker
think that's what it is. Yeah, you have to have it. But as we all know, all Merlin players always have it. That and DG, you know. I didn't tell Topsy Decree, my favorite card from the set. This card was designed to be a card to reward decks running more norm element cards. However, because the unique effects found on the modes of this card are not ah effective effectively found as a standalone cards in the norm element, it has become a key card of the current format.
00:30:04
Speaker
As the norm element card pool expands, we expect the cost of versatility in Topsy Decree to be amplified. Yes, but it also answers some things that you can't otherwise answer right now.
00:30:16
Speaker
So I'm not sure how much I agree with with this this Cat 1. I think Alkahest and Topsy are my biggest like question marks of why is this on the list. Topsy is good, don't get me wrong, but I want to say like a third of the reason it's so popular right now is because of Dragon.
00:30:34
Speaker
Because you can play this so they can't arcane blast you to death. I mean, you can discard their card. and and and in And it's also a ah very good answer to CL as well.
00:30:46
Speaker
Oh, yeah. dude make Honestly, even other level three decks, like any level three deck that doesn't get the plus one from creative, the moment they try to just put anything in the float, like you play Merlin, you're like, ah, I didn't draw the creative. All right.
00:30:58
Speaker
End phase, fast cure. yeah it was like So, you know, maybe they know something we don't with more norm cards coming in RDO or Again, it's Cat 1, so they're keeping an eye on it. There's been things on Cat 1 for ages. Hi, Dream Fairy. Still there.
00:31:18
Speaker
Listen, I've been a proponent of Dream Fairy to Cat 3 for the longest time. Don't do it. The moment you printed the the Fate Stones, you can't you can't do it anymore. you've got to keep Dream Fairy. yeah i mean Honestly, make Dream Fairy norm at this point, please. like big one Honestly, Dream Fairy has to stay around now because you need you needed you need the you need it for the for the answer to Cheshire as well.
00:31:39
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Because without it, like I think really Dream Fairy is for the most part Tristan's only answer to Cheshire, is it not? ah Yeah, unless they're like Mad Men running like Striking or Staggering Strike.
00:31:55
Speaker
Because I don't think they have any other Truesight in there. Yeah, they would need they would need a Truesight enabler. They could run Pier for Truesight. It's so much more effective. And like removing that would really damage...
00:32:09
Speaker
their ability to effectively play into a lot of decks because you know cheshire is so popular now here's one that everyone here has been thinking should have been on this list a long ass time ago baby green slime the on-enter ability of this card is extremely effective effective when being used to interact with certain strategies compared to others In addition, usually strong interaction interaction cards are complemented with an opportunity cost of it being not useful all the time.
00:32:42
Speaker
However, because the wind element draw engine is based on reusing on EnterFX, the opportunity cost for baby screen green slime is very low. Yes, baby green slime is pretty much almost an auto-include in many, many ah wind decks. It is so freaking good.
00:32:59
Speaker
Wind tamer, wind tamer. Yes, I'm sorry, Wind Tamer decks. Yeah, like, it is just so good. I think that that card is the perfect prime example I've ever seen of a card that is, like, is the problem the card or is the problem the surrounding cards to that card? So, for example, Baby Green is not a problem in Wind Allies Sylvie. Why?
00:33:26
Speaker
Because it actually does what it's really supposed to and it the surrounding you know, a game plan of that wind ally Sylvie is not, you know, so critically impacted on whether or not you have baby green.
00:33:39
Speaker
Whereas wind Guoja is because there's a lot of times where stuff that would interact with the dragon or would kill the dragon or anything like that. You could just flicker it away. Whereas Sylvie on the other hand, just doesn't benefit as much from it because the core game plan isn't as critical to have that.
00:33:56
Speaker
But i still think the card itself is an issue. But it is interesting to note that it isn't it does not feel as disgustingly good as it does Gwoja and any other tamer list.
00:34:15
Speaker
It still feels very good in Slimes, obviously. Sure. um But Slimes is not that great anymore. It's just going to be less great if they keep banning these Slimes.
00:34:31
Speaker
poor slimes. And we have a slime party we have slime party coming soon. slimes had it coming. um Now, this next card was just a mistake. Ranger Strides. The introduction of this card to aggressive strategy has lowered the amount of class diversity within those strategies.
00:34:50
Speaker
Yup. yeah what do What do you mean? You don't like Cheshire or Ranger Strides on either Wind Wake Up or any Diana deck? It's like, oh, range date. Ooh. it's It's so brutal.
00:35:02
Speaker
It's so brutal. um And, you know, just that with like the the combination of Mad Hatter, even without Hatter, it's still just freaking brutal.
00:35:13
Speaker
Mad Hatter is almost never the reason that whenever I play against those decks that I would ever lose to it. I always lose because it's Cheshire Cat plus Boots. Most people will just raw dog bring it out. They don't even use the Mad Hatter to get it.
00:35:27
Speaker
I mean, because if you got if you got the cat, man, duplicate those abilities, man. Just keep going. I play against Tanky on this this Wind Allies Wake Up, and every single game, I kid you not, every single game, he goes, Wind Unique Ally, DLU.
00:35:42
Speaker
Every single game. So game three, he goes first, he goes, Wind Unique Ally, DLU. What's he do? Bring out Ranger Strides. Next turn, recollect, make DLU distant.
00:35:56
Speaker
Give him ranged four. Attack for seven. Wake him up, attack for seven. Why? Like, that that is that is so antithetical to the concept of ranged as a – like, that is for ranged units, not for a freaking horse.
00:36:12
Speaker
I think that card should have been a zero-cost ranged two. I think it would have been more balanced and more fair that way. But I think they undervalued the value of ranged. Basically, he was he was tying bows or... Yeah, he was he was just tying guns or bows to a horse.
00:36:28
Speaker
ah Something like that. I think he just tied arrows to it and then this like ran down like a railgun. put the bullets in a railgun and just... Horse railgun. See, it's still a horse meta.
00:36:40
Speaker
yeah yes but It's always been horses. you just You just got to attach things to your horses. um Yeah, that that card can go. i'll I won't shed a tear if that one goes away.
00:36:53
Speaker
ah This is this is the the other one that we're kind of of like, huh? Alkahest, the reasoning for adding Alkahest to Category 1 closely follows the reasoning we previously added Crystalline Mirror. We want to avoid putting accessible and versatile regalia interaction in the material deck.
00:37:10
Speaker
Making these inner interaction choices confined to the main deck is something we feel is not only healthier for the meta, but advances still ah skill expression in construction rather than allowing too much toolboxing within the material deck.
00:37:24
Speaker
I get it. They had a a design change philosophy. um I don't see this being a horribly powerful or abusive card right now.
00:37:35
Speaker
um It's useful for sure. ah But i and I understand that they want to get rid of it due to, you know, design philosophy changes. i mean, yeah obviously you're allowed to change your mind. Like there's mistakes they made in the past, I'm sure.
00:37:50
Speaker
But this this card to me is only usable in what like, the level, it's gotta be Merlin Arasana or someone who has a way to get to level four. Cause the level four is the break point for being able to blow up an item.
00:38:02
Speaker
So I think honest to God at that point, it's kind of fair. I mean, like if your deck has the capacity to go to level four, sure. Have it Crystal and mirror has been in cat two for so long and that's way easier to activate in any of the little of fractal decks or even just like, even just like normal Fantasia, Dow Chan or something.
00:38:20
Speaker
I will say though, the, the, The art or the the statements that they have for why they don't like Crystal and Mir and Halkahest for, ah what was it? it was so What did you say it was? they They didn't want the ah destruction or the toolbox or versatility? like Yeah, they they basically, they didn't want regalia interaction in the material deck.
00:38:43
Speaker
And they said something about like the skill expression of it or something like that. They didn't want too much toolboxing within the material deck. See, I don't understand how in one sentence they can say we have issue with Alkahest and Crystal and Mirror because of x Y, and Z and the skill expression and toolbox involved with this versus Ranger Strides, which is like Onga Bunga just hit face.
00:39:06
Speaker
Like to me, those two statements, I guess they can coexist, but at the same time, like one of them takes a lot more skill and deck tweaking to actually utilize. and arguably isn't as near of much of a problem as the other, which is so straightforward in what it does and so freaking good at it.
00:39:23
Speaker
I'm just baffled that they're – like, from from here on, like, the next couple of sensor B&Rs, I would be shocked if Ranger Strides did not shoot straight to Cat 3 or it was not following the same trajectory, at least at a slightly faster pace, than Alkaest and Crystal Amir.
00:39:44
Speaker
i think the I think the biggest difference with Ranger Strides is that it is not fun to play against. Yeah, oh, that too. yeah And like I feel that out of all things, things not being fun kind of trumps everything else. If it's not fun, it just in it and it feels really, really bad, i i could see that it it it's going to the top there. Alkaist, whatever. Yeah, like I said, you gotta be level 4 for it, so I think it's fine. But comparing Outlast to Mirror, like, i can I can't tell you how many times when I played Fractals using Crystal and Mirror.
00:40:20
Speaker
Like, sure, don't get me wrong, Fractals being able to blow up, or Water in general being able to blow up like a Safeguard or something that they otherwise would have to Fracturize, get the reason for it. But, dude, the amount of times it it was like such a skill expressive thing to do with that.
00:40:37
Speaker
Like, I remember playing games where it was a matter of if you didn't materialize Crystal and Mirror like three turns prior, you lose because you didn't get it out fast and or have it in a time window. And then on top of that, being able to do it in response in certain times. Like I remember the 3v3 event, one of the last rounds we played against. I was playing in the Fractal Mirror against Dragowill.
00:40:59
Speaker
I think he's on Creative Shock. And it was the Fractal Mirror. And it came down to a very nuanced... timing issue of when to break something. I forget. I think it was something involving a Quicksilver Grail with Crystal and Mirror from my side. And I won the game because of that.
00:41:17
Speaker
But it was like that that to me is more justification for cards like that because they're not like backbreaking, like you said, with Ranger Strides, where it's just unfun to play against.
00:41:30
Speaker
Because i think part of the unfun with those cards is just it's just so straightforward.
00:41:39
Speaker
Ranger Strides is just overpowered. It really is overpowered. um But again, it it came down to ah just their their their card design philosophy. And and ah as long as we don't see more of these cards in the future and they you know uniformly put all these in in the ban list, then okay, that's fine. yeah Like I said, these two statements can coexist.
00:42:03
Speaker
This one over here should probably be going to Cat 3 way sooner than this should go. And our last one here, Unmake Duality. Decks that are using the Looking Glass that do not utilize distortion cards are too readily able to abuse Unmake Duality, effectively invalidating the existence of Grand Crusader Rings.
00:42:21
Speaker
We want Grand Crusader's Ring to be the standard for gaining a card for no cost.
00:42:27
Speaker
I did not expect people to start using the the Looking Glass without any distortion. um Yeah. Is Unmake Duality a distortion card? Hold up No, it's not.
00:42:40
Speaker
It's not? okay now yeah Okay. No. I can see I can see where when you have it when you when you have it written, you're just like, you know, it's it's another turbo charge.
00:42:52
Speaker
um But at the same... I see where they're coming from for this. And, you know, I i honestly do not care about this one one way or the other.
00:43:03
Speaker
I use the looking glass for distortions. but yeah You're in the boat that uses the intended way. yeah I use it the intended way. yeah I'm actually kind of told like, I don't think this should be on the category lists at all, but I am always torn on this versus Lost Providence or in some cases GCR. And the main reason is because sure, on the way up to a level, like you're maybe you're playing a level three deck or in the case of Kaven's Fractalist, which is kind of crazy in the first place. Sure.
00:43:35
Speaker
Sure. you have a turbo charge that's live at any point in the game. um In order to get value from it, you're putting three of them in your deck at least.
00:43:45
Speaker
Yeah. If you play one, the other two are complete dead cards. yeah Yeah. Now don't get me wrong. There are definitely dead cards in like a fire level three strategy or any level three strategy for that matter, once you hit level three, but technically speaking, they can at least be played.
00:44:00
Speaker
Like there's definitely times where I have a library, which in oblation and I'm just like, Sure, I'll play it. Maybe chump blocker. It's fine. It's something. But also on top of that, you have to see the unmake.
00:44:14
Speaker
So you have to see it. There's games where you just won't see it. And even furthermore, it's it is a plus one that you have to spend a turn to play the card or spend resources to play the card for that turn. Your turn economy is relatively important.
00:44:33
Speaker
um So if you don't see this level one or two and an advanced element deck, there might be situations where you really don't have the time to play this.
00:44:44
Speaker
And yeah that's the that's what's kind of weird to me is like, I think the opportunity cost of this card is justified. You don't get a Divine Relic. Like you don't get Quicksilver Grail. You do not get Lost Providence.
00:44:58
Speaker
But you get a live turbo charge whenever you see it. It also limits your deck construction, and it also provides two complete blank cards that you're going to draw later on in the game. And on top of that, it's going to take you part of your turn economy to play the card, unlike in the case of Lost Providence.
00:45:13
Speaker
Imagine playing Unmaked Duality and drawing two Unmaked Dualities.
00:45:19
Speaker
I mean, at that point, you're putting them down for dungeon guides or something else, but man... Gotcha. That would be horrible.
00:45:27
Speaker
I'm indifferent on this one. um i I will say overall, I do find it fairly impressive that they were willing to put all of these things on on Cat 1. Again, this... this this to me is signals that they realize that there are problem cards that they realize that there are problem strategies and that yes, we are looking at it, which is why I've, I've kind of, I really appreciate the idea of category one. Like, Hey, no, we know this could be a problem. We're keeping an eye on it. They acknowledge it.
00:45:58
Speaker
And I like that. I like that quite a bit. Um, As I've said before in other TCGs I've played, they don't do that. you know they they just They don't say anything. They're just silent about it until they inevitably go, and we're going to ban it!
00:46:15
Speaker
Yeah, and then the new set comes out and all the new sets are way more broken than that.
00:46:21
Speaker
you You sound like a broken Yu-Gi-Oh! player. Listen, I played Yu-Gi-Oh! up until 2014 and then stopped playing card games altogether. I got out one again. It was good. eyes saw what it became, dude. I saw what it became.
00:46:36
Speaker
um So moving on to something that is a little less great. um We had ah the ah the the the lunar merch drop.
00:46:48
Speaker
And this was a little scuffed. ah and ah little little sco this is A little I would have said a little until I saw what I just saw an hour ago, now I'm thinking it's a lot scuffed.
00:47:04
Speaker
I... I want to preface this by saying I understand a lot of their decisions. I just think they were wrong. um the fact that let let's let's Let's start just saying that that they had a um a merch drop for Lunar New Year, similar to they had like the the Christmas holiday one that they released last year. Last year, it was a presale, so they basically printed as many as were ordered, as far as my understanding was.
00:47:33
Speaker
um This time around, they didn't do that. They printed X amount of each of of four different champions. And there was... Rai and Orisana. yeah, yeah. And then there there was a set amount for them with Rai getting the least amount and everyone else getting, like, something. Poor Rai.
00:47:53
Speaker
Poor Rai. He was also the last one to sell out. So they knew what they were doing there. Yeah. Unfortunately, no one no one could possibly predict this, but the entire store fell apart.
00:48:09
Speaker
um I get it. um you you know you're You're always going to end up unintentionally DDoSing yourself when you have these kind of drops.
00:48:21
Speaker
ah And that's exactly what happened here. There's just... It triggered it a trick triggered too many alarms with their payment providers, with their cart providers, with the website itself. I tried to get a Lorraine box and it went in and out of my cart and then gone, sold out. I just couldn't get it. it I did all the things that I needed to do um preemptively and it just – Couldn't get one.
00:48:49
Speaker
Now, the thing that bothers me the most is that they were they were waffling back and forth about whether or not there was going to be a CSR during the initial announcement. And then afterwards, they said, yes, there's going to be a CSR, but they're not going to tell us what the CSRs are until after the sales.
00:49:06
Speaker
So after the sale, they told us which what the CSRs were. There was four different ones. I'd have to say that three of the fours were really good. One of them, not so much.
00:49:18
Speaker
Poor Lorraine. Anyway. so i think That was kind of frustrating. I understand the logic behind it. They didn't want people to purchase things based on the potential for what CSR they could get.
00:49:33
Speaker
um ah And, you know, scalping all those. Okay, sure. I also don't like the fact that I'm buying something that I don't know what it could possibly contain.
00:49:44
Speaker
That sucks. And then we find out not only could you randomly get um a CSR, but now you could also get the new like cloth the the new cloth the fabric. as to yeah as opposed to this like this stuff here like newra Yeah, as opposed to that, now they had the chance of coming in with one that was a cloth playmat, which is the new Reclaim playmat that they gave at the Assamance.
00:50:13
Speaker
Which we got we've which we we got to see the the we got to see a um perspective prototype at Niagara because Dan was playing with it. Really good, really good. It was amazing.
00:50:24
Speaker
Like, I was super envious. I... would have thrown money at them to have one of those types of playmats. I know it's a premium, but it's so nice. It's so very nice. And they always put out the highest quality playmats.
00:50:38
Speaker
But the fact that they didn't even mention that bothered me to bothers me to no end. Because I really enjoyed the art that they put in those in those Lunar merch packs. And the fact that they only just announced that, oh, hey, yeah, you know that merch drop that got screwed up?
00:50:56
Speaker
There's even more surprises and it's just, you know, FOMO alarm to the max now. And those things are going to go pretty, pretty, pretty high up on the, on the secondary market. So oh for sure, especially with limited quantities of it. And given the poll rates were, I don't know what the poll rate is, but there's no way it's anything above 50%.
00:51:20
Speaker
I'm sure the the the wonderful folks over at Merlin's Marketplace are going to tell us what all the pull rates were. they're they'll They'll definitely gather it. They always have a spreadsheet. Yeah, they'll figure it out. um i I hope that they very much learn from this.
00:51:37
Speaker
I would honestly prefer if they go back to the presale so that if you want one, you get one. Obviously, yeah just limit the purchase to one or two. um Get the money in advance. Print them out. Sure, it's going to take us longer to get the darn things, but whatever. and This is a practice store.
00:51:57
Speaker
Yeah. um And just tell us what's in the damn thing. ah Did you watch the Christmas stream? Yeah. yeah So for for even more context, they had the Christmas stream where they were debuting all of this.
00:52:13
Speaker
And they showed all of the stuff that you get in there. Now, I did not buy any of this because I'm i'm not a big like merch guy. As you can tell, my room is basically barren as hell. Which is why it's so echoey.
00:52:23
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, because I don't really collect anything. like even my like I'm foiling out CL because I'm trying something. and I'm trying to bucket list. Oh, yeah. Send Steve-O help. He's foiling and CSR-ing a deck. We don't know who this man is. I'm an alien. Woo!
00:52:40
Speaker
um But yeah, like I don't collect stuff, so I never really purchased any of this. But, you know, I don't know what the website looked like, what the website told you the contents were. But I know from the live stream, they debuted all the contents.
00:52:52
Speaker
And you got to see that it was like an acrylic standee. It was a tapestry, or tapestry a playmat with a really cool playmat tube holder thing or whatever. um box that doubled as a collection, like a bulk box. The box looked very high quality too. Like similar to like the Reco deck boxes.
00:53:08
Speaker
yeah Oh, even more, even more. I think, yeah I think it looked even better, but there was so much cool stuff that they were shown in there. And I remember towards the end of it, cause they got to the Q and a And I remember there were some people asking them about like the the promo cards and it was like pulling teeth to get from Sillidar, whether or not it was going to have a CSR, like a chance at the csr And it was like pulling teeth to even get that answer out. And I don't even think they answered it officially. I think it was kind of one of those like wink, wink, nudge, nudges. No, I think they they did not during the stream. After the stream, it was confirmed. It was confirmed. Okay. But I just remember the vibe from the stream from that question was just kind of like, they kind of didn't want to say it because they wanted it to be purchased for the whole concept of it is a merch thing. Like it is, it is a collector's item. Like, um,
00:53:59
Speaker
like like for The statue. yeah Yeah, it's like a statue kind of thing. It's like for my barren wall or my barren room right now where I would fill it in with GA merch, which is really cool. That's why you buy the box. that's not You're not buying the box for the CPR or the chance at a collectible mat.
00:54:15
Speaker
um but The merch itself is the collectible. Correct. yeah And I think that's the issue with these things. is not like Half of it has to do with the um like the website itself and the the actual sale of this stuff. And I think the other half of the issue is you probably should stop putting CPRs in these things as a chance.
00:54:35
Speaker
And also, like you said, tell us what's in there because not knowing that there's a chance that a felt mat would change how people buy these things. So it's it's kind of like the statement of this is designed for the collector, not like the chaser, but we're also putting chase stuff in here. It's like, okay, you're starting to go different paths here with this because the collector buys a product knowing what they're getting because it's collectible.
00:55:02
Speaker
They're not buying it at the chance at a collectible rare, you know? So I think there's a difference. There's a difference between a chase collector and just like a merch collector, you know? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. The person who likes to buy those anime figurines um or gets the collector's Pokemon tin or something like that.
00:55:22
Speaker
I didn't even buy this. I got this from a crane in Japan just because I love the Black Rose Dragon because it's when I played Yu-Gi-Oh. It's a cool thing. It's like the only collectible thing I have of the entire game on my desk.
00:55:34
Speaker
When Merlin's stand comes out, I'll be getting a Merlin's stand. I think it's just, I think it's flat out a mistake, you know? Uh, i If they're going to do CPRs, and I'm not going to tell them, I'm not going to i'm not going to say if they should or shouldn't.
00:55:50
Speaker
um I would like there to be merch products that are just merch. You know, like a merch box that has, you know, a figurine, standee and a playmat in it. That's awesome.
00:56:01
Speaker
um And yeah, if there's if there's like rare drop promotional limited edition possible chase stuff, that's great, too. But like, just just come out and say it.
00:56:12
Speaker
Just say it's in there, please. But I think they don't say that and they didn't say it this time and didn't want to say it this time was because, again, they were trying to sell it to the collectors.
00:56:23
Speaker
not the, you know, like the CSR collector type. Well, it didn't work. No, it it didn't because I think people rightfully assumed that there's going to be a chance at CSR in here. So we're going to buy it. Like yeah the, the, the Kong Ming one that they did.
00:56:36
Speaker
um I think most people, like they put a limit of six on it. People were just buying six because higher chances at the CPR. You don't need to buy six of these boxes. They contain the same shit.
00:56:48
Speaker
Like, that's You're not buying it for the reason it's being sold at this point. And that's why I think it's it's an issue. and i I hope that they approach these merch drops differently in the future um and that they you know they they prepare all their website partners better next time as well to say, hey, we're going to have You're going to get loaded, dude. We're going i have a thousand people's. Please don't ba block our cart and our payment processor.
00:57:19
Speaker
um I don't envy that. I've had to deal with that stuff before. It sucks, especially when you go to your your your payment processor and you tell tell them, hey, we're running a deal today and there's going to be...
00:57:31
Speaker
hat we're dealing with like the millions in the, in the, in the work that I do. it was like, we're going to have half a million people trying to jam this purchase all at the same time. So please don't turn off our credit card processing.
00:57:46
Speaker
um Yeah. It's,
00:57:50
Speaker
it's disappointing. Yeah. I think that's probably the best way to put it. Umbrella term. It's just disappointing. We have one more thing to go over, and that is the Banish Zone Regional.
00:58:03
Speaker
Have you bought your ticket yet, Steve? No. Every time you tell me to buy it, I forget. Remember, we sold out last time, and you bought a ticket that did not include ah a um a binder. All right. Hold on. Give me a second right. I'm going to do this. ready?
00:58:22
Speaker
shit. That's my computer. do you see all these little binders over here? Yeah. Yeah, there's like... Oh, wait, I actually did. Yeah, you see that pink thing? Yeah, I got like five of those things.
00:58:33
Speaker
Okay. you think need another? Yes. I want you to be able to make furniture out of the binders. You know, my couch has been a little bit of rocky. Let me put a binder in. want you to be able to construct a chair that you sit in that's just binders.
00:58:53
Speaker
Like a Game of Thrones throne out of binders. I'm close. The chair might be like two inches off the ground, but it it would still count as a chair. After this regional season, I think you'll be there.
00:59:06
Speaker
So anyway, the Bannerstone Regional. Purchase your ticket today. We sold out last time. We have added even more seats this time. It'll be super cozy.
00:59:21
Speaker
But we can fit just over 100 people this time. ah So I want to see us break 100. ah It'll be on February 28th. That's the end of this month.
00:59:35
Speaker
We have increased the prize pool. To 3K. is a 3K. Top 16, 3K. And we will be paying out top 32.
00:59:52
Speaker
So top 16 prizing, 32 payout. Which is big. Which is great. People get a little upset sometimes when they don't get the top 16 and they bubble right out at 17. But don't worry, you're still getting some store credit.
01:00:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. you get you And it pretty much pays for your entry if you make the top 32 at that point. So good stuff. Good stuff. We have so much crap to give away. um We still have leftover regional mats from several regionals ago. So I might just start throwing those into the crowd of people saying, you get a playmat. You get a playmat. I'm sure you have plenty of things that we can give away.
01:00:28
Speaker
you see all the... Maybe you can't see it, but there's... That's a lot of playmats. There's a bunch playmats right here. Yeah, these are all getting donated. Yeah, we're going to be giving away a ton of playmats. we have i have some Ascent deck boxes that we're going to be giving away. We're going to be giving away card sleeves, probably some dice, all sorts of stuff. We have tons of event packs. I might even do i might even do the headhunter thing that we did last time where we'll put bounties on people, and if you beat that person, you get an extra Sapphire pack.
01:01:01
Speaker
Oh, This regional, i I remembered this, but this this was something after the previous regional. I will be grabbing a Burger King crown, like one of those little cardboard crowns.
01:01:14
Speaker
And i don't know who's going to get it. I don't know if we're just going to do me or we'll pick someone at random. Someone's going to get the Burger King crown. For every time they lose or whoever beats them gets the crown and it just keeps going. So if if you win early and you just keep winning, you just get to keep the crown.
01:01:28
Speaker
And I'll tell you this much. If you got the crown... um At the end of the tournament, because I love this idea, you're going to get something very cool. Another crown? Unless it's Steve. If it's Steve, we're just going to boo him. but Okay. Whatever you had in mind, keep that if someone else gets the crown. If I'm the one with the crown, have a whopper ready because you know I'll take the food.
01:01:52
Speaker
We'll get you a double whopper. oh
01:01:59
Speaker
and we That small tangent it reminds me, we we had a friend one time who's told us to go to ah like get him some fast food at a Burger King. And this was when Burger King was still doing the make your own Whopper.
01:02:14
Speaker
So i'm not going lie. I don't even remember that. they Yeah. They had the build your own Whopper thing going on. So we had them build one with five patties.
01:02:26
Speaker
And put it a piece of cheese under each one. And it even had buns? Oh, it had buns. And wrapped it. And then we put it. he he said He said, get me the biggest one they got. I was like, sure. We'll get it for you. Yeah.
01:02:40
Speaker
We put it right in front of him. He said, oh my god, what have I done? What do you mean, huh? I'm going to devour that thing. Are you kidding me?
01:02:52
Speaker
I believe he finished it. i He did not feel well afterwards, but he did.
01:03:01
Speaker
ah Anyway, so yes, you can watch, um we can watch Steve speed eat a Whopper if he keeps that crown. Really, please, everyone who comes to our regionals has an amazing time. If you are in the Northeast, come on down to the Banished Zone. If you are in the Southeast, come on down to the Banished Zone. If you are in the Midwest, come on down to the Banished Zone.
01:03:22
Speaker
Come up. up see South, they have to go up. North, you have to up. Whatever, they'll figure it out. I technically have to go east to the shore, but I still say down the shore. Over yonder.
01:03:40
Speaker
Over yonder. We've had people fly in from Florida. um We've had people come from Ohio. We are very much trying to get a bunch of people from the Fargo main deck crew to come on down. I believe i believe we we might very well get Mitch, main deck Mitch, coming in.
01:03:58
Speaker
think he's I think he's pretty much sold in. um i told Perfie he has to because he's in Ohio, right? Yeah, he's been in Ohio like the entire time. he just have Yeah.
01:04:08
Speaker
Perfect. amplify for what What are you doing, dude? I know you're watching this right now. like Listen, I'll defend Perfie. He lives in like a non-existent plane of existence because Ohio doesn't exist. So maybe that's why.
01:04:24
Speaker
No one likes Ohio. But we love Perfy. So I hope you make it here, man. Take Steve's crown from him. There's so many people that can take my crown. Come on. Yeah, we always have a great time. i hope you all come. If you're coming, leave a note below.
01:04:45
Speaker
I want to thank you, Steve, for recording this essentially again. We talked about some of the stuff we already talked about before. Hopefully this recording works great. ah Do you have anything that that you want to tell our our watchers, our listeners before we head out? Yes, but and don't know. Do we want to spoil some of them? I have some like lethal. i have like a long form lethal puzzle where we'll go over a couple of lethal puzzles.
01:05:15
Speaker
And then couple of other categories and topics like how to measure your approach at events. Like how do you handle yourself at events? How do you keep your cool?
01:05:25
Speaker
um Which I can definitely say from experience, because I've had some not too great moments in the past year. It's been my worst like past six months. I think for for for ah for a short period of time, you were you were known as Hulk rage. Yeah. Yeah.
01:05:40
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Because the past six months, of I've just been not happy. um but But, you know, how to handle yourself in in tournaments. And then just so a couple other couple other small stuff. But, you know, they'll they'll be coming out throughout the throughout the weeks. Don't worry.
01:05:58
Speaker
Pouring out that content. I hope you enjoyed. If you haven't already, please make sure to subscribe to Careful Study. And leave a comment. Leave a like.
01:06:10
Speaker
All those wonderful YouTube things. We enjoy... hearing from y'all. We thank you for watching and hope you'll have a ah good time. See y'all later.
01:06:25
Speaker
Oh, are you leaving so soon? I hope you found what you were looking for. Please be sure to return. We'd love to have you back.