Reps Before Regrets

 The new Lorcana set is here, the meta is wide open, and the Muses are officially in LCQ preparation mode! Brittany, Nikki, and Lesley break down their latest playtesting experiences, from Boosties and item-heavy strategies to Amethyst tempo, pandas, evasives, and the ever-present Gaston. They also discuss expensive cards, shiny collectibles, playing Lorcana on a budget, and why a fun deck is not always the right tournament deck.

With so many viable color combinations available, the group shares why consistency, matchup knowledge, and plenty of reps may matter more than living in Magical Christmas Land. Plus, the Lorcana Muses invite Arizona players to join their weekly community playtesting sessions at Game Outpost Mesa. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:07

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Lorcon Muses podcast. I'm Nikki.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

I'm Brittany and I'm Leslie.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

And it is actually Saturday. We will be changing up our recording schedule to kind of fit the new school schedule since Leslie is a teacher, tutor, student, and we all kind of need to work together. And so we will probably be posting these a little earlier in the week than you're used to. So we appreciate your time with that. That probably made no sense, but no, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

So we'll be we'll be releasing earlier in the week, probably Tuesdays, about Tuesdays or Wednesdays. So you'll have it earlier for your weekend listenings. And then so we were actually recording this pretty quickly after our last episode. So we released them on two we record them on Tuesdays, release them on Fridays right now. And so it's only been a shorter amount of time since our last time.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

And I mean it's the beginning of the set though, so there's so much to talk about still.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

There really is, there really is. But it's kind of funny because I'm like, we were just here.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Yes. My notebook was empty with notes. I wasn't sure what we were going to talk about today, but there is plenty to talk about.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Yeah. And so our weekend update is kind of just Friday right now. Yeah. So you know next week we'll have a good chunk of stuff to talk about.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

I don't know if we'll still be called a weekend update or not just like uh a week weekly update. Muse is musing.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

The news is musing. Love it. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

But yeah, so like I I've actually played a lot of Lorcana this week.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Which is feels good because I hadn't done as much less set already.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Yeah, it was like a break set.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

It was my break set, and then I got frustrated when I wasn't winning.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

We're too competitive for breaks.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah, that's what I I've decided that's not happening again unless life just tells me I have to.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Uh but yeah, it's actually been a really, really good week for me. I got a promotion at work, and so I um as baby says. Like I'll be working about the same amount of hours, but have more responsibilities and you know, have some I'll be a manager. So I get to, you know, increase my professional life. So I'm very excited about it. Well deserved. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. It doesn't, I feel like have mega imposter syndrome.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Yeah. When I first started as a like a project manager and like also managing my peers, I was like, what am I doing? And it just comes with time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

So you're a boss.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

So you have to remember you managed a classroom full of children. This is you can do this. This is fair.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Adults are easier sometimes. Sometimes I will say sometimes, yeah. Uh I'm I think I I think I'll better do fine, but it's definitely one of those. I've never done it before, so yeah, it's scary for sure. Like, why would anybody listen to me?

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Is this the person that started a podcast? And a T. That's what I was different. When you first asked me to join, I was like, why would anyone listen to me?

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Because you're amazing.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

Awesome, and you're very insightful.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Yeah, and then we had league, but I actually played in three different leagues this week.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Yeah. I mean, we talked about how awesome Arizona is, with like a basically a place to play almost every single night. Yeah. So it's it's very, we're very fortunate to have.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yeah, so we did play testing with our team on Tuesday, and then Wednesday I went to Amazing Discoveries Glendale and played in their box tournament on their normal league night. And then Thursday I went and played at Recreation in Chandler. And then last night I played at Game Outpost Mesa. So that's a lot of Larcana. And I played the same deck the whole time because I'm trying to see the playlines and get some repetitions in it. I'm playing the Boosties deck right now.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Yeah. Not a fan. Not a fan.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

I I really like it. And I mean, I'm a big fan of Ruby Amber. Like, that's not surprising, but it's it's a little slow. And it's not slow in like you can gain a lot of lore like quickly with the counting houses and things like that. But it's slow in like because it is a control deck and it has those those elements to it. So it's it's not winning against hyper aggro focused decks. Like it wins against some of the toys decks, but not other toys decks, and then it's losing to that amber amethyst um pocahonus aggro princess.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

I don't know what beats that deck, honestly. If they hit the right lines, oh yeah, it's over. It's over. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

So I was like, but grab your bow in this maybe, maybe because it's just one of those things where I just can't get fast enough underneath them. Yeah. Uh and or just to get to the control before they get to that outrageous, you know, explosive Pocahontas, Pocahontas, boost, Pocahontas. Just like shift Pocahontas.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Turn four. Yes. I don't know a lot of decks that can do that right now.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah, I don't either. Um, so that's definitely a deck that I think is seeing some increased play. Yeah. And some of the decks that we've seen that are running tournaments like Amethyst Steel with the robots and things like that is really good with an asterisk because it also has some bad matchups like the Boosties deck. So it's just picking, picking where you want to go, right? Yeah. Because not everything's gonna beat everything.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

No, I love the how wide open the meta is right now. It's very exciting. I've seen so many variants of decks. Like Chris has been messing with the Red Steel deck, which has never really been viable before. And even though it is high, high roly, I keep saying that because a lot of decks this set are, he's really excited about it. And it does have its bad matchups, like you said, but there isn't like any deck out there, I feel like, that isn't like any color combination that isn't possible right now, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Yeah, I still think Amber Emerald uh is still the highest winning percentage combination, but there's so many variations within that that are doing well.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Well, also it's not surprising it's the highest winning right now because that's probably what most people gravitate towards to start the set out because of dogs and they're trying to replace it with toys or other variants. I've seen some sound variants too. Yeah, but I'm really excited that at least that color is not just the oppressive same 60 cards.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Exactly. So we don't always know exact what what's coming next. I really like they're they're putting in some like the repun the new Rapunzel. And like I just like some of the variation pieces that are in there.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Yeah. Have you seen the uh green steel shift repunzel deck?

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yes, it's really fun.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

It is so fun, especially because in green there's so many ways to discard your card. They have like Bobby, they have the mole, the mole, and just and and like with Milo, you know, you can play him discard a card if you have enough ink. But if you're playing against a blue deck, the only their only removal is to ink your stuff. So oftentimes they end up with more ink than the blue deck. How do I know? Because unsurprisingly, I've been experimenting with blue decks. What? Oh no. I am I am shocked. Shook Yeah. So yeah, sometimes I'm like, wait, I'm supposed to be ramping and they're at like 16 ink and I'm at eight.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

You're like, I did the opposite of what I said. You need to play the ones where you can ink re ink yourself and your opponent.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

I don't remember what that card is.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Well, there's like Keda, there's like this the canister, the laugh canister. Yeah. That was just so funny.

unknown 7:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

I have a gripe already. Already. So Red Alert. Gosh. Why is it named Red Alert? Why isn't a card called 2319?

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Oh yeah. I liked it.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

It was a it was just a gripe. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

I thought you were like a gripe with a card. You're like, this is meta breaking.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

No, actually, I I don't feel like there is any one card. I'll say to maybe Eleanor. Yeah. Right now that feels too bad. Mike Wazowski is getting close already. Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Mike Wazowski.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

I'm already having some words with that with that word.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

I actually really like Mike Wazowski, but that's also because I don't play a ton of missus in my deck. So when I see a Mike Wazowski, I'm like, yes. I mean, you saw on Thursday we played at Wreck, and like I was I was bricking, and somebody played Mike Wazowski on me, and I was able to draw so many cards, and that I think that saved me that game because I would have been very in trouble otherwise.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yeah, like the Boostie deck has like so many things that it can be hit. Right. So if because it's I feel like it's almost half and half, like characters and non-characters. Yeah. So it would be really bad.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Yeah, but you gripe against Mike Wazowski. I have a gripe against the Boosties deck because I play tested that thing like six times against you and couldn't beat it once, but I have tech my deck, so we'll have to try again.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Yeah, I oh, so this is a personal win. So our teammate Brad and I uh we get paired often. Yeah. I beat him for the ex very first time in two years of Lorcana. Nice while playing the booth season. Nice. So Brad and I I feel like he always has like a super hard counter to whatever deck I'm playing. Yeah. And so I just never seems to win against him. And I was able to beat him.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Well, you guys definitely have very opposite play styles. So it makes sense that you guys are always playing decks that are countering each other.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

It's funny. It was he was like, hey, you know that was your first win against me, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:21

He's like, actually, yeah, that's great. Yeah. Um, yeah, that deck that he's playing is also making me nervous because it's no characters.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Yeah. Or and there's some variations that are only Kevin.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Yes. And and like, I know some people play variation where there are a couple of characters, like the late game Milos and Prince Philip Congo and stuff, but you you literally just sit on the board and just watch them tap 20 items at a time.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Yeah, so it's an emerald amber actions and items deck that can play characters but can win without them. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 9:58

Yeah, Dave has mentioned this to me and he's like, I think I want to play that. I'm like, of course you do.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Yeah, there were there were some people online, like the name of like they just had Kevin in there. Yeah, it's like they were calling it oops all Kevin's. Yeah, things like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

So yeah, I seem like oops, no characters. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

So it's really funny. I feel like I feel like it's a deck that people are like, oh, this is gonna be funny.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Yeah, but the people are running counters to it, which is like putting find them flatinum and item destruction in their their decks.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

So it's it's gonna Well, and Find them Flatinum works against the Boosies deck too. Yes. So like that's it, it's not just for the all items deck, right? There are other decks that are running items and locations.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Yeah, but a lot of I think the other decks you can do spot removal. So like my deck does now that I've tech it for you, Brittany, that it does well with spot removal, but that one it's like they put out you know the adventure book and three buzzes arms and an ink caster, and it's like, what do you do against you know, their whole deck is items and and like getting to raging storm and then putting your location out and and I feel like I feel like in that regard, I think you take the action the adventure book because it's the draw.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

For sure. If you have to choose one, yeah. Like it's hard, you're like, oh, I want the inkcaster because it's giving them a lore, but it's also if they can't draw cards. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

No, I agree with that. It's just like that's why I think Fagnant Flatten is making its way, and though it is because of it is because of that deck. That deck being. Because there's you know, there's other options like Pluto and Benja and Steel. Um, but I think being able to wipe the board and there's no more ways. Well, there are still ways, but not a ton to get cards back from the discard for items, anyways, is yeah definitely destroys that deck.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

I was able to remove Pluto twice against Chris yesterday, and I think I might have made him a little frustrated. He's like, he I don't even have to boost him. He's he's guest on worthy right now.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Yeah, guest on, I think that has been a game changer because it's it's everywhere. You can't play characters with five attack or more naturally. Yeah, like I I'm thinking about I've been playing Amber Sapphire for playtesting, and I'm thinking about taking the Pete's out because it just doesn't live against any.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

I guess I did guest on him off your board, I think every time you played him. Yes, that's why I'm thinking about it now. But it it is fun to kind of like think about like cards that are altering. So I feel like almost every Amber deck I see has at least one or two Pete's in there. Yeah. Pete's guest on. I I'm thinking about steel, you know. Yeah, all no fun peats. No fun, no fun pizza.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

He's out, he's out. He's gone. He's gone.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

That would be an interesting card to have back in the meta, I think. We have seen a big increase in actions, like as this set has come back in.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Well, not to give away our teammate Mikey's secret, I'm giving it away. He plays Gizmoduck in his deck, and that was really frustrating for Chris to play Testigans because you know the main action that everyone's thinking about now is Raging Storm, and you can't play Raging Storm with Gizmodu on the board. So it's really interesting um that he thought of that. But Mikey always brings random spice, spice, the Mikey spice. Um, but yeah, it's it's really interesting that there is still no fun, sort of, because it's actions that are four cost or more, actually.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

No, so it's it's discount peat. Yeah, discount peat. Except it's more expensive.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

He's peed at home.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

He's peed at home. But yeah, I I'm kind of um pumped to kind of decide what to play first and foremost. I don't think the Boosie's deck is the long-term plan.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

I just wanted to play something that you know feels good and is in the I'm so grateful for that. Honestly, the biggest reason is because it's slow. And it's it's not just slow in like the win condition, it's slow in how it gets played and played against. And I've gone to turns already so many times this week. Yeah, you know, and I don't really play super slow. Like I don't play fast, but I don't play super slow.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

No, you don't.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

And so I if I'm doing that against locals who are also not playing like super slow, then it's like that because like Chris and I went to turns and yeah, we don't we were went to turns on, you know. And so it was one of those things where we're like, oh well, okay, I might not need to take this to a mega tournament where I I uh you know, time is very important. Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

Right. Well, and also, I mean, I've been doing considerations for that too, because if you take a deck that takes a long time and you play to turn every single round, you kind of put yourself at a disadvantage because you're exhausted every like at the end of every round, you don't need to break, you know, you can't get up and move around if you're going to turns every single round. So even if you end up winning every round, which you know you have to at the LCQ, like you're exhausted.

unknown 14:39

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

So I I that's definitely something to consider. Like some of these decks are fun and are unique, but if they're not winning fast enough, then it's gonna make it difficult to go far enough in the tournament. Right. Because I know that when we went to a CCQ last season, basically, I played Amber Amethyst, and that deck takes a long time as well, or at least that version of it did.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

And um, because it's it's a control deck, and any control decks generally take much longer to play. Not saying don't play control, just pick a control deck that has the ability to have a faster win condition.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Right. Yeah, I've I actually have been considering the green blue mini Mickey deck because I'm like it's really cute. Also a menace, like because once you get the three ink from Mickey and Mini, you can play Milo, you can play a whole bunch of things that control the board. So it's like either you let me quest for five every turn or you let me control your board. And there's it's really uh and it's fast. Like I'm able to play like three or four games in the time it takes me to play one game on Amber Sapphire. And so I was considering that for the LCQ because I'm like, well, if I can get in and out in 15 minutes and then go have lunch while everyone's grinding away at their matches, but the same problem I have with aggro decks is you either have the Mickey Mini shift or you don't. And oftentimes when I'm playtesting, I find I either have like the the one drop and two drop or and not the shift or the shift and not the you know Mickey. So yeah, that's where I struggle a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 16:11

Yeah, I tested that one as well, and that was my issue is I had all the minis in the world couldn't find a Mickey. So it was like I had two seven drops that I had the the dual in my hand, but I couldn't do anything about it because I had no Mickey.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

So it's like okay. I've seen I've now seen versions though where there is a lot more filtering, so they'll play like Bobby, they'll play like the mold, and that wasn't happening before. I think people were just playing, you know, make it go fast. Right. But this it's more tempo, so I've seen like now you're because you're filtering through cards, you're able to shift multiple times, which I think is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm I think I'm gonna lean in and probably go back to like an amethyst tempo deck. Um amethyst plus what? I don't know, but but amethyst I feel like is a really good ink color for a tempo deck, and so I will have that plus something.

SPEAKER_03 17:04

So can I get your opinion on something? I am of the thought that I do not want to pay $55 a card for Dumbo. Do you think that a Ruby Amethyst is viable without it? If you play, you know, other evasive characters and have the Peter Pan Tinkerbell.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Honestly, I think the Peter Pan Tinkerbell is losing to Gaston too fast for it to be a viable card right now, in all in all honesty, because that's the whole reason I'm not playing that deck, is because Gaston is everywhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Even playing Gastons because they just go too fast for you to get to Gaston sometimes. But that's like very you have to draw very favorably, which I don't think you should go into any matchup thinking I'm gonna draw favorably. Oh no. No, it's not me. I definitely do not. I often have to dig my way out of unfavorable draws. Also, why should I Sapphire? Yes, also why I play Sapphire. But yeah, so I I agree with Britney, though. I think that most of the time that deck just loses to Amber, anything amber. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Which is, I mean, I was so excited about that deck. Right, yeah. Like when we were looking at decks ahead of time, but yeah, no, it's just it's just dying too.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

If only there was a way to give it ward. Not like it's not a little ward, I was like, but to give it ward for a turn.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yeah, but you can't do that in those colors. Right. That's why I'm saying if only there was a way to yeah, no, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Yeah, I was like, no, you can't do it in that ink combo, but yeah, because there's no ward in Ruby or so weird to me that they keep ward in only specific colors, mostly green and blue.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Yeah, yeah. So ward is green and blue, and then evasive is ruby and amateur and some emerald. Some emerald.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Some, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

And then some and then some some Ruby Steel combo.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

Yeah, because I was like, Steel also had evasive on your turn. Now they've changed it to alert. Yeah. Because those evasives on your turns when Dumbo came out were so rough. Yeah. That's fair. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I actually am glad they changed the evasive on your turn to just alert. I think that's more fair, honestly. Um, but that's what made Purple Steel so threatening, I think, in the fabled like meta. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yeah. So I I love Ruby Amethyst. Yeah, no, so yes, absolutely. But I I don't know if that combination is the right choice or at least that version of it right now for the meta. So like you can do it without Dumbo, basically. So you don't have if you don't lean in toward the full evasive package and all of that, you do have to figure out other draw besides that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

Yeah, I guess in at least in Amethyst, you have book, do you have Demonas still? So there's still other ways to draw. Um, but Dumbo with the evasive package was even without Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, for some reason I forgot what the card was called all of a sudden. Um the like there's dash, there's the purple violet, there's a lot of different evasives options. So that's what happened to me when I was play testing was somebody dropped two dashes, a violet and like a the purple Peter pan that didn't let anybody or let somebody ready. Yeah. Um, and then and then they shifted Peter Pan. And at that time I was like, I don't have, I don't have my Gaston. Where's my Gaston? I never thought I'd be clamoring for Gaston. Daryl's dream of virus. I know he's so excited that everybody's playing Gaston.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Yeah, he he's been it's been his favorite part of the set so far is the amount of gastons that are everywhere. And then we got the giant card. We want it in a raffle of the Gaston. That's the giant card from the play kit this time. So we're gonna be putting that up in the house. Above the bed.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Did we mention? Oh my gosh, that would be so creepy. Wake up to the really it's actually a creepy looking card.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Yeah, it's a big wing card. Right. Yeah, so we have two of them actually. Yeah. And Daryl's joking about like cutting out his face and putting it on his deck box or you know, putting his face in the gas card.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

That's what I was like, you should just put it out here. Like his gaston card with him everywhere to his face in it.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

We're gonna make him a chain so he can wear it as a necklace.

SPEAKER_02 21:05

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Yeah, no, it's he's very excited. And I was like, we don't need two of them. He's like, we do need two of them.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

One I can destroy. He needs a place, he needs a place. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Yeah, but yeah, and then we got the bell one as well. Somebody gave that one to me because they were like, I did see that too. Nice, and then yeah, and so and then I have an iconic in my house now. Yeah, so I'm really excited. I was like just staring at it because we traded our teammate Mikey because he opened two of them. And so I was like just staring at it when he brought it to me. Just like I had it out in front of me.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

I you were like, I don't think I want to put it away.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Yeah, so I just had it out during the whole night of playing at recreation and just had it open and just kept looking down at it. And he was like, Do you are you good? And I was like, Yeah, I'm really good.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Speaking of which, like we had another teammate pull a second Beauty and the Beast iconic. You want to know where that came from? It came from you guys. It came from us. Well, Chris and I were talking because Daryl offered us that box first.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

And he was like, that could have been our box. Yeah, we we we have we because Daryl like w goes around a lot and like goes to different stores in the morning and things like that. So he was able to get, you know, decent pricing on some extra boxes. And so but we've opened a lot. And so like we've opened like three cases worth of boxes between that and all the pre-pre-release kits. And so I'm like, I don't know how much more I want to open. Sure. And so we were like offering it to our team. You know, I want to know how many times we've been really close to an iconic. So many times. Many times. I've been in the room as has been opened many times.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Well, yeah, we laughed because the very first night of pre-release, uh, Daryl ended up switching seats with Mikey, who then opened the iconic. And I just laughed because Daryl was immediately like, nobody tell my wife. And meanwhile, like a couple teammates were already messaging Brett.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Yeah, I by that time I already knew. I was driving, but I already knew. Um and we played with him later in the weekend. Yes. And he opened his second. He pulled my box out of the box before him. And so I could have pulled that box. Yes, and then yeah, and then we gave Mark, our other teammate, the box that had the other box. So they've been in our house and near our near us so many times. But we're good because I have one now.

SPEAKER_02 23:31

Yeah. That's all you wanted.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

It is. I it's the only card I wanted this at. Uh we did, we're gonna keep the sapphire steel dark wing and launch pad card because Daryl loves Sapphire Steel.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Detect it. Yeah, yeah. Duck Tech Duck Tectus. Detect it.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

Duck Tectus and I think we'll just we've just traded everything else. Or I think we still have a few because we opened two of the many Mickeys, so we still have a few to that are still in the trade binder.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Nice. Yeah. So that was your week. That was our week too. Yeah, I was like, that's a lot of players.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

I'm boring. Me too. I just have life stuff. I mean, I don't get a chance to play, you know, during the week too much just because my kiddo and work keeps me busy. So, you know, I'm done by the time 6:37 o'clock rolls around. There's no more brain capacity.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

Yeah, but you've been mentioning that like Yerson and you and everyone in the house has been playtesting your.

SPEAKER_03 24:32

We have. We have. We kind of changed up his uh sleeping schedule uh because he's been having trouble sleeping. I know TMI, sorry guys, but uh yeah, so it's kind of given us a little more opportunity to kind of play test uh together uh online. And uh so that's been helpful. And then also just we've been taking a lot of time to go through what we have for these sets that we are, you know, we can play with. So that's been helping us to realize like, okay, what do we have? What do we want to play with? And because there's just like we've talked about, there's so many options out there right now that you know you can try to play test with so many different things that you can find something that, oh, maybe I have to use a proxy for this, so maybe I need to go get that card or I need to, you know, ask somebody to trade for it. So, you know, it's been kind of helpful to go through everything and figure out what we have, what we don't, and what we want to play.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

Yeah, I finally put together a trade binder like two sets ago, even though we've been playing since set one. Um and that's been really helpful to be able to trade. We specifically trade foils for non-foils because we don't like playing with foils. I'm of the opinion that like if you want to play with foils, your whole deck should be foiled, just so that you don't if you take it to a tournament, it's not like you're marking your cards, is usually what the the concern is. So people either bling out their whole deck or play with not non-foil cards because otherwise you can get in a little bit of trouble at at the bigger tournaments. Good to know. Yeah, DKP got in trouble at the tournament. He had too many enchanted. He had too many enchanted, so they made him play with proxies. His deck was too blingy, not bling enough because it wasn't the whole deck. It wasn't the whole deck, it's true.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Yeah, yeah. I've had to, I've had to, because I have all the epic Tinkerbells, like the one drops. Yeah. I've had to like rotate them in and out of my deck, like as they're getting flattened and not getting flattened if I have other foils versus like things like that. As I so I I'm trying to be more cognizant of like making sure I have a full play set of L of them, making sure I have more than one card that's that kind of card. Uh like either epics, foils. Yeah. I don't have full playsets of enchanteds or anything to play with.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

No, no. I don't think I would ever play with full sets of enchanteds, mostly because I always sell my enchanteds off. Yeah. So that's a lot of money you're carrying around with you. It makes me nervous.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Absolutely. He's like for our anniversary two years ago, I bought Daryl the whole playset of Along Came Zeus, yeah. Enchanted. So he had a playset of those, and then he had a playset of the Sapphire Steel Jasmine. Yeah, that was his card. Yeah. So he he's done two playsets of enchanteds in his deck before.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Yeah, I think that's fine. Like, I don't, like, I don't see anything wrong with that if that's what you want to spend your disposable income on, you know. Um, that's great. Awesome. I for me, I'm like, this is shiny and pretty and also very expensive, and I don't want to play with it.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Yeah, no, that's fair. And we wouldn't, there's like I wouldn't play with a play set of iconics, right? Right. Uh no. There's some people who do though. Yeah, and there are certain enchanteds where I'm like, oh, that's a really expensive enchantment. Right. But some of the other ones, I'm like, this is not that.

SPEAKER_03 27:41

Yeah, if they're like 50 bucks or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Like I played with my enchanted supergoof, but he wasn't expensive, so I wasn't.

SPEAKER_03 27:47

Yeah. I do like to play with some of the epics sometimes too. The epics are pretty. Yes, they are.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

I do love the epics and that they're more accessible as far as if you want to make your deck a little shinier. I do wish that they would go back to the way they printed foils in set one or two, because and even up to set four or five, it was fine, I think. But they changed whatever they changed the way that they printed the foils, and now all the foils are so curled that you just can't really play with them. Yeah. Unless you do like a double sleeve or a lot of things to flatten them out and things like that, which is a little sad because I love playing with shiny cards, but I also don't want to deal with the curled, like the pringles.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Or pringles. Yeah, I need to get that 3D printed card smasher. Yeah. I think that's a good thing. I'll have Dave look into it. Yeah. I reckon it's a necessity.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

Yeah, well, and Chris got like a like an online like dehumidify not a dehumidifier, but a thing that's supposed to like you put it in a container with the cards and they're supposed to help flatten it out. And we've done like the textbooks. We've done luckily his girlfriend, me, in college. So lots of textbooks around the house. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

Because I right now I I just use heavy books. Yeah. But I feel like there there are some devices that are online that you can just you just like squish them down. They're like card torture devices. That's what they that's what they do.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

Yeah. Never had a chance.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

But it's just I'm ex Speaking of Epics, I have opened, I want to say 12, not 12, uh seven or eight, like almost two full playsets of the Boo. Really? Oh my gosh. And I was like, what is it with this epic? Like I've opened some.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

Oh my god, I would love to trade you one because I don't have that yet, and that's probably the only epic that I well, Kevin was also great, but I got a couple of Kevin's.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Yeah, yeah. No, I was like, I just want one of each, um, except for the ones that I will play, and I'm probably not gonna play the one got boo. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

She's good though in Ruby, I think.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

The rush one?

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Yeah, the rush. Oh, is it the no it's no it's the amber one.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Got it, got it. Yeah, it's okay. Yeah, yeah. It's for it's it's there for the you know, the shift. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

I've never seen it, so I didn't know that it was the amber one.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Yeah, no, no, it's the amber one, but I I don't know. It like gr it gravitated into my packs. I had so many of them. Yeah, I had them in I opened, I think I opened one in each pre-release event I was in. That's so wow, along with always opening a horn king. Oh my god, only one of those.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

The horn king is really good and sealed though.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

I think it yeah, I played it every time. It's it was so good.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Yeah, I got it once and I was so excited because I ended up being able to play like three or four cards from my discard, and it was really fun.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Yeah, it was definitely our most opened legendary this set. Yeah, 14 of them.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

That's a lot. Oh my gosh, I have one. Okay, we opened one.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

Well, I did open three cases. Yes, I know. Yeah, we stopped ourselves. We stopped ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

I was, yeah, yes. I did open more because I was chasing an iconic.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

So I will say I opened, we bought and opened more because I wanted the iconic so badly. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

But it's I mean, it's fun.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Open boxes is really cool. And it's fun. And honestly, like we always make sure like all of our bills are paid. And like, like, oh, we do. Well, yes, we should.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

I would okay. Yeah, I that is my biggest.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

So I was like, we try not to like overextend our finances to the point where like it's gonna be like this is a game, it's an extra thing, it's a fun thing. It is what we spend almost all our extra time on. So it is where almost all our extra disposable income goes because of where we are. So, but we also like have a sick dog right now, things like that. So life, life makes it where it's you have to, you know, have some prioritize, still have your savings and things like that. I I'm always like buying singles is the way better choice when it comes to playing this game. Yes, I love opening packs. Yes, I do, but if we were ever in a situation where we couldn't buy lots of boxes and open lots of packs, we would play the we continue to play the game by just buying singles. Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

So especially with how crazy the prices are now with the pricing for everything and the scarcity of products. Yeah. I mean, before, up until last set, almost no one was selling them over MSRP, and some were most were even selling them below at a discount. And then all of a sudden now it's like $200 a box. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like $100 a trow. Yeah. Which is ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

So it's one of those things where I'm like, okay, well, you're there are different ways to play this game for sure. And you can definitely play it on a budget. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

Yeah, that I am excited. Like, I'm I like that when you put like deck lists together online, they'll tell you, like, oh, you can buy it from here and for how much and how much this deck is worth on the market, essentially. And yeah, most decks I'm building look below $100, which is actually really cool. Yeah. Um, because that was a really sad thing for me early on was the cost of good cards were so prohibited or prohibitive to people, new players specifically. Like people were so hesitant to get into the game because they're like, I don't want to drop $500 for a meta deck. Absolutely. And now there's a lot of decks out there that are viable and are less than $100, which is very good for a TCG player.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Or TCG deck. But the player too. Yeah. But the player. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

My favorite epic this set though is the Sun Yi. It is gorgeous. Oh, yeah. See, it is gorgeous.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

That card in general is really pretty. I love the art on it. The art on it.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

I wish it was like part of me is like, all right, how do we make the panda deck work? I love the panda deck. I play tested that a few times, but it is fun. I played it like I played a panda song deck, right? For playtesting at one point, and it was super fun, but it was a little it was very inconsistent. Yeah. Um but that one I think would work just in because it just it's a big powerhouse and for challenging and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

Yeah, if you the the the hard part of that card is all the shift targets are singers, so that's why like a lot of people gravitate towards the song deck. But honestly, even having the one drop nail-in with like the sing together ability, because there's a lot of sing together cards now, and yeah, being able to shift on two for a five-five, that's it's insane crazy.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

I yeah, no, like I said last time I like used that card to be a bully in limited. So because I had I had three shift targets and one of her. Actually, I think I had two of her, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

I'm so jealous of your sealed abilities or to pull cards because I either always drew the shift target or not the or the shift, but not the shift target. And I never got to make my dreams come true. I never got to shift violet and dash. No. It was really sad. I pulled violin and dash one time. Actually, I pulled two of them, but had zero shift targets. So that was really disappointing for me. Yeah. And the other one that I said I was gonna try and do was the Sully and Boo.

SPEAKER_03 35:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

Um like the Sully cycle, which is definitely thing in core. Um, but yeah, I never got either the shift target or the the shift. So my I did not make my dreams from memes.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Well, I as someone who has done the Sully cycle in core so far, it is super fun.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

It is, I'm sure it's fun for the person doing it, but me, I see it and I'm like, that's going into your ink well because I play blue. I'm not dealing with that.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

I I got it off twice, I think, yes, this week. It's very fun. It's the space.

SPEAKER_02 35:39

Yeah, I did my old raging storm and was able to play it so I've seen I've seen Amber decks that have really no reason to run solely, just run solely because it's so good of a card. Yeah. And I mean that as in like he's not really there for aggro decks, I don't think, because he's a five cost uninkable, and that's just a little too expensive for most go fast decks. Yeah. But people are still playing him because of a couple. A coup is a thing.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

He's a thing.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

And he's a bodyguard. And he's a bodyguard, so it makes sense. Like he takes the place of Chief, I think, and he gets the bonus of bringing back a guard.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

And he has the benefit that Chief does not have is where he can't be targeted by Gaston without something else.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Right. And the shift target, which then brings back the Sully, which then brings back the shift target.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Yeah, but yeah, I've seen I've seen the Sully in not just Amber Ruby decks, right? Like the five, the five cost one. Uh but yeah, obviously the shift one is the one I've been playing because I was playing boosties. Yes. But yeah, really, that's on you. It's the I feel like it's like a watercolor. Like it's just so really pretty.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

It's they did a really good job with the art on this that on that card. It's really, really pretty. I agree. And that one stands out more to me than a lot of the art of the other pandas for some reason. And it does. I think it's because like the blues are like pop out with the red. Like, I don't know, they just did a really good job. They did a really good job.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Yeah, the contrast and the colors is yeah, very vibrant.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

Yeah, yeah. But yeah. So that was your week. Playtesting. I also live a very boring life sometimes. I've spent 12 hours yesterday doing my final. So that was my day yesterday. Oh my goodness. Your math finals? My math finals for my number theory class. Fun. Did you do well? Uh he probably won't grade it till like two weeks from now because it was like 10 pages long. So, because they're proofs. So yeah. Couldn't be me. Nope, nope. I I like math, but not that kind of math. Me either, honestly. I used to think it couldn't be me either.

unknown 37:47

That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

Yeah, I'm only two classes away from finishing my master's now. So I'm like, wow, might as well finish it at this point. But yeah, I'm really over math theoretical math because I live in the world of application math, and I prefer that world. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

I'm just getting excited because I'm learning more Excel things as I go deeper into my.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

So I was like, oh, I love spreadsheets. Yeah, me too, honestly. That's like it's really nerdy, but it's the one thing I actually miss from my old job is spreadsheets. But I build spreadsheets for my business now, so there you go.

SPEAKER_01 38:22

Yeah, it's not as elaborate as they used to be, but yeah, no, I'm I'm slowly increasing how elaborate my spreadsheets are at work. Yeah. And because I didn't need them to be overly complex when I was a teacher because it was just a grade book. But as I get as I get deeper into the job, I'm like, I can add this as a formula. Yeah, it's this is a drop. And do this V lookup and X lookup.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

It's pretty cool how crazy powerful Excel is. This has nothing to do with Disney Lurcana, but actually, some people keep their inventory in Excel spreadsheets.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

So this is true. I tr I tried it once and then I was like, this is too much work.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

It's true, yeah. Um, but it's really crazy how powerful it is. And I remember using Excel as a teacher and getting a corporate job, and like, yeah, I know how to use Excel. And then I was like, I have no idea how to use Excel, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

Yeah, it's a very different animal. I'm like, no, I can use Excel to make pretty pie charts.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

Yes. I was like, oh no, that's not the same. But yeah, I've I'm really excited for just this new set to kick off. The LCQs are coming up and it's making me nervous. I've been playing way more Lurcana than I have ever been before, but it's it's fun. Usually I burn out after about a week of intense play testing, but I have not burnt out. And I I'll play like four hours of Lurcana and then go home and be like, I want to keep playing Larcana. And I think it's because the meta has opened so widely, which is Yeah, I think we're not playing against the same deck over and over again.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

That makes it easier. I also think that like helps us improve our decks and our skills when we're playing against other decks instead of the same deck over and again. Yeah. Um but yeah, for playtesting, I'm just excited to keep ramping up. I like I told our team, I'm like, it's this is our lock-in time. Like we need because we have so many of us going to the L CQ, like we need to, you know, really decide where we're gonna be playing. We you don't have to have your deck choked choice yet, but like at least get lots of reps in.

SPEAKER_02 40:12

So on some decks to know what you don't want to play and what you do want to play.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

So yeah, I'm I feel like I'm pretty close to locking in on a color combo because I does it have sapphire in it. Maybe no, I'm gonna be playing, I don't know, what would be the opposite Amber Steel song or something? I I think when you're play testing for big events, you want to look for decks that are consistent as possible. And unfortunately, a lot of the decks, although are very fun, they are very high-rolly and very inconsistent at the moment. They live in magical Christmas. They do live in magical Christmas land. And although I am pro I'm usually proposing to live in magical Christmas land because it's fun for big competitions, especially when it's single elimination, I don't think that's the right call. Although some people are just very blessed, not me, but some people, and can bring a really high-rolly deck to a tournament and just get all the great matchups and do really well on it. I don't think that's how you should strategize for big tournaments and you know, but it's to each their own. Yeah, but yeah, I I think consistency and lots of reps, not just with your deck specifically, but reps into, like you said, other decks. Because if you don't know how to play into specific decks, then you're gonna have a hard time when you run into those matchups that are a little bit more difficult for you.

SPEAKER_01 41:35

Well, and I also think you should try playing those decks too. Yes. So that you know what the strategy is behind those decks. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 41:42

And with all the resources available, I feel like playtesting is so much easier than it used to be. So you are able to just pretty much instantly try any deck you want to try. And so, yes, I agree with you that playing all the gamutes of decks helps you learn at least like at least every color combo that's relevant will help you get a better idea of how to play something. Because I also tried the red amber panda deck and very and very much hated it because Ruby Am is not my style at all. And uh, but I got a better understanding for it and it made my matchups into it a lot better. So I do want to end with that Lorcana Mises are hosting a community play testing day on Sunday at Games Outpost Mesa at 3 p.m. just to help everybody get ready for nationals and the LCQs. So if you're in the area and want to come play test your decks, come join us.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Yeah, and so that's every Sunday up until we have the LCQ. Yes. So all right with that, happy questing.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

Happy Questing