Hello there all you champions in the making and welcome to Lv.1 Onion Knight, the Final Fantasy TCG blog that wants to give a hearty congratulations to the winner of Worlds: Mono Wind.
Happy Holidays everyone! As always I'm taking my sweet time getting a proper mouthfeel of the latest set before I write up my set review. So this time around, I thought I'd talk about something a little different now that the 2023 competitive season has wrapped up: a player's first time making it to Nationals.
"But Lv.1 Onion Knight! I thought the whole point of this blog was that you suck at this game!" You gasp with such a sense of disbelief that if we're being honest, most people would probably find a bit rude. But you know what? You're absolutely right! I tend not to engage with the tournament scene outside of my locals, largely because combining an incredibly fragile ego with the aforementioned lack of ability with this game is a good way to make a lot of enemies quickly, and I don't need any more of those now do I?
Thankfully for me though, I do have a few friends who are quite good at the game and who aren't quite so delicate at the prospect of losing that they do actually spend the time and effort to compete in tournaments. This year, a member of our crew, Karan Chhatpar made it all the way to the North American Nationals level. Of course, we were all incredibly proud of him for how far he managed to go on his first attempt entering the competitive circuit. But seeing the opportunity for some sweet sweet content, I thought it would be interesting for him to share his experience as a first timer - a noob if you will - trying to make it to the top in FFTCG. I get to outsource work to a friend and get a topical article about tournaments? Talk about a win-win!
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| It's the ABC's of FFTCG content creation: Always Be Carried by somebody better at the game than you. |
But before we get going, I'd like to take a little time to introduce Karan to you all. Really give you the all "Karan Experience," ya know? And not the kind you normally have to pay for at that! So what you need to know about Karan is:
🔰 I'm pretty sure his favorite Final Fantasy game is XV, given his hetero man crush on Noctis's voice actor Ray Chase. He has multiple signed Noctis cards. (Editor's note: his favorite is apparently Final Fantasy VIII)
🔰 You will never see him in anything but a polo shirt. Like seriously, that's all he ever wears. The man is classy AF.
🔰 He takes so long making decisions on his plays that we've dubbed any player's turn that lasts longer than it should a "Karan Turn" at locals.
🔰 He's part of the Gamer's Command competitive team, but he'll always be reppin' TEAM NEW YORK BAYBEEE!!
🔰 He's, by his own admission, a pretty terrible deckbuilder (girl, same). The best deck he's made was an FFL Emperor Black Box deck. He'll claim it's actually his Earth/Wind/Ice Warp deck, but trust me, it's Black Box.
🔰 He played me with the Category VI deck he took to Nationals and crushed me so thoroughly and utterly that I believe my exact words to him at the time were, "Karan, you're my friend, and I love you, but if you ever bring that deck to locals again, I'm going to reach across the table and jam my thumbs into your eye sockets and blind you so you won't be able to look at your fiance's face when you marry her." But in my defense, he used Umaro's effect to kill his own Strago, drawing a card and avoiding my Shantotto's RFG effect. So given that, I believe I was rather nice about it.
🔰 He gave me the Full Art Tyro promo he won at the tournament for "Everything I've done for the FFTCG community", and I'm still trying to figure out what his angle is.
🔰 His ultimate claim to fame is his beautiful hand-drawn proxies. For example, here's his stunning interpretation of Leviathan, Lord of the Whorl.
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| Notice how the mouth seems to follow you wherever you go. |
Hopefully with that, you all have gotten a thorough whiff of the aromatic bouquet that is Karan. So without further ado, I'll pass it over to Karan. Take it away, M'lord!
Hello everyone! My name is Karan, and excited to share my thoughts and experience going to FFTCG NA Nationals this year. Thanks to the Lv.1 Onion Knight for hosting me and for playing a huge role in our local community!
Some background about myself - I am a NYC local and have been playing FFTCG since 2017. I discovered the game at New York Comic-Con at the Square Enix booth and got a quick demo, then found out about the different NYC locals from there, and the rest is history! As a player, I had always enjoyed playing FFTCG casually, making fun jank or tribal/themed decks.
Around early 2020, I wanted to venture further into competitive play, but when the pandemic hit we lost the ability to play in person. I picked up OCTGN and started playing more online through structured events like the RVA Returners Online Locals and The League of Light.
The Road to Nationals
When Organized Play was announced for 2023, I knew this was the year I wanted to finally compete. After seeing the schedule, it became apparent I could only make it to one event - the Raleigh Materia Cup. In prepping for the event, I landed pretty confidently on playing Mono Water (RIP Syldra).
At the event, I went 6-1 in Swiss, losing only in round 7 to Stephen Sause who went to win the whole thing the next day. In day 2, I made it to top 8 and lost to Zaiem, but still earned an invite via pass down. I was going to Nats!
A Noob's First Nationals
As a personal bias, I wish events were more spread out (cough cough can we get some events in or near the Northeast?). It's actually wild that Raleigh, North Carolina was the geographically closest event to New York City. At the end of the day, we all want more events! Obviously there are logistics and business decisions that have to be made along the way, but I certainly hope OP 2024 has more in store for us!
As a final note, now that Nats is done, I'm really enjoying getting back to messing around with some wackier decks. The design team at HJ has given us so many tools for deck building that I'm excited to take a look at a bunch of ideas that might have been unexplored (my first stop is an Emperor FFL deck). It's a testament to the strength of the game when we can be excited to play without any specific events on the horizon, and I'm really glad to have a locals that shares the same passion for the game.
I also want to give a shout-out to the NYC locals who has been an anchor for me in keeping up with the game especially during/after the pandemic, as well as to the Gamers Command team for helping me test and iterate nonstop in the weeks leading up to Nats. And a big thank you again to the Level 1 Onion Knight for giving me a platform to share these thoughts!
Haaa... well that certainly was a refreshing nap - I mean a riveting insight into the competitive world! So what do you guys think? Would you take your first steps into the tournament scene in 2024? Or are you someone like me who is perfectly content to lurk in the shadows of your locals and hope you can pick up the occasional prize promo? In the meantime, I'll be making back-alley deals to that foil Arciela full art promo with Karan. C'mon he's been to Nats! You really think I can beat him?
Until next time - keep on grinding,
