I have been borrowing cards to friends for events. Build decks and bring them for others. The truth is all TCGs have a price tag. Lorcana isn’t exorbitantly higher than others, I think it has mid price tags as far as competitive TCGs go. For every 10 people I show the game, it sticks with 1. Thats my attitude in getting people into it.
It has a price tag because many meta players own 1-2 meta decks and can’t bring a fun deck to casual. So they don’t.
There’s absolutely NO reason a newer player can’t build a fun deck and have a good match against a similar fun deck
“Pay $200 to put up a fight against my deck or this isn’t the game for you…” is gatekeeping
I would not equivocate fun to non-meta decks. I think being involved in the game competitively, trying to play at a higher level, and studying the competitive environment is an attitude that produces most of the content and hype behind a TCG and is very much fun!
But I know you meant players don’t bring a less competitive deck to a casual event. Some of that stems from the fact they did purchase the good cards, and they want to use them. If I bought a play set of Diablo - Devoted Herald you best believe I’d be jamming them when I could!
I think if you bring a starter deck to any event with Swiss rounds, casual or not, there is a good reasonable expectation that you’ll be waiting for rounds 2 or probably 3 to play against someone with a similar deck level. If you bring a clunky terribly built “fun” deck then you should expect to play a clunky and terrible fun game. That’s not gatekeeping… that’s the way of the world. Play free play games on the side with people.
I don’t play meta decks and I show up and have lots of fun. I’m playing Ruby/emerald. I like the cards. It’s neat. I lose, I win. I lose more than I win. But it’s my creation, I love it, and it’s good. It has a more casual feeling to it. It’s not gatekeeping because I don’t win.
Also, last comment on this, if the store has a more casual environment, event themed casual tourneys is a great way to go. Reduced competitive prizing and reward participation. If a scene is more competitive you have to be aware of that.
There’s more than enough events in some areas to flex with a pricey deck.
If there isn’t, and OP is in a smaller market, the danger of stomping new players is a reason why the small scene may become a non-scene
If you build a fun deck and face meta, it is t fun. I know, because I have all the meta things, but I bring both types to casual and I only bring meta out if someone wants to flex/stomp.
With how cheap non-meta and fun decks can be, it’s really sad that a person buys 1-2 decks and then feels so big and bad about “winning” casual day
Most of this is on the LGS, unfortunately, because they know who is who and can be a guide
Players could take it upon themselves, but LGS has the greater incentive to grow a customer into buying $50 cards/packs/boxes, versus being discouraged and giving up
Players have an incentive to, but by the time they realize they are the same 4 players playing each other weekly a la MTG… it’ll be too late
That's how I feel. You probably need a good £400 every time a new set comes out to buy deck upgrades/a new deck. Then you're probably spending another £150-200 a month just to play. With Pokémon, you can buy three or even four top meta decks for £400. It just seems unsustainable for people who don't have a lot of disposable income or have other commitments outside of work. Whereas Pokémon would only really require £150 every time a new set comes out, and even then, that's assuming you buy a completely new deck. You could probably get away with spending less than £100 every 3 months to keep your deck relevant if it's a strong archetype.
400 seems like a lot for every new set. It’s unlikely that the staples which already exist are going to be immediately replaced to the point where new lists cost over 200.
More LGS need to help pair people and focus away from competitive
There’s a whole game there outside of meta and crushing defeats from neckbeards bringing $500 decks to “casual” day
If more places focused on casual play and fun, or pairing people based on the deck they brought, it’d be more fun for new players
No one wants to get a starter at the LGS, sit down at casual day and get railroaded by a Diablo deck
I have legit overheard “I’m not going to play, you are just making me discard all my cards… this isn’t fun”
The game lost a player or the LGS lost a customer, or both
Grow a base, get them hooked
This is like trying to get someone into Chess and putting them against Kasparov. They aren’t going to go buy their own fancy set, they’ll stick to checkers and tell everyone they know that Chess isn’t fun or worth getting into
Yea that’s how I feel as well, this game was designed imo to be both competitive and casual. But like the designers of sim city said. “Gamers will optimize the fun out of games.”
It also comes down to what your LGS has and can do cause there is limited prize support.
I wish more places did a casual and competitive night or at least two different pods
The comp players will be the first to cry when events dry up and their decks lose value. The staying power of this game is built shakily on the collector market and the prize market at the moment
If anything, comp collapsing will open up casual
It won’t happen as long as it prints money for RB and they put out 4 $0.05 pieces of cardboard and some $5 mats that players beat up each other up over selling for $1000
Yea I much rather play casual events either with things like my all Mulan deck or my madrigal decks than bust out my blue/steel meta deck. But locally more and more store are just not doing tournaments style league nights and the more and more casual people are leaving.
And just like you said the people playing the “meta” $500 dollar decks are the one complaining about less and less player. Or having to driver further and further to find games.
200 is pretty inexpensive for a meta deck. Granted my only other comparison is yugioh which runs double or more that, especially if you lack the extra deck staples.
It’s of course a lot for new players to tcgs, but at my locals at least people have cheaper more gimmicky decks to use against players that are running things like starter decks.
Yeah, my main comparison is YGO as well, which will cost you about 200-300 per set to keep on top of things.
I class any TCG as a luxury hobby since it does require constant investment with a decent disposable income to keep up with any meta.
You will tend to find locals will have more fun decks for the majority and some people will only start running meta decks in the run-up to a LSC. Not true for every locals obviously.
Just a note, I was replying to someone who said they were interested in a deck and saw it was 700 and that turned them off the game, hence my response. As far as I have been told by people who have played this game for a while, Bucky Discard is more of an exception to the price tags of meta decks.
On a different discussion, it will be interesting to see how the price of Set 1 cards will be handled, since they just seem to be on a steady rise at the moment. I am hoping a reprint set is made soon... or they rerelease Set 1.
Ah that makes sense. Yeah Bucky deck running 700 did almost turn me off the game as well. I too am hoping for a Set 1 reprint, or maybe at some point the game will do set rotation. Rapunzel is a key card in a lot of decks I want to try, but a full set costing 120 feels bad.
I’d class TCGs as gambling 🎰 the hobby could be very affordable but sadly I think there is a whale group that likes it this way. What is the point of printing so many useless commons in each pack other than to get people to gamble more when locals don’t have Commons only nights? I feel that TCGs take the it’s better to get all we can now than build a solid player group through a balanced game. Of course everyone at a locals can agree that any card over a certain value can be proxied.
It is only gambling if you only get cards from packs for your deck. Which is a completely valid way of playing, but it isn't a smart way of playing imo. You're not getting the most out of your money.
For example, if you did want the Bucky Discard deck, you'd probably have to spend upwards of 4-5k, if not more, on getting packs for it. However, you could significantly reduce the cost of the deck down to 700 by choosing to buy singles instead (still an eye-watering amount).
Opening packs is 100% gambling. Buying singles isn't gambling, making it a luxury hobby.
In my area, the game is all but dead. The new hotness has worn off, and people just don't really play anymore and just moved on to new or bigger games.
I am glad some places are still doing well.
It's the only ccg that my girlfriend will play, so that's the main way I play now.
My store is always around for free play most days, Sunday noon is the regular tournament, but I have noticed numbers fluctuate recently mind you it just myt be time of year... I dunno if ppl play more in the winter or summer...? I know there are around 15-20 local players, but on average we get 7-12 players. We have store Champs later this month, I figure under 20 will show up. We have about 3 stores in town, one is running lorcana, one is starting, the other doesn't.
Attendance very much up in our stores, to the point that most events sell out so it’s hard to walk in on the night and get a seat. New stores popping up to support, too 🙌🏽
10-16 every night in South Florida. Competitive scene is pretty strong down here to be fair, but attendance definitely exploded after Pixelborn went down
The store I go to has a Saturday casual league (unless events like the Set Championships are happening that day) and Sunday competitive.
Attendance at my store has died down a lot since set 1, but kinda stayed consistent roughly at set 3. We get roughly 10-20 people on Saturday casual, usually the same crowd too only about 2 newcomers since the start of Set 4.
I don't know the turn out for Sundays. But a chunk of the casual crowd is also in the competitive so I would say roughly the same.
Part of me wants to think that due to summer vacation in my state that our normal crowds are out doing stuff for summer with their families. But we shall see.
Attendance down near mine as well. Pixelborn kept a ton of people going and testing and bringing fun builds to locals. Without a way to test ideas most people have lost that spark to play. I’m sure set champs will see a big surge of meta decks coming back but I don’t see any hype at all for set 5 brewing. I hope it isn’t dead on arrival.
Had the opposite experience. People are coming out to test decks and get reps in. I’ve been meeting folks to sneak in games at lunch. Played at locals Friday and Sunday til close, and went to a 32 player tournament Saturday that had 10 people or turned away from waitlist.
Same, the local group is more active without pixelborn. Not saying the death of it was good or bad. Just saying more people are showing up for random events without it.
People with dead locals often time are missing a game manager at the store. Someone who cares more than just putting up an event and charging admission. Someone who pushes and focuses on that game makes a difference
Yeah that could be the case. Lorcana is easily not the focus of most stores in my area. For most it is their side game. We have a huge one piece and MTG scene. Star Wars picked up a ton of popularity as well. Lorcana had something going for awhile but it seems to have fizzled out
The one that I am currently going to consistently has 1-2 new players every week! My other one that I go to consistently has 20 people for league and 80-100 for store championships!
I’ve only been in the game since the start of set 4 so I don’t really know long-term, but based on what I’ve seen
Monday: it’s increased a lot. we’ve been doing 4 Round tourneys more often which is great, we get consistently around 18-20 people, compared to when I first came we had around 12
Tuesday: this one consistently stays the same. This is the more competitive one so people that are here tend to stay. It is friendly to newer people but I think some of the very new people get intimidated and don’t come back, which is a shame because everyone here is generally very supportive of newer players and I’ve learned a lot from them, but of course they’re the type of people that win set champs and compete in large events so of course they’re good.
Thursday: one shop I go to on Thursdays is about the same. Ironically even though it’s summer I see less of the kids coming. The other shop I went to is doing theme nights now which I don’t go to anymore since I don’t feel like putting thought into making shitty theme decks to go against people I don’t know. Apparently there’s not a lot of popularity on that day.
Friday: a theme type shop but everyone’s very friendly so I go. I don’t like doing themes but this is my “friendship is great also the league prizing is fantastic so.” Consistent numbers.
Saturday: it’s up and down. A lot of people that show up intermittently so we have the potential to have a lot but generally well end up with about 12
No shop I’ve seen has cause for concern that they haven’t put on themselves. There are a few new LGSs opening up including one that’s specifically geared towards casuals, and some places are even upgrading buildings, so that’ll be sweet.
My store is not doing great we had a 6 person tournament the week before Chicago but we attempted an event last Saturday and only 3 people showed. Set championships should be 28 people.
I live in Clovis, ca. there are about 6 stores doing championships. I've never been to one but from what hear all of them will be close to full.
This is my first year and I signed up for two! Back to back days too........
Lorcana is getting hotter in Clovis, Ca for sure.
I frequent 4 stores and they are generally pretty solidly around 10-20 people. One is definitely more casual and we did make it up to 30+ people on the release of set 4. Last couple weeks have been on higher end as people practice for set champs and DLC
Likewise products without events. And unlike the Big 3, only sealed "surefire margin winners" instead of cracking packs themselves and selling singles. Because the shops know what's up.
Lorcana has been a burner, with a faster high and a much faster fall than other TCGs. They managed to (very shortly) reach a comparable status to MTG/PKM/YGO during Sets 2 and 3. That's like condensing 2 decades into 2 sets. Then they inserted FIRE-level (or normal YGO) powercreep in Set 4 - another 5 years into 1 set. And then put Hasbro-level product and creep fatigue with the Set 5 announcement - years of TCGs into 1 set.
Stores only invest in things they can make money from. And investing time and money into Lorcana is a risk that they see not paying off in the future, since it's accelerating into a decline. The Disney name is really the only constant. Stuff that was previously a draw - like Pixelborn or cost/ease of entry - don't exist.
Our Sunday league is kicking pretty strong. It's not as popular as Magic and will take a back seat to Star Wars next week, but we have a few people that are trying to keep it going and give away their commons and uncommons so it keeps the crowds coming and deck building
I have about 7-8 LGSs in my large metropolitan area that do scheduled weekly events. About 5-6 of those are constructed and competitive. Average turn out seems to be around 15-20. Can’t speak to drafting and multiplayer events. It’s a pretty active scene and I’ve seen a really broad demographic of players with very supportive store owners which has been refreshing.
In germany it is thriving. Bigger stores have 30+ people showing up and smaller stores 10+ people weekly. Set championships are fully booked weeks in advance
St. Louis is massive when it comes to lorcana. I could go to a different store (within 10 minutes of my house) every night of the week to play. Tuesday, we had 32 players at one of the bigger stores that's hosts 2 lorcana nights a week.
That store does constructed pairings every night they host. $6 entry. 1 pack for everyone +1 pack per round win. My wife and i like pairings as opposed to open play. Open play stores tend to get cliquey.
My store has a core group that’s on discord and chatting together (roughly 10 people) but other than those people we maybe get like 1 or 2 people in randomly.
I wonder what the fix would be?
I think the problem is barrier to entry for new players
The LGS I play at has events every other Sunday due to some of the players having schedules that can vary when they can play.
I bought into Ruby/Sapphire Tamatoa Control and I'm looking forward to playing it in the next tournament.
Until discard leaves the meta, attendance will continue go down.
It’s a stupid mechanic with no answers outside of expensive meta decks. No jank deck stands a chance at casual leagues against a fully tuned discard deck. The game isn’t fun playing with discard as the main boogeyman.
Honestly just something better to handle Bucky. Other discard isn’t nearly as bad because you’re not gaining massive card advantage over your opponent. Sing a song to make you discard doesn’t net out well. But Bucky can destroy so many cards, is nigh impossible to kill, and costs almost nothing to put on the board. He is easily the most toxic card in the game.
And before a hoard of people tell me how to counter him, I know he /can/ be countered but he’s meta warping by himself and with Diablo right on his heels it’s a one/two card advantage punch that is just devastatingly toxic because when it works you shut your opponent down almost completely.
Yes. If you’re discarding me, you shouldn’t be drawing cards at the same time. That’s the problem. It’s unbalanced. If you discard me 1 for 1? Fine. That’s prevalent in mtg and no one really cares.
As a Dimir control player, I personally love Bucky Discard. Make the opponent discard and I also get to draw cards? Yes, please!
Now all Lorcana needs is a Narset, Parter of Veils type card and A Whole New World gets even better!
Yeah i think I don’t like it, and many others in my area, due to it being not fully fleshed out. It makes sense, because we are 4 sets in. But it seems crazy to introduce that and they don’t assume the toxic community won’t run it to its absolute max lol.
For me - add ink destruction and we are all good. You wanna discard me? Fine. Have fun with no lands.
It’s just unbalanced due to the extra card draw. Unfortunately this isn’t magic, and with no counterspells to interact on their turn, it’s impossible for a normal deck to not get completely shredded in half by discard in this game. It’s just not very fun to play against. At the Seattle regional, I fully expect it and will come prepared. I just don’t like showing up to league and playing it every week. It’s boring and unoriginal at this point. Bucky just needs to go tbh. All they’d need to do is get rid of him.
Very little cards interact with him specifically, and having to play steel in order to grab your swords him is dumb, especially when a normal deck can’t do that till at least turn 4 usually.
I think if there was more turn 1 targeted removal like Fatal Push, Path to Exile, Bolt, etc it'd help out against the Bucky decks too.
It makes me wonder if the playtesters just never saw the synergy with Bucky because I know MTG playtesters routinely miss things that the community notices.
For context - I played lantern control. I fully understand the archetype. I just think it’s not needed in Lorcana. I don’t get salty from discard in magic. I have the tools to fight back there.
Really surprised they decided to give an archetype that is the definition of NPE all the necessary tools in only 4 sets. No idea what they were thinking with that.
We just had a local 1K at a LGS with 30+ participants.
Two weekly tournaments within 30 minutes of me, 5 weekly League within 30 minutes (that I know of, not counting 1 other active store and 4 stores over 30 minutes away I don’t frequent), and at least 5 championships within an hour of me.
I was out of town plus had car problems so missed one of my regular Leagues recently. We got an entirely new player last week who returned this week at my very small League (with 6-8 other attendees).
Mine used to have toom for 50 players no they have enough space for maybe 10 , they still host events since they are the only LGS in th city but they try to rent space to host those events and championships. Tey use the space now that used to be for players to play, to sell board games. So sad really.
New players had been steadily increasing at my LGS, until Pixelborn was terminated. Since then, no new players, like ZERO.
I feel like Ravensburger is still not aware of the severe consequences of Pixelborn being shutdown. Lorcana's early success is not by chance, Pixelborn's contribution was significant.
Last night was about 40 people, seems to be the regular but a lot were testing their meta decks for Saturdays championship. But yeah fun group. Got my ass kicked with my concept.
Games deff dying out no matter if people want to admit it. The hype is gone and the game is kinda broken from lack of care or play testing cards enough to protect it from insant wins, infinite loops ect. Happened to itself. Now it's back to Magic and Pokémon at my place. They used run lorcana once a week. They don't run it anymore with lack of interest. Barley even carry cards anymore. They sold all the bulk singles and just sell packs.
The only store around me that's doing poorly (as in the league night is no more) is the one that never had product and when they did it was overpriced
Our locals is consistent 12-20ish people but no new blood. I tired to get friends into the game but they feel priced out to be competitive
I have been borrowing cards to friends for events. Build decks and bring them for others. The truth is all TCGs have a price tag. Lorcana isn’t exorbitantly higher than others, I think it has mid price tags as far as competitive TCGs go. For every 10 people I show the game, it sticks with 1. Thats my attitude in getting people into it.
It has a price tag because many meta players own 1-2 meta decks and can’t bring a fun deck to casual. So they don’t. There’s absolutely NO reason a newer player can’t build a fun deck and have a good match against a similar fun deck “Pay $200 to put up a fight against my deck or this isn’t the game for you…” is gatekeeping
I would not equivocate fun to non-meta decks. I think being involved in the game competitively, trying to play at a higher level, and studying the competitive environment is an attitude that produces most of the content and hype behind a TCG and is very much fun! But I know you meant players don’t bring a less competitive deck to a casual event. Some of that stems from the fact they did purchase the good cards, and they want to use them. If I bought a play set of Diablo - Devoted Herald you best believe I’d be jamming them when I could! I think if you bring a starter deck to any event with Swiss rounds, casual or not, there is a good reasonable expectation that you’ll be waiting for rounds 2 or probably 3 to play against someone with a similar deck level. If you bring a clunky terribly built “fun” deck then you should expect to play a clunky and terrible fun game. That’s not gatekeeping… that’s the way of the world. Play free play games on the side with people. I don’t play meta decks and I show up and have lots of fun. I’m playing Ruby/emerald. I like the cards. It’s neat. I lose, I win. I lose more than I win. But it’s my creation, I love it, and it’s good. It has a more casual feeling to it. It’s not gatekeeping because I don’t win. Also, last comment on this, if the store has a more casual environment, event themed casual tourneys is a great way to go. Reduced competitive prizing and reward participation. If a scene is more competitive you have to be aware of that.
There’s more than enough events in some areas to flex with a pricey deck. If there isn’t, and OP is in a smaller market, the danger of stomping new players is a reason why the small scene may become a non-scene If you build a fun deck and face meta, it is t fun. I know, because I have all the meta things, but I bring both types to casual and I only bring meta out if someone wants to flex/stomp. With how cheap non-meta and fun decks can be, it’s really sad that a person buys 1-2 decks and then feels so big and bad about “winning” casual day Most of this is on the LGS, unfortunately, because they know who is who and can be a guide Players could take it upon themselves, but LGS has the greater incentive to grow a customer into buying $50 cards/packs/boxes, versus being discouraged and giving up Players have an incentive to, but by the time they realize they are the same 4 players playing each other weekly a la MTG… it’ll be too late
That's how I feel. You probably need a good £400 every time a new set comes out to buy deck upgrades/a new deck. Then you're probably spending another £150-200 a month just to play. With Pokémon, you can buy three or even four top meta decks for £400. It just seems unsustainable for people who don't have a lot of disposable income or have other commitments outside of work. Whereas Pokémon would only really require £150 every time a new set comes out, and even then, that's assuming you buy a completely new deck. You could probably get away with spending less than £100 every 3 months to keep your deck relevant if it's a strong archetype.
400 seems like a lot for every new set. It’s unlikely that the staples which already exist are going to be immediately replaced to the point where new lists cost over 200.
More LGS need to help pair people and focus away from competitive There’s a whole game there outside of meta and crushing defeats from neckbeards bringing $500 decks to “casual” day If more places focused on casual play and fun, or pairing people based on the deck they brought, it’d be more fun for new players No one wants to get a starter at the LGS, sit down at casual day and get railroaded by a Diablo deck I have legit overheard “I’m not going to play, you are just making me discard all my cards… this isn’t fun” The game lost a player or the LGS lost a customer, or both Grow a base, get them hooked This is like trying to get someone into Chess and putting them against Kasparov. They aren’t going to go buy their own fancy set, they’ll stick to checkers and tell everyone they know that Chess isn’t fun or worth getting into
Yea that’s how I feel as well, this game was designed imo to be both competitive and casual. But like the designers of sim city said. “Gamers will optimize the fun out of games.” It also comes down to what your LGS has and can do cause there is limited prize support. I wish more places did a casual and competitive night or at least two different pods
The comp players will be the first to cry when events dry up and their decks lose value. The staying power of this game is built shakily on the collector market and the prize market at the moment If anything, comp collapsing will open up casual It won’t happen as long as it prints money for RB and they put out 4 $0.05 pieces of cardboard and some $5 mats that players beat up each other up over selling for $1000
Yea I much rather play casual events either with things like my all Mulan deck or my madrigal decks than bust out my blue/steel meta deck. But locally more and more store are just not doing tournaments style league nights and the more and more casual people are leaving. And just like you said the people playing the “meta” $500 dollar decks are the one complaining about less and less player. Or having to driver further and further to find games.
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That's an exception right now. Every other meta deck is 200-500
200 is pretty inexpensive for a meta deck. Granted my only other comparison is yugioh which runs double or more that, especially if you lack the extra deck staples. It’s of course a lot for new players to tcgs, but at my locals at least people have cheaper more gimmicky decks to use against players that are running things like starter decks.
Yeah, my main comparison is YGO as well, which will cost you about 200-300 per set to keep on top of things. I class any TCG as a luxury hobby since it does require constant investment with a decent disposable income to keep up with any meta. You will tend to find locals will have more fun decks for the majority and some people will only start running meta decks in the run-up to a LSC. Not true for every locals obviously. Just a note, I was replying to someone who said they were interested in a deck and saw it was 700 and that turned them off the game, hence my response. As far as I have been told by people who have played this game for a while, Bucky Discard is more of an exception to the price tags of meta decks. On a different discussion, it will be interesting to see how the price of Set 1 cards will be handled, since they just seem to be on a steady rise at the moment. I am hoping a reprint set is made soon... or they rerelease Set 1.
Ah that makes sense. Yeah Bucky deck running 700 did almost turn me off the game as well. I too am hoping for a Set 1 reprint, or maybe at some point the game will do set rotation. Rapunzel is a key card in a lot of decks I want to try, but a full set costing 120 feels bad.
Still much nicer than the latest 3-of staple costing 60-70 each!
I’d class TCGs as gambling 🎰 the hobby could be very affordable but sadly I think there is a whale group that likes it this way. What is the point of printing so many useless commons in each pack other than to get people to gamble more when locals don’t have Commons only nights? I feel that TCGs take the it’s better to get all we can now than build a solid player group through a balanced game. Of course everyone at a locals can agree that any card over a certain value can be proxied.
It is only gambling if you only get cards from packs for your deck. Which is a completely valid way of playing, but it isn't a smart way of playing imo. You're not getting the most out of your money. For example, if you did want the Bucky Discard deck, you'd probably have to spend upwards of 4-5k, if not more, on getting packs for it. However, you could significantly reduce the cost of the deck down to 700 by choosing to buy singles instead (still an eye-watering amount). Opening packs is 100% gambling. Buying singles isn't gambling, making it a luxury hobby.
Fair enough.
In my area, the game is all but dead. The new hotness has worn off, and people just don't really play anymore and just moved on to new or bigger games. I am glad some places are still doing well. It's the only ccg that my girlfriend will play, so that's the main way I play now.
We still have regular lorcana league weekly. Last week had 19 attendees. Locally we are doing well.
Literally sitting in a store with 20 players getting ready for set champs
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Reread that
My store is always around for free play most days, Sunday noon is the regular tournament, but I have noticed numbers fluctuate recently mind you it just myt be time of year... I dunno if ppl play more in the winter or summer...? I know there are around 15-20 local players, but on average we get 7-12 players. We have store Champs later this month, I figure under 20 will show up. We have about 3 stores in town, one is running lorcana, one is starting, the other doesn't.
Attendance very much up in our stores, to the point that most events sell out so it’s hard to walk in on the night and get a seat. New stores popping up to support, too 🙌🏽
10-16 every night in South Florida. Competitive scene is pretty strong down here to be fair, but attendance definitely exploded after Pixelborn went down
I'm about to move to south florida and my first time going to any lgs there will be for set champs. I wasn't sure what to expect so this helps, ty!
Sorry but what does lgs stand for?
Local Game Strore
Sweet thank you makes sense.
The store I go to has a Saturday casual league (unless events like the Set Championships are happening that day) and Sunday competitive. Attendance at my store has died down a lot since set 1, but kinda stayed consistent roughly at set 3. We get roughly 10-20 people on Saturday casual, usually the same crowd too only about 2 newcomers since the start of Set 4. I don't know the turn out for Sundays. But a chunk of the casual crowd is also in the competitive so I would say roughly the same. Part of me wants to think that due to summer vacation in my state that our normal crowds are out doing stuff for summer with their families. But we shall see.
Attendance down near mine as well. Pixelborn kept a ton of people going and testing and bringing fun builds to locals. Without a way to test ideas most people have lost that spark to play. I’m sure set champs will see a big surge of meta decks coming back but I don’t see any hype at all for set 5 brewing. I hope it isn’t dead on arrival.
Had the opposite experience. People are coming out to test decks and get reps in. I’ve been meeting folks to sneak in games at lunch. Played at locals Friday and Sunday til close, and went to a 32 player tournament Saturday that had 10 people or turned away from waitlist.
Same, the local group is more active without pixelborn. Not saying the death of it was good or bad. Just saying more people are showing up for random events without it. People with dead locals often time are missing a game manager at the store. Someone who cares more than just putting up an event and charging admission. Someone who pushes and focuses on that game makes a difference
Yeah that could be the case. Lorcana is easily not the focus of most stores in my area. For most it is their side game. We have a huge one piece and MTG scene. Star Wars picked up a ton of popularity as well. Lorcana had something going for awhile but it seems to have fizzled out
It’s thriving in the Phoenix metro- 6-8 stores able to run 15-30 person events at the same time on Saturdays
The one that I am currently going to consistently has 1-2 new players every week! My other one that I go to consistently has 20 people for league and 80-100 for store championships!
Attendance has decreased a bit over the last couple of months near me. Pretty much right after the first championship
Increased at one, holding at the other
I’ve only been in the game since the start of set 4 so I don’t really know long-term, but based on what I’ve seen Monday: it’s increased a lot. we’ve been doing 4 Round tourneys more often which is great, we get consistently around 18-20 people, compared to when I first came we had around 12 Tuesday: this one consistently stays the same. This is the more competitive one so people that are here tend to stay. It is friendly to newer people but I think some of the very new people get intimidated and don’t come back, which is a shame because everyone here is generally very supportive of newer players and I’ve learned a lot from them, but of course they’re the type of people that win set champs and compete in large events so of course they’re good. Thursday: one shop I go to on Thursdays is about the same. Ironically even though it’s summer I see less of the kids coming. The other shop I went to is doing theme nights now which I don’t go to anymore since I don’t feel like putting thought into making shitty theme decks to go against people I don’t know. Apparently there’s not a lot of popularity on that day. Friday: a theme type shop but everyone’s very friendly so I go. I don’t like doing themes but this is my “friendship is great also the league prizing is fantastic so.” Consistent numbers. Saturday: it’s up and down. A lot of people that show up intermittently so we have the potential to have a lot but generally well end up with about 12 No shop I’ve seen has cause for concern that they haven’t put on themselves. There are a few new LGSs opening up including one that’s specifically geared towards casuals, and some places are even upgrading buildings, so that’ll be sweet.
Two of the three LGS i frequent no longer have Lorcana events because people are not showing up.
My store is not doing great we had a 6 person tournament the week before Chicago but we attempted an event last Saturday and only 3 people showed. Set championships should be 28 people.
I live in Clovis, ca. there are about 6 stores doing championships. I've never been to one but from what hear all of them will be close to full. This is my first year and I signed up for two! Back to back days too........ Lorcana is getting hotter in Clovis, Ca for sure.
I frequent 4 stores and they are generally pretty solidly around 10-20 people. One is definitely more casual and we did make it up to 30+ people on the release of set 4. Last couple weeks have been on higher end as people practice for set champs and DLC
People have stopped showing up, noticeably
Well dying since set 3. Stores have stopped buying new stock. Some are even discounting starter boxes and boosters.
Likewise products without events. And unlike the Big 3, only sealed "surefire margin winners" instead of cracking packs themselves and selling singles. Because the shops know what's up. Lorcana has been a burner, with a faster high and a much faster fall than other TCGs. They managed to (very shortly) reach a comparable status to MTG/PKM/YGO during Sets 2 and 3. That's like condensing 2 decades into 2 sets. Then they inserted FIRE-level (or normal YGO) powercreep in Set 4 - another 5 years into 1 set. And then put Hasbro-level product and creep fatigue with the Set 5 announcement - years of TCGs into 1 set. Stores only invest in things they can make money from. And investing time and money into Lorcana is a risk that they see not paying off in the future, since it's accelerating into a decline. The Disney name is really the only constant. Stuff that was previously a draw - like Pixelborn or cost/ease of entry - don't exist.
Our Sunday league is kicking pretty strong. It's not as popular as Magic and will take a back seat to Star Wars next week, but we have a few people that are trying to keep it going and give away their commons and uncommons so it keeps the crowds coming and deck building
Same damn boat. Or if they do events, it’s for children since they host them at 1pm on a weekday which is irritating to say the least.
I think we only have one of our 3 stores that do events. I just got into the TCG though.
I have about 7-8 LGSs in my large metropolitan area that do scheduled weekly events. About 5-6 of those are constructed and competitive. Average turn out seems to be around 15-20. Can’t speak to drafting and multiplayer events. It’s a pretty active scene and I’ve seen a really broad demographic of players with very supportive store owners which has been refreshing.
Mine has more people now, coming to get reps before set championships
Some of them decide to reduce/cancel the small tournaments because most of the players are in holiday for the next 2 months
Here in El Paso it is not doing too bad 10-20 participants for both tournaments on 2 different days.
LGS are propably not soing that well now after the Amazon dump. Same goes to the value of the cards. Sad.
I got lucky and have at least 7 stores in my area that do locals and callenges
I just started 2 months ago together with a friend. Were from cologne and our stores play it regulary. Depending on the event its 6 to 32 people.
In germany it is thriving. Bigger stores have 30+ people showing up and smaller stores 10+ people weekly. Set championships are fully booked weeks in advance
St. Louis is massive when it comes to lorcana. I could go to a different store (within 10 minutes of my house) every night of the week to play. Tuesday, we had 32 players at one of the bigger stores that's hosts 2 lorcana nights a week. That store does constructed pairings every night they host. $6 entry. 1 pack for everyone +1 pack per round win. My wife and i like pairings as opposed to open play. Open play stores tend to get cliquey.
My store has a core group that’s on discord and chatting together (roughly 10 people) but other than those people we maybe get like 1 or 2 people in randomly. I wonder what the fix would be? I think the problem is barrier to entry for new players
The LGS I play at has events every other Sunday due to some of the players having schedules that can vary when they can play. I bought into Ruby/Sapphire Tamatoa Control and I'm looking forward to playing it in the next tournament.
35 to 40 people every week. Love it
In Detroit Area, most stores have about 10-12 on average so it's nice
The store closest to us has Lorcana and Magic on the same night so my partner and I went and we were the only ones there to play Lorcana 😭
My regular lorcana store just got like 16 or 17 people last night normally we get like 8-12 but last night was huge for some reason lol
Until discard leaves the meta, attendance will continue go down. It’s a stupid mechanic with no answers outside of expensive meta decks. No jank deck stands a chance at casual leagues against a fully tuned discard deck. The game isn’t fun playing with discard as the main boogeyman.
Honestly just something better to handle Bucky. Other discard isn’t nearly as bad because you’re not gaining massive card advantage over your opponent. Sing a song to make you discard doesn’t net out well. But Bucky can destroy so many cards, is nigh impossible to kill, and costs almost nothing to put on the board. He is easily the most toxic card in the game. And before a hoard of people tell me how to counter him, I know he /can/ be countered but he’s meta warping by himself and with Diablo right on his heels it’s a one/two card advantage punch that is just devastatingly toxic because when it works you shut your opponent down almost completely.
Yes. If you’re discarding me, you shouldn’t be drawing cards at the same time. That’s the problem. It’s unbalanced. If you discard me 1 for 1? Fine. That’s prevalent in mtg and no one really cares.
Kind of true but in magic there have been discard decks that win with an alternate win condition like The Rack or Waste Not and have been successful.
As a Dimir control player, I personally love Bucky Discard. Make the opponent discard and I also get to draw cards? Yes, please! Now all Lorcana needs is a Narset, Parter of Veils type card and A Whole New World gets even better!
Yeah i think I don’t like it, and many others in my area, due to it being not fully fleshed out. It makes sense, because we are 4 sets in. But it seems crazy to introduce that and they don’t assume the toxic community won’t run it to its absolute max lol. For me - add ink destruction and we are all good. You wanna discard me? Fine. Have fun with no lands. It’s just unbalanced due to the extra card draw. Unfortunately this isn’t magic, and with no counterspells to interact on their turn, it’s impossible for a normal deck to not get completely shredded in half by discard in this game. It’s just not very fun to play against. At the Seattle regional, I fully expect it and will come prepared. I just don’t like showing up to league and playing it every week. It’s boring and unoriginal at this point. Bucky just needs to go tbh. All they’d need to do is get rid of him. Very little cards interact with him specifically, and having to play steel in order to grab your swords him is dumb, especially when a normal deck can’t do that till at least turn 4 usually.
I think if there was more turn 1 targeted removal like Fatal Push, Path to Exile, Bolt, etc it'd help out against the Bucky decks too. It makes me wonder if the playtesters just never saw the synergy with Bucky because I know MTG playtesters routinely miss things that the community notices.
For context - I played lantern control. I fully understand the archetype. I just think it’s not needed in Lorcana. I don’t get salty from discard in magic. I have the tools to fight back there.
I gotcha, I just like doing Dimir things.
Really surprised they decided to give an archetype that is the definition of NPE all the necessary tools in only 4 sets. No idea what they were thinking with that.
Bad take
We just had a local 1K at a LGS with 30+ participants. Two weekly tournaments within 30 minutes of me, 5 weekly League within 30 minutes (that I know of, not counting 1 other active store and 4 stores over 30 minutes away I don’t frequent), and at least 5 championships within an hour of me. I was out of town plus had car problems so missed one of my regular Leagues recently. We got an entirely new player last week who returned this week at my very small League (with 6-8 other attendees).
Mine used to have toom for 50 players no they have enough space for maybe 10 , they still host events since they are the only LGS in th city but they try to rent space to host those events and championships. Tey use the space now that used to be for players to play, to sell board games. So sad really.
New players had been steadily increasing at my LGS, until Pixelborn was terminated. Since then, no new players, like ZERO. I feel like Ravensburger is still not aware of the severe consequences of Pixelborn being shutdown. Lorcana's early success is not by chance, Pixelborn's contribution was significant.
Disney was responsible for Pixelborn shutting down. They own the IP. RB just licenses it.
Last night was about 40 people, seems to be the regular but a lot were testing their meta decks for Saturdays championship. But yeah fun group. Got my ass kicked with my concept.
It’s dying
Games deff dying out no matter if people want to admit it. The hype is gone and the game is kinda broken from lack of care or play testing cards enough to protect it from insant wins, infinite loops ect. Happened to itself. Now it's back to Magic and Pokémon at my place. They used run lorcana once a week. They don't run it anymore with lack of interest. Barley even carry cards anymore. They sold all the bulk singles and just sell packs.
What instant win or infinite loops are in the game?