What I Got From Attending the Lorcana North American Championship
Lorcana’s biggest events so far are here and they are the continental championships taking place in Europe and North America. Action-packed and not without its own fair share of glitches, I was able to attend the North American Championship in Anaheim located at the historic Disneyland Hotel. Here’s how my experience went.
What do you get for attending a Disneyland continental championship?
I have to say I was a little in the dark about what I would actually be getting from attending the championship, but what I got wasn’t shabby to say the least. After procrastinating on a few chores and putting a deck together at the very last minute before the deadline for the last chance qualifier, I arrived in the convention center at the Disneyland Hotel, a few short steps away from the Frontier Tower where I had been staying for the previous several days.
For starters, how cool is it to attend a Lorcana event and tournament at Disneyland itself? For me, this was a major milestone as someone who has been writing about the game since the very beginning when it started back in 2023. The excitement was palpable as players and attendees lined the convention center in a never-ending line to pick up badges and begin their lore-filled days.
Here are a few pictures of what I got just for attending the event, namely a new Mickey Mouse Promo card without flavor text intended to be an ideal spot to place an autograph from a character from the park and a Cinderella Stouthearted Lorcana Pin which looks pretty neat.
Honestly the badge you get itself looks cool just for attending the event and I will definitely be keeping it as a souvenir.
In addition to the items above, I also got a Dragon’s Fire promo which should look familiar to anyone who has gone to a challenge. I don’t think everyone got a Dragon’s Fire promo from just attending the event but because I was in the Last Chance Qualifier as well I got one.
Last but not least, I also got two Turbo tickets which got me into the Pack Rush room. Playing Pack Rush earned you a handful of additional promos which look insanely cool (although not foil).
Even if not Foil, these promos should retain value pretty well just because of how exclusive they are. Although this is likely to change, just those four cards alone are worth $300+ in market value.
Attending the Last Chance Qualifier
One of the most exciting events leading up to the big tournament was none other than the Last Chance Qualifier – a grueling, single elimination tournament where only one player from each 32-player pod gains admittance to the North American Championship. Needless to say emotions were high as players faced off for this “last chance” at greatness.
Although quite intense (playing for such high stakes is really diving off the competitive deep end from a Lorcana perspective), I found the matches I played to be quite fun and the gameplay very high level with lots of twists and turns along the way.
Despite not winning my Last Chance Qualifier (I was eliminated by a strong Ruby/Sapphire player which is a deck I haven’t had any luck against with this build), I played an aggressive version of Ruby/Amethyst that felt quite strong in the current Lorcana meta and will probably fare better in the set championships for Azurite Sea with just a few more tweaks.
One huge downside of the Last Chance Qualifier, however, was that the event itself took place two-and-a-half hours after the scheduled start time – a reality that is pretty harsh if you have any other plans for the day. With Disneyland right there it’s hard to imagine not having plans so I do hope this isn’t something that will be repeated at future big events like this one for Lorcana.
All-in-all, the North American Championship was an exciting and fun experience with plenty to do for hyper competitive players looking to snag a spot at the big tournament as well as for more casual fans of the game looking to meet new friends, get valuable prizes, and have fun at the heart of the magic in Anaheim!
