WCQ (West Coast Qualifier) RECAP
Format: Constructed (Best 2-of-3)
Saturday, May 25th was the second Exodus TCG Qualifier held this season in Los Angeles, CA! This was the West Coast one, hosted by Existence Games in partnership with Strategicon conventions as part of Gamex 2019. Players competed in 5 rounds of Swiss followed by cut to Top 8. Rounds had a 45-minute time limit and none of the games went to time (although one match came down to 3 seconds on the clock). There was no time limit for Top 8 playoffs. Quick shout-out and special thanks goes to Victor Bugg and the Weiss family for helping us make sure the event went off without a hitch!
24 players competed in this West Coast Qualifier with hopes of securing their invite to the 2019 World Championship Tournament. Many traveled from Fresno and Ventura county areas, while others were local to LA.
Competitors each received a playset (x2) of seventeen different Promo cards as participation gifts, as well as rolled posters of Sets 3 & 4. Lots more prizes were distributed during the prize cerimony such as valuable artist-signed cards, sketch button-pins and booster boxes. In addition to sealed product, Top 3 walked away with a metal certificate in recognition of their achievement and the coveted invitation to Worlds.
There was a strong variety of decks that contended for the top spot. In fact, all of the Top 3 decks were completely different, making them more than worth taking a closer look at. Without further ado, we present the final standings and their respective decklists:
1st Place
Victor M.
Shardfolk Beatdown
Creatures:
2x Chief Bandit
2x Harpoon Halberdier
2x Crystalline Stag
1x Planetary Crag of the Cosmos
Symmetry:
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
2x Crystal Cove
2x Vortex
2x Chains
2x Leech
2x Unsummon
1x Reversion
1x Existence of Unknown Origins
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Main Deck: 21 cards
Energy Deck: 40 cards
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2nd Place
Alex P.
Forest Struggle
Creatures:
2x Mistrai Driftwood
2x Ephemra the Star Shield
Symmetry:
2x Star Struggle
2x Chains
2x Unsummon
2x Crystal Cove
2x Leech
2x Vortex
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
2x Existence of Unknown Origins
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Main Deck: 20 cards
Energy Deck: 25 cards
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3rd Place
Caleb D.
Wind in the Willows
Creatures:
2x Carcery the Chemical Oddity
2x Wishwaker Willow
2x Wildfire Willow
Symmetry:
1x Vortex
2x Reversion
2x Unsummon
2x Chains
2x Leech
2x Reevaluate
2x Crystal Cove
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
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Main Deck: 21 cards
Energy Deck: 39 cards
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Our 1st Place WCQ Champion is Victor, a player who is no stranger to competition! With tons of
Exodus tournaments and a World Championship Top 4 finish under his belt, he beat the heat with his "Shardfolk Beatdown" deck. This was not a direct-damage
Cierice build, but rather one that utilized the sheer power of
Chief Bandit, along with the powerful control aspect of
Harpoon Halberdier. His deck also solidified
Crystalline Stag as a solid pick this Season, able to freeze an entire pile of energy upon summon. The deck ran a single copy of
Planetary Crag of the Cosmos for special scenarios. Victor and his Shardfolk rose to the very top of the competition, overcoming some very close calls and hard-fought battles. Well done!
Our 2nd Place Finalist is Alex! His innovative 4-creature "Forest Struggle" deck was very close to being an All-Symmetry deck, but the build ended up being something we hadn't quite seen before. He ran double Ephemra the Star Shield, a smart move in a deck which kept to the minimum 20-card count. It's super interesting to see a deck like this use a card like Star Struggle (a simple Uncommon from Set 2) to the degree where it was absolutely essential to the deck's constant strategy. After whittling down the opponent's Life Points, he would swap Life with his opponent using Existence. Other than that, he was playing Mistrai Driftwood to swing in for damage. The MVP? Star Struggle. Yup, definitely Star Struggle. What, don't believe us? Feel free to ask him yourself!
Our 3rd Place Winner is Caleb! This up-and-coming player took the competition by storm with his unique "Wind in the Willows" deck. Differing greatly from other Treefolk decks opting for Reveal strategies, his deck ran a tight 2-2-2 line of Commons, Uncommons and Rares in favor of
Carcery the Chemical Oddity's burn damage. Capping out at just 21 cards in the Main Deck, it was surprising and very cool to see the original
Carcery in the Top 4. The deck's symmetry base is extremely strong; it wasn't running
Existence of Unknown Origins and yet still beat out a ton of decks that were. Of course, where credit goes to excellent deck-building, credit must also go to the highly skilled player who pilots the deck. Being able to adapt and play around certain cards during tough matchups continues to be a strong point this season.
Here's what the rest of Top 8 was playing:
4th Place
Zach C.
Speed Kills
Symmetry:
2x Vortex
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
2x Secluded Shortcut
2x Existence of Unknown Origins
2x Traverse the Treetops
2x Isles of the Morning Star
2x Crystal Cove
2x Treeforge Complex
2x Reevaluate
2x Chains
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Main Deck: 20 cards
Energy Deck: 40 cards
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5th Place
Edward B.
Angel Beatdown
Creatures:
2x Mistrai Driftwood
2x Cascil the Unvanishing Paladin
2x Ephemra the Star Shield
Symmetry:
2x Vortex
2x Reversion
2x Unsummon
2x Chains
2x Leech
2x Crystal Cove
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
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Main Deck: 20 cards
Energy Deck: 32 cards
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6th Place
Bellah B.
Crystal Heartbreak
Creatures:
2x Starship Galacia
2x Awakened Star Glacier
2x Chief Bandit
2x Cierice the Liquescent Icicle
Symmetry:
2x Vortex
2x Reversion
2x Unsummon
2x Chains
2x Leech
2x Crystal Cove
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
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Main Deck: 22 cards
Energy Deck: 30 cards
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7th Place
Tom H.
Immortal Angels
Creatures:
2x Paladin's Parable
2x Cascil the Unvanishing Paladin
2x Timeless Angel of Eternity
2x Emberia, Bringer of Infernos
Symmetry:
2x Existence of Unknown Origins
2x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
2x Chains
2x Invoke
2x Harmonized
2x Leech
2x Unsummon
2x Crystal Cove
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Main Deck: 24 cards
Energy Deck: 42 cards
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8th Place
Charles W.
Misty Trees
Creatures:
2x Mistrai Driftwood
1x Carcery Vale the Miscreation
1x Lantern Leaflore
1x Grandiose Infector
1x Embershard Siren
1x Legendary Blade Luhzarus
1x Cascil the Unvanishing Paladin
1x Starbound Glacier
1x Efil the Everlasting Empress
1x Alana the Star Formation
Symmetry:
2x Existence of Unknown Origins
2x Crystal Cove
2x Leech
2x Vortex
2x Unsummon
2x Chains
1x Apparition Grove
1x Departure
1x Glimpse of the Sanctuary
1x Carter, Champion of Cardsmithing
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Main Deck: 27 cards
Energy Deck: 25 cards
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In speaking to players during and after the tournament, it seems preparation served them well for those who practiced and did extra testing beforehand. We saw some incredible decks that took us by surprise, such as Zach's All-Symmetry deck which came in 4th Place. It made terrifyingly good use of underplayed cards like Traverse the Treetops, Secluded Shortcut and Isles of the Morning Star. It won games fast and it won them often, making it one of the most (if not THE most) consistent pure symmetry deck we've seen competitively.
Angel Beatdown came in 5th place--an evolution of previous iterations, skillfully played by Ed. A different Shardfolk Beatdown deck beautifully named "Crystal Heartbreak" finished 6th Place by Bellah. It was extremely interesting watching these two beatdown decks go head to head at one point in the tournament, especially considering they differed only by total card count and by which creatures (or Guild) were chosen.
Running playsets of everything for maximum consistency, "Immortal Angels" constantly returned to hand or refused to leave the battle field--played extremely well by Tom. Contrarily, Charles' deck comprised mostly of one-ofs did nearly equally well, finishing 8th.
Other prizing awarded included:
- Champion Playmat to 1st Place
- Galaxy Tides Booster Box to 1st & 2nd Place
- Converging Chasms Booster Box to 1st-4th Place
- Artist-signed cards to 1st-8th Place
- Over 30 Promo cards to each participant
- Posters of Set 3 & 4 to each participant
- Additional Artist-signed cards raffled off
- Button-pins made from actual cards to Top 8 + raffles
There were so many great moments during the tournament that made us wish we could've captured them on camera. One example was during Round 5 (Russell VS Noah) when Noah attacked with a 5-energy Ethereal Aurorialis, revealed a Harbinger Mushroom, and successfully hit for 7 direct damage, putting Russell at 3 Life Points. Russell then played double Secluded Shortcut, knocking himself down to 1, then Existence of Unknown Origins, then Star Struggle, and won the game! From game-swinging turnarounds like these to 1-1 Life Point scenarios, it was definitely one of the most exciting Exodus tournaments to date.
Congratulations to Victor, Alex, and Caleb, for placing Top 3 and securing their spot at Worlds 2019! Well done to everyone who participated in this Qualifier tournament.
Ranking News
Congratulations to our current Top 15 players:
1st: Zachary M. — 89 points*
2nd: Victor M. — 80 points*
3rd: Alex P. — 78 points*
4th: Edward B. — 74 points
5th: Anthony S. — 70 points
6th: Sean P. — 65 points*
7th: Lucas R. — 61 points
8th: Zach C. — 56 points
9th: Bellah B. — 52 points
10th: Nick C. — 43 points
11th: Tom H. — 42 points
12th: Darren C. — 34 points
13th: Anthony L. — 33 points
14th: Krystn L. — 30 points
15th: Omar F. — 30 points*
* = Qualified for Worlds regardless of points.
The WCQ awarded participating players with 10x more points than a normal tournament.
With the last big event of the season came the last big shift in points. 1st Place was not dethroned, but every other ranking moved. The weekend following the West Coast Qualifier (last weekend) was the final weekend to play for points at the local game store level. The decision was made to institute a cutoff for points in Season 2 at this time. The reason is to allow those who need to book travel & hotel in advance (as well as request time off from work) to be able to do so at more affordable rates. In the meantime, tournaments will continue to be hosted every week at LGS's for regular prizes and should serve as good practice before the World Championship in July.
We had a blast running & judging this year's WCQ and want to express massive thanks to everyone who came out to participate or offer support! Feel free to share the decks seen here, dissect, discuss & try them out for yourself! We will be releasing additional related info such as some other decks beyond Top 8, so stay tuned for more. Next, join us for more Season 2 news as we send out Worlds invitations and reveal the final list of invitees.
— Exodus TCG Organized Play Team
Existence Games
