Glimmer Games, Tough Lessons & What’s Next

This week, we’re diving into a full weekend of Lorcana highs, lows, and everything in between. Brittany recaps her experience at the CCQ—from travel chaos and long tournament days to piloting a deck that maybe needed just a little more testing (but still showed its potential). We celebrate standout performances from friends, break down what made the event so special, and talk through the biggest frustrations—from timing issues to prizing conversations that the community keeps circling back to.

Meanwhile, Stephanie shares what it’s been like stepping back, balancing life, and finding her way back into the game—plus locking in plans for the upcoming LCQ (yes, it’s happening 👀). From ticket queue stress to committing to competitive play again, the road ahead is getting very real.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hi, and welcome to the Lurcon Amuses podcast. And I'm Stephanie. And I'm Brittany. And welcome back to another great episode. I'm super excited to be here, but I am tired. Yeah, I figured you might be after your heroin weekend at the CCQ.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

It was super great. Like the Glimmer Grammes was awesome. Traveling was kind of a little bit intense. A lot we had a layover on the way there. And then it was a direct flight on the way back, but the airports are pretty full. And it was the end of spring break for some people and the beginning of spring break for other people. So um, and then travel is kind of a a mess with TSA and all of that right now. So um but we made it home. We made it, we made it there, we made it home and had a great time while we were there. Uh I didn't get to play as quite as well as I wanted to, but I had brought a deck that I hadn't necessarily practiced with um as much as I probably should have to go to such a large event. Uh but I th I'm proud of the way I played, um, but it was definitely a deck that needed more play testing on my side of things to do as well as it did. But our friend who brought the exact same deck as I did, um, got top eight. So I know that the deck itself was doing really well, but my piloting skills needed to be vastly uh better to have done as well as he did.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

That's fair. I was so proud of John for doing so well.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Yeah, no, he did, he did awesome. Um, yeah, our good friend John and we uh we we were we were joking about it because uh John shared a hotel room with with Daryl and I. Uh and Daryl was the butt was the brunt of all the jokes all weekend because uh John and I were uh we were both playing the same deck, and then we both were, you know, just ribbing on my husband the whole time. So it was really it was a fun weekend because of that. Our teammate Brandon went with us, um, and there were some other Arizona folks with us as well from Tucson. Um, and so we went out to dinner after the CCQ on Saturday and just made a good weekend of it. Uh that we went to a local coffee shop and bakery on Sunday after the event, before we went on our flight, and that was delicious. Like it was like a Parisian bakery. Um so it was just nice to see some of like we went to a local restaurant on Saturday, went to a Parisian bakery on Sunday, so I was able to get a little bit of travel feeling in there outside of the Lorcana of it all. Um, but the Gollimagrams did a really good job of making it feel like a big event. Um pricing was a little interesting, like the ticket pricing and versus what the pricing was was frustrating. Um, it felt very much like one of the DLC frustration points with ticket pricing versus pricing. So, like that would have been my biggest complaint for the weekend is like prizing and tickets didn't quite seem equitable. Um and so, but the event itself had lots of side events, it was run very well, uh the lore guides were fantastic, the organizers were great. I didn't watch the stream because I was there, but I heard the stream was really well besides the internet issues that they were dealing with. Um, so I know that they were just trying to make that as upbeat as possible because of all the internet issues.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

I'm glad it's not just us.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Yeah, no, for real. I mean, I feel I felt that I was like, okay, I'm glad that I'm not glad that they had the issues, but yeah, we've also had the exact same issues when we were streaming our own C CQ uh for Top Cut Games when we were streaming on our Twitch. And so I was like, okay, so it's not just us, thankfully. Um, but it is still frustrating um when you're trying to put on these events to have what you need, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:13

It looks, I mean, from the stream that I saw, like it looked so well put together. The streamers were amazing. Um, of course, they had some of the best out there. Uh, we got to see you get interviewed. Um, and then we saw like the back of John's head and a few different times when we spot JDZ. So that was kind of fun. Um, but I'm glad it went so well. I think Rebecca and everybody just worked so hard to do such a fantastic job. It looked like there were like puzzle corners and trivia and like how cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

So yeah, no, that was great, and the cosplayers were fantastic. They had the cost good. Yeah, they had the cosplay contest on Sunday, but they they were amazing cosplays on Saturday too. Um, they just didn't have the contest that day. There was Disney trivia. I didn't end up playing in that because I was watching John in the top eight um instead of playing the trivia that which would have been fun, but I was watching our friend in the top. Um, and there was speed puzzling, and there was um there was just a regular puzzle, just was sitting out for everybody to come kind of community build, but there was a speed puzzling contest as a side event. There was a design your own binder uh sponsored by Vault X. Um there's like a there's like a contest that's beginning. So there was a design your own binder contest, um, which I still think is going on, so you can uh look into that through Vault X, um which would be kind of interesting. Exciting, yeah. Uh but yeah, it was awesome. Uh the artists that were there, uh it was Brian Weitz's birthday um on Sunday, so we all sang him happy birthday. Um, so that was pretty fun. I got some cards signed and some cards altered uh with some art. So that was fun because Daryl uh really loves that pleakly card, so I got him an altered pleakly card that has a jumba uh drawn on it. And then um I got a Hei, uh the bodyguard Hey steel one, um, altered with another Hei Hei, like with him doing his like crazy scream face. Um because one of my favorite actors voices He Hey, and so I love all of the characters that are done by him. Like I my cat is named after one of the characters that he plays, so um, but it was it was an overall really, really great event. I ended up going three um three, three, one for the day, um, because there were seven uh rounds. Um that I was I actually went I tied in my first round, and so it kind of put me in a weird bracket for most of the day. Um and so it was I felt decent into most of my matchups. Um and then when we were playing side events, I I then I got paired into my worst matchup. So uh it was just mostly timing because the deck that I was playing was Amber Amethyst Control. Um and it takes a very long time to play it. Uh so I went to time every round, and that was frustrating because it wasn't just my side of things. That would be something that I wish I had advocated for myself more, and Daryl tell uh kept on saying, I told you so. Um, but he told me to advocate for myself for time more than I did. But it's it's one of those things that it's an awkward ask for a lore guide to come over when people are slow playing. Yeah. It's like I don't I don't want it to be disrespectful going against, but I know that my deck takes a long time, even if I'm not playing slow. Um they don't necessarily know how to play against it, and so they t like opponents typically take a lot longer. Um, and then there's just a lot of moving parts in the deck, so it does take slightly longer than it would take like an aggro deck or even a mid-range deck like I normally play. Um but I really enjoy Raging Storm because it reminds me so much of being able to play Be Prepared. Um my deck name was Rage Bait Uhaha for the weekend. So um I was able to play Raging Storm many, many times, except for in the match that I really needed to and didn't see it at all all game. Um and ended up losing that match because uh it was the only out I I could find that I really needed to do. I needed to reset the board. Um but I enjoy resetting the board and having a cauldron on board and being able to just fill it up to play out a bunch of characters again. Um But yeah, it's but it was a it was a really even though I don't feel like I played as well as I could have, I still felt like I played well. Um I was never like I never felt like I truly misplayed that much. I definitely made some misplays here and there, but there was never any games where I felt like a hundred percent out of control. And so like that felt nice. Yeah. Um but yeah, that's that's kind of what my weekend was like at the Glimmer Games. Um and what about you?

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Uh I did not play much Lorracana. Actually, I don't think I played. I played some. I I twiddled and fiddled with decks, getting ready for set champs this next month and trying to land on what I'm what I'm gonna play. And I've landed between either just sticking with Amber Steel or moving on to Amber Ruby, which our teammate uh Robert has done really well in at league the last couple weeks and has been kind of talking to me about uh what he's been doing and what he's teching for, uh, because we know that our local meta is just slightly different from uh the overall meta, uh the national meta. So there's not as much like there's not as many dogs running around here and that kind of thing. But other than that, Sunday I spent most of my morning in the grueling queues of fanfinity.com trying to get LCQ tickets. Uh I was frustrated at the very beginning because I got a message from you saying, like, hey, the queue has already started well before the time allotted, and I understand why they did it. Um, but communication should have happened widespread and not just in one spot. Uh thankfully, I was able to like, I was already logged in and my screen was already open and I was already sitting on my desk, so I was able to get into those queues fairly early and secure you and Daryl uh tickets for the LCQ, and then my FOMO kicked in and I was like, well, everybody else is going. Alex. Um basically I was like, you know, if we do this, this, and this, and not get instead of like buying each other stupid gifts that we don't really need anyway for our birthdays this summer, let's go to the LCQ together. So we agreed to do that. So he's going as an attendee, and I have committed myself to participating in the LCQ because I did enjoy playing at the DLC and being more competitive. So I know that I'll be locking in a lot more this summer, which is great, but also not great because then I realized, oh, we're doing that really fun event as a team where I had to play a deck that I have no control over what I'm playing. So but also maybe that might help me think of something else to play and think critically about the game a little bit better. Um, so I'm excited still for that event. But yeah, I'm coming off um another kind of long break of Lorcana and League and not going as much just because life has gotten the way again and um we're dealing with some personal family health issues on top of my already my own health issues. So it's been it's been rough out there, y'all. And if I haven't been on as much with the podcast and on Instagram, that is why I'm not going anywhere. I'm not planning to leave Lorcana or do anything. I just needed a break. Um, and being okay with those breaks and being able to lean on Brittany and our team, who have been so amazing with filling in the spots where I need um I need podcast co-hosts to fill in have been wonderful. I've loved being able to edit those episodes when I've heard Tony on was great, and having Mikey on. You guys' um episode with Mikey was so enlightening and like way more competitive deep talk than I think you and I ever get into. Um which is cool because I love Mikey's brain. I think it works so much. It's I think it works very competitively, but it also works very like creatively, and it's not um meta talk, which is really nice. He loves his emerald amethyst colors and kind of making that work, which is so fun to see. Um, but I am I am looking forward to doing some set champs. I'm probably not gonna do a ton of them, but I do want to do the one at our home store. Um, and then maybe one more, maybe two more. We'll see. But um, I am excited and looking forward to it. And then Alex and I have been testing, he's still on his blurple nonsense, and he did get in his graded Merlin Epic cart. He's so mad because they got graded a nine, and he's like, This is actually a slap in the face. Why is it a nine? That's so funny. Um, but he he's like, I'm gonna find a gold chain and I'm just gonna show up to League randomly, just with it around my neck. And I was like, you go, I love it. So I'm excited that he's loving playing um his blurbable nonsense again. And I've been picking his brain a little bit more and um other brains of our teammates on blurble and how to kind of like go through that because I figured out purple steel, um, and now I kind of want to figure out how blurble works and how to combat it. So we'll see. But yeah, I'm I'm looking forward to the LCQ. It's there's like half over half of our team are going in some form or capacity. There's a lot of people going with spouses. Um, there's a lot of people going with their spouse as an attendee. Um, Robert's wife is coming and she's a really good friend of ours, and I love that she just wants to come like see what it's all about. And also because Disneyland is right there. So, like, who can blame her? I did say I was like, you know, to be able to afford to go, I cannot go to Disneyland this time around, which is fine. I don't think we'll have much time anyways with us leaving Thursday, coming home Sunday night, but um Yeah, we're and it we're we are able to figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

We're doing Wednesday night drive, go to Disneyland on Thursday, play LCQ on Friday, and then hopefully be it be in the um it'll be fun because in the main event on Zoom.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

We'll be there again. And I was telling um Amy, like it's just so cool to watch everybody who from Arizona make it to nationals and watch them play in nationals. Um and I know Dave secured his spot already, so we'll get to see Dave and watch him play. And Eddie from Arizona and his um he's got two qualifiers, I think. Andy is qualified, like it's just gonna be a really cool time to watch them all play in nationals, and then whoever makes it from the LCQ pod, see if Daryl can do it two row two years in a row, two for two. That'd be that would be awesome. I um but I'm looking forward to it. And I keep telling myself, like, it's okay that I'm not going to Disneyland. I'm gonna do all of like the downtown Disney and do my events, but I am I am very happy Alex is coming with me this time because I have missed him at these events. Um and going with all of our friends will be a ton of fun and all of our team. And then we are still planning on going to Disneyland next year with the girls, and I'm like, that's okay. I'd rather go to Disneyland with the girls and all of us as a big group than go to Disneyland this time. It's fine. It's fine.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Yeah, I I just want to do the quest in the park um event, and so like that's why we're gonna do that on Thursday. Um, I know last time we went to Disneyland on Sunday. Um and so I um I will definitely uh be tired from playing the LCQ because I don't Disney in a small way. Um, but I I'm super excited to do Disney with all the other content creators and possibly like um do some of the events with them. Um love to get a muses sticker in the promo pack with them um and do some fun things like that. Um so that's what I'm kind of looking forward to for that. Um and then yeah, so that I'm excited for I have no idea where the meta is gonna be like that. Like that, that's that's so much, that's so much time from now, right? That's two, that's two sets away. Um so I know you were saying how we're as a team, we're doing a silly, silly thing for Wilds Unknown. Um we're going into the Wilds Unknown. And um a few of us are, I think there's eight of us, eight or nine of us, that are deciding, hey, we're gonna roll a dice and randomly play ink combinations for this next upcoming set. Um, because we're gonna be wild and have fun playing the game um in a unique way this time. Uh and then try to make those decks as competitive as possible because none of us are uh ready to just play casual. Uh and so I mean I don't say none of us, but I know the people that are signed up definitely want to make the decks as competitive as possible, even with the random ink pairings. Uh, but it'll be kind of fun. Um speaking of kind of a casual thing before we head into set chance, uh, one of the local stores here is putting on a tournament this weekend, like a franchise tournament, and they're putting up enchanteds as prizing and things like that. So they're taking it pretty seriously. But it's an infinity and franchise tournament. Um, and so I've been like toying around with some deck building for uh some franchise decks. Uh and I think I've settled it on Mulan. Uh I think I really like some of the card options there. But you're able to use franchise item uh franchise cards and then you're allowed to use the Lorcana realm cards. Yeah. Yeah. So you're able to, you know, use Snowfort, you're able to use uh Ink Geyser, you're able to use Chromicons. Um Chromecons. Yeah. So I'm really excited to see what people are gonna bring and build up. Like I'm hoping I don't just run into everything that is um frozen because honestly, like that deck is m meta-worthy almost, but like where it's at, um, if you're doing it as a theme deck. So I'm hoping we see a little bit more creativity past that. Like I would love to see a Lion King deck, or um but we'll see. And I'm and I'm not even making the Lion King deck, and I was like, oh, I could play Mufasa again, but and then I'm like, but how good would it be when it's the only thing you can do? I was like, if Mufasa hits a one-drop simba, I would be really sad. So I was like, I don't think there's I was like, I don't think there's enough cards for me to feel comfortable putting that deck together for Lion King. Um but especially with the Mufasa effect, I it wouldn't work. But it would be then be able to play blue fasa with Mufasa, right? Uh but I don't know. I was had fun kind of spitballing some different things. You could do a DuckTales deck, you could do a Rescue Rangers desk deck, um, and all of those actually look like they'd be relatively competitive. Um I was sadly told that I couldn't do a Mickey and Friends deck unless it was really, really specific which which iterations they were, and so aside, because that's the last theme deck because I did I did franchise, which is Mickey and Friends. And so I was able to use all of them. Um but I understand I need to expand my horizons. Um and I I don't know what at all I'm going to be playing for set chance. I really liked the Amber Amethyst deck um that I played, but our local meta it doesn't play as well into. It's it's um so I feel like it's not the best choice for what where what we see here. Um Yeah. But I am determined to get a playmat this time. So because I really, really, really like it. And it's like the it's like the first one since the Ursula mat that I actually literally want. I know I keep choking with Robert.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

I'm like, alright, after you get your mat, then you have to get me. And Matt.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Yeah. So um, but yeah, I I'm hoping that I mean the goal is just always top eight to get the card so I can keep up my stretch of getting one from every set. But I definitely want to win so I can have the playmat.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

So no, I definitely want the card at the very least. And then I'd I would buy the mat off somebody because it's just gorgeous and I love her so much. Um my very best friends got me the giant Tinkerbell fairy card, and now it's hanging up in my house. Oh, interesting. Those people sound awesome. They do sound awesome. But yeah, it's between um our two Lorcana banners because Alex and I have um sapphire and steel banner, because those are our favorite ink colors. Um then I realized when I was hanging in, I'm like, oh, it's also giant fairy tink. I I really went from like not loving Tinkerbell at all as a character before Lorcana to like she's one of my favorite characters now.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

I mean, that's how I feel about Goofy. Like, like such it's such a random thing. Like he was never not a favorite, like I just disliked him, but he was just never on my list of favorites. And now he's like my top favorite. Let's go Tinkerbell. Lorcana. So and then Tinkerbell was a favorite. Welcome on. I won it so badly.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

I am losing my mind. I well, we should start getting um spoilers for Wild's Unknown, I think next month. Um, unless they wait a little closer to the release day and then maybe towards the end of next month. But um I'm excited. I I would that money that they put super goof back in there between the mat being leaked that they're gonna they're uh not leaked because they announced that was definitely announced, yeah. No. I say leaked because like I like the of it all buttons.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

No, that one is definitely announced, and I it made me excited because I know that they've done c they've definitely done mats of cards that haven't been re-released. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

But um I'm hopeful that and with the super classification being added now.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Yeah. So I would love for them to re-add him and then give him the super classification um as a card. Uh so that would be an awesome change to his card um just to add the classification as they reprint him. Um because they have it already. Like it's already been um, it's already it's already in Lorcana as a classification. Um, and so it would be great to be able to play my enchanted again. Um, and uh I just love that card so much. I love Rush and I love um I love like lore bending and things like that. Um, but I just I love the versatility of him. And I definitely miss having a card that's that versatile.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Yeah. So I hope we see him. But uh even if we don't, I am looking forward to Pixar finally being here and getting to see all the Toy Story cards and getting to see all the incredibles. I think it's gonna be so much fun. Um and playing around with just everything over the summer with uh the event we're doing. I think we'll be a good time. I think it'll be a good um test to be able to make things that you're not comfortable with work and learn different ink pairings. And then I think it does prepare us a little bit for the LCQ because there's not much we can do as far as just keeping our brains sharp and keeping our brains on the game until we know what uh rotation will bring because the LCQ is not far after rotation. It is wild that it is like right after rotation. It's gonna be a very interesting room to play in.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Yeah, no, I I think it's I think it's gonna be definitely wild to see where where the meta is gonna take us, right? Yeah. Um I think that all the tournaments that we saw this weekend, um, everything was different. I would the room that I was in over for the CCQ was so diverse. Like, yes, there was a lot of blurb, but um the top cut was super diverse. Like there was two sapphire amber, there was um, there was an emerald amethyst, there was two saf two um amethyst steel, but they were vastly different. There was a few amber emeralds, but they weren't all dog decks. And so like it was just such a wide variety, and then there was the amber amethyst and things like that where it's I love where we're at because it's not just a one-deck show. Um, and I think that that we're just in a wild meta already, and we don't even know what's coming next. So I I love that, and I love that we're doing that going into set champs because I think that that's gonna make set championships so much more fun, like just not being not playing the same decks all the time.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

No, I agree. So I am I am looking forward to April. I was really shocked of March not having as many tournaments as there normally are uh in between set release and set championships. Um, but it was also like I wouldn't have been able to play in most of them anyway, so that was kind of a nice needed break. I'm looking forward to hearing about how the franchise tournament goes, and I hope it sounds like um North Phoenix Gamers Guild is also bringing back their theme nights, which is cool. And I know they did other things kind of unique to play styles, and I just I'm glad that like the creativity is coming back in Lorcana and people are thinking of new ways to play it and and to have fun with it and do theme nights again.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Yeah. So that's that's my goal is like new theme nights and have such a hands come out really well and just be able to, you know, love Lorcana and balance it with life in a way that just feels comfortable. Um and yeah, that's kind of where what I'm thinking moving forward. And with that, happy questing!

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Happy questing. Thanks for tuning in to the Lorcana Muses. If you like today's episode, be sure to follow us on social media. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Blue Sky at the Lorcana Muses, and on X at Larcana Muses Pod. If you want to work the team, check out our official merch over on Fourthwall. We've got lore books, t-shirts, mats, viper sleeves, stickers, pins, and more. You can find it at the hyphen Lurcana Museshop.forthwall.com. And big news, we're now proud Vault X ambassadors. We've trusted Vault X to keep our collection safe since day one, and now you can too. Head to their site and use code Lurcana Muses for 10% off your order. No space between Lurcana and Muses. Until next time, remember to drink water, take breaks, keep questing, and keep staying true to yourself.