6 Major Lessons I Learned At My First Competitive TCG Tournament (They Asked Me To Leave)

I've been playing video games since I was a kid, but competitive trading card games were almost entirely new to me when I signed up for a competitive tournament at my local game store. As such, I didn't really know what to expect, but the less-than-stellar experience definitely taught me a few lessons for my next event — if I ever feel brave enough to return, that is.

shares a lot of similarities with, though instead of aiming to reduce your opponent's life total you're building up your own supply of Ink, with the aim of reaching 20 Ink before your opponent(s). As a fairly new release from Ravensburger (first launching August 2023), I was in on the launch from day one, picking up tips online and building out a deck and strategy that felt right for me. After a few months of deck tweaks and practice with friends, I was ready for a tournament. Or at least, I thought I was. Here's what I learned.

The new Starter Decks for Disney Lorcana: Ursula's Return add new Sapphire/Steel and Amber/Amethyst cards to the popular trading card game.

Having only played with friends and watched others play online meant I missed out on key etiquette for competitive TCG play. My Round 1 opponent patiently explained what "" was as we swapped decks and sliced them in half. He was also very kind in offering me one of his (many) dice when I realized I hadn't brought enough damage counters to tolerate his barrage of attacks, and he also insisted on shaking hands when we were done.

While not knowing the very basics of polite play in a competitive TCG certainly wasn't the end of the world, I do feel it undermined me as a competitive player. When we sat down and I didn't know the etiquette, I gave off a clear sign to my opponent that I wasn't going to be serious competition for him. From that very moment, I wasn't to be taken seriously. Lesson learned: next time, I'll be the one offering the dice.

At the time of the tournament I had a nicely refined Amber/Amethyst deck which I was quite proud