Disney Lorcana Challenge Toronto Recap
Josh and I (and a bunch of other East Coasters) went to the Disney Lorcana Challenge this weekend in Toronto. It was also Josh’s birthday and our anniversary! We left for Toronto early Friday morning and flew back late Sunday night. Toronto is a good three day city for us, so here is my recap of the weekend, some cool things we saw and did, some recommendations for food, and things to know about going to a bigger event!
Day 1: Friday, August 23rd.
We got up and left super early in the morning. It’s always nice to travel in the morning because then the travel is all done early. Toronto for us is a short flight, all things considered, and thus we were not burnt out and jet-lagged when we got there.
Arriving early allows you to get a general lay-of-the-land including how long it takes you to get from where you are staying to the venue and where food or coffee places might be. If you’re traveling far (like crossing multiple time zones) you should arrive a day or two earlier to get over the jet lag. You don’t want to go into an event all messed up in terms of sleep and time. Toronto is a one hour time difference for us, so not that big of a deal.
When we got to the airport we both had only carry-on luggage which makes getting on the plane easier and less stressful (I wouldn’t know what to do if my luggage didn’t get here.) I was not expecting the plane to be so small it could be a toy! My carry-on (which is a small hard shell suitcase but still carry on size) seemed possibly too large for the plane, so I checked it as carry on checked luggage. I got on the plane though and realized there was plenty of space, and I probably could have made it work.
Lesson learned. Try to fit the luggage on the plane first, I could have always brought it back if it didn’t fit.
When we got to Toronto we wandered around for a bit, had an awesome lunch at Terroni, which was an amazing Italian restaurant on Queen West. After that, we walked back to the venue and did some shopping along the way. Josh wanted to check out the Silver Snail, which is a comic shop that has been around in Toronto for a long time. He had good things to say about it, namely that whomever is curating the collection has good taste and clearly cares about it. If you’re in Toronto and like comics, go check it out!
Bite (a lipstick company) had a design your own lipstick store. They were too busy for walk-ins otherwise I would have been all over that. We also found a cool shoe place that has Canadian designed shoes that are handmade. They were very neat and very retro in feeling. They ship, so I just might have to buy some…
Next we went to the game stores. As a general thing about games stores in Toronto, I was a little disappointed by the singles shopping. I guess I had not realized how much things have changed since 2020. Most stores have their singles collections online and don’t offer much to buy in store as far as singles go (there are some, but it is limited). Here is a lesson for you as well! First off, never head to an event without all your cards. If you are looking to pick up cards you need from a vendor or LGS you are taking a risk you wont get them. If you are looking for upgrades or alternate art cards for your deck, order them before hand. If you are ordering them from an LGS you could probably opt for in store pick up, just make sure the dates all match up so you get them before the event! Some were warning us it might take a couple days to fulfill the order.
Check In
We got to the venue for check in about an hour or so after it opened. I have nothing but good things to say about the event staff for ProPlay Games. They were all energetic, happy, excitable, knowledgeable, and helpful. Everything went smoothly, and we were checked in and in the side events room in less than 5 minutes. They did not have the promo promised for the early check in, but they did provide two older promos for early check in and promised the Kristoff promo during the event on Saturday. That was very nice of them and I really appreciated that they went the extra mile here.
As far as side events go they offered a small variety of things, but they did fill up days before the event (at least the ones on Friday did). For on demand events they had Pack Rush. You buy two packs, then open them and shuffle them together to make a deck. The advertisement cards start in your ink pool as ink, which means you started the game with two ink! It was a fun way to kill time, but I’ll admit I wished they had on demand constructed. It would have been nice to get some practice in the day before.
Prizing was communicated well, so was structure and the judges were great at making sure everyone knew what was going on. It was also possible to get one of the promo cards if you were willing to do enough events (and Josh and I worked together!) We cashed in our tickets for a Rapunzel!
My only real feedback was that there were no on demand constructed events for Friday, and everything through the event company was in USD. Since the event was in Canada it would have been nice for the local currency to have been used so I knew what I was spending.
Saturday, August 24th: The Event!
First off, I did not go in with high expectations of myself. I played Steel Song (see my breakdown of how to play Steel Song here!). The event ran smoothly, no bugs/crashes, and everything from the players perspective seemed smooth. The East Coast crew all got together for pictures, then we went off to play the first round.
First round I played… I can’t remember what I played… but I remember my opponent was very nice! We each won one game.
Round two I played Ruby/Sapphire items. I was worried about this match but I still won one game. This put me to 6 points in total.
I had already passed my goal, which was to do better than I did in Atlanta! Round three I played an awesome woman who was playing Emerald/Ruby. She had a great deck (and an awesome Disney bag) and was super fun! I won the match, which gave me 7 points! Now I was at 13 points.
That is when I started to get excited. Josh had been chosen for a feature match (but was the back up match). Winning a match made me feel great, and if I got 7 more points I would have enough prize tickets for another Rapunzel!
Round four I played the mirror match, and I did very well! I won both games and got the 7 points I needed for the Rapunzel!
And then I kept winning! The next match I was the back up stream match (I was so nervous). My opponent was amazing and so fun to play with! Josh even conceded his match to watch me! I felt very loved by that!
I won match five and six. Match seven I was actually on camera, and it was the only match I lost all day! Match 8 was a mirror match and I won thanks to Perdita bringing back Piglet!!!
Before round nine me, Josh and Connor were trying to figure out if I had enough points to draw into day two. They thought it would be close, but Josh encouraged me to offer the intentional split. My opponent accepted it, and we drew putting my total at 44 points.
An hour later I was texted by Josh C, and Josh (my husband) both telling me I came in 54th place! I was so happy I couldn’t stop crying!
Sunday, August 25th: Day 2
Day two I couldn’t sleep, so I got up to go for a run at 6:30am. I got a lot of texts from people telling me they were happy and proud, and it made me so appreciative of the wonderful crew we have out East!
My first round of day two I was very nervous. I warned my opponent that I tend to cry at the drop of a hat when I’m overwhelmed (and I was!). My opponent was an amazing guy, very friendly and nice and a great player too. I had some AWFUL draws, and thinking back I think I know what I should have done differently, but hind sight is always 20/20. I’ll do a full recap later this week about how the deck played, and what I should have done differently!
I lost that round, and finished 60th place. I won a Let It Go, and Josh and I got an extra Rapunzel with my prize tickets.
I had an amazing time, and I am still crying when I think about what a great weekend it was! To the judge and tournament staff, thanks for a great event (and sorry I cried, I wasn’t sad or upset, just very overwhelmed and proud!). To the East Coasters, thanks for the love and support and excitement. And to Josh, thanks for testing with me, cheering me on, and being the best partner I could ask for!
I can’t wait to play more!
