Whether you’re one of those players seen at every Shonen Jump Championship, a beginner who’s new to dueling, or somewhere in between, your most rewarding play experiences are probably going to be at some sort of organized event. Trading card games are all about connecting with other people to trade and play, and Upper Deck Entertainment offers varied levels of competition, so you can select the kind of experience you want to meet new friends, make new rivals, and win some prizes. UDE manages what’s called an “Organized Play Program,” a long-term plan consisting of different types of events at different levels of competition. No matter how seriously you take your dueling hobby, odds are good that at least some Organized Play (OP) events will be of interest to you.
Even if you’ve been familiar with the OP events Upper Deck currently supports, each year things expand a bit and existing programs get even better. This week, I’m going to look into the events being offered in your area on a local level, and talk about what you can experience there. If you’ve missed out on these programs, perhaps we can persuade you to check them out in person.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Hobby League
Hobby Leagues are the most casual and flexible events run under the current Organized Play model. They’re intended as an ideal introduction to the game for new players, and a low-pressure respite from major tournaments for experienced players. They’re a great place to hang out, test new decks, and mess around with friends. Since hobby leagues aren’t focused on intense competition, they also tend to attract collectors more easily than competitive tournaments, so they can be a great opportunity to make good trades. After all, it’s easier to haggle with someone when you’re not worried about missing the start time for your next round.
When a local store owner decides to run a Hobby League they usually schedule it as a weekly event. They receive a support kit to help them run the League and reward their players, which usually consists of a few different items. All of these are unique to the Hobby League kits:
T-Shirts: Hobby League kits usually ship with one or two Champion t-shirts, to be used as an incentive for truly outstanding league participation. These are cool to earn, and you’ll often see people wearing them at bigger events.
Playmat: Most Hobby League kits come with a good-looking foam rubber playmat, bearing a design unique to the Hobby League season. These are always highly coveted by the league participants.
Deck Boxes: Hobby League kits always come with a bunch of foldable Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG deck boxes. They’re a great way to keep extra cards safe and a lightweight method of transporting your deck securely. These are frequently used as participation prizes, since there are a lot more of them in the kit than there are play mats or shirts. Personally, I really like them.
Ultra Rare Parallel Rare Promos: These are what people always want! By playing in a Hobby League, you can get exclusive promo cards that aren’t given out anywhere else, and they’ve even got their own rarity. Ultra Rare Parallel Rares have gold foil name text just like Ultra Rares, but they also have a full-foil finish that covers the entire front of the card. They’re generally quite playable too: past promos have included Giant Rat, Heavy Storm, Sangan, and many more topnotch cards. They look great.
It’s up to the operator of the Hobby League (usually the store owner or manager) to decide how prizes are given out. Prize distribution can vary, but you’ll usually get at least a promo card just for signing up. From there, the League might be run in the format of small weekly tournaments, or you might earn points for playing other duelists and earn rewards that way. If you’re interested in finding out how your local Hobby League is run, you can always call the store and ask—the manager will be happy to explain how the League operates. You can search for Hobby League locations in your area right here, and you’ll find the store’s phone number with its listing. If you’re lucky, you might even have more than one hobby league in your area. Head on over, check them out a few times, and see what you think.
Sanctioned Local Tournaments
Stepping up a level from Hobby Leagues are local-level sanctioned tournaments. While Hobby Leagues are usually free or require a nominal cost to join, you’ll need to spend a bit more at a sanctioned tournament—you should expect to pay anywhere between three to ten dollars to enter. What are you going to get for that extra dough?
First, as the name implies, these tournaments are sanctioned. That means your wins and losses will contribute to your overall ranking in your city, state, and country, as well as your global rating. A high ranking can mean more than just bragging rights or a sense of personal accomplishment—it gives you a new way to enjoy dueling competition (it’s fun to watch your ranking grow over time!) and it can even earn you an invitation to your country’s National Championships. Some Hobby Leagues might also contribute to your ranking, but many do not. Every sanctioned local tournament, however, will give you a chance to earn more points and improve your rating.
In addition to sanctioning, local tournaments offer unique prizes you can’t get anywhere else. Previously, this meant Tournament Packs—limited edition boosters of three cards each that have a mix of new cards and popular reprints. However, looming on the horizon is a much better replacement—Champion Packs! Champion Packs are similar—they also contain three cards, and you can only get them as a reward for competing in local-level tournaments. However, unlike the Tournament Packs, Champion Packs are filled with popular (and sometimes very rare or expensive) cards that are proven tournament-winning material. They’ll be a great source of playable cards for your deck or trade binder, and many cards reprinted in Champion Packs as Super Rares have never been available as holos before. That gives you foil-freaks yet another option for shining up your decks.
You’ll still get unreleased cards, too—the first Ultra Rare in a Champion Pack will be Satellite Cannon, a powerful monster that’s never been printed before in North America. If this trend continues, expect to see some eagerly-awaited Japanese promos made available through your local tournaments.
If you’ve played in locals a bit and have cracked a few Tournament Packs yourself, perhaps you remember how hard it could be to pull a Super Rare or Ultra Rare. Even Rares were pretty difficult to find sometimes! Champion Packs are different, and their rarities will be much closer to the spread you’ve become accustomed to in regular booster packs. Every pack will contain at least a rare, and the hyper-desirable Ultra Rare of each Champion Pack set will be easier to get than those from Tournament Packs. That means that you’ll get better, more valuable cards more often than you used to.
It’s up to the store’s Tournament Organizer to determine how the Champion Packs get divvied up. They might choose to give one pack to each participant, reserve a stack of boosters for the winner, or a combination of both. Either way, Champion Packs are being made available to retailers at a lower cost than the Tournament Packs, so you can expect to get more Champion Packs for your efforts.
You should keep your eyes open for other prizes as well. Lots of stores offer cash, store credit, game systems, and other prizes as an inducement to play, especially at bigger events.
Ultimately, the level and quality of local level play depends a lot on the players! Patronize your local stores and see what they have to offer—remember, when you turn out to support your local stores, participate in Hobby Leagues, and make the tournaments a success, you increase the likelihood that those stores will sponsor more frequent, bigger, and better tournaments. Don’t be afraid to lend a hand with judging or organizing, too! Local events might not seem as impressive as Regionals or Shonen Jump events, but they maintain the health and strength of an area’s player population.
Next week, I’m going to look over events on the next level—ones that you’ll often have to travel to—and find higher stakes, more players, and bigger prizes. Make sure you come back for that—I’ll be expecting you!