Winterspell Set Championship @ Four Horsemen Comics and Gaming Lorcana Top Decks Winterspell Set Championship top decks by Four Horsemen Comics and Gaming, featuring 40 players that took place on 2026-04-11.

And as always, here's a link to the event: inkdecks.com/lorcana-tour...
Notes:
Rd1 opp in 9th
Rd3 opp in 12th
Rd5 opp in 15th
Rd6 opp in 14th
Top 8 opp in 2nd

I believe I could have had a much stronger shot in my top 8 match if I hadn't wasted a week and a half trying other decks leading upto the night before. Had I practiced my own list a little more and known my cards a little better, I would have been more advantaged all day.

Finally, this event confirms what I heard in the MTG community for years...playing what you know is far superior to playing what you think is best, unless you are extremely skilled with it.

Second, it was great to see a couple other local players who attend consistently (and whom I believe are fantastic players) both make the top 8 as well, with one of them winning it all!

This put me in 7th overall with a lot of lessons learned.

First of all, I'm super happy with this result! It's nice to see some consistency from myself in the game, and it confirms to me that my previous win wasn't just a fluke.

After the match, another player (my finals opp from the previous set champs) pointed out that if I had quested my last turn with Cindy, I could have let him tuck her with Hades and he wouldn't have gotten the win on his turn, leaving the win for me on my next turn with Tamatoa.

I told him I had to make him draw it, because Cindy going to the bottom literally kept me off winning, and he had enough on board to win his next turn. He drew 2, played another Doc, quested for 4, and won with a Giant Cobra.

He drew, played a Doc and drew into 5-drop Hades. He played it and targeted Tamatoa. At this point, we were the last match left, and everyone watching yelled "Tamatoa has Ward." I acknowledged that I had missed this and he opted to target Cindy to keep me off the last lore.

I quested to 17 with Moana, leaving Cindy back with Tamatoa. I didn't think he'd be able to deal with both, and figured if he dealt with one and Moana, I could use the other to finish clearing his board. I had to make him draw an answer.

If I quested with Moana and Cindy, I could lose both of them and he'd still gain 4 lore (he had Calhoun). I'd get to 18, but if he could deal with Tamatoa, he'd win after I played whatever one card I drew.

G3 was even closer and came down to a misplay I had on my last turn. He was @ 14 and had 4 characters that could quest up to 18. I started the turn @ 15 with no cards and had Cinderella and Moana on board. I drew and played Tamatoa.

G2 was close. At one point, he stated he didn't know why I looked so stressed because I clearly had a stronger board state. I had 3 Hades on the field, had tucked my Black Cauldron, and had a Raging Storm in hand to his 2 characters and 3 cards in hand, so I didn't feel favored.

Not knowing what he was on, while also being on the draw, I felt greatly disadvantaged. He aggro'd me out while I tried to control the board, but didn't hit enough of the right things to do so. I think I would have been able to make better choices on DYBs and Visions had I known.

Opp was extremely focused the entire game, which I know puts people off sometimes. As for the match itself, it was extremely close and I had a ton of fun! G1 I wasn't sure what he was on (thanking my slow deck here for not giving me time to look around during rounds).

My top 8 match was against someone who I've seen a ton, but I'm not sure I've ever played. I've heard one (not great) local player suggest that this guy does well because he cheats, but I watched extremely closely, and I didn't see anything that suggested this.

All of that said, I'm still getting used to navigating the upper end of brackets in tournaments, and I'm not entirely sure I would have felt right morally doing this, so I was just happy to make the top 8 at all.

Opp had already suggested that she did not feel favored against me, so I don't think she would have opted to play unless her husband told her what I was doing and asked her to do so to keep me in a lower seed (not sure he would have actually done this).

While I was just happy to make my second top 8, looking back, I realize an ID was the worst way for me to make top 8, as it locked me in 7th and put me on the draw. Had I wanted to push the issue, I could have refused the ID, trying to force opp into conceding.

She said she had had her fun, and as long as he got a foil promo, she didn't care to keep playing. Because he was at Table 3, he was able to ID into the top 8. Once she realized this, she offered an ID and I accepted. While I wasn't sure how to feel, I have had some realizations.

Round 6 was odd to me, as the top 3 tables were all able to ID. I was the lowest ranked player with 12 points, and my opp had 9 points (as did many others). I knew I was in if I won or if we drew. Before our match, she said if her husband made top 8, she didn't want to.

G3 started with 5 min left in round and I kept a hand with mostly 1 and 2-drops to aggro him out. I believe he tried to do the same, but overall he had less low drop characters. I ended up winning with 2 min left on the clock.

Round 5 was against someone new to the shop, but he knew his stuff. He was on another variation of 🟡🔵 that played no Moanas and 4 ward Scuttle. G1 he stumbled to my advantage. G2 I stumbled and he had 2+ Scuttle.

Round 4 was against a shop regular. She's been on 🟢🔵 Control since Set 10 and knows the deck well. G1 I controled her board and turned the corner before she ever got her footing. G2 she Ink Geyser'd and we picked up ~15 cards. We went back and forth, but I got there in the end.

Round 3 was someone I've seen before at set champs, but never played. I believe he is one of the players that comes down from Pittsburgh, and that group tends to have good players. His deck was a brew based around The Horned King, but I was able to control more than he aggro'd.

Round 2 was against a small child. The family was there for fun, and I honestly felt bad playing against her. She spent the entire match ignoring my board and simply questing, and did get close G2, but just could get there without interacting with my board.

Round 1 was vs a regular who is a pretty good player. He was on a challenger slanted version of 🟣⚪️ and my deck struggled. G1 I missed 2-drop ramp and never caught back up. G2 I had ramp but nothing to do with it. By the time I drew anything, I couldn't quite stop the loss.

That being said, here were my matchups:

Rd1 OTP vs 🟣⚪ 💀💀
Rd2 OTP vs 🔴🔵 👑👑
Rd3 OTD vs 🟡🟣 👑👑
Rd4 OTP vs 🟢🔵 👑👑
Rd5 OTD vs 🟡🔵 👑💀👑
Rd6 vs ? ID (Opp did not want to make top 8)
Top 8 OTD vs 🟣⚪ 💀👑💀

As of today, this decklist is 41 days old. Over the season, I tried different variants and tested a few different decks as I thought this was getting worse as the season went on. Friday evening, I couldn't make a decision though, and ended up deciding on familiarity over tech.

Didn't get to post from the core constructed weekend league I attended two weeks ago, but yesterday was our LGS's Winterspell Set Champs and the results are in!

We locked our second top 8, finishing in 7th place out of 40 players! Below is the decklist, which probably looks familiar.

I want to finish with a note about my local community. It has been great to see so many people improve at the rate that they have. I'm genuinely excited to play against so many people within our community, and I feel like it really does help me get better every league event!