Made a long flexslot article on my performance with UW Lotus and the reasoning behind my deckbuilding choices. Hope it is a good read and answers questions a lot of people have!

Final update: 7-1-1 This is probably my last RC before I take an extended break from MTG so I am happy I ended it on a good day 1. 2-0 Charbelcher 2-1 Breach 2-0 Eldrazi 1-2 Hammertime 2-1 Breach 2-0 Eldrazi 2-0 Boros 1-1 Breach 2-0 Boros

Currently 6-1, locked for day 2. 2-0 Charbelcher 2-1 Breach 2-0 Eldrazi 1-2 Hammertime 2-1 Breach 2-0 Eldrazi 2-0 Boros

Currently 3-0 2-0 Charbelcher 2-1 Breach 2-0 Eldrazi Deck is carrying me.

I know I am crazy for playing RC Portland right before PT Chicago… Here is my decklist.

@doomdg_mtg I don’t remember this happening in Canada. Could it be another region?

RT @FaceToFaceGames: 🏆WU there it is!🏆 Team Patrick Wu triumphs at F2F Tour Montreal Event Recap: Event Album: ht…

@13_Phoenix_ Yes, it is very relevant against the aggro matchups and it is a great blocker. It amplifies the total lifegain in the deck with Seed of Hope.

@lin2904 Seemed like it was very unfavored for me. Although, I got some pretty lucky hands both times and was able to keep up quickly. They were all still very close games.

RT @mtgbentcard: Made top 4 of the @FaceToFaceGames Tour Team Trios event in Montreal with @GuI_Dukat & @GriffinMTGs! Shoutouts to Patrick…

RT @stefanocanclin1: I won the @Aspiringspike tournament with @bb155lm /@IsThatTrueHero 's UW deck. If you want to beat Boros Energy, thi…

Yes but what I mean is that most individual games similar to MTG like: Poker, Chess, Tennis, Boxing, etc don't have regional restrictions because they ultimately depend on skill at the highest level. There are various reasons as to why there are regional restrictions for team games and they are mostly all valid but the same reasons cannot be applied for individual games.

But that's a team game that you just compared. You recognize the team more, not the player. The better comparison would be Poker. Anyone can play in any worldwide Poker event. There are no regional restrictions. You don't say USA won the WSOP. You say the player. Just like how you would say Javier Dominguez won Worlds 2024, not Spain. The similarity is that both games, Poker and MTG have high variance and to overcome that variance, you need to sometimes play A LOT more. As a result, you should allow players to play more, not less.

@Napoleon_MtG It is not the highest level if you restrict players from competing.

Those are all team games and restrictions make sense in team games for various reasons. Look at every other individual game and you will see they have few or no REGIONAL restrictions at the highest level of play. Reason is simple. You are ultimately representing yourself in an individual game, not a group or country. Region doesn't matter. Skill does. Your accomplishments in MTG affect only you and it should be up to the player to decide how much they want to actually play competitively. Poker Chess Tennis are three examples that have very few/no restrictions at the highest level.

@KazistrasZ So as a player, we have 0 influence on how WotC determined what REGIONAL means. Why is US/Canada not combined while the EU is when some players in Canada are closer to some US RCs than Canadian ones? How is it greedy to give players more choices to play competitively?

You are right, I wasn't playing during the GPs. Though, I personally wouldn't do the grind even if I could. I do agree with you, that is not appealling to me at all. I do have a personal limit for MTG play which may be higher/lower than others. But my personal limit shouldn't restrict others that do want to play more. It wouldn't bother me at all if someone played all RCs in the world and I only chose to do two just like how it doesn't bother me that some people choose to play MTGO or attend MagicCon opens and I don't.

But that's my point. The "grind" is subjective to each individual player. Some people want to do the grind and some people don't. What you might see as a soul-crushing experience might not be to someone else. There is nothing wrong with that. People should be allowed to have choices with how many events they want to play. I surely don't attend every SCGCon or every F2FTour even though I can. I don't even play MTGO even though I know I should because I hate the UI. Some people want to play more competitively than others and that is only natural.

No offense taken, it is exactly that. I would if I could. In my case, I couldn't attend Calgary anyways because of personal reasons. That said, restricting people from playing multiple RCs doesn't benefit people that aren't well off either though. You still have to perform at the RC. You still have to win. It doesn't guarantee a PT invite. For most players, competitive MTG is a net loss. It is wishful thinking to assume that competitive MTG is positive EV for competitors. It is not and never will be but for some players, the ambition to play and win outweighs the financial costs of playing competitively. This shouldn't be actively discouraged.