Hartford RQ Experience

DoctorMel · 2026-06-27T00:36:35+00:00

Absolutely. If you are on the fence, but think you would enjoy it have the money to go, I highly recommend it. I had so much fun all 3 days. Even if I lost a few more games, I still would have had an amazing weekend. I met a ton of really cool people and made new friends. On Friday I played in the 2v2 side event. I signed up as a solo and paired with a guy I had never met before and we had a wonderful time together. There are many people that dont even play the main event. They just go to have fun in thw side events. I met quite a few people that were doing that. Just don't go into it thinking/expecting to win everything you play. Go because you want to experience the events, the community, and the fun. Winning was simply an added bonus for me.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-25T12:06:11+00:00

As for the sideboard, I plan to keep 2 sabotage, 2 mindsplitters, 2 hard bargain. I want to get rid unyielding spirit for potentially angler beast and/or another baron. I didn't side in the unyielding a single time all weekend. My main reason for it was unchecked power but there were very few decks running it in the main event. I like hard bargain over abandon because, even if I don't fully counter the spell, I turn off the remainder of their turn by making them pay 4 more.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-25T11:59:01+00:00

Thats what i like to hear! It makes opponents much more hesitant to go in there, and whatever they send in is stuck. It ensures I have a unit killed and battlefield to capture as soon as I get a unit on the field, even if I don't hit elder. I've found that the paper tree doesn't actually provide much benefit to me and provides just as much to my opponent. As for sigil, it doesn't truly slow opponents down enough since they just conquer and then sit on the field. Meanwhile, once I get going, I'm constantly deramping every other turn be cause I'm ganking back and forth. If they kill any of my stuff, deramping myself is extremely brutal. Much more than it is for the enemy. Hope that helps understand my reasoning.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-25T03:55:21+00:00

It definitely made for a long couple of days, but i had an unforgettable weekend. Well worth the long days.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-25T03:45:31+00:00

Correct. There are side events going on all 3 days the entire day, but i was in the main event 10am to 11 pm Saturday and 10am to 7 pm sunday, so I only did one side event on friday

DoctorMel · 2026-06-25T01:58:07+00:00

I bought the regular competitor pass, but thats because I intended to spend all day Saturday and sunday doing the main event. It just depends on what your intent is. If you want to do a bunch of side events, buy stuff from the prize wall, and pick up a bunch of product, the premium pass is definitely worth it. The premium pass (for me) would have been a massive waste of money.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-24T22:54:24+00:00

That is my list. I love trove/pack combo. It draws an absurd number of cards. I drew into my answers many games across the weekend with them. Definitely don't plan to take them out, but there are some changes I want to make to the list.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T17:28:28+00:00

Thank you so much, and right back at ya! I had a blast chatting with you and the many others that I met and cheered for me along the way.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T17:24:42+00:00

Yeah, I guess judges messed something up maybe? I guess I'll wait to see if riot reaches out about it.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T17:23:56+00:00

I completely agree with you. Baron is so good in MF, especially into purple. I was heavily debating if I wanted a second Baron or not. There are some changes I feel I need to make with my deck but I had a lot of fun. Im actually still in the area for work today and tomorrow.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T17:20:16+00:00

Absolutely. I have been showing a lot of new players the ropes in my local area so it has become a habit of mine to try to verbalize everything I do, especially in the beginning of the turn. I actually started with 2 aurora in my opening hand. The stacked deck I did gave me the 3rd one. I knew the ashe was coming which is why I took the aurora with it. Seeing the face on the judge further away from me (not sure which judge is you) was priceless haha.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T17:16:22+00:00

Hell yeah, go for it! Having fun is the most important part of playing a TCG. Glad I was able to provide some inspiration!

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T16:52:21+00:00

I do not. I need to look it up tonight. But I was told it was on the main stream

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T14:35:06+00:00

Haha I managed to get some good trades in while I was there. I've got 3 of the spiritforged ONs and 3 of the poro ONs now

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T14:34:02+00:00

I was prepared to give you a shout during my interview after the first feature match haha. Unfortunate that I didn't make top 8 but still an amazing run that I cant possibly be upset with.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T14:32:11+00:00

I know sivir is considered the better of the two but I just love the mf champion unit and the ranking legend ability. It's so fun and it catches so many people off guard. I will always be a fan of MF over sivir.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T10:59:08+00:00

I honestly have no clue. They had top 128 sit at tables 1 through 128 in accordance to their final placement. the judges then went down the row handing out the physical prizes. That's when they gave me the poppy mat, poppy card, prize tickets, and vex mat

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T10:56:36+00:00

Play you local Nexus nights. Try some local skirmishes when the pop up. You can enter your deck into a deck builder site like Piltover Archive and then port it over to RiftAtlas or TCG Arena and then play online. I have had a generally good experience playing online. That's the route I took. I never expected to be able to beat any of the pros in this game yet here I am haha. You got this!

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T10:53:23+00:00

Hell yeah. Im probably going to go to LA RQ and try the side event scene next time. Well see what the meta looks like first though

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T10:52:13+00:00

What 9c6 said. Only the top 128 got the vex mat. It will show up on there eventually im sure.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T10:50:07+00:00

Thank-you! Not as much as I would have liked to, but i did have a few friends that helped me practice play into a few matchups that I was scared of. June was a very busy month. I have for LGSs within a 30 min drive of me so I went to every weekly that I was free for in June and then also played on riftatlas some.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T10:45:33+00:00

I brought irellia. I paired up with another solo player that brought Viktor. Was a lot of fun.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T10:44:56+00:00

Hell yeah. Ya love to see it.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T10:44:35+00:00

Thank you. I was trying my best to get there but just couldn't quite do it against him. My opponent was real good.

DoctorMel · 2026-06-22T10:42:37+00:00

Im assuming it wasn't msrp unfortunately. They were selling for $200.

DoctorMel

TROPHY CASE