AXIZ won the “RAGE SHADOWVERSE PROTOUR CHAMPIONSHIP 23-24” (PTCS), a battle to determine the annual champion of the “Shadowverse” Pro League. In conjunction with this, the invited players for Shadowverse Invitational 2024 (hereinafter referred to as the “Invitational”), the highest invitation-only tournament in Shadowverse, to be held from March 2nd to 3rd, 2024 have been confirmed.
Inside, we cover a super chaotic roundtable discussion between Kazuki Tomoda, Rob, Thx｜Sakeman, and Riza! We asked the participating players and casters to passionately talk about their enthusiasm for the Invitational and the participating members from their respective perspectives.
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The content was, to put it mildly, “damn interesting,'' so I'm delivering it almost uncut! After reading this article, you'll definitely have more fun watching the Invitational!
The beginning of a fun roundtable discussion between “Shadow fanatics”.
◆Which tournament did you win the right to participate in the Invitational?
Kazuki Tomoda (hereinafter referred to as Tomoda):First of all, let's ask which tournaments Sakeman and Za have won the right to participate in the Invitational.
Riza player (hereinafter referred to as Riza):I won 3rd place at “Shadowverse Grand Master Finals 2024” (hereinafter referred to as GMF). It was my first experience streaming at GMF, and unlike normal tournaments, if you lose, it's over, so I was really nervous.
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GMF was BO3, so I'm a little worried that I'm not used to the BO5 format of the Invitational. Also, it's quite a long session, so I'm worried about whether I'll be able to concentrate.
Tomoda:The tension is a little different between ranked matches and tournaments. How long do you usually play ranked matches?
Riza:Basically, “all the time I'm awake.” I'm using Arcane Witch, but it doesn't matter if I win or lose, so I often just throw Emperor Golem to speed up the game (lol).
Thx｜Sakeman (hereinafter referred to as Sakeman):I earned the right to participate in the Invitational by winning “RAGE Shadowverse 2023 Winter” (hereinafter referred to as RAGE Winter), but after that I watched the stream about 30 times (lol).
Tomoda:You're looking at me a lot! (lol). Shio Tsushima, a member of Thx's team, is also confirmed to participate in the Invitational. Will he be practicing with you?
Sakeman:We've been practicing together for a while now. Although we are rivals on the day, we haven't talked about practicing separately at the moment. By the way, in RAGE Winter, I didn't have any stamina left in the third round, and I ended up making reflexive card selections that I learned through practice without thinking much about them, so the challenge for the Invitational is whether I can maintain my concentration. hey.
◆Who are the players to watch at the Invitational?
Tomoda:If I were to pick one professional player, I would pay attention to LVS｜Ryu. Even though he is the champion of “RAGE Shadowverse 2023 Spring”, he hasn't had many opportunities to see his performance at the Pro Tour this season, so I would love to see him do well at the Invitational. There have been cases of RAGE champions becoming professionals, but this is the first time that a RAGE champion becomes a professional RAGE champion, so I have high hopes for him.
Sakeman:The player I would like to mention is LVS｜Era53. He is a formidable opponent who achieved 30 wins in a year in the harsh environment of the Pro Tour. To be honest, I don't want to get hit if I can avoid it (lol).
Riza:I also participated in the Shadowverse University League 23-24 (SUL) as a university student team, but with just one win left, we unfortunately lost in the match to advance to the GRAND FINALS. I hope I can get my revenge by beating other college athletes.
◆Exclusive “inside stories” of the Invitational players
Tomoda:There's something I wanted to ask Sakeman. Previously, when I performed with Shio from Tsushima, I heard him say, “I love comedy so much that I want to become a comedian even now.'' Are you the type of person who usually talks a lot?
Sakeman:He's such a “comedy geek'' that if you let him talk about comedy, you won't be able to stop (lol).
Tomoda:By the way, at that time, he said, “My favorite is Magical Lovely'' (lol). Rob and I have gone to karaoke together.
AXIZ｜Rob (hereinafter referred to as Rob):is not it! It was fun and I would love to go again! As for my team members, I have gone to karaoke with CQCQ and Rumoi. CQCQ has always really loved karaoke, and apparently even tried to get a job at a karaoke company (lol).
Tomoda:What do CQCQ players sing at karaoke?
Rob：It's “CQCQ (“Kamishi, I've Noticed” song)” (lol). I also like MY FIRST STORY and sing it often.
(In terms of AXIZ members) Rumoi isn't really good at karaoke, but he seems to like having fun with everyone. When we won the Pro Tour four years ago, I went to karaoke with Kamonohashi and Kou, and Rumoi also came. At that time, I said, “Rumoi should also sing one song!'' and the first song I chose was Kenshi Yonezu's “LOSER.'' I said, “You're going to lose!'' (laughs)
Tomoda:By the way, I have heard this story about Surenai about 5 times already. Every time I speak, I get a little better at it (lol).
◆(Suddenly serious topic) What is “Shadow” for you?
Tomoda:I asked Sakeman a lot of questions when we previously talked, but since Riza is still unknown, I would like to ask her how she started playing Shadowverse.
Riza:I started playing with the second card pack, Darkness Evolved, when I was in middle school. It wasn't until I was in college that I started playing seriously with tournaments in mind.
Since the title of the official tournament will be transitioned to “Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond” (hereinafter referred to as “Beyond”) from 2024, I wanted to finally get a result at GMF and participate in the Invitational, so I started playing ranked matches seriously. . From around the winter of 2023, I worked hard with the goal of accumulating 5000 MP (Master Points) every day, and eventually reached around 150,000 MP.
Tomoda:It's amazing (lol). When players like Riza come out, I realize once again that there was a significance in holding GMF. Sakeman won 10 million yen at RAGE Winter, but has anything changed through Shadowverse?
Sakeman:I'm careful not to get too extravagant (with prize money) (lol). One thing that has changed is that I participated in the ES regional tournament in Kanagawa today, and Shio from Tsushima was with me in the team competition, and the participants around me were like, “Wow, it's those guys! I don't want to win.'' “What…” I started to make noises. Once again, I realized how great it was to win RAGE, or rather how my popularity has increased.
Tomoda:Up until now, it may have looked like Tsushima's Shio was leading the team, but I think that with Sakeman also winning, Thx's strength as a team has become known. This kind of team strength will be a highlight at this Invitational.
At the Invitational, you can qualify to participate in various competitions such as RAGE, GMF, and SUL, and both professionals and amateurs gather together. This is a competition to decide who is the best among them, so I think all kinds of factors will affect the outcome.
Riza:I don't have any experience in tournaments so far, and strong people practice with strong people, so as someone who hasn't been in that kind of environment, it might be a handicap. In that sense, I am wary of strong opponents, including Thx and professional teams.
Tomoda:Card game tournaments are a kind of information war. If you can use the human wave strategy with your team members, you can try out all kinds of patterns so that there are no cards or decks you don't know by the day of the event. It will be important to figure out how to finish the process so that there are no holes in your knowledge before the actual event.
◆”I'm a fan of AXIZ!”
(Since this is a great opportunity, is there anything Sakeman and Riza would like to ask Rob?)
Sakeman:a! I'm a fan of AXIZ!
Rob:oh! thank you! But I'm not a rotation player, I'm a 2-pick player. Is there any advice I can give you?
Riza:I also do a lot of 2Pick on a regular basis! Come to think of it, I was shocked to see that 2Pick was missing at the Invitational.
Rob:No, that's my line! (lol). What should I do? (laughs)
At last year's Invitational, the rote player wanted to hit the professional player who was in charge of 2Pick with the rote, and the 2Pick player wanted to win with the professional player who was in charge of the rote with 2Pick. However, last year it was Rob vs. Forest (both professional players with 2 picks) (lol).
I don't have much experience with the rotation, so I have no choice but to try my best. I'm planning on trying out all the decks in the environment by the day of the tournament, but there are currently a lot of extremely complex decks, so if I can't make it in time, I might focus my practice time on a specific deck.
Also, standard deck construction will inevitably put you at a disadvantage, so Rote may come up with some unconventional tactics that are unimaginable.
Tomoda:It's not a blessing in disguise, but additional cards will be added before the tournament, so the environment will change somewhat and new decks will appear. In that respect, the starting position is the same as the other players.
I believe that the unique strengths of 2Picker can be utilized in rote.The range of cards used in rote is relatively narrow, but in 2Pick, you absolutely have to use one of the cards presented. I think 2Picker's great strength is that he knows a wide range of card abilities and combo methods.
Rob：I agree. 2Picker's strength is that it knows many cards and knows how to use them. For example, you might be able to think of a deck that everyone is using with a similar construction, and think, “No one uses this card, but if I put one here, it would be strong.''
I think rote players will have plenty of ideas for countermeasures against the standard rote fighting methods, so it would be strong if they could create a deck that could outwit them.
Tomoda:Like 《Screaming Silence, Rulunai》 from “Ten Plagues”, a strong card that everyone knows about in 2Pick is not used much in the rotation, but it was re-imported into the rotation after it became a hot topic due to crossover with 2Pick. There have been patterns in the past.
◆What to expect from future “Shadow” tournaments
Riza:(The competition) is fun to watch and participate in, so I would be happy if the number of RAGE events increased from the current four times a year.
Tomoda:Due to the scale and high quality of each Shadowverse tournament, the number of tournaments is limited, but it would certainly be nice if there were more.
Sakeman:Right now, I feel like the distance between amateurs and professionals is a little far apart outside of fan meetings, so I'd be happy if there were more opportunities for interaction, like tournaments where you can compete with professionals. “Beyond'' seems to have more functions other than card games, so it would be fun to play with professionals in those games.
Tomoda:This is an opinion that Sakeman has because he is an AXIZ fan (lol).
Rob:I could feel the love (lol). In fact, it would be nice to have such a tournament. I used to play American football, and there are exhibitions like the adult national team vs. the amateur national team, so it might be interesting to have a tournament like the All-Star Game in Shadowverse.
As a professional, I'm really interested in prize money. Up until now, the size of the prize money has attracted a lot of attention from other industries, and even those who don't know about “Shadow” can get a sense of the scale and fun of “Shadow” tournaments (in terms of the size of the prize money). I was happy that I got it.
Tomoda:It's been almost seven years since I started this job, but as the value of esports has increased, I feel that the way people around me see it has changed since I first started. At first, people thought, “I wonder what it would be like to be a caster specializing in games,'' but now, when I tell people I'm doing live commentary at tournaments, they respond with “Wow!'' The number of people who support us has also increased.
Today's paid tickets for PTCS were sold out within a minute after they went on sale, and the fact that the number of people paying to watch e-sports has increased, not just for Shadowverse, is due to the fact that the number of people paying to watch e-sports has increased. I'm very happy because it's proof that I am.
◆Finally, express your enthusiasm for the Invitational
Riza:In preparation for the Invitational, I have been working hard in ranked matches on a daily basis and winning in GMF, so I will do my best to win on the stage that was my goal.
Sakeman:Also, since I can play in front of a large number of people through streaming, I hope I can show people that I'm the one having the most fun playing Shadowverse.
Rob:Before competing, I will do my best to adjust and practice hard in order to win. I hope to show off my “2Picker-ness'' during the match and make plays that will surprise everyone.
Tomoda:This is something that all casters of Shadowverse share, but when appearing as live commentators, we place great importance on practicing as if we were going to participate in the tournament. We may be preparing in the same way as the players, in the sense that we develop the knowledge, play, and thinking that would not be embarrassing even if we played as players.
I've always been a competitive player in Shadowverse, but even if someone suddenly told me, “I hope you win this tournament,'' I wouldn't have any problem with it, so I practice hard enough to take on the challenge even in my spare time. .
◆“Shadowverse Invitational 2024” overview
・Date and time: Preliminary round…Saturday, March 2nd from 9:00 to 19:00
Final round & award ceremony…Scheduled for March 3rd (Sunday) 09:00-20:00
・Preliminary rules: Rotation BO5 (Swiss draw method 6th round)
・Final rules: Rotation BO5 (single elimination 3rd round)
・Sponsor: Cygames Co., Ltd.
・List of participating players: https://shadowverse-invitational.jp/players
・Performers: Live commentary Kazuki Tomoda, Thor / Commentary Yu Ebihara, Maru / General MC (Sunday, March 3rd only) Kosuke Hiraiwa, Kana Yuki
▼“Shadowverse Invitational 2024” YouTube distribution URL
・Preliminary round
https://youtube.com/live/Zz3Kp8Xfs-E
・Final round
https://youtube.com/live/UKBEcMiHDao
*Shadowverse official X account @shadowverse_jp (https://twitter.com/shadowverse_jp) will also be distributed