――The deck was aimed at the matured meta, but that doesn’t mean it was good against everything in it.

Hirehire：Taking on FF-TCG as a store manager、the appeal of being absorbed in deckbulding

――As the store manager of Grand Panda Canyon in Akihabara I imagine you play many different card games, but how do you practice and build for FF-TCG in particular?

Hirehire： I play quite a few different card games as part of work, and I have more than one hobby, so I don’t actually get a lot of time dedicated just to FF-TCG deckbuilding and testing. However, I’m very thankful that many players, from fresh new players to those who have gone all the way to Worlds come and play at my shop. By watching those players around me I’m able to learn about the popular decks and strong combos as well as receive feedback from those players when I’m playing myself, and I am sure that having that environment is connected to my results today.

――In the interview that I had with Tamagoman the other day he talked about sharing a mutual philosophy towards your deckbuilding methodology of “build a deck, break it down, repeat, and the decks that remain are the strong ones”. Is your Mono Lightning the end result of that kind of trial and error-style.

Hirehire： I wanted to participate in Meijinsen playoffs, and before the Tokyo Qualifier I was building one new deck every day. Obviously the Mono Lightning I chose for the event was a strong choice at the end, but I also built the more standard field of Earth/Wind, Mono Water, and Wind/Water as well. At one point I realized that the style of “play 5 backups and play the game out steady” didn’t really fit me well. Deckbuilding based on your own thorough testing doesn’t always result in a win, but like this time, sometimes it does; it also makes me happy when I was able to find out things about my playstyle during testing. I find deckbuilding interesting because it has those kind of experiences and discoveries, and you can get really wrapped up in it.

――Just opening a shop up alone shows how deep your love for card games is. Finishing up, do you have anything that you would like to say as the Season 2 Meijinsen Tokyo Qualifier champion?

Hirehire：To be honest I can’t really say that I have a lot of confidence in building for title format (for playoffs), but I’ll try to have fun and go about it the way I always do. If you get the chance please head over to Grand Panda Canyon for our weekly official tournaments starting at 9PM on Fridays!

――Thank you very much.

Wrap-up

This concludes the interview with our Season 2 Meijinsen Tokyo Qualifier champion Hirehire.

I truly commend him for molding his deck to work at its maximum potential with a sharp perception of the meta all while recognizing the limits of his deck. I look forward to seeing what kind of approach he’ll take at the playoff event as well as his matches with the other champions participating.

The conclusion of this event means we have gathered up all our participants in the Season 2 Meijinsen Playoffs. Strong players from throughout the nation will gather looking to become the 2nd Meijin and proceed to challenge the final stage on February 23rd. While I am disappointed that I could not make it myself, I will be attending the event to watch it unfold. I wish the best of luck to all of the players who allowed me to interview them, as well as all of the other participants.

Looking forward March will bring us Opus VIII, April bringing us Masters 2019, and after that Japan Cup, Crystal Cups and other large events will be held, and I’m looking forward to participating when they come around, and use my frustration from the Meijinsen Season to propel myself to the next national tournament.

Until next time!