Tournament Report: Rinhime Top 8 JP NA WGP 25/26

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Rinhime played some Magic back in the mid 90’s (yay Ice Age), but stopped after a couple years. Rinhime got into Weiss cause he recognized it from Megami Magazine when Sword Art Online Set 1 came out in English and he’s been playing ever since. Rinhime’s first Japanese set was the 1st Love Live! set cause he didn't think they would ever bring it over (clearly wrong). Other Tournament Top Results include: Bushiroad Springfest 2017 3rd Place in White Plains, NY; another Top 8 Trios in between; and Bushiroad Springfest 2022 2nd in White Plains, NY.

Now onto the interview!

Melanie Lynette (ML): How did the event go for you? Was there anything specific that you'd like to share from the start?

Rinhime (RH): This event was the first time I had ever made a top cut in a singles event after many X-2s. Overall, I have not felt like I've been playing that well in the last few years so I am very happy I was able to get this far.

Winning Decklist:

BushiNavi Code: 1J5K3

https://decklog-en.bushiroad.com/ja/view/1J5K3

ML: What was your match up and how did Round 1 go for you?

RH: I won against Uma Musume: Pretty Derby: 4 Stock Soul / 4 Comeback (Door). Both of our decks worked well and it was a pretty normal game. I was able to get a pair of turns of Level 1 Saki combo and I had some cancel advantage early on. I was able to sculpt well at all game parts, so I pushed myself to Level 3 and finished the opponent from high Level 2.

ML: What was your match up and how did Round 2 go for you?

RH: I won against Tokyo Revengers: Stock Soul / Gate (Pants). This game was dominated by the fact my opponent's game plan entirely didn't work out. On my opponent's second turn, they only attacked with 2 attackers and left my Kotone Riki alone. I thought they were trying to deny me some memory, but it turned out they just didn't have the cards they wanted. They never got the pair of dual laners out, didn't ever go above 6 stock, nor did they get any Pachins. They just ate damage and the game was never really in doubt, as I won from low Level 2.

ML: What was your match up and how did Round 3 go for you?

RH: I lost against Gakuen Idolm@ster: 4 Comeback (Door) / 4 Gate (Pants).  Round 3 was a mirror against Gakum@s. In general, they just sort of had a better game. They were very aggressive using the Kotone Ramiris to get things into memory and to deny me some reverses, but it ended up I wouldn't have been able to take advantage of those slots. I got 1 turn of Level 1 combo and was just playing from behind basically the whole game. I tried to possibly lock them at Level 2, but I was so behind on resources I gambled to get another stock and it let them easily go to Level 3 and finish me off. 

ML: What was your match up and how did Round 4 go for you?

RH: I won against Chainsaw Man: 8 Choice. I didn't have a lot of experience against this deck, so I tried to play a bit conservatively throwing the Rikis into memory instead of leaving them to be reversed. The Power Level 1 sits at 6.5k so he was able to deny some of my reverses on my 1st Level 1 turn. From there on I made sure I got the backrow Level 1 Saki to get to 9k. My opponent ended up just eating big chunks of damage in the second deck and I was able to take advantage of that. He wasn't ready when he was pushed to Level 3. I took the win.

ML: What was your match up and how did Round 5 go for you?

RH: I won against Yuru Camp: 4 Gold Bar / 4 Gate (Pants). This was another deck that I had very little experience with, maybe only playing it once or twice many months ago. I remembered hearing it was a deck that had stock swap or shuffle, but wasn't sure which card so I kept it in mind. The memory and Level 1 engine worked well. There were a lot of cancels on both sides so I made sure I didn't go too deep in stock. It turned out afterwards that the elbow drop/climax salvager is the go to choice from the banlist and the one he picked, so I didn't need to worry about it. He was pushed to Level 3 first and had a scary finisher turn, but I leveled and was able to barely clinch the win.

ML: And after deck checks, top cut! How did Top 16 go?

RH: I won against Oshi no Ko: 4 Comeback (Door) / 4 Gate (Pants). This was a rough game where I had a ton of Level 2s and 3s in my opening hand and struggled to get anything going. Possibly the only thing that saved me was my opponent just could not get a climax into his hand the entire game basically. Instead, he did hit 4 on a brainstorm, but he wasn't able to push damage or easily control his deck like he wanted to. I also forgot about the card that goes to stock on climax play so on the 1 turn I had a Level 1 Saki I messed up and couldn't plus from that. I was able to get 6 into memory, but I didn't think I had much of a chance on my finisher turn with just 1 Temari. He awkwardly ate a swing of 4 in a compressed deck and I was barely able to eek out a victory.

ML: And next, Top 8. What was your match up?

RH: I lost against Idolm@ster Shiny Colors: 8 Gold Bar. This ended up being one of the worst games I had ever had with the deck. Again, drawing lots of Level 2s and 3s at the beginning and, this time, climaxes. I couldn't get that many cards into memory since I couldn't hit brainstorms because there weren't climaxes in my deck. My opponent wasn't canceling that much, but I was behind like a level at least the entire game. I couldn't get anything to my advantage and ended up with like 14 clean in my deck at Level 3 on their finisher turn.

ML: Congratulations still on your Top 8 accomplishment! Are there any final reflections or shout outs you would like to share?

RH: It was very nice that we were able to do everything through Bushi Navi and I thought the event went very smoothly without any issues.

Thanks to Chris, Alex, Caleb, Tyler, and Cookie for coming up with us and making it a fun overall weekend and everyone else in the JP NoVA (Northern Virginia) Scene. Also thanks to Aaron and everyone in Ohio and adjacent lands for giving me some more opportunities to improve.

ML: And that concludes our interview with JP NA WGP 25/26 Top 8 Rinhime! A special thanks to Rinhime for sharing with us! Congratulations and good luck in your future Weiss Schwarz matches!

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