We’re just a week away from the newest Chapter of Universus, and I mean that in more ways than one. The Dark Tournament brings the newest set to the game, but the entire Organized Play structure has been updated so your path to Nationals and Worlds isn’t the same as it was just a year ago. So here on the eve of Season 1, let’s take a look at what events players should be looking to play in this year!

FORMATS
Before we get to when and where the first Regional is, I wanted to take a few words to explain what formats you’ll be expected to play in and master in order to compete in 2024. Similar to other games, Universus has adopted a multi-format structure for their premiere level events this year. That means if you play in Regionals, Nationals or Worlds you’ll be expected to play some rounds in Standard and others in Limited (Draft).

STANDARD
Standard will allow any card from the most recent 3 calendar years (2022 – 2024), meaning any cards from Set 1: My Hero Academia and before are no longer legal.

DRAFT
Draft will see players open 6 packs of the most current set and build a deck on the spot to compete with. While at the time of writing the official announcement hasn’t been made, UVS Games seems to be leaning towards letting players choose their Character after the Draft with any Character in the set able to be chosen. If you Draft a Retro Reprint like Spirit Shotgun (which is not legal in Standard), you are allowed to play that card in Draft.

I’ve heard rumblings that UVS Games is looking to run some exclusive Retro events this year, which would be awesome but nothing has been scheduled yet.

RETRO
All cards that haven’t been banned are allowed to be played at up to 4 copies in your deck. Some small rules change from Standard to Retro, but mostly the power of the cards ramps WAYY UP! It’s a fun format and, with 4,000+ cards, a format where a DEEP knowledge of the landscape pays dividends.

LOCALS
Ok, so where do you play first? Well, let’s go from the bottom up. You’re going to want to find a store near you that hosts locals on a weekly basis. Something UVS Games doesn’t brag about is they constantly try to reward players that come out to stores on a weekly basis. In the past year they’ve sent several surprise gifts to the player base including promos cards, Red Vines, and more. The most recent of them was a sweet Alt Art of Fallen Angel’s Revenge.

LOCAL QUALIFIERS
Finding a store is doubly important because this is where you’ll play in the Local Qualifier (LQ), which will be the most important event of the year for many players. The LQ will award a Nationals invite to first place and season points to everyone who enters. Season Points (SP) and Championship Points (CP) are the new currency to play in higher level events. I’ll go further into them in other sections, but this is the first opportunity you have to earn them.
LQs also offer their own prize cards to the Top 8 finishers, which is an interesting change from last year’s prizing that gave a prize card to 1st place and several other cards away for entry. I think this is a cleaner approach, with the prize cards being Alt-Arts of jetBurn characters, so it doesn’t gate keep strong attacks like Maximum Overhaul from players that might not be near a store that hosts events.
WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY LAST LOCALS POINTS!
I have had an incredible amount of support from the LGS team over the past year getting support for not only my store, but trying to start up communities in other states. If you don’t have a store near you that supports the game, reach out to lgs@uvsgames.com. Tell them where you live and see if you all can’t convince a store to start hosting events. It worked for me!

LOCAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Each Season (Spring, Summer, etc.) each store will be allowed to host a Local Championship (LC). This will be the best local avenue to earn CP and, for many players hunting for an invite to Worlds, will be a crucial step in securing your spot. These local events are open to all players and is one of the ways UVS Games is supporting local play. The prizing for LCs hasn’t been announced yet, but check back here often to find out!

LCs will be held on May 4th-5th, July 20th-21st, Oct 12-13, and Feb 1-2.

WEBCAM REGIONALS
Webcam Regionals won’t change much this year. They are open to all players to enter. Prizing should be pretty similar to previous events, although that has yet to be announced as of writing. The event will also offer SP & CP to help players earn entry into larger events.

MAJOR REGIONALS (In-Person)
The In-Person Regionals have gone through many more changes than their online counterparts. First off, there are only 3 Major Regionals per region (NA, EU, & Oceania) this year. The 1st place winner of each of these 9 events will earn an invite to Worlds in Orlando, FL in February.
One of the biggest complaints I heard from top players last year was “After I get my invite to Nationals, I just don’t have a reason to keep playing in Regionals.” Welp, here’s UVS’s solution to that criticism. Getting 10 CP to enter Nats won’t be much of a problem for any dedicated player, but securing that invite to Worlds, even at 64 players, will be a much more interesting game. If you don’t take down an MR, then you can’t really rely on coming in Top 8 at Nats in Dallas. So, you’ll have to be playing at your local events on a regular basis to get all the CP you can in order to earn your invite that way.
As with all of these events, prizing announcements are still coming. Personally, if this change can bring out more players to Regionals, then I’m all for it. UVS giving us the travel dates well in advance this year is going to make travel much easier. Enticing top players to attend incentivizes fans of the game to attend as well. And with new IPs arriving this year, the player base will continue to increase. I’m just selfishly hoping that all that leads to larger events and a greater experience for players of this game.

NATIONALS
Nationals will be back in Dallas again next year. 🔥🔥 The Top 8 finishers from each region will earn their invite to Worlds. More info coming later this year.

WORLDS
If you’re counting, them you’ve noticed that we’ve awarded 33 spots to UVS’s largest stage so far. (9 Major Regional Winners and 24 Nationals Top 8 finishers) As I eluded to before, you will be able to earn an invite from Championship Points. If you finish in the Top 5 in CP in your region, you will punch your ticket to Worlds 2024. These invites will trickle if a player has already earned their invite elsewhere. After those 15 players have been selected, the next 15 players with the most CP globally will also earn an invite to Worlds.
With 63 spots awarded, we just have 1 left to pass out, and that one is reserved for Nicholas Ragan, out 2023 Hero League (Worlds) Champion. So total, we’ll have 64 players playing it out for the title of Universus World Champion of 2024, with no LCQs.
Worlds will be back in Orlando next February.

SEASON 4
One of the major concerns I personally voiced to UVS Games a year ago was something I called “Season Zero.” That’s the time period between Nationals one year, until the first event the next year. I’m sure a lot of stores notice a lull in attendance during the holiday season and on into the new year. The reason is simple, there’s not much to play for in any game. It’s the most common time to put down your cards and wait until an announcement or a new set. If you’re not one of the biggest 3-5 TCGs, it makes you hold your breath for who is coming back to your game after schedules get free again.
So, what’s the plan to attack the winter months? Give the players something to play for! Nats will push back from November to January. Instead, November and December will see another round of LQs, giving players their last gasp at their Nationals invites for the year. With no Major Regional in Season 4, the SP you earn will count towards Season 1 in 2025. The weekend before Thanksgiving, we’ll see the last online event of the year with a Webcam Regional on Nov 24th. Nationals run through out January with an LC on February 1st.
I think it’s really important to give players events that matter to play with the set that will come out in November and with Attack on Titan occupying that spot, it’ll be crucial!

TCGs are flooding the space lately. Players have no shortage of options to occupy their time and wallets. There are some games like Fusion World that opt to reboot and put their resources into a massive ad campaign instead of answering player concerns. Then there’s some games like Universus that make changes and evolve with their player base. 2024 is looking to be the best year yet, and I can’t wait to get started!