🟣Carmen🟣🔜 PROBABLY VIDEO EDITING

"I'm confident in my quality of play but not my ability to do well in the format." This is a direct quote from one of the most highly accomplished and consistent (T32+) players I've spoken to in this game. I promised myself I'd wait at least 24 hours after Baltimore to talk about it so I'm not depression-posting again (like after Worlds..), but after hearing this, I don't think there's a better way to sum up how I feel about this format. To be honest, I've been struggling with impostor syndrome since rotation. Last competitive season was my first one trying to seriously compete, and I exceeded all of my own expectations (and probably those of many others). Going from that to losing my day 2 win-and-in at both Indy and Baltimore (+ crashing out at Worlds) has been absolutely jarring. I've gone from being able to identify my mistakes, optimizations, or just stupid deck choices to not even understanding what I can do better in most of my losses. So much of it feels like it comes down to matchup roulette or one player high rolling/low rolling, even in my wins. Normally I'd be quick to dismiss this kind of mentality, but hearing it come from one of the best players I know made me realize it's not just all in my head. Seeing players like Andrew, Henry, and Liam consistently do well is obviously a sign that skill is still the primary factor, but I can't justify putting pressure on myself to play at the level of those guys to even just match the results I had a season ago. I've done that in the past with other competitive goals and went through the worst mental health periods of my life. For that reason, I'm not going to be chasing Worlds again this season. I'll still be attending events that are close by or are in cities I'd like to visit, and probably trying out a couple new decks, but unless something changes in the way the game feels to play, I can't see myself putting my heart into it the way I did previously. Baltimore list and matchups below, because why not.