All the impressions I was able to collect in Paris last weekend are slowly settling down. I have to say I felt a little overwhelmed right after the tournament. There was excitement – I had done well, in fact, better than expected if you would have asked me a day before, but then again there was also a lot of frustration. If I only would have played a little better in that one match, I could have made top 8. Top 8!

Seems like it wasn’t meant to be this time. In a way, the whole tournament now feels like a huge déjà-vu of the German Nationals last year. I was two wins away from claiming a top 8 spot there as well and it was the first larger scale tournament I participated in. Now, after being used to playing in DMF’s and Nationals more or less, it has been the first time that I participated in an even bigger tournament – the Continentals. Thankfully, I learned a couple of things and therefore, I’m rather positive that I’ll do even better next time.

Speaking of next time, I’m not entirely sure if I can make it to Worlds. Last year, I didn’t have the days off, this year, it’s ridiculously expensive. It seems like a neverending story to me and there’s no happy end in sight yet. I really don’t know what to do, as spending 1500 € on the trip is not an easy decision.

Then again, I feel confident that I can do well there. While I have not been playing on a competitive level for even a full year (German Nationals were my first bigger event and they took place last August) yet, I learned so many things in this short amount of time. The game is just so much more than what you can grasp at first and it’s an amazing experience to dig deeper and deeper into the inner workings of it. You get a “feeling” for certain moves and know when to play which cards. I would love to show off some of these skills at Worlds.

If you would be in my position, what would you do? I’m really curious and can’t wait to get some feedback!