This is a modified transcript of an interview performed with the 2nd place winner of the BCS tournament that took place in Toronto during February 2026.
Why did you choose to bring Frieren of all titles?
The Frieren list is dear to me because the list came from my cousin who was also a participant at BCS. He was the one who taught me the game, and there’s this constant joke that I’m his understudy. I had three different lists in consideration for BCS: Persona 3 Reloaded with door/choice, NIKKE eight arc triggers with 2/1 Scarlet and 3/2 Dorothy, and the Frieren deck that I took.
I was rather worried about the Torch profile for this Frieren deck. As you may know, Torch is a hit or miss at times. It can both ruin you or help you, and I was a bit conflicted at first with this.
Why did you choose to use the booster finisher over the trial deck finisher?
For me, it was a personal preference. I’ve been playing the game for about two years, and I don’t prefer finishers that tend to do large bursts of damage at once. Because of that, I decided to choose the booster finisher, and also, as a bonus, the booster finisher gives you a modular choice to do different effects if need be. My other issue was because the trial deck finisher seems to struggle with opposing compression. The finisher feels more feast or famine, whereas the booster finisher gives you more flexibility. I was debating between the consistency of the trial deck finisher or be willing to scrape it out with the booster finisher, and ultimately, I chose the latter.
How did you learn about Weiss, and what keeps you in the game?
HOL/W91-T060SP-SP お誕生日会 戌神ころね (right)
I learned the game primarily through my cousins. I started off by buying a trial deck on a whim, buying it from 401 Games, the Hololive Gamers trial deck. My cousins and I decided to each buy our own trial decks, and my journey began from there. This was back in fall 2023. I had attended some BSF events, but this was my first individual in-person event.
I really love Weiss for its sense of unbridled chaos; I always have a great laugh when playing this game, especially with all the exciting pop-off moments that happen.
How do you feel about the overall event?
There were good vibes all around. I was nervous the night before, but when I walked into the conference hall, I felt a bit more at ease. I was worried that I would make major gameplay mistakes, but I just reached this inner peace by just deciding that I’ll go wherever fate takes me.
Did you have any difficult matchups that you remember?
I think one of my biggest difficult matchups was in the top-cut. In my top eight round, I had to face a mirror match versus the trial deck version. It was a difficult matchup. I knew about the reach of Frieren’s finisher, and I was in a state where my compression felt weak and I had only handful of cancels left. Luckily for me, they weren’t able to grab their finisher combo, and I narrowly survived the turn.
I had an unfortunate mid-game during the final game, and I kept drawing climaxes over and over again. I couldn’t climb over the Dinosaur Bocchi and two of the early play Ryo healers. I think one of Frieren’s weaknesses is the level two game where you’re realistically just looping the level one game over again, making it difficult to get through oversized cards.
How do you feel about prize support with Bushiroad?
I know that others may be frustrated with the prizing support, especially if they are coming in from overseas or beyond Toronto. I have seen some of the Japanese prize support. I was a bit surprised with the prizing and series that appear in the other languages and would appreciate it if these were brought over in any capacity.
How do you feel about alternative events and formats that Bushiroad has been hosting?
I feel that these events are great. I’ve attended the series cup for Lycoris Recoil, and I like how they can help promote recent sets that are coming out. Considering that my only knowledge of some of these events is by word of mouth, I do think more can be done to advertise these events further.
What would encourage you to continue to attend events?
I would be happy if Bushiroad were to be able to provide some more incentives if possible to attend these competitions. However, I’m satisfied where things are currently, and it’s mainly due to my passion for the game.
How do you feel about Bushiroad support and Bushiroad products?
I don’t really have too much a problem with them. I would say, if you want recent sets, it’s relatively easy to get a hold of them, but I’ve had friends who are more interested in older IPs, and for them, sets like Fate are just very difficult to get your hands on. It feels like, for Weiss products, you need to get them immediately the moment they are pushed out.
How do you feel about Weiss content creation?
I personally don’t really follow content creators, but if I could share about the content that I want to see, I want to see more gameplay for more sets out there. I know there’s a diverse amount of series afloat, but I want to see more matchups for series that aren’t commonly explored.
Ato’s deck list can be seen on the official BCS 2026 event page linked here.