By Asako Seo
【日本語はこちら】
In this article, taking place during the Hareruya Tournament Center’s grand opening tournament, I will share some of the local flavor I picked up from around the freshly unveiled venue.
Here are the early impressions of players and organizers visiting the Hareruya Tournament Center on its opening day:
【Interview】Hareruya Tournament Center Grand Opening! Quick Hits and First Impressions, Please! (Japanese)
Hareruya Tournament Center’s welcome sign on the first floor. Directions on how to get to the Tournament Center from the train station are here.
Heading up from the stairs or elevator, the first thing you see is the cashier’s counter.
Here is the cashier’s counter. I recommend the “Rare Peacock,” which is like a lucky grab-bag product, where you get a custom-made random pack of 15 rare cards. It’s always a thrill seeing what you get!
Just behind the cashier towers a wall brimming with singles. This alone is an incredible amount of single cards, but it’s nothing compared to the stock stored behind the wall.
Right next to the cashier is the supply corner, which boasts the infamous “Memonchu!” combination life+notepad, as well as just about every kind of die, sleeve, and other supply you could ever want.
On-theme orange flowers populate and color the Hareruya Tournament Center.
Arranged snugly in the glass showcase are played cards that offer excellent value for the price, as well as cards gathered from around the world in various languages.
You buy single cards here on the shop PCs. After you search out what you’re looking for on the PCs, the cashier will pull up your selection and have it waiting for you to pick up at the counter.
It’s also quite nice to pull up a chair at the discount depot and find just what you’re looking for at a sweet bargain. The stock is constantly replenished so be sure not to miss out.
Here is a panoramic view of the Tournament Center. There are some vacant seats in the center because those players were called up to play on the big stage for a feature match!
By the way, here is what it looks like without any players.
Jace watches over the feature match area. I hear they originally didn’t plan on making the feature match area into a stage, but it seems the designer got swept up in the momentum of increasing the intensity for feature matches and so here we are. Thank you, Mr. Designer!
When you are pulled up for a feature match, you get to play on playmats like these. Additionally, the feature match stage is the only area with special carpeting, so you can really taste that gorgeous superstar feeling when you’re playing.
The feature match area is also fully equipped to shoot video from above and livestream matches to NicoNico. Just like you can go home and watch TV, you can now also tune in and watch matches on NicoLive every day!
Flowers to celebrate the Tournament Center’s grand opening have arrived from all around.
Easily seen from any direction, many monitors have been installed, and with just a glance you can see how much time is left in the round.
You can also see pairings on the monitors.
And you can even conveniently check online pairings by smartphone or what have you.
This is the shop from another angle. Though the venue does have 300 seats, there are wide passage areas in various places so you can move around easily and with space to spare. The purchase counter is visible in the back.
Let’s get a little closer to the purchase counter.
We categorize cards like this for appraisal.
Right next to the purchase counter is where you can register for side events, like drafts.
I spotted a remnant from the old store, a money reception dish with an illustration by the artist Piyopu.
Here is a little more of the shop’s landscape. It’s the break bench where you can take a breather from battles and brush up on old issues of Duelist Japan, copies of other Magic magazines, various manga, and other periodical curios.
This is the vending machine area. There’s also a sweet-bread vending machine, but I guess everyone went hog wild on them, so they’re currently sold out of the flaky delectables.
Trophies in the exhibition case tell the tale of various and delicious glories.
If you take a closer look at the tables on the floor, you’ll notice thin lines. These help give everyone an equally spacious area to duel in, for every mage’s maximum environmental comfort.
Finally, a scene from the tournament in progress. Because he called his “Battle of Wits” deck “the strongest deck in the field,” many spectators have gathered to watch this player, one Yuuya Watanabe. Compare his towering deck to a normal-sized one that can be contained in the red deck box just in front of his library and I think it’s pretty easy to see how abnormally humongous Watanabe’s “Babel” deck is.
Hareruya staff wear blue polo uniforms like these. If you need help with anything, by all means, please let a staffer know!
Right off the bat from opening day, it seems at least these 300 people have made haste getting to know the Hareruya Tournament Center. But now you have to experience the spaciousness and wonderfulness of the Tournament Center for yourself. Visiting in person, you’ll be pleased to find the Center has been constructed with the player at the absolute forefront of consideration.
Here are the early impressions of players and organizers visiting the Hareruya Tournament Center on its opening day:
【Interview】Hareruya Tournament Center Grand Opening! Quick Hits and First Impressions, Please! (Japanese)
