Social media star IShowSpeed will be attending BANDAI CARD GAMES Fest 24-25 in Orlando, Florida, this weekend. Speed – with 34 million subscribers – is a confirmed One Piece fan, but this seems to be the first time he’s got into the card game.
The event takes place from January 4th-5th at the Orange County Convention Center. It will feature multiple games, but most importantly the One Piece Card Game Championship 2024 Finals and Last Chance Qualifiers.
Speed is meant to be on Saturday (today) according to an official tweet.
Who Is IShowSpeed?
Speed is a huge live streamer, and has made his name “clip farming” various funny/dangerous/loud moments. His first real viral moment was got him banned from Twitch but somehow didn’t ruin his career.
He’s also banned from all Riot games starting with Valorant, isn’t shown on Sky Sports anymore, as had to make quite a few apologies for his behavior. To be fair, he started streaming at 12 with his ban and rise happening at just 16 or 17 years old. If most of your day at that age was broadcast live, there would probably be a few things you’d prefer weren’t recorded in HD.
This isn’t just a random appearance; Speed is a massive fan of One Piece. He literally released a song called One Piece, dressed as Luffy for Halloween a few times, and has Luffy in his streaming room.
So attending makes a lot of sense for bringing fans of the series into the game. Whether he knows how to play or not is another thing entirely.
This visit could lead to a huge spike in interest for the One Piece Card Game as his generally younger viewers number in the millions. We can only theorize what he might backflip into in the name of entertainment.
BANDAI CARD GAMES Fest 24-25 Events
The BCGFest 24-25 in Orlando is a major event for fans of Bandai Card Games with several tournaments, panels, and giveaways of cards like P-080 Monkey.D.Luffy. Attendees can also participate in a scavenger hunt by collecting stamps to earn attendees special prizes, and pick up pre-orders of exclusive events playmats and accessories.
The One Piece Card Game Championship 2024 Finals is one of the highlights. Players can compete for exclusive prize cards worth tens of thousands or dollars, and an invite to the World Championship in Japan.
Other Bandai games will also have championships at the event, including the Digimon Card Game, Dragonball Super: Masters and Dragon Ball Super: Fusion World, and Battle Spirits Saga. There will also be tournaments for Union Arena, which is a newer game featuring characters from various anime and manga franchises.
You can watch the live stream of the event here starting today. The stream will be jumping between games at different rounds but should also have a few announcements and a finale on Sunday.
Bandai is also releasing a new Gundam Card Game in 2025, with a beta version launched in December. The “Edition Beta” will be available though a trial event at the BCGFest 24-25, giving players a chance to experience the game early.
What Is The One Piece Card Game?
If you’re here because you read IShowSpeed in the title and don’t know anything about the game: welcome! The One Piece Card Game is a collectible and playable card game based on One Piece. Think Pokémon but anime pirates.
You can buy booster packs of cards online, at most comic/game stores, and at many larger retailers (if they aren’t sold out). You can pull rare or specially illustrated cards from packs to collect, or go for cards with powerful effects to play in a deck you build.
A new set of cards comes out every 3 months – OP-09 Emperors in the New World is the latest, but many older sets are still available. Sets OP-01 to OP-04 are harder to get, but a reprint of many of the cards can be found in the special PRB-01 Premium Booster Pack set.
If you’d like to play, we’d suggest buying a starter deck. Most of them are decently competitive without many changes. You can then upgrade your deck with cards from packs, or by trading or buying for the best cards.
There are regular events at most card game stores where you can earn promo cards. Then there are bigger, competitive events like the one this weekend, or even mid-sized ones every few months in-store.
One Piece Card Game Draws Big Content Creators
Another massive content creator MoistCr1TiKaL aka penguinz0 has been playing the game a tonne lately too. This accounts for some of the rise in the games popularity recently, as well as many of the smart moves made by Bandai.
The biggest issue for many in the game was simply not being able to buy cards. Older sets were underprinted at release, and newer sets say delays, buyouts, and were almost impossible to get without pre-ordering.
In the past 6 months things have rapidly changed, with new set print runs being much bigger. Big reprints of older sets, the special PRB-01 reprint set, and changes to promos have meant it’s at least slightly cheaper to build a competitive deck.
The recent starter decks also include reprints and genuinely powerful cards that mean for $15-20 new players can start the game without being insta-crushed at locals. One Piece’s growing popularity is undeniable, what do you think about Speed turning up at the event?
