In Brief:
- Registration went live Sunday for the Azuki TCG Garden Arena Regional set for Oct. 24 at the Peoria Civic Center, with Top Cut Events running the show.
- Entries are being handled by RK9.gg, the platform behind the first regional in Pasadena, California, which sold out.
- On offer at Garden Arena regionals: $10,000 cash, serialized prize cards and 16 berths in the 2027 Azuki Invitational.
Sunday marked the opening of signups for the second Garden Arena Regional from Azuki TCG, an event booked for Oct. 24 at the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois. Hosting duties fall to Top Cut Events.
“Garden Arena Regional sign ups are live!” the Azuki TCG account posted, linking to the registration page.
Next stop for Azuki TCG Regionals: Peoria!
Signups are now open for the Azuki TCG Garden Arena Regional on October 24.@AzukiView on X ↗
The sign-up window opened at 9 a.m. Pacific and is being processed through RK9.gg. Competitors need an RK9 profile listing their name, birthdate and country, along with an Azuki TCG Member ID keyed into the Azuki Profile screen. Anyone seeking a refund has until 10 a.m. Pacific on the Monday preceding the event, and a 30% processing fee applies.
What’s on the line
The cash pool at Garden Arena regionals totals $10,000. The winner walks away with $3,000, while second through fourth collect $1,400 apiece and fifth through eighth take $700 each.
Prize cards begin at Top 128, where finishers receive a Regional Pack Wave 1. A stamped Foamback Crab alternate art goes to Top 64, a stamped Scarlett alternate art to Top 32, and a stamped Miharu of the White Bloom alternate art to Top 16. Waiting at Top 8 is the serialized Raizan alternate art. An exclusive tournament stamp and textured foiling appear on every prize card.
A Top 16 finish is enough to punch a ticket to the 2027 Azuki Invitational, and invitations roll down the standings when a player is already qualified. Results additionally produce Seasonal Points, which the Azuki TCG app tracks and which pay out at the close of each season based on participation and performance.
Azuki framed the event as one for the whole player base, saying that whether you’re chasing the serial Raizan prize card or playing your first match, you’re welcome.
Format
Swiss, best-of-one, is the format for the main event, continuing until a single undefeated player is left standing. Top cut is best-of-three. Pasadena produced eight Swiss rounds and then three rounds of top cut to sort out first through eighth. Each top cut match was given 70 minutes with 15 minutes of overtime, and arriving at the table more than five minutes late meant a forfeit.
Pasadena set the bar
Originally billed as a 256-seat event on Aug. 15 in Los Angeles, the debut Garden Arena Regional expanded into a 384-player main event at the Pasadena Convention Center, Ballrooms ABCD — and sold out. Staff handled the waitlist on site and cautioned players against traveling without a confirmed spot.
The title went to Ducky, who piloted Zero/Fire through a 315-player field. Ducky was already an Azuki TCG champion, having taken the January 2026 Invitational with Lightning/Raizan.
Running that event was CoreTCG, which Azuki designated its first official tournament organizer back in March 2026, pairing the appointment with a $100,000 commitment to the inaugural season’s prize pool spread across regional and national events. CoreTCG’s track record covers Yu-Gi-Oh! YCS events, Bandai Nationals and Bandai Card Fests.
“We’re building a game worth competing in, and that means putting real stakes behind it from day one,” said Azuki CEO Alex Xu, who goes by Zagabond. “A $100,000 prize pool in our first season is our commitment to a great competitive scene.”
Deck lists shifted this month
A revised card pool will be in effect for the first time at a regional in Peoria. Rushfire Gate was hit with a ban from Azuki TCG-sanctioned tournaments as of 12:01 a.m. Pacific on Aug. 18, three days on from the Pasadena event.
Back in April, Azuki Labs reported that Gates Awakened, the game’s debut set, had topped $1 million in direct presale revenue through the company’s own storefront. The game’s art direction is handled by Arnold Tsang, the designer behind Overwatch’s original character roster, alongside creative director Tim Guo and game design lead Jon Chao, a Ubisoft and Riot Games alum.
Secondary market activity on the Pasadena Top 8 promo has already begun. An Azuki TCG Top 8 Regionals Raizan STT01-011 Promo Alt Art was listed on eBay for $15,000.