Azuki TCG opens signups for Oct. 24 Peoria regional

In Brief:

• Azuki TCG opened registration Sunday for its Garden Arena Regional on Oct. 24 at the Peoria Civic Center, hosted by Top Cut Events.
• Signups run through RK9.gg, the same platform used for the sold-out first regional in Pasadena, California.
• Garden Arena regionals put $10,000 in cash, serialized prize cards and 16 spots in the 2027 Azuki Invitational on the line.

Azuki TCG opened signups Sunday for its second Garden Arena Regional, scheduled for Oct. 24 at the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois. Top Cut Events is hosting.

“Garden Arena Regional sign ups are live!” the Azuki TCG account posted, linking to the registration page.

Registration went live at 9 a.m. Pacific and runs through RK9.gg. Players need an RK9 profile with their name, birthdate and country, plus an Azuki TCG Member ID entered on the Azuki Profile screen. Refund requests are due by 10 a.m. Pacific on the Monday before the event and carry a 30% processing fee.

What’s on the line

Garden Arena regionals pay out $10,000 in cash. First place takes $3,000, second through fourth get $1,400 each and fifth through eighth get $700 each.

The prize card ladder starts at Top 128 with a Regional Pack Wave 1. Top 64 gets a stamped Foamback Crab alternate art, Top 32 a stamped Scarlett alternate art, Top 16 a stamped Miharu of the White Bloom alternate art. Top 8 gets the serialized Raizan alternate art. Every prize card carries an exclusive tournament stamp and textured foiling.

All Top 16 finishers qualify for the 2027 Azuki Invitational. Invitations pass down when a player has already qualified. Placements also generate Seasonal Points, tracked in the Azuki TCG app and paid out at the end of each season for participation and performance.

Azuki pitched the event at both ends of the player base, saying that whether you’re chasing the serial Raizan prize card or playing your first match, you’re welcome.

Format

The main event is Swiss, best-of-one, running until one undefeated player remains. Top cut is best-of-three. In Pasadena that meant eight rounds of Swiss followed by three rounds of top cut to settle first through eighth. Top cut matches ran 70 minutes plus 15 minutes of overtime, and players who reached their table five minutes late forfeited.

Pasadena set the bar

The first Garden Arena Regional was announced for Aug. 15 in Los Angeles with 256 seats. It grew to a 384-player main event at the Pasadena Convention Center, Ballrooms ABCD, and sold out. Organizers ran the waitlist in person and warned players not to travel without confirmed registration.

Ducky won it playing Zero/Fire over a 315-player field. He had also won the January 2026 Azuki TCG Invitational, piloting Lightning/Raizan.

CoreTCG ran that event. Azuki named the organizer its first official tournament organizer in March 2026 alongside a $100,000 commitment to the inaugural season’s prize pool, with support spread across regional and national events. CoreTCG’s résumé includes 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

Peoria will be the first regional played under a changed card pool. Rushfire Gate was banned from Azuki TCG-sanctioned tournaments effective 12:01 a.m. Pacific on Aug. 18, three days after the Pasadena event.

Azuki Labs said in April that Gates Awakened, its debut set, cleared $1 million in direct presale revenue through its own storefront. Art direction on the game comes from Arnold Tsang, who designed the original Overwatch character roster, with creative director Tim Guo and game design lead Jon Chao, formerly of Ubisoft and Riot Games.

The Pasadena Top 8 promo is already trading. A listing for an Azuki TCG Top 8 Regionals Raizan STT01-011 Promo Alt Art went up on eBay at $15,000.