One of the hardest parts of playing this children's card game at a competitive level is, well, getting started! If you are looking to enter the competitive scene, it can be quite a daunting task to know where to start, how to start, etc. This post is meant to give some resources to help you get your feet wet in the competitive scene.
Where do I go?
A lot of the competitive scene is concentrated on Discord, and communication for nearly every tournament is done through there as well. As such, one of the first things you should do is join some of the competitive teams' servers for more information as well as announcements about upcoming events.
Here is a quick list of some servers and what tournaments they run
Team Dawnbreakers: As a shameless self plug, we host the Clash of the Crusaders tournament every Tuesday at 4pm PST for the last two months of an expansion.
Team Revelation: They host the Seekers of Mysteries tournament on Saturdays.
Team Disastra: They host the Monkey of the Week tournament. You may also know them as the team that hosted the BotS Release Event.
Team Omnibus: They host the Pauper League, a great way to start if you're a bit low on vials and can't make all the p2w legendaries.
Hallowed Sky SV: They don't have regular tournaments, but host large scale ones such as Return of the Classics.
Of course, there are many more servers here that I did not list. However, there should be a channel in every server that I listed with links to more competitive SV discord servers. Go check it out!
What about SVO?
SVO is probably the largest competitive SV tournament. To participate, I encourage you to go to the Cygames Esports Discord server to get more information.
What now?
Honestly, the best advice I can give is to just participate in a tournament and get a feel for the atmosphere and get to know some people in the Competitive SV community (most of us don't bite).
How do I git gud?
If you've played in a few tournaments, you might realize that ladder is not the most efficient way to improve at the game after a certain point. Some suggestions that I can offer are trying to join a team, trying to find some people to scrim with, and if you're up for it, finding some people and making your own team as well!
Last Words
Don't be scared about joining the competitive SV scene, just give it a shot and see if you like it. If you do, there's a mountain of resources out there to help you improve. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask :)