One of the most important things I learned as a player is that no man is an island. An important aspect of being successful (and having a lot of fun) while playing TCGs is to have a good playtesting team behind you. That way, you can share the deck testing, throw ideas at each other, and get much further than any one player could. But unfortunately, once it comes to tournament day, you’re on your own, as Vs. System is a single player game . . . until now!

At Pro Circuit Indy, there is going to be an exciting new way to play Vs. System. We will be holding the inaugural Team Sealed Pack $10K Championships. A while back, Justin Gary wrote an article about team formats. We are now adding the team format to the official tournament rules; at the end of this article is an excerpt from the new official policies document, which will be out very soon!

Here are some answers to some of the frequently asked questions about the upcoming $10K:

• Each team will get ten packs of Infinite Crisis with which to build three decks of at least thirty cards. You can split the cards however you want, but once you decide which deck a card is going to be in, you can’t change your decklist.
• You will be given a new set of ten packs to play halfway through the first day. You will then need to make three new decks using only the new cards.
• Each match will involve all three players playing a one-game match. The winning team will be the first team to win two of these matches.
• If you are one of the top eight teams after the first day, you’ll make it to Day 2, which will feature the Infinite Crisis Team Booster Draft format.
• Day 2 will be single elimination. Each round will involve a team draft (see below), after which each player plays a one-game match. There will be three rounds on Day 2. If your team loses a round, it is eliminated from the tournament.
• You will be able to use non-verbal communication during the team draft, provided that it does not take any extra time. You can freely communicate (including talking) with your teammates during deck construction.

I was fortunate enough to have an early crack at the format at the recent Adelaide $10K, teaming with Paul Ross (of Cerebro fame) and Jonathan Luey (a local from Sydney). It has become a tradition the night before each Australian $10K to have some sort of team event, and each time, it has been a highly anticipated and enjoyable event. The format used Infinite Crisis in the Sealed Pack section, and we were blessed with a pretty terrific card pool, which included two copies of The Science Spire and a Removed from Continuity.

Here’s a little insight on how to approach breaking down a large number of cards.

When you get your card pool, your team should first break down each card by team, and then clearly lay out each team’s curve by resource cost. You should only do this for the main teams (in the case of Infinite Crisis, those are JSA, Shadowpact, Checkmate, and Villains United). You can initially put aside the plot twists, equipment, and locations, as the most important thing to be careful about is having a correct character count. Pay attention to the curves very closely, because they will very quickly determine which decks you will choose to make.

We looked to see which teams had enough characters to form single-team decks (there are usually two teams that have a sufficient density of characters to allow this). Often, you may have to splash a good off-team legacy character (such as Kilowog, Drill Sergeant or Lex Luthor, Champion of the Common Man) to fill out your curve. Once you’ve decided the teams that potentially make single-team decks, you should look at the team-stamped plot twists for those teams in order to verify that there are enough (usually about ten or eleven) for a deck. Be aware that there are a few generic (non-team stamped) plot twists and locations that, while they can go with any team, are better off in certain strategies. A good example of this would be Deflection, which is mediocre in certain strategies but really shines in the JSA exhaustion deck. There are plenty of gems there; Rann and Thanagar are at their best in location-based Checkmate decks, and Return of Donna Troy is especially good in some of the JSA ally strategies. But there are a ton more to find!

It is very possible that you may only have one team that can sustain a single-affiliation strategy, and at that point, it is important to look to the minor affiliations (such as Secret Six) to fill out your decks. Secret Six has some great synergies with Villains United (via Cheshire abuse), and also with Deadshot and the plethora of exhaust costs. Also, when you are deciding on which of the main teams to combine, be aware of all the complementary strategies that are available. It is very likely that your team-up deck will be the most powerful deck of the three because of its access to non-character cards from both teams.

Once you have decided on the general team and card choices for each deck, you should have a look at the cards you have yet to assign to any deck and make sure that there aren’t any powerful cards going unused. Team Sealed Pack is often won and lost by the way each team exploits its most powerful cards (Team Draft often is a little more subtle), so it is important that no resource is left behind.

At this point, I suggest that the team concentrates on making each deck together. Often, the discussion on which card goes into which deck will bring to light some synergies that one player might miss. This process should be repeated for all decks in turn; you have quite a lot of time to build your decks, and it is almost criminal not to use it to the utmost extent.

Once you’ve handed your decks in, there is only one thing to remember: have some fun! Team tournaments are, in my opinion, one of the most enjoyable ways to play Vs. System. Though you aren’t allowed to give game advice to your teammates while playing, a few words of encouragement go a long way toward making your teammates play better. You are playing as a team and each match is important. Don’t get discouraged if one member is not doing as well; often, you will have decks of uneven power levels, despite your best effort to balance the decks (or in some cases, make certain decks better!).

So, make sure you go to Pro Circuit Indianapolis and play this new, exciting format! Even if you don’t have a team, there will be many players who will take you under their wing. Who knows? You might even qualify for the Pro Circuit!

New Team Play Rules

B-20.  Team Formats: Specific Rules

Each team has three players, designated A, B, and C. These designations are chosen at the start of each tournament and never change during a tournament.

B-21.  Team Sealed: Specific Rules

These rules apply in addition to the general Sealed Pack rules in Section B-17.

Each team opens ten (10) booster packs provided for deck construction and each player in that team chooses at least 30 of those cards to make up a deck. Only the cards opened in the booster packs may be used to create the decks. Teams have 50 minutes to build their decks. Teammates may openly communicate during deckbuilding.

If decklists are being used, teams have 60 minutes to build and register their decks. Each player uses a separate sheet to register the cards he or she is playing, and a fourth sheet is used to register cards not being played by any player.

If a deck swap takes place, teams receive 20 minutes to register their initial card pools before the deck swap. Each team uses a single sheet to register their card pool.

When two teams are paired each round, each player plays a match against his or her opposing designation. Player A plays against player A of the other team and, similarly, player B against player B, and player C against player C. The team with two or more winners is the winner of the round. Teammates may not communicate about gameplay during a match.

B-22.  Team Draft: Specific Rules

These rules apply in addition to the general Booster Draft rules in Section B-19.

A team draft involves two teams (Teams 1 and 2). Teammates may not communicate verbally during a draft but are free to communicate non-verbally as long as it doesn’t delay the draft.

Players sit clockwise within their own team, opposite of their opposing designation, alternating between teams, as illustrated below:

After the draft, each player plays a match against his or her opposing designation. The team with two or more winners is the winner of the draft.

The rules for a team draft are otherwise identical to those in Section B-19.