|
The Sentry™
Card# MTU-017
While his stats aren’t much bigger than those of the average 7-drop, Sentry’s “Pay ATK” power can drastically hinder an opponent’s attacking options in the late game.
Click here for more
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
| |
We are now just a week away from the start of the Pro Circuit Qualifier season for the first-ever Vs. System Pro Circuit event, to be held at GenCon Indy. Who will be the game’s breakout star and first big money winner? Who will become known as the game’s top deckbuilder? Who will be the bad boy? This is a game about superheroes and supervillains, so there’s got to be a good guy and a bad guy in there somewhere.
Every sport has an underdog. A Cinderella story. Someone you love to hate. Someone who dominates. If only we could’ve seen the formative years of these now-legends of the sports world. You, the players, have a chance to make a record of your road to greatness. By writing, sharing, and posting tournament reports, you’ll help build the following of the game, ensuring a steady stream of new players for you to beat at every event. Once you’re a star on the Circuit, you’ll have your own following—a loyal group of fans hanging on your every printed word. Just like I do. Uh, yeah.
Some of you may not have any experience writing tournament reports, so what follows are some pointers that will have you writing like the champ you are in no time. If you want to create a Pro Circuit identity beyond your win/loss record, follow either the hero or villain advice as well.
1. Bring a Notebook and Pen
If you can’t master this first task, then you probably forgot to bring half your deck and directions to the tournament venue as well, so you might as well stop reading. When you see your name on the pairings sheet posted at the start of each round, write down your opponent’s name. It’s easy to forget people’s names, especially when you’ll be meeting and talking to at least a dozen new players during the event.
Hero Advice: When your opponent sits down across from you, greet him or her using his or her first name, and offer to shake hands. Wish your opponent good luck for the match and for the rest of the tournament. It’s important to make a good first impression, as you’ll undoubtedly see the people you play against at events in the future.
Villain Advice: After reading the pairings board, jump onto the nearest chair and loudly bellow, “Timmy Wilkerson! Prepare to be crushed like the bug you are!”
2. Develop Your Own Shorthand
You know your deck, so you can be halfway prepared to take notes during the game by deciding on what convention to use for your notes. If you’re playing the Fantastic Four, for instance, you can use: THH, IWIG, MFRR, HTH, and so on. If you can’t figure out who those characters are, you might need to study the cardpool a bit more.
Hero Advice: Explain to your opponent the shorthand you’re using so he or she can understand your notes. This might encourage him or her to write a tournament report as well, which will let even more readers know what a fun time it was to play against you. Goodwill spreads like wildfire.
Villain Advice: When your opponent plays a character that you aren’t impressed with, make up a nickname for the character that alerts readers as to the incompetence of the player. Write down AMOIASW, then loudly announce, “Arcade, Master of It’s a Small World! Only a fool would play with him!” Or, write down BLOOZT, then cry out, “Bastion, Leader of Operation: Zero Talent! Did you borrow this deck from your little brother?!”
3. Take Notes During the Match
There’s usually some time during each game, like during your opponent’s formation step, to jot down a few notes about what happened the previous turn and what recruits were made this turn. And it’s always a good idea to write down both players’ endurance scores with short notes next to each change in case there’s ever any confusion regarding the totals.
Hero Advice: When your opponent makes a nice play, be sure to write it down. Your report and subsequent victory will be all the sweeter when your readers realize that your opponent was a skilled player.
Villain Advice: When your opponent makes a nice play, accuse him or her of cheating and call a judge over. Be sure to disrespect the floor judge and take your case to the head judge. When the head judge rules against you, throw your deck across the room and storm out of the tournament hall crying, “A pox! A pox on all of you!”
4. Be Descriptive and Verbose
Your readers are probably comic book fans, just like you are, so they’ll appreciate some exciting action scenes and melodramatic flourishes. When Sabretooth attacks Jean Grey, make it come alive. Instead of writing, “Sabretooth, FR attacked the now unprotected Jean Grey, MG, stunning her and causing 3 breakthrough” try this:
“Sabretooth snarls and roars as he charges over the unconscious Nightcrawler, tearing into Jean Grey with his razor sharp claws. Terrified at seeing their comrade taken down in such a violent manner, the team’s stomach for the fight was reduced.”
Your readers already know all the game terms like breakthrough, stun, endurance, and whatnot, so there’s no need to always use the technical terms, as they’ll get it from the context. And unless the amount of endurance that is lost is somehow complicated or especially high, you don’t need to use too many numbers. Your readers will understand that endurance is being lost, but it doesn’t really matter exactly how much. An update on the endurance totals at the end of each turn is nice, though.
Hero Advice: When you beat an opponent, you can make sure there are no hurt feelings or embarrassment by softening the impact of the report. Use phrases like, “If I hadn’t knocked Magneto out of his hand on turn 5, I would’ve been a goner,” or, “I was pretty lucky to have that Burn Rubber handy when he went for the win.”
Villain Advice: When you crush people, make sure the world knows it by writing down the cold, hard truth. You dominated them on every level—tactically, strategically, and mentally. Your deck was all foiled-out, while they weren’t even playing with card sleeves. Your opponents will learn to fear you, and will woefully tell others of your mastery of the game. It’s survival of the fittest. Crush or be crushed.
5. Sum Up The Event
Let your readers know how the metagame played out and your overall opinion of the event. What decks dominated? What team was played most often? What were the top two decks, and what made them so successful? Were your metagame predictions correct? Finally, did you do as well as you thought you would against the decks you thought you could beat? If your record wasn’t so stellar, don’t worry. Readers will learn from your mistakes and respect you for posting your report. You undoubtedly learned something about yourself, your deck, and the competition in your area. Why not let the rest of the world in on the learnin’?
Let the readers know how many people attended the event, how long it went, and what the “buzz” at the event concerned. Maybe the buzz was about a weird deck that did surprisingly well, or that someone actually used Captain America’s shield for an initiative token.
Hero Advice: Give props to your opponents for the fun matches and thank the judges and organizers. If there were any hiccups in the event or if there were things that could have been handled better, be sure to give constructive criticism. While most of the TOs have been running TCG events for a while, some are new and might not have expected 137 people to show up at their event.
Villain Advice: Make sure that the people who put on the event are run out of town for the favoritism they showed to all your opponents. The judges had it in for you from the moment you arrived. Every opponent you played was a scrub and just got incredibly lucky. You’ll have your revenge . . . someday.
What sort of player will you be? Everyone has a clean slate right now, both as a player and as a person. There’s no telling who the stars, heroes, and villains of the game will be. Your destiny awaits, so don’t deprive the world and the history books from a look into your game, your mind, and your matches.
In a future column, I’d like to post some examples of great match reports, so if you’ve got a hum-dinger of a match report (please don’t send full tournament reports), I’d like to read it. Email me at mhyra@metagame.com.
|
| |
| Top of Page |
|
|
|
|
|