Approximately nine months ago, Jeff Donais announced the Modern Age format to our community, which can be found here. At that time, I had the honor of showcasing our reasons for introducing that format in this article. In brief, Modern Age provides an easy entry point for new players and provides fresh metagames for established players.

Many players enjoyed the change of pace brought by Modern Age, but a number of them have asked for a “middle ground” between Modern Age and Golden Age. For example, players have requested that we hold events using the Modern Age format that includes both brands. We realize that players can find it difficult to justify trading for and buying all of the cards for a new Modern Age deck when that deck is only at its prime for a three-month season. We can partially solve this problem by creating sets in which Modern Age decks can be built that are also competitive in Golden Age. For example, the Avengers decks that won the last two $10,000 Championships are close to being Modern Age legal. As a separate issue, some players always want to be able to use their favorite brand—be it DC or Marvel—and this is not accommodated in the “rival” season.

To address many of these issues, we have been planning a “middle ground” format for some time. The goal of this format is to have a card pool large enough to satisfy our experienced players without being too daunting for incoming players. We’ve already seen that a collector’s cards can increase in value during a Modern Age format, but we wanted players to feel those cards were relevant for a longer period of time. Specifically, we were looking to feature cards from any given set for two years. Now, with the release of Justice League of America—our eighth set over a span of two years—it is finally appropriate for us to announce a new format on the horizon. Our official announcement of this new format can be found here.

Silver Age

Silver Age will use all sets from the past two years, which means that with our current expansion release schedule, Silver Age will include the most recent eight sets. Starter deck cards released during that time period will also be a part of the format.

Since we have only released eight sets to date, Silver Age and Golden Age are temporarily one and the same. Thus, this announcement primarily gives you something to look forward to and something to start thinking about. We will continue to treat Golden Age as our “main” format by featuring it in at least one PC each year and in $10Ks around the world. Silver Age will debut at the PC level after the release of our tenth set, Infinite Crisis. It will also be used in the PCQ season following that event. Additionally, Silver Age will make its way into $10Ks with a frequency largely determined by the format’s popularity.

Golden Age will always have certain attributes. If there are cards or strategies you like, they will always be available. On the other hand, even if you dislike playing against certain cards and strategies, they will continue to linger unless we resort to bannings or those strategies fall out of favor. On the whole, the metagame can remain fairly stable unless a new set has a big impact.

In contrast, a given Modern Age format only lasts for a few months. By the time players figure out what is going on in Modern Age, it may be time to move on to the next format. Each Modern Age format creates a fresh and exciting environment for players and deckbuilders alike.

Silver Age represents a middle ground in terms of stability and innovation. We believe the Silver Age format will be especially dynamic even though it always contains eight sets. A given deck may remain in favor for a reasonable amount of time, but eventually, the key cards for that deck will no longer be legal. At that point, a player must find new cards or entirely different deck types to fill in. Whenever a new set is added to the format, players must consider the implications of the entry of that set as well as the ramifications of the set that will be exiting.

For example, when the Marvel set following Infinite Crisis becomes legal for Golden Age and Modern Age, it will also become legal for Silver Age. At that point, the Web of Spider-Man set will leave the Silver Age format. Players will have to consider what will happen when cards like Bamf!, Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, Unmasked, and Insignificant Threat leave the available card pool.

This is the additional challenge to the deckbuilder, who must simultaneously determine which cards in the new set are the most exciting. Rather than two formats, each new set now impacts three formats; this makes new releases all the more exciting. Also, with each set leaving, there is a window where your favorite deck is no longer held at bay by a certain card, like Unmasked.This should keep players paying closer attention to older sets.

You may have already heard that we will be refeaturing some teams. For example, the X-Men set will further explore the X-Men and Brotherhood teams. Wherever possible, we will try to include some of the most popular comic book teams as refeatures every couple years so that they are continually a part of the Silver Age format.

Besides these new features of Silver Age, many of the same reasons for creating Modern Age also apply to Silver Age. Formats focusing on recent sets provide an easier entry point for new players, both monetarily and in terms of card familiarity and knowledge. New formats allow new strategies to thrive due to different card pools and metagames. They make it more likely that new mechanics will be highlighted and explored since new teams don’t have to compete with as many other teams. Cards that would not ordinarily see play frequently do when new formats are introduced. And finally, new formats are a new challenge for creative deckbuilders!

Golden Age and Modern Age

Going into the PC this weekend, Golden Age is thriving. The results of this weekend’s Pro Circuit will reveal how diverse and innovative the format is. We will continue to work hard to keep this format healthy and to feature it as much as possible.

We’ve now had the chance to see both Marvel Modern Age and DC Modern Age at the Pro Circuit and PCQ levels. There has been mixed reaction to these formats. By and large, the player base seemed to enjoy the Modern Age formats when they were “healthy.” The Man of Steel / Green Lantern Corps Modern Age format was largely dominated by Green Lantern / Emerald Enemies decks. While Anti-Matter Stall, Superman Robots, and Superman Blue decks provided some competition, this particular Modern Age format wasn’t as popular or as diverse as we might have hoped. On the other hand, in the Web of Spider-Man / Marvel Knights Modern Age format, almost all teams figured prominently in the mix. That season of Modern Age was viewed positively by most players we talked to. It was a good change of pace from Golden Age, which until that time was the only Constructed format supported by our organized play.

Ultimately, the challenge for us with Modern Age is to create fun and healthy environments. While it is difficult for us to do this without seeing what the players will do with our cards, we have learned some lessons from the first two seasons. We have used this information to improve the content of the upcoming Modern Age formats. For example, we have tried to ensure more checks and balances for popular strategies, increased cohesion between adjacent sets in terms of themes and keywords, balanced power levels of teams in adjacent branded sets, and tried to reduce board complexity during game play.

We will still feature each of the two Modern Age brand formats at PCs in the upcoming year. We expect players to enjoy the featured Modern Age formats this year, but in the future, we may rethink how we handle these formats, if necessary. Ultimately, Golden Age and Silver Age may take the spotlight away from the Modern Age formats. All of this will depend on your feedback.

With this in mind, these are the PC formats for the next year:

Pro Circuit                 Date               PC Formats

#7 Atlanta               March 2006   Marvel Modern Age (MAV, MXM) Constructed

DJL Drafts

#8 San Francisco      June 2006     Silver Age (MSM thru DCR) Constructed

MXM Drafts

#9 Gen Con Indy      Aug 2006       DC Modern Age (DJL, DCR) Constructed

DCR Drafts

#10 Gen Con So Cal  Nov 2006       Golden Age (All sets thru MHG) Constructed