Metagame.com - Take Your Game to the Next Level

Sometimes, coming up with topics to write about can be very difficult. Other times, it can be quite easy. This is one of those times when the topic and the following thoughts flowed freely from my mind to my computer. Today, I am going to discuss with you the concept of “bridging the gap.” What does that mean? Well, it occurred to me that in the midst of all my articles with deckbuilding tips and strategies, I never actually wrote one that addressed the concept of being competitive if you’re a brand new player. I had the distinct pleasure of being in this situation this last week when I introduced my wife to the wonderful world of Vs. System. What follows is a breakdown of concepts and ideas that are important to keep in mind when you make that step from casual player to Pro Circuit powerhouse.

About two weeks ago, I asked all of you to submit different shirt ideas for my team to wear to Pro Circuit Los Angeles. I was quite happy with the response, and the strong and innovative ideas. Here are two to whet your appetite:

I would like to encourage anyone else who may have suggestions to submit them by October 27 (it takes two weeks to get the shirts made). Obviously, we want the shirt design to be a surprise, but if we pick your design, we will happily give you a shirt of your own to wear at the Pro Circuit (or, if you’re not attending, we will mail it to you before we depart for the Sunshine State). I look forward to hearing more of your ideas!

This past weekend was bittersweet. I turned the big two-seven. Having birthdays is always fun, but at the same time, I am now on the downward slope toward thirty, which is a horrific thought for me. In order to make my birthday extra special, my wife told me that one of my birthday presents would be her learning how to play Vs. System. I was a bit skeptical because I had tried to teach her before to no avail. But she seemed determined, and I really needed a playtest partner in my hometown, so we drove up to Tulsa to get a starter deck and embark on our second foray into super hero card games.

Surprisingly, things went rather smoothly. She had retained a basic knowledge of card mechanics from her first attempt to learn the game, which made it easier for her to grasp the more difficult concepts that I will be talking you through today. Hopefully, this article will guide those who play casually but don’t necessarily understand all the complexities that come with competitive play.

This is often one of the most overlooked technical aspects of the game. Most of the time, when the game is explained to beginners, you don’t hear much about phases. Instead, you hear instructions such as, “First you draw two cards, then you lay a resource, then you generate points,” and so forth. While this is correct on a very basic level, in order to step up a level and play with the big boys and girls, you need to know more than just doing a couple of things in order.

First, I want to run down the phases with you. This is the order in which phases occur each turn:

The draw phase is just like it sounds. This is the phase where you draw your two cards for the turn. The build phase, however, is a whole different animal. It’s split up into three distinct steps. First, you have the resource step, where you actually lay a card in your resource row. After that step has been completed, you move on to the recruit step, where you generate resource points and spend them to recruit characters and equipment. Finally, after you have recruited, you move into the formation step, which is where you move your characters into either the support row or the front row.

After the last player’s formation step has finished, the build step officially concludes and you move on to the combat phase. The combat phase consists of each player’s attack step. The player with the initiative has his or her attack step first. After the first player has concluded all of his or her attacks and has passed, the other player enters his or her attack step. When both attack steps have been completed, the combat phase ends and both players move to recovery. The recovery phase is very important because it is where you determine which characters you wish to recover and if you have won or lost the game. After all of this has been completed, you start all over again, beginning with the draw phase of the next turn.

The real importance of the phases is that they give you (and your opponent, for that matter) an opportunity to play and resolve effects before you start doing things like drawing cards, laying resources, and so on. For example, take a card that allows you to draw a card, such as Mutopia. At the start of your draw step, you could flip or play Mutopia, draw a card from its effect, and then draw your two cards for the turn. Sounds pretty simple, right? It is, but it’s also often overlooked. It can become increasingly more complex when you actually use cards that search your deck (like Alfred Pennyworth or Dagger, Child of Light), but for this illustration, I just wanted to introduce you to the concept of drawing a card out of your deck at the beginning of the phase.

So, how does this work exactly? Do you just say, “Before I draw, I want to do this?” Not quite. Like most things in this wonderful game, there is a specific way to do it, and playing plot twists, locations, and other effects are no exception. What happens is that at the start of a phase, you actually put the effect that you wish to play on something called “the chain.” What is the chain? Read on, my faithful friends!

At the very beginning of my tenure as a Metagame.com writer, I wrote an entire article about complexities of the chain. Today, I am just going to give you a quick and dirty version; the intent of this article is not to make you a master at the chain game, but rather to inform you of when you can place effects on the chain and how they resolve. Have you heard the phrase “You have to crawl before you walk”? Well, think of this article as your baby steps.

What is the chain? The chain is where effects are placed so that they can resolve. You can’t just play a card and immediately get the benefit from it. As much fun as that would be, it just wouldn’t be efficient. So, the wonderful developers at UDE created the chain, which I hear was the inspiration for the song “Does Your Chain Hang Low,” currently tearing up the charts.

A question that is often asked is how do the effects resolve? After all the effects are placed on the chain, you resolve them backward. This means that the last effect placed on the chain will be the first to be resolved. If Player 1 places an effect on the chain and then passes, and you respond with an effect of your own, and then both you and Player 1 pass, your effect will resolve first. Then, if you both pass priority again, Player 1’s effect will resolve. I know it seems like a lot of information all at once. For a more in-depth discussion of the chain, please reference my previous article.

A very relevant issue that you need to understand is who gets to add to a chain first. This is referred to as “priority.” So, how do you gain priority? The primary player is always the first player to get priority at the start of a new phase or step. The player with priority has the first opportunity to add an effect to a chain. If the player with priority adds to the chain, that player keeps priority. Otherwise, priority passes clockwise. After an effect resolves, priority returns to the primary player. (A special thanks goes out to Paul Ross for pointing me to a good explanation of priority; sometimes easy concepts are difficult to express in words!)

Priority is a fairly simple concept in Vs. System, but as aspiring competitive players, you must have a good understanding of its workings.

I know this seems obvious, but it’s hard to be competitive if you don’t know what’s out there; how could you possibly hope to have a competitive deck? You wouldn’t even know what you were trying to be competitive against or what would be competitive against you.

This task can be incredibly daunting to a new player. As it currently stands, Vs. System clocks in with eleven different and unique sets with only a minute number of reprints (Flying Kick and Marvel Team-Up). This is likely one of the biggest reasons that casual players often dislike the Golden Age format. In order to be competitive in that format, a casual player would have to do a wealth of research on card selection, metagame predictions, and so forth.

Thankfully, Golden Age is not the only format. At my local shop, Silver Age has become the format of choice, and I personally feel that this is a more realistic stepping stone for the casual player who is looking to become more competitive. Older sets constantly rotate out of Silver Age, so even a new player can take solace in the fact that in six months, the two oldest sets in the format will be gone. That will effectively strengthen that player’s knowledge of the format as long as he or she stays up to date with the new sets that replaced the old ones.

The biggest issue that I have seen from casual players who strive to become more competitive is the need to “impress” the local pro player contingent. Let me just say that this school of thought is completely ridiculous and only hurts players who employ it. If you have a question, you need to ask it. Who better to steer you in the right direction than a local pro or more experienced player? Most pros are friendly and want to support the game at a casual level, and would likely jump at the thought of creating a more competitive atmosphere at their local shops.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m not saying that you should ask a pro for a decklist or something crazy like that. Those kinds of questions will likely get you a hard stare and a reputation as someone who is looking to steal hard-earned information. Rather, don’t be afraid to consult a pro, or anyone for that matter, about different play decisions and strategies that you employed in a given match. Like my teacher always said, there are no stupid questions!

It’s not easy to be competitive at this game. My wife told me this weekend that she never realized the amount of work that Tim, me, and the rest of my team put into preparing for an event. It was actually pretty nice, because now I feel like I have an excuse for claiming exhaustion, which allows me to try to parlay all that “hard work” into foot massages. Seriously, it does take a lot of commitment to be—and especially to stay—competitive at this game. As mentioned before, you need to have a strong knowledge of the available cards, but more than that, you need to be able to perform consistently at a high level (in other words, make few mistakes). How do you get to that point? You play . . . a lot.

Even if you can’t play, watching other players play can improve your knowledge and help you make better decisions. Also, by playing and watching other players, you get to see a whole different spectrum of card interactions that maybe you didn’t think of, which can in turn help you in the deckbuilding process.

I hope you enjoyed this overview of the first couple of things you need to know in order to become a more competitive player. As with any complex hobby or game, you need to understand the rules fully before you can become proficient at it. If you make sure that you are aware of the different phases and steps, and when and how the chain works within those phases, you will be well on your way to understanding many of the complex card interactions that pros normally employ. After that, the hard part of learning the cards and putting in the testing time is the next step. Once all of these steps are employed, I promise that you will be on your way to becoming a more competitive player and a potential force to be reckoned with wherever you bring your deck! Until next time, take care!

Shane Wiggans, one of the nicest guys with a tattoo sleeve, is also a member of Team Alternate Win Condition and now has the most perfect woman in the world since she is learning how to play Vs. System. If you have any questions or comments for him, feel free to say hey at any event or email him at piercedlawyer@yahoo.com.