August 26, 2009

VS System Hobby League Changes

Well we've had an awesome resurgence in tournament numbers as summer draws to a close. The previous two tournaments have had 7 or more players in attendance, which is really great to see again.

I've been a little behind on the tournament updates, so this will be short. Our most recent tournament was a switch-deck event decided on by Jordan. He won the first event in August with his villainous Thunderbolts deck. Well done.

In the switch-deck event we had time for three rounds of play in which we chose two first places: one for the player with the best record, and one for the deck with the best record. As a final round the top player and creator of the top deck played it out for the final bragging rights.

The top performing deck of the night was Roy's Weapon X. The top player of the night was none other than your truly, posting a 3-0 record. That put my League of Assassins deck up against Deadpool and his cronies. It was a close game right up through turn 5, but Roy took a powerful lead through turn 6. I was able to draw my 7-drop character, but without having a way to attack his hidden Mesmero I was sufficiently hand-cuffed and was forced to admit defeat. Congratulations to Roy in yet another victory!

Back to the title of the article, the players in the hobby group have decided to make some changes to the prizing structure. For the past two years we've been playing in free tournaments with prizes and t-shirts from the UDE hobby league kits, provided by Trilogy Gaming Club and myself. With those supplies coming to an end, a new prizing structure needed to be determined. So here it is:

Each player will now pay an entry fee of $2 per tournament.

Wait, now I have to pay to play VS? Well, yes. But the reason is simple. With the money we collect from the attendees, and liberally supplemented by me, I will provide a comic-themed t-shirt as a top prize once per month. The regular prizes of booster packs will still be provided as well.

August 07, 2009

Group Deck Dynamics

Yesterday I had a chance to get together for an evening of VS with Scott and Collin. While trying to quiet my nephew down enough to go to sleep I watched them play two games one-on-one. Scott was playing a deck made mostly of cards from Universe and Collin had DC Legends. All of us made various remarks about the power levels of the cards from the new sets being frustrating to deal with, or in some cases plain over-powered.

Later on we were able to play a few three player games, and it struck me that the simple addition of another player really seemed to level out the playing field. Due to the number of things to consider when attacking and defending against two opponents instead of just one, many of the high-powered effects don't seem to be nearly as bad. While this doesn't really address or change the fact that the cards are in general more powerful, I think it's an interesting observation. It also might be a good suggestion for players who do use older sets, or were DC-only players to help keep VS interesting.

Another option is the multiplayer team format. The Galactus set is great for multiplayer. Several months ago I also found fan-created Starro set (and I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember who created it at the moment). However, it was a lot of fun to play as well, and I think I'll print those out on proper stock and set up a team-play even in the near future.

I'm really looking forward to the Ban-5 tournament tonight too. I guess I better decide what deck I'm going to play!

August 04, 2009

Sad Times, or Just a Rainy Day?

Well color me more than a little disappointed. This summer has seen a pronounced fall in attendance at our VS System events. While I did expect a bit of decline due to the game's discontinuation I didn't expect the rapid drop that has happened recently. I know that I can attribute some of the losses to summer vacations happening etc, but I don't know if that's the entirety of it. Even a lot of our rabid regulars don't seem to be coming out anymore.

With all that being said, I'll continue to run events and provide prizes (it won't just be cards, I have some other good stuff too!) as long as people show up to play. And of course if you have any suggestions for formats, events or improvements in our game please let me know.