None of the decks can share specs. 18 of the 20 specs must be used.
Monocolored decks are banned. 2 of a color + a neutral spec are allowed.
Tournament would be 6 rounds of swiss, with a cut to top 4/8/whatever is appropriate
Players would use a randomly selected deck (without replacement) from their 6 for each round of swiss, so that each player uses each deck once
After the cut, players would select from among their submitted decks through some undecided method.
I’m really curious to see what kind of cool decks people might come up with and bring under these restrictions. Monocolored decks are banned because otherwise you might just get people bringing 6 monocolored decks, which sort of defeats the point of coming up with cool decks.
Would anyone be interested in trying something like this?
Sounds cool but man that’s a lot of work. Like, I’m definitely not the target audience because I’m still in the state of “learn what the various monocolors are capable of”, way short of “let’s come up with tons of ideas to homebrew”. I would honestly probably start by picking two Monocolors to swap Finesse and Bashing into, just so that I would only have to figure out four original decks.
It’s an interesting concept, but it sounds a bit ambitious. Bringing 6 decks to a match and knowing how to pilot even half would be a feat in itself. Might be more reasonable to have 3 decks, 9 of 20 specs etc.
@CarpeGuitarrem: You bring up a good point. I didn’t really think about accessibility much, but having to come up with so many different decks can be a big barrier to entry. With that in mind, maybe I would allow monocolored decks. It would detract a bit from the fun incentive to come up with new decks, but I think that it would make the barrier to entry a lot lower.
@zhavier: As an exercise, I tried coming up with a roster of 6 decks that meet the restrictions. I’ve played a pretty decent variety of multicolored decks in the past, but I still found it to be a pretty big challenge. Basically, with so little wiggle room, I found that whatever ended up as my 6th deck seemed pretty bad. Maybe that could be part of the meta, where one deck ends up kind of gimped and you work around it, but it seems very restrictive. However, coming up with 5 decks I’d be happy to play was not too hard, and I ended up with a couple different permutations I’d be happy to enter.
I want there to be a push to use some of the less popular specs, and to try new things. I think only needing 3 decks isn’t sufficient. For example, you could just enter Nightmare, Anarchy/Strength/Growth, and Past/Peace/x and call it a day. I also think that adding even a fourth deck doesn’t make that much of a difference. I think that 5 decks is the sweet spot where players have enough incentive to try and bring some original builds that give some less popular specs a chance to shine, yet aren’t stifled by the restrictions of needing a full 6 playable decks. Also, this would let you cut a round of swiss, which I think is a plus given the size of the tournaments we generally run here.
@Bryce_The_Rice: Oh yeah, I meant to include that restriction but forgot to include it in the OP. Good catch.
So with thoughts, I think I’d make the following changes:
Another way to encourage this might be to choose some specs as unavailable for everyone, on top of making several decks. Either randomly, or some of the dominant ones. That be too similar to XCAFS, though.
Regardless, I’d be interested in giving this a go.
This is so cool I’m really tempted to get into that “pbf” thing after all
Maybe still 6 decks, but your 6th deck is the one you play in semifinal?
And for finals, you have to pick one of your WORST performing decks? Not sure what to do with someone who never lost a match.
Edit: ditto, in final game your opponent picks a deck you play from your lineup
I think personally I like the oddball tournament where you always play your opponents deck. Submit the lamest spec combinations you can and watch as your opponents flounder… and hope you don’t get stuck with something even more lame…
This would likely come down to knowing your opponent’s preferences than anything else. Knowing what specs someone is comfortable with, specifically. Knowing which matchups are unfavorable to one side just means the other player will pick the favored side.
Or an all-random codex tournament, with a Lum’s Lucky Lottery mechanic: if you lost your previous match, you can pick a codex to be redrawn once you know who the next match is against.
Not sure what to do with someone who never lost a match.
