From:	Matb <mbreton@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject:	Re: National Tournament???
Date:	Wed, 15 Apr 1998 16:04:04 -0700

hansen wrote:

> It'll be nice to be able to run tournaments.....
> You'll need stricter guidelines regarding rules esp. objective points to win
> a game...

Nah. Different classes: I know decks that can win a 75-point game and
not a 300-point game (eep!). Similarly, I know decks that rock in
two-player but will consistently lose in four-player. Unfortunately,
starting Pro Leagues has the tendency to homogenize game-playing *too
much*. The first question I hear when I meet a new Magic player is "Is
that a Type I or Type II deck?"

> The current "agreement" rule in the rulebook is too loose...

Not at all. In another game, the dispute would be left to the tourney
judge; I actually like to democritization -- leave it in the hands of
the players involved in the game.

> Also, winning decks are always built based on ways to abuse the rules...
> When a combo abuses the rules too greatly, a way must be devised to control
> this combo or the game will become a "Play this combo, or have no hope of
> winning" game.

Haven't found that combo in SRTCG (yet?). However, one of the major
sore points many players have with MtG is the tendency to a) have one
Power card in every expansion that you *must* play with; and b) the
follow-up banning/limiting of that card three months later. As powerful
as some cards are (Torgo, Skwark, younameit), I don't see any need, at
the moment, to limit them, or any combinations worthy of suppressing.
(In fact, my hackles are raised at the very talk of limiting card play.)

> Ok... I know a lot of you have a bone to pick with Magic but I'm going to
> quote it's tournament breif evolution because it does happen to be the
> longest running card game....

> When Magic tournaments were first organized there was no limit to the number
> of cards in a deck only that the deck needed to contain at least 60 cards.
> A lotta smart asses built decks with 40 lightning bolts and 20 mountains.
> Anybody who has played Magic knows what this does....
> They then ruled that you can only 4 of each card besides basic land to stop
> this abuse.
> Most card games now are smart enough to limit no of a card.

I assume 'limits numbers' of a card? Already in SRTCG.

(snippola)

> Each change of ruling makes the game more difficult to play.
> The official errata and card rulings are pages long.
> It is my hope that SRTCG does not fall into this trap.

Hmm. Good points, but I think they're already on the DLOHs' minds.

InQuest or Scrye (forget which one) does keep track of gaming
tournaments. I strongly urge people send in their results -- I can only
recall reading one, ever, in the magazine. And when FASA can see that
there are a dozen different tournaments, following a dozen slightly
different rules, then a national tournament might actually happen.


- Matt

------------------------------------
Ask me tonight why love is strange
For I am drunk and full of reasons....

SRCard list.member.newbie
Teen Poets FAQ: http://pw1.netcom.com/~mbreton/poetry/poetfaq.htm
SRTCG Website: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/2189/ccgtop.htm