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How to measure your deck
Posted by
darknoj
,
11 April 2012
·
590 views
Game of Thrones AGoT deck tiers Living Card Game
A question often asked by new players is “what do people mean by a top tier deck?”. In simplest terms Tiers are used to measure a deck’s success rate at tournaments. Tiers are not official, or endorsed by Fantasy Flight Games, rather they are attributed to a deck anecdotally in a manner similar to personal reputation. As such, Tiers are not a 100% accurate measure of a decks prowess but rather a rough appraisal of its abilities determined through historical performance and a little bit of guess work. Through experience, many players can also appraise un-played decks and attribute a Tier-level (or what they believe the Tier level to be) even though the deck is un-tested.
Tiers are used for a variety of purposes:
Tier 0 - a.k.a. Zero Tier: The fabled “Unbeatable Deck”. These beasts are the demon spawn of Grand Master Deck Architects like Greg Atkinson and, like the story of David and Goliath, their defeat is a historic event.
Tier 1 - a.k.a. Top Tier: At the top of the metagame, these decks are considered “Champion Decks” and consistently post tournament wins time-after-time.
Tier 1.5 – a.k.a. Near-Top Tier: The Top Tier’s little brother, these decks tend to win more games than they loose, but they have minor flaws that top level players can exploit and when put against true Tier 1 decks lose more then they win. These are sometimes called “Champion level player decks”.
Tier 2: These decks make up the largest contingent on the competitive scene and hence can be called “Tournament Decks”. While their win rate is high against comparable decks they usually fall apart when facing stronger opponents. More than half of decks at any given tournament usually fall into this Tier. Tournament wins with this Tier of deck is often times more a result of great play than the deck itself.
Tier 3 – a.k.a. Bottom Tier: These decks are not competitive – referred to as “Casual Decks” – but are often the starting-point for creating higher-tier decks.
It is also important to bear in mind that Tier standing is not static; as the metagame evolves (errata, new cards, trick discoveries) the Tier rating of a deck will shift.
In general terms, to be competitive, a player must use a Tier 2 or better deck in tournament play (locally and regionally). There are two ways to get a high-Tier deck: find one or build one.
If you are interested in finding a Tier 2 or better deck, I would suggest reading some of the articles by Clu. These articles not only highlight some strong Tier 2 or better contenders, but explain some of the architecture behind the decks like why specific cards were chosen over others.
If you are interested in building a competitive deck however, you will have to wait for my next post! Where I plan on going over some basic deck building pointers.
Edited by: Loshad
Tiers are used for a variety of purposes:
- it can be used to predict a deck’s chances in a given tournament; once a player has seen the field, a comparison of Tiers can help determine relative chances of success;
- it can be used to choose a deck; it provides a relative measure of comparability that can be used when selecting a deck to play;
- it can be used to brag; etc.
Tier 0 - a.k.a. Zero Tier: The fabled “Unbeatable Deck”. These beasts are the demon spawn of Grand Master Deck Architects like Greg Atkinson and, like the story of David and Goliath, their defeat is a historic event.
Tier 1 - a.k.a. Top Tier: At the top of the metagame, these decks are considered “Champion Decks” and consistently post tournament wins time-after-time.
Tier 1.5 – a.k.a. Near-Top Tier: The Top Tier’s little brother, these decks tend to win more games than they loose, but they have minor flaws that top level players can exploit and when put against true Tier 1 decks lose more then they win. These are sometimes called “Champion level player decks”.
Tier 2: These decks make up the largest contingent on the competitive scene and hence can be called “Tournament Decks”. While their win rate is high against comparable decks they usually fall apart when facing stronger opponents. More than half of decks at any given tournament usually fall into this Tier. Tournament wins with this Tier of deck is often times more a result of great play than the deck itself.
Tier 3 – a.k.a. Bottom Tier: These decks are not competitive – referred to as “Casual Decks” – but are often the starting-point for creating higher-tier decks.
It is also important to bear in mind that Tier standing is not static; as the metagame evolves (errata, new cards, trick discoveries) the Tier rating of a deck will shift.
In general terms, to be competitive, a player must use a Tier 2 or better deck in tournament play (locally and regionally). There are two ways to get a high-Tier deck: find one or build one.
If you are interested in finding a Tier 2 or better deck, I would suggest reading some of the articles by Clu. These articles not only highlight some strong Tier 2 or better contenders, but explain some of the architecture behind the decks like why specific cards were chosen over others.
If you are interested in building a competitive deck however, you will have to wait for my next post! Where I plan on going over some basic deck building pointers.
Edited by: Loshad
