The Things I Do For Win - Tournament Play

Tourney Play
The regionals are fast approaching and it’s time to get your game face on. Tournaments are a great environment to enjoy the best part of our community: the people. In no other gaming circle have I met more friendly or gracious players. Besides the game mechanics (thanks FFG!), this is the reason I keep playing.

That being said, I have walked away from tournaments with a bitter taste in my mouth. Being a Jaime I expect a reasonable amount of rules lawyering during matches and at times some flat out rules breaking. Notice I didn’t say cheating. I’ve only been fairly certain a couple times about some extra cards being drawn or passives being ignored when it didn’t suit my opponent. For the most part, our community plays a clean set of cards.

I will admit during my most anger management intensive times it has been my own fault. To avoid raging like The Mountain here are a couple tips to enhance your tournament experience.

Know What Your Deck Does
As many times as I’ve heard folks explain they built the deck the night before I’ve seen subpar decks win because the player knows it inside and out. Every card in your deck is there for a reason; explore those options by playing it a lot. If you feel a card isn’t pulling its weight, dump it. Every house that you face gives you a different challenge. By playing against those houses you get an understanding of what you need to do to win. If you get into a situation during a tournament that you are questioning yourself about what to do then you haven’t done enough playtesting.

When you are faced against a Ghaston Grey you need to know how many outs are left in your deck. You need to know what is the biggest threat to your deck at all times. I love to play charlite and I knew I could ignore the military challenge every turn.

True Story
Last year at GenCon I piloted a Bara Winter deck that I played twice before but I believed (still today actually) that it was the best control at the time. I scrubbed out in four rounds. It was one of the most technically difficult decks I had played and it showed in my standings. After game three I finally understood how a couple of cards interacted, if I would’ve understood that, then I win earlier games.

Play Like a Professional
The rules of the game are there because that’s how you are supposed to play the game. Otherwise you are playing a weird variant that isn’t the game we love. Passive effects have to trigger, whether it’s yours or not. Claim two means you kill two people. The draw cap is three. When you pass your turn you are done.

Before games most folks will agree to a hard or soft playing style. Meaning you can utilize ‘take backs’. During tournaments, there is no such thing as rule reprisal. If a player misses a trigger, then it doesn’t happen. If someone doesn’t count their gold correctly you don’t have to correct them and they don’t have to help you either. While I play a lot of friendly games in my meta it’s understood that a card played is a card laid unless we state it’s a learning game. Play by the rules even with new players. They will become better players and you don’t have to be a jerk while you’re doing it. Why not play the game correctly AND have a good time?

True Story
Early in my AGOT career I was playing in a championship match where I allowed my opponent to switch plots after he played one. He let the heat of the moment get to him and dropped the wrong one. I said ok, we’re gentlefolk playing a civilized game. Not one turn later I realize after the fact that I played a different character from my hand then I meant to, a character that seals the win for me. I start to pick the cardboard up stating that I played the wrong one and my opponent said no. I lose the game a turn later. FFG doesn’t have rules about dickery or even about playing incorrectly. Make sure you and your opponent are playing by the same rules, the correct rules.

Play In a Timely Manner*
There are only so many minutes in a round to win the game. I generally play control decks that take a while for them to exert their dominance. Knowing that, I try to play at a quickened pace. The only way to know how to play quickly and well is by repeatedly playing the same deck over and over again while being exposed to different scenarios. An average tournament game lasts between 45 and 60 minutes as per the rules. From my own experience, most games last between four and six plots. If we take the 60 minutes and six plots, than that means that each player has five minutes to play their turn.

I mostly play control decks and I am forced to understand the amount of time I have to win with it. I am also forced to play with folks who don’t know when all of their options are limited to zero. I get it, I understand it, and I don’t want to admit defeat either when I can’t see it.

True Story
It was my second year of playing tournaments and I had finally made a name for myself (kinda). I once again was playing a characterless deck during the last round of regulation. If I won I was in, if I lost or tied my opponent was in. After turn three my opponent proceeded to take fifteen minutes plus for each of his turns. I called a judge over because I knew I couldn’t win in that amount of time, I could control the board but not accumulate 15 power. Because A Game of Thrones judge doesn’t have any say during a tournament I had to sit there while we ended in a tie. A total of three turns passed in 40 minutes, where I’m literally playing one card during marshalling and passing. Ironically, if my opponent had played at a timely pace he may have had a chance at winning due to a couple cards I couldn’t deal with.

Leave It Alone
Hopefully you have been playing your chosen deck for at least a couple weeks. You have a good idea about what it should do and how it reacts to certain situations. Part of the awesomeness of tournaments is being exposed to new ideas. Don’t let that sway your card choices the night before without at least playing five games with the changes.

True Story
Last year I made an eight hour trip to a regional. I was excited to play in the first of many and wanted to play my ‘throw away’ deck that I thought had a lot of potential. I stayed up playing with a travel mate and convinced myself that I had to change my plot deck to include Focused Offense. It was a Bara Control deck that could lock down characters and reap much killing using Shadow Stalker. I was doing well until round three, the game went seven plots and I had to play the added plot. Same thing happened when I was on the bubble in round five to make top eight. GG to my opponent in both cases. It seemed like a great addition the night before but it cost me dearly during the light of day.

Sleep On It
This is going to sound like common sense. Get a reasonable night of sleep before the tournament. Even if you are driving up that morning make sure to switch off if it’s a long trek. I usually do quite well at the local regionals of Iowa and Minnesota because I sleep comfortably in my own bed and get a good breakfast in the morning. There is plenty of time to partake in the camaraderie after the tournament.

True Story
In my second trip to GenCon the format was regular rounds on day one and top sixteen on day two. There was a caveat that players could change decks between day one and two. I scrapped into top sixteen with a solid Greyjoy Characterless deck. It was the only deck I brought because I believed in it that much. The night before day two I stayed up late playtesting and reveling. I broke two rules, changed the deck and stayed up way too late to be effective. I had many chances to win the first round but stumbled through the game and made too many mistakes.

Go to the After Function
After most AGOT gatherings there is a designated meeting place to swap war stories of the day. I cannot stress this enough; our community is great. The game designers, players, and tournament organizers all enjoy the game and are a treat to hang out with. Enjoy the best part of playing the game, the people.

True Story
I have met great personalities at every tournament. Good luck and don’t make the same mistakes I have!

* If there is one thing that drives me nuts about A Game of Thrones is the tournament judge expectations. I think a judge should be obligated to correct play mistakes as they happen and are witnessed. I feel a game being played incorrectly is darn close to cheating. That’s an article for later…