Bramble On #10: Beta; Week 1

Round One.. FIGHT!

The first week of the Beta has been in full force and it's been pretty exciting to keep track of points and follow the statistics of each player. I'll admit, following each unique player playing a different deck requires a bit of documenting, but it adds a unique 'competitive' element to our EDH/Commander games.

To check out the statistics from Week 1, click HERE!

To sum up the first week the point totals look like this;

1. David: 88
2. CJ: 40
3. Jav: 20
4. Evan: 19
5. Gyula: 8

After this article is posted, I'll be the new TD for the upcoming week, which means I'll have a 1.5x multiplier to all of my multiplayer games I play, but I'll also be worth more points whenever I get killed. Unfortunately, it's a double-edged sword; drawing me an unwanted amount of political hate.

Check out the Bramble Cup Beta article to see what we had planned out for this month!

The week panned out with CJ snatching a quick win during the Top Dog Determination game (a P4 with myself, Gyula, and Evan) at The Atrium using none other than Craterhoof Behemoth with an army of tokens by his side. Afterwards, Jav joined us to elegantly destroy all 4 of us in a long and grueling P5 with his own Kaalia of the Vast EDH deck. After all these huge swings in points, it all went downhill for everyone as I started a huge winning streak with multiple 1v1 wins and a handful of P3 games. Overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out. Unfortunately, Gyula has been very busy and Jav was too busy getting 16th at TCG Orlando to continue testing out the Beta, but I can't stay too mad at them. I got a lot of testing in with CJ and Evan and was actually able to see some weaknesses in some of my decks that I was playing. Since the amount of competition increased in our playgroup, we started playing a little more to the book and play errors were more punishable, which gave everyone incentive not to make play mistakes and overall become a better player. I'll continue to monitor the amount of competition as the Beta progresses and make achievements to benefit competitive and casual players alike.

I decided to make a few changes to the Beta and add a few new elements.

*Expansion points only apply in P3 or more

White Expansion (Beta):
Dispatch: Kill off another player at the table = 2pts.
Condemn: Kill off a player that was directly responsible for your previous death = 1pt.
Oust: Kill off the Top Dog = 4pts.
Path to Exile: Usurp the Top Dog position from another player: 10pts.
Brave the Elements: 1.5x multiplier to all points gained while being the Top Dog (cannot gain Oust achievable)

NEW
Limited Resources: Win a game with a deck you don't own = 1pt.

Blue Expansion (Fall):
Vapor Snag: Ceding from a game without due cause = -2pts.

Red Expansion (Fall):
Mass Hysteria: Deal the first point of damage to an opponent in a game = 1pt.

For starters, I gave points to the winner of the TD determination game. Although we all agreed that the winner would only receive the privilege of being the Top Dog without points, after watching CJ struggle to keep his head above water all week, I decided to throw him a bone. It's really difficult being Top Dog if you're not used to all the hate in multiplayer, so it'll help him get a little off the ground. Also, I decided to work in the Condemn achievable or what we nicknamed the 'grudge' point. With the 1.5x multiplier, we run into a weird 'half point' issue. For the moment, we're going to round down on all half points; we'll round up if that becomes an issue later on. The Top Dog perk is also a bit more effective if we have more point gaining achievements.

The cool thing I wanted to do with the Bramble Cup was include expansions. Since all the Beta-themed achievements were White, the expansions will be according to color. For the moment, we'll be playing with the two new perks from the Blue and Red expansions for now, but for the most part, the White ones will dominate the Beta.

Limited Resources is an interesting one, it promotes sharing and people trying out new strategies that others have built. I think it's a great way to promote versatility. Overall, I want to avoid negative point achievements as much as possible, but they help keep the balance of the game in check. When players abruptly cede out of a game, it changes the board state in a way that overlooks strategy and punishes players who were playing under the presumption that another player would still be in the game. Frankly, that's just not a factor you can take into account. Vapor Snag does a good job of keeping players in the game even if their hand/board didn't pan out the way they intended to. It also allows players who really want to leave, a way out even if they do take a penalty as consequence. Overall, I think it's fine for now. I may increase the deduction to -3 if that issue becomes a problem later on. Also, dealing first blood is hilarious, so Mass Hysteria definitely gets the nod of approval.

I've received a few mixed reviews about the Beta so far. I'm hoping as we continue to test everything out, more playgroups will give the Beta a try while we prepare for the larger, regional campaign across Casual Net in the Fall. I'll be reevaluating/giving you guys insight into the Beta every Sunday along with announcing the new Top Dog for the week. Until the second week, Magic players!

Can't get enough brambling content? Check out the Bramble On Series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-David J.

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Bramble On #9: The Beta Stats

Here are the statistics for the ongoing Bramble Cup Beta for the month of July. The rules and such will be undergoing edits throughout the testing period. Enjoy!

David: 149pts.

July 6th
4pts. 1v1; Numot, the Devastator v. CJ's Kresh, the Bloodbraided

July 10th
12pts. P3; Teneb, the Harvester (TtH) defeats CJ's Kresh, the Bloodbraided and Jav's Arcum Dagsson
4pts. 1v1; Intet, the Dreamer (ItD) v. Jav's Arcum Daggson
4pts. 1v1; Numot, the Devastator v. Jav's Kaalia of the Vast

July 12th
4pts. 1v1; TtH defeats Evan's Jenara, Asura of War
4pts. 1v1; ItD defeats Evan's Jenara, Asura of War
8pts. 2(1v1); TtH defeats Evan's Sigarda, Host of Herons
4pts. 1v1; ItD defeats Evan's Sigarda Host of Herons
4pts. 1v1; TtH defeats Evan's Sharuum the Hegemon
4pts. 1v1; ItD defeats Evan's Sharuum the Hegemon
8pts. P3; ItD defeats Evan's Jenara, Asura of War and assisted against CJ's Kresh, the Bloodbraided
12pts. P3; Piloting Jenara, Asura of War defeating Evan's Sharuum the Hegemon and CJ's Kresh the Bloodbraided

July 13th
10pts. P3; TtH defeats Evan's Jenara, Asura of War and Gyula's Brion Stoutarm

July 15th
10pts. Usurping last week's Top Dog.

July 17th
33pts. 2(P3); Numot, the Devastator defeats CJ's Kresh, the Bloodbraided and Victor's (honorary member) The Mimeoplasm

July 20th
8pts. 2(1v1); ItD defeats Evan's Sigarda, Host of Herons
15pts. P3; ItD defeats Evan's Sigarda Host of Herons and Carlos's Dromar, the Banisher
15pts. P3; TtH defeats Evan's Sharuum the Hegemon and Carlos's Dromar, the Banisher

Javier: 42pts.

July 6th
20pts. P5; Kaalia of the Vast defeats David's Teneb, the Harvester, Evan's Sigarda, Host of Herons, Gyula's Oona, Queen of the Fae, and CJ's Kresh, the Bloodbraided

July 20th
4pts. 1v1; Arcum Dagsson defeats CJ's Rith, the Awakener
8pts. 2(1v1); Kaalia of the Vast defeats CJ's Kresh, the Bloodbraided
10pts. P3; Kaalia of the Vast defeats Evan's Jenara, Asura of War and CJ's Kresh, the Bloodbraided

CJ: 52pts.

July 6th
14pts. P4 TD determination; Rith, the Awakener defeats David's Numot, the Devastator, Evan's Sigarda, Host of Herons, and Gyula's Oona, Queen of the Fae
4pts. 1v1 Kresh, the Bloodbraided v. Gyula's Brion Stoutarm

July 12th
18pts. P3; Kresh, the Bloodbraided defeats Evan's Azami, Lady of Scrolls and David piloting Jenara, Asura of War

July 13th
4pts. Kresh the Bloodbraided defeats Gyula's Oona, Queen of the Fae

July 20th
8pts. 2(1v1); Rith, the Awakener defeats Jav's Arcum Dagsson
4pts. 1v1; Kresh, the Bloodbraided defeats Jav's Kaalia of the Vast

Evan: 21pts.

July 6th
4pts. 1v1; Azami, Lady of Scrolls v. Jav's Kaalia of the Vast

July 12th
4pts. P3; Sharuum the Hegemon defeats CJ's Kresh, the Bloodbraided

July 13th
11pts. P3; Sigarda, Host of Herons defeats Gyula's Brion Stoutarm and David piloting Oona, Queen of the Fae

July 20th
2pts. 2(P3); Mass Hysteria

Gyula: 8pts.

July 13th
8pts. 2(1v1); Oona, Queen of the Fae defeats CJ's Kresh, the Bloodbraided

Victor: 0pts.

Carlos: 1pts.

July 20th
1pt. P3; Mass Hysteria

Last Updated: 7-24-12

Can't get enough brambling content? Check out the Bramble On Series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-David J.

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Bramble On #8: Bramble Cup Beta

For all the cool things that Casual Net has to offer like the blog, The Trade Grounds, and the Facebook group, a ton of work goes into making all of them happen. Putting in the man-power to get articles out the door and networking with a ton of people to make sure our product is working is a large feat. Of course all these things are still works in progress, so getting new stuff on the creative table and into a finished product takes a long time and a huge amount of effort. A lot of behind the scenes stuff also gets scrapped because they no longer become feasible.

One thing I've wanted to do for a while was have a group-wide competition or cup between members of the group to create some unity between all of Casual net. We had an idea in the early Spring but it became too difficult to find a template simple enough to encompass the entire group's participation. Recently, my friend, CJ decided to create a 'derby' style competition that was based solely on obtaining points and being the point leader at the end of a season. This idea was easy and elegant enough for us to try out for the month of July. We'll call this derby the Bramble Cup in dedication to my playgroup that I often make fun of on the Bramble On series.

What are the rules for the Beta?

Objective: The person who accumulates the most points at the end of the season wins. The format of choice is ideally Commander/EDH, but is subject to change by the house rules. When calculating points at the end of each week, one player will be announced as the Top Dog for the week. This player will have a couple perks that give them an edge against the rest of the field.

How do you obtain points?

Match Points (P = #number of players; 2P = # of points)

1v1 = P2 = 4 Points

3 man Free-For-All = P3 = 6 Points

4 man Free-For-All = P4 = 8 Points

etc.

Specialty Points (only applies in P3 and higher):

Dispatch: Kill off another player at the table = 2 Points

Condemn: Kill off the player directly responsible for your death in the previous game = 1 Point

Oust: Kill off the Top Dog (does not combine with Dispatch) = 4 Points

Path to Exile: Usurp the Top Dog position from another player = 10 Points

Brave the Elements: Be the Top Dog (cannot gain Condemn nor Oust achievements) = 1.5x multiplier to all points gained while being the Top Dog.

Where will we be playing? 

In addition to local card shops and the usual kitchen table, we have a special surprise. I present you.. The Atrium.

*C.J. looking into the distance while sitting at The Atrium

One of the most intimidating and grandiose factors behind the Bramble Cup Beta is The Atrium. This special arena C.J. discovered in Winter Park, Fl will serve as the battlefield to determine the Top Dog this Friday as we work out the kinks behind the Beta throughout the month. Stay tuned for interviews and coverage as I do my best to record the progress of the Beta.

What are the hypothesized problems we might encounter? 

• What constitutes a kill? Obviously bringing someone's life total to 0, placing 10 or more poison counters on a player, or making a player unable to draw a card from their library are clear ways to kill someone; but how do you place responsibility? What happens when a player cedes the game because they know they can't win or a player uses an infinite combo to hard lock other players out of the game? 

• Unfortunately, I don't know how to create safeguards to people using degenerate strategies in order to rack up wins. I hope that the monotony of dying to an infinite combo will off set the group as a whole and everyone will try to kill players who are notorious for doing so. We also don't have safeguards to prevent people from deck spamming. Although some people only have 1 deck to play with, if a player clearly has one deck that's better than the others; what motivation do they have to play their weaker decks if they don't believe they will obtain more points from playing them?

• The Brave the Elements/Top Dog perk might just be too powerful. Although we had to make this perk into something that you wanted to obtain, a 1.5x multiplier might be too much. We're going to test it for now and see how it goes. 

• There just may not be enough perks/achievements/awards to keep everyone interested. For the Beta, I wanted to keep things simple enough for us to manage the point system, so we're gonna start small (with cute 1cmc-white-spells-themed names). If interest keeps up, I'll add more achievements as I see fit and probably will release them as expansions.  

• If we have an influx of players with malicious intentions, regulating cheating may pose problematic. I make the assumption that these competitions are just for fun and bragging rights and people won't resort to nefarious conduct to get ahead. It's kind of silly considering there's no real prize at the end of the tunnel. Long story short, don't cheat. 

• Finally, the point system seems to simply rewards players who play a ton of magic. Unfortunately, it's rather difficult to track down win:loss ratios with most players playing an uneven amount of games due to life commitments (considering most of us are adults), but we figure the more you play, the more you're rewarded. The more you play with larger groups of friends, the more points available. It's induced to promote camaraderie rather than high-level competition.

If you don't live in Orlando, don't fear. You can try out your own Beta version with you and your friends! If you do give the Beta a try, good luck! Keep us updated with your progress on the Facebook group. The ultimate goal for Bramble Cup is to be a regional competition across Casual Net for longer and larger seasons after I make changes to the rulings and find people willing to regulate playgroups in their region. Until the end of the Beta, Magic players!

Can't get enough brambling content? Check out the Bramble On Series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!

-David J.

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