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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