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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