Vil_Gredin wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2020 8:41 am
To perfectly get all the points you're making, I just need to finish reading the rules, but I get most of it; and your guidelines for deckbuilding also helped me getting some points/goals of the game.
If you are learning to play, there is an official set of "Abbreviated Starter Rules" that was included with 2 pre-constructed decks. These rules are very short but cover 90% of the rules.
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4029&p=33702
There is also an unofficial rewrite of the rules, but it was written by the official Assistant MECCG Series Editor:
http://www.meccg.net/netherlands/meccg/ ... chabod.pdf
Vil_Gredin wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2020 8:41 am
I have a question concerning the mandatory aspect of building a sideboard: coming from more classic CCGs, I mostly used sideboards while (rarely) playing in tournaments; is it a thing in MECCG?
In some games, the sideboard is used between matches. But MECCG, the sideboard is accessible DURING the game. MECCG games are longer and sort of have "matches" built into the game structure: the "2-deck" game ends when the play decks have "exhausted" (run out of cards) twice (very unlikely) OR when someone has exhausted once and has 25 Marshalling points (almost always the case). When the deck runs out, you reshuffle and continue playing. The sideboard in MECCG is not essential, especially when you have a simple deck without prerequisites. But the sideboard can be useful in making your deck flow better. Cards that you won't need until later can be left in the sideboard and then be brought to the deck just before you need them. Also, you can keep hazards in the sideboard and bring them into your deck based on what your opponent is doing. The sideboard can be extremely useful when your deck is about to be exhausted. When you only have 5-10 cards left, it is very likely that you will draw the card that you need. And you can keep sideboarding or recycling from the discard pile to get exactly the hazards, or resources, that you need.
But if your group decides not to use the sideboard, you can build simpler decks and just not worry about it. Definitely get several games in before you worry about the sideboard.
Vil_Gredin wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2020 8:41 am
To give you more infos on my playgroup:
• we will be a group of... two. We both are beginners in MECCG. I intend to decbuild myself, and am also planning to play alone sometimes.
• we want to play on a more casual ground, with a more thematic / roleplay approach (it's the narrative / coherent aspect of the game that interested me at first)
• I should recieve my first cards tomorrow ; I'm more into board play. I got ten starters and a Dragons booster box, but do not have the exact list of cards right now. I might grab some commons and uncommons as well if I need to expand this basis to build playable decks.
Sounds great! There is a lot of fun to be had with just Wizards and The Dragons. For many, MECCG is a complete experience with just those sets. With a box of starters you should have most common cards, but be aware that there are "booster only" commons. Don't worry though, METW Starter Decks and MUCH more useful than boosters due to the amazing Fixed Packs. If you post here on CoE under your nation's community you may be able to find someone to get you these "booster only" commons.
When opening your cards, I would keep the "Fixed" packs from the starter decks separate at first. These packs include some of the best and most important cards in the game. These are the set of characters and factions you will likely want to use for deck building. Of course, these decks posted in the original post are a great place to start, but the fixed packs are also a good place to start.
Since you and your friend are not competitive and more into the Middle-earth narrative, I would not worry much about deck building at all. You can get pretty far just by including fun cards that you want to play. And then, going back to my post above, just make sure that the
numbers on all of the cards in your deck make sense
together. Make sure you have characters to face a creature attack each turn, someone to play the faction, someone to use a utility card, etc. It won't be fun if you have a deck full of hobbits and no attack cancellation utility cards. One wolf will eat them all.
For hazards, I would not worry too much about giving away "kill points" at first. It can be fun to play with lots of Orcs and Wolves just to get a lot of dice rolls going.
Have fun!