Wolverine here, from Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
I am new to the forum and the game really. I touched briefly in the game back in 2003 but sold my little accumulated collection
after a short while. But, I am back in full tilt. There has been a small but strong pressence for this CCG in my city still
which is a great thing for this game.
Though a newb (and there is likely to be some VERY newby questions) I am hoping to help out with the advancement of the game,
particular with the creation of Sanctioned Tournament Legal Virtuals. Some of these questions may be answered in other posts,
but just hoping to have a few yes and no questions answered for a single post convenience.
The questions:
1) Is The Council of Elrond THE main MECCG Tournament / Ruling / Errata forum? Is there any others?
2) MECCG.net is this forum connected with The Council?
3) Is there ONE link / Downloadable document to the Full Rules, All Erratas, and Tournament (all formats) Rules?
4) True Or False, 10 Proxies ARE allowed in all sanctioned tournaments?
5) Virtuals, the one set released in 2009 are they Tournament Legal in all formats or only some?
6) How do players feel about Virtuals / The Idea of Virtuals? How does everyone feel about Virtuals being legal across
the board for all tournament play?
7) Is there online play? Free? Updated? Active / Do People Use It alot?
Again, I know these questions sound a bit "lazy", but I am hoping to have all the resources and links pooled in one spot for
a new player such as me. ^^ I am going to be reading tonnes of previous posts, Topics, ect to get right in!
I do play Star Wars CCG (Decipher), currently ran by many volunteers called "The Players Committee" http://www.swccgpc.com
Things they do right:
1) Volunteers. This stuff only keeps up with players and volunteers offering alot of their personal time and love for the
game, it can't be done any other way. The Worlds (which I have not attended yet) pool a crowd of several Dozen people, ~50-70.
2) Virtuals. Ever since Decipher was robbed by Wizards back in 2001 they has been a very strong pressence of players. They
collected together, formed the Players Committee and have since been releasing Virtual sets to keep the game active, and it
IS active! They have it pretty much stapled to a main Block set and then 2 more mini sets related to the main Block set per
year, ~100 NEW CARDS a year!
Virtual sets here to have a look: http://starwarsccg.org/index.php?option ... &Itemid=63
I am hoping to post a video (Likely YouTube) demonstrating the Type of Virtuals the PC has made, all the way from game text
types, to all but the cards picture (covering AND changing the rest of the original card) type, all the way to covering the
entire original card and thus creating (essentially) an entire new card!
3) V-Kit (Beta) http://www.swccgvkit.com is website where you can print off selective virtual slips instead of having to print off a
whole document of virtuals or a single page. You can adjust quantities as well. I should note that I do not think the Vkit is
run by the PC itself.
4) Amazing Online play, The Holotable. http://www.holotable.com/ Again a pure volunteer effort, constantly updated especially
with the release of new Virtual sets.
5) A complete and full rule book downloadable or viewable online.
http://starwarsccg.org/index.php?option ... &Itemid=63 (check it out, it's HUGE!)
6) A Very active forum in all topics.
http://www.starwarsccg.org/index.php?op ... 1279426253
7) Turning un-useable commons into amazing cards with Virtuals!!!
Through the Purchase of, a winner of a major tournament event can design / suggest his VERY OWN virtual card and have it created! There are of course limits, but it does include honorable mentions along the Virtual Card as well. *I would suggest
this as being a prize at Worlds or Lure (incase they are different events) and any other major MECCG events!
Things they do wrong (In my opion of course AND they are limited):
1) MAJOR ERRATAS to the Virtual List / Cards. The have done 2 "wipe outs" that I know of, where they have gone and either
changed several Virtuals or deleted some Virtuals all together. You have to know this for tournaments, and current rulings
and it is a big deal. People complain about over powered / abusive cards all the time, so in some cases they have only slowly
changed the text of a Virtual, only to eventually "dummy down" the card all the way... as the 2nd draft of some Virtuals were
still complained to be too powerful.
The reason for the changes are mostly are attempt to balance the game (which it hasn't yet) and to erase the "meta" as best as
possible. My argument is that no matter how much you change a card pool (either by taking cards out or errataing them) you will
eventually end up with a meta again with a new card pool... Because there will generally be still a "top 5" deck base.
It's annoying as some people will glue their slips to cards or spend a few good pennies professionally printing out the Virtual
slips and then spending hours cutting them out ect. It's nice to print out just what you need, cut them up and not worry about
them ever changing.
2) Conversely, they also come out with new Virtuals to "nerf" certain specific deck strategies, which is not always a bad thing
at all. However, they some time do this ALONG with changing a Virtuals text putting a bullet in a few cards / decks. This isn't
often, but again enough times to make note.
3) V-Kit updates. Do NOT get me wrong, as updated as it is, VKIT is an amazing tool to print of just a few select Virtuals you
need rather than a bunch of pages containing only a few. It does print off a very low resolution which can make them harder to
read and less attractive to use, especially compared to when you print off a full resolution sheet. It would be nice to have an
option to print High-res or Low-res.
Suggestions for over coming these minor problems: (Mostly related to the addition of Virtual cards)
1) Volunteers!!! Once a game no longer has company support, it's up to the hard core players to carry the torch. Keeping
organized and finding helpful and willing people and resources is such an asset!
2) AVOID any mass Erratas or resets!
3) Vote on each Virtual to be IN or NOT, though by an appointed voluteer / play testing group which would avoid steal the
surprise of a new set of Virtual cards. Also, ensure no Virtual is over powered.
4) Ensure ALL MECCG resources are available and easy to find
The fact that this Forum exists and it is quite active (with a annual WORLDS every year) is a very good promise to me!
It should be said that I am NOT suggesting The Council become the PC, but rather grow from example. I think there is some
great things that they are doing that "we" could do to help the evolution and advancement of Middle Earth CCG too!
-Wolverine