Your Game, Your Glory – Organized Play at Home.
Let me say this right at the start, I love Vs tournaments. Lots. One thing I do not love however, is the view that the only way to enjoy Vs is within this competitive style of play. On the contrary the reason for me why Vs is such a good game is that it can be enjoyed on such a plethora of levels, whether deck testing for an upcoming Mega Event such as Weekends or Worlds, or simply kicking back with a few buddies, cracking a case of beer and playing long into the night.
It is on the later example that I’d like to focus in this article, and discussing the different ways in which, as players, we can derive more fun from our cards in a casual environment than we ever could playing the same deck for a whole two days straight. I was motivated to write this whilst reading people’s rants about price cuts/lack of product etc and how it would kill the game. Here in England, especially down in the rural south where I normally reside, it became nigh on impossible to get our hands on new cards without us all chipping in for boxes, which would inevitably led to debates about whose cards belonged to who. I now know this was foolish of us and will be trying to rectify the error of our ways as soon as Universe is released.
This is one of the many things that I hear people claim will eventually kill Vs, but for us it acted more as inspiration. Without any sanctioned events, and with nigh on seventy decks constructed, my fellow fanatic and me decided that there was only one real way to go. Entering sixty four decks into Mantis we hit pair, and our very own tournament began, but it wasn’t a knock out tournament so each round we played thirty two decks each, the results put into Mantis and the decks repaired, six rounds and many days later we had a deck which was victorious and counting the results of who won the most games I was pleasantly surprised to see I wasn’t too far behind Mikes, a player I’ve always held higher than myself.
Of course this style of tournament is quite restrictive to including just the two of us, so whenever the house becomes a bit more crowded we have another system where decks are lined up on the table and each assigned a number, you roll a dice and get a deck. Once again these tournaments would go on all night, and even though it was casual play with no prizes the time I came top of the group probably meant more to me than any PCQ placing.
Above both of the previous examples my personal favourite still remains the nine players and upwards multi duels, and sorry if calling a game of Vs a duel upsets anyone but old habits die hard. The reason being nothing is capable of getting so much conversation, laughter, love, hatred and swearing out of a group of close friends than trying to persuade someone that attacking anyone but you is the right way to go. It was during these often-raucous games that I believe my circle of players, and above all else – friends, became as close as we are.
Whilst not exactly new formats or completely original ideas, it gives us the chance to play with many decks that are normally associated with the other player/s. It was whilst thinking about the fun times I’ve had sat in our normal playing area that I realized UDE stopping Vs or support for Vs, whilst tragic, would still not destroy my love for the game, or stop me playing it.
What I really want to express here is don’t get too caught up in looking at what you can gain from Vs apart from having some of the best times of your life. Sure having a few thousand pounds/dollars on top would be nice, but it defiantly isn’t essential, all you really need, as often is the case in life, is a few close friends, a stack of cards and a case beer. Oh, and a dice!
Long Live Vs!
