Mage Wars German Nationals 2016, June 25/26, Bad Nauheim

[netzhuffle]

Mages from all over Etheria!

On Saturday and Sunday, June 25 & 26, we invite you to the MAGE WARS GERMAN NATIONALS 2016 in Bad Nauheim, Germany. Non-Germans are very welcome too!

Grab your spellbooks, check every spell in your library and become the most powerful mage in the arena. Only one can be the 2nd German Mage Wars Champion!

Free tournament but limited player count. Please register at headjudge@magewars.de. We’ll have a lot of prizes for you to win (over 2 000 €, that’s multiple prizes even for the last place!) – so be a part of this event no matter your Mage Wars skills!

Facts:
Date: Saturday & Sunday, June, 25 & 26, 2016
Place: Bad Nauheim spielt!, on the legendary historical Sprudelhof, Bad Nauheim, Germany
Start: Saturday, 10:30 a.m., for player’s registration. Please be on time to keep your preregistration.
Spellbooks: To spellbooks with different mages – one for Saturday, one for Sunday. 120 points each as described in the Mage Wars Arena Core Set rules.
Allowed cards and mages: German and English cards from all sets released on German until end of May (Mage Wars Arena with all expansions up to Forged in Fire, Battlegrounds: Domination, but no Academy). Promo cards only if released in one of these sets.

Saturday: Qualifiers
Time limit per game: 75 minutes (last round will finish if no winner yet)
Tournament system: Swiss style (ie. each player will face opponents that are about as good as youself, no elimination)
Tournament rounds: 4

Sunday: Finals
Time limit per game: 75 minutes (last round will finish if no winner yet)
Tournament system: Single elimination
Tournament rounds: 3

The best 8 players from Saturday qualify for Sunday’s finals. The other players and those eliminated on Sunday may take part on Sunday’s side event!

Tournament Rules (German): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1997015/Mage%20Wars%20German%20Nationals%202016%20Turnierreglement.pdf
More information in our German forum: http://www.foren.pegasus.de/foren/topic/26518-mage-wars-german-nationals-2016/
More information on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1045579318842069/

[gw]

Why ? What's the reason the card pool is restricted and not up to date ? 

Allowed cards and mages: German and English cards from all sets released on German until May (as of today: Mage Wars Arena with all expansions up to Forged in Fire, no Battlegrounds, no Academy). Tournament rounds:

[netzhuffle]

As this is our official German National Champonship, we’d like to give the players preferring the German cards the same possibilities as the players with English cards. It’s less about restricting the card pool but more about that I personally like allowing Non-German cards too.

[netzhuffle]

Update: As Battlegrounds: Domination will be released in May, it will be allowed for the German Nationals!

[netzhuffle]

Reminder: Only 10 days left for registration!

Please be sure you’ve got a confirmation email. If you didn’t get a confirmation, please email me at headjudge@magewars.de again.

You can still register (and I’m sure you want with our huge prize pool)—be a part of the biggest Mage Wars event worldwide!

[netzhuffle]

Reminder: Last day to register!

[Schwenkgott]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JacYVeiK6z0

Final match of the tournament!

[Boocheck]

That is so cool!

We will probably try to participate next year (CZE). How many players was there?

[Schwenkgott]

There were 28 people participating in the tournament.

First day 4 games each player, where in your next game you face an opponent of the same strength.

8 best players advanced to elimination stage next day.

You had to use 2 different decks, random draw of the deck first day, second day you had to use the other deck.

Mages played on both days:
10 x Priestress
10 x Necromancer
8 x Crown Warlock
5 x Forcemaster
4 x Druid
4 x Earth Wizard
3 x Dwarf Warlord
3 x Adramelech Warlock
2 x Beastmistress
2 x Beastmaster
2 x Water Wizard
1 x Priest
1 x Air Wizard
1 x Fire Wizard

[Boocheck]

Thank you very much.

That option with two decks seems pretty challenging.

I am pretty suprised about number of Priestess compared to Wizards or Druids

[netzhuffle]

We even had 30 participants (two more on day 2).

Its pretty common in our tournaments to see the Wizard not that often in our official German tournaments. Last year at the championship (16 participants) we had zero Wizards. That could be partly because of a possibly different metagame in Germany, partly because its simply not true that the Wizard is much stronger than the other mages and maybe partly because the players think it’s too boring to play the Wizards if everybody in the forums tell that he’s too strong. The wizards played where in the lower ranks on both days (in difference to the Druids, even though there were only 4, the leading two players on day one both played druid).

And yes, two decks with different Mages is challenging. But a true German Champion has to prove that he can win with different decks!

[silverclawgrizzly]

Hear me and hear me now netzhuffle,

I heartily approve of your method of tournaments. I have heard you ran a grand and epic event with many great battles. My best friend fought in your event though he traveled from the United States to do so. He says he was met by nothing but excellent support and fun matches.

I am the organizer and lead judge for the Gen Con Championship as well as several charity tournaments in my local city. As one event planner to another I commend you sir! May I one day have the chance to face you in the arena.

[netzhuffle]

Thank you! Hearing this means much to me.

I’d love to be able to visit Gen Con one day. Sadly, as a student with no money, this will take a few years …

Good luck with your tournaments and have fun!

[Sailor Vulcan]

Heard some stuff about this tournament. Very strange and alien metagame! Lots of people hardcasting creatures after the first two rounds, and apparently that actually worked at a competitive level?

My suspicion is that in order to afford using your mage's action to hardcast 3 creatures in first three rounds, afterwards you need to lower enemy action advantage fast--turn to stones, sleeps, mind controls, tanglevines, or attack spells to just flat out destroy their creatures...and apparently they had a LOT of attack spells in their metagame.

Very interesing.

[Tyrnan]

My suspicion is that in order to afford using your mage's action to hardcast 3 creatures in first three rounds, afterwards you need to lower enemy action advantage fast--turn to stones, sleeps, mind controls, tanglevines, or attack spells to just flat out destroy their creatures...and apparently they had a LOT of attack spells in their metagame.

I believe this has evolved due to the 75 minutes limit in tournaments. It is true that spawnpoints allow you to generate an action advantage over time, but they are also a big investment mana wise, and that is mana you don't have for early pressure. In a 75 minute game you will rarely play more than 12 Rounds. So advantages that pay off in rounds 2 to 5 are more valuable than advantages that pay off in round 8 or later. So having 2-3 mid to big creatures on the table by round 3 lets you put heavy pressure on your oppenent from the very beginning.  It is something he will have to deal with. If he doesn't he will be dead by round 10 latest. If he does, he cannot follow his strategy so he will not be able to get maximum advantage out of the action advantage. Additionally sometimes 3 creatures can tear a spawnpoint to pieces pretty fast, even before it pays off. If that happens the player with the 3 creatures is at a great advantage.

Note that you can also combine this strategy with a battleforge to make up for some of the action disadvantage. If your opponent uses battleforge and creature spawnpoint he will probably be too slow since he needs to rely on Meditation Amulet to fuel the spanwpoints.