Winter Mage War 2

[VictorE]

Winter Mage War 2 in Champaign, IL on Saturday, January 26th.

Information about Winter War Gaming Convention - https://www.winterwar.org/ There is usually plenty of parking and there are plenty of places to eat in the area. The convention runs from Friday through Sunday, and we registered for a Saturday tournament.

Overview

• Looking forward to a great Mage Wars Arena Tournament.
• We have room for up to 16 players in the tournament.
• The tournament will be played in two stages. The first stage will be a round robin with two groups. The numbers in each group will be determined by the number of participants.
• The top two players from each group will advance to round two. In the case of a tie (see points below), head-to-head results will be used. If we are unable to get enough games in for the two to have played head-to-head, the total wins and losses of opponents will be used to break the tie. The highest rated player from group 1 will play the lowest rated player from group 2 and vice versa in the semi-final round.
• Each game will last 90 minutes. Any turn started after 85 minutes which provides that both players have had an equal number of initiatives will be considered the last turn.
• A win by defeating the opposing mage will count as 2 points. A win by having more remaining health than the opposing mage will count as 1 point. If both mages have the same remaining health after the last turn as described in the previous point then two additional turns will be allowed. If both mages still have the same remaining health, it is a tie with 0 points awarded.

Ruleset

• Players will build a spellbook with the standard amount of spellbook points and restrictions. Spellbooks will be reviewed prior to the start of the tournament.
• Any promotional cards that have been officially released in a set will be considered to read as the official released version. Only cards (or their promotional counterparts) that have been officially released are allowed.
• The rulebook and codex (4.2) will be used with the following listed restrictions or modifications.
• At the moment, new cards due for release before Winter War and pre-released at GenCon2018 will be allowed, including swarms, however decks will be limited to no more than 2 swarm cards (e.g. you could have 2 bees but not 3). This is subject to change but we really want to provide a test bed for these new cards if possible.
• Disciple of Radiance Text Change - Once per round, whenever your Mage casts or reveals a healing spell, Disciple of Radiance may deal 1 direct light damage to a target creature in her zone
• Steep hill will block Line of Sight if you cast a spell and it goes through two diagonal sections of the zone
• Force Pull - Once per round, the Forcemaster may cast this quick Force spell. Target creature is Pushed 1 zone towards the source of this spell. It will not Push a creature through a wall with the Passage Attacks trait.
• If a flying creature attacks a non-flying creature, it loses flying until the end of the attack and any counterattacks.

That's all I can think of right now. I'll post an update as I know more. We really hope you can make it if you are in the area.

[wtcannonjr]

How are you handling the different rules between Academy and Arena? For example,

Will Breeches equipment be allowed? Arena does not have a Breeches slot for Equipment spells.
What definition of Pest will be in play? Arena and Academy have different definitions for this trait.

The complete interaction of rules might be useful to specify for tournament play since the published Codex and current Rules Supplement don't seem to address all rules interactions.

[Biblofilter]

I think Restore need fixing.

[zot]

and consider the siren. given the tie breaker, siren is at a huge disadvantage.

[farkas1]

I will double check with Virgel.   we talked earlier about keeping it the same as gencon rules wise with scoring points.  A win resulting in opponent death is 2 points. No deaths equal a tie and 1 point awarded to each player.

As far as academy to arena rules we are keeping a similar format and rules from last gencon and incorporating the same rule changes from the current ADMW tournament.  No promos allowed, Unless released in a set.

Academy cards work fine with arena except the select few ADMW has pointed out.  As far as pest trait we are keeping the standard ruling from the Arena codex.   Breeches slot is fine and translates to arena okay imo. 

We are working on swarm trait ruling for the tournament.  They maybe subject to change. 


I think that is all.  Super pumped for second year to have a tournament here!  Let us know if you are planning on attending.  We have 3 newer  players here that VictorE and I are training  so we should have more players participating this year! 

[Puddnhead]

I'm going to see if I can come compete. Is crash space available?

[farkas1]

Yea definitely anyone wanting to go to winter war they can crash at my place.  Just PM me if you think you plan on staying the day before or day of the tourny.  I have a couch and a couple sparebeds   If we have more you might want to bring a blow up mattress or a sleeping bag.  If we have a good turn out and people want to game the night before or day after I could get some plastic tables and we could Mage wars it up at the house too!!!

[Biblofilter]

Sound like I need to go!! 

[zot]

I am planning on making it to defend my title.

[Coshade]

I might be able to make it. I'll know in December. Either way looks fun!

[Jbuzzsaw79]

Do you have space or dose 16 fill fast, I will have vacation back and me and frI end of mine would head south to play

[farkas1]

no need to be in a rush. Last year I don’t think everyone registered until late November.  I think we could see the tournament fill up this year.  if that is the case both VictorE and I would just be Judges and sit out.  Or depending on space we could expand it.  I will have to check with VoctorE tho.  I know we have a good amount of people going  to Indy in a few weeks so it could be gauge on how many could be joining us at Winter War!!!

[wtcannonjr]

no need to be in a rush. Last year I don’t think everyone registered until late November.  I think we could see the tournament fill up this year.  if that is the case both VictorE and I would just be Judges and sit out.  Or depending on space we could expand it.  I will have to check with VoctorE tho.  I know we have a good amount of people going  to Indy in a few weeks so it could be gauge on how many could be joining us at Winter War!!!

I was wondering how you can Judge and participate in the same tournament? Don't you get an unfair advantage when you check each player's spellbook before play starts?

[farkas1]

Yea that would not happen.  This year I believe I am judging and Virgel is participating.  In case there is too many players both of us would sit out and judge.  We never had a judge Particpate in a tournament and we will never have that happen in the future.  Good question sorry for any confusion.

[wtcannonjr]

Yea that would not happen.  This year I believe I am judging and Virgel is participating.  In case there is too many players both of us would sit out and judge.  We never had a judge Particpate in a tournament and we will never have that happen in the future.  Good question sorry for any confusion.

Thanks. I was hoping you had a good solution, since I find myself wanting to play in tournaments I run too.

Checking the physical spellbooks still seems like the best approach for a judge at this point.