Mod Wars - An Arcane Duels Modded Mage Wars Tournament

[Coshade]

Mod Wars
Mod Wars Structure and Outline

• Mod Wars will be played in a round-robin fashion with each competitor playing each other once. If enough competitors for 2 groups, then each competitor will play only those in their group
  
• Once group play has finished, there is a 4 person, single elimination play-off to determine the Champion of the Mod
• To begin, Arcane Duels is accepting 8-16 entrants. The number of entrants that have signed up by 25 April 2020 will influence how we set up the tournament.
• In order to enter, you must commit to playing one mage wars game per week. That equates to 7 games in 7 weeks. If that commitment is too much, please do not enter.
• If you would like to enter the tournament, email arcaneduels@gmail.com with your name on OCTGN. The target start date is April 26
• The weekly schedule will be as follows:
  
  On Sunday the matchups for the new week will be announced. Only the competitor matchup will be announced. If all players finish their game at an earlier date we will announce the next round of matches ASAP with the original schedule still in place.
  
  Competitors have from the matchup announcement on Sunday until 2359 Central US time Saturday to get their matches played and the results emailed to arcaneduels@gmail.com.
  *You can email just the result in a text format,video recorded by you (you'll need dropbox or gdrive for that), or the OCTGN inherent replay files for possible later casting.
  
  Ideally, there will be a featured match up each week. If you can send replay files please feel free to for future casting.  We do not guarantee your match will be casted, but will try out best!
  

Rules

• If one party has been unresponsive in scheduling a match, they will forfeit the match and be given a loss
• If attempts have been made by both parties to schedule a match and it just doesn't line up by the end of the week, let Arcane Duels know and we will try to help on a case by case basis (typically by having the match scheduled for the following week with those competitors being required to play 2 matches during the next week)
  
• If neither player has attempted to schedule, both will be given a loss
• The first unresponsive week will incur a warning. The second will incur a drop and the competitor will not be allowed to participate in the next season (should we have one).
• If required, a judge makes the final call on a rule. Any argumentative discussion that takes an excessive amount of time will receive a warning. If it continues that player will be disqualified.
• If a player gets disconnected and dropped during a tournament match it will be considered a loss for that player
• All cards released on OCTGN are legal to use. All promotional cards available on OCTGN are also legal.
• Players will build a spellbook with the standard amount of spellbook points and restrictions. They may change mages or books between games if they wish.
• Any promotional cards that have been officially released in a set will be considered to read as the official released in a set version

Restrictions And/Or Clarifications

• ALL MAGES WILL CHANNEL 10.
• The Druid's Treebond will not confer channeling + 1, only Armor +1, Innate Life +4 and Lifebond +2
• All spawn points that can cast creature spells have -1 armor from what is printed on their card (please place a corrosive marker on the card when it is cast to keep automation).
• Ethereal trait rework- When attacking incorporeal objects with an ethereal attack, damage is only dealt on 1’s as with a non-ethereal attack. However, the attacker is allowed to reroll all 0’s and 2’s once.
• Piercing +X trait rework - This attack subtracts X from the target’s armor when determining the amount of damage dealt. It cannot reduce the target’s armor below 0. Also when attacking an object with the Resilient trait, Piercing may reroll X number of non-critical dice one time.
• Mage Wand now has the Epic Trait
• Ritual of Kallek - Only a Mage can cast this spell. The casting mage loses 2 life, then gain 3 mana. You can only cast this spell once per round.
• Veteran’s Belt - Warlord Only
• Arcane Zap - Now costs 3 mana. Everything else is the same.
• All cards replace the Legendary trait with the Unique trait
• Harmonize now has the “song” Subtype
• You are only allowed to play with the Green Action Markers if you choose a Nature trained Mage

PREVIOUS RULES FROM TOURNAMENTS THAT WILL BE KEPT:

• 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
• Casting a Spell - Change to the end of the Pay Costs Step
  Previous wording - If you cannot pay all of the costs, the spell is cancelled and discarded, and you have lost the action.
  New wording -If you cannot pay all of the costs, the spell is cancelled and obliterated, and you have lost the action.
  Everything else remains unchanged about the step
• Steep Hill
  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. Will not Push a creature through a wall with the Passage Attacks trait.
• Trample
  - If a Flying creature attacks a non-Flying object, it loses Flying until the end of the attack.
  - Elusive Creatures can ignore guards when making a Trample Attack
  - Defenses that do not work against Melee attacks cannot be used during the Avoid Attack step, however all other types may be (choosing one during the step following normal rules).
• Symbiotic Orb
  Symbiotic orb triggers during the Avoid Attack Step
• Burns
  Object is on fire. This is a flame condition. Each Upkeep Phase, roll 1 attack die of direct flame damage for each burn marker on each object. On a roll of “0,” remove that burn marker. Burn markers have a removal cost of 2.
• Dig in and Press the Attack only apply to the zone they are in
  Object Enchantments, equipment, creatures, and conjurations are spells which represents objects in the game, remaining in play after they are cast. The Mage is also considered an object. Incantation and attack spells do not become objects.
• Swarm (Please remember all non-mage objects are also spells)
  Creatures with the Swarm trait cannot be targeted by non-attack actions or spells that do not specifically target Swarm creatures.  When attacking, Creatures with the Swarm trait may make additional strikes equal to their remaining health.  Additionally, they are immune to conditions, healing, and life gain that does not target swarms. Non-zone attacks do a maximum of 1 damage to them. Swarms cannot guard.
• The Embalmed
  When summoning The Embalmed, remove target non-Epic Living creature in any discard pile from the game. This creature becomes a copy of the removed creature, gaining The Embalmed’s traits and subtypes. X= the removed creature’s mana cost

Other info
If you wish to be a caster please contact me at Arcaneduels@gmail.com. Even if you cannot stream you could always join me or anyone else casting the game. Players are allowed to cast for games that they are not competing in.
Judge positions will be less easy to apply for. If you wish to be a judge then you will not be allowed to participate as a contestant in the tournament.
Matches must allow official commentators and judges in as spectators. Non-Official Tournament spectators are not allowed to spectate a game unless both players agree to it. Some games will be streamed live, and may be posted on youtube for all Mage Wars fans to view.

Logistics
ALL coordination will be done through email. The reason signups require email is so Arcane Duels can easily track match up coordination (everyone should CC arcaneduels@gmail.com when figuring out when you can play your match). This helps us see if someone has been unresponsive and can take appropriate action
The above reason is why you must email arcaneduels@gmail.com to sign up. If there are issues with that, let us know through some other means and we'll try to accomodate.
 

[Coshade]

Group Stage and Current Matches!


Third Round:
Group A: Congratulations to Knabbmaster for advancing!
Domination Best of 3 between the three tied competitors.
Group B: - Biblo and Shoopuff set to Advance
RobMurrayvs Keejchen
Biblo vs Shoopufff
Group C: - We might replace Schneeente as he has no communication for almost a month.
Schneeente vs VictorE
SirJasonCrage vs Jbuzzsaw79

Group A

Reddicediaries
Sicherheit
Knabbmaster
Werekingdom

Group B
Shoopuff
Keejchen
Biblo
Robmurray

Group C
Schneeente
SirJasonCrage
Sharkbait
(One more open slot if anyone wants to join this week!)

Here is a link to the current brackets and standings!
https://challonge.com/ADModwars

[Coshade]

VODS of Games!

Group Stage Games

Knabbmaster (Araxian Crown) VS Werekingdom (Priestess) --> https://youtu.be/zrfI7kfwT8E

Reddicediaries (Paladin) VS Sicherheit (Forcemaster) --> https://youtu.be/E6bJWaetCvI

JbuzzSaw79 (Druid) VS VictorE (Siren) --> https://youtu.be/z8yuxCIXTVw

Keejchen (Paladin) VS Shoopuff (Adramelech Warlock) ---> https://youtu.be/x0dLHS5AF6w

SirJasonCrage (Araxian Crown Warlock) VS VictorE (Siren) --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DBc3kLTvX8

KnabbMaster (Araxian Crown Warlock) VS Sicherheit (Straywood Beastmaster) --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF8mpG8yZKw

[Enti]

My thoughts about the changes before I have played with them:

ALL MAGES WILL CHANNEL 10.
-> Very good, the big equalizer 10/10


The Druid's Treebond will not confer channeling + 1, only Armor +1, Innate Life +4 and Lifebond +2
-> I don't think that is necessary considering that everyone has 10 channeling now, but it it sure as hell doesn't hurt either, since Druid will still be better than the other nature mages.

All spawn points that can cast creature spells have -1 armor from what is printed on their card (please place a corrosive marker on the card when it is cast to keep automation).
-> Not sure why this change happened. I presume AD wants faster games and making spawnpoints easier to destroy might speed up games?


Ethereal trait rework- When attacking incorporeal objects with an ethereal attack, damage is only dealt on 1’s as with a non-ethereal attack. However, the attacker is allowed to reroll all 0’s and 2’s once.
-> Considering how weak ethereal has become since the Pillar was introduced I think it's a good way to make those creatures more viable. I like it.


Piercing +X trait rework - This attack subtracts X from the target’s armor when determining the amount of damage dealt. It cannot reduce the target’s armor below 0. Also when attacking an object with the Resilient trait, Piercing may reroll X number of non-critical dice one time.
-> Wow, that's a big nerf to resilent. That's probably the alternative to increase the manacost of the Brute, and I have to say I like the change because I don't think that many necros will now play with zombies. And I really disliked it that zombies were - until now - so clearly superior to skeletons. Maybe now beastmasters have a chance against necros.. looking forward to seeing this in action.


Mage Wand now has the Epic Trait
-> Perfect, long overdue.

Ritual of Kallek - Only a Mage can cast this spell. The casting mage loses 2 life, then gain 3 mana. You can only cast this spell once per round.
-> I have never had the feeling that Ritual is too strong - on the contrary, I liked that it enabled many new strategies, but considering that AD seems to prefer shorter games this change makes sense under this point of view.


Veteran’s Belt - Warlord Only
-> Will also lead to shorter games. And since I normally play aggressive decks anyway it certainly suits me and my playstyle.


Arcane Zap - Now costs 3 mana. Everything else is the same.
-> I think that one is a bit over the top considering that ethereal got nerfed anyway. 2 mana would have been fine. And if you change manacosts of abilities, why not make the priests ability to apply a burn for free or reduce the manacost of the Siren's ability ? 


All cards replace the Legendary trait with the Unique trait
-> hmmm......  though to say if I like that or not. On the one hand it prevents games to be decided in t1 (if both strategies rely on the same creature) on the other hand if both players want to play e.g. Dorseus, you need to prepare in deckbuilding to include cards to deal with a situation in which your opponent casts that creature before you. But I think I like it more than I dislike it.


Harmonize now has the “song” Subtype
-> A first - small - step in the right direction.


You are only allowed to play with the Green Action Markers if you choose a Nature trained Mage
->

[zot]

what if instead of the arcane zap being 3 mana it was changed to 1 mana and range 0-0?

[DaveW]

holy crap... is this what future tournaments will all look like?

[Enti]

holy crap... is this what future tournaments will all look like?

If Arcane Wonders doesn't do the balancing the duty falls to the tournament organizers.

[zot]

to be clear this is for one online event, not a structural change to the game sanctioned by arcane wonders.

[DaveW]

holy crap... is this what future tournaments will all look like?

If Arcane Wonders doesn't do the balancing the duty falls to the tournament organizers.

Which they can hold without me.

[Knabbmaster]

Since there is currently a bug on OCTGN where certain Druid books cause multiple errors and break the phase system, I wonder if we still need to play those games or what your solution might be.

[Reddicediaries]

Since there is currently a bug on OCTGN where certain Druid books cause multiple errors and break the phase system, I wonder if we still need to play those games or what your solution might be.

I've played multiple matches where the bug was in place and they don't take much longer than normal. Both players just need to make sure they don't spent ten minutes in the planning phase, which is also a concern for games without the bug.

[drmambo23]

"You are only allowed to play with the Green Action Markers if you choose a Nature trained Mage"
 

in all seriousness, i dig the tournament changes

[Coshade]

Just wanted to thank everyone that has already signed up! We have more then enough to run this tournament! We still have open slots if people want to join!

[Coshade]

Just wanted to give a quick update! Sharkbait has decided to bow out of the tournamnet, but we will be replacing him with 2 new players! Welcome VictorE and Jbuzzsaw79!

Group C is not completely full. Have a great tournament!

[Biblofilter]

Hi!

Just wondering.

7 matches that would be 3 matches in the Group Stages.
1 and 2 advances then the final 8 play knockouts?
(I guess there could be a losers bracket as well)

Or only 1 player advance from the Group Stages.
The final 4 play knockout matches.
That would only be 5 matches.

Biblo