2020 Tournaments

[Horizon Ian]

We've received feedback that there's interest in tournaments, especially at conventions such as Origins and Gen Con.

We are still entering event submissions for those two conventions and will be done before the end of the month, though DunDraCon is our priority this weekend. What I'm looking for is any opinions on cards that should not be legal for Origins and Gen Con tournaments.

We have in our own minds which cards aren't suited to an enjoyable tournament, but we are open to thoughts from others. Since the intent isn't to scare people into thinking that their favorite cards won't be legal, here's my starting point (and only my starting point as Horizon may decide differently) on cards I don't think make for good tournament play:

1. Promo Broadsword - The additional VP requirement didn't turn out to work as well as intended. Pure piracy couldn't care less, meaning the ship with the most stuff has no effective drawback to what are likely the most common tournament builds.

2. The Tigress's Wake - This is a dramatic card. Even with the errata to be played at the beginning of the phase, it may be too dramatic to play well.

3. First Empire Star Jumper - May be sensing a theme here. This card is way overpowered and has limited distribution like, um, a lot of the promo cards. Even with a cost of like 6, the effect is not a good one. We could errata it for tournament play, but that's clunky.

Note1: All of these are legal for DunDraCon 2020, so nobody needs to worry about that. It will give another data point, since we don't have a lot of tournament results to base decisions on.

Note2: The pattern is that the promo cards in the game are often not as well constructed, at least in my opinion. Less playtesting is a main factor, but there has also been discussion on the role of promo cards. I've played CCGs where promo cards never should have been tournament legal. And, I've played CCGs where some promo cards were perfectly fine. Is there a compelling interest in having at least some of the promo cards be tournament legal? If so, which ones?

Note3: Traveller has not been pushed as a tournament game. Currently, we have a general philosophy of letting the player base have options. If you want to run a no promo card tournament, we are happy to see that happen, just let people know in advance. If you want to run an anything goes tournament, just as happy. The main thing is to communicate, which is kind of the point of this post.

[Lanford]

Do you think Traveller might start going towards being more competitive in the future?

[Horizon Ian]

I have in mind what I think of with competitive. Niche CCGs still had things like continental championships or world championships.

There always those who prefer more competitive play to less competitive play in card game communities I've belonged to. What isn't so clear is who is trying to play competitively currently. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of data to go off and not a lot of requests for tournament support whether in terms of prizes or in terms of organizational support.

I would say that more tournament play could arise if player groups pushed us rather than us trying to push the players. I don't know if that sounds strange, but tournament play really wants a critical mass of players in one locale.

What would you like to see us do to support more competitive play?