GenCon Indianapolis is right around the corner, are you prepared? Have you polished off your Block Constructed deck? Do you know which heroes are better in Heroes Gone Wild? Have you honed your ability to crack bombs in your sealed packs for the Bounty tournament? These are all burning questions…questions that need answering the closer and closer we get to GenCon. Today we will take an indepth look at what some of the new formats entail. Let me stress, these are not new sanctioned formats that we plan to support heavily (outside of Block Constructed). If you haven’t seen a lot of these formats in the past, we are using this venue to test out some ideas for “out there” formats that are nice alternatives to the normal, competitive formats. After all, it can’t be all about winning and getting to design your own card/image.
GenCon Indianapolis runs from Thursday, August 14th to Sunday, August 17th.
Let’s go through the event schedule (which can be found here) –
Starter Deck Beginner’s Event
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Don’t know how to play this game that is based on your favorite MMORPG? These events are for you. You don’t need experience playing or own any cards, the decks are provided and you get to keep them. Prizes will be handed out to everyone.
Continental Last Chance Qualifier
Thursday
The title says it all. This is your last chance to qualify for this year’s North American Continental Championship. These events are either Constructed or Sealed. The top 4 finishers advance to Continentals and it is a single elimination format. The requirements for playing in these events is you have to have a yearly Honor Ranking of 3 or higher, or a lifetime rating of 5 or higher and are not currently qualified for Continentals.
Gadgetzan Challenge
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
These events are running at all times during Gencon, up until the end of Saturday. There are both Constructed and Sealed formats for these events. As soon as 32 players sign up, a Challenge will start. It is best 2 of 3 game matches. The winner receives their choice of a 160GB iPod Classic, 16GB iPod Touch, Wii, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or $300 Best Buy Gift Card. That is quite the haul, but that’s not all. The winner of each flight also receives an invite to the Gadgetzan Championship on Sunday.
Two-Headed Ogre (Constructed)
Thursday, Friday
If you played in the recent Ogre Smash and Bash, you are probably familiar with how this event is run. This is a Constructed format where 2 players form a Two-Headed Ogre team. Both players must play the same faction and the matches are one game. The winning team receives 48 packs.
iPod Nano Tournament (Two Pack Sealed, Draft, Constructed)
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
I know that you are probably excited about the first format listed. This is one of the fun formats that I eluded to earlier. For the Two Pack Sealed format, each round you will get two packs of the set that is being used that round. All players will be split into 8 player pods and for the first round, each player will be handed two packs of March of the Legion. You crack those packs, remove the hero and points cards (and if you feel a loot, it’s all yours). No peeking at the rest of the pack! You shuffle up the rest of the cards, choose one of the heroes you pulled out of the packs and get to playing. The winner of each pod will be awarded a iPod Nano. It’s that simple. The other formats will use the same pairing system with the 8 player pods and the prizing will be the same.
Rocket Mount Tournament
Friday
The format will be Sealed Pack with 2 packs from March of the Legion, Servants of the Betrayer, and Hunt for Illidan. The event will be Swiss rounds with a draft for the top 8. The top 2 finishers receive X-51 Nether-Rocket Loot cards. If you wanted a Rocket, this is probably one of the most straight forward way of getting one, besides cracking one out of a pack of course.
Continental Championship
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Day 1 format is Constructed, if you play well enough and make the cut, you will get to draft on Day 2. If you continue your tear on the tournament and place high enough, you will get to play constructed again in Day 3 and play for fame and prizes. This is probably the second most important tournament for the North American players for the year. Get qualified, get to the tournament, and show the rest of the players what you are made of.
Realm Qualifier
Friday
The first Realm Qualifier of the season and a chance to win the new EAs for the next season. The format will be Block Constructed. This could also be a tune up for your deck for the Darkmoon Faire Indianapolis event that starts on Saturday (they are both Block Constructed). The top 8 will receive invitations to their respective Realm Championships. This is an excellent opportunity to earn your invitation, it will be harder to qualify this season than it was last season.
Darkmoon Faire Championship: Indianapolis
Saturday, Sunday
What a coincidence. Weren’t we just talking about this event? The Darkmoon Faire Championship Indianapolis will be run with the same fanfare that previous Darkmoon Faire have been run. From the carnival games to the Rock Band jam sessions, it has everything the players have come to love about it. The big difference about this one compared to DMFs in the past is that this format is Block Constructed. That’s right, no Twig, no Rak Skyfury, no Myr…err, never mind. Will the deck that wins the Realm Qualifier also do well at the DMF, or will everyone be ready for it? Winner receives a fancy computer, a jamming home theatre system, or travel to any Darkmoon Faire in the world!
Heroes Gone Wild!
Saturday
Another fun format for everyone! For this event, you will be able to construct a deck with two heroes in mind. Both heroes have to be of the same faction. You choose the hero you want to play, put the second hero beneath that hero, just so you can see the class icon in the upper right. The main hero is the only hero that can be targeted, but it can use any card that either hero could play. A Warrior with a Felhunter! A Mage with a Felsteel Reaper! The possibilities are endless. It will be interesting to see what decks come out of this tournament. The winner receives a complete set of Hunt For Illidan!
Ladies Championship
Saturday
This one is for the ladies. Constructed format, swiss format and 60 minute rounds. Best 2 of 3 matches and the winner goes home with a MacBook.
Spectral Safari Tournament
Saturday
Are you bummed because you missed your chance at the shiny cat because you had to work? This is your chance for redemption. This will be run like the Spectral Safari tournaments that were popular earlier this year. Win the event and walk away with the Spectral Safari Loot Card!
Gadgetzan Championship
Sunday
Remember those Gadgetzan Challenge’s that you have been playing in all weekend but can’t quite get the tournament win? This is what you are playing for. If you win an invitation to this tournament, you get a chance to win your choice of a Dell XPS laptop or MacBook Pro laptop. This isn’t a 400 person tournament either, your chances will be very good if only you can get qualified for it.
Bounty Tournament
Sunday
A fitting ending to a great tournament weekend. You will get your chance to play against those that bring you this game. It is Sealed Pack format and if you are lucky enough to beat a member of UDE or a Blizzard staffer, you will get some phat lewtz! There are mystery bounties included in the tournament as well. If that person is beat, everyone gets a prize!
Phew, there you have it. The entire GenCon Indianapolis WoW TCG tournament schedule. Don’t forget though, there is a DMF at this event, so that means there is going to be a plethora of the usual LAN events, like the leveling contest, as well as a couple of new ones. I think that each of you can find an event that fits your play style. I hope that, if you make it out, you will come by the tournament hall and say hi. I’m always glad to meet our players and chat with them.