Operation: New Buffy Players

By Holly Boehmer (scullyangel), evil sister of Watcher X

With the new ranking system making its debut in January, I’m sure there are many Buffy players out there just wishing they had a better local play scene.

“I know I’d rank with the top players, but there aren’t enough players in my area to hold tournaments!”

Grrrrr! Argh!!! What a nightmare! For a lot of players, a strong local following was common a couple of years ago when Buffy was at its peak. As time marched along, old players lost interest or moved away ... whatever the reasons, a lot of very solid play groups have broken up over the last year. I certainly hope the new ranking system will bring some of those old players out of the woodwork, but if you love the game and want it to continue the only real way to guarantee it is to recruit new players.

The most important thing for recruiting new players is a dedicated Watcher. If there is no one to run an event, it’s pretty clear that there won’t be an event! If there isn’t a Watcher in your area, break out the CRD, download the Judge Guide and take the test.

Having a base of operations helps enormously – get to know your local game shop! Every shop is different and some might not be open to helping you build a Buffy following no matter what you can offer. But, even if they don’t actively support the game odds are if you follow these steps they won’t have any problem with you supporting it within their shop.

- Become a regular at your local game shop. Playing in the mall or a restaurant is great, but are you ever going to recruit new players there? Stop in the shop, bring a friend, buy a soda and play Buffy. Buying something, even something small like a soda or candy bar, is the key to making a favorable impression at the shop. Let them know your name and pick up some new sleeves once in awhile.

- Find out the gaming schedules for the shop and ask about putting Buffy on the schedule. Let them know that you will get the shop name out by sending in tournament announcements to the Buffyccg.com site.

- If the shop agrees to put Buffy on the schedule, try to pick the day that’s least busy. Remember you are more likely to get a favorable response if you make this a “no work” situation for the shop owner or game master (GM.) Do not under any circumstances try to run anything while Yu-gi-oh! is going on. It’s too busy and too noisy. Just trust me on this one.

- Be polite and friendly. Keep an extra demo deck with you whenever you’re at the shop in case someone is interested in getting a demo. Offer to teach others the game. If you are turned down, nothing lost, right?

- If you have extras of cards and want to share them, fantastic! If the shop doesn’t carry the game feel free to ask if you can bring in some of your extras to share. Don’t bring in a giant box of freebies if the shop carries the game!

- Never talk down about any other game. Even when provoked. There is a certain group of people out there and they will without a doubt say something negative about the game or Buffy in general. This will usually be said having absolutely no knowledge of the game, and often no knowledge of the show they have decided to bash. The best answer is to give them a “Hmm, it’s too bad you don’t care for it. The game has some great mechanics.” and thank your lucky stars that they aren’t interested. J

- Consider picking up another game. If Buffy is your only game that’s fine, but if you want instant access to a bunch of new players, dabble in another game. If you play their game they are more likely to be interested in yours. I recommend A Game of Thrones (the mechanics are quite similar to Buffy) or an anime based game, but you should play what appeals to you. If nothing appeals to you besides Buffy, don’t sweat it, but take a demo from time to time. If you are open to trying someone else’s game, they are going to be more willing to try yours.

If what you want is a four person play group so that tournaments are official, odds are you will find the extra person or two that you need within a month or so.

Ok, so what if you already are a dedicated Watcher. Willing to run events, willing to teach and play games with newbies. If you are and you still don’t have enough people in your group to make you happy (or perhaps you just can’t resist spreading the joy of Buffy) then what you need to do is get the local game shop owner or their GM on your side. A Watcher can’t always be there. Most of us can’t spend several nights each week at the local game shop, unfortunately the local game shop is where the new players are lurking. If you want to build a larger play group you will need the help of the shop to push the game.

Last May I opened a game shop with my brother, WatcherX. At the time there were local Buffy players, but no regular play group or tournament action. Buffy is my favorite game, so naturally I wanted to use the shop to recruit some new players. Starting a new business I had to look at things carefully and think, “Would Anya approve of this?” Playing is all well and good, but a young shopkeeper’s heart (and pocketbook) simply can’t survive the all-ogle-no-cash scene!

CCG sales 101. New expansions for a game equal continued revenue. Buffy is a dead game and has no new expansions. This is a major problem for shop owners. No matter how wonderful a game is, Dream Cards do not help pay the power bill, ya know? I love Buffy, but as a shop owner I simply can’t afford to carry, let alone push, a game that isn’t profitable. The good news is Buffy is not only a great game, but can still be profitable.

Most serious gamers play a single game and devote most of their resources to buying and playing that game. Many would love to play other games, but it can be extremely costly to play multiple games competitively. A player who is actively playing the Marvel/DC VS game or Legend of the Five Rings can rarely afford to pick up Magic or Game of Thrones as a secondary game. At over $3.00 a pack it’s just too much to invest.

My solution has been to promote Buffy as a side game. This is the one time that being a dead game has an advantage. A shop can easily carry and sell Buffy for less than 1/3 the cost of the active games and still make a profit. Players can get 3 packs for the price of one, and thus build a good card pool very quickly. It’s a win-win situation. I won’t go into figures here, but if you are interested in getting the figures to present to your local shop please feel free to send me a message through the forum or e-mail me at PandorasBoxOL@aol.com.

Since last May I’ve gone from having a group of 3 regular players to having around 20 regular players and I can honestly say the Buffy is the most popular game in the shop! Building a new player base for a “dead game” takes a bit of dedication, but the results can be fantastic. Good luck!

Buffy CCG Character Deck Rankings

By Dave Gerspach (dgjedi), WCA Co-Chair

One of the benefits of the current ranking system is the ability to track how the various character decks are doing. The following statistics are based upon results over the past twelve months of organized Buffy play.

Over 750 Buffy CCG games have been played in the past year, of which about 150 of them involved dream cards.

Buffy players continue to prefer playing Hero decks 54% of the time, compared to 46% for Villain decks. The top 10 most played decks are:

1)        Buffy – 123 times

2)        Willow – 114

3)        Spike – 100

4)        Drusilla – 81

5)        Anya – 45

6)        Adam – 43

7)        Angel – 40

8)        Faith (Villain) – 37

9)        Anyanka, The Master, Angelus – 35

Villain decks overall continue to perform better winning 54% of the time, compared to 47% for Hero decks. The decks with the top 10 winning percentages with a minimum of 10 games played are:

1)        Dark Willow – 76%

2)        Faith (Hero) – 75%

3)        Adam – 73%

4)        Jenny Calender – 63%

5)        Anyanka – 63%

6)        Collin – 61%

7)        Anya – 60%

8)        Xander – 59%

9)        Faith (Villain) – 56%

10)   Riley – 56%

The top 10 rated character decks which combine how often they’re played, how often they win, and whether those wins occur in local tournaments or conventions are:

1)        Buffy – 1235

2)        Spike – 1192

3)        Willow – 1184

4)        Adam – 1149

5)        Drusilla – 1141

6)        Anya – 1116

7)        Dark Willow – 1084

8)        Faith (Villain) – 1075

9)        Xander – 1068

10)   Anyanka – 1066

Note Dark Willow’s performance and you might want to pay attention to this month’s Slayer Strategy. And for anyone who disparages Xander, he’s doing very well. Although the ratings don’t distinguish between any version of Xander (including Xander the Zeppo). The ratings in the newsletter may differ from those posted on the web-site and should be considered up to date through the date of the newsletter. Maggie Walsh, The Old Man and Kakistos were sighted for the first time over the past month. Still waiting for his first appearance is Vamp Xander. Since dream card tournaments are becoming more popular and we have more than a few results tracked, next month I’ll start integrating some of the popular dream card decks into the above statistics.

Gen Con 2005 Update #2

By Dave Gerspach (dgjedi), WCA Co-Chair

First, quick announcements.

Gen Con preregistration opens on February 14^th at 12:00pm PST. Don’t worry there’s plenty of time to register for the convention. The importance of this date is for those who wish to reserve hotel accommodations through the convention. Once you preregister for the convention, you’re issued a registration ID which can be used to reserve a hotel room. Event registration will begin on May 16th. Good luck and I hope to see a record number of Buffy players this year.

The “To Be Determined” format for Sunday’s Buffy tournament has been determined. It will be the aforementioned “Showtime” fomat. Two of our experienced players who developed the Three Challenge format for last year’s Gen Con will work to develop the final rules for this format. Look for them to be posted in the near future.

This year we will be submitting an entry in hopes of getting our tournaments some publicity in the “Events Highlight” section of the Gen Con Program. It would be very cool if 25,000 attendees saw our tournaments promoted alongside all the other convention events. Below are the details for the first two Buffy CCG events at Gen Con. Each month we’ll try to provide details on a couple of the events.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005 – 7:00pm in the Lobby of the Downtown Hyatt Hotel

Buffy Classic CCG, Brown Bag, Old School Sealed Deck Tournament

Interested players gather in the lobby of the downtown Hyatt Hotel. Look for someone at a table, likely wearing a Buffy T-Shirt with brown lunch bags stacked on a table. Hopefully, you’ll also see a small crowd of anxious players gathering around him.

This tournament is strictly limited to 16 players due to limited materials and time. Please note – This is a preconvention tournament for which there is no preregistration. Only the first 16 players to arrive will be able to play. But don’t let that scare you away. Last year we only had 7 players for this event. We anticipate more this year, but don’t assume all 16 slots are filled prior to getting there. Because you can’t preregister for this Event, there will be no charge.

As players arrive, they will select one of the brown bags. Inside they will find 1 Pergamum Prophecy starter deck and 9 Pergamum Prophecy booster packs. The first thing you’ll notice is the alignment of the Starter Deck box. It will tell you whether you’ll be representing the forces of good or evil. You will also find a score sheet to use for recording your name, WCA ID (one will be assigned if you don’t have one) and tournament results. You’ll also notice on the Score Sheet that the name of your main character has been prefilled. This WILL be your main character in the tournament. Inside the starter deck you will find mini-packs for all four Pergamum Prophecy characters for your alignment, but you must use the character on the score sheet as your main. In other words, if you’re playing evil, you will have Collin, Drusilla, Spike and The Master to put in your deck. If you’re playing good, you will have Angel, Buffy, Giles and Willow to put in your deck. Among the 16 brown bags there will be exactly two of each main character represented. If you’re hoping to draw a particular character as your main, you have a 1 in 8 chance. So, good luck.

This tournament is intended to be a little more relaxing and an opportunity for old friends and new to reunite prior to the official Gen Con kick-off. In the interest of time we plan to keep this tournament to three rounds and if 11 or more players show up, we may split this into two separate tournaments and have two winners. There are no prizes for this tournament, but you do get to keep the cards in your brown bag. And the points earned in this tournament can count toward the North American Championship. Normal sealed deck rules apply. The minimum deck size is 40 cards. You’ll have one starter deck for your alignment, nine booster packs and four mini character/essence packs from which to build your deck.

Thursday, August 18, 2005 – 3:00pm

Buffy Introductory Event

This is an opportunity for eight newcomers to learn how to play Buffy. Last year this sold out the night before the convention started. It lasts no more than two hours. Following a 15-20 minute walkthrough of the basic rules, players are paired off. Each player receives a premade 40 card deck themed around a main character from the show. The two players, under the watchful eye of an experienced judge or player will play a game using their themed decks. After finishing their game, they can select a prize package for participating in the event. Each packet contains a couple of random Buffy CCG promo cards, another starter deck, a “Wish” Theme Deck and a sample booster pack from each Buffy expansion. All for the low cost of $1.50. A random participant will receive a special prize to be announced later.

Gen Con Prizes

A complete prize list will be provided prior to the start of Gen Con. Prizes will be awarded a little different this year as there will be fewer booster packs used as prizes. Most players have all they need and our supply is starting to get low. Don’t fret. If you’re a newer player who needs to boost their card supply, fewer doesn’t mean none. And if you’re a newer player, there are two things you need to know. Buffy cards are very inexpensive to buy and you can usually find a few dealers offering them for sale at Gen Con. Also, Buffy players are notorious for showering new players with enough cards to build several useful decks. OK, so while there will be fewer booster packs, we hope to have the same level of foil sets, ultra rare cards and more Buffy products than have been previously available. Expect Buffy and/or Angel products from Eden Studios and Inkworks to be counted among the prizes. The other difference this year is that instead of a specific prize being awarded for first place, second place and so forth, their will be a table full of prizes from which the participants will select the prize they want based on order of finish. Our goal is to make sure every participant has prizes from which to choose. Promo cards will be given out to all participants regardless of how they do in the tournament.

 Slayer Strategies

By Don Tresca (Tarafan), WCA Member

As a member of the WCA Rules Committee, the one complaint I hear most often is “Something has got to be done about Dark Willow!” Most players attribute their concern to Dark Willow’s incredible card power and her dominance in local tournaments. Now, while it is quite true that Dark Willow is very powerful and can easily crush an unprepared opponent, you are not quite as helpless as it might seem when facing up against the evil wicca. There are quite a number of cards that, if used properly, can bring Dark Willow to her knees and send you to sweet victory.

1)        Bizarro Streets of Sunnydale

The bane of every Park Victory deck. Placing this location gives Dark Willow two different locations to occupy and protect in order to gain her Park Victory. Some Dark Willow decks run notoriously short on supporting characters, depending on her quick Park Victory to make short work of most other decks, making the task of controlling two different locations very difficult. In combination with my number 2 card below, this card could effectively freeze Dark Willow out completely from her Park Victory.

2)        Ghost Willow

Amazingly, Dark Willow’s most dangerous enemy is herself, or rather the good side of Willow. Although Dark Willow doesn’t permit ghosts to move directly against her, there are many ways Ghost Willow can disrupt Dark Willow’s victory plan. If you use Bizarro Streets as above, simply move Ghost Willow to either the Park or Bizarro Streets, depending upon which location Dark Willow does not currently occupy, and, presto, no Park Victory until Dark Willow can come up with a method of getting rid of Ghost Willow.

There are two minor drawbacks to using this strategy, however. First, since Ghost Willow and Dark Willow are unique to each other per the Angelus Rule, you are seriously restricted in your Main Character choices. Essentially, you have only two options of Main Characters: Willow and Tara. Which character you choose as your Main will depend largely on how brave you are. The advantage to having Willow as your Main is that even if the Dark Willow player manages to get Willow (or Ghost Willow) into the discard pile, she’ll pop back out good as new next turn ready to disrupt again. Unfortunately, since Ghost Willow will be tied down to either Bizarro Streets or the Park to maintain the lock, you’ll lose most of your access to your Main Character and will have to rely on your supporting characters to carry you through to victory.

Tara, on the other hand, can get Willow out quickly using her card power, and your Main Character won’t be tied down to one location as Willow will. But, if your opponent gets wise (or lucky) and manages to get rid of your companion Willow before she can transform into Ghost Willow, you’ll have to be prepared to get her back into play as quickly as possible. One alternative is to use the slow and unreliable Ritual of Restoration. By the time, you get the Ritual attached, fatigue Tara to get Willow back into the Resource Deck, and then wait to fatigue Tara again to get Willow back into play, Dark Willow is probably very likely already won. The other alternative is to get her back into your Resource Deck using Wesley’s ability and then use Tara to get her back into play.

Another drawback is that since Ghost Willow doesn’t come into play until you have at least 2 Destiny Points, you have to play challenges that will get you that 2 Destiny fast, within the first turn if you’re lucky, or come up with some other method of generating Destiny (like The Dream) to get you to 2 Destiny level quickly. If you can’t get 2 Destiny Points within the first two turns, the Ghost Willow strategy likely won’t pay off for you.

3)        Movement Cards

Movement cards (or cards that “don’t count as a move”) can serve you well against Dark Willow in primarily two ways. Many Dark Willow decks use cards designed to keep your characters from disrupting Dark Willow’s Park Victory by not letting you move into the Park (with cards like Grounded) or move you out once you’re there (with cards like Run, Fast!). The movement cards allow you to bypass such cards and move regardless of what cards Dark Willow throws at you.

Plus, in the Ghost Willow scenario above, if you don’t have (or don’t want to use) Bizarro Streets, you can use these movement cards to move Ghost Willow to the Park while Dark Willow is there. Since it isn’t actually a move, Dark Willow’s card text doesn’t apply to Ghost Willow “moving” to the Park. Hit the Streets, Drive Like Crazy, and Proactive with Pep (which also has the bonus of refreshing Ghost Willow if necessary) all work well in this situation. The Mobile Tracking System can also be used in this scenario and has the added benefit of being reusable, but it fatigues two different characters when it is used, so it’s a trade-off.

4)        Snow

Although it’s a temporary stop gap measure at best, Snow can disrupt Dark Willow’s park turns, allowing you to move a character into the Park without danger, causing Dark Willow to have to start her cycle all over again, giving you time to regroup and score the Destiny needed for your own win.

Play Snow during the Prologue Step of a Day turn and move a minor character of your choice into the Park during the Movement Step. Since Dark Willow cannot start a fight due to the restrictions of Snow, there should be little she can do to remove the character from the Park by the End Step, so she’ll lose her Park Control for that turn and will have to start over again next turn. Use the two turns of peace to set yourself up (move, play cards, etc.) to shoot for the win when you’re able.

Snow is not a foolproof method, however. Dark Willow may still have some weapons she can use against the character you move into the Park (like Run, Away! or Thrown to the Hyenas (if the moved character is a Companion or Minion)), but if Dark Willow is unprepared for the storm, the Snow could provide you with the “breathing room” necessary to squeak out a victory.

These are only a few of the cards you can use to really put a crimp in Dark Willow’s style. Many of the new Dream Cards greatly enhance your odds of winning against Dark Willow. If you’re playing in a tournament that allows them or in a casual game against friends that don’t mind the Dream Cards, look to add some of them in as well. And always remember, every character, no matter how powerful, always has a weakness you can exploit if you really look for it.

The next Newsletter (Volume 2, Issue 3) wil be released in March, 2005.

All logos, characters, and likenesses thereof are TM & © Twentieth Century Fox. All game mechanics and card likenesses are © Score Entertainment. Use of these are without permission and are not meant as a challenge to any copyright held.