This Thursday, January 8th, beginning around 7:00 pm, we'll start our new round of league play at The Soldiery using a new format. Escalation! rewards players for playing with decks using a limited card pool. We'll start the first league night with having only cards from the Core Set(s) available for deckbuilding. Each week we'll add a cycle or deluxe expansion, until after eight weeks we'll be using all the cards that have been published.

Players are encouraged to play along with Escalation!, but we never force players to play the game in a way you don't like. So, you can play any deck you want, but we'll reward players who "escalate" just a bit more. We'll be awarding one point for every game you play using an "Escalation!" deck, and you'll get one point for every game you win. You'll also get one point for coming out to league night and playing at least one game. At the end of the eight weeks, we'll award the top 16 players with alt art cards and the top eight get to play in a tournament for bigger prizes.

The Escalation! league will run for eight weeks of league play plus one week for the end of league tournament. All that will lead up to The Soldiery's Store Championship being scheduled for a date in mid March. Final date announced for that when I have it solidly confirmed.

Escalation! schedule

01/08/15 - Core Set(s) only. Yes, that means multiple cores are fine

01/15/15 - Add in cards from the Genesis Cycle

01/22/15 - Add in cards from Creation & Control

01/29/15 - Add in cards from Spin Cycle

02/05/15 - Add in cards from Honor & Profit

02/12/15 - Add in cards from Lunar Cycle

02/19/15 - Add in cards from Order & Chaos

02/26/15 - Add in cards from Sansan Cycle

03/05/15 - End of league tournament for Top 8, Open play for everyone else

03/14/15 - Likely date for Store Championship

As always, league play is free of charge.

We're hoping the Escalation! format will encourage new players to get involved in Android: Netrunner, while also providing veteran players with some new deckbuilding challenges.

Hope to see you there!

Thirteen players for the first night of Escalation league. It was like playing Netrunner in a time machine!

Next week, we add Genesis cycle.