I'm curious as to how many people most players have to play with. I see a couple threads here of folks looking for players in their area, but I'm wondering, in general, how many people do you regularly play with?

I ask because I enjoy playing against many different opponents to get a variety of strategies. I could probably get some of my regular gaming circle to jump in on this, and I'm sure I can find an existing player or two in my vicinity. From what I read, this game has quite a depth of strategy already. How many players are needed to really keep it fresh?

Hmm..... good question. I've really only got one other guy to play with here, although we're going to be working on launching some demo nights and the like at the game store once the core set hits. Hopefully we'll pick up some more. The new employee at the store is awfully excited about AGOT and COC at the moment, so hopefully he can keep momentum going for each.

As for keeping variety going, I think it really just depends on the people and how willing they are to experiment. Particularly in Cthulhu, I like to think that I change things up relatively often (for how much I get to play at least) versus my opponent tends to play the same deck over and over. The trick is getting the right mix of people, rather than a particular number. IMO, at least.

I see where you're coming from. It's getting at the heart of the problem.

WIth a small number of players, variety is attained by switching out decks. However, individual mindsets (for example; risk tolerance, resource allocation) often carry over between decks. How much this will be a factor will require me actually being able to play a few games with a number of decks.

Time is also something to consider. To play 'well' requires a certain investment of time in becoming proficient with how a deck (or deck type) works. An individual might casually become proficient with a type or two. More requires more time spent. Perhaps that's another relevant question to ask... how much time do you spend making/tweeking a deck? In particular, ones you find fun to play and use often?

Last night I read through the rules and checked out some of the cards. I think I'd like to give it a shot. It's too bad the release of the new core set got pushed back. I think that will make for a nice platform to launch from.

The biggest problem for us in the Twin Cities was typical for most CCG games: that those who were more competitive tended to roll over those who were just looking to play for fun. In our regular groups it was pretty easy to get a playset of the best stuff from our pet factions, as the hard core players would buy a box or two and trade everything from factions they didn't play for those they did... but to those who weren't regulars, they missed out and would get slaughtered. We freely gave away promos, commons, and uncommons to new folks so start up was minimal, but you know how that goes.

State College has fluctuated over the years. Right now we have three or four players, but its been as low as two and as high as eleven or twelve.