Here are the rules for a variant tournament format. I'll explain my thinking at the end.

Deckbuilding

Standard deckbuilding rules apply: decks must have between 50 and 100 cards. A deck cannot include more than 3 of the same card, by name. Any deck may include Neutral cards. A deck may include Order cards or Destruction cards but not both.

In addition, a deck cannot include more of the same card than would exist in a card set comprised of a single Core Set and one of each expansion set. For example, a deck could include 3 copies of Innovation, since there is 1 in the Core Set and 2 in Assault on Ulthuan, but would currently only be allowed 1 copy of Troll Vomit since there is only 1 in the Core Set.

Banned cards

No cards are banned in Single Set v1.0.

Sideboards

Sideboards are not allowed in Single Set v1.0.

Tournament rules

Tournament rules for Single Set v1.0 are the same as the official Fantasy Flight Game rules.

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Alright, now for an explanation. It's been my experience that a fair number of new players coming into the game are drawn in by the lower cost of ownership to play competitively. They are not happy when you explain that competitive decks often require multiples of the core set and expansions. Because of this, I think that a substantial part of the player base effectively already plays the format I'm describing - they just want to have a copy of every card, but don't feel like spending the money for a full playset - so this format will help to bring the hardcore and casual players closer together. Casual players typically do not use sideboards and neither do the official rules so I decided to make that part of the format too.

As a bonus, I suspect that a format where Skaven are significantly weaker (but still exist as a force to be reckoned with) and the Bolt Thrower archetype basically doesn't exist will make for a significantly more interesting metagame. It may be eventually necessary to ban cards (e.g. Warpstone Excavation) but until this format is explored in depth I don't think it's necessary from the start.

Feedback is most welcome!

I don't like it because it does effectively restrict cards for players who did purchase more than one of each set. I have 3 of everything released thus far and I would be really pissed off if they did that so that I basically wasted 2/3 of the money I put into the game.

They really do just need to include 3 of everything in every set they release.

I do not expect that "they" are not going to do anything about this, if you mean FFG as "they".

And as for releasing complete play sets, FFG is not going to do that as far as we know - the battle packs will include a full playset but they have said that the deluxe sets will not.

I also have multiples of a bunch of the sets released. While I can definitely see your viewpoint, the argument you are making is essentially "it sucked for me so it should suck for everyone else", which I don't buy into. Personally, I don't really regard games as I have bought as an investment - they are entertainment. I think that the investment angle is more of a way for CCG players to convince themselves that it isn't all that bad to spend all available disposable income on a game. If the price went down to go see movies I would not think that I wasted a bunch of money on going to the theater.

Right now the player base for the game is pretty small and that is honestly the biggest problem with the game. I think making the game more accessible via lowering the cost of making competitive decks has to help grow the base and that's partly why I was suggesting this alternative format.

For players with multiple sets, it may be hard to remember how many copies of each card are in each set. Here's a reference "rarity" list, sorted by faction then name.

Alluring Daemonettes 3 CHAOS
Beast of Chaos 3 CHAOS
Berserk Fury 1 CHAOS
Blessings of Tzeentch 3 CHAOS
Blood for the Blood God 2 CHAOS
Blood Frenzy 1 CHAOS
Bloodsworn 3 CHAOS
Bloodthirster 1 CHAOS
Blue Horrors 3 CHAOS
Bolt of Change 1 CHAOS
Brutal Offering 3 CHAOS
Bule, Lord of Pus 1 CHAOS
Cacophonic Scream 1 CHAOS
Chaos Knights 2 CHAOS
Chosen of Tzeentch 3 CHAOS
Cloud of Flies 1 CHAOS
Culling the Weak 1 CHAOS
Cultist of Slaanesh 1 CHAOS
Daemonsword 1 CHAOS
Dark Zealot 2 CHAOS
Festering Nurglings 3 CHAOS
Flames of Tzeentch 1 CHAOS
Fledgling Chaos Spawn 1 CHAOS
Great Unclean One 3 CHAOS
Hellcannon Reserves 1 CHAOS
Horrific Mutation 1 CHAOS
Journey to the Gate 2 CHAOS
Maledictor of Tzeentch 2 CHAOS
Melekh the Changer 1 CHAOS
Nurgle Sorceror 1 CHAOS
Nurgle's Pestilence 1 CHAOS
Offering of Blood 3 CHAOS
Sadistic Mutation 1 CHAOS
Savage Gors 3 CHAOS
Savage Marauders 3 CHAOS
Seduced by Darkness 2 CHAOS
Servants of Khorne 3 CHAOS
Shrine to Nurgle 3 CHAOS
Slaanesh's Domination 1 CHAOS
Tzeentch's Firestorm 2 CHAOS
Valkia the Bloody 1 CHAOS
Warpstone Meteor 1 CHAOS
Will of Tzeentch 1 CHAOS
Wolves of the North 1 CHAOS
Altar of Khaine 1 DARK ELF
Bathe in Blood 1 DARK ELF
Call the Blood 3 DARK ELF
Caught the Scent 3 DARK ELF
Cauldron of Blood 1 DARK ELF
Chillwind 2 DARK ELF
Cold One Chariot 3 DARK ELF
Cold One Knight 3 DARK ELF
Cold One Riders 1 DARK ELF
Corsairs of Ghrond 3 DARK ELF
Dark Initiate 3 DARK ELF
Dark Riders 3 DARK ELF
Dark Sorceress 2 DARK ELF
Dark Visions 1 DARK ELF
Disciple of Khaine 1 DARK ELF
Grasping Darkness 1 DARK ELF
Har Ganeth 2 DARK ELF
Harpies 3 DARK ELF
Hate 1 DARK ELF
Hydra Blade 1 DARK ELF
Invoke Khaine's Wrath 2 DARK ELF
Lash the Prisoner! 2 DARK ELF
Lokhir Fellheart 1 DARK ELF
Malus Darkblade 1 DARK ELF
Mind Killer 2 DARK ELF
Morathi's Pegasus 3 DARK ELF
Mortella 1 DARK ELF
Naggaroth Spearmen 1 DARK ELF
Night Raids 1 DARK ELF
Reaper Bolt Thrower 1 DARK ELF
Sack Tor Aendris 1 DARK ELF
Shades 3 DARK ELF
Slave Driver 1 DARK ELF
Slaver Raid 1 DARK ELF
Take Captive! 1 DARK ELF
Vile Sorceress 1 DARK ELF
Walking Sacrifice 3 DARK ELF
War Hydra 1 DARK ELF
We Need Your Blood 3 DARK ELF
Witch Hag's Curse 3 DARK ELF
Word of Pain 2 DARK ELF
Your Will Is Mine 1 DARK ELF
A Glorious Death 2 DWARF
Anvil of Doom 3 DWARF
Blessing of Valaya 3 DWARF
Burying the Grudge 1 DWARF
Defender of the Hold 3 DWARF
Demolition! 1 DWARF
Dragonslayer 3 DWARF
Durgnar the Bold 1 DWARF
Dwarf Cannon Crew 1 DWARF
Dwarf Masons 1 DWARF
Dwarf Miner 3 DWARF
Dwarf Ranger 2 DWARF
Empty the Hold 1 DWARF
Flame Cannon 3 DWARF
Great Book of Grudges 1 DWARF
Gromril Armour 3 DWARF
Grudge Thrower 2 DWARF
Grudge Thrower Assault 1 DWARF
Gurni Thorgrimson 1 DWARF
Gurni's Elite 3 DWARF
Hammerer of Karak Azul 3 DWARF
Hewn From the Mountain 3 DWARF
Ironbreakers of Ankhor 1 DWARF
Keystone Forge 3 DWARF
King Kazador 1 DWARF
Longbeards 3 DWARF
Lure Them Out 2 DWARF
Master Rune of Dismay 1 DWARF
Master Rune of Valaya 1 DWARF
Mountain Barracks 1 DWARF
Mountain Brigade 2 DWARF
Mountain Legion 3 DWARF
Organ Gun 1 DWARF
Reclaim the Hold 1 DWARF
Rune of Fortitude 1 DWARF
Rune of Hearth and Home 1 DWARF
Runesmith 3 DWARF
Slayers of Karak Kadrin 2 DWARF
Stand Your Ground 1 DWARF
Striking the Grudge 2 DWARF
Stubborn Refusal 1 DWARF
Troll Slayers 3 DWARF
Wake the Mountain 1 DWARF
Zhufbar Engineers 1 DWARF
Battle Standard 1 EMPIRE
Bright Wizard Apprentice 1 EMPIRE
Church of Sigmar 2 EMPIRE
City Gates 1 EMPIRE
Defend the Border 2 EMPIRE
Demoralise 3 EMPIRE
Flagellants 3 EMPIRE
Forced March 2 EMPIRE
Franz's Decree 1 EMPIRE
Free Company 2 EMPIRE
Gate of Sigmar 1 EMPIRE
Gold Wizard Acolyte 2 EMPIRE
Gustav the Bear 1 EMPIRE
Helblaster Volley Gun 3 EMPIRE
Hellblaster Crew 1 EMPIRE
Huntsmen 3 EMPIRE
Infiltrate 1 EMPIRE
Iron Discipline 3 EMPIRE
Johannes Broheim 1 EMPIRE
Judgement of Verena 1 EMPIRE
Knight Training 1 EMPIRE
Nordland Halberdiers 3 EMPIRE
Nuln Tinkerers 1 EMPIRE
Peasant Militia 1 EMPIRE
Pistoliers 3 EMPIRE
Protect The Empire 1 EMPIRE
Reiksguard Knights 3 EMPIRE
Reiksguard Swordsmen 3 EMPIRE
Runefang of Solland 1 EMPIRE
Shrine to Taal 1 EMPIRE
Sigmar's Blessed 1 EMPIRE
Sigmar's Brilliance 1 EMPIRE
Sigmar's Intervention 1 EMPIRE
Surrender! 2 EMPIRE
Talabheim Detachment 3 EMPIRE
Temple of Shallya 1 EMPIRE
The Greatswords 2 EMPIRE
Thyrus Gorman 1 EMPIRE
Twin-Tailed Comet 1 EMPIRE
Ulrics Fury 3 EMPIRE
Vigilant Elector 1 EMPIRE
Vigilant Pistoliers 1 EMPIRE
Warrior Priests 3 EMPIRE
Will of the Electors 1 EMPIRE
Archmage of Saphery 1 HIGH ELF
Asuryan's Cleansing 1 HIGH ELF
Banish 1 HIGH ELF
Blessing of Isha 1 HIGH ELF
Caradryan 1 HIGH ELF
Charge of the Silver Helm 3 HIGH ELF
Defend Tor Aendris 1 HIGH ELF
Dragon Mage Wakening 2 HIGH ELF
Dragon Prince 2 HIGH ELF
Dragonmage 1 HIGH ELF
Ellyrian Reavers 3 HIGH ELF
Envoy from Averlorn 3 HIGH ELF
Finreir's Guard 3 HIGH ELF
Flames of the Phoenix 2 HIGH ELF
For Ulthuan! 1 HIGH ELF
Gift of Life 2 HIGH ELF
Gifts of Aenarion 1 HIGH ELF
Greater Heal 1 HIGH ELF
High Elf Spearman 3 HIGH ELF
High Elf's Disdain 2 HIGH ELF
Illyriel 1 HIGH ELF
Initiate of Saphery 3 HIGH ELF
Isha's Gaze 3 HIGH ELF
Loremaster of Hoeth 3 HIGH ELF
Morvael's Legacy 1 HIGH ELF
Radiant Gaze 1 HIGH ELF
Repair the Waystones 1 HIGH ELF
Repeater Bolt Thrower 1 HIGH ELF
Second Sight 3 HIGH ELF
Shadow Warrior 3 HIGH ELF
Shrine of Asuryan 1 HIGH ELF
Silver Helm Brigade 1 HIGH ELF
Silver Helm Detachment 1 HIGH ELF
Steel's Bane 1 HIGH ELF
Sword Masters of Hoeth 3 HIGH ELF
Tear of Isha 2 HIGH ELF
Temple of Vaul 1 HIGH ELF
The Glittering Tower 2 HIGH ELF
Tyriel 1 HIGH ELF
Vaul's Unmaking 3 HIGH ELF
Wake the Dragons 1 HIGH ELF
War Crown of Saphery 1 HIGH ELF
Abandoned Mine 1 NEUTRAL
Ancient Map 2 NEUTRAL
Ancient Waystone 3 NEUTRAL
Animosity 1 NEUTRAL
Armoury 3 NEUTRAL
Boar Attack 2 NEUTRAL
Burn it Down 1 NEUTRAL
Chaos/Dark Elf Alliance 1 NEUTRAL
Chaos/Orc Alliance 1 NEUTRAL
Chittering Horde 1 NEUTRAL
Clan Moulder's Elite 1 NEUTRAL
Clan Rats 3 NEUTRAL
Contested Fortress 3 NEUTRAL
Contested Stronghold 3 NEUTRAL
Contested Village 3 NEUTRAL
Deathmaster Sniktch 1 NEUTRAL
Dwarf/Empire Alliance 1 NEUTRAL
Dwarf/High Elf Alliance 1 NEUTRAL
Empire/High Elf Alliance 1 NEUTRAL
Errant Wolf 1 NEUTRAL
Fellblade 1 NEUTRAL
Forge 3 NEUTRAL
Forgotten Cemetery 3 NEUTRAL
Greyseer Thanquol 1 NEUTRAL
Greyseer's Lair 3 NEUTRAL
Gutter Runners 3 NEUTRAL
Infiltrate! 1 NEUTRAL
Innovation 1 NEUTRAL
Innovation 2 NEUTRAL
Juvenile Wyvern 3 NEUTRAL
Marius the Righteous 1 NEUTRAL
Orc/Dark Elf Alliance 1 NEUTRAL
Pilgrimage 1 NEUTRAL
Plague Monk 1 NEUTRAL
Poison Wind Globadiers 1 NEUTRAL
Prepare for War! 2 NEUTRAL
Rat Ogres 1 NEUTRAL
Reap What's Sown 1 NEUTRAL
Scout Camp 3 NEUTRAL
Surprise Assault 1 NEUTRAL
Treasure Vaults 4x NEUTRAL
Veteran Sellswords 3 NEUTRAL
Warp Lightning Cannon 3 NEUTRAL
Warpstone Excavation 3 NEUTRAL
Zealot Hunter 1 NEUTRAL
Arrer Boyz 3 ORC
Banna of da Red Sunz 1 ORC
Basha's Bloodaxe 1 ORC
Big 'Uns 1 ORC
Black Orc Squad 3 ORC
Boar Boyz 2 ORC
Choppa 2 ORC
Crooked Tree Goblins 3 ORC
Da Brainbusta! 1 ORC
Dat's Mine 1 ORC
Doom Divers 1 ORC
Easy Pickin's 3 ORC
Favour of Mork 3 ORC
Followers of Mork 2 ORC
Foot of Gork 2 ORC
Grimgor Ironhide 1 ORC
Grimgor's Camp 1 ORC
Grimgor's Spike 3 ORC
Iron Boyz 3 ORC
Ironclaw's Horde 1 ORC
Lobber Crew 3 ORC
Mob Up 3 ORC
Night Goblins 1 ORC
Pillage 1 ORC
Rip Dere 'Eads Off! 1 ORC
Rock Lobber 1 ORC
Scrap Heap 1 ORC
Smash 'Em All! 2 ORC
Smash-Go-Boom! 1 ORC
Snotling Pump Wagon 3 ORC
Snotling Saboteurs 3 ORC
Spider Riders 3 ORC
Squig Herders 3 ORC
Swarm 'Em 1 ORC
Thick-Skinned 3 ORC
Totem of Gork 1 ORC
Troll Vomit 1 ORC
Ugrok Beardburna 1 ORC
Urguck 1 ORC
Waaagh! 1 ORC
War Paint 3 ORC
We'z Bigga! 2 ORC
Wolf Rider Assault 3 ORC
Wyvern Rider 2 ORC

I like it as an optional additional format. It would likely become less relevant with the battle pack switch over, but right now I think it would be interesting.

TL

Heidelberger does its official open tournaments (where they lend you the cards you need) with the same rules, expect that neutrals are banned. And they will keep so with the new cycle.
From the 2 tournaments I were watching, DE seems to have a good standing. 2 winning decks, 4 or 5 in the semi-finals with 2 orcs and 1 dwarf. But mostly beginners were playing and single round elimination, so it could be random.
They will held another single set (wo neutral) this weekend (I will be able to play finally ) and I will post the results afterwards.

Vitamin T said:

I think its a great idea for groups of friends to play like this. Will bring in new players. It will never go official mind.

I think "official" is a bit relative for WH:I. FFG's budget is not large enough for substantial prize support, so a lot of how tournaments are run is up to the community. We're already seeing several different formats (e.g. mono-race & no neutrals) being played.

Part of the idea I had for this format was to meet player expectations - I think players coming into a LCG expect to be able to just buy 1 of everything and compete on a level footing.

I only started testing decks in the format yesterday, but so far I like the flavour a little better than the flavour of the standard format. Greyseer isn't just "a" Greyseer, he's "the" Greyseer - and tactics like Troll Vomit are more epic-feeling when you know there's only 1.

I like this idea a lot!

Also - if you have an account at deckbox.org you can add one of each set to your inventory and then you'll have your card pool (with the correct "rarities").

Yep. I actually had already done that and started working on some decks:

http://deckbox.org/users/ClamatiusSingleSet

I've found deckbox.org to be pretty good so far. Being able to import from a .dec style text file is a really nice feature - it let me import all the decks I had already written up easily.

ugh... I'm throwing some decks together to test this format this weekend, and it's kind of annoying that you have the same 9 slots filled, right off the bat. It doesn't bother me when playing with full sets of every card, but it seems to subtract the "fun" from what should be a pretty fun format.

Yeah, I had seriously considered just banning the core 9 (Innovation, Warpstone, Village) right off the bat to introduce more variety. But I figure no bannings is the least controversial so that's the place to start.

It'll be nice once enough cards exist to play some Invasion hihglander!

TL

For sure, highlander will be interesting. The card pool is nowhere near big enough to make it interesting yet though.

So far the feedback I've been getting on this idea has been really positive.

Anecdotally, one of the people I taught recently told me last night that he decided he liked the game enough that he went out and got it. What did he buy? 1 of everything.

I think this is actually the default use case by far and the hardcore players who buy 3x everything (or nearly everything) are rare by comparison.

I've been playing this format since I posted this. So far, I like it a bit better than the "standard" format, even neglecting price issues. I have a few decks so far but they definitely need more tuning. You can see them here.

One issue that we've found is that the Deathmaster is even better in this format than the standard format, since a lot of the answers to him are 1x (e.g. Zealot Hunter). It feels like when you draw him, you win and when you don't, there's an actual game. Orc/Skaven is really good in Single Set for sure and are probably the dominant deck. Jury is still out.

I may experiment with the environment a bit to see what happens when the Deathmaster is banned, but probably not till I've tuned decks more.

Not many of my gaming group have mulitiple copys and there is talk of are first tourni being 1 set only.

I did 2 decks too, but they are both German Style. German Style has the advantage, that there are no Skaven, but it generally lacks some resources.

I think what I like most about single set is not to be overly reliant on one combo, you have to react more to what cards you draw because often those key cards are now only 1x, it also opens up the game for more people, Theres only a couple of people Ive played with that have bought more than 1x any set, but pratically all of us have every battlepack and the exapansion.

I do hope that new battlepacks solve the skaven issue as I would hate for skaven to have to be banned for too much longer, especially since single set basically removes order unitless bolt thrower that people seemed to be doing ok with.

In regards to deathmaster sniktch, so far ive found theres a nice balance in the fact theres less skaven for him to utilise and theres a lesser chance of pulling him out of your deck, but I could have been seeing unlucky draws.

Yep. We haven't banned Deathmaster or anything else yet in our play group.

I'm having trouble beating ddm5182's Orc/DE Skaven right now but Dwarves are within shouting distance. I think the next BP may bring them a bit closer.

Deathmaster is still really strong even if you only have a handful of Skaven in your deck. In the standard format, all the "non-Skaven" Destro decks I had (e.g. Orc control or Chaos control) were running Clan Moulder's Elite and Deathmaster and even then he's really good.

Yeah... Deathmaster is completely solid even as 4 cost for 2 hammers playable in any zone. If he kills even 1 unit, or gains tempo by deterring them from playing a unit, he is pure gold. If he goes unopposed long enough to kill/deter more than 1 unit? There is just no way you are losing the game when facing a competent player with a similarly tuned deck.

Clamatius and I had a Orc/DE/Skaven v. Chaos/Skaven single-set match the other day where I had a filthy double-warpstone opening with Rat Ogres & double Clan Rats by turn 5. I outdrew him by probably +12 cards over the course of the game and STILL lost to an unopposed Deathmaster.

The problem is compounded in single-set, as Clamatius said, because the answers to Deathmaster are usually not 3-ofs. So, while its true you arent going to "live the dream" and run out Deathmasters every turn through their removal with 5 other Skaven in play (Nice Moulder's Elite!) as sometimes happens in standard, and ofc you arent going to see him nearly as often, when he DOES come out, its such a beating that it takes some of the fun out of an otherwise awesome format.

Great stuff! That's how we're playing since the start.

And to those who take themselves so seriously and complain because they got 3x everything, I can only say - you're playing the wrong game Trying to build tier 1 tournament decks just reduces this otherwise great game to a lame MTG knockoff.

I don't agree with that, honestly. I think the standard (official) format is fine, but it doesn't actually address the way that the majority of the players actually play. I do not feel that WH:I is a "lame MTG ripoff" no matter how you slice it. It's a different game with strong base mechanics but a good number of similarities.

What I'm aiming for here is to formalize a format (even if FFG never recognises it officially) that people can agree on which meets the expectations of people coming into LCGs. I think Single Set is that format.

What I mean was not that the game resembles MTG that much, rather the tournament stuff feels the same as MTG - majority of people playing the same small subset of cards, all centred around a few "tier 1" decks.

This takes a huge deal out of the concept of this game.

Unlike Magic, in W:I you're not that dependant on the deck and the cards you draw - you have a lot more room for improvisation and interesting plays (as opposed to fine-tuning and play testing your deck against several archetypes, leading to automatic play and boring games on the tourney). W:I gives you the possibility to play a lot of different decks and still have a chance to win if you play right. On the other hand, when you play a deck that has 3x everything you're ruining this diversity and creating a meta that resembles the MTG meta way too much.

I just hate it when this game is reduced to a "cheap alternative" to Magic ... but to each their own, I guess.