Ok not saying about game is because of us, french player, we hijack the topic...

In fact, i think there is some solution to Martell, but with french championship in one week...

And in fact, We don't really have to think about what house give best chance cause most of time, we choose a house and stay inside it for month or year, and sometimes change, but not cause it help us to win, just cause we like it (in france, i don't speak about the whole world)

So now everybody complain, i think we can let you having your topic back ^^

@kp - did you read my tournament report? I'm pretty sure I had every single one of those points in it, at least superficially.

WolfgangSenff said:

I did read your TR, but a TR is not a discussion. Maybe there is no discussion because we assume it's common knowledge on the boards.

kpmccoy21 said:

60 so far.

I assume that means there were 3 who played in more than one?

What I learned...

1. Organizing a tournament in NYC is hard, given the costs of attendance/timing (BIG kudos to LetsGoRed for doing it for so many years).

2. Three regionals in one month marketed to the same players sounds like a good idea initially, but it's very tiring to attend them all (too much driving and costly), and you're unlikely to actually get the same person to attend two different regionals in such a short time span.

3. Martell has a lot more variety at the top levels than I originally thought. Despite some claims, they have a very different feel too. For example, a Beric Deck plays *very* differently from a Summer deck, and both play differently from a shadows, treaty or KotHH deck. Honestly, the only thing that's similar (and the reason the games can feel similar), is that all of the decks play similar events. Since games against Martell often swing based on a major event (Game of Cyvasse, Burning, etc.), the "got you" moments are essentially the same across all Martell decks. I knew this all before, but I didn't realize all these different builds would all be competitive (though still to varying degrees based on the metagame). Maybe that says something about cards like Cyvasse or Burning?

4. Despite Martell's dominance, there is A LOT of variety in competitive deck lists at the top level, especially for players who think creatively. I saw a lot of different deck lists, from five of the six houses (Bara was definitely underrepresented on the East Coast this year). I don't think any two games I played in any of the three regionals I played (so 18 games in total) were similar. Even the Greyjoy decks I played against operated differently. This is VERY refreshing, and a MAJOR change over last year and the year before. Given some of the cool spoilers I've seen on the printed sheets (prize support), I'm guessing the environment is going to become even more diverse over the next 3-4 months. I'm *really* looking forward to it.

5. Targ box was one of the weakest boxes, if not the weakest, and hasn't done nearly as much as hoped to boost it to the top (unlike Stark box or Bara box, both of which added very new, competitive builds.) In fact, other than Horseback Archers, Myrish Villa, Pree, the new burn event, and a couple others, I don't think most of the cards will see play. Maybe other metas will have more success with Targ though, or future cards will be printed that fill out Targ's major weaknesses (which I still think are draw and location discard).

6. The FAQ probably did hurt Bara too much. I think a restriction to Heir would have been appropriate/balanced, whereas the errata has probably been too draconian. I'm not saying Bara isn't near the top...it's still higher than Targ (even post-Targ box) and likely Stark/GJ. But given control's continued dominance at the top, Bara + Heir might have been OK (though probably still good idea to keep Heir + Fury separate).

Dan played in all 3 East Coast Regionals and Erick played in 2 of them. ~Glad to see Claymont was able to intimidate Erick into not showing up and sweeping the East Coast Regionals

What I've learned in regional season 2011 is that it isn't finished yet. The biggest tournaments of the regionals haven't take place yet, so how could we deduce anything for the moment ? I'm talking of course about the europeans regionals... This is this kind of little things that let think to the european players that we are not considerate by you, guys. Rings asked if we complex about that. I think the answer is yes. We are (or maybe, some of us are) frustrated by what happens accross the ocean. Wolfgang, the Stalheck TO, had to fight during years to have a prize that approaches the one of the worlds. Thanks to him, Gualdo has designed a card. What a piece of chance ! To have his name on the bottom of a card he will play with... Now how many years have we to fight to have the same prizes = one card for each champion (joust, overall and melee) ? This is another thing that let us think we are not equals.

And, maybe I'm too pride, but I want to be world champion ! Or at least have a chance to be, one year, in the future, in my wildest dreams (yes my wildest dreams are about AGOT LCG... ). After all, i won tournaments that were bigger than the world's, it could happen... Things are, travel in north america is too difficult for me, especially to play cards. And I'm aware that it is the same for you to come in Europe. But still ! I want to be world champion ! Is it fair that, because I'm not born in USA and not rich as Bill Gates, I can't dream of it ? The number of players that move to tournaments in Europe gives us a legitimity to think that some of the best players in the world, some players that could be world champion if the tournament was at reach, are here, on the old continent. Having the world's in Europe each two years would erase the frustration they could have actually.

The marketing aspect of Gencon is an argument. But there are some conventions in Europa too. Essen is the biggest in the world. What about trying to play during this convention ? www.internationalespieltage.de/p020.php4 154.000 visitors, that's something, no ?

goshdarnstud said:

Quoted for truth, ser. For truth.

Dobbler said:

Agree with these sentiments 100%. Well said, Ser.

Arthur, I said in my opening post that while it was 3 weeks in, it may not be the halfway point. But it gave us a sampling size to begin discussing the state of the Metagame and where the game seemed to be going. I'm glad this thread became a place for Eurpopean players to voice their grievances about equal treatment, which most people who have posted on this thread agrees with. Including me. I'm all for European Tournaments receiving equal billing with US Tournaments, based on more objective standards of player count and level of play rather than geographical proximity to Minnesota.

But even in this thread it has been pointed out that the European metagame does not always reflect the US metagame, so of course it is viewed as somewhat different. Not better. Not worse. Just different. I play in the US, so the US metagame impacts me more. I'm sure the metagame where you play impacts you more than the metagame on the East Coast of the US where I live.

I was really hoping this thread could be a place where the various metagames could meet up and compare notes, and maybe start to see a bigger picture of the State of the Game. Maybe the boards are no longer a place for that to happen.

I have yet to see a regionals report for a european tournament.

I have yet to see a post about a regionals that is going to happen in Europe in the near future.

You cant just assume we should talk about you, when the truth is, I have no idea what you guys are running. I have made all my regionals statistics posts based on whatever people have posted here. (And no one from Europe has posted anything to add to my results).

I am a stats geek. I would love to compare and combine data for the 2 distinct play groups. If you can get me data on what houses, agendas, and restricted cards people are playing, I would gladly include it.

Its the fleeting nature of the environment. We'll be getting 60 more cards before Gencon, so what is dominant now can change in just a month.

Had Brotherhood completely dominated the field, or Martell people would be complaining (like what happened with the Wildlings). But it didn't. Now I am worried about the Maesters. Trait Manipulation is going to gain annoyance levels comparable to Valyrian block.

But I only saw an Old Nan + Raven + Milk combo. (Which doesn't change much... players are always finding creative ways to gimp the Viper and then shove him in a trunk).

Thanks Arthur for the dream

Fieras said:

Agreed. I would love to hear more about what is actually going on in the European meta at large. Since we don't often really see posts about it here from the European players, I don't find it surprising that we discuss it less.

Some one mentioned something about the excitement of regionals being lower this year. I am excited for Kubla.

With regards to regional season in general, I am less excited than usual, and I'm beginning to think these boards have a lot to do with it.

Certainly part of it has to do with the boards themselves (poor searching, poor editing, no PMs, no stickies).

But, part of it has to do with us as members of the AGoT community. Too many posts with pointing fingers, and feelings ready to be hurt for my tastes.

The feeling of community is very much still alive when I play the game. However, I don't find it on these boards like I used to, and I think that is impacting my regional season experience so far this year.

<end emo post>

I'm one of those players who only attends one regional. Even if I won that tournament, I would not be traveling to attend GenCon or any other regional. I'm sure I'm not the only one like me, so it's possible in any tournament year that not *all* the best players would be competing at GenCon anyway. And for the record, I've always thought it should be called the "USA Championship".

I think we misname things by habit. For example, we do the same in sports. Our baseball championship is called the "World Series". Our NBA champion is called the "World Champion". Same for our NFL. The only country represented in any of our "World" championships is Canada (they have NBA and MLB teams, but no NFL). Our NHL champion is called the Stanley Cup champion, but are also sometimes called the "World Champion", even though only Canada is represented with teams in the league besides the USA franchises. Now granted, we do have foreign born players on many of our rosters, but the leagues are still intrinsically built with North American teams.

Now, part of this may be the fact that the USA was built on diversity. We are a nation of immigrants,so in effect, our culture is a combination of the world. Perhaps because of this diversity we coin the term "world" for our champion. I'd still prefer if we used "USA champion" for any of these events, but alas that hasn't happened yet.

On topic, what I learned is that more people have started playing Martell competitively than I expected. I've always been a Stark/Martell player and usually play Martell in tournaments (they are the best decks I can personally make in the LCG environment). I'd love to be able to make a Stark deck that can win a regional (not utilizing "Wildlings" or any other gimmick out of house). I tend to focus my decks on my chosen house and prefer the majority of cards to be from that house. I keep working on it, though. I'll always play Stark as well (and Greyjoy).

I thought there'd be more Targaryen builds, but that didn't happen at least here in MN. I know we had some decks in the joust, but I didn't face one of them. As someone else said, maybe their expansion didn't boost them as much as I (and others) expected it would.

I don't like mirror-matches. Even though I considered my Martell deck to be my best deck, if I had known how many people would be playing Martell ahead of time, I would have brought a different deck to the MN regional. Probably wouldn't have fared as well, but at least I would have enjoyed it more.

Looking forward to seeing what happens in other regionals as the season goes on (and yes, this includes our international brothers and sisters across the oceans).

I would just like to say that as a resident of Indianapolis this thread offends me.

That is all.

I would just like to say that as a resident of Europe; this thread should offend me.

That's all too

Things I've learned so far in Regional Season 2011:

1. People like to argue semantics.

2. Some people get upset over trivial things.

Things I've learned so far about Regional Season 2011:

1. Not nearly enough people are talking about the latest 2 Champs and a Chump.

2. Not nearly enough people are talking about my totally undefeated melee win.

Actually- Reverse those.

Kennon said:

That's because the episode focused on melee, the red headed step child of competetive play. Maybe more people will discuss your podcast about the Joust results, field at the MN Regional.~ After all, isn't joust "the only game that matters"?

Katagena said:

Hello internet, meet my friend sarcasm. Sarcasm, this is the internet.

Apparently text AND a language barrier is bad for this sort of thing, who knew?

Gualdo said:

That's okay, most Americans aren't real keen on Indianapolis either.

Kennon said:

Maybe there should be separate restricted lists for joust and melee? After all, Castellan isn't exactly a power card in melee...these are just fundamentally different formats with different rules.

On your melee win, congrats. Given some of the cards I saw spoiled on the printed sheets at the various regionals I attended, I'm guessing 50% of the melee players play Greyjoy at GenCon this year. I think it's going to be worse than Bara (even if it's not *the* most powerful build).

I've learned the following things:

1. That being out of school and employed is great for financing my gaming hobbies, but troublesome for attending gaming events.

2. That I'll probably make it out to Iowa (the Ukraine of the Midwest) for the regional, if I'm lucky.

As far as the jacked topic, I get why the European players are miffed. They obviously have skill and knowledge to match that of the Americans. I guess my best "defense" would be to draw a parallel to baseball. Even though baseball is played very competitively in many countries around the world (well, all through the Americas and Japan I guess) the U.S. still has the World Series, because it started here. Sadly, I don't think FFG, even with the television series doing so well, is ever going to have the funding to have a true traveling "World Championship" such as the World Cup. I think Erick's solution of renaming things is as good as its going to get.

I may have to try to make it Stahleck 2012; I never get a chance to use my German here in the U.S.