Hi
We had our first tournaments in France. Both tourneys allow players to deckbuild alone but with different deckbuilding rules. Here are the 2 options we used:
First one was at a tourney in Tours. Each player was allowed to deckbuild alone. They ask each player to come with 2 different deck, each of them with all heroes in the same sphere (songs and player cards from different spheres were allowed but heroes have to be all in the same sphere in each decks) and they play one deck or the other depending on ther partners they have for the round (2 or 3 players play).
Advantages :
- Since it was'nt for 4 players play, you always have to count that one (or 2) sphere(s) will be missing so you still have deckbuilding to get maximum options.
- You have new partners each round
- You may have a tournament for 2, 3 or even 4 players' games.
Disadvantages:
- You don't have full deckbuilding since you can't find combos between heroes from different spheres (like Dwalin/Boromir or Gloin/Glorfindel) (but it's cool because it makes the game harder)
- You don't have the same deck each game, preventing you to check your game is able to face any peril.
Second one was in Paris with 3 rounds (2 players against the game).
We used a system where each player was allowed to play anything he wants but was'nt guaranteed to have the same heroes each turn (because partner would play them). Each player had to choose a major sphere (the one where he had the most heroes or the one of his choice if all of his heroes were from different spheres). The heroes in other spheres than the major sphere were in "minor spheres". For each minor sphere he plays (0,1 or 2), a player had to select 4 heroes by order of preference. A player was always guaranteed to play the heroes from his major sphere (since we never paired 2 players with the same major sphere) but for the heroes in minor spheres, if a partner play the same hero in a major sphere, you had to choose the second one of the list and so on.
Ex: Player A was playing a Boromir (major), Theodred (then Imrahil, Gloin, Aragorn) (minor 1) & Frodo (then Eowyn, Eleanor, Dunhere) (minor 2) deck. He could'nt be paired with another tactic player. If he met a player B playing Eowyn, Frodo, Eleanor (a major, no minor), he had to play Dunhere with Theodred and Boromir. If he met a partner (Player C) playing Theodred Gloin Boromir: he had to play Imrahil in command and Player C had to choose his second hero after Boromir in his list for tactic sphere.
It seems a little complicate at first but is quite easy to do in fact (we were 12 and everyone understood how to do it).
Advantages:
- Nearly full deckbuilding possibilities (if you can't play a hero because you parner plays it, that's not a big deal since it is a cooperative play)
- You have a new parner each round
Disadvantages:
- complicate to organize for more than 2 players' games
Both systems did well (we had other differences like Tours'players had their own quest (whoa) while we used the one from the chapter packs aso...). In fact we also use the "monosphere" system every month in our local store to discover by group of 4 players the new chapter and it's quite easy to organize.
Both system are great but would be ruined if FFG choose to design heroes we already have in one sphere for another sphere (like a spirit Glorfindel or a commandment Boromir). It would be impossible to organize a tournament without pairing players before the tournament (which is quite unfair if you're coming alone and are not be able to prepare yourself with a partner or if your partner can't come at last minute). I read designer interview on BGG. I really don't care if heroes become allies and vice versa. But please, of please, don't destroy both of these options!.