Duel Decks

Mburn7

Ok, I'm pretty hyped for this new Duel Decks event.  It seemed awesome in the April Fools (which I may or may not have fell for), and I'm happy its coming for real this time.

Some quick questions for @Brigby:

When do we find out if we're in the Beta?

How will the Beta work?  Will it be something separate we need to download or will the event just only be visible to the selected UIDs?

How many people are being selected?

How will the rewards work for the Beta?  I assume we get to keep what we win, but I would understand if we don't.

I know you don't like giving out info before it is definitive, but I would assume that these questions have answers already that Oktagon planned in advance (since I doubt you can set up a Beta without an idea of them).  

Laeuftbeidir

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How will the duel deck pws be implemented? As fully legal walkers that you have to purchase to use then outside of duel decks (at full or a discounted price?) just asking to know whether I'm five million, or 5.2 million runes/some k more or less gold behind

DBJones

All of these are good questions that I would also like to know the answer to. Also, I'm assuming the sign up form was for all/any of the three beta runs, but confirmation would be nice.

Mburn7

Laeuftbeidir said:

+

How will the duel deck pws be implemented? As fully legal walkers that you have to purchase to use then outside of duel decks (at full or a discounted price?) just asking to know whether I'm five million, or 5.2 million runes/some k more or less gold behind

Ooh, good point there too.

Also, I guess the devs finally realized that you're signature is correct lol

Brigby

Mburn7 said:

Ok, I'm pretty hyped for this new Duel Decks event.  It seemed awesome in the April Fools (which I may or may not have fell for), and I'm happy its coming for real this time.

Some quick questions for Brigby:

When do we find out if we're in the Beta?

How will the Beta work?  Will it be something separate we need to download or will the event just only be visible to the selected UIDs?

How many people are being selected?

How will the rewards work for the Beta?  I assume we get to keep what we win, but I would understand if we don't.

I know you don't like giving out info before it is definitive, but I would assume that these questions have answers already that Oktagon planned in advance (since I doubt you can set up a Beta without an idea of them).  

1) The beta test starts when 2.9 goes live, so I'd imagine selected players would probably find out soon if they're chosen.

2) Players will receive more information about this in the initial email.

3) A lot! (aka I don't know the exact number, but I know it'll be a decently sized number of players)

4) Yes. Players will be able to keep the rewards they earn during the beta.

Laeuftbeidir said:

+

How will the duel deck pws be implemented? As fully legal walkers that you have to purchase to use then outside of duel decks (at full or a discounted price?) just asking to know whether I'm five million, or 5.2 million runes/some k more or less gold behind

Players will be able to play as either Nissa, Worldwaker or The Eldrazi Desolation during the event, however by participating in the event, they will also be able to unlock them for purchase in the vault. I'm unaware as to how much they'll cost though.

wereotter

Brigby said:

4) Yes. Players will be able to keep the rewards they earn during the beta.

Laeuftbeidir said:

+

How will the duel deck pws be implemented? As fully legal walkers that you have to purchase to use then outside of duel decks (at full or a discounted price?) just asking to know whether I'm five million, or 5.2 million runes/some k more or less gold behind

Players will be able to play as either Nissa, Worldwaker or The Eldrazi Desolation during the event, however by participating in the event, they will also be able to unlock them for purchase in the vault. I'm unaware as to how much they'll cost though.

Thanks for the info @Brigsby!

As a follow up question here, do you pick a side and that's it for the duration of the early access, or will you have the opportunity to switch? Also will there be any kind of restrictions or quotas for how many players are on each side? I ask because it seems the players on the colorless deck, with full access to all their cards, would have an instant advantage over players using Nissa with access to only green cards. 

ElfNeedsFood

@wereotter I get the impression that at least part of the event involves using a canned deck with some boosters kind of like a sealed deck tournament but maybe I’m reaching there. 

wereotter

ElfNeedsFood said:

@wereotter I get the impression that at least part of the event involves using a canned deck with some boosters kind of like a sealed deck tournament but maybe I’m reaching there. 

I read that, but I also saw it taking place in two parts, the first being you use pre-built decks, and the second part you build your own decks. From the blog post:

• You can build any deck you want with that planeswalker.
  • As long as you follow the Node/Planeswalker rules.

Brigby

wereotter said:

Brigby said:

4) Yes. Players will be able to keep the rewards they earn during the beta.

Laeuftbeidir said:

+

How will the duel deck pws be implemented? As fully legal walkers that you have to purchase to use then outside of duel decks (at full or a discounted price?) just asking to know whether I'm five million, or 5.2 million runes/some k more or less gold behind

Players will be able to play as either Nissa, Worldwaker or The Eldrazi Desolation during the event, however by participating in the event, they will also be able to unlock them for purchase in the vault. I'm unaware as to how much they'll cost though.

Thanks for the info Brigsby!

As a follow up question here, do you pick a side and that's it for the duration of the early access, or will you have the opportunity to switch? Also will there be any kind of restrictions or quotas for how many players are on each side? I ask because it seems the players on the colorless deck, with full access to all their cards, would have an instant advantage over players using Nissa with access to only green cards. 

Are you talking about picking sides during a single event, or if there are multiple events run throughout the duration of the beta? If it's the former, you can play both sides during the first phase only, then you have to lock it in for the second and third phases.

If it's the latter, then I can't imagine why you wouldn't be able to choose the other side to try it out, during another run of the event.

I'm personally not sure if there are any restrictions or quotas for player team cap, but that's probably something the team will be monitoring the behavior of regardless.

khurram

The side that most people select will simply win. Now, which of those two revealed PWs seems to have better mana gains...

wereotter

khurram said:

The side that most people select will simply win. Now, which of those two revealed PWs seems to have better mana gains...

On the surface, Nissa does. However, two things to consider. Mono-colored planeswalkers almost always have better mana gains than multi-color planeswalker but multi-color walkers still get more play because of greater access to cards. Additionally the first loyalty ability for the eldrazi is to make 3 eldrazi scions, which means a blocker and 9 mana.

khurram

I bet the first ability for the eldrazi one won't work when there is no creature to target. We have also learned from previous PWs that flat mana gains aren't very useful in casting the cards, irrespective of the wider range of options to choose from.

Laeuftbeidir

Well, they needed to give nissa some kind of advantage. She'll ramp nicely, but either I underestimate her other capabilities (maybe the rules will lower the overall power skale ) or the elemental thingy is quite meh. Plus, ingest is a mana denial strategy that'll hurt her more than it'll hurt the eldrazi.

I really hope there will be a set restriction to take out the cards that'd make this event boring (looking at you, Baral.. And rashmi).

I'll go for eldrazi by the way, unless there is something I don't know about it's "better mana gain" vs "the rest". Oh, and also for flavor reasons!

DBJones

Hmm, if they made the winning team the one with the better average score, the number of players choosing each side wouldn't matter as much. There would be other possible downfalls with that method though.

stikxs

For the duel phases after you pick your PW side, do you build your decks from your actual cards or is there a pool of cards for the event that you will choose from?

Mburn7

@Brigby one more question before the update and events go live tomorrow:

Will we be allowed to post about the Duel Decks event on the forums?  I remember seeing some sort of confidentiality thing on the sign up sheet and I'm not sure what exactly it means. (I didn't really pay much attention to it, to be honest)

Brigby

Mburn7 said:

Brigby one more question before the update and events go live tomorrow:

Will we be allowed to post about the Duel Decks event on the forums?  I remember seeing some sort of confidentiality thing on the sign up sheet and I'm not sure what exactly it means. (I didn't really pay much attention to it, to be honest)

(Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer nor part of the legal team, therefore I must preface that my word cannot and should not be taken as legal counsel.)

My recommendation would be to refrain from posting any beta Duel Decks information onto the forum until the event is officially released to all of the public.

Azerack

@Brigby - I was thinking more there would be some other way to post feedback to the devs, a pm or separate forum?? Otherwise how is it a beta?

Brakkis

Thanks for the info Brigby.

Follow-up question then: How and where do those of us who got in to the beta discuss the event and any issues we find with it in order for them to be handled? Utilizing just the in-game ticket system is not good design.

[Deleted User]

I think each coalition/group will create their own beta-only member groups. 

The support ticket will still be a decent way to communicate suggestions or bugs (not ideal but cant ask for much there and we should try to use the infrastructure in place as i am sure they are trying to keep some form of costs down or are currently unable to accomodate this need currently)

That said, it would be great to have all beta testers able to communicate with one another as it would allow better confirmation/explanation/diagnosing of bugs, as can be seen in the current bugs/technical subforums. Also the sharing of ideas or thoughts on things would open up more constructive discussions. 

Brigby

Brakkis said:

Thanks for the info Brigby.

Follow-up question then: How and where do those of us who got in to the beta discuss the event and any issues we find with it in order for them to be handled? Utilizing just the in-game ticket system is not good design.

Great question! I'm personally not sure. The beta is something that Oktagon has been taking the lead on. My guess is they'd send some sort of feedback form out to everyone after an event ends, but that's just speculation on my part, so take that with a grain of salt.

Having said that though, I'll ping them on that during our meeting today, and see if they have any insight.