Regarding the alternating Reverse the Whip format:
This proposal was originally championed by
@
NecroBlade
at GenCon 2014. Furthermore, our Louisville group ran this format for our NHSD event that year as well, and we liked it quite a bit.
It was brought up again last year at GenCon as well, and I pitched it to Matthias and fomox directly. They considered it, but weren't exactly moved enough by the proposal to where they were convinced otherwise, but they didn't dismiss it outright either. To Matthias' credit, he said to PM him about it later after GenCon when he could give it proper consideration and reflection. So I did so this past January, but by then I had a little bit of a change in perspective. Here is what I wrote to him:
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At Gen Con this past year, you asked me to send you what I had about my proposal for an alternating Reverse the Whip format.
But, I think I'm going to "reverse" (haha) my position for encouraging a change in the current main event format.
It's not that I've had a change in opinion about the alternating variant, I still believe in its viability. It's mostly due to two reasons I think we should keep things as is:
1) We're starting to see the effects of keeping the format the same these past few years. It seemed to me that more players than ever before attempted to try to sneak by in Day 1 this last GenCon with builds that were anything but A+ caliber, all in the hopes of having a deep run for Day 2. This was lead by a large group of people who I believe to be our strongest players, with many of them going 3-2. So we're already seeing a majority acceptance of the format, and it's achieving what it set out to do: More variety (which is awesome), and less presence of the common/dominant builds. No more "nothing but Q9 and 4th Mass and Stingers" as far as the eye can see. This is the strongest argument for Reverse the Whip.
2) The biggest argument against RtW is that people will still try to make Day 2 as their emphasis, and will hence bring whatever lets them advance past Day 1, taking their chances afterwards. As a result, this really punishes the players who brought an army intended for success on Day 2 should they face such a player on Day 1. I think that argument was applicable two GenCon's ago, but not this past year, and certainly won't be going forward. Here's why -- sad as it may be, our numbers have greatly dwindled. Consequentially, the majority of your remaining Heroscape players will likely be of the hardcore/enthusiastic/dedicated variety. In other words, those who still play at GenCon are far more likely to bring something that plays well on Day 2, not Day 1. Further still, if this is true, then even if you do face such a "Day 1" player, chances are that will be the only one and you can still make it in with a loss. I faced a Stinger/Q9 hoard myself on Day 1 and was still able to pull out the win.
Anyway, my two cents. I say keep things as they are and thanks for all the work.
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Those were my thoughts then and I still think them now. Looking over the Top 16 builds that made it to Day 2 proves the argument that RtW is working as intended. But if it's getting stale and people simply want a change, I can say from experience that an alternating RtW would also make for a great format. It's easy enough to test: hold an online tourney and see how it pans out. Make it one of the events at next year's GenCon and see what the organizers and players think. Whatever you end up with, it's win-win.
-Deroche