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Analyze the Stolen Plans

A New STAR WARS (TM): The Card Game FAQ and Tournament Rules Are Now Available

Across the galaxy, light side and dark side forces continue their struggles. As the Sith pursue the last remnants of the Jedi, Rebels conduct strategic strikes on key Imperial strongpoints, and the light side’s noble Smugglers and Spies battle the Scum and Villainy of the galaxy. Meanwhile, the Star Wars™: The Card Game North American Championships are quickly approaching, and there’s no better time to prepare yourself for the impending showdown by downloading the game’s newly updated FAQ (pdf, 885 KB) and Tournament Rules (pdf, 896 KB)!

 Click to download the updated FAQ (left) and Tournament Rules (right).

A Word from the Developers

Hello, Star Wars: The Card Game players!

GenCon Indy 2013 and the first North American Championships for Star Wars: The Card Game are right around the corner. In anticipation of this premier event, we have updated our FAQ and Tournament Rules documents.

The most significant changes can be found in the Tournament Rules, where the Swiss round scoring system has been adjusted, as well as the tie breaks for elimination round matches. Observations and feedback received during the Regionals Championship season suggested that the “tiebreaker” point in a split match was far too significant. Many players seemed content to play for the draw as long as they could seize the tiebreaker point. While this can at times be a viable tournament strategy, we hope to promote a tournament environment where players are more incentivized and rewarded to play for wins.

To that end, we have raised the stakes, and with the new edition of the Tournament Rules, each game is now worth four points, giving each player the potential of earning up to eight points per match. Under the previous rules, players could shrug off the difference between a 4-0 result and a 3-2 result, and take the “safer” path of playing for the split decision and the tiebreaker point. Under the new rules, a player making the same decision must now consider the difference between an 8-0 result and a 5-4 result, and play accordingly. As another way to look at it, a player who voluntarily plays for the tiebreaker point is now sacrificing three-quarters of a full game win, whereas before he was only sacrificing half of a full game win.

During the Regional Championship season, it became obvious that the untimed elimination rounds were taking far too long, particularly when a third tiebreaker game was necessary and other finalists were waiting for the following round to begin. To address this issue, we have adopted a new tiebreaking system, in which “true draws” after two games in an elimination round are scored as a win for the higher seeded player, advancing that player in the bracket. A third tiebreaker game is now only used if the final match of the championship ends in a true draw—but even in that case, the higher seeded player is rewarded, as he may choose light side or dark side for the tiebreak game. This further rewards a player’s seeding, which is earned by his performance in the Swiss rounds, and reinforces the knowledge that every point and every game matters.

The newly updated FAQ is much more orderly, formally defining a number of terms and situations that show up frequently on the rules log. Items such as the exact parameters of “cannot be damaged,” and whether a player can optionally fail to find what he is looking for when searching his deck, are now officially documented in the FAQ.

With the release of these documents, the stage is set to name the first North American Champion for Star Wars: The Card Game in just a few short weeks, at Gen Con in Indianapolis. We look forward to seeing you there!

Nate French
 Erik Dahlman
 Fantasy Flight Games

Thanks, Nate and Erik!

Find the newly revised FAQ and Tournament Rules on the support page and come prepared to the North American championship at GenCon! Will the Death Star rain destruction on countless worlds? Or will the Rebel Alliance and its allies strike a telling blow for galactic freedom? Only you can determine the fate of the galaxy!

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Source: Analyze the Stolen Plans (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4261)