Robert McMutton busts a move and breaks into the Top Ten!

Angus Lee... he's back.

Plus, lots of other exciting action.

Including... Robert McMutton posts multiple solo jail breaks and leptokurt reclaims top spot in RtR solo by mere tenths of points!!!

Don't look now, but Robert McMutton just "secrecied" himself into the top five!

 Question to Juicebox: Are we allowed to use proxy of previewed upcoming cards? I know I could just wait a week or two, but say I wanted to try a secrecy deck featuring the new Aragorn and/or Resourceful, would it be allowed?

I understand we should not allow proxies for cards with new keywords and abilities that may require the actual rulebook to understand, but in the case of these cards, the text is pretty straightforward.

What are your thoughts?

SiCK_Boy said:

SiCK_Boy, this is a great question. My initial feeling is... why not? I'd like to give it about 24 hours of think time though. So, if anyone reading this wants to chime in (maybe there are some great reasons not to do this that we aren't considering), I'd be grateful for input before making a final decision.

So, in summary... anyone have thoughts on this you'd like to see factored in to a decision? I'll try and make a final call by late Wednesday evening (FFG time).

Also... some exciting updates to the Rankings today!

And I finally got to top 3; considering that I only have Core + 4 first expansions, this is a very good result on my opinion.

About the proxy thing, I do not think is very fair; for example, may I use proxys of the next scenarios to play them ? May I use some Unexpected Courage or Celebrians Sotnes proxys to make a "turbinated" deck ?

For sure if you do not tell, no one will know; if you use a proxy right now and wait for the expansion to be launched and only after that put the results, no one will know as well, but this do not fell right on my opinion. This is what I have to tell.

I know that you are not trying to cheat or something like that (after all you have questioned), and I do not mean that; sometimes, as I am not a English native, the words I know can pass the wrong impression, so I like to make that clear. You are a worthy opponent, Sick Boy. And I will catch you :D

Well, on the topic of proxies, I may add that I'd be perfectly happy if anyone was using proxies to represent 3 x Core sets, if they wanted.

I do believe having access to multiple Core sets can significantly increase your deckbuilding options and the strength of those decks, resulting in better scores (for cards such as Sneak Attack, Protector of Lorien, Unexpected Courage and Celebrian's Stone, for example).

The way I see it is that choosing to use less than 3 x Core set is just an added self-imposed restriction people have. It's no better or worse; what really matter is enjoyment of the game. But it's the same thing as people choosing to not play with Beravor or Northern Tracker, for example.

When I compare my scores to others, the available card pool for that player is often the first thing I'll look at.

In the same way, if someone wanted to just "print" their own copies of Massing at Osgiliath to try it, I don't see why their results would not be valid.

I can understand this is not something Juicebox would want to encourage; but the fact is that when talking about a competition like these tournaments, what matters is that people have access to the right tools to participate.

SiCK_Boy said:

OTOH limting yourself to one core set allows you to use more options and combos that you probably wouldn't try if you had all those precious cards in sets of three. I myself like the challenge of having only a limited number of some über cards. I'm a Bilbo player after all.

Since there has been a general culture of accepting the use of proxies to make multiples of cards from the core set (which has been fine here in the context of the Living Tournaments as well), I feel the main question at hand is whether to allow proxies of spoiled yet-to-be-released cards that have been made public by FFG through the official website.

My initial inclination was to say... why not? Yet, as I've been thinking more about it, something doesn't set quite right. I think my hesitation lies in that sometimes FFG has spoiled cards well ahead of their release date (remember Boromir?). In those cases, we have a view on a particular card without the full context of the released set and accompanying additional instructions. Yes, this recent spoiler of a new Aragorn (or Loragorn, as some have been calling him - I think that's crazy hilarious), is due to be released just around the corner and seems pretty straightforward. However, I worry that to green-light the use of proxies of yet-to-be-released cards sets up a precedent that may not always be so "neat" and "clean." So, I'd like to say... let's hold off on this, with the following caveat:

Feel free to proxy the FFG spoiled cards in the Living Tournaments before their official release date, but wait to publish the results from the games you play until they have been released. Once they have been released, if there were no unforeseen rules that would somehow invalidate your results, go ahead and publish your game results at that time.

Sound like a fair compromise?

Since I'm basically saying to wait, I'm still open to more feedback around this. It's easier to say no first and change that to a yes than to go the other way.

 Fair ruling. I'll abide by it.

Just made today's updates...

and SiCK_Boy regains his triple digit swagger.

Okay... I blink for one day, and muemakan makes his presence KNOWN! 

A new all time high on the ranking board = 132. Nice.

Shuffling in the rankings... update time.

Return to Mirkwood... getting some love this week.

Welcome DavFlamerock and Knoedelmeister to the Living Tournament scene!!