Guys,

I had a question for you all and I can't seem to find much info on it. My venue just started up with clix and we received the Dark Phoenix Saga AvX Month 1 OP kit in this weeks gaming order mixed in the December Clix OP kit. Is this the most recent OP kit for the game? Are there more Dark Phoenix OP Kits to be released? If so, how many?

I have never ran or attended a dice masters tournament and just wanted to make sure I am understanding how this works. I am not opposed to running tournaments as I do enjoy the game and I feel like I understand the rules for the most part as it is similar to quarriors but are there any tips you guys can recommend for when we start running these events? I do plan on playing more side games to get a better grasp but I am sure, as with most wizkids games, there is a lot I haven't even considered coming into affect. Any help would be appreciated.

Well Avx month 1 and Dark Pheonix Saga should be separate kits for DM.

The Dark Pheonix should have cards to give away for a months worth of tourneys. Avx was a 6 month series taking place this past summer.

Next months there should be the Age of Apocalypse or Days of future past. Not sure which comes first.

Ok, that is kind of what I was seeing too but on the sticker it says:

Monthly OP The Dark Phoenix Saga
AvX Month 1 OP.... (sticker was torn and can't read)
Ages 14 & Up

This might have caused some confusion on my end with the AvX Month 1 part of it all.

Edit: Just decided to reread the solicitation that came with it and it doesn't say anything about multiple months, just "Monthly OP" so that helps slightly.

As far as advice for doing tournaments advertise well and build the player base just like clix. We had between 4-6 players the first months of play. 2 guys came from farther away and played only meta. And those two scared off two inexperienced tournament goers.

And then the meta guys stopped showing up. Then we could start building up again. We had a newbie friendly night and had 11 people show up. 2 only wanted to watch but still they were learning the game.

I think as of right now, I have around 3 newbie players, possibly 4 who would participate in it. Then again, this kit was a complete shock to have show up so I didn't even start advertising anything yet. I think it will be fun.

I was reading up on the rainbow drafts and that seems like a fun concept. Just to be clear, it is essentially:

Each player brings:
2 action cards
12 base action dice
8 sidekick
4 indication cards (those color cards to match the dice)

Each player buys 12 packs and then:
-Open 6 packs and make one pile, open the other 6 and make a different pile.
-Pick one pile and draft to the right with it until gone.
-Take the other pile and draft to the left until gone. Build your team

Is that the gist of it?

Each player needs 8 sidekick 2 action cards, 2 indicator, and 6 action dice (that match the indicator colors).
Then you put all the dice in the middle so you can see how many of each character there are. Its a pretty cool way to draft.

Tip to all Judges:

Don't tell your players that 1st place gets Emma and 2nd place gets Dark Phoenix.
Let the winner decide what card he wants, then let 2nd place decide what card he wants, then 3rd, etc.


And if you have players that always play the meta, you are going to have to help the lesser players compete.
Either make a rule of only 1 SR per team, or no cards played more than once in a two month span,
or play mostly Rainbow Draft, limiting Tsarina and Gobby to 1 Dice Max, or think of your own idea.
Nothing kills a local scene like a player using Tsarina and/or Gobby every month during a 6 month event.

And a Rainbow Draft doesn't have to be 12 boosters.
You can play with as little as 4 boosters. 8 cards.
(although 6 boosters give you more choices to make your team)

It's Draft, half the fun is playing what you are "stuck" with.
Players only get to pick 1 good card before they have to pass,
so it helps spread the good cards around.

A venue shouldn't have Rainbow Draft one after another, after another, ad naseum.
All using 12 boosters.
That can get sickening fast, and cost a lot of money.
Cut it down to 6 boosters.
Or play a Hybrid - where they bring 4 cards and Rainbow Draft with 4 Boosters.


Let your players have fun. And don't try to suck all their money out of them.

I was leaning more towards hybrid personally and yea, the choice option is a given. I hate the new kits that are designed to be "if you win you get this card, but if you are super nice you get this card" because very rarely do the best players win fellowship as well in my experience and that kills it for me as a completionist.

I think the way I am going to do it since I am also the clix judge is alternate weeks between the two. This gets more prize support into the hands of the players. It is hard to win 1st for some people but it is possible to place 4th or 5th. Gets more prizes into more hands and that helps the community.

Side note, are Gobby and Tsarina really that bad? And are those the two main meta cards? I remember when I got Gobby I thought he was good so I can see him but I am not sure about Tsarina. If these are problem cards I will keep an eye on the situation if need be.

Thanks for the help everyone, it is appreciative.

I think the new monthly Prize Kits have 4 of each Prize Cards and a ton of Participation.
If you are doing bi-weekly then you could give out prizes from first to fourth.

Gobby and Tsarina are still the bomb.
Even in Hybrid where you only bring 4 of your own cards and Draft the other 4,
if you play either or both on your 4 card team you have a great chance of winning.

Even if somebody builds an "anti-Tsarina" or an "anti-Gobby" deck,
they have to get lucky in purchasing dice and lucky in fielding them
to win that game.
Especially now with the new rules having only one game in half an hour,
cheap dice like Tsarina and Gobby (and Beast) give an advantage in the Rush game.

The uncommon Human Torch is another card to keep an eye on.
If a Judge sees the same player using these cards over and over again,
he should put some kind of clamp down on it.

My experience running events is Draft can be difficult for new players, but levels the playing field. With Hybrid, you can still have players bringing meta, and it discourages some. Try out creative builds: for constructed require all characters from the same faction, that's much easier with Uncanny in the mix. Our shop has started weekly casual play where the winner gets boosters rather than prizes. This makes for a more fun based playgroup, and then we have prize support for one or two events a month.

I'm also not a fan of banning cards or characters at a venue. It has a negative connotation, and if a new player shows up and plans on playing Tsarina, finding out it's banned when they get there might be what keeps them from returning. I had something similar happen to me with Heroclix once. Remember you can also do fellowship, which can be given at a vote, randomly, or to the player with the most fun/most interesting team. This gets prizes in the hands of the non-meta players, or even the guy who is playing his first game.