By Bernie Makino

This article isn’t the most electrifying, exciting, story-telling article that will keep you glued in your chair. Nor does it have top secret deck lists or anything of the sort. If you have an interest in becoming better at the game of The Spoils, however, this is a fine place to start.

I would also like to mention that this article operates under the premise that the game is not immediately about to end. Clearly, if you need to find something to survive another turn, that’s more important than following any theory. These principles work best when applied over relatively long games (mostly in limited, but also in some constructed games), and are not always going to determine the correct play. However, during early development and the mid-game, these subtle changes can often translate into wins later on.

By Hans Hans Joachim Höh

Once upon a time there was a TCG that was absolutely amazing. It was hilarious and highly strategical, but it wasn´t sold or played in Germany. So I decided to travel all over the United States to play this game. While doing so I met a lot of very cool guys and girls and had a good time. I won my way onto their tour bus and wrote articles for their web site and the world was a happy place. Then suddenly reality shifted. With Tenacious Games, the inventor of The Spoils, out of business there were no more tournaments, no new sets to explore, no way to meet with my Spoils buddies anymore. But Michael, of Arcane Tinmen wouldn´t have it that way and managed to resurrect the game. So this new reality shift brings me back to writing for you and I want to start with a constructed format strategy article for the old player base, before turning to the limited format to give some advice to the new player base.

Today I am going to present probably the most complicated deck I have built so far....

The Spoils is still alive and kicking. The release of the new 2-player Starter Kit is living proof of that.

We have asked stores across the USA to celebrate the relaunch of The Spoils with us and host a team-tournament using the new 2-player kit which releases on April 27th.

If your local store hasn’t already announced this, please tell them about the event. If you have the time for it, then perhaps suggest to the store that you would help them get the event organized. From our end we would certainly greatly appreciate any help you can give the stores to get The Spoils back on its feet!

Interested? Read the "Full Story" for the details....

In April Arcane Tinmen is proud to announce its first release for The Spoils. It is a 2-player Starter Kit featuring two 72 card pre-con decks: Banker/Rogue + Arcanist/Warlord based on 1st edition and Seed cards. The decks are designed to introduce new players to the game. Also included are: one special booster of 13 additional cards, a rules sheet, foil promo cards, a Spoils glossary and a full color map of Luridia.

Everything you need to start playing The Spoils comes packed in one handy, lusciously-illustrated box.

Each starter kit is “n00b tested, 1337 approved” (translation: easy and fun, yet still packed with rich game play)!!

The Starter Kit will retail at $19.95.

We are Joe and Josh (no, not Josh Lytle), and with the support of Michael from Arcane Tinmen, we will be acting as editors and publishers for new article content on The Spoils website.

We hope to bring excitement and exposure to our great game by offering fresh content on a weekly basis. Anyone is welcome to submit an article, and for now the topics are open. We hope in the future to offer regular card reviews, player profiles, tournament reports, and sneak peeks at what’s coming to a gaming store near all of us. So send us your articles, and let’s get this game really rolling again!

Articles can be submitted to: earley207 <at> roadrunner <dot> com. We will do our best to keep the website content fresh and, with everyone’s help, exciting.

May The Spoils live long and prosper. Rage on!

Click "full story" to read more about the new editors!

We have closed our deal with Tenacious Games and we are now the proud owners of all rights to The Spoils! It has been a long, long road to travel but now that we are successful, we are hitting the ground running to bring The Spoils back to life and give it a solid direction.

It is important for us to point out that we have acquired all of the rights pertaining the property of The Spoils – but we did not take with us any of the debts or other obligations that TG may have had. What we did take with us is the heart and soul of the old team. We are very happy to tell you that Josh Lytle will continue to be part of R&D team and that Patrick Meehan will be onboard as a creative consultant. We are currently working on staffing artists, and securing marketing and distribution channels but things are falling into place and we are excited about the progress to date.

We also want to announce now that we are putting the Spoils Cruise back on our calendar! Albeit with one important amendment: Prices will start at $350 for a five-day cruise out of New Orleans in October.

Former qualifiers receive a discount and there are ways to reduce the price even further. And, of course, if you win the on-board tournament, you’ll get your cruise fees back! For this event, we have teamed with Gamer Adventures and you can find more details at:

http://www.gameradventures.com/spoils.htm

Finally a word on our organization: We will be looking for alternative ways of doing a lot of things. And we may very well be turning to the loyal community that is the backbone of The Spoils – both for assistance and for inspiration.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Michael

Arcane Tinmen / The Spoils Rescue Mission^TM