by Terence Jason Dorman

The Quiet Times

To be perfectly honest, I was completely baffled as to what to write about this week. Gen Con is over, all the deck lists have been covered, and I certainly didn't want to do two Shade previews back to back.

I needed an idea for an article, so I turned to three of my friends and fellow Spoils players: Will Clark (Director of North American Operations), Dan Sotelo (fellow Team Hopper member and reigning National Constructed Champion) and Billy Rung (fellow Team Hopper member).

Not to my surprise, none of them provided me with anything I could write about. Some of the ideas were funny (Billy suggested I write about how there should be an increase in heiny allotment for armchairs) while some I cannot repeat for fear of children reading this article (I'm looking at you, Dan).

So I was back to square one with no ideas and nothing to write about. I soon found myself getting angry with my writer's block, trying to justify my lack of ideas. All I could come up with was that The Spoils was currently in a down period, one right after a huge moment (Gen Con) and with a little time between the next one (Shade's release).

Ah ha! That was it! Spoils was in a quiet time! If I'm having such trouble dealing with the quiet time, I'm sure there were other Spoils players out there dealing with the same issues.

I can't lie, it is hard to keep my focus on The Spoils when I recently spent four straight days playing the game at Gen Con (not to mention the weeks building up to it spent playtesting). Add in the fact that I haven't built a decent Constructed deck in months and The Spoils had plenty of reasons to fall quiet for me.

So what do we, Spoils players, do during the quiet times? My usual approach is to just get as weird with my Constructed decks as possible. Recently I tried a deck based around Ferrous Ferret, but that didn't work out too well. My next deck was even worse, based on Counter Attack and 94r913 My 90857pp3r5.

Sure, it may seem like “the metagame is stale” or “there are no new decks,” but I can guarantee that isn't true. There is always something new and exciting to be tested that hasn't been thought of yet, so get out there and think of it! Plus, you could always just continue fine tuning the deck you already have. No deck is perfect.

If Constructed isn't your main game, I would suggest crafting some wacky draft formats. Try mixing the blocks together, or maybe even making your own draft packs via a cube style format. If you're feeling really saucy, you can even try adding Seed 3 to your draft and sealed events for some extra flavor.

Make Some Noise

Outside of playing, you can keep your Spoils interest up by being active on the forums! The forums are constantly updated with new card ideas and article discussions, so there is always something to read and talk about.

Definitely take the time to post some of your card ideas, no matter how ridiculous or over the top the ideas may seem. The designers read them, as do other players, and it is always fun to fantasize. Who knows, maybe some of the ideas can be used and you can end up with your name on a card in a future set!

Regardless of how you choose to do it, just remember to be active with The Spoils. The times are only quiet if you let them be quiet, so make sure to stay loud and make some noise!