The Demo Game

As little magic boxes containing long-awaited Shadow Era Class Decks, Booster Boxes, and Playsets arrive at the doorsteps of the thousands of patient souls who pre-ordered their cards many weeks/months ago, so has the process of finding players to share Shadow Era games with.

Holding cards in a player's hand is a wondrous experience. It allows players to share in the fun of playing the game with others. But when a game is as new as Shadow Era, that may require a bit of work on your part as a teacher. This can be a fun experience, or a total nightmare. Here are a few tips that I learned from my experience demoing Shadow Era for others in person.

Prepare for Battle:

Before you unsheathe the cards for your friend to see, you need to be prepared for the demonstration. This happens in several forms.

The Deck:

Sharing your love for Shadow Era with your friends and family is great, but it starts before you even hand them the deck of cards. As new players, they’re going to need their decks to have lots of options for them to use to showcase their class’s style, and strength. This is most easily noticed in the case of weapon-based heroes (Gwenneth Truesight and Logan Stonebreaker are two of these heroes). When preparing these decks, having more options for these heroes than you would usually include in a competitive deck is not a bad thing. For example. you might include 6 or 7 weapons in a 30-card Logan Stonebreaker deck. Sure, this may seem excessive for competitive play, but demoing is a wholly different type of match.

The Mindset:

The mindset that you start your demo match with is fed into directly by your understanding of the difference between a demonstration game and a competitive game. For example, new players won't know which cards to sacrifice, so including so many feature abilities, weapons, and specialized cards in demo deck will somewhat mitigate the impact of that. It is not uncommon for them to get rid of the best card in their deck on their first turn, and the second best card on their second turn. In a competitive match, players already have an understanding of what they need to hold onto.

So you can fully expect new players to get rid of their Soul Seeker, Berserker’s Edge or Blood Frenzy on their first turn.  It's okay :)  You will have made sure that their deck has options for them, so that later in the match (as their understanding of how to play has increased), they still be able to do something to make an impact on the game. Going easy on them may also not be a bad way to go. As a new player, winning always makes your first experience that much better.

An Example:

To give you a more concrete sense of what I have discussed, here is a demonstration deck that was used when we recently attended the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio.

Logan Stonebreaker:

Allies: 12

3 – Hellsteed

2 – Chimera

3 – Keldor

2 – Brutalis

1 – Cobra Demon

1 – Infernal Gargoyle

Abilities/Items: 11

2 – Reserve Weapon

1 – Enrage

3 – Bloodfrenzy

2 – Smashing Blow

1 – War Banner

2 – Shield Bash

Weapons/Armors: 6

2 – Rusty Longsword

3 – Berserker’s Edge

1 – Legion United

Total: 30 (29 Cards + Hero)

As you can see, this deck may not strike fear in the hearts of seasoned veteran players, but it isn’t designed to. 5 weapons are included (plus 2 Reserve Weapon cards), to ensure that the new player will have an opportunity to draw, and subsequently play, their weapons in your match with them. Why have the 1 Legion United, you say? The reason for that is so that you can show them how the armor system works. There is no harm in being thorough.

Rubber Hits The Road:

Now that you have the deck set up, and your mindset prepared, all that is left is to shuffle the cards and to begin the match. Here are some final tips to help you along the way during your first match.

Go at a Slow Pace

Not everyone has as much experience as you. Like with anything, there is a learning curve. The more time you give them to get a hold of it, the quicker they'll pick up on the rules and mechanics, and  the more fun you both will ultimately have.

Use Terms That They Know

Like any form of teaching, you have to filter your lesson through their frame of reference. For teaching a new player a TCG, you can try and filter how you explain the concepts through terms that they're either used to from other card games, or from aspects of their everyday life. Here's an example:

How to explain the attack mechanic of the game:

A) To someone who is familiar with TCG's - "The attack mechanic in Shadow Era is similar to the First Strike mechanic in Magic: The Gathering, where the opposing creature only damages the attacker if they survive the attack."

B) To someone who is unfamiliar with TCG's - "Like when playing Call of Duty, or in real life, if I shoot you, or punch you, and I kill you, or knock you out with one shot/hit, you cannot hit me back. However, if you survive the shot, or are not knocked out by the punch, you are going to hit me back in retaliation. Shadow Era is no different to these situations."

Have Fun, and Keep it Simple

Your friends and family are likely to finish out the demo games with you, and play again, if you keep your explanations simple, act lenient with them for taking their time to understand the concepts, help them keep track of the Shadow Energy and the like, and are generally happy and jovial with them during the match. There's no need to be a stickler for rules during demo games. Even you were once a noob. :p

Armed with these key points to focus your demos on, go forth with your brand new shiny cards, and revel in the completely new way to enjoy the Shadow Era universe.... AND pwn some noobs!