Hey there, welcome back once again to my more or less bi-weekly column.  Last week was busy, so I took the time to read over some of the Twilight of the Dragons previews from my fellow writers on this and the many other great WoW TCG sites out there.  Hope you didn't mind too much and also had some fun with the previews!

I promised to provide you with some insights into what's going in Europe (more specifically Germany; or even more specifically inside the Boot Camp L.E.).  I can tell you that there are rather exciting times ahead. Players are looking forward to the National Championships that will make their return in only a few months time and then there's also DMF Poznan which will certainly be a blast! However, the big topic at the moment is – and from what I could gather, this isn't too different from what's going on across the big pond – the Block format. 

Many players interpreted the recent announcement of the format change for the upcoming DMF Philadelphia (originally Classic, now Block) as a sign that Classic would not be around the block for much longer (pun intended!).  Granted, it sounds a little like jumping the gun, but it's not the only indicator that would support this theory:

• If I'm not entirely mistaken, it was Patrick Sullivan who said that Twilight will be a very powerful set that allows for new and creative decks even if you're only using cards from this block.

• There's a rumor going round that the format of this years' World Championship might be Block. So far, it hasn't been denied as most Cryptozoic employees only replied "I can't comment on that at this time" when asked about the format.  Some think that's a sign they're at least considering Block. Although...

• The European OP Manager Matthias Nagy started a feedback thread to collect some opinions on Block (he also dropped that Worlds would most likely stay Core in that thread). Why start a thread if it will only be used at a few tournaments (US: State Championships; EU: Nationals) rather than being established like Core was a while back?

All of this caused quite some uproar as well as some respected players announcing their retirement from the game. 

While I think that this step is at least a little premature, there are a few reasons why Block isn't so popular with some members of my team.  Let me break them down for you!

Block is fresh!

New formats are always fresh. I've never played a eleven player "Royal Rumble" before I set foot into the local gaming store in Berlin and I can tell you I had a blast! 


Then again, I don't feel like playing that format every other week.  Once per month will do.  To be perfectly honest, the same remains true for me when we're talking about Block.  I'd put my money on [Tim'riv the Enforcer] making an appearance in at least 75% of all Horde decks. Just imagine yourself getting paired against four Horde decks in the five rounds of a local tournament and losing to the same card in three of those matches. 

Maybe 50% of Alliance decks will feature [King Ghenn Greymane]. Who knows?  In any case, Block won't seem "all that fresh" anymore.  If I really need something fresh, I can always enroll in a Draft; every Draft is different!

If we're talking about a few events that will be held in Block, I don't really see a problem with the format but if it would be established as a regular format and also be featured at more events than Classic, making it the number two format after Core, I can certainly see some players getting frustrated with it.

Block is great for casual players!

Once again, in a way, that's certainly true. Casual players are more likely to enjoy a new format as they often play for fun and not because of the cool prizes that the same five guys keep on winning all the time can be won.  However, once a format gets established as a regular format or even if it will "only" be used for a major event with huge prize payouts (Worlds), competitive players will be all over it.

You might have heard some rumors of the Vegas connection, with Tim Rivera locking the doors behind some of his card slacking friends after he baited them into his lair, forcing them to "break the format" in a gruesome 48 hour playing session.  You might have seen Hans Höh at a tournament and believe me when I tell you that he's only keeping his hair this way as he didn't find the time to visit a barber in the last five... years.  He was rather busy playing cards and making a living from it!  Matt Markoff apparently didn't eat for several months when he was preparing for his comeback and lost something like 50 pounds (at the least)!  Don't get me started on Brad Watson; just believe me when I tell you you really don't want to mess with those dudes!

In other words, as long as we're only talking about Block for a single tournament with a mediocre prize payout, I think it's a great idea.  The reward won't justify "pro player playgroups" sitting together for days and coming up with a deck that totally wrecks the competition.  Many players will show up with janky decks they always felt like trying and the tournament will most likely be a blast for everyone.
All this doesn't apply as soon as Block gets introduced as a regular format.  The same remains true if Block would be used for Worlds.

Block is cheap!

In Block Constructed, many cards will see play that are otherwise considered not that playable.  This is easily explained.  A limited card pool means less options, so the competition for some mediocre cards won't be as fierce.  In the same way you're playing certain cards in Limited tournaments that you would never even consider for regular Constructed decks, you'll be playing cards in Block that you'd have never considered for Core, not to mention Classic.

Then again, the prices of some of these cards that used to be extremely cheap will go up.  You'll probably need some of them in four's.  That's also true for everyone else, which means you'll buy a bunch of cards that are in high demand and that you'll "only need in this one format and never pick up again".  You'll try to get rid of them right after the tournament, but everyone else will sell them at the same time, making it impossible to sell them with a profit.

One way or the other, chances are you have to make a rather big investment or lose a quite a bit of money. Although it's never a bad idea to spend some money buying cards, financing trips to big tournaments, and so on, the idea of having to spend extra money for another format while you see the value of all your older cards decline isn't all too appealing to some of the players that joined the game early on.

Taking all this into consideration, I'm not entirely sold on the idea that Block will be that cheap after all.  I want to add that I think this is one of the least important arguments when considering Block as a regular format – most of us play the game for fun after all. It's our hobby and you always spend money on your hobby, so if it doesn't really matter if it's because of yet another format or any other random reason.

We've seen this before

Worlds 2007 was played as Block (for a lack of alternatives).  Worlds 2009 was played as Block.  It would make sense that Worlds 2011 would be Block. I personally haven't been to any World Championship so far (don't get me started), but I haven't heard too many good things about both the Block Worlds.  In 2007, we had a field full of Rogues, so the metagame wasn't that diverse.  2009 was pretty much the same story, only with different decks.


Worlds 2010 was played as Classic.  How about a Core Worlds this year?   After all, it would be the first time the biggest tournament of the year would be played in the most popular format!


Cryptozoic rarely gets it wrong

This is the last point I wanted to list and it's an important one.  I bow my head to the good folks at Cryptozoic as I've rarely seen them messing things up.  At least not when it came to deciding the formats for bigger events.  When they first introduced Core to us, the opposition was fierce. It seemed like the players that liked a Best of One format were clearly in the minority.

I still remember playing a Core tournament where I had a blast and talked to my good pal Vasco after the event was over.  At the time, the discussion about Core had died down a little, but it was still pretty fresh in our memories.  Vasco asked me about the next few tournaments and I replied that there's a big tournament coming up rather soon.  He asked me about the format.  I replied it was Classic.  We both let out a sigh.

That situation was a little like an eye-opener for me.  For the first time, it was totally clear to me that I actually preferred Core – a format I openly stated I disliked when it was first announced.

Even though I see a number of good reasons why I wouldn't like Block too much, I put my trust in the hands of whoever has the final say in the discussion at Cryptozoic.  They'll probably come up with a clever idea and it'll turn out to be cool again!


So there you have it. This is my/our take on the Block Format.  There are some good reasons for it, but once you take a closer look, some advantages turn out to be disadvantages.  Let me emphasize again that I certainly wouldn't mind if the Block Format would be used for the National Championships over here and the State Championships in the US, but introducing it as a regular format, or even worse picking it as the format for Worlds, would be a mistake in my book.


Let me know what you think about Block Format and leave some feedback in the forum thread!  I'm looking forward to hearing back from you!


- Oliver Gehrmann (soulwarrior@soulwarrior.net)