On the 6th of October of 2024, more than a thousand Altered players gathered to make history by playing in the TCG’s first ever tournament. Thoughts and decklist below.
After an almost 3-hour drive from Paris, I finally arrived at Angers.
But the gates weren’t quite open then. While we could enter the facility where the tournament would unfold, it was not time for blood to be spilled yet. Before what would be my first tournament ever, stress was definitely a factor I anticipated to be a major issue. And on this particular thing, I was most definitely right. And yet, stress wasn’t even close to being the most important thing I could feel during the hours up to the decisive moments.
I was incredibly hyped and happy to be here.
While Altered isn’t my first TCG, my previous experiences were mainly with digital card games. And so seeing more than a thousand people meeting up for this special occasion was definitely an endearing sight! I’m a new-ish member of the Exalts. There were a lot of teammates to meet and I could now put a face on people I mostly talked to online. I’m sure I missed a few of them, since I wasn’t there on Saturday.
After dozens of minutes of people scanning QR codes for all tournament info, we were almost all ready. But before we started, somebody important had a speech to make. That somebody is Régis Bonnessée, the creator of the Altered, amongst other beloved games. I could not see him from where I sat, but I could hear him. You could definitely hear the emotion in his voice.
And now, it was time. And when you’re not used to it, the big, ominous 30-minute timer that was now counting down definitely does its trick on you. I didn’t go anywhere near the top 16 players, and I decided to drop after the first 3 losses. Nevertheless, if you’re interested in what I played and how you could improve it, read on.
Decklist
I was never one to follow the meta decks. I have to do it my way. And so, I homebrewed a deck that could regularly steal wins from who I believed would swarm the tournament, with a hero that saw little to no play. With a favorable matchup against Waru and a not-terrible one against Sigismar, surely I would win the tournament!
Maybe I would have! (Though I really do not think so) If I had faced a single Waru, and if I had not faced one of my least favored matchups twice, Treyst.
The decklist is a midrange (neither aggro or control) one based on permanents and mana cheat to play early hives, and uniques that go fairly well with it.
(The Frog Prince and Brassbug hives are duplicates in the list, because they’re from KS and retail editions)
The unique cards in question synergize well with a permanent-based playstyle, which is right up Sierra’s alley.
After the tournament, I reviewed every card to see how they performed compared to my expectations. Here are the results.
The Core
Those are the cards the deck is built upon, and the main reason for it existing.
The rare (very important detail) Brassbug Hive is the reason the deck could even work. When played with Sierra, it immediately puts 6/6/6 worth of stats on the board, and a threat that requires immediate attention from your opponent.
Common Ogun, while a cheap card, is a great card both in mid and late game, providing more stats the more Brassbugs you have on the board. I elected not to go with the rare one since Sierra is tight on rares, but that will maybe change in the future (see: Future Experimentation section)
The common Foundry Mechanic, as well as the Martengale and the Frog Prince, are there to be played on turn one to cheat out a Hive on turn two. You’ll be glad to have them early, but they’re a dead draw late game. 3 copies of each card implies you’ll most likely draw at least one in your opening hand.
The Good
Those cards performed well, if not better than expected
Rare Kelon Burst is a controversial pick, but since I’m running so many permanents, and since I’m running the Hive, I’m most likely always getting removal and a 3/3/3 in a single card. Which is great against Waru (the main reason I put the rare in)
Common Axiom Reprocessor is a great pseudo-draw engine that you can also cheat out for less than 4 mana if you’ve got a few spare Support abilities from your reserve. The rare gives too little bonus to be played in comparison to the common one.
Playing permanents with Sierra isn’t too much of a tempo loss, which is why we can afford playing 12 permanents (with a lot of them high cost cards)
The Out-of-Faction Frog Prince is an all around incredible card. It has great stats and can often trade expeditions on turn one, it is cheap and a nice support ability. I was dubious about it because of its 0 stat in Mountains, but after seeing it in action I can say with certainty that while useless in Mountain-only expeditions, it is great in Grass-only, Water-only, and Grass/Water expeditions.
The Mid
Those cards can sometimes shine, but can a lot of times be dead draws
Common Ada Lovelace is a decent card. You’ll be glad to have her in Mountain-only expeditions, but since you’re playing Sierra, very rarely will you be able to take full effect of her From Reserve ability when and how you want to.
Common Brassbug Hub is also not too bad, not too good. It’s a nice anti-aggro tool mid game, and nice late game when you can use it with the Hive’s passive boost effect, but it didn’t impress me too much either. You definitely don’t want to use it the first turn you can play your Hive (or else you’ll lack mana).
The Out-of-Faction Ouroboros, Lyra Bastion is both great and terrible. It can give you just the card you want. It can work well with the Axiom Reprocessor. But it can also give you 2 Hives, one of which you will discard, and one of which will get sabotaged instantly. Consistency is key, and the Lyra bastion gives variance I definitely don’t want in my future decks.
Overall thoughts and Future Experimentation
Overall, I would say the deck lacked reliable threats besides the hives, and many times I have struggled late game where I should have won. Without going on too much of a rant on single cards, the following are probably getting the axe on my next deck iterations :
- Common Foundry Engineer (too much mana cheat already)
- Common Tinker Bell (unreliable with Sierra)
- Common Brassbug Hub (no particular reason, just not convinced)
- Common Ada Lovelace (unreliable with Sierra)
- Out-of-Faction Ouroboros, Lyra Bastion
Finally, I would like to thank the friends from the Exalts team, my mom who drove me all the way to Angers, Régis Bonnessée and the fine folks over at Equinox, and my emotional support rabbit who is definitely very cute :). See you in future tournaments!
Erleyah, out.
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