Let me first start by saying that if you have not had a chance to read my article from December Operatives are your friend too, you may want to sneak a peek at it. I will reference that article a few times.
Let's all flash back to December 1998. The World Championships had just occurred and the SWCCG community was in an uproar. The Operatives Tournament had just taken place and Decipher suffered not one but two black eyes during what is supposed to be their shining moment. Operatives ran rampant at the 1998 WC. You either played Ops or you went home. If memory serves 11 of the final 12 players from Sunday were playing Operatives decks. Immediately the cry went out, indeed from many of the WC qualifiers that Operatives were too powerful. They certainly dominated that particular tournament and in the ensuing few weeks dominated local tournaments as well. The other problem that emerged from the WC's was Jon Van De Meers legendary Endless Loop deck. This was a deck that used the new SE card Droid Merchant, along with old favorites Spaceport Speeders, Descent into the Dark and Hiding in the Garbage to take an endless turn. The idea was not to win by depleting the opponents life force but instead to gain a 99.9% guaranteed timed win. This particular deck was such a nightmare for Decipher that they swore JVD to secrecy in hopes that the evil would not spread. It did anyway thanks to the magic of the internet and a few assorted clues by Mr. JVD. I felt at the time it was announced that WC qualifiers received early sets of SE to play in Worlds that this was a potential disaster just waiting to happen. It seemed preposterous to utilize a set of cards that would be just a few days old in your marquee event of the year. These fears proved to be well-founded and let us all hope and pray they have learned a valuable lesson. Let us also applaud Mr. Van DeMeer for having the balls to stand up and play a deck to embarass Decipher and perhaps shame them into changing the way they conduct the World Championships.
Not long after, Operatives hit the local scene and pretty much decimated everything in their path. In record time, the cry went out on the listserv and the BBS for errata. I stated then in my infamous December article and I maintain now that errata was unnecessary and was bad for the health of this game. I believe that Decks which force players to respond by altering their current deck styles is what makes CCGs a wonderful pastime. When we are presented with new challenges, players rise up and are at their best burning the midnight oil coming up with solutions to these new problems. Why take the "quick and easy path" by screaming for errata when one can exercise his/her mind and beat the deck on his/her own? That was my position and I can assure you it most definitely was in the minority. Once that article was published I was assailed, ridiculed and persecuted for these beliefs. Caving in to public demand, Decipher did indeed go forward and errata the two Operatives objectives. This set a bad precedent and now we can look back and see the fall out from their actions.
To paraphrase Beakman, "Players had a taste of blood and now they wanted more." This is what I was afraid of from the beginning. This was not the first controversial deck style to emerge. Asteroid Sanctuary was the beginning. According to Decipher this was a misprint that resulted in problems. Next were inserts which terrorized tournaments for quite a while. The cries were fierce that something had to be done about these cards that were ruining the game! Decipher did not step in and heavy-handidly(sp?) destroy a legitimate, alternative type of deck. Players did not desert the game in record numbers as many feared they would. Instead they hung tough and came up with solutions that could stop the numbers madness. Hooray for ingenuity!
So here we were less than a month after the release of a highly anticpated set, Special Edition and we already had two decks that were hit with errata. I stated at the time, "How long until we hear the cries for Hidden Base to receive errata?" It wasn't long. Within days the SWCCG community was full of discussion on Hidden Base and what Decipher must do to stop it. There were solutions aplenty. Decks incorporated cards such as TIE scouts, Presence of the Force, Ghhk, Tallon Roll to stop or severly wound Hidden Base decks. Players were using their heads. On the flip side, there mere multiple incarnations of Hidden Base Decks which was a very good thing. HB X-Wing Swarm, HB mains and toys, HB Tattooine Celebration, HB Force Choke. Variety was the keyword. However, our friends at Decipher caved in to a perceived public outcry and issued the dreaded errata. Not only that they slammed the door on another deck that was in it's infancy Floating Refinery before it really got a chance to get started, issuing errata the same day. We now have a total of FOUR decks ruined by errata in two months. I for one do not feel that this reflects very highly of Decipher or their current play-testing system.
Let's be honest. There are no perfect CCGs. Out of thousands of cards, the laws of probability state that a few will fall through the cracks and I realize that. The problem is that in the past Decipher has dealt with problems by creating magic bullet cards in future expansions. These cards were well done (except for Restricted Access, I fell on the floor laughing when I saw that card) and welcome additions to the game. It seems that now for whatever reason Decipher has changed that policy to one of oppressive and dictatorial issuing of errata seemingly on a whim. This bodes badly for our game if a few folks can get together cry, piss and moan about a card and have Decipher run out and save the day by errating the offending card. There was a hilarious but sadly true posting on the listserv sarcastically rallying for errata for Darth Vader. And why not? It is a very powerful card, most LS decks must be built to counter it, one card can swing the entire game. Is Darth Vader truly any opponent-friendlier than Asteroid Sanctuary, Inserts or Operatives? Don't you get the same sickly feeling in your stomach when he hits the table as when you must lose force due to an insert card or A Sanctuary? What about Vader and 20 free Stormtroopers, followed by Dark Jedi Presence and Trooper Assault? That's even uglier than the worst insert card and Vader is the key ingredient. Should he be allowed along with any other cards we hate to see in a game? Certainly I am being facetious but I hope you will get the point. Where do we draw the line? The more Decipher issues errata the more players will push and push. Soon, there will be a long list of cards that are either banned, outlawed, errated or frowned upon that every player will have to carry with them when playing a game. How on earth could we promote this game and teach new players when everytime they play a card we're reaching for the rulebook and saying, "Sorry, can't do that." Can you imagine the frustration a new player would feel? Let me conclude by saying, Decipher you have set a very dangerous precedent and until you realize the error of your ways, this game is in for some serious trouble. Save it now while you still can. It also reminds of something we all hear about on a regular basis. "Fix the problems before they start" , pre-emptive maintenance, change your oil every 3,000 miles. Proper playtesting can and should eliminate most of these problems well in advance. Let us all hope Decipher will take the proper steps to ensure that these problems will NEVER happen again.
Hugs and kisses, OZYMANDIAS
