Monday, January 16, 2017

Can an "unsolvable" format be created?


Today I want to talk about the concept of creating an "unsolvable" TCG format.

The idea is simple, just assign a power level to each card and then limit the total power level of each deck.

I built a simple version of this idea using 93/94 here: https://equilibrium94.github.io/#

My implementation has yet to be balanced, but I think the idea has a lot of potential.

The benefits are:

* Netdecks don't oppress creativity.

* You get a format with a large number of Tier 1 decks, maybe up to 60.

* Each Tier 1 deck can have a 50-51% win rate vs other Tier 1 decks on average.

* The vast majority of the card pool is playable.

* Decks can be balanced with greater precision than banning, restricting, or re-writing cards.

I think the idea works well for static formats like 93/94, and will also work well for digital TCG's like Hearthstone and Shadowverse.

Unfortunately, I don't think it can be implemented for modern paper TCG's since as new cards are introduced the power level of each card would need to be updated.