Introductory Event for Weiss Schwarz

With the recent release of Uma Musume in English, I decided to push forward an event I had been imagining for some time now. Complaints that I’ve heard for the game is the steep learning curve, particularly the difficulty in handling the battle step and its intricacies followed by some rules regarding moving cards from various areas of the game. With this introductory event, I had a few objectives in mind:

• The event would be welcoming and allow both new and old players
• The basis for the event would provide everyone with a similar structure
• There would be some amount of variance to keep decks slightly different and add uniqueness to games and game patterns

I had heard complaints and witnessed issues from Bushiroad’s own introductory attempts such as the NIKKE starter event. The primary issues with that event came from the fact that players felt as if they had no agency, the game was barely a game as each turn and card was already predetermined from the start, and the starter decks failed to encapsulate the true game experience or share motifs regarding the original IP represented in the cards.

To contrast that, I thought about how best to create an event that would try to alleviate some of those said issues. In order to do so, the event had to be both simple to invite new players while also carrying some amount of variance to encourage more play with new cards added to the existing pool of said event. By doing so, that latter part would create a suggestion for veterans to join in while giving a sense of individuality to each deck that can also be lightly granted to new players without overwhelming them.

As such, I thought the bare structure that could be used was already existent within the game itself. Having the trial deck which already bears the basic structure of a deck and offers relatively simple rulings was a great gateway into the game. However, the problem was that everyone having the same trial deck would lead to very mundane and boring games very quickly. One way to solve this was due to how Uma Musume was printed with two variants for its trial decks. Now, due to lack of attendees and interests, the event I ran was only able to allocate one of the two trial deck variants which was voted on by the community.

I highly encourage anyone trying to organize events to always include community involvement where possible in conjunction with the host store of course. With both trial decks available, the initial plan would allow players to pick, and variance could be made depending on player choice.

The other way to add variance was to have players purchase some amount of randomized booster packs. As such, as the game has suggested, you would supplement your own trial deck with additional cards that you received through these packs. Now, we wouldn’t follow Bushiroad’s strange two-pack format rules where you could ignore colour restrictions and combo cards with any climax because that randomizes the game too much and brings about an unequal playing field based solely on pulls.

The variance in packs makes it very unlikely, especially with how rarities are distributed, that any player would be able to value much off of climax combos. There was one player who did somehow pull a singular Rice Shower and also her climax which they did opt to put into their deck. However, that is, of course, your choice. With this sort of limited format, your best bet to increase the power of your deck would mainly lie in off-combo cards and especially those that would be more standalone.

The best cards to sort of push into your deck with some amount of reliability would be on commons and uncommons that had no deeply linked synergy and this was very well showcased within the games that followed. Of course, you could hit a spike which could phenomenally power up your deck. This did happen in some cases, but this is more of just luck.

There was one crazy pull where the same player did get a Tokai Teio alongside the Symboli Rudolf bonder in the same pack. Some of these hits could be pretty good such as the case of Symboli Rudolf’s early play which maintained tempo on board with resources while also giving you a secondary finisher which the trial deck lacked.

Games were fairly interesting too thanks to the addition of the other cards within the booster. One fun interaction I clearly remembered while looking at the sidelines was when a player attempted to Rice Shower combo only to be met and countered by a memory kick counter from their opponent that lost them the game. While the base structure of the trial deck was expected, given the odd cards that could be slotted in and replaced, there were neat and small moments like this that gave a bit of excitement and hype.

Depending on what you pulled, you could have an extra advantage that others didn’t have. And also, granted that the general basis for each deck was predictable, certain edits and changes could be made to challenge the match-up. Super Creek was an all-star since, as was predicted, players just needed to get over the 8000 power threshold that Satono Diamond had, and if you dared to gamble with Super Creek, most players could not overpower her letting you sit on board with her for a few turns. There was also the irony in the trial deck since there was a money counter printed, the exact nemesis that would shutdown Narita Top Road’s finisher, meaning players did have to be wary to some extent, if their opponent presented a full field, that they had the money counter in hand.

Overall, I thought of it as a great experience. This event only netted six players compared to the original ten that had slated to sign up but did not attend for a variety of reasons. However, I still think the event went well. Players were having fun and laughing, showcasing their pulls, and talking about different ways to play and strategize. There was a singular newer player, and even then, seeing the veterans talk side-by-side during games and after to give the player advice was a wonderful sight. This is exactly how I envisioned the introductory events to this game should be.

And there is no copyright on this event design whatsoever. It really is that simple. All I did was orchestrate and organize this event. You sell some trial decks and a couple packs; I would recommend at least three packs. The more packs, the more variance, and the more fun I would imagine players would have, but talk about this with the store and your local community for pricing and logistics. Also try to make sure you have a host that can introduce any particular mechanics unique to the set or give some gameplay hints for the trial deck and booster itself. While most of the players at my event were already well in-tune with INHERITANCE, not all were that familiar and a reminder was always nice. The master of ceremonies (MC) should be ready on the side to answer any questions and help resolve any gameplay issues. Best of luck if you wish to replicate this event for yourself. The more the merrier as they say. Once again, thanks to K-Os Collectibles for hosting and the wonderful attendees for participating.

If you want some help or just want to talk, feel free to reach out to me with my email: clockonedrawtwo@gmail.com or my handle on Discord (_illya).