There Can Be Only One - RULES

[kaempfer13]

Yet another rule write up

You start with one element of your choosing unlocked and 2 flexible upgrades. You may play cards from locked elements so long as they are not restricted and make up no more than 2/3rds of your deck in total (unless you use fractal).

The following cards are conditionally banned:

Spoiler for Hidden:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 4vl 500 50a 52q 52r 534 53e 55l 55s 568 56i 58v 590 59c 59m 5c5 5c7 5cg 5cq 5f4 5f7 5fk 5fu 5ib 5ic 5io 5j2 5lh 5lm 5ls 5m6 5ol 5oo 5p0 5pa 5ro 5rp 5s4 5se 5up 5ur 5v8 5vi 61r 61t 61u 622 62c 62m

Unlocking an element will grant you access to the following cards matching that element, whilst taking away access to that elements nymph (which you can otherwise use):

Spoiler for Hidden:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4vj 52q 52r 55l 55s 58v 590 5c5 5c7 5f4 5f7 5ib 5ic 5lh 5lm 5ol 5oo 5ro 5rp 5up 5ur 61r 61u

Additionally, the following starter boni apply only for the element you start with:
-Gain access to the shard of that element unless its  or  (basically f you blue)
-

Spoiler for Very specific starter boni:

:You may select either Dimensional Shield or Fractal.
If you use Dimensional Shield in a deck, you must include at least 2 creatures with [Immaterial].
If you use Fractal in a deck, you can only use elements you have an Elemental Affinity with.

 : You can choose to give up access to Nova to gain access to Discord.

 : You can choose to gain access to Shard of Patience.
If you do, you cannot upgrade any cards that generate quanta.

Upgrade rules:

You start with 2 flexible upgrades and gain upgrades equal to the number of flexible upgrades each opponent you defeated in a match had unlocked.

The following cards will not count against that upgrade total, provided you have unlocked their element:

Spoiler for Hidden:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

6tu 6u4 718 71a 74a 74c 77f 77j 7ae 7ag 7dh 7dp 7gn 7gp 7k2 7k5 7n2 7n9 7q3 7q4 7tb 7td 80c 80f

Matchmaking: (I'll just copy it, seems straightforward although a bit strict)
This event is all about challenging other players.
In the CHALLENGE THREAD, simply state: "[player], there can be only one."
To accept a challenge, state: "[player], I accept your challenge."
Players have 36 hours to accept a challenge. If not done in this time, it will be counted as a 'decline'.
After accepting a challenge, players have 36 hours to fight the match.

After the match, a player is immune from being challenged for 24 hours. However, they may challenge other players, if they desire.

Each player may only 'decline' one challenge, any after will result in elimination.
If a player has multiple challenges, they may accept whichever they want, voiding other challenges against them.
You may only challenge one person at a time.


Matches are Bo3 unless the combined flexible upgrades of you and your opponent exceed 15. If that total exceeds 29 you play a Bo7, otherwise a Bo5.

The loser of the match is immediately eliminated. The winner gains their elements and flexible upgrades.

[Jen-i]

Jen's Questions:

(1) Does a player have only one chance to decline a match in the whole event? Or is it once per cycle of challenges?

(2) After a player 'declines' a match can you immediately challenge them a second time?

(3) After a player 'declines' their second match - does anyone gain upgrades from their elimination - or does the challenging player simply waste their one challenge at a time?

(4) When you defeat a player and gain their elemental affinities what does that mean, in addition to the 1/3 rule when deck building?
       a) You gain access to their Free Upgrades?
       b) You gain access to their starter bonus?
             - or -
       c) You may choose access to a starter bonus from that element?

[kaempfer13]

1) Challenges are not broken down into rounds and its theoretically possible to eliminate everyone else in a matter of hours (provided they all accept and play immediately). So there isnt really a cycle of challenges. 1 decline seemed very little to me too, but given that half the players wont survive the first challenge anyway... Perhaps getting another decline every 10 days or so would be nice in case things drag out for the last few (Is it even possible for it to drag out that long? a slowpoke that makes it to the end plays 3 matches and can take up to 6.5 days for each if they never get challenegd and drag things out as much as they can; so yh that would only result in 1 more decline anyway).

2) Its not really stated like that, but since you could decline all challenges against you automatically after 36 hours, Id say you get of scotfree from all challenges that happened within 36 hours since the oldest one you declined (At least Im assuming a decline is equal to accepting a challenge, but using up your one decline and not having to play the match). Rules should be reworded accordingly though.

3) I assume it counts as a win to the person that caused the second decline to occur. May be getting problematic with favoritism, but I assume everyone is trying to win and thus this would only happen due to inactivity (with the sudden death system, everyone that is still alive probably still has as good a chance to win as everyone else).

4) a) should be true (I assumed as much in my rewrite), starter boni can not be gained however (confirmed here)

[Submachine]

Who will be the hosts?

[majofa]

Should be ian.

[kaempfer13]

	RESTRICTED	FREE UPGRADES	STARTER BONUS
	Parallel Universe	Elite Dragon - Elite Immortal	You may select either Dimensional Shield or Fractal. If you use Dimensional Shield in a deck, you must include at least 2 creatures with [Immaterial]. If you use Fractal in a deck, you can only use elements you have an Elemental Affinity with.
	Wings	Animate Weapon - Sky Blitz
	Steal	Vampire - Vampire Dagger
	Bone Wall	Arsenic - Deadly Poison
	Graboid	Pulverizer - Quicksand
	Nova	Improved Mutation - Micro Abomination	You can choose to give up access to Nova to gain access to Discord.
	Fire Bolt	Brimstone Eater - Cremation
	Sapphire Charger	Momentum - Titan
	Adrenaline	Elite Cockatrice - Giant Frog
	Sanctuary	Crusader - Miracle
	Sundial	Procrastination - Rewind
	Arctic Squid	Freeze - Permafrost Shield	You can choose to gain access to Shard of Patience. If you do, you cannot upgrade any cards that generate quanta.

Banned: Dimensional Shield, Fractal, Shard of Freedom, Discord, Shard of Patience (Except for the Starter Bonuses).
Restricted cards and weapons can only be use if you have that Elemental Affinity.
You may only use the shards of your starting Elemental Affinity.
You may NOT use Nymphs that match any of your Elemental Affinities.

There is a reason why certain elements werent picked up at all.

Here a breakdown:

  A good starter, the free upgrades are fully useable and greatly complemented by SoW and dimensional shield (fractal option is a bit more lategame oriented, but powerfull in its own right). This also makes it comparatively weak when gained by other players, as the starter bonus and the shard which is essential for the viability of those upgrades are inaccessible to them.
Suggestion: Make the fractal rule apply to all players (fractal can only be used if all cards match your affinities).  starter bonus becomes: give up access to fractal permanently. If you use at least 2 untargetable creatures in your deck you may use dimensional shield in it.

  Ironically this one just cant take off. All it has in the first round is Wings and your opponent knows that. You dont even get the option to gain the shard which needs 8+ ups to become op anyways. The nymph rule also hurts a lot here. it really could use a decently viable free upgrade that doesnt require another element to work.

Suggestion: Replace skyblitz with a decent but not above average upgrade (by that i mean, the upgrade should be better than the average card). Maybe firefly or fireflyqueen, lightning storm or other. You could also make it a risk reward element by not banning the shard, which means if you survive you become dangerous.

  seems a bit too good. PC is inelement and pretty much only available to you, vagger is the best upgrade in the game, the standard mono darkness isnt restricted much (devs op, heck every dark card op), vamps are probably worth at the start. Weakness to holy light restricts it a bit.
Suggestion: replace vagger free upgrade with cloak.

  the element that gets wrecked by hard counters. Purify and holy light are really annoying, only bw and rted mummies escape their horror (and arsenic is so op its still worth). Upgrades and restricted card are very good but fairly easy to counter when its all you have. Not sure what to change.

  graboid and quicksand are probably your go to options here. Not having access to the nymph hurts and the shard may as well be banned with the current rules. I dont really like promoting quicksand so much, i think antlion would be a more entertaining upgrade. Kinda forces your opponent to get marks. seems fairly average overall, I suppose it doesnt have to be changed.

  Discord is such a mean card. The cost to get it is fairly high with free upgrades being fairly useless and nova being the most important card later on however. I dont really like where it is, but I guess it balances out. not a very good element to gain however.

Suggestion: Uh, something? replace either free upgrade with pandemonium maybe? Am a bit at a loss.

  the other relatively complete element, now without holy light hardcounter. I like where the free ups are and you wont be able to use firestall without light unlocked.

Suggestions: - 

  Ah, yh this one needs help. Free upgrades are fairly useless and uprades is what you need to make any gravity card work properly. Switching free upgrades around however would make the gameplan all about those cards (unless its just another pile of trash). The shard is good but wont carry the element by itself. maybe a halfmeasure with being able to upgrade any 3 additional  cards for free?

Suggestion: If you have  unlocked the  affinity, you may upgrade 3 additional  cards in each deck.

  one of the better startes simply because of the unmatched tempo the free upgrades provide. There is no real reason to hold back using them. I think the shard is underrated too. somehow lost every time tho.

Suggestions: Until RR acknowledges it as an element or it somehow becomes too good here I like it this way. I almost picked it, but didnt want to be disloyal (besides the  shard is to dear to me).

  This element is pretty much a requirement if you want to build a stall (unless you started with life). Its kind of all it does unfortunately. Crusader upgrade needs a lot of affinites to pay off and you probably still have better stuff at that point.
Suggestion: replace crusader upgrade with pegasus.

  Ah, here we are. Sundial, sor and eternity/rt make this one special. rt upgrade feels a bit superfluos since the card is already ridiculously efficient whenever you use it anyway, but it definitely helps. Procrastination is worth the 2 of thanks to the free upgrade. Not having access to both the nymph and sor at the same time saddened me a bit, but fixable with nt. I think its fine where it is.

Suggestion: Seems fine.

  Not a particularly strong element in the first place, freeze is hardly worth it and there is only so many permafrosts you can put into play. Additionally you have to pay for access to the (admittedly op) shard in a kinda odd way that you probably wont feel at all at first, but in the finals you cannot use everything at your disposal even if you dont even want to use the shard in your deck. It has access to some interesting tech options between squid, nt, trident and permafrost. All things considered I think it needs help, not sure how much of it.

Suggestion: replace freeze upgrade (ultiharid maybe? chrysaora? nt or abbysscrawler if a lot of help is needed). Change Starter bonus to: For each shard of patience you use, you must unupgrade 2 cards in your deck. These cards may be free upgrades. If you cant, you cant use shard of patience.

[kaempfer13]

Any news on participation rewards?

[Mobian]

When will this be starting up again?

[majofa]

Any news on participation rewards?

I'll work on that today. Forgot I hadn't done it yet.

[kaempfer13]

I could have sworn there was a reason why rainbows werent played (much?), but as far as i can see the nova restriction and free upgrades are the only deterrent to it.

[InsignificantWeeaboo]

Are Other weapons allowed?

[iancudorinmarian]

Are Other weapons allowed?

Yes