TRIALS
Challenge a Master, Become a Master
What are Trials?As part of the Forum Major Event Cycle, before each War, we will hold Trials. During Trials, community members compete for a chance to challenge one of the 12 Masters. Trials are split up into 4 phases. The first 3 phases are for collecting points. Then, in the 4th phase, the challenger from each Element with the most points fights for the title against the current Master in an epic Final Battle. How many points you gather in Phases 1-3 determines how many upgraded cards you can use in the Final Battle. The winner of this Final Battle gets the title of Master.
What is a Master?Each of the 12 Elements has a Master, which is a
forum title. A Master is usually a decorated and respected veteran player who knows a lot about Elements and is skillful in PvP, or an enthusiastic newer player with fresh ideas. Masters generally lead their Elements in big forum events like War and Brawl, manage their respective Card sections, and defend their title against challengers during Trials. The
Staff page has all the current Masters listed.
Link to Table of Past Masters (A Gdoc)Link to Trials Deck Archive, and list of Masters
Requirements for joining Trials?Anyone can join.
One last thing. Some people might think they are not "worthy" of becoming a Master so they skip this event. Please don't do that. This is all just for
fun, and shouldn't be taken too seriously. If you think this kind of event would be fun, we order you to participate. Like we always say, if you manage to take a title from a Master, that alone proves you have earned it.
How do I join Trials?Once Phase 1 has begun, there will be a thread titled "13th Trials - Challenger's Entrance" under each of the Elements. We'll also make an announcement post, with links to all Phase 1 threads. Simply post the following information in the thread under the Element you are challenging (you may only challenge 1 Element). This post may be edited as many times as desired up to the end of Phase 1.
Since some people don't have a particular affinity and might want to change their Trial based on the challengers who sign up, you may change your Trial element up to the end of Phase 1, as long as you move to an element with less challengers than the one you left.
You will NOT have to redo any phase 1 tasks completed before you changed Trials, which had a focus on your original element (though you should bear in mind that having Phase 1 tasks from a different element will be a negative for you during the Community Vote). Note that in the event more there are more than four challengers for one element, priority will be given first to players who originally signed up in the element over those that moved there.
Spoiler for Your post should be like this:
Spoiler for War Bonus:
-Evidence of participation/WMing last War (e.g.
this thread)
-If you were a General, and were in the same War team as the Element you are trialing for, evidence of your General-ship (e.g.
this thread)
to scope out their challengers, post their War/Loyalty bonuses
and their Phase 1 tasks.
Sign-ups will end in:
Soon
PATH TO BECOMING A MASTER
Trials has 4 different phases. Phases 1-3 are for collecting points. The last phase is the Final Battle between the current Master and the most promising challenger, or if there is no defending Master the two most promising challengers. The points you collected in Phases 1-3 determine how many upgraded cards you can use in the Final Battle. The winner of the Final Battle gets the title of Master.
PHASE 1 - Proving of WorthinessFor 10 days after the Elemental registration topics are posted, you may register to join trials by declaring which Proving of Worthiness task you intend to complete. Completing the task will award up to a total of 4 points. Each task will also give you different upgrades and Elements in Phase 2. Defending Masters will be asked to declare their intent to defend or not defend at least 48 hours before the Phase 1 deadline, those who wish to defend their titles should sign up in their respective Phase 1 topics and post their Phase 1 tasks there. No new sign-ups will be accepted after Phase 1 has ended (except per the appropriate rules and/or addendum).
PHASE 2 - BattlesAll participants will play a total of 4 best-of-5 matches. Trialists play 1 match against every other player that is trialing for the same Element as them. The remaining matches are played as off-Element matches. The off-Element opponents will be, if possible, the same for every challenger in a single trial. All off-Element matches shall be Master vs Master or challenger vs challenger. A special format may be used for the Master's off-Element duels.
Any player who does not post their Phase 2 decks during the 2 days between the end of Phase 2 and the beginning of Phase 3 will both not receive Phase 2 points and be disallowed from being in the Phase 3 poll.Any players unable to post decks during this time can PM decks to the Trial Overseers in advance, who shall post the decks for them.
PHASE 3 - Community VoteThe community votes on who they think would make the best Master out of all the Trialists for that Element, be they Master or challenger. You can vote for only one person in each trial. There is also an option to place a no-vote, if you would prefer no Master to any of the Trialists.
If over 50% place a no-vote, the Trialist with the highest point total (either challenger or current Master) will be given the chance to prove themselves against a STANDIN (stand-in) in the Phase 4 Final Battle. If they win, they receive the title of Master. If the STANDIN wins, there will be no Master for that Element.
It is an encouraged tradition that during Phase 3 the community may ask questions of the challengers and that the challengers answer these questions to the best of their ability.
The number of points you score is based on the percentage of votes you get. The following table is in terms of "at least x%"
| 80% of votes | 4 points |
| 60% of votes | 3 points |
| 40% of votes | 2 points |
| 20% of votes | 1 points |
| 0% of votes | 0 points |
* War Bonus *Trialists who participated in the previous War will receive extra points based on how successful they were. This bonus is increased if the participant was the General, per the table below.
These points will only count towards upgrades in the Final Battle, not towards which challenger makes it to the final.
To qualify for the General bonus, your Trials Element must match your War Element. To qualify for the Soldier bonus, your Trials Element may be different to your War Element.
Generals with a Trial Element different to their War Element still qualify for the Soldier bonus.If you were a Warmaster who served in the previous War, you will receive War Bonus equal to your opponent if you qualify for the Final Battle. Please include if the War Bonus applies to you when you sign up. If you do not claim your War Bonus during Phase 1, it will not be awarded to you.
| Rank in War | General | Soldier |
| 1st, 2nd, 3rd | 3 | 2 |
| 4th-12th | 2 | 1 |
* Elemental Loyalty Bonus *If you have already participated in one or more Trials for your chosen Element in the past you will gain bonus points - 1 per Trial, up to a maximum of 2.
These points will only count towards upgrades in the Final Battle, not towards which challenger makes it to the final.
Proof of Participation may be at least one of the following for each Trial of an Element you have participated in: Phase 1 submissions, Phase 2 battle reports, Phase 3 polling topics, or final battle reports. Masters and ex-Masters can also use their "Master of X" award as proof of participation.
Please include if the Elemental Loyalty Bonus applies to you when you sign up. If you do not claim your Elemental Loyalty Bonus during Phase 1, it will not be awarded to you.
TOTAL SCOREAfter phases 1-3 are over, we will count the total points collected from all the tasks. This total will not include bonus points.
Points from Phases
| PHASE 1 | | / | 4 | | PHASE 2 | | / | 12 | | PHASE 3 | | / | 4 | | TOTAL SCORE | | / | 20 |
|
The Final Battle will be between the current Master and the challenger with the most points, or between the two challengers with the most points if there is no defending Master for that Element. In the event of a tie, the player who won the majority of their head-to-head games in Phase 2 advances. If multiple players tie, the tiebreak will be games won during phase 2 in-Element play. If there is still a tie, the player with more votes in Phase 3 advances. If there is still a tie, the player with the higher bonus points (War + Elemental Loyalty) advances. If there is still a tie, the player with higher in game score advances.
PHASE 4 - Final BattleThe Final Battle is "best-of-nine" meaning that the player who gets 5 wins first, wins the battle. If a Master wins, he or she retains the title. If a challenger wins, he or she becomes the new Master. All Trials winners are given a forum award icon.
During the Final Battle, the maximum amount of upgraded cards each Trialist is allowed is the number of points a player scored during Phases 1-3 plus the War and Elemental Loyalty Bonuses rounded down. (e.g. A player with 18.46 points will have 18 upgrades. A player with 17.99 points will have 17 upgrades.)
During this event, all games must be played using the same account you used when registering for the event.
If you want to see what previous Trials looked like, please visit the
Trial Archive.
Thank you for reading and post any questions below - we're happy to help!
