E-Mail Dueling Etiquette
1. If you challenge an opponent they go first.
2. You should include in your Subject line the names of the
challenged persona, then the challenger, then a turn counter. Thus,
if Fred challenges Betty, Betty's first turn should say, "Betty vs.
Fred 1A" in the subject line. When Fred responds, the turn would
be headed "Betty vs. Fred 1B," and then "Betty vs. Fred 2A" and so
on. This prevents confusion.
3. It's your responsibility to know _exactly_ what cards you are
using. That includes errata. Removal of these cards would
probably be allowed rather than restarting the game, but it's damn
annoying to your opponent. The Handbook has all
official errata: check it if you're not sure, or don't include the cards.
4. An opponent would know what pre-game cards you have in play at
any time, including prior to their first turn. List the pre-games
when you make a challenge, when you respond, and any later turns
when your opponent asks for a refresher. They'd be able to see
them if you were sitting across from them in real-life: they get to
see them via e-mail as well.
5. Hidden attacks. The best way to handle this appears to be to,
rather than list the attack name, simply type *HIDDEN*. Then, in
a second post, include the same Turn # and the word *HIDDEN*
in the subject line. This second post should contain the identity of
the hidden attack(s), preferably spaced down a screen's length.
Make sure the order of attacks, if you have multiple Hidden ones,
is listed correctly.
6. If your opponent has Forethought or any other counter-type card in
play, please handle your turn accordingly. Typically, this involves
playing a relevant counter-able card, and then asking your
opponent if he wishes to counter it before proceeding. If you have
such counter cards in play, you may wish to give your opponent a
general idea of what you might counter. If you play Stalk and have
Carl out, it will speed play considerably if you tell him you plan to
counter a Holy Ground if he plays it.
7. If you play cards that have "counters" or count something (Ped-
Delay 2 Turns, Mirror Image), you should indicate how many
turns/actions/whatever remain on it when you list your Display
cards.
8. If you "steal" an Object or Situation via Kane's ability or
Shapeshift, please state who the owner is when you list your
"displayed" cards.
9. If you play Kane, your opponent should, at the end of THEIR turn,
tell you what the top card of their Endurance is. At the beginning
of your turn, notify them if you are discarding your top card (and
tell them what it is) and then play their card normally. They will
then discard it (if appropriate) at the beginning of their turn.
10. The person targeted by Kane's ability should set aside the card(s)
in question or otherwise make sure that he or she does not lose
them to a random redraw (assuming Kane didn't "steal" them).
11. Rather then create a substantial "banned" list, it should be noted
that while permission to redesign decks freely between games was
granted to avoid bookkeeping, it was not meant to encourage the
inclusion of cards that are typically not used, but are extremely
useful against a particular opponent. This list of cards include
Rules of the Game/anti-Ally (against Ceirdwyn), Protected Resources
(against Kane), and Thundercon (against Hyde). We
recommend that a player use discretion in including these cards in
your deck. Nemesis cards were banned for a similar reason, but
I'd rather not add more cards to that list. Such cards should not
be confused with cards that may hurt or target a specific Persona's
ability _more_, but also have a variety of other usages
(Mishap, Balladeer). Typically, if you _only_ put in Card X because you
knew you were challenging or challenged by Immortal Y, and you're going
to take it out when this game is over, then it's not a card you should
put in your deck.
12. Attacking the same persona twice in a row is generally kinda boring and might be
construed as taking advantage of you knowing what they had in their last
game to put in anti-type cards against them this game. In general try
to avoid challenging the same Persona twice in a row.
13. While the WJ page is useful for playtesting decks for real-life
tournaments, etc., it is intended primarily for its own self-contained
dueling system. Coming up with one "killer" deck and then playing it
multiple times under different Immortal names (but the same Persona) is
generally frowned upon. It's not like Duncan has multiple clones of
himself running around. :) Multiples of the same Persona owned by the
same player are allowed, up to a maximum of two.
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