Seeking opinions from top players about draws in tournaments

[Papa Boris]

Ordane and I are in a drawn tournament game:

https://boardgamearena.com/6/leaders?table=686047000

What should we do? It's a single-elimination tournament, so "abandon the game collectively" is an option with unclear consequences.

Leaders is a young game, so some of the "norms" or "etiquette" that exists in other competitive games hasn't evolved yet. I'm seeking open-ended opinions from top players about what you think is the fairest or most logical thing to do in this situation.

I myself am undecided, and would be happy to concede/throw the game depending on the community's opinions. I can see a number of viewpoints:

• I should concede, since it was my responsibility to foresee this possibility and draft/ban around it

• I should concede, since it's theoretically possible for me to lose but impossible for my opponent to lose

• My opponent should concede, since he created the drawn state

• We should just abandon the game collectively and see what happens

• We should play another game outside the tournament, and the loser of that one concedes this one

And I'm sure there are others. This "unbreakable wall" thing has been an issue with Leaders for a while, and now that it's come up in a tournament game, I thought it might make sense for the engaged players in the community to talk about it. Thank you in advance for your thoughts!

[RalzMaw]

The answer is that the one making the wall should concede . There is an unofficial (at the moment) rule that may be shared soon to dodge this situation, resulting in being able to set up this type of wall one turn with your units, but if you still have a wall like this the next turn, then you lose. The goal is to deter players doing this type of walls.

[Nemesis is top tier]

Hello,

I added this rule to the summer world tournament (which start today!) :

Hello, the summer tournament is about to begin! I wanted to inform you of an additional rule for this tournament, which is meant to prevent ties. For instance, I'll name it the "blockade rule". A slightly different version of what I’m about to present will soon become official—at least for tournaments. In the meantime, please follow these additional guidelines:

1) When a player positions their characters in such a way that it is no longer possible for the opponent to capture their leader at the end of their turn, that player receives a "*KNOCK KNOCK FBI, OPEN THE DOOR" warning. This applies regardless of the opponent’s character abilities. So even if the opponent has an archer, an acrobat, a manipulator, or an illusionist, for example, the player who creates the blockade still receives the warning.

2) If a player who received a "*KNOCK KNOCK FBI, OPEN THE DOOR" warning in the previous turn changes their positioning so that it becomes possible again to capture their leader, the first warning is removed. So, it is allowed to create a blockade for one turn to reposition or buy time.

3) If a player receives 2 "KNOCK KNOCK FBI, OPEN THE DOOR" warnings in a row, they lose the game and must forfeit.

Here is an image that illustrates, in a non-exhaustive way, different situations that can lead to receiving a "*KNOCK KNOCK FBI, OPEN THE DOOR" warning:

Black circles represent allied champions.
Red circles are spaces the opponent cannot reach (they are “isolated” from the rest of the board).
White circles are enemy champions.
Blue circles are spaces the opponent can access to capture our leader.

The idea is that if, at the end of my turn, my leader is adjacent to at least one red circle and only one or no blue (or white) circle, then I receive a "*KNOCK KNOCK FBI, OPEN THE DOOR" warning.

If you have any questions, feel free to post them here or contact RalzMaw, who will try to respond as quickly as possible.

[murakami H]

Hello,

I added this rule to the summer world tournament (which start today!) :

Hello, the summer tournament is about to begin! I wanted to inform you of an additional rule for this tournament, which is meant to prevent ties. For instance, I'll name it the "blockade rule". A slightly different version of what I’m about to present will soon become official—at least for tournaments. In the meantime, please follow these additional guidelines:

1) When a player positions their characters in such a way that it is no longer possible for the opponent to capture their leader at the end of their turn, that player receives a "*KNOCK KNOCK FBI, OPEN THE DOOR" warning. This applies regardless of the opponent’s character abilities. So even if the opponent has an archer, an acrobat, a manipulator, or an illusionist, for example, the player who creates the blockade still receives the warning.

2) If a player who received a "*KNOCK KNOCK FBI, OPEN THE DOOR" warning in the previous turn changes their positioning so that it becomes possible again to capture their leader, the first warning is removed. So, it is allowed to create a blockade for one turn to reposition or buy time.

3) If a player receives 2 "KNOCK KNOCK FBI, OPEN THE DOOR" warnings in a row, they lose the game and must forfeit.

Here is an image that illustrates, in a non-exhaustive way, different situations that can lead to receiving a "*KNOCK KNOCK FBI, OPEN THE DOOR" warning:

Black circles represent allied champions.
Red circles are spaces the opponent cannot reach (they are “isolated” from the rest of the board).
White circles are enemy champions.
Blue circles are spaces the opponent can access to capture our leader.

The idea is that if, at the end of my turn, my leader is adjacent to at least one red circle and only one or no blue (or white) circle, then I receive a "*KNOCK KNOCK FBI, OPEN THE DOOR" warning.

If you have any questions, feel free to post them here or contact RalzMaw, who will try to respond as quickly as possible.

Hi Nemesis,

Thanks a lot for this great improvement !

I have one question :
If the player A receives the OPEN THE DOOR message, is the player B informed of that ?

[RalzMaw]

At the moment no one is receiving a message haha, the warning is still not official, so players should be careful and inform the opponent directly when they make a blockade.