Board Game Arena

I don't know if I'm specially unlucky, but I have find 2-3 players lately all new accounts freshly created that play VERY good, with win rates 70%+ etc
maybe they are just players that played a lot outside bga, because ofc elo can't control that

you get one situation. another thing is, someone may register second account or more in some reason

There are many smurfs yes.

yeah some have admitted It. I dont understand whats the point. its discouraging to play with smurf that is really on higher elo than you

Nemeios2 wrote: ↑29 November 2025, 11:56 yeah some have admitted It. I dont understand whats the point. its discouraging to play with smurf that is really on higher elo than you

yeah I feel the same way. Soe players on the arena leader board top 5 with 90 percent win rate but only has 60 games total played are just ridiculous. I don't think bga can do much about it TBH

boardgamedude2 wrote: ↑01 December 2025, 00:32

Nemeios2 wrote: ↑29 November 2025, 11:56 yeah some have admitted It. I dont understand whats the point. its discouraging to play with smurf that is really on higher elo than you

yeah I feel the same way. Soe players on the arena leader board top 5 with 90 percent win rate but only has 60 games total played are just ridiculous. I don't think bga can do much about it TBH

You can report those obvious smurfs so BGA could interact with those.

It would be nice to add additional filters to the MMR so that you can avoid being paired against those. You can also downvote those players either just for you or for everyone. I guess that's the only way.

In general good filters might help, some people might not want to play against people from specific countries like Russia or China for different reasons.

Smurfing is not against the Terms&Conditions though, as long as you give up your main account...

While you can't do much in custom games, arena doesn't take elo into account so you shouldn't be impacted there wether it's a smurf or not.

I don't believe there should be a lot of them running around though as ark nova isn't enjoyable when played against differents elos. Or... So i hope .

Nemeios2 wrote: ↑21 November 2025, 00:38 I don't know if I'm specially unlucky, but I have find 2-3 players lately all new accounts freshly created that play VERY good, with win rates 70%+ etc
maybe they are just players that played a lot outside bga, because ofc elo can't control that

In my around 150 games I have find only 1 that admitted It and two other sus ones, It was as you say absolutely not fun because Im still trying to finish my games on 33 turn mark and they finished It on 27-28, like 0 chance for me
I dont care lose if the game is fun, but seems they care more abt winning even if not fun lol

There are some smurfs. But most of the time there are "normal players" around. Use the filters and you will find (most of the time) players that are on your level of gameplay. Furthermore you should improve your playstyle and your game instead of watching if the other player is a smurf or not. I lost 80 out of my first 100 arena games and it was pretty frustrating at times.

Now i have played some more games and it is getting better with the time. Of course really good players stomp me but that is part of the game. Sometimes i am able to win against 400 to 600 elo players and i am proud about my development.

I am thankful that BGA provides the opportunity for all of us to play this game online and have fun together

Best wishes

Yesterday I was accused of being a smurf… which is funny, because I’m literally 170 Elo with a sub-50% win rate. Sure, I’ve played a lot of Ark Nova on Steam against bots, so maybe I’m slightly better than my rating suggests, but I’m definitely not a smurf.

I think this happens because in Ark Nova certain early combos can snowball really hard. If a player draws something strong at the right time, they can run away with the game and end up 20–30 points ahead. From the outside it looks like they’re some ultra-skilled veteran, but often it’s just a lucky draw that happens to line up perfectly.