Most Team Bayformers events are highly curated, controlled affairs. In fact, we take pride in thoughtfully crafting every aspect of our events. We take the time to thoroughly and regularly review our banlists, structure, and themes.
Except – for a few short days in the Tournament Season. On these rare days of dread, the chaos that lurks in crossplay fully emerges and threatens all players. Instead of a strict, sequential bracket, players are playing willy-nilly with decks constructed from a wide selection of creator sets available to the community. Moreover, only a few play to win – in fact, the winners of these days of discord are forever recorded in shame. But by what name shall these tournaments of horror and disdain be known?
Behold and despair; it’s BREAK THIS!
The Nature of the Bay-east
Above all, Break This! is two things: a celebration of the rich content of community sets, and a tragedy of disastrous proportions when those sets are mixed without curation. In Break This!, players indulge in their darkest urges to create the most broken deck possible, using cards from across the community creator spectrum. Additionally, this one-day horror show of broken gameplay happens only for a few hours entirely on TableTop Simulator!
Any community cards offered within CKirk’s Transformers TCG Deck Building add-on for TableTop Simulator are available for your decks! What kind of busted, overpowered deck can you make with thousands and thousands of community cards at your fingertips?
“Rules” and “structure”?
Despite the chaotic nature of the event, some basics are in place to maximize enjoyment – even as some players cry out in pain and anguish.
What, a banlist?!?
Even Break This! has a banlist. This is due not to an aversion to broken gameplay – rather, because of a preference for novel broken gameplay. No one wants to play against a Daring Escape or Sergeant Cog deck they’ve seen a hundred times already.
The current Break This! banlist includes:
- Swap Parts
- Press the Advantage
- Multi-Mission Gear
- Sergeant Springer
- Daring Escape
- Peace Through Tyranny
- Security Checkpoint
- Questionable Moral (from Zero Hour Heat 0)
This banlist will grow over time as more Break This! events further inflict trauma upon our psyches.
Break This! decks are still valid decks
Sure, some of the gameplay in Break This! is stupid broken. All the same, players should construct their decks as they normally would, using the regular constructed deck rules. Players that roll into the event with a 5-wide Galaxy Primes deck with 20 Energy Packs “because the event is broken” will be asked to use another, more valid deck.
Register decklists with Team Bayformers
Before the start of the event, players will need to submit their decklists via our Contact Form. Be sure to do this at least a day in advance of the event so that organizers can contact you if there’s a problem.
Beginning of the event
All players will gather in the #tournament-chat channel on the Team Bayformers Discord. Organizers (typically identified by their [BF] prefixes) will ensure all players are registered and basic details are gathered.
Starting up broken games
Once the event starts, pairings will be assigned and announced in #tournament-chat. It is up to the players to share TTS game server details with each other and the event organizers. Paired players can and should use one of the empty Standard Voice channels to play their match out. If any players have difficulty with their match, they can ask an organizer to do any of the following:
- Launch a TTS server for the match
- Share a deck (in case a deck wasn’t prepared before the event)
- Make more Standard Voice channels in Discord
- Run a deck check
- Make a ruling
- Ask for advice
Keeping it fun – the “emergency eject” option
Each paired player is expected to play at least one game with each other. However, due to the nature of the event, players might feel the need to reach for a life preserver in order to maintain fun. Here’s a few options to hit the ejection seat button if your match is degrading into a Negative Player experience.
- If, due to the mechanics of the opponent’s deck, the opponent’s turn lasts more than three minutes, you may choose to eject from the match and ask the organizers to record the match as a draw.
- When, due to the power level of the opponent’s deck, the opponent wins the first match and over 20 health remains on the opponent’s characters, you may choose to eject and ask the organizers to record the match as a 1-2 loss for you, the ejecting player.
- If, due to the speed of the opponent’s deck, the opponent wins the first match before the end of their third turn, you may choose to eject and ask the organizers to record the match as a 1-2 loss for you, the ejecting player.
However, organizers are on the lookout for decks or pilots that might be overly toxic. If, for any reason, you’re not having fun against a specific deck or player, let the organizers know.
Ending the match, and the pain – for the moment
At the end of each match, both players report their results (and if either player hit the emergency eject and reason). Each player’s raffle tickets will be created and stuffed into the Break This! “Ugly Hat” (see Prizing below). If players are available at the end of your match, a new pairing will be made and it’s Game On once again! This will repeat until the end of the event.
Keep the Break This! theme in mind (and have fun!)
Remember, the theme of Break This! is broken gameplay. No one should enter the event expecting balanced mechanics. Players will have more fun if they embrace the highly-busted nature of uncurated crossplay. Besides, it’s silly to get salty or mad about this kind of event! Players should still show good sportsmanship and encourage all participants to have a great time. And remember – just because the cards are broken doesn’t mean you can cheat. Don’t do it!
Prizes for chaos and masochism
Let the Ugly Hat decide your material worth
After every match is reported, a pair of raffle tickets will be made with the players’ handles and thrown into the Ugly Hat. These tickets are not dependent on wins or losses! For Break This! events, a minimum of 40 minutes of time must be spent on a match, regardless of whether a player has conceded early or hit the eject button. Quitting games early is not a valid strategy for acquiring tickets! When time is called at the end of the event, players will be allowed to play out their matches and acquire their final tickets.
At the prize gala at the end of the event, the dice will be rolled and a random prize item from the event prize list will be up for the Ugly Hat’s selection. A single ticket will be drawn from the Ugly Hat, and the name on the ticket will be announced. That person will have the opportunity to win the item or go back into the hat – each participant is eligible for only one prize! This process continues until all prizes are given or no more eligible names are available.
The dreaded Break This! Wall of Shame
But we haven’t forgotten about our wretched Break This! event winners. Not at all. Those awful players that have taken the time and effort to make the most broken deck of Break This! will be recorded for all time in our Break This! Wall of Shame. Moreover, there’s a very good chance their decks will end up on our permanent Break This! banlist. Let all #transformerstcg players lament the names of shame, and despair.
Join us! You won’t regret it… well, actually, you might
Twisted enough to join our next Break This! event? Join the Team Bayformers Discord and get the skinny on all of our upcoming events!