Shadowfist Tournament Rules

Deck Construction

1. No more than 5 of any card (except Thunder Knights). Any player with more than 5 of a particular card is disqualified. If you suspect that an opponent is violating this rule, ask the tournament director to check their deck before the round begins or after the round is over.
2. There is no limit (minimum or maximum) on the total number of cards in your deck.
3. Plastic sleeves are permitted.
4. No proxy cards are allowed unless specifically authorized by the tournament director in advance (such as a "dream card" tournament). Any opponent may request that you remove card(s) from their sleeve(s) to verify that they are not proxies.
5. All cards are played as printed except where errata has been published by Daedalus. "Published" in this case means in the Player's Guide or in the latest version of the FAQ.
6. Players may not add/remove cards from their decks during the tournament (no sideboards allowed). Any player doing so is disqualified.

Play Etiquette

1. Cards in the toasted and smoked piles must be placed face up.
2. Your opponents may look at the contents of your smoked pile and/or toasted pile at any time (but must ask for your permission first, of course).
3. Before each round of play, you must riffle shuffle your deck at least five times, preferably more. Have an opponent cut your deck before the round begins. In addition, any opponent may cut your deck and/or shuffle it at their option before play begins.
4. Roll a die; highest roll goes first.
5. Use tokens/stones to keep track of power. Power tokens must be kept clearly visible where all players can see them. Using dice to count power is not permitted.
6. If an opponent plays a card you are not familiar with, you may read that card before play continues. As always, ask before you grab someone else's card.
7. At a minimum, players must clearly announce actions that will affect their opponents, in order to give them a chance to react appropriately. For example, if your opponent has a Paper Trail in play, you must announce that you are discarding cards, and if so, how many. It's not a bad idea to announce your actions as you go along anyway... "I generate 3 power. I unturn my cards. I discard one card. I draw three. I turn my Proving Ground to play...."
8. Players are free to converse among themselves during the game, give advice, commentary, or threats. However, no "real life" threats or bribes are permitted ("I'll give you $5 to Nerve Gas that Might of the Elephant" "You do that and you're sleeping on the couch tonight!").
9. No advice or comments from anyone outside the table is allowed, unless a rules question is asked. The tournament director has the final authority on any rulings made during the tournament.
10. Players are encouraged, but not required, to correct the mistakes of their opponents. "Uh, no, you can't Killdeer CHAR. Just keep that in your hand, and play something else now."
11. If a player makes a misplay (playing a card without sufficient resources, for example), they must retract it if it is noticed before the end of the turn. If it isn't noticed until a later turn, ignore it and keep moving. At the tournament director's discretion, if repeated misplays are made and cheating is suspected, the director can disqualify that player from that round or from the entire tournament.
12. Mandatory Actions: if a player forgets to make a mandatory action at the specified time (such as putting a damage counter on an Inexorably Corrupted site, or flipping a coin for a Homemade Tank), apply the worst penalty for the owner of that card when the oversight is discovered. For example, the damage counter would not be placed on Inexorable Corruption, or the Homemade Tank would be toasted (no coin flip). The only exceptions to this rule are the following actions taken during the opening shot: generating power, unturning cards, and drawing cards. These actions must be done, and if it's realized later in the turn that the player forgot to unturn a site, for example, unturn that site immediately. (note that discarding is not a mandatory action, so if a player forgets to discard before drawing cards, tough.)
13. Collusion: if a player makes a play purely for the advantage of another player at the table ("heck, I'm in the finals already, so I'll help you win this game"), the tournament director may deduct points from that player's score. If the player must be warned a second time, the director may disqualify that player.

Time Limit

1. Limit for each round is approximately 1 hour for multiplayer, 45 minutes for 2 player. It is recommended that the final game be played to a conclusion regardless of the time needed; the players and tournament director should agree on any time limit for the final before it begins.
2. The tournament director will keep track of time, but will not inform the players exactly when the round will end.
3. Approximately 15 minutes before the limit is reached, the tournament director will make a "15 minute warning" announcement.
4. When time is called, all play stops immediately. Any card that was in the process of being played will not resolve - treat it as if the card was never played. If a sequence of effects was being generated, none of those cards/effects will resolve; treat them all as if they were not played. However, if a sequence of effects was in the process of resolution when time is called, resolve all the effects in that sequence before applying the tiebreaker rules to determine the winner. In this case, "process of resolution" means that you had already resolved one or more of the cards in the sequence when time was called. And in the obscure case that the resolution of that sequence causes a triggered effect to be generated, resolve that triggered effect as well.
5. Stalling: at the tournament director's discretion, players will be given a warning if they appear to be intentionally dragging out the game. If the player must be warned a second time, the tournament director may deduct points from that player's score, at the director's option. If the player must be warned a third time, the director may disqualify the player, at the director's option.

Matches

Multiplayer

1. Each round will consist of 4 player games as much as possible. In some cases 3 player games will be required due to the total number of participants. Any semi-final or final rounds will be 4 player games exclusively.
2. At the end of each round, players will be scored according to the rules below.
3. Match-ups for the first round will be random. However, the tournament director will try to split up groups that normally play together by adjusting the match-ups if necessary. Match-ups for subsequent rounds will be based on score - the top 4 players, then the next 4 players, etc. If there is a tie such that one of the tied players would sit at the "high" score table, and the other would sit at the "next highest" score table (scores 9,8,7,6,6 for example), choose randomly to determine which player sits at which table.
4. After the specified number of rounds, the 4 players with the highest scores advance to the final round. If it is unclear which 4 players have the highest scores due to ties, play a semi-final round amongst the next-lowest scores to determine who will advance. Example: 6 top players with scores 10,9,7,7,7,6. Play a semifinal round with the 7, 7, 7, and 6 players. Two highest scores from that game advance to the final. In the case where there are more than four players tied at the highest score, play and score another round normally (with the entire group), then proceed to a final round.
5. Final round will be one game; winner of the game wins the tournament. Earlier points scored do not carry over to the final round.

Dueling

1. At the end of each round, players will be scored according to the rules below.
2. Match-ups for the first round will be random. However, the tournament director will try to split up players that normally play together by adjusting the initial match-ups if necessary. Players will be matched together according to their scores for the subsequent rounds (two highest scores play together, next two highest play together, etc.)
3. After the specified number of rounds, 2 players with the highest scores advance to the final round. Alternately, if desired, play semifinal round(s) with top 4, 6, or 8 players. Use same method as for initial rounds, but erase previous scores. At conclusion of semi-final, 2 players with highest scores advance to final.
4. Final round will be 3 games; winner of 2 games wins tournament. Earlier points scored do not carry over to the final round.

Scoring

• Each player gets 1 point for each feng shui site in their burned-for-victory pile and 1 point for each feng shui site they control at the end of the game. For scoring purposes, count "hole" tokens from Who's The Big Man Now!? or Glimpse of the Abyss as -1 point each. For example, the winner of a 4 player-multiplayer round receives 4 points, plus 1 point for each feng shui site (in this case, 5, in order to win) for a total of 9 points.
• If time was called, subtract 1 point from all players at table (i.e., win is worth 3 points, 2nd is worth 2 points, 3rd is worth 1 point, and 4th is worth nothing in a 4 person multiplayer game)

Muliplayer

1. Win within time limit: 4 points.
2. Second place, according to tiebreaker rules below: 3 points.
3. Third place, according to tiebreaker rules below: 2 points.
4. Fourth place, according to tiebreaker rules below: 1 point.
5. For players in a 3-player game where the round consists mainly of 4-player games, award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places.

Dueling

1. First place: 3 points.
2. Second place: 1 point.

Tiebreakers

1. Player who is closest to fulfilling victory conditions. Cards such as Seal of the Wheel and Power of the Great that reduce the number of sites needed for victory, and cards such as Glimpse of the Abyss and Who's The Big Man Now that increase the number of sites needed for victory do affect this.
2. Highest total number of feng shui sites in your burned-for-victory pile plus those seized from opponents.
3. If players are still tied at this point, award half of the sum of the points to each player (ex., tie for 2nd and 3rd; points are 2 for 2nd and 1 for 3rd so award (2+1)/2 = 1.5 points to each player).

Last modified: March 5, 1999.
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