Hey Everyone! It's been a couple days since my last article. Still keeping an eye out for when I have enough cards to get a good sense of how to build Windhoof and The Absence so be sure to stay tuned for those in the future! Today, I thought I'd make an article about me as a player and member of the community as well as my favorite contender of all time! Join me for a trip down memory lane!
The Past of The Pest
I've been with this game even before the Kickstarter believe it or not! It was the autumn of 2021, A friend of mine (who is no longer with RES) was a member of the R&D team for sets one and two. One night while we were playing EDH together, he told me about this TCG project he was working on. He explained the premise of the story and what mechanics the game had similarities to. He asked me if I'd be willing to play some games with him and discuss balancing the cards because he knew I enjoyed deck building above all else. I said yes because I was (and still am to this day) fascinated with the design of TCGs. When I played MTG, I was constantly designing custom cards for myself and others for the joy of it and trying to capture a character I created in a mechanical way through MTG. I'm the kind of weirdo to look at a card's text and try to work out how it's representing the character in general and in the art shown in the card specifically. He said he would bring in some printed playtest decks the following week. The following week came and I was treated to a sight that was truly special: Fully printed paper cards with just rules text on them with the Alpha Clash logo on the bottom. It was like a dream come true! Even if i wasn't working in an official capacity, I was still helping balance a game I was beyond excited to play and own when it came out. I remember how my face hurt afterwards on the ride home. How I hadn't stopped smiling the entire time. Fast forward to the official post-Kickstarter launch of AC and I'm pushing it hard at my LGS. I know that as a previous MTG player that it could and would hook commander players with its similar deck building style without the singleton restriction. We get a small but dedicated scene built and even have the pleasure of having Jacob Snodgrass join us occasionally for the somewhat larger tournaments. Sadly, as the years went on, my LGS cared less and less about the game, despite having a small but dedicated player base who bought new product constantly, it wasn't nearly as profitable as Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, or the newly released (at the time) Star Wars Unlimited. However, due to my outspoken belief (and abundant help of Ridge and Garrett), we were able to find a new store recently for our group to migrate to! Even if it is just the sunk cost fallacy, I adore this game and never intend to leave it. When criticism was brought up by my group, I did listen and sometimes agree with them. However, I always remind myself that unlike other TCGs, Alpha Clash doesn't need to rely on an established IP to draw attention from the masses, nor do I feel it needs to or should. We are a comparatively small but deeply passionate group who enjoy the game and spread the word about it because of how unique it is, draws inspiration from other sources but isn't riding off of what made that inspiration a global commercially successful "product". I don't look at Alpha Clash and see a product like I do with other games. I see a team of people who absolutely love this game and never have to work a day in their lives because this is the dream! Hopefully this doesn't come off as too sappy or overachieving of me: I'm a budding playwright and a small dream of mine is to adapt part of the Alpha Clash story into a play for the stage. Something that combines two of my favorite things in the world; Connect my art with a passion that won't die!
The Deck That Will Never Die
Will all that sappy stuff out of the way, I'd love to talk about the contender that I've never stopped thinking about, who I'm always tinkering with in the background, the contender that if I could be known one day for is...
Mean-Streak, Boosted
Much like many players at the time, I saw Machina for Clash Kit 2 and knew he would be absolutely busted at release. However, my local players all thought MSB (Mean Streak Boosted) was bad, like really bad. I took that as a challenge at the time and told my group that I would only play MSB decks at tournaments to show he was not only good, but could be one of the best contenders at the time. I then proceeded to either top 4 or win every tournament until Genesis Returns released. MSB holds a special place in my heart to this day for that reason. Even as new crazy contenders come out, I always return to MSB like an old well worn book. Whenever I read his text I'm reminded of a quote from Terry Pratchett "Simple how a sword is simple." Mean-Streak is that to the letter. His text box is nothing complicated, attack with clash cards, get streak counters, draw a card, profit. And while his 15 text looks underwhelming at first, I can't tell you how many games it won me. To the point where I built a deck that wanted to get to that 15 ability as fast as it could to slow down my opponent and almost completely shut down any and all damage. This was pre Augmented Reality, 1-drop Moxie, and 1-drop haven getting an errata, so the deck had a crazy amount of draw power to it. While I don't think the deck is even good now, I have linked the list I ran at the time for those who want to get a blast from the past!
https://www.deckplanet.net/alpha_clash/deck/2d13cbe5-e121-4576-89d6-27e3982eea23
For now, I'm signing off and will catch all of you in the discord!
Written by The Pest