There are a lot of different ways to play the World of Warcraft TCG. You can run an aggressive ally-driven deck or a fast, face-smashing strategy dependent on equipment. If you’re the more conservative type, you could grind out a win with a deck focused on hand and field control, or you could build toward a huge combo and explode in the late game. It’s mind-boggling how many types of decks there are and the different ways to play them all. Keep in mind, too, that each one requires a different approach and set of skills to use effectively.

But there’s one axiom that’s true no matter what type of WoW TCG strategist you may be: you’re only as good as the people you play against. The best way to improve your skills and become a more competitive WoW TCG player is to keep seeking out competitors who are as good as (if not better than) you are. Then practice, practice, practice.

That can be tough, however, because if you’re like most players and can only make it to one tournament a week, you don’t really choose your opponents. In addition, playing just six to eight matches every seven days really isn’t much. Competition aside, I think we’d all like to be playing this game more often than that anyway, right? So how do you consistently practice against topnotch opponents, test all the matchups you need to play in order to truly master your metagame, and play all the WoW TCG your heart desires?

The answer is simple: get a playtesting group. Today, I want to recommend to you some first steps to establishing a playtesting group, along with a few tips that will make those first weeks run really smoothly. Testing like the pros is a snap, and it’s a lot of fun, as long as you know where to start.

And That Means Starting Small
 
In my opinion, consistency is the lifeblood of any good testing group. I would trade half a dozen group members who could meet up only once or twice a month for a single one who could make it to weekly testing sessions. Four to six players is ideal, but when you’re starting off, all it takes is you and one other person to get the ball rolling.

Consistency is important for a variety of reasons, and most of them have to do with practice and information. If you play more matches each week, then tournament games become a lot easier. Everything you’ve learned and all the experience you’ve gained will be fresh in your mind, so translating it into wins won’t be hard. But if you miss a few testing sessions and your number of matches per week falls back into the “only playing at tournaments” numbers, you just won’t perform as well. The depth of that drop in performance is going to be different from person to person, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how good you are at mitigating the impact, because that impact is there, and you won’t be playing your best.

In addition, holding weekly testing sessions lets your group react to whatever trends they’ve noticed in recent competitions. If you meet once a week, as opposed to once every two weeks, you’ll be in a better position to discuss new decks, new tech, or the strategic shifts in your area. Maybe your metagame was faster last week due to more rush decks seeing play. Perhaps equipment-based decks gained popularity or players started running tech to deal with a particular matchup. Those are observations you can tap into and profit from, as long as your group meets enough to do so.

So start small, and grow your testing group only when you have secure opportunities to do so. If you’re an average player in your area, it can often be tempting to invite better players to join you; however, if they can’t put in the time, they aren’t going to do much for the group. If you operate your testing sessions in a focused manner and know what you’re doing, you’ll be outpacing that guy pretty soon anyway, so stick to your guns and keep things consistent.

Decide How to Practice
 
Once you’ve got your first couple of testers, you need to decide on the logistics of your test group: the how and where. A lot of successful players like to test online, either over instant messaging programs or using specific applications that simulate the WoW TCG for online play. These options can save a great deal of time, since with the right setup, a lot of actions will be automated—stuff like shuffling, changing decks, and other laborious actions can be cut out of the process, as the programs will do them for you. But at the same time, online play can create bad habits like sloppy shuffling or very obvious tells, so be aware of what you gain and what you lose if you decide to go the electronic route. Awareness is key.

If you decide to hold real-life testing sessions, which are my personal pick, then make sure you have a good place to meet up. Your testing grounds need to be accessible to all members of the group, so if someone doesn’t have a car or lives farther away than everyone else, bear that in mind. Privacy may also be a priority to you. Your local card store is an awesome place to throw down for a few hours, but other players may want to hang out and join in, so if you’re working on something supersecret or plan to make decisions based around beating other local players, you might want to choose someone’s home instead.

Once you’ve decided on the “where,” the “how” becomes important. I’ve seen a lot of testing groups in my day that were an absolute mess simply because no one was on the same page as to how testing sessions should work. It’s a good idea to set some basic ground rules. I prefer to test only decks that the group deems potentially competitive. Testing is a lot of fun, but remember that your primary focus is competition, so your latest six-card combo deck that works in only one-out-of-every-fifteen games probably doesn’t need to be included.

Beyond that, set a standard for the minimum number of games to be played before conclusions are drawn. A run of bad luck can make even the best deck look like utter trash, so I prefer to play at least five, and usually ten, games in a given matchup before drawing conclusions. Testing decks, and alterations to those decks, is a lot like working out: you want to organize your test games into sets of repetitions, which in this analogy are equivalent to individual games. This ensures that you don’t come to flawed conclusions or rule out competitively viable options.

Create a Testing Gauntlet
 
Once you’ve got your testing group and a system to dictate how you’ll test, you need to decide what exactly you’ll be testing. The group needs to agree on which decks should be part of the current testing gauntlet. Once that has been decided, somebody’s going to have to construct the decklists.

Creating a good decklist can be difficult in a group setting, as some deckbuilders are just flat out better than others. It’s a function of natural talent, thought patterns, play styles, and, perhaps most of all, experience. This can mean that one person ends up doing all the work while the others feel left out. You’re going to have to decide on a deckbuilding system that works best for your group. It’s hard for me to make definite statements about that process, as it’s going to vary depending on who is in your group.

There are some consistent rules that are helpful to keep in mind. The general happiness and harmony of your group is always going to be more important than starting with the ideal deck—nothing gets done if everyone’s at each other’s throats, so respect is important. The actual number of decks in your gauntlet is important as well: I usually find that a testing group can handle two decks for each person involved. Upping that number might be doable for a pair of players, but I don’t recommend starting off with anything more than two decks per person. It’s just too much work, and you’ll wind up dividing your focus and sacrificing results.

At the same time, it’s a rare playtesting group that needs more than eight decks total in its gauntlet. If you’ve got a larger group, don’t feel obligated to just start fleshing out the gauntlet for no reason. If there are really only three decks seeing competitive use in your area, you don’t need to be testing six just for the sake of having more to do. Don’t overcomplicate stuff.

Schedule for Consistency
 
My first point in this list of topics focused on consistency, and my final one does as well. A lot of testing groups have great members, maintain their gauntlet perfectly, and really get along, but they still can’t manage to meet up on a regular basis. The reason? Scheduling.

World of Warcraft TCG tends to draw people from all walks of life, not to mention a sweeping range of ages, so it’s pretty common for the people in your testing group to have different responsibilities at different times of the week. One of the most important things you can do when you’re first starting out is to schedule your meetings carefully so that everyone can make it to at least one weekly testing session. If you look hard enough, hopefully you can find a four-hour slot each week that works for everybody. If not, then your next challenge will be figuring out how a minimal number of people can reschedule their current obligations to make the testing sessions work.

It can be a lot to ask of someone, but hitting those meetings regularly is really important. If you’ve established a good playtest group, everyone will be on the same page and will want to figure out a way for everyone to make it to all the sessions. Make sure that this doesn’t become a divisive issue, though, and don’t take someone’s flexibility for granted. Making a sacrifice like that for the good of the newly formed group is going to be one of many compromises as your testing continues, and it shouldn’t go unappreciated.

You’ve got a group, a starting schedule, a handful of testing protocols, and even the beginnings of a gauntlet! So now what? Next week, I’m going to look at answering that question plus a few more, as I share some important suggestions on how to operate and maintain your playtesting group. See you then!