The long awaited SAGA Sealed Deck Tournaments launched flawlessly today after many months of Beta testing. The sealed deck format brings together skill, strategy and luck, evening the odds between long time collectors and new arrivals to the SAGA community. This is essential because SAGA is an MMORTS, where players collect and level up their troops through quests and are rewarded with powerful battle gear.Without the sealed deck format, a new player would have about as much of a chance at winning as any level 1 player trying to PvP in a traditional MMO against level 80 veterans.
The SAGA tournament system was designed by Silverlode Interactive marketing director Slava Zatuchny, who invented many tournament formats for the Wizards of the Coast game Magic: the Gathering back in 1993; Slava ran such events at game conventions and later produced online tournaments with such prestigious companies as THQ, Interplay and Sony Online.“The sealed deck format has always been my favorite style of tournament play … there is no greater excitement to be had than playing with completely unfamiliar troops against opponents whose tactics you can’t possibly predict” says Slava Zatuchny, “I’m ecstatic at the results from applying the format to an RTS game.”
The automated tournament system allows events to start as soon as 8 players join the tournament queue, and also allows multiple tournaments to run simultaneously. Tournament Tokens are awarded as prizes after each battle round and can be redeemed in the SAGA in-game store for many rare and powerful items and units, as well as exclusive out-of-print items such as the faction packs sold in hobby stores.
While tournaments do have a nominal fee to join, the Tournament Tokens won by playing can be used to reenter additional events and even offer the potential for ‘going infinite’ (the ability to continue playing and winning at no cost). SAGA Credits - which can also be used to pay for tournament entry - can be acquired for Free by filling out surveys and offers from Silverlode’s partner Sometrics. Registration for SAGA is completely free and gives more than enough troops to begin adventuring, and there are no monthly subscription fees. Go to www.playsaga.com/tactics.php to sign up for a free account.