Sideboard and Ante-ing

[friarsol]

Now that we're getting close to implementing Sideboarding, I want to clarify a few things about how we should handle Ante with Sideboarding.

In a constructed game, would a card won in ante be added to your Sideboard? (I would say no, since sideboards are 15 or 0.)

In a limited game (Sealed/Draft), would a card won in ante be added to your Sideboard? (I would say yes, since every other card in your cardpool is your Sideboard.)

In a quest game, would a card won in ante be added to your Sideboard? (I would say no, even though quest is mostly a limited mode, we should limit the Sideboard to 15 here).

Additionally, should we start enforcing deck minimums soon? Maybe leave an option somewhere to ignore deck minimums so we could still test 7 card decks, but generally have it enforced across the board?

[Sloth]

Additionally, should we start enforcing deck minimums soon? Maybe leave an option somewhere to ignore deck minimums so we could still test 7 card decks, but generally have it enforced across the board?

I don't care for ante, but i would love to see a deck minimum in quest, draft and sealed mode.

[Max mtg]

I don't like ante intruding sideboard at all. Ante itself would make sense only in quest mode, where player can bet some of his cards on his next match outcome - then prize card(s) should be added to player's inventory.

What would make sense for limited mode - give an extra booster after each victory (like how they made it in magic celebration event)

In constructed mode ante is useless - regardless of what you won or lost in previous game, the whole cardpool is avaliable to player at any time.

[RumbleBBU]

Chiming in late and playing the devil's advocate... (This is from a dedicated sealed deck player's perspective, mind you.)

I actually - sometimes - like the extra spice an ante could add to a sealed deck game. You beat the first game and luckily get your opponent's power card...and then march on to an easy match or tournament victory. Or maybe it's not even a power card but just something that your deck had been lacking until then, like a counterspell or creature removal. Of course, it could as easily go the opposite route. Your best power card just happens to go to the ante, and then you're in for some rather challenging interesting time...

So, yes, I would vote for antes in limited environment, as a user-configurable option. Not everybody likes to play with antes. Even I wouldn't, always. (The same would go for boosters after victories: if you don't want them, just uncheck the option - but in this scenario, the computer AI should logically also get extra boosters for the later rounds if you do.)
And add the won ante cards to your sideboard so you could take advantage of them in the later games.

[friarsol]

So, yes, I would vote for antes in limited environment, as a user-configurable option. Not everybody likes to play with antes. Even I wouldn't, always. (The same would go for boosters after victories: if you don't want them, just uncheck the option - but in this scenario, the computer AI should logically also get extra boosters for the later rounds if you do.)
And add the won ante cards to your sideboard so you could take advantage of them in the later games.

We already have antes as a User Configruable option, my main question was when should the won cards be placed into your cardpool.

A) Immediately after a game (and become available in limited since your remaining cardpool is your sideboard)
B) Immediately after a match

I can look how ante is implemented, but delaying all cards won in the ante till after the match might make the most sense.

[RumbleBBU]

I personally wouldn't mind being able to sideboard the won ante in immediately after a game...it would be interesting if you lost the first game, but then won the second game and got an impressive card that turns out to be the game-breaker that helps you win the third game and the whole match...

Sideboarding: One point possibly in favor of doing it with dual listboxes (as opposed to the deck editor) is that the effect would only affect the next game (I presume). Deck editor changes will affect the human deck file on disk and thus, all subsequent games in that gauntlet. In fact, unless you specifically reverse/"undo" them, they will also affect the gauntlet if you quit and restart it.

Also, how would ante-related deck changes behave if you decide to quit and restart the gauntlet? (For example because you lost your key card as an ante.) Are they still lost?

Maybe antes and sideboarding should be implemented simultaneously with gauntlet state saving/loading.

[Agetian]

This is probably one of the most interesting aspects of the classic Magic game that hasn't yet made it to Forge, if you guys can code this in, I think it'll boost the usefulness of many cards, especially in Sealed Deck Mode and Booster Draft mode, because as of right now, my friends and I always feel reluctant to throw cards into the deck that would be useful against certain colors, unless we're dead sure we'll be playing against those colors (and with tournament modes in - very fun addition, by the way! - it's not possible to predict that for the future rounds in a gauntlet scenario). The ability to sideboard in/out some cards between rounds and especially between individual matches in a round would really open up the strategic thinking related to cards that are not universally useful but that can be very useful against particular deck types, colors, etc.
Keep up the great work on Forge!