Request for Comment: First Edition Game Change Policy

by Charlie Plaine, Director of First Edition

31st October 2022

Earlier this year, we announced a set of errata on the First Monday of August. As far back as 2003 (during the Decipher era), such announcements were earmarked for and expected on the First Monday of each month. However, the August set of changes affected Defend Homeworld's icon, and as a result we left European players with less than 2 weeks to adjust before their Continental Championship. Additionally, this meant that our Continental Championship events in Europe and North America were played with different game states.

A number of players expressed their dissatisfaction with this, and we've taken the opportunity to revise our unofficial policy on changes to ensure this situation will not repeat itself (except in the cases of emergency.) We also hope that, with your help, we can make this our official policy of record. You can find a summary of our proposed policy below. We invite all of you to read over this policy and offer your comments, thoughts, and opinions by replying in the associated discussion thread or reaching out to the Director of First Edition via private message. After a period of no less than 2 weeks, we will review all of the comments and make changes as appropriate. We will then decide if we will implement the policy, post the revisions for further comments, or set it aside and start again - all based on the feedback received.

First Edition Game Changes Policy
The term game change represents any decision, announcement, change, introduction, or removal that can affect how the game is played and thus decisions that players might make during deck construction. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Banning of cards (e.g. addition to the OTF Ban List)
• Unbanning of cards (e.g. removing a card from the OTF Ban List unchanged)
• Issuing of functional errata (e.g. removal of a icon, adding a limit)
• Removal of an existing rule (e.g. ANIMAL special rules)
• Change to an existing rule (e.g. dilemmas not whiffing for lack of target)
• Release of new cards (e.g. Paradise Lost)
• Addition of existing cards to a new format (e.g. a TNG AI of a card released as a promo)
• Removal of existing cards from a format (e.g. set rotation)

Except for the release of new cards (and any associated changes tied to it), all game changes are scheduled for the 1st Monday of the month. Should the 1st Monday fall on Easter Monday (Ostermontag), the 4th of July, or New Year's Day, game changes will be deferred until the subsequent day. The release of new cards, such as expansion releases, will almost always occur on a Friday with a minimum of 14 days notice. Additionally, we will strive to avoid disrupting major events with new released.

However, the following exceptions will be made based on the Organized Play calendar:

• If the 1st Monday is less than 14 days before any Continental Championship, no game changes will be made that month.
• If any 2 Continental Championships occur in consecutive months, no game changes will be made in between those events.
• No game changes will be made during the month of the World Championship.

All of the above rules apply to regularly scheduled game changes. Emergency games changes (such as emergency bans or temporary rulings i.e. "bluetext") may be announced at any time. However, emergency game changes are very rare and the Department will make every effort to minimize their disruption.

Now, we invite you all to comment on this policy and/or ask any questions you may have. Have we missed something that you'd like to see address? Do you feel this policy is insufficient to cover future issues? Now is the time to let us know! We look forward to your feedback.

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