The tournament series ended this weekend, and, despite my extended time away from competitive play, I was the victor in four out of the six months. On Saturday, I won the final event which earned me the grand prize, the Batcave:
So, did I win because I was competing against bad players? No. In fact, most of my five to seven monthly opponents have been playing for many years, and two of them regularly attend multiple venues to win as many prizes as they can. Those two love quoting the rules, though they "accidentally" quote incorrectly when circumstances favor their side. (You know the type.)
So how did I - a mere solo player - dominate? I shouldn't have according to the members of a certain popular Heroclix message board who state that solo players are "pathetic" and need to get a life.
Well, I have a life, sunshine, and now I have your Batcave, too!
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| "Seriously, Alfred, you call that a gimlet?" |
As a service to all of my future opponents, here's why I'm a dangerous competitor because I'm a solo player:
Randomness is my best friend.
For every game in this tournament series, we were forced to select our pieces from blind booster pack purchases, so our teams were randomly determined. Additionally, each month's terrain was a new map that players hadn't tried yet and, during each game, that terrain could drastically change if the earthquake mechanic was activated - thus, more randomness. The super-competitive players I faced HATED the earthquakes. Several times at the beginning of a game, an opponent would ask me out of earshot of the judge if we could "forget" the earthquake mechanic. I, of course, did not oblige. Solo players LOVE surprises. We love unexpected moments and emergent gameplay that never lets us rest for a single moment. When I play with my Heroclix solo rules, I face a random event every turn, so I don't fear randomness - I love it! My opponents' outright fear of the unexpected gave me a huge advantage.
I play a lot more than most others do.
Sure, I haven't been active in the competitive scene for a long while, but I've probably logged more Heroclix playing time through my solo rules than all of my opponents' competitive playing hours combined. I know the rules thoroughly and I've seen most of the pieces in action. Solo players don't need to rely on other people to perfect our games, and we don't need to travel far from our wine racks to enjoy our hobby. When I play solo, I don't play to win, I play to have fun - and that's the best way to improve at anything!
Competitive gaming doesn't stress me out.
Many exclusively-competitive players put massive amounts of pressure on themselves to win when they play because, without the competitive game, they have no other means to engage in their pastime. That pressure creates stress, and stress creates pessimistic thoughts, anxiousness, and an inability to concentrate. In contrast, solo players are enriched by a hobby that is always there and always rewarding. We share our hobby online, with our friends in real life, and we improve our social games through our solo endeavors. As leisure time goes, we're a pretty fulfilled lot! So, I felt no pressure during the tournament. I can't say the same for several of my opponents who lost more because of their own stress than because of anything I did.
There's another Heroclix tournament series starting up some time in the summer. Don't know if I'll attend or not, but I'm pretty sure that, after my Batcave win, if I do show up, this mere solo gamer will be taken a lot more seriously...
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