I am probably the best zwar player on here, though by a small margin against a some people. I will attempt to give basic advice, mostly about deck building in this fun format, so that newer players can join the fun without getting stomped.

In zwar, each player gets 6 packs distributed among 5 domains, plus unaligned. This means that one of the domains will have no cards in it except for the basic buildings. Out of these 6 packs you must build your army.

1) Deck Building.
Deck building is where I think my advice can be most useful.

a) Before you even start, you should have some goals and expectations. Normally a zwar deck is 2-domain, with 30-40 cards. Around half of the deck (10-20 cards) should be creatures, you should have some ways to deal with dangerous enemy creatures (2-5 cards) and at least 1 cheap building to capture a flux well. All of these guidelines can be ignored, but you should only do so if you have a strategy to make up for the lack.

b) Choosing your domains is pretty important. You should look at the following things first:
i) Creatures
ii) 1-domain creatures
iii) Creature control (e.g. lysis, entangle)
iv) Everything else

Almost every game, one of the domains I choose is the domain with the most creatures. You shouldn't include every creature in your deck, obviously, but number of creatures is a good general guideline. In your deck you should also aim to have about 6 good 1-domain creatures (that means no home guard). They're not absolutely necessary, but they're very nice.

Next you should look for creature control. Some domains will have a lot, some not so much. It's nice to have some, and if all else is equal this and creature quality is often enough to tell you which domains you should use.

If not, look at the general card quality of the domains. Do you have lots of cool stuff to chose from? If so, that's a good sign.

b) Once you have your two domains, my general strategy is just to put all the good cards in and leave the bad cards out. Once that's done, any balance issues can be resolved with minor tweaking. How do you know which cards are the good cards? Lots of experience mostly. If you're not sure, try them out, but maybe do that in free games.

c) Sometimes you have to break the rules. But don't break them too far - 3-domain decks are okay if you're not going to get enough creatures otherwise, but 4-domain decks are right out. Sometimes it may seem like a good idea to have very few 1-domain creatures, but don't do it without having plenty of cheap 2-domain creatures to pick up the slack.


2) Playing.
I can't give you much advice here aside from "play well." There aren't any shortcuts; you have to know the game and be good at thinking ahead. One note to newer players: if you build your deck well you should have good plays for your first few turns in your hand (meaning having a 1-domain creature, and ord stone, or a 2 flux 2-domain creature). If you don't, don't be afraid to mulligan. Don't mulligan below 5 unless it's really urgent, but you generally shouldn't just let those first few turns go to waste.

> I am probably the best zwar player on here
oh that sounds like a challenge...

Nice guide

except if I play this is what I get:
NO 1d creatures, or 2 at most (and usually in 2 domains)
NO useful rares
NO creature control
NO consistent domain

could you remake your guide, please?

True, there is always the problem of getting all the wrong cards. Manfred, you'll defintiley want to add a section to your guide on that.

You should never expect useful rares; they're just an occasional nice bonus.

However, it's likely that on the other points you're deceiving yourself. I have played zwar quite a lot, and there's almost always a way to make a decent deck. Blaming the cards tends to be the refuge of people who don't know how to make better use of them.

If you REALLY get "all the wrong cards," there's not much you can do. But that's much rarer than some people think. I don't know exactly what mistakes people are making that makes them blame the cards, but one possibility is that people are caring about rares more than they should and neglecting things i - iv, or maybe that people are including too many spells/enchantments and diluting their decks.


I'm always ready to rumble

Ty for brightening me up fred.

I SENSE BIG FIGHT THO!

well, I dare to say I know quite a lot about deck construction .. and believe me .. cards can screw me. And if cards don't, the draw usually does ..
but that's just .. the way it is with everything I do
so I shoulda be used to it already

-->wikified!

http://thefarwilds.com/wiki/index.php/Zwar_Guide

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Altren wrote:

I agree with Keyser, and that's what I'm planning to implement actually.

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