Written by: Brittany Pfeifer
Have you tried MetaZoo yet? If you don’t know what MetaZoo is, see my last blog, What is MetaZoo? If you have played MetaZoo, then you know how great it is! MetaZoo is the only TCG where your real-life surroundings can influence the game. It doesn’t get much cooler than that!
As MetaZoo continues to grow in popularity around the country and in our store, we are trying out new formats. You may have seen our YouTube video where we built the worst (but still functional) deck possible, which was a tournament we played at The Orc’s Lair! MetaZoo is a simple enough game to create your own formats with, which is another reason why it’s the most fantastic TCG ever!
So…Beastie Brawl?
Beastie Brawl is not an official format of MetaZoo (yet)! It is a format our very own Orc Man created, and on June 3, 2023, we will be officially be playing it in our Saturday tournament! If you are familiar with Magic the Gathering’s Commander format, you will know how Beastie Brawl works.
Beastie Brawl is, essentially, the MetaZoo version of MTG’s Commander. First, you pick a beastie that says “1 per Spellbook” on it.” It must be a 1 per Spellbook beastie, since this is basically the equivalent of a “Legendary Creature” in MTG. This beastie is your Boss Beastie. Once you choose your Boss Beastie, you create the rest of the deck.
Your deck should be 60 pages (cards), including your Boss Beastie, and may only contain pages that contain the aura type that your Boss Beastie uses for being contracted and aura types mentioned in its text box, as well as neutral aura pages. For example, let’s say you choose Paul Bunyan as your Boss Beastie. He is a forest beastie, but in his text box, it mentions flame and frost as well. Therefore, you may use any combination of forest, flame, frost, and neutral cards in your deck. Your deck also may only contain one of every page (singleton) with the exception of basic auras. You also start with 1200 life points each!
Beastie Brawl sounds fun! What else should I know?
Once you have your 60 page singleton deck using pages with aura types your Boss Beastie permits, you can start playing! Like Commander, Beastie Brawl is a multi-player game, where you can make allies or enemies with other players. It’s a great format to be social in and meet new people!
The game works the same as MetaZoo normally does. Except your Boss Beastie stays in his own area (usually the corner of your space) until you can fatigue enough aura to cast it. We call this the “Boss Beastie Zone.” Once your Boss Beastie is in the arena, you use it as you would in a normal game of MetaZoo. However, if your Boss Beastie is knocked out, it does not go to the Limbo or Afterlife. Your Boss Beastie returns to the Boss Beastie Zone. Your Boss Beastie now requires two additional aura (of any type) to come out. And if it gets knocked out again, it requires two more (four) additional Aura to be contracted. Each time your Boss Beastie leaves the arena, it costs another two auras to re-cast it. Your Boss Beastie can be contracted any time on your turn.
If you don’t have a lot of cards stocked up, you may want to find a Boss Beastie that uses more than one color. A popular Boss Beastie at The Orc’s Lair is Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind—a lightning and forest aura beastie. Or if you want to completely annihilate everyone at the table, you can choose a Boss Beastie like Black Aggie, a dark and earth aura beastie. Just remember: your Boss Beastie must be a 1 per Spellbook beastie.
Get creative with your deck! Find cards that make combos or give Tribal Boost. Have a good range of aura costs as well. You probably want a good amount of low aura cost beasties, and some higher ones as well. And, of course, pack plenty of aura! I typically run around 20 aura, but some people do less. It all depends on what you want to do!
We at The Orc’s Lair hope you enjoy this new MetaZoo format! Let us know what you think, and if you have any comments, tips, or if you come up with your own alternate ways of playing MetaZoo, feel free to tell us and we’ll be happy to try it out! Happy casting, Casters!