Events are back in the Arena! Hide the children! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!

Events are the most-divisive card type in Star Realms. Some people can’t stand them. Other people like the challenges they bring. I love the unpredictability, because I try to use that to my advantage. While other people are flying blind, I have the power of math and statistics to save me.

This is what I tell myself, at least, and it seemed to do the trick. After a 0-2 start, I am on a roll with a pair of 6-1 Arena runs, giving me a foil and six more stars for the season. The Drive to 25 (and the Blob World seasonal challenge foil) is still on!

This week will challenge you to master the Events and to not scrap your Vipers. It’s Vipers For Hire!

Format Rules and Technical Data

The scenario rule for Vipers for Hire ensures that you will hit your ally triggers almost all the time.

As a player plays a Viper, they choose a faction. That Viper has that faction.

We’re playing with the Core Set starter, along with Crisis Events and Crisis Bases and Battleships.

This is a scenario not found in the Scenario pack for the physical game. It’s been fun exploring all of the design space this opens up! With two cards in your deck as mercenaries, able to ally with anyone, ally triggers are much more likely to happen. This has the effect of making the game faster as most ally abilities lead to more trade, more combat, or base destruction. My sixteen games have had an average game length of just over 17 turns. This is two turns faster per player on average, for games that use the Core Set as the only starter.

The Only Way Is Aggro!

Because you are going to hit your ally abilities, you are able to purchase cards in any faction and be reasonably-sure you will hit the ally trigger. This allows for much faster games than normal.

MATH TIME: Assuming you buy five or fewer cards before the first shuffle (and assuming both of your Mercenary Vipers are shuffled into your new deck), you have a better than 50% chance of getting the ally ability to hit. (You can use this odds calculator to confirm. Assuming you draw Battle Pod first in your new deck, you have at most 14 other cards, two of which are Battle Pods. In that scenario, you will ally Battle Pod 50.8% of the time, more often the later you draw Battle Pod.)