As I have previously discussed in my Beginner’s Guide as well as some Community Growth overviews, the Rivals format (detailed here in my Formats Guide) is a great starting point for many new players. Not every new player will want to play Rivals, but for those who do, they can play there comfortably for some time. Eventually, if they become invested in the game, it can be worthwhile for you to help shepherd them into other formats such as Nemesis or Championship, depending on what your local group plays most. But when do you make that move? Ultimately the player in question should get to decide what they play and if/when they are ready to move along, but this discussion will work out best if both you and the player are aware of the pros and cons of the various formats. This article is intended to help both new players figure out what format is right for them, and for group leaders to help have that conversation with your group. Let’s dive in!

Pros and Cons of Rivals

Rivals can be great for some players, and enjoyed by most everyone from time to time, but it’s worth evaluating why it’s great and why it’s not. This is a somewhat dated article now, but Aman from Path to Glory posted his thoughts on the format when it first was announced that details some of the cons, though his take has softened somewhat over the years since its release. I’ll throw some of mine down below.

Pros of Rivals
The biggest benefit of the Rivals format is that you have much less to think about before getting rolling – no need to worry about deckbuilding, learning all the possible combinations you could try for, and can just focus on learning the core rules. A new player has so many things to figure out that the Rivals format makes it the most accessible and ‘simple’ way to get started (unless you’re going to use a simplified learning method like my “Kidhammer” approach).

Another major benefit of Rivals is that it helps a player familiarize themselves with a warband. You have access to all of their cards, and for the most part the deck should work pretty well within its own ecosystem. Playing a handful of rivals games with a new warband is an approach I personally take even with years of experience under my belt because it’s the best way to see every faction card in action. You might even learn a few things you overlooked, or find that a card you thought was ‘bad’ at first glance actually can be quite useful. When you eventually take that warband to a deckbuilding format, you have a better sense for what your general goal might be and what cards you want to take along into that setting.

Rivals is also a good choice for new players or casual gamers because it’s much less intimidating in general. Newer players have more of a fighting chance since deckbuilding skill is not a factor – while I’m playing Rivals with a new person my skill and knowledge gives me an advantage, but presumably our decks are roughly equivalent in terms of competitive power. A new player diving straight into Championship is probably going to do poorly even if they have access to every card in the pool, simply because they haven’t learned the ins and outs of competitive deckbuilding. It can help a new player feel comfortable trying the game out if they aren’t going to be facing a nasty powergamer’s deck.

Cons of Rivals

One of the more frustrating things about Rivals for both new and old players is that you might have bricked hands more often. Sometimes, a Rivals deck asks you to do multiple conflicting things at once, and if your hand has you trying to do both, you might find you can’t score most or even any of your objectives. Conflicting goals in objective cards could be confusing for a new player (“what do you mean I’m supposed to have all my fighters on guard but also hold a bunch of objectives and kill enemy fighters?”) when a smother deck in Nemesis or Championship would have a unified goal. I have personally seen a new player struggle to make Xandire’s Truthseekers work in Rivals, being asked to do things that don’t line up well. They also had a rough time with the fact some of those faction cards are just ‘bad’ and so they were having a difficult time keeping up with their opponents. Some of this can be offset by using more modern warbands or steering newer players away from ‘Low Powered” teams, but the problem does exist.

Another issue with Rivals for some players is that it has a lower glory ceiling, meaning that there is overall less ‘success’ to be found. Sure, it can still be competitive, but a newer play may be frustrated missing more attacks, or doing a lot of work for a single glory. It also more heavily favors kills as a result, since they’re worth the same in every format, and a player who wants a more tactical and engaging card game experience might not see the point of just ‘make four charges’ type of play that Rivals could degenerate into.

In part because of the ‘worse’ power cards, and in part because of the aggro bent that Rivals might push people into, the games are also more luck dependent with fewer overall successes in dice rolls. Games will more often be decided by one bad dice roll or one good objective score, and this means less player agency. I listed this as a ‘Pro’ above, since it means the more experienced player can’t outplay the new guy as easily, but your newer player might be upset that there was ‘nothing they could do’ in a given situation and it’s not fun to feel like you’re too limited, especially if you’re losing.

When to Make the Switch
As I mentioned before, the best case scenario is that a player self-selects into a deckbuilding format when they’re ready. That said, they might want to dive in ‘too early’ – just let them know there’s a steep learning curve and if they haven’t ‘mastered’ Rivals yet they might lose a good chunk of games before they figure things out. Some people are more than comfortable with this, but others might become disheartened when they lose and may stop coming back around. The other group, who this article might be more helpful for, are those who are perhaps wanting more but either haven’t considered a deckbuilding format or are hesitant to make the leap. Be on the lookout to see if those Cons are souring the play experience for your new player, or if things are starting to outweigh the Pros.

I have seen first had a player who ‘didn’t want to deckbuild’ get frustrated when they lost games in Rivals because ‘I had to make this suboptimal move’ or ‘two dice attacks just never land for me’. Unfortunately he never made the jump to Nemesis with our group and drifted out of playing with us and went back to 40K. I had a somewhat hands-off approach to letting him play the way he liked, but perhaps if I had been more encouraging of Nemesis play, offering to help deckbuild, or even made a deck for him to try out, things might have gone differently.

What if They’re Never ‘Ready’?
Some players may not be willing to take a step up for a long while, or maybe even will never want to play anything other than Rivals. That’s OK! It’s a perfectly fine format and can still be a lot of fun. If you and the rest of your group prefer Nemesis or Championship, you should still carve out space for this player in your group and encourage them to keep coming back out. Unfortunately, you or some of your players may not enjoy Rivals as much and want to hurry them along or pressure them into something they don’t want, which we obviously want to avoid if possible. If you are burning out on Rivals, try to find new ways to enjoy the format yourself.

Strategies you could utilize to help yourself stay engaged and keep playing with this person include trying different warbands, especially ones you’re less familiar with. Rivals itself might be ‘fixed’, but I bet there is a warband collecting dust on your shelf who would enjoy a moment in the sun again. Maybe bring back an old love that has fallen out of favor recently and set a challenge for yourself to try a ‘bad’ warband and try to win regardless. You could also swap out the faction deck for a Universal Rivals deck and try a funky pairing that doesn’t fit like a glove, and see if you can still score well. You’ll possibly be playing at a disadvantage and give yourself a new challenge that could make Rivals more engaging for you. Another move that doesn’t ‘waste your time’ from a competitive standpoint is to pair your usual Nemesis or Championship warband with their universal deck alone. Maybe you normally only take 10 cards or so from your pairing or ‘plot locked’ deck in your deckbuilding format – try the warband out with all the cards from that pairing. You might just find that you’ve overlooked some of those cards, and can more confidently slot them into your next deckbuild when you return to Nemesis or Champs!

Wrap
Hopefully this guide will help you to assess if and when it’s the right time to help your new player (or yourself!) step up to Nemesis or Championship from the Rivals format. When they are ready to move along, I have a How to Transition to Nemesis article that can help walk them through deckbuilding if that’s part of the holdup. I also have a Contender Series if they’re more competitively minded and want to maximize their deck’s efficiency – when they’re ready of course! The exact timing is going to vary – some people will be ready to jump in right away, other might take a few weeks or months, while others will be comfortable in Rivals for the long haul. Regardless of how you and your group like to play, remember that it matters less how you spend your glory, and more that you’re having fun while you do it!