Meet the Community #22 : Simon

I first found out about Altered through social media advertising in the winter of last year, and immediately was intrigued with the concept of the game. A TCG where I can own my cards both digitally and physically in one easy manner sounded revolutionary and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. From there, I did a lot of research into the gameplay design and worldbuilding. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had fallen in love with everything that Altered had to offer. After that, I backed the Kickstarter upon launch, pitched the game to a bunch of friends locally, got local game stores on board, and it’s been an amazing ride ever since!

I have done community-building work both locally and online. Locally, I have helped set up a Discord Server for my in-person community to help gather players and communicate meetups and learn-to-play events. These were crucial when the game started and helped to build up what we have today. Making sure that players interested in the game know that there is a local community backing their interest is very important in my eyes, and the support backed that thought up. With this online-yet-local hybrid community, we have helped bring in dozens of new players to the game which allows us to have a healthy and thriving scene!

Additionally, I run a community-based, weekly tournament series called the Altered Weekly Online League (A.W.O.L. for short) every Monday and Wednesday. Players can play on Board Game Arena and earn prizes while also qualifying for a large online tournament that takes place every 4 months! We have nearly 1000 members and have been growing steadily since the launch of the game, so I’m beyond happy that I can provide a place for people who may not have the opportunities to play and compete in-person the ways that others can!

My favorite card based on the artwork is the Kickstarter version of Shenlong - there’s something beautiful about the color palette and the posing of the characters in this depiction. In fact, I have my Unique Shenlong that I opened out of a booster pack in my phone case - it serves as a great conversation starter!

My favorite card to use in gameplay is either Helping Hand or Chiron. Both are very versatile and provide decision-making options that I think are what makes Altered such an engaging game to play. It’s tough to pick between these two when I seem to put them in every Bravos deck I make!

It should come as no surprise that Bravos is my favorite faction after reading my favorite cards! The visual aesthetics of the faction combined with the gameplay patterns resonate deeply with me and I find myself enjoying myself every time I get to add Bravos cards into a deck! Plus red is my favorite color, so that helps too!

I think the game has an extremely bright future ahead of it. I hope to see more events like Gen Con, Essen, Lucca, and PAX Unplugged where Altered can be brought to new and old audiences alike. I would also love to see large-scale tournaments taking place across the world, connecting the global playerbase together as much as possible! The positive energy in this community is a breath of fresh air, and if we can capitalize on that in as many ways as possible, then we have an amazing future in store for us!