Our guild is entering its very first brawl in just under two days and many of the Merchant's Guild members aren't too sure how it works. Here is a primer for them and anyone else who is interested.
From the Guild you can click on Brawl and see that a brawl is starting in about 41 hours. It also shows the guild crests of the guilds in the upcoming brawl. Our crest is a tree and we are the fourth weakest going into this brawl.
Then there is a list of available fray's. Since we are a small guild we have 13 frays available. Each fray is geared to a different level. Fray's 1 & 2 are geared towards novices. Fray 3 is novice level but only uses Untamed cards. Fray 4 is novice level but only uses Alpha and Beta cards.
Some frays are really tough for weaker guilds to fill like this one :
Fray 12 : Untamed only cards and only cards that are gold foil.
However as a guild you want to fill as many frays as possible as the more frays are filled the better the potential rewards are and the more guild members get merit points at the end of the brawl!
But who goes where?
Well, that depends on the guild. In some guilds the Leader will assign different players to different frays. Only the leader can do this and its as simple as clicking the three dots beside the fray :
For the regular members those three dots just allow you to exit a fray so you can enter a new one. Guild leaders can also remove someone from a fray if they think they aren't the best mix. For example : When I saw our top battler
Enter Fray 1 novice it didn't seem like the best mix so he got reassigned to a silver fray instead.
A few things to consider :
Some frays will have more battles (like fray #2 with 8 players in it already). In those frays you want a reliable person in there who can battle effectively and get wins.
Higher ranked members should usually take the most difficult fray to fill if they think they can get wins. So @Pewsplosions might be a good fit for one of the gold foil frays as he's one of the few members with an array of gold summoners and cards. But....
Make sure all the high player frays are covered! Having our best player in a fray with only 1 battle means he can get only 1 win at best. I'd rather him cover an 8 player fray for a potential 8 wins than cover a dead fray and get maximum 1 win.
Another question that often comes up in my main guild is :
Should all frays be filled?
Which is a tough question to answer:
I would usually say that YES fill every fray that your guild can fill. I'd rather everyone get a chance to battle than leave someone who wants to battle have to sit out.
Also, your potential rewards are higher if all the frays are filled.
BUT
Every loss for your team is a win for another team. The winning guild is the guild that has the most wins. If I sit in Fray 12 and go 0W and 4L that means I'm giving 4 wins to other teams because I'm terrible in the fray.
IF your guild isn't going to be in the top 3 then it really doesn't matter much as 4-8 are "the defeated" and get similar reward. If you are a top tier team and are expecting 1-3 then think carefully before putting a poor player in a tough fray and giving the other teams free wins.
Another question my team has asked me is :
How do the battles work?
Very simple. The same way as any other guild battle. The only difference is you have 48 hours to choose your opponent and 'battle' them. Because there is a 48 hour window it also means that if you enter early you will have to wait for the results.
Personally I like entering the teams early because I can enter and run which means I get done very quickly. If I wait until the end then I have to watch the battle screens for every battle and it takes a lot more time.
What are the rewards?
well, all guild members who enter a fray and submit a team into each battle will get merit points at the end of the brawl. Even if you are terrible and get no wins you'll get full merits. Even if you have no other opponents in your fray you will get full merits.
What are the merits good for?
Gladius packs. For every 2000 merit points you get you can purchase ONE Gladius pack and those cards are pretty tough. They can only be used in brawls but they can really improve your chances in a brawl. Plus if you are really hard up for DEC you can burn them.
BIGGEST PET PEEVE
IF YOU ENTER A FRAY THEN MAKE SURE YOU COMPLETE YOUR BATTLES!!!*
Entering a fray and now showing up means a few things:
You stole a position from a guild members. Someone else could have got merit points but you stole them. Shame on you.
You gave wins to your opponents! Every fray you didn't enter is an automatic win for your opponent so you absolutely made your guild perform more poorly.
If you enter a fray and don't show up its really going to make your guild leader unhappy. Almost an automatic boot from many guilds.
In my guild I want everyone to participate and if you lose so be it. We will all try for better next time. However, if you don't even show up I'll be lacing up my boots at the end of the brawl. (Of course their are exceptions... best ones I've seen, death in the family, in hospital with COVID). But please enjoy the brawl, enter the best fray for your power level, give other guild members a chance, and enter all your battles within the 48 hour window.
FINAL NOTE:
If you are renting or having cards delegated to you for the battles. Make sure you rent until all the battles are completed!!! I've had guild members rent cards for 24 hours and enter all their battles in the first hour. Then when the battles are finished they find out they fled from half their battles. What happened? The cards they rented weren't in their posession during the second 24 hours of the brawl so they didn't count! Same thing goes for delegated cards! It's very disheartening for everyone so please don't fall into that mistake.