Behind the scenes at the Golden Gauntlet
I recently had an opportunity to observe the staging of the Golden Gauntlet from behind the scenes, as a member of the staff. What I saw blew my mind! I'm going to tell you everything I learned. Be sure to stay till the end where I'm sharing my favorite rogue and off-meta lists from the tournament! Be sure to check our interview with the winner, you'll be surprised by his collection level and gameplay habits!
The Week in Preparation
As soon as the registration link went live we saw people rolling into the new Discord server. When the link to the server appeared in-game following rollover, the numbers skyrocketed. After joining the server you would be presented with a choice to register as a spectator or a player. The staff's time was occupied with answering questions on how to register. The primary task players had was to create an account on Topdeck and link it to their Discord account. Topdeck is the website where the tournaments are run and I found out that, beginning with the first Golden Gauntlet, a lot of the functionality for running the tournament was specially built and implemented for these official Marvel Snap tournaments.
The tools they've developed for both Topdeck and Discord are really impressive. The staff was spending their time answering help tickets and walking players through the registration process and how to link their Topdeck accounts. Behind the scenes, the talented Mottelz was building the architecture and bot structures that would be needed in the days to come, much of which was new for this run of the Golden Gauntlet Qualifier. The Game On team was drawing on their experiences from the three previous tournaments and building upon them.
Working in the Discord
My role was to help out with support tickets and answer questions in the general chat to help prospective players. To prepare I read through the rulebook several times, went through the FAQ and took notes, and perused the “scratch pad” channel that the staff had set up with answers to common and anticipated questions. At first, I observed as the experienced mods, Destructive and 0Drag0n0, walked people through the process of signing up for Topdeck or linking their accounts. Hey, I can do that! I jumped in and claimed a few tickets for myself and, drawing on what I'd learned, helped a few people through similar problems. I was getting the hang of it. I claimed another ticket.
This time, the player had played in a previous event and had created his accounts and linked them properly, but their registration was still being rejected. Uh-oh, this was above my pay grade. Time to tag in some help! I tagged in Mottelz who was able to use this player's experience among other things to diagnose what was happening. The server was so popular that we'd overwhelmed the bot! We were seeing such high demand that Mottelz needed to work his magic and then reboot the bot. We let everyone know that sign ups were temporarily suspended. After a brief period, the bot was back up and running and we continued the sign up process. I found the team structure really helpful. We could tag in help, bounce ideas around or ask for advice in the staff channels, all with the goal of helping each other out.
Before the tournament the team collectively went through and flagged all of the usernames that might be problematic for the broadcast crew to yell out on stream. I worked with another new mod named Kingpin to walk people through the process of changing their names and manually changing the same information in our systems, all the while answering questions and interacting in the main chat channels. The day before the event, decklists were due and the player count was finalized. We resolved dozens of tickets helping players get their decks submitted properly and on time. Through a lot of hidden hard work and laid groundwork, we were ready.
The Big Day
On the day of the tournament, check in took place in a 45 minute window. The player chat was all nervous excitement, but behind the scenes there was a flurry of activity. Some staff were working through support tickets, helping to ensure that everyone was able to check in properly and would be able to play. Others were busy preparing with the team of judges and making sure everything had been imported to Topdeck properly.
Kingpin and I were busy with the other mods resolving final tickets related to name changes, questions about how the tournament worked, and check in procedures. Itsguestgaming was working with the other casters and bouncing ideas back and forth, coming up with strategies for when they went on the air. Outwardly, everything was calm and smooth. It was able to look like that because of the furious typing and coordination amongst the staff.
Gameplay Begins
Some of the staff, myself included, remained assigned to the Discord, while the judges, headed by GunnyT, went off to Topdeck to deal with the organization on that platform and to respond to judge calls when players had issues before or during a match. The most common judge calls were for an opponent not being on time, failing to appear, or unfamiliarity with Topdeck from first time players. Occasionally there would be an accusation of an opponent using a card that wasn't registered in their deck. Those players were told to play their matches out like normal and to take screenshots of the suspected cards. Then, the staff would investigate the issue to find out if the cards could have been generated or if they were incontrovertible proof that the opponent had broken the tournament rules.
Kingpin and I would respond to tickets in the Discord asking the players to post their screenshots there and their table number. Meanwhile, the judging staff would coordinate with the players to gather more information, come check the screenshots, and make a final ruling. Sometimes the player hadn't seen what generated the card, other times, players were issued match losses. The process may sound complicated, but by working fast and working in tandem, the whole process took a few minutes. Things got a less busy and hectic for the staff as we progressed through the first few rounds and players who had never competed in an event like this got the hang of it.
You can check out the playback of the whole tournament here! There were some really exciting moments and the finals were intense!
https://www.youtube.com/live/MD3A2k0ZuuM?si=nu6_5wgeZwUWpm_g
Moving Parts
Throughout the tournament, we still got common questions in chat about the schedule, round timings, and how many wins were required to achieve different goals. The judging staff was still occupied with occasional judge calls. We worked towards the top 16 cut as the excitement mounted in the tournament. The staff's ability to work systematically through all of the various required tasks and the way they were able to put out any fires that appeared calmly and professionally was truly something to behold. As a player, you don't see all the hard work, sweat, and innovation that goes into these tournaments, but I want to share my admiration for the Golden Gauntlet team. I learned quite a bit about how the tournament works from the inside and I've gathered some tips for those of you who are considering competing in a future event.
Top Tips for Golden Gauntlet Participants
- If you're confused at any time, open a support ticket within the Discord server. The staff is there to help. Ask questions if there's anything you're unsure about.
- If you have an issue during a match, call a judge.
- Read the FAQ. There are tons of helpful videos that help with things like how to link your Topdeck account and how to find your pairing and coordinate with your opponent.
- Pay particular attention to deadlines and important times. In particular, the registration deadline, deck submission deadline, and check-in on the day of the tournament.
- Have your deck ready in advance and play something you are comfortable with.
- Make sure you have an appropriate Snap name and be careful not to change your name too close to the tournament since name changes are time-gated. Names need to be safe for broadcast—this means no IP not owned by Disney and no inappropriate names. Reach out to the tournament organizers BEFORE changing your Snap name.
- The staff has the ability to communicate in multiple languages. Let them know if you prefer a language other than English.
- The staff loves feedback and are actively trying to iterate on and improve the process. Let them know if something is confusing or doesn't work the way you expect.
- Rounds start within a few minutes of the previous round ending. Some rounds take longer to complete, round timings are unpredictable. Keep an eye on Topdeck and Discord to make sure you don't miss a round.
Spicy Golden Gauntlet Decks
The tournament was run at the ideal time, right after we got a new season and a bunch of new cards. The top decks were quite varied with some surprising decks making it to the top 16. There were also a bunch of cool and novel decks that didn't make top cut, but still earned their pilot a World's invitation. Here are a few of my favorite under-the-radar decks from the Golden Gauntlet. All of these went 5-1 and earned a ticket to the World Championships in November!
Daybyday - 5-1 20th place
Cinderpuff - 5-1 22nd Place
LeechingNeon - 5-1 34th Place
Uncanny X-Ben - 5-1 44th Place
Frog VanHook - 5-1 62nd Place
And our very own SnapFan editor extraordinaire, BEWD, nabbed his world's invite with this killer Dracula/Redwing deck with Xorn!
BEWD - 5-1 57th Place
The Future of the Golden Gauntlet
Another qualifier is scheduled for October 11th targeted towards Europe and the eastern Americas. Keep an eye out for registration a couple weeks before the event. World's is scheduled for November 8th and format details will be released soon. After World's there will hopefully be more official tournaments in 2026. Give the Golden Gauntlet a try! It's a blast whether you're competing or staffing.