These are the matches that build Champions! You’ll get the full reward for winning one of these bouts, but the difficulty is greater.
If you choose to wrestle a Superstar, when the Card is set you’ll draw an opponent from the Superstar Deck and compete against that opponent using the rank that matches yours: Opener, Midcarder, or Main Eventer.
Note about player tiers: When determining which Rank to use, always use the Tier you started the Event at. For example, if you’re a Midcarder to start the Event, but play a new Move before your match that promotes you into the Main Eventer tier, you still wrestle that match at the Midcarder tier and gain Midcarder rewards if you win.
Developer’s Notes
Wrestling a match in DDRT is a narrative ordeal, not a move for move, back and forth wrestling match simulation.
Your goal is to exceed the rank of your opponent. Your wrestler’s Rank at the start of the event determines their Tier. You can be an Opener (ranks 0 - 12), a Midcarder (ranks 13 -30) or a Main Eventer (ranks 31+). Openers also have the option to wrestle a Dark Match which is the easiest possible match, but yields fewer rewards.
You will determine which type of match you’ll wrestle at the start of the event. There are factors that can change that like a Feud, Superstar Challenge, Title Stripped, etc.
Your Rank is calculated by adding your Match Points (which you gain from winning matches, but you don’t start with any) + the bonuses you get from any Moves in play + the bonuses you get from any Attire in play + the bonus you get from any Title you hold.
As an example, let’s say our wrestler is Lackluster Lonnie; a Face Brawler with the Bodybuilder Gimmick. He has Superkick Finisher (+6) in play along with the Elbow Pads (+1) and the Apocalypse Shoulderpads (+2) for Attire. His rank is 9. He is considered an Opener.
During event setup, Lonnie chose to Wrestle A Superstar and drew Julius Squeezer (a Technician, Strong Submission, but weak to Strikes). Lonnie was feeling pretty confident before choosing his match and opted to have a regular match instead of a Dark Match. He also drew Marsha Flowers, a Manager, during event setup. He decides to play her immediately. During Lonnie’s Roll Call phase, he draws Face Turn, face up. It has no effect on him since he’s already a Face and simply discards to the Ring discard pile.
The Commentator rolls a 1 and Jonah Banks give him a “lackluster” Backstage Interview which yields Lonnie 1 Crowd Point. Now on to the match!
Julius Squeezer has an Opener rank of 10 (in blue). Lonnie’s rank is 9. How is he gonna beat Julius? Well, based on the style bonus Lonnie gets (a +2 for being a Brawler vs a Superstar weak to strikes) that gives Lonnie a slight edge. Lonnie places a +2 bonus chit near his play mat to remind himself of that bonus.
So, Lonnie has his move, his attire, and his style bonus all contributing to the narrative. The Commentator begins to call the action, but then, another player decides they want to give Julius a hand by playing Rope Leverage on his behalf, which gives Julius a +2. Now, Julius is ahead by 1.
Lonnie decides to trigger his Brawler ability. He taps-out Marsha Flowers to cover the 2 Crowd Point cost of his first ability which gives him a +4 bonus, but referee Ralph Winslow warns him if he continues to pound on his opponent with closed fists, he’ll risk DQ. At this point, Lonnie is up by 3. Since no other players drop any Weapons or One-Shots, the Commentator calls the match for Lonnie.
Lonnie wins by pinfall and draws 3 Gear, face up, on the main board. He takes a Match Point and a Crowd Point as rewards. He now has to choose one of the Gear cards. He drew Clothesline, Effective Hate, and This Is My Move. He decides to take Clothesline to his hand. As a Face, he gets an Extra Reward. This means he can choose to take another Crowd Point, Match Point or Gear reward. He opts to also take This Is My Move. Then he discards the Rope Leverage One-Shot played in his match and the Effective Hate card to the Gear discard pile. Julius Squeezer is discarded to the Superstar discard pile.
Now Lonnie moves on to Phase 4 Jobber Security. He had 3 cards in his hand when the match started. Now he has 5 – 1 more than allowed. He considers his choices. Ultimately, he wants to play Clothesline and apply This Is My Move to it. This would give him a +3 Move doubled to a +6, but if he plays it now, that would push him into the Midcarder tier for the next Event. He’s not sure he wants to wrestle at that level yet. He’s rank 10 now that he’s got 1 Match Point. So, he decides to spend 1 Crowd Point to trigger his Bulk Up ability to increase his hand size by 2 cards to 6. Since he only has 5 cards now, he doesn’t have to discard anything. Lonnie ends his turn.