What I feel my mission is here at The Chance Cube is to help people connect with the community. One of the best ways to do that is through those people that spend a lot of time doing content creation. These people put hours into brainstorming, filming, editing, and uploading their work. I am lucky enough to be able to talk to a great one, Monk of Monks Gaming Battleground.
How it all began
Monk is from the great state of California. He lives there with his wife and children. He and his wife have served this great country – we owe them a big debt of thanks – and that is actually how Monks Gaming Battlefield started.
Being a father while your love is overseas causes stress. Monk decided to turn that stress into a passion. “I fell in love with this game from the start.” He took something that he enjoyed and used it to help him get through that rough time. “My wife was deployed at the time and I felt I needed something to pass the time and get my head focused. Time wasn’t going fast enough so I just immediately, without thinking, chose to start live-streaming and creating videos one Friday night.”
He gives a lot of credit for his involvement with this game to other content creators (CCs) that were there to help him get started. “At the time no one knew about the game at my local scene, so I started watching content Cceators like Team Covenant, Double Blanks Gaming, and Sir Christopher, and they brought me even more into the game with every episode.”
He says about after starting, “just from the other Creators streams and videos, it brought a sense of family and community I needed or wanted or whatever. It was a tough time, but I wanted to give back to the community what the community and the other CCs had given to me. Hope.”
When we look at this game, we see certain thing. Remember that how we are with the people in this game is even more important. Having a content creator like Monk is a blessing for those just starting out. I know this because of the desire he speaks with and because of the passion he has for the community.
CCs and their roles
When I asked Monk about his thoughts on the importance of CCs and what role they played in Star Wars: Destiny, he felt that they play an important part. “I believe it is highly important to have CCs there for games these days as a social platform for all the new age games as they bring the game to life and make it intriguing, appealing to the consumers, or new players.”
He shares his insights on why CCs were important at the start of this game. “…colorful gigantic dice can entice the younger generation, but I believe everyone’s first thought was it would be a children’s game with these dice. But with CCs, it showed to be much more than that.”
What does Monk feel that CCs bring to the community? “They bring a lot of knowledge, advice, opinions, and insight through their hours of gameplay that they seem to do.” But he does say it comes at a cost. Time.
When it comes to his channel, Monk feels, “my channel is a laid-back, casual stream where people are free to play any deck they want without consequence. Just have fun, talk, play and build Star Wars:Destiny with myself and all the community that want to take a little time to watch.”
Rules Change
Monk was surprised that Entourage (CV152) was not hit by this change. He does think that the FFG contingent did a good job of balancing the game out with what they did fix. However, he was very cryptic with a possible broken scenario that he has in the works. Guess we will have to stay tuned to see what his plans are.
He feels that by balancing out the “very dominant cards in the Meta” it made the new Meta great. There was also excitement in bringing back Aayla. He felt that this may put binders on some 3-wide and mill games, but is interested if players will take FFGs advice and try to make Snoke a more aggro character.
Monk has always loved Palpatine (SR11). He piloted this deck to a 5-1 record at a GQ, almost securing his first Worlds seat. When I asked him which Palpatine he liked better he said, “I do like the new Palpatine (CV2) and all what you can do with him but nothing has felt more satisfying than Force Speed SR55) to Alter (LG125) to turn 2 dice to any side, and spike someone off the board for 10. Sooooo good!!” Monk is excited for infinity because that means that he will always be able to pull off that combo. The one thing he is unsure about, when it comes to Convergence Palpatine, is whether the changes to Force Storm (CV14) render it unplayable.
Learning and Teaching
When asking Monk about what type of games he likes showing on his streams, he said he would show anything. Losses are tough and some CCs don’t like showing them. Monk feels differently, “I do not find it at all difficult showing losses. Actually, I value losses the most as I find more insight from them on key mistakes or a sequencing I do wrong very informative.” He does state that some people don’t like to learn from losses. Because of that, the idea is that people must go where they feel most comfortable to learn. “But, the one take away from anything I do is to always remain positive and have fun no matter what the circumstance. It is a game of chance and probability, in a great community! Never forget that! Rolls will be rolls and Upgrades/Supports/Events will be on the bottom of the deck when you need them most. Happens. lol.”
For the new players out there he has some advice as well. Monk believes that watching CCs that have the introductory videos to this game is a great place to start. It will allow for the explanation of not only the rules, but also the pace and rhythms the game plays at. This will make going into your first store event easier. He also thinks that picking up a couple starter decks, villain and/or hero, would be a perfect next step. And if you can find them, the 2-player set because “…these are still highly playable cards.” With these cards as a start, then you can really get into the booster packs and boxes.
I asked Monk how he would help a beginner set up his first deck. He said that it all depended upon the person. “This is where everyone is different. The ramp, aggro, or defensive mentality. All depends on what their overall goal is for the deck.” When building a deck, Monk likes to put in 16 or so cards of mitigation or surprise damage events. But in the end, the goal of the deck will determine what the make up will look like.
An interesting idea that he has, and one I support wholeheartedly, is a community box. It is a set of cards that, when a new player comes in, can be gone through to help increase the card pool of that player. He said that they are starting one and are looking forward to seeing how it works. He speaks very highly of his local scene. The SLO roller community may gain and lose people but is usually 12 people strong. They get about 5-6 on a Monday for their gaming, but are always looking for more.
Mill and A Good Place
I asked Monk what one type of deck would he not want to sit down across from. His answer was interesting, because I believe most people feel the same way. He said Mill. The reasons he gave were more cerebral. “It is all a mind game for sure and everyone takes that deep breath before sitting down going against a mill deck. It is now a game of doing as much damage before losing your own 30 health, deck size. I like a challenge but depending on your luck it may make it or break it.” Mill, as a rule, is actually a 2-on-1 game. You are playing against your opponent and the rolls. Do you discard to reroll, helping the mill player? Or do you instead just take what you are given?
“I just participated in a GQ and I saw many decks I never thought I would see be taken to a standard event. It was a refresher for sure. Especially now with the new Errata, it seems even more open and exciting,” was how Monk responded when asked if he thought we were in a good place. “All I hear from the community is positivity and I believe, right now, we are DEFINITELY in a good place.”
Final thoughts
Monk is a kind gentleman that started this out of a need he had to feel family. He is the type of person that is willing to take time to help and talk. Monk wants to have a good time with the whole community. There is a tier of CCs that you want to watch, if you are just picking up this game or have played it from the beginning, to learn from and Monk is at the top of that list. Let me tell you something, The Chance Cube Universe, people are what make this game. If we could all be a little like Monk, this game will be around for a long time.
Monk can be found at his local San Luis Obispo FLGS, Captain Nemo Comics and Games. But if you want to view his content, please check him out on YouTube at Monks Gaming Battlefield. On Twitch you can find him at Monkdup for streams and videos. He can also be found on all the social media outlets.
One last thing from me, I want to thank Monk and Monks Gaming Battlefield for allowing me the pleasure to do an article on him. He is a kind person and I ask that we always remember that kindness goes further than we can ever see. He and his wife are active service people, and at the time of this article, his wife is currently away with those duties. I want to thank you for your family’s service.
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