Ok, so you want to join a guild. You have heard a lot about A1, maybe seen the signatures, or read about Project Omega (or made use of Project Omega!) and you are wondering - what is A1 all about, and how do I join?

First, a bit of history. A1 was founded to be a guild for the elite. A place where the best players went to share their decks, play against each other, improve on their skills and knowledge and subsequently use their knowledge to advance that of other players. In the past we have had alliances with sister guilds, had prominent figures as part of our community (including three of the current development team employed by Wulven and an ex-Wulven employee responsible for the first set!) and released many initiatives to help the SE community as a whole (see our Accomplishment thread for more information). A1 has gone through many changes and we are now on our third leader in a new and exciting time in SE history with the first set released, set two well under way to being released and the physical cards selling like hotcakes.

Please browse through a list of our accomplishments on our Accomplishment page: you can see here how we continue to be the best in all of the objectives below.

Our objectives are thus:

1. To continue to improve the game and the community
   1. As such, we have some exciting initiatives that are aimed at improving the general state of the game and the experience that everyone has playing Shadow Era. We have many new projects and project ideas that are coming along, including Project Omega
2. To continue to enjoy the game and be challenged by it
   1. We welcome further competition from all guilds and hope to see more competitive play, more guild wars and more tournaments
   2. A1 will remain a place of integrity and with the stance that bugs/exploits used to alter the course of a game (whether that be in quick match or tournament play) do not belong in A
3. To continue to challenge the meta and stay a step ahead of it
   1. We will continue to share our best decks with the community once we have built them (usually well ahead of everyone else/the meta) and have built counters to them. This is in the hopes that we can teach others how to deck craft and show them the strengths of each meta shift as it changes
   2. We will continue to nurture a culture where we play test our best decks against each other and use our knowledge and time to come up with the very best decks and strategies possible.
4. To continue to share our knowledge and be challenged by fresh and exciting ideas
   1. The A1 forums are a fun place to be, full of camaraderie, sharing of knowledge, advancement of ideas about the game, the future of the game, advanced tactics, deck discussion and how to go about giving back to the community. We want members that can add to this experience.
5. To continue to be the best of the best
   1. We already have (and have had) some great players who have won, or placed second in, a lot of recent tournaments and we want this success to continue. As such, we are looking to recruit the more advanced players, deck builders and theorycrafters into our guild. You do not necessarily have to be the best at ALL of these things to be eligible as we recognise that it takes all three types of skillsets to contribute meaningfully to the deck, and we understand that some people are better at theorycrafting than deck building, while others may be better players (whether intuitively or otherwise) then theorycrafters and so on.

All of our members abide by our requirements:

1. That you have access to 4 x most of (if not all) of the cards or have the means to get all of the cards so that you can contribute to deck testing/crafting in a meaningful way


2. That you have a forum presence over at the ShadowEra community before joining.
   A1 members are active members of the community and we want people who will contribute meaningfully to our forums.


3. That you respect our rules if you join including:
   • Promoting A1 in a good light
   • Adding our tagline into your signature
   • Choosing a "persona" for your tagline
   • Abiding by our rule that no A1 member shall ever use cheats/bugs/exploits to further their progress in the QM ladder, in competitive play (tournaments) or in the guild wars
   
   
4. That you join with the intention of sharing.
   We don't want leechers of our knowledge. We have our own forum where we share and test our best decks and strategies amongst each other and we want to continue to improve on our knowledge base and skill. Thus, we need members who are willing to share their knowledge, decks, ideas and skills


5. That you respect our secrets by not sharing them with others if you happen to leave, or if you are just chatting to others in IRC/the forums etc.
   Our forum contains not only a wealth of information, but some test accounts that we keep secret so that we can test advanced decks in peace, as well as a joint A1 test account and a few bits and pieces that we ask you keep to yourself for your own advancement of the game.


6. Finally, that you want to have fun.
   A1 is a great place to hang out, with many people that you can count on and call friend. Before things get too serious, we want you to be able to step back and realise that this is a game and all of us are here to enjoy the game and each other's company.

A1 is no longer taking any applications for membership. Our current recruitment policy is strictly invite only, and invitations will be from our sister guild, Acolytes of A1 (please see their page on this website) apart from exceptional circumstances. If you wish to be a part of the A1 family, please sign up to our forums and express your interest in joining Acolytes of A1. From there you will become part of the A1 brand and get all the benefits of AA1. Otherwise you can also pm Pyrogene or Demnchi, who are in charge of recruitment into AA1, and thus the A1 brand, over on the ShadowEra forums.

- Wtzky (A1 leader)