Xmas

Xmas is a special game mode that debuted on December 21st, 2018 with the Santa Scramble event and has only appeared in the event and its reruns. In the spirit of the Christmas season, this mode features multiple changes to gameplay including snow collection, snowball fights, and castle building.

The goal of this mode is to gather the most snow and use it to place as many parts as possible on to the snow castle. The player who places the most parts by the end of chapter 24 wins the match.

Important Changes[ | ]

Before examining the particulars of the mode, below is a basic list of rule changes the player should be aware of:

Norma cannot be used to win in this mode.
A Build-A-Castle minigame occurs every 6 chapters, at the end of the chapter.
The match will end at the end of chapter 24.
New Recovery stats are calculated by the formula: Recovery = (base recovery / 2) rounded up.
Two random cards from each player's deck are replaced with Grown-up Snowball Fight and Snowball Reflector.
The Sprint field event is disabled.

The Hud[ | ]

For the purpose of this mode, the typical player hud is slightly modified with an extra row below the normal information. This section features the 2 most important elements of the mode. On the left is the image of a miniature castle to indicate how many pieces the player has added to the castle. On the right side, there is the image of a snowball to indicate how many pieces of snow the player has collected. While norma still exists in this mode, norma is capped at 5, meaning it cannot be used to win the game. Norma can still be used to gain access to cards or spawn the boss encounter event at norma level 4, however. The number next to the miniature castle can be thought of as the new norma, as the player with the highest number of castle parts placed, will win the match.

Snow[ | ]

Snow is a unique, collectible currency added in Xmas Mode that the player can collect during a match. Snow is collected by walking over snow-covered panels (not to be confused with Ice panels) or by either KOing other players or initiating a Snowball Showdown. The snow the player collects can then be used to add parts to a castle every 6 turns. Given that the number of castle parts placed is the win condition, the player will want to collect as much snow as they can every turn.

Snow-covered panels are very different than normal panels, and have their own unique mechanics, as they are not actual panels; They are any panel on the board but covered in snow. When a match begins, there will be no snow on any panel. As a result, no player will be able to start collecting snow until the start of chapter 2. However, anytime 3 player turns (not chapters) have passed, the player will start seeing a slightly flashing preview on the panel if the panel hasn't been stepped on for 3 turns. After 4 turns have passed, the amount of snow on the panel will visibly increase, as will the amount awarded for walking on the panel. There are 4 phases of snow growth, which can be viewed below:

After a Build-A-Castle event occurs, the amount all panels give (with the exception of no snow panels) will increase by 1 permanently. So for instance after the first event, the amount awarded will increase from {0,1,2,3,5} to {0,2,3,4,6}. This is designed to compensate for the increased price of snowball fights and castle parts after each event.

Likewise, whenever a snow panel is walked on, it will reduce the amount of snow on the panel. If the panel was on phase 1 or 2 of snow, the player will take all the snow, leaving it as a panel with no snow on it. If the panel was on phase 3 of snow, then the player will leave the panel in phase 1. If the panel was on phase 4 of snow, then the player will leave the panel in phase 2. Using the above image, this means {no snow, phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, phase 4} will change to {no snow, no snow, no snow, phase 1, phase 2} when walked on.

Snowball Cards[ | ]

New cards have been added to assist in the Snowball Showdown battles. They're listed as Battle cards, however they're only usable during the Snowball Showdown game. 2 random cards from each player's decks are replaced by both of these new cards, adding 4 of each of these cards per game, giving the deck a total of 48.

Snowball Reflector

Grown-up Snowball Fight

Unlike typical battle cards, snowball related battle cards effects only last for 1 attack/defense round of a Snowball Showdown, not the entire showdown. This will be elaborated on in the following section.

Snowball Showdown[ | ]

Xmas Mode adds a third button to the player's option menu at the beginning of their turn. The button is next to the "Card" option and is marked "Throw". Before pressing the button. the player can hover over it which will display the player's snowball throwing range; This is indicated by orange-colored panels. Only opponents within the orange panels can be targeted. While the distance the player can throw varies per board, any player that is 3 to 4 panels radius away from the attacker can be chosen as the target. Teams may also form. If there is another opponent in a 1 panel radius of either the attacker or the target, the opponent will become their respective ally during the ensuing snowball fight. While in battle, the person that chose the "Throw" option will go first.

Once the player has decided who they want to attack, pressing the "Throw" button will initiate a Snowball Showdown, which costs 10 Snow. Before proceeding onto the snowball fight, the player can activate a snowball battle card if they have. When attacking, the player will need to guess to what panel the target will move and select it. Likewise, while defending the player will try to avoid the incoming snowball by guessing the adjacent panel the opponent will not target and clicking on it to move (Take note that the player can standstill by clicking on their current panel). If the throw misses or there's more than 1 player left alive on one side, the sides will switch and the attacker will become the defender. These battles last until all players on one side are hit or 3 rounds of attack and defense have passed. Since snowball battle cards only last 1 round, the player can use another 1 during the next round if they aren't hit. After a battle, the player (not including allies) who initiated the showdown can not initiate another for 2 chapters and will have the Chilly effect indicated by a symbol floating around them.

Hitting a player with a snowball will give half of their snow to the attacker(s). If the attacker has allies, the amount will be split by the number of members on the team that won. After the showdown is over, the player will resume their movement phase as usual.

Build-A-Castle[ | ]

Build-A-Castle is the most important aspect of Xmas Mode, as it serves as the new norma in the mode. On every 6th chapter, the Build-A-Castle minigame will trigger. After the 4th activation on chapter 24, whoever has contributed the most pieces to the castle wins the match.

When the minigame triggers, all players are taken to a special minigame screen. This screen features all 4 players gathered around a box in which they will be constructing a castle. Each character will have the player's current snow listed under them, and a part menu with 6 random castle pieces will be at the bottom of their screen. All players will then have 60 seconds to select whatever pieces they want from their part menu, which they can then place in whatever position they want by left-clicking. Pieces can also be turned by right-clicking on the mouse or trackpad. Once the time is up, the number of parts placed will appear over each character's head. The player who added the most pieces will give a victory pose while all other characters will give a KO pose. How good the castle looks holds no bearing on the outcome of the Build-A-Castle event, as the only thing that matters is how many pieces are placed by the player. As a result, players can either work together to make the best snow castle they can, or they can instead make an "abstract" castle.

The most important aspect of Build-A-Castle, however, is that the castle pieces are not free. Each time a player adds a piece to the castle, they will see the number of snow below their character decrease. Unsurprisingly, the player will be unable to add more pieces once they can no longer afford the cost, or they can stop adding parts prematurely by pressing the "End" button on the part menu (Note, however, that using the End button early will prevent the player from spending all their snow and thus not give them as many pieces). Each time the minigame triggers, the price per part will rise by 10. So, for example, on chapter 6, it will be 10 snow per piece, and on chapter 12 it will be 20 snow per piece. Snow is also not actually "spent" in this minigame. When the minigame ends, the player will still have the same amount of snow they started with and however many pieces they added to the castle will be displayed next to the miniature castle on their hud. As a result, the player should always make sure they have as much snow as they can before chapter 6, 12, 18, and 24 to get the most parts possible.