Chronicle of El Cónclave – April 2024

The April 13, 2024 the first edition of El Cónclave, the Gods Unchained Players Meeting in Spain, took place in Madrid. Quite a milestone, since I am not aware of the celebration of any previous national meeting with these characteristics.

I'm JFA, organizer of this event and creator of GU Masters, and you can find out all the details about this event right here.

Background

At the time I write these lines, the size of the Global Community of Gods Unchained players is around 20,000 monthly active players and, naturally, the fact that this game has not been localized into Spanish considerably limits its projection in the Spanish-speaking market. In my opinion, its growth potential in this market is great and it should be a matter of time (it is necessary to leave the beta state and make it available in our language, basically).

The Spanish population is a small percentage of the total number of Spanish speakers in the world, but it has a strong representation of Gods Unchained fans. I discovered this game in March 2021 and since then I've had the pleasure of meeting a lot of interesting people and even forging some friendships with Gods Unchained as a shared passion. I had been waiting for the Mobile Version Release to try to organize a face-to-face meeting, an idea that seemed to have traction when I raised it in my live broadcasts. Having a mobile version was important to simplify organization, hence the need to wait for the right moment.

The organization

If there is one thing that was clear to him, it is that this first edition of El Cónclave was going to be held and that the number of attendees was going to be modest. In any case, in this context It's all about quality , not the quantity, so that with a small group wanting to enjoy together is more than enough.

The Date Decision It was not complicated, since my idea was not to delay the celebration of the event too much. Considering that the mobile version was released at the end of February 2024, April seemed like a good time... and in April he only had one weekend available, so the choice was easy by pure elimination. As I always say, the perfect date does not exist (there is always someone who does not fit the proposed date), but it was a start. As for the headquarters, Madrid is a city well connected to the rest of Spain and with a wide range of hotel and restaurant services, apart from the fact that it is my place of residence. Therefore, it seemed a reasonable option.

Taking into consideration that the period from the announcement to the celebration was not very long, I was aware that most of the attendees were going to be fans more or less geographically close. Four or five face-to-face attendees would have been reasonable for me, being a first experience and knowing that the number of Gods Unchained players in Spain is small, but eight would have been an ideal number and a dozen a resounding success. We were about to reach the figure of eight participants, but due to different circumstances we ended up with six. Being a small group has significant advantages, such as encouraging participation and facilitating cohesion... and so it was. Many of us have literally been reading each other for years and there is already a bond, so that the fact that we can interacting in person is an important reinforcement . From my point of view, I believe that this has been the case.

From an organizational point of view, the Event Needs They were not huge, but there were minimum requirements, of course. The fact of holding the Conclave on Saturday, to facilitate the attendance of anyone interested, meant limitations when it came to finding a suitable space. On the one hand, because public spaces, which would not have required an economic outlay, were not available during the weekend; and, on the other hand, because many business centres or rooms and office rentals are also not operational on non-working days. In any case, we were finally able to find a suitable space and, moreover, at a good price, something that I am sure all the participants appreciated.

Another challenge to overcome was to manage the Live Streaming scheduled for the afternoon... I must confess that it is something that had crossed my mind, but that I was not entirely clear. Finally I decided to "take up the gauntlet" and take the plunge, since it was the solution so that the event was not restricted only to face-to-face attendees, but that it had more projection by enabling the participation of Spanish players who had not been able to travel or any other player from the Spanish-speaking community.

There was also the question of managing the Confirmations of participation with the corresponding monetary contributions, since the idea was to distribute the expenses of the organization among everyone (i.e., the rent of the room).

Fortunately, no imponderables and Everything went according to plan .

The activities

An event of this nature cannot be missing moments dedicated to the game itself and moments dedicated to socializing , I think. Taking this as a starting point, the event was planned from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., including lunch in a nearby restaurant (in this case we opted for Indian cuisine), with the following activities: a closed tournament all against all (Round Robin) with the restriction of not being able to use neutral or legendary cards, a mini-trivia about GU for attendees and a live broadcast in the afternoon with an open GU trivia game to the entire audience. I think it was phenomenal, although I also think that there is room for improvement to be more ambitious. But you have to go step by step, of course.

Tournament Standings

Face-to-face trivia classification

Live-streamed trivia classification

In an event of this type it is possible to carry out very different activities, so that The possibilities are fascinating .

Graphic testimonials

Next, a Short Video in which it is intended to reflect what happened during this day of coexistence:

Also, I leave you right here the link to the live Trivia recording and a gallery with some photographs of the commemorative magnet of the event in the refrigerators of the participants:

Sponsorships

The Conclave had the honor of having the support from the Gods Unchained team , both for communication purposes and by sponsoring incentives for planned activities (card packs from the expansion that was about to close its cycle, Tides of Fate, and from the new expansion that was about to see the light, Dread Awakening).

In a way I think GU Masters It has also done its bit, assuming responsibility for the organization and providing some decorative/commemorative elements to create an ideal atmosphere.

Will future editions of El Cónclave be able to count on additional support? Time will clear us of doubts (and if you have any idea about this do not hesitate to share it with me, as is natural).

Thanks

"It is well-born to be grateful, the saying goes." Therefore, I would like to reiterate my thanks to both the Immutable Team (special mention for Eclipse) as well as all the Community Members who, in one way or another, have shown their support for El Cónclave, either by actively participating in the organization (Alcachofo, kz_45), attending in person, (Asierihno, Delozano, Dewa), attending remotely (Adanedel, Resplan, etc.) or in any other way. You are great.

The future of El Cónclave

By now you are sure that my assessment of El Cónclave is very positive. For me it has marked a before and after .

If we let our imagination fly, we can fantasize about editions of El Cónclave in other sister countries, as the game grows and strengthens its position in Spanish-speaking markets (localization into Spanish), but I think it is prudent to keep our feet on the ground and focus on the short and medium term. Knowing that those attending the first edition have confirmed that they would be willing to repeat the experience, I am already considering the organization of a second edition in Madrid before the end of 2024 , perhaps in November. Sounds tempting? Then I encourage you to plan so as not to miss a new match that, if all goes well, will be even better than the opening one. And believe me when I tell you that the bar is quite high and that it is something worth experiencing first-hand.

If you want to keep up to date with all the news about El Cónclave, it's very easy: all you have to do is subscribe now to the GU Masters newsletter : The Herald .