Playing a new game can be like walking into a dimly lit room. Playing a new game that is not in your native language is like walking into a pitch black room. You bump your knee. You knock something over. You stumble upon something left on the floor. But a little light into the room can make a big difference in navigating your surroundings. For many Italian players playing Shadow Era, The 1Illuminati in 7enebris guild is their light in the darkness.

The Italian Shadow Era forum was launched in April of this year to give Italian Shadow Era players a place to discuss the game in-depth outside of the official forum. It was soon apparent that there were many players who wanted to join a guild but were deterred by their lack of English. Discussions in the Italian forum soon resulted in the creation of the 1Illuminati in 7enebris guild. Initially having 17 guild members, they adopted 17 as their modified acronym from the Latin sentence ‘Enlighten in the Darkness’ and IT for Italian. The guild provides the bridge between Italian players and the organized play of Shadow Era.

There is not a single 1lluminati in 7enebris leader, rather the guild is set up like a republic. Being a 17 means you are a loyal and fair player, this and that you can communicate in Italian are the only requirements to joining the guild.

17 already has some impressive players in their rooster; several have made it into the Shadow Era ranking ladder more than once and they also have a 2013 World Championship finalist. The guild enjoys hosting tournaments and they run a popular Italian Summer League series. 17 guild members really appreciate always having someone in their time zone to test a new deck with and being able to discuss Shadow Era strategy in their native language. Those in the guild with good English skills are also able to assist in getting guild mates signed up for tournaments and answering questions about card abilities. Some members of the 17 guild are taking on the task of translating all Shadow Era cards into Italian for future addition to the digital game.

Many of 17’s players say that Meltdown represents more of what they always considered to be the most enjoyable feature of a trading card game: deck creation! They explain further “It's too easy to go on shadowera.com and try a deck list already tested by others... We think that the continuous challenge of trying new combinations, experiments and strategies without restrictions of class can improve a player more than a hundred Quick Match games. Italian players can find in our guild the chance to compare their ideas and even participate in Deck Building Competitions.”

In Quick Match, Meltdown, Tournament play if you battle a player with a 17 in front of their name, you know you have the entire guild and Italian forum behind them. Don’t be surprised if you get a see a lot of ‘GG’ in the in-game chat… ‘Giocata alla Grande!’

Have a Shadow Era story to tell? Interested in having your guild highlighted? Email muriah@wulven.com