Hi,
I’ve been agonizing for a long time over when to post this, but since we got some official forums, now’s a good time 
I was thinking about a concise way to describe the actions in a Duelyst game. There don’t seem to be any standards; there is Zyx’s idea, and inspired by it I’d like to try my hand at a standard.
First, I’d like to suggest an A-E and 1-9 notation for coordinates. This is because if you turn the board sideways, it resembles a chess board with kings at opposing sides, each on end ranks. And there’s no reason to fix what’s not broken. Also, symmetry around 5 is very simple (n is symmetric to 10-n), so there should be no problems with ease of notation. This is also the coordinate system that I see people using on the Discord.
Fundamentally, the idea behind this notation system is that everything on the board can be described as an interaction between spaces. To avoid redundancy, then, we don’t need to state which minion is attacking which minion (eg. Prophet of the White Palm x Reaper of the Nine Moons), we can instead describe which space is attacking which space (B5 x C5).
This is very important in terms of brevity. Consider the case where the player summons a Saberspine Tiger on D4, buffs it with Scion’s Second Wish, moves it to D6, and attacks the enemy general on C7. Under a minion-based notation, you would have to write out Saberspine Tiger four times. With this notation,
Saberspine Tiger s D4; Scion's Second Wish > D4; D4 m D6; D6 x C7 Faie Bloodwing
Ultimately, I want a notation to be able to describe a game in such a way that there is absolutely no ambiguity as to what happened and when. With this in mind, this is the general method of notation I’ve created.
C = coordinate, D = card, S = spell/artifact, E = generic “effect”
A unit on the board can be referred to by its coordinate, or its coordinate and name. The name alone refers to the card. Generally speaking, in order to balance brevity and readability, I believe that the name of a unit should be mentioned once per turn-- when it is summoned or the first time it is moved, generally.
C1 m C2 Move what is on C1 to C2
C1 t C2 Teleport what is on C1 to C2
D1 s C1 Spawn the card D1 on the spot C1
C1 s C2 Spawn a copy of what is on C1 on the spot C2
C1 x C2 What is on C1 attacks what is on C2
XX = C2 = C3... XX (anything) is proccing on C2, C3, C4... (eg. "Bloodtear Alchemist s C5 / C5 = B2 Pyromancer")
S1 > C2 > C3... The spell S1 is cast, or has a non-deterministic effect, on C2, C3, C4... For ordered spells (like Blink), the locations are targeted in order.
E1 > C2 > C3... The general effect E1 is applied to C2, C3, C4...
D1 r D2 Replace the card in hand D1 with D2
d D1 Draw card D1
c D1 Create card D1 in hand
b D1 Burn card D1 (when Sojourner is too stronk)
/... Effects associated with an action/spell/effect are appended after a slash. (eg. "Bloodtear Alchemist s C5 / C5 = C7 Wraithling")
(...) Effects associated with a unit/card are appended in parentheses. (eg. "Sworn Sister L'Kian s C5 / C5(c Mesmerize, c Mesmerize)")
{...} Things that happen at the beginning and end of one's half-turn are set apart in braces.
; Actions are separated by semicolons.
, Effects (after a / ) are separated by commas.
Generally speaking, spells and cards in this game have a lot of different effects. With this notation, the goal is to be able to simply represent any action, no matter how weird or crazy its effects. This notation attempts to encapsulate all possibilities with wide categories (a top-down approach), rather than work from the possibilities themselves, since those are too numerous to represent in a concise notation.
One problem that this notation has is that it doesn’t differentiate cards’ copies. If this ever actually is an issue, (eg: d Crystal Cloaker; BBS (Kinetic Surge); Blaze Hound s C5; d Crystal Cloaker; Crystal Cloaker s C6), then you can add the stats of the summonned minion for clarity. So the above example would be (assuming that the buffed cloaker is summoned): d Crystal Cloaker; BBS (Kinetic Surge); Blaze Hound s C5; d Crystal Cloaker; Crystal Cloaker_{2/3/4} s C6.
Let’s go through a few examples. Consider this game (not mine). A notation of the moves displayed would be
…16. D4 Kaido Assassin m D2; D2 x C2 Emerald Rejuvinator; Lantern Fox s B9 / B9 = E8; Jade Monk s D7
- Sworn Avenger r Vindicator; C1 m C3; Flash Reincarnation; Vindicator s B4; B4 m B6; Flash Reincarnation; Elucidator s A7; Amplification > A7; Fractal Replication > A7 > B7 > B8; A7 m A8; A8 x A9; B8 x A9; B7 m B8; B8 x A9; 1-0
Consider this puzzle (not mine, but I wish the BBS were FeelsZirixMan). One way to solve it would be
- C7 Zirix m A7; Flameblood Warlock s B8; Star’s Fury; BBS > XX; XX Wind Dervish m A6; A6 x A5 Starhorn; A4 Wind Dervish x A5; B5 Wind Dervish x A5; 1-0
[XX can be used to denote unknown spawn locations when the notation is used to solve puzzles.]
Also consider this example, which involves effects.
- Grailmaster s C4; Bloodtear Alchemist s C3 / C3 = D2 Kaleos Xaan, C4(Celerity > C4); Darkfire Sacrifice > C3; Darkfire Sacrifice > D7 Wraithling; Rook s B5 / C4(Ranged > C4); d Black Solus {B5(Grow > B5)}
This notation should ultimately be able to describe all non-deterministic interactions in the game succinctly and without trouble. If you have any suggestions, please make them I’m always on Discord (my username is ElDynamite) so you can message me there too.
Thanks!
