Well, it’s nice to finally have a respectable finish. If I had to guess I would say it was in 2010 or 2011 when I last won a Tournament event. Lena might know or be able to track that thread down since she is one of the few players that has been around since day one. Long story short - it’s been a long time. By the way, grats, Lena. Given your track record over the years, to tie you in any event makes me feel pretty good.
I did my homework on this one. I often “wing it” but there were a few things I ironed out in two separate practice runs. In terms of how many various things one had to juggle in this event it was actually pretty easy compared to most events. You’re painting, painting, painting on days off and on work days you go to work. That’s it. But, dig a little deeper and you needed to make sure you gave yourself the highest chance at masterpieces once you do start filling out the bingo grids.
You start off having no other option but to do a Classic painting. In other words - you have to mark a box on a bingo card when you’re finished and it will obviously be an X and not an M. But, here is the all important thing after that point: Landscapes. All my painter did to cap his skill after that first Classic painting was Landscapes (available at lvl 2) to level up his skill because Landscapes are not scored - there’s no box for them on the grid.
Is there some RNG in whether something pops out a masterpiece? Of course. But, a player can greatly influence whether something turns out a masterpiece - the mood of the painter (being Very Inspired increases the chance, so give your painter the Creative trait and do things to get that buff before starting a painting), the skill level of the painter, the Perfectionist trait, the type of easel, and finally, the Creative Visionary trait (from Rewards Store). All of these things the player has direct control over. If your painter is in the perfect storm and all the above elements are going on at the same time, then if I had to take a guess - I’d say your chance at a masterpiece is 30%. It may be even higher on the career lvl 8 easel.
So, aside from the first Classic painting everyone had to mark down on day one, I did not even start filling out the bingo grids until I capped the painting skill, hit lvl 4 in the career to unlock a better easel, and had enough Satisfaction to buy the Creative Visionary trait. This is my first big tip: wait until all these things are in place before you begin filling out the bingo cards.
The second tip, and honestly my only other thing I can think of is HOW to fill out the cards to give yourself more of a chance. I immediately looked at the very first card (top left of my printout) as the “throwaway” grid. I put my first X in that grid, so I knew that on day four or five when I had the perfect storm of elements in place - it was that grid I would focus on first. And when something did pop out a masterpiece, I put an M in the very last grid (bottom right).
