Showing posts with label CCG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CCG. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Future Card Buddyfight

So... have you taken a look at Future Card Buddyfight by Bushiroad?

They have now released 2 different trial decks in English; Dominant Dragons - The Chief has Arrived! and Savage Steel - Strength is Power!!.  Each of these decks contains 52 cards, life counter, rule book, and playmat.

Future Card Buddyfight Trial Deck Dominant DragonFuture Card Buddyfight Trial Deck Savage Steel

The first round of boosters will be released on Friday, January 31st; Dragon Chief!

If you are looking for the Trail Decks, then check out our web store by clicking here.

If you would like to see when we are running events, check out our calendar.

So do you want to give a new game a try?  Then come on in and grab a demo of Future Card Buddyfight... and grab a free demo deck (while supplies last).

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks


Thursday, September 6, 2012

Kaijudo Review Part Two

As promised, this is the second part of my Kaijudo review. Today I will talk about how to play the game, and discuss the different aspects of the cards themselves. As before, please feel free to ask questions or make comments!



Sunday, August 26, 2012

Kaijudo Review Part One

Kaijudo. You may have heard this word recently, and wondered exactly what it was. Perhaps you saw an episode on the HUB channel, or your children have asked you for the cards, or you listened to a commercial for it online. Or, just maybe, you're one of the many gamers who are eagerly awaiting an opportunity to prove your skills at one of our tournaments starting in September.

Regardless of which category you fit into, I'm sure that this review will help to answer some questions about this exciting new CCG from Wizards of the Coast. I'll divide it into two parts; Part One will detail all the current releases for Kaijudo, whereas Part Two will be about the gameplay, and card types.


Monday, July 9, 2012

Dragon's Den Player of the Year for Magic Update

Now that we have made it half way through the year, I thought we should post a quick summary of the top 8 players in each of the four different categories, as well as some statistics about the number of players we have seen for the different events we have run.  Also, this Friday I'll be giving small gift to the Top player for each category. 

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Just as a side note, I've been asked about why we run so many different events so I thought I would throw a quick answer here.  I like to run a Free and a Paid event at the same time on Friday nights so that the competitive players can play the tougher decks and the casual players don't feel like they are getting crushed all the time.  It is a work in progress as we still get many players in the Free event that could play in the Paid, but the hope is that the new players and more casual players can build up to playing more competitive over time.

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Free Standard has seen 235 unique players.

FREE Standard 7/4/2012
Rank Name Points Matches
1 Evan Odden 267 167
2 Dave Oppenheimer 221 100
3 Carl Naumann 204 109
4 John Franczak 199 105
5 Mike Cox 198 111
6 Scott Fish 183 105
7 Will Shost 163 67
8 Niko Peone 152 73


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Legacy has seen 58 unique players.

Legacy 7/4/2012
Rank Name Points Matches
1 Paul Lake 123 52
2 Rich Cali 105 56
3 James Rynkiewicz 98 42
4 Casey Madrick 89 50
5 Steve Carpenter 88 40
6 Frank Kick 88 57
7 Janene Andersen 76 53
8 Darryl Moss 64 49

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Competitive Standard has seen 82 unique players.

Competitive Standard 7/4/2012
Rank Name Points Matches
1 Doug Kimball 70 34
2 Chris Brellochs 58 31
3 Kevin Jones 51 25
4 Steve Carpenter 51 25
5 Alex Sherman 51 31
6 Lyon Kressner 44 25
7 Alex Kobes 40 19
8 Mica Buchanan 36 30

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Limited has seen 227 unique players.


Limited 7/4/2012
Rank Name Points Matches
1 Paul Lake 85 34
2 Will Shost 61 32
3 Mike Cox 53 28
4 Alex Sherman 51 23
5 Doug Kimball 49 20
6 James Rynkiewicz 48 23
7 Jonah Acosta 39 19
8 Mica Buchanan 36 22

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We are excited to see how the rest of the year plays out as many of the Top 8 players have changed in the past several months.  We will be posting some more information about what the players are getting for winning as well as changes to the Top 8 as the year goes on.  If you have not played yet, don't despair We have had several player climb the ranks by playing every week in the different events.  If you want to see what we have to offer each week check out our calendar of events!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Monday, February 6, 2012

Unpacking the Dragon's Den

So many people who do not live local have asked us what the store looks like and what type of product we carry. So not wanting to keep everyone in the dark, here is an unpacking of the Dragon's Den!

As you walk down the hall of the Poughkeepsie Plaza, we are located at the end of the hallway at the North end of the plaza. 


When you look into the store, you will find many great items located on our island.  You are also presented with a choice, left or right...


If you walk straight in and look in the front two cases you will find some interesting items, including bumper stickers and ...


and CANDY! Notice that most of the candy is branded!


So I decided to turn to the right and make my way along the comic book wall.  We have a nice lite display for the comic books, all sorted alphabetically from left to right with tabs behind all the new books.At the end of the rows of comic books, there is a lite display with all the comic glasses, banks, and pop fun figures.  We carry Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, and more.  If you are looking for comic books, then you might want to browse our wall.


Opposite the comic wall, and inside the island you find all the collectible card games (CCG) and sports cards.  This is where all the boosters, starters, and singles for the different CCGs.  This is also where you will find the card sleeves, deck boxes, and play mats.  With games like Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, and World of Warcraft we have plenty of CCGs for the players to enjoy.


Rounding the corner by the BCW spinning rack which houses top loaders, penny sleeves, and binders, you see the gaming area. We can set the area up in multiple configurations for card games, miniature games, or role playing games.  Across the back wall of the gaming area is a wall of board games and card games as well as Yoda above one of our demo video game systems.


Right in the corner of the gaming area is our role playing games (RPG) section, which usually has a table set up for RPG games. We keep our boosters of miniatures, RPG books (New and Used), and maps.  We carry many different RPG titles like D&D, Pathfinder, Legend of the Five Rings, Eclipse Phase, and so much more!


At the back of the island, facing into the gaming area you find our miniature paints, dice, CCG binders, some play mats, and darts.  Oh, yes DARTS!  So many people play in leagues in the area, but there are so few places to find flights, shafts, tips, and other dart accessories.


The wall opposite the comics and around the other side of the island you find miniatures and video games.  Starting at the back of the store, you run into the miniature section of the wall.  We carry game companies such as Games Workshop (Warhammer and Warhammer 40K), Privateer Press (Warmachine and Hordes), Spartan Miniatures (Uncharted Seas, Dystopian Wars, and Firestorm Armada), and some other titles like Battletech, Malifaux, and Infinity.


As you move down the wall, you will see all the video games, and video game systems.  We carry new games as well as retro.  Looking for Nintendo (Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Gamecube, and Wii), X-box, X-Box 360, PlayStation (1, 2, and 3), Sega (Master System, Genesis, CD, Saturn, and Dreamcast), or even Atari... we've got it!  We also have a tech in the store who can fix most problems with current and older systems.  In the island across from the wall we keep the hand held games.  These range from the original Nintendo Gameboy to the 3DS.  We also have PSPs, Sega Game Gears, and even a Nomad!


Right next to the register we have some more snacks.  Here we keep some of the really cool imports from Japan and Ireland!  Drinks, candies, chips, and cookies! We also have energy drinks in this case, as well as in the mini fridge right behind the counter if you want one cold.


So now you have had the grand tour.  I did not have space to put in all the pictures of the store or all the cases, but I wanted to leave some mystery or intrigue so that you are enticed into stopping by and checking us out.  And if you are curious, we run events on those tables every night of the week, and you should check out our calendar for more information.

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Friday, January 27, 2012

Welcome Dark Ascension to the Dragon's Den

Today is the day before the Dark Ascension Prerelease for Magic, and people are already quite excited…none more so than certain coworkers of mine, who get to see and hold the new product ahead of everyone else!  For those of you not working in a hobby store, here’s a peek at the newest products from Wizards of the Coast.
Here you can see every Magic item we received today; Booster Packs, Intro Decks, and even our store’s new and improved Land Station. Fat Packs are only available for the Release, so that update will have to be next week.

Hopefully, since this new Land Station has an open top and can hold about 200 of each color Mana/Land, this will make it far easier for players to grab what they need. Previously, we used 500 ct. cardboard boxes.

The Booster Boxes are fairly standard, with there being 36 packs per box, and 15 cards per pack. The only difference seems to be that they have only chosen 3 illustrations for the boosters, whereas usually they have 4-5 separate cover illustrations.

There are, however, still 5 different Intro Decks. Each contains a 2-color 60 card deck, a foil card, a Dark Ascension booster, a learn-to-play guide, and a strategy insert that shows the deck-lists of all the Intro Decks. Below I have put the name of the Intro Deck, which 2 colors it has, and what the foil card is.

Dark Sacrifice has a foil "Fiend of the Shadows", and is a Black/White deck.


Monstrous Surprise is a Red/Green deck, and has a foil "Flayer of the Hatebound".


Grave Power contains a foil "Ghoultree" and is a Green/Blue deck.


The Relentless Dead deck is Blue/Black and it's foil is a "Havengul Runebinder".


Swift Justice is a White/Red deck, and has "Requiem Angel" as it's foil card.  

Now, I know what you're wondering; what about all the other great Dark Ascension themed products that I can actually buy this weekend? Don't worry, they're here too!

Once again, Ultrapro has created numerous items for those Magic players who love the illustrations from the new sets. Not only do we have an 80 pack of sleeves and vertical deck box for "Sorin, Lord of Innistrad"...

...but we also have the beauty from "Deadly Allure" gracing her own 80 ct. sleeves and horizontal deck box. Each of the deck boxes are $3.99 and the sleeves are $9.99.

As for playmats, we have 2 wonderfully illustrated ones available. Sorin graces one with his picture from the Prerelease cardboard standup...

...and here we see the mysterious woman from the "Fires of Undeath" card. Both are wrapped in a nice plastic hanger, and are $21.99.

That's pretty much it for now. Be sure to check back for our other posts on Saturday, when we tell you about how our Midnight Dark Ascension Prerelease event went. We're offering free soda and pizza, have lots of prizes to give away, and expecting over 140 players, so check our Twitter and Facebook accounts for hourly updates!

Stasi "Dengirl" King

Monday, January 23, 2012

Redakai: Conquer the Kairu

Want to get in on a new, fast-paced and 3D card game that's easy to learn, but challenging to master? Then look no further than Redakai!
It's a new card game (created by the same guys who gave us Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer) that involves harnessing the energy of Kairu to make amazing attacks with tremendously powerful monster transformations. Much like Yugioh and Pokemon before it, Redakai can also be watched on your local Cartoon Network channel in an animated series. 
As we've gotten many questions about the cards and how to read them, I thought it would be helpful to give a run-down of how to decipher the various card types.

In Redakai, there are 3 main card types; Character, Monster and Attacks, shown below in order.

Character Cards: Has the name and version of the character in the bronze section at the top. The 3 gold bars are your character's Damage Zones. Think of these as your "Health" bars. There are also 3 different zones on the left side of the card, which will be red, green, blue or blank. These Defense Zones determines the type of damage your character can take. Along the bottom of each card is your character's Special Ability. The ability can only be used if not covered by another card's ability.
Each player starts the game as a Character, with the same amount of energy (Kairu).


Monster Cards: These have most of the same information as Character Cards, including Name, Version, Defense, Special Ability and Health bars. The one core difference is that the amount of Kairu required to summon the monster is shown in the upper left corner. Also, some Monsters, like the one on the right, have the power to give Health bars back. These will go over your Character Card when summoned, and give you a different Special Ability. Don't worry about the other 3 symbols in the Special Ability bar, they aren't needed for gameplay.


Attack Cards: While they do contain some of the same information found on Monsters and Characters, the Attack Cards have very important differences in gameplay. The upper left corner still has the amount of Kairu needed for play, but the name has the attack's Color rather than Version. The attack may have a Special Ability like Characters or Monsters, but it will also have the Attack Power. When using this, simply compare the Attack Power of the Attack Card with the corresponding Defense Zone of the Character Card. If the Damage Zone number is blank or lower, it automatically hits. Also, if the artwork of the Attack Card covers up the Defense Zone or Special Ability, like in the middle Attack Card shown, that section is now considered blank.

And there you have it; your comprehensive guide to the 3 cards of Redakai!


Stasi "Dengirl" King 

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Gen Con 2011 The Best 4 Days of Gaming

Welcome back from the "BEST 4 DAYS OF GAMING" also know as Gen Con!

So we got back from Gen Con last night, and it was a fantastic show! We had a chance to try many different games, check out product that is not released just yet, and see all the greatest product that could be seen.  We are going to share some pictures, share some stories, and give some insight into some games.  To make life easy, I'm breaking it down by vendor so you can see the different areas you'd like more info about.  So if you are ready to read on and want to learn more, continue through the trip to Gen Con 2011!

Wizards of the Coast:

There is a lot to talk about with WotC. They had a great booth set up as a ruined castle, and a live action D&D event behind it.  The booth was amazing as was the D&D Mega Adventure that was set up through out Gen Con with QR Codes.  The players got into trying to find the codes and earn points for their faction.  All of this was for the soon to be released Neverwinter campaign setting.  Away from the booth you show the two locations for all the events: The Sagamore Ball Room and the TCG Hall.  At the TCG hall you had so many Magic events, it was almost overwhelming, with the highlight being Nationals!  So many players going in and between events, it was incredible to see.  Upstairs in the Sagamore there was Dungeons and Dragons. It was not just the RPG though, they also had 3 Dragon Ante, all the board games, and the D&D National event as well.A big announcement was for the Lords of Waterdeep board game which is a Euro style board game set in the Dungeons and Dragons world.



Wizkids:

What can I say about Wizkids other then WOW! The new Star Trek game that involves fleets of Federation and Klingon ships looks amazing.  The price point at first looked a bit high, until you started to count up all the ships you got in the base game.  We would love to get a copy of this game a give it a try to get the Trek fans into a great looking ship to ship minis game.  Another game that they had out was Quarriors! Quarriors is a fantastic game involving dice that is similar to the deck building games.  We had such a blast playing this game, that I had to buy a copy for myself then and there.  It played fast and had the option of adding new abilities to the dice without having to make all new dice.  We will be demoing this game soon and getting players excited to try a new type of game.  I really can't talk about Wizkids without mentioning the Heroclix.  They had a number of great items out for sale including Heroclix, Street Fight, and Gears of War... BUT the items that had people looking were the painted pieces (not on bases) of The Lord of the Rings and Pathfinder.  They all looked great!  Check back as more information becomes available we will be writing more.



AEG:

We had the opportunity to go over and talk with the people at AEG as well as attending their Big Game Night.  I would have liked a little more structure to the big game night and maybe in an area that was a little quieter so that we could really check out the games.  We did have a chance to play Ninja, which is a very secretive board game involving Ninjas and guards set in the L5R world..  It was a blast! We will have a copy in this week and will be running some demo games to give players a chance to check it out.  We also got a chance to see Thunderstone, Parthenon, and Legend of the 5 Rings CCG.  AEG has a bunch of really great games out now and if you are looking to give something new a try, they would make a great choice.

Gary Games:

Gary Games is the publisher of the game Ascension.  This is a great deck building game that was created by a number of Magic players who were looking for another game to play between Magic.  The same design group also created Redakai, but we can talk about that later.  I had a chance to play in a tournament for Ascension, but sadly came in second in my pod, so did not advance.  They also had a number of great promo cards that you could pick up at their booth.  We also had a chance to discuss the Dragon's Den becoming a part of the Game Day program that they run, so hopefully we will be a part of the next one which is coming up soon.  

Fantasy Flight Games: 



Well the big announcement here was that Fantasy Flight Games picked up the rights for Star Wars.  To show case this, they had several games on display and were running demo games of several of them.  Star Wars X-Wing looked fantastic! It is a miniatures ship to ship combat game that takes a few elements from Wings of War.  Instead of a deck of cards for movement, each ship has a disk that you pick your movement from and place face down next to the ship (for that hidden movement similar to Wings of War).  They used different templates then for movement and attacks.  They kept some of the flavor with the weapons and abilities on the different star fighters, but we only got to see the X-Wing and Tie Fighter.  They also did a new card game for the Star Wars universe, but we did not get a chance to demo that game.  Some other items of note at the booth would be their release of the Gears of War board game and the new revised edition of Dust Tactics. 

Plaid Hat:

Plaid Hat is the maker of Summoner Wars.They have a new starter box that will be coming out in a month or so... or maybe we will have several copies in a few days! We had the chance to demo the game with them at Gen Con, and they allowed us to get a few copies while we were there.  The new starter has new factions, which if I remember correctly is an addition 6 new factions.  It also has a double board so that it is a little easier to play on and see your side of the board.


I hope that you have found some new information or got to experience some of the Gen Con trip from the write up.  We will be adding more information over the week and get some other impressions so you can hear about some other games and events.  There will always be more to add about Gen Con, but I think this is long enough, so watch for the next post soon.

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Monday, March 7, 2011

Magic Players at the Den

Many people have asked us about the players here at the Dragon's Den for Magic. We have had many players who have come in and played some games of Magic at the store. We wanted to give future players an idea of what you can expect and who you might play against.

1. We have players from all walks of life, elementary school kids, teachers, lawyers, computer techs, high school students, college students, restaurant works, retail works, warehouse workers, and so much more.

2. We have had many female players as well. I've had several new players comment that we have had events with as many as 8 ladies playing.  So although we have many male players at any given event, we also almost always have at least one female player!

3. The level of play ranges from very new to pro!

4. DCI Numbers can tell you how long a player has been playing the game. We have many players who have DCI #s that are 10 digits long, which is the current length, but we have had many small numbers as well.  The shortest number is only 4 digits long!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Who are the Planeswalkers in Magic the Gathering

In Magic you play as a Planeswalker. A being so powerful you can travel across planes of existence and summon creatures to battle for you. When reading through many of the different books, novels, and comics you may have stumbled upon many other Planeswalkers and wondered... How many planeswalkers are out there?

Well if you are playing Magic right now, you know all the current Planeswalkers. We have seen at least one for each color and some that are multicolored. Here is a list of the current Planeswalkers and what color they represent.

Jace Beleren- Blue
Tezzeret the Seeker- Blue
Jace, The Mind Sculptor - Blue
Ajani Goldmane - White
Elspeth, Knight Errant - White
Gideon Jura - White
Elspeth Tirel - White
Garruk Wildspeaker - Green
Nissa Revane - Green
Chandra Nalaar - Red
Chandra Ablaze - Red
Koth ot the Hammer - Red
Liliana Vess - Black
Sorin Markov - Black
Ajani Vengeant - Red, White
Venser, the Sojourner - Blue, White
Sarkhan Vol - Red, Green
Sarkhan the Mad - Red, Black
Nicol Bolas - Blue, Black, Red

But, there are many more that have apeared in books, comics, and graphic novels.  So many of these different Planeswalkers appear briefly, but several are referenced over and over again.  These are the more commonly talked about Walkers, some are even cards... just not Planeswalkers... Yet...

Urza
Ravidel
Bo Levar
Commodore Guff
Daria
Freyalise
Kristina of the Woods
Lord Windgrace of Urborg
Taysir
Tevesh Szat

Armada Comic created a number of different comic book runs based on Magic. They introduced new and used many existing Planeswalkers in their stories. They also introduced the concept of Battle Mages and Spell Squires, people that were aspiring to become Planeswalkers. There are way to many to list, but Ravidel is mentioned as both, before becoming a Planeswalker. Here is a list of the Planeswalkers mentioned in the comic books.

Ravi
Serra (Viewed as a goddess, but was aPlaneswalker in love with Feroz)
Feroz
Sandruu (Minataur Planeswalker trained by Feroz, and banished by Taysir)
Taysir (Jealous of Sandruu as he has won the heart of a woman Taysir wanted)
Ravidel
Freyalise
Tevash Szat
Kristina of the Woods
Leshrac
Faralyn
Jamil (killed his brother using Nightmare)
Altair (Was enchanted to not access his ability to Planeswalk, freed his people with the help of Nightmare, the enchantment was broken and he served Nightmare for 10 years)

Monday, September 20, 2010

Magic at the Dragon's Den

Many people have asked us about our events at the Dragon's Den... specifically Magic Events. We post our schedule of events on our web-page: EVENTS

But to answer the question here, so players can know and come play, here is a general break down of our events.

Monday 6:00pm: Standard Constructed FREE
     This event is Standard and follows the rules for Standard constructed events. We hand out prizes to the top players as well as random door prizes. DCI Foil Cards are the prizes for this event, plus other foil promos that are left over.

Monday 6:00pm: Draft $15.00
      This event will include 3 of the most recent booster packs. We hand out prizes to the top players as well as random door prizes. DCI Foil Cards tend to be extra prizes for this event, plus other foil promos that are left over. The main prize for this event is a prize pool of 2 packs per player split between top players.

Tuesday 6:00pm: Casual
     We don't have a set game for this night, but we have players who come in and play alternate formats of Magic. Planechase, Archenemies, and EDH are three of the different formats that get played this night, but other versions could be played as well.

Friday 3:00pm: FNM Draft $15.00
      This event will include 3 of the most recent booster packs. We hand out prizes to the top players as well as random door prizes. DCI Foil Cards and FNM cards are the prizes for this event, plus other foil promos that are left over. The main prize for this event is a prize pool of 2 packs per player split between top players

Friday 3:00pm: FNM Standard FREE

     This event is Standard and follows the rules for Standard constructed events. We hand out prizes to the top players as well as random door prizes. DCI Foil Cards and FNM cards are the prizes for this event, plus other foil promos that are left over.

Friday 6:00pm: FNM Standard FREE

     This event is Standard and follows the rules for Standard constructed events. We hand out prizes to the top players as well as random door prizes. DCI Foil Cards and FNM cards are the prizes for this event, plus other foil promos that are left over.

Friday 6:00pm: FNM Standard $10.00 Event

     This event is Standard and follows the rules for Standard constructed events. We hand out prizes to the top players as well as random door prizes. DCI Foil Cards and FNM cards are the prizes for this event, plus other foil promos that are left over.The main prize for this event is a prize pool of 3 packs per player split among the top players.

Saturday 5:00pm: Extended FREE
      This event is Extended and follows the rules for Extended constructed events. We hand out prizes to the top players as well as random door prizes. DCI Foil Cards are the prizes for this event, plus other foil promos that are left over.

If you have never stopped in for one of our Magic events, they are a treat.  we have many fantastic players who are not only good players, but fun players. We have been averaging 40 or more players at our 6:00pm FNMs, and we get over 60 players for our Prerelease events!

If you are looking to learn to play Magic, stop in and ask; almost every employee in the store now either plays or collects the game. For more information about the game, try the Wizards of the Coast web site.