MtG Dark Ascension Pre-release Weekend

This weekend was the Pre-release of the latest set of Magic the Gathering from Wizards of the Coast called Dark Ascension.  We had so many players for the last Pre-release that we set ourselves up for the players and even got the empty store next to us for our Saturday events.  We had 4 events on Saturday starting at Midnight.  We always get a good crowd for the Midnight events and having an empty location to use made it feel open and spacious for the players.  Here is a list of our times on Saturday and Sunday with how many players we had for each.

As is our normal Midnight fun, we got pizzas and sodas for all the players to enjoy before the event began.  We ended up about 16 pizzas and not a single slice was left when it was game time! The drinks normally last a little longer, but even they were gone before the end of the event. 

 

Saturday
1. Midnight: 88 players
2. 11:00am: 32 players
3. 3:00pm: 15 players
4. 5:00pm: 16 players
Saturday total: 151 Players

Sunday
1. 11:00am: 8 players
2. 3:00pm: 15 players
Sunday Total: 26

Total players for the weekend: 177

This was a great weekend with lots of players having a great time and playing tons of Magic.  We did a few extra things this pre-release that we have not done in the past.  We had our resident Magic card painter, Marc, altering cards for players as they played.  He also did a few for us to use as random door prizes for each round of the Midnight.  He also did a full art of Sorin for a player... and it might have been the first to be altered.  We also rented several table and chairs so we would have extra and everyone would have more room to play.

Next pre-release I'm hoping to see if one of the local Magic artists would be willing to come in during one of the time slots and do some signings or custom alters for players.  I know that there is one guy very local and several closer to the city, so it would be great for the players to meet some these great artists.

Don't forget about the Launch Party for Dark Ascension this Friday night at 6:00pm.  It will be a Draft for $15 and the first players on the list will be guaranteed a promo card.  What to check out the rest of our calendar of events?  Check out our calendar! We run many Friday Night Magic events, Monday Night Magic, and now Star City IQs!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

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

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 

Grand Prix Trial Baltimore 1/21/12

Today we ran our Grand Prix Trial (GPT) for Baltimore.  We ended up with a pretty good turnout even with the snow falling all morning and keeping many players at home.  So we got 10 players, which ends up being 4 rounds with a cut to 4.  Here is the standings going into the Top 4:

1. Paul Lake
2. Casey Madrick
3. Doug Kimball
4. Jonah Acosta
5. David Haass
6. Carl Naumann
7. Alex Sherman
8. Nick Langella
9. Dave Oppenheimer
10. Evan Odden

In an effort to help more players with deck construction and play, I've decided to publish the top 4 deck lists here on our Blog.  I've listed them:

Doug Kimball
5x Swamp
7x Forest
1x Mountain
2x Kesig Wolf Run
4x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Dragonskull Summit
1x Rootbound Crag
1x Glissa the Traitor
1x Olivia Voldaren
4x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Acidic Slime
4x Primeval Titan
4x Grave Titan
2x Geth's Verdict
3x Doom Blade
2x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Black Sun's Zenith
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Ratchet Bomb
4x Sphere of the Suns
4x Rampant Growth
Sideboard:
1x Go For The Throat
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Garruk, Primal Hunter
3x Curse of Death's Hold
2x Batterskull
3x Nihil Speelbomb
1x Black Sun's Zenith

Casey Madrick
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Giest of Saint Traft
3x Invisible Stalker
2x Merfolk Looter
2x Runechanters Pike
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
4x Ponder
4x Mana Leak
3x Vapor Snag
3x Gitaxian Probe
2x Gut Shot
2x Midnight Haunting
1x Plains
9x Island
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Seachrome Coast
3x Moorland Haunt
Sideboard
3x Dissipate
2x Oblivion Ring
2x Flashfreeze
1x Vapor Snag
2x Mental Misstep
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
2x Celestial Purge
1x Negate
1x Dismember

Jonah Acosta
UW Delver
4x Glacial Fortress
9x Island
3x Moorland Haunt
1x Plains
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Giest of Saint Traft
3x Invisible Stalker
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Gitaxian Probe
3x Gut Shot
4x Mana Leak
1x Oblivion Ring
4x Ponder
2x Runechanters Pike
2x Sword of War and Peace
4x Vapor Snag
Sideboard
2x Dismember
3x Dissipate
2x Divine Offering
1x Mental Misstep
1x Oblivion Ring
2x Phantasmal Image
3x Timely Reinforcements

Paul Lake
U/W Delver
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Giest of Saint Traft
3x Invisible Stalker
2x Merfolk Looter
2x Runechanters Pike
2x Sword of War and Peace
4x Ponder
4x Mana Leak
3x Vapor Snag
3x Gitaxian Probe
3x Gut Shot
2x Midnight Haunting
9x Island
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Moorland Haunt
Sideboard
2x Divine Offering
2x Dissipate
1x Negate
1x Phantasmal Image
2x Oblivion Ring
1x Vapor Snag
1x Mental Misstep
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Ratchet Bomb
1x Celestial Purge
1x Marrow Shards

Heading into the first Round of Top 4, we saw Paul Lake vs Jonah Acosta and Casey Madrick vs Doug Kimball.  They all played well, and with no time limit still finished in about 50 minutes.  Paul Lake and Casey Madrick moved on to final 2 players after winning the first round.  Paul Lake and Casey Madrick then sat down to play the final round of the GPT Baltimore, the winning of this event would then recieve a 3 round bye at the Grand Prix in Baltimore.

In the last round, Paul Lake emerged victorious and won the 3 round bye for Baltimore!  We are excited to see Paul head down to Baltimore and we are hoping he does well! 

There is another GPT for Baltimore tomorrow at our sister store in Fair Lawn NJ, The Gamer's Gambit.

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Making Sense of Marvel

I grew up as a "Marvel Zombie". I always thought their characters and stories were superior to The Boy Scout (Superman) and his friends. The Avengers were cool, I thought. The X-men by Claremont were the best-sellers for -decades-, and everything else was big and fun and flashy and all that. Marvel rocked. DC = zzzzz.

But the last couple years have not been kind to Stan Lee's wunderkinds. Event fatigue, the $4 price point, Marvel editorial's reluctance to care much about continuity (the hallmark of great Marvel comics) and the feeling that not every comic matter... all these factors led to people walking away from Marvel comics.

To be blunt, I question whether the last couple years worth of Marvel comics have held up, quality-wise. It feels to me that Marvel's last great story was Civil War. I think most of you will agree that CW was a great mini-series, but the follow-ups have not been nearly as strong. Secret Invasion was too long (and felt like a series of boring fights in The Savage Land), Dark Reign was, well, Dark and Siege was.. honestly, I don't even remember what happened in it. The Spider-Man One Last Day story is still loathed by many readers (not all good press is bad press, Marvel) and then there's Fear Itself which just wrapped up.

I promoted Fear Itself pretty heavily in the months leading up to it's launch. I did a 1-on-1 phone interview with Matt Fraction about the series, put up signs, mentioned it to customers, and when the book shipped I was... underwhelemed. It was good, mind you, but it wasn't GREAT.

And maybe my expectations are high (tell me if they are), but if you or I are spending $4 on a comic, it better be GREAT. Money doesn't go as far as it used to, and every dollar counts. It's a different world, and comics are not a necessity. Gas, food and rent are. So, if I'm going to recommend a comic to someone, and it's $4, it'd better be worth every cent. I'm not certain that Fear Itself was worth the money. I hate saying that 'cause I love a lot of Fraction's (Hello, Casanova!) other works, but FI just didn't do it for me.

Now don't get me wrong, there's been other good stories since Civil War. The Annihilation stories were top-notch, World War Hulk and Planet Hulk were superb, and the long-form Death of Captain America story that Brubaker wrote in the Captain America book was fantastic.

But most of Marvel's recent output comes off as "ehh-" worthy. The only exception would be Uncanny X-force. While the recent Hulk and X-men relaunches have done very well, The Dark Angel Saga is, in my mind, the best story Marvel's published in years. The Avengers titles feel like a re-tread. Norman Osborn, again? Really? Seriously, let's give that guy a break already.

Before the holidays, Marvel cancelled a number of new mini-series, and also announced that they'd be double-shipping a lot of their best books in the spring. This is clearly a cash grab, leading to increased revenue, but it also has the potential to push people away from their comics. I have a number of customers who only come in once or twice a month to grab books off the wall. Imagine coming in, having $8-10 to spend on your favorite 3 titles, only to find that there's been 2-3 issues of each published while you were gone. $10? Try $20, easily. That's not fair to the consumer, but Marvel doesn't seem to care. That may sound harsh, but it's true.

So, where does Marvel go from here? Well, you're going to see a lot of your favorite books being double- and triple-published over the next year. Another Avengers book is on the way, in addition to the next Marvel event, Avengers v. X-Men. I think you're going to less mini-series being published, and that's something that's way over-due. Not because the books are bad, but because Marvel has been flooding the market.

In a way, I think Marvel owes DC. If it wasn't for the influx of new customers that The New 52 has created, I think Marvel's numbers would be even lower.

As always, you the customer, will vote with your dollar. Right now, your dollars are going to DC, not Marvel and your feedback to me supports that. In the end, Marvel's going to have to make some changes or face the new reality that DC is the #1 publisher in the Direct Market. Maybe that will make Marvel change.

'Nuff said.

S.