Me and Coffeh met for coffee today. We had a great time, enjoying the endless discussions of nothing and everything, from important things to less important things. Talking about things, we also discussed URGE, and to be exact we discussed the new gaming board that’s been posted on here. How we could addept it better to the game, make it a part of strategies instead of just a place for units and buildings (emplacements) to exist on.

We came up with a few and great ideas. The only thing we need to work on now, is a basic set of cards to game set this new gaming style. I hope that you will be here when we post the update on the look and style of URGE from the very core.

/Nurgleprobe

Hello everyone!

Hope you all have a good one this year. With many beautiful gifts, and a dinner worth a king! Or atleast that of  a very rich man.

Merry Christmas from
Nurgleprobe & Coffeh!

So here is a really really early idea of what the new field will look like. Both players using very same zones.
From your side you will always have: “Home”, “Battlefield”, “Red Zone” and the last part is “Invasion”.
The invasion area is also were your opponent keeps his General.

Will be able to tell you more once we play test this new game board style.

PS. Yes… its a very very simple sketch.

/Nurgleprobe
@Urge Developer’s Blog

Tommy's City Grill - Former location

I was very sad when I went to Tommy’s website and saw that it was down, Still disbelieving I  called their phone number. I didn’t give up hope until I actually drove there.

After a little searching, I see that the former TCG chef Tommy Winrock is now cooking at “The Spot.” I don’t see any Phillys on the menu but maybe they have some specials. Either way, I’m sold on checking out The Spot.

Are it the dueling fanatics who get an early Christmas gift or are TCG’s becoming popular again? Anyway, iDuelpro was already popular, but it’s now even more popular and really becoming the killer Yu-gi-oh! App for iPhone & iPod Touch. The other versions for eg. Mac and Windows are also doing fantastic.

Especially the tons of extra features that the last updates brought are bringing a lot of extra Yu-gi-oh! and Magic! The Gathering players. We will even have to create a MTG variant of iDuelpro since the current version is more geared towards the Yu-gi-oh! TCG. But the fact that most versions except for the advanced iDuelpro for iPhone are free has something to do with the immense success and the nearly one million users worldwide.

Here’s an overview of all versions for several devices :
-iDuelpro Lite  for iPhone/iPod Touch (Free)
-iDuelpro for iPhone/iPod Touch (Price : 0.99$/0.79€/…) (Professional Version)
-Duelpro for Windows (Free)
-iDuelpro Mac for Mac OSX (Free)
-iDuelpro Widget for Mac OSX (Free)

iDuelpro for iPhone

Hello everyone!

I’ve been sitting here thinking about Urge. How to make the rules better and evolve the game. Ofcourse at the same time Im working on several other game ideas. Coffeh isnt around right now, but I was thinking about making this an acctual developers blog. Urge beeing the collective name of our work, but having several games under that title. Urge beeing our trademark to bring them togehter.

That would also mean there could be activity on here about new and different games, ofcourse always keeping the main focus on the Urge Game. So what do you think? Should we show you more of our individual and gathered work? Or simply keep this to the Urge Game.

Hmm. Will have to discuss this further with Coffeh.

/Nurgleprobe
@Urge Developer’s Blog

When Coffeh and me started designing this game, we wanted to create it with a theme that was easy to get sucked into. A theme well used in the world of videogames, World War 2. We had alot of ideas following this theme, famous quote cards that would effect your units powers. Expansions with units not seen in the acctual war (making us able to create more fictional units), Generals and so on. Resources were factories in the early version of the game, a concept that we’re once again looking into.

The first card that was designed for the game was a Flying Fortress. Since we cant post alot of info about the new rules or card design, here is the very first card design enjoy!

/Nurgleprobe
@Urge Developer’s Blog

osu~~  mina oha ~

dint sleep last night feeling high right now…

well cles happen to play a japanese card game called weiz schwarz

i just collects them so i got 7 random boosters

FF to the rarer cards first time have so good returns from 7 boosters yay

contains a RRR that i wanted alot yay(flone)

With the excitement over the FIFA World Cup 2010 growing, I thought it appropriate to start a series of posts/guides for the geek/gamer traveling soccer (that’s what we call it) fan. Today, I’d like to begin with Outer Limits, located in Melville, Johannesburg.

The Outer Limits staff - friendly and photogenic

I don’t think I’d be wrong in stating that the Outer Limits chain happens to be one of the more influential forces in the South African gaming scene, be it on the convention scene or the organising force behind various types of games/tournaments. The Melville branch, I believe, happens to be their flagship (you’ll also find them in Cape Town and Pretoria).

The staff at the Melville branch are friendly, talkative and knowledgable of their stock (don’t you hate it when the staff don’t know anything?), though I think all of them hate Cape Town (just on principle).

The store stocks the usual assortment of figurines, statues, war gaming gear, trading card games, board games, geeky apparel, role playing games,  books, manga, comics and graphic novels. Of course, my biggest interest lies in their role playing stock. Whenever I peruse their bookshelves, I can’t help but wonder if it’s a true reflection of the role playing scene. Outer Limits has a large supply of older books, but very little of the newer stuff (though you can order anything, should you require it). Maybe it’s just a supply chain issue, or maybe South Africa’s filled with grognards.

Stuff!

I really like the play area at Outer Limits – it’s on the veranda, almost spilling onto the roadside. The walls in this area are covered in fantasy-themed murals and offers players a wonderful view of all the fast food joints across the road (I think that this promotes faster play in tournaments with time-constraints). Sorry, I didn’t manage to get any pics of the murals (maybe next time), as I visited the store during the middle of a card tournament and I think the flash of my camera made them a bit skitterish.

Overall, I think that Outer Limits, Johannesburg, is one of the more important stops on the South African geek store circuit. Plus, when in Melville, be sure to get a pizza at the Ant!

- Jerall

P.S. Yes, I know that the post title sounds like some sort of human (geek) trafficking report. Sorry for the disappointment.

Was looking at Amiami and found an old Hobby of mine, Magic: The Gathering Trade Card Game (TCG) and I remember how uncool looked like this game after I went to Japan.

I just saw the New Magic The Gathering Card and made me sad, it looks all the same, the game starts get boring…

Japanese TCG have from a very simple card hitters like Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon, to a 3D screen with Card identifier on it and a lot of exciting battles.

The one that was popular when I went to Japan for the first time, is Called Lord of Vermillion, and everyone need some card to start the game. Player puts the card on the board screen and the Unit is summoned on that screen, he has some controls over it, and can remove his/her troops and put another when needed.

Interesting how Arcade Games evolved and kept the good stuff of Collectible Card Games.

Lord Of Vermillion

Someone else playing LoV on Taito Games

They also have Soccer Card Games on the same way

Magic: The Gathering Worldwake

And dont you forget it! And yes im fully aware of the design differences. Dont blame me for not having the original files. (Well you could since I was the one without a backup…)

/Nurgleprobe
@Urge Developer’s Blog

ElsabethK’s Trading Post.

Comment here or use my e-mail listed on the site to offer a trade.
Card Count: 99
Card Worth: 121

My Patches

Collecting – Mew Zakuro

Member Cards

Not Trading

Not Trading Puzzle

Special Not Trading

Might Trade

Puzzle Might Trade

Special Might Trade

Will Trade

Puzzle Will Trade

Special Will Trade

Pending Trade

Holds
ChiniPhy

DarkSeraphim

Phynix

Seiya

Charms

Trade Log
December 23, 2009
Alecks: Billie Piper 08, MC for Mew Zakuro 14, MC
Mary: jimhalpert16, MC for 5th Doctor 06, MC

December 21, 2009
DarkSeraphim: Donna Noble 07, Vincent Valentine 01 01, MC for England CM 08, 14, MC

December 11, 2009
Brandon: Homer Simpson 11 for Mew Zakuro 02

December 9, 2009
Mimi: Member Cards, Juliet Burke 10, Eve & Wall-E 03, Rhett & Scarlett 05 for 5th Doctor 19, Arnold Rimmer 15, Yuna 2 17, David Bowie BW 15 & 18
ChibiPhy: David Bowie BW 15, Wall-E & Eve 7 for Sailor Saturn 06 and Sailor Mina Moon 04
Abigail – Sailor Pluto CM 08 for Duke Seiya Anthony Watari IV 17
Seiya – Phineas Flynn 4 for Duke Seiya Anthony Watari IV 13

Update Log
December 23, 2009
Level Up: Patch, Mew Zakuro 04, 05, 06, Honey Kisaragi 20, Star Charm 2 x2, Princess Utena 06
Referral: Star Charm 3, Hannah Montanna 2 01, Flower Storm 06
Decks x5: Patch Decker x10, Tifalockhart 1 20, Mulan Hua 19, Kaoru Kamiya 07, Gotham 09, Mew Zakuro 07, 09

December 21, 2009
Update Freebies (2 of them): America&England BWM 08, Mew Mews 08, England BWM 15, 18, 19, England CM 1, 3, 5, Sister Yuki 2, 3, 4, Allied Police 12, 13, 14, Santa Claus 12, 13, 14, International Holiday 06, 10, 11, Holiday Choral 02, 03, 04, Nico Minoru 2, 15, 16
Donated 5 Decks: Patch, Nico Minoru 16, Riley Poole 1 11, Setsunoa Meioh CM 06, Mew Mews 07, Mew Zakuro 01, 03

December 11, 2009
Scripted: Sailor Jupiter 11, We Are Not Happy 1 11, Billie Piper 8
Judging By the Cover: isabellagarciashapiro19, bufordvanstomm18

December 9, 2009
Puzzle: Star Charm 4, Shawn Spencer 16, Eve & Wall-E 3
Roleplaying: Vincent Valentine 1 1, Sailor Pluto CM 8
Chaos Control!: Homer Simpson 11, Rhet & Scarlett 5
Character Select: Star Charm 1, 2, 3 & 4
Logical: Candence’s Closet 8, Phineas & Ferb 2
Joining: Member card, Prejoin patch, Haruhi Suzumiya BWB 20
2 Referals: Star Charm 3, Nights 11, Edmund & Lucy 1 7, Star Charm 2, Rhett & Scarlett 1, Hugh Jackman 3

December 8, 2009
Starter Pack: Mew Zakuro 8, 11, 18, 20, 5th & 10th 1, Sailor Mina Moon 7, Astrid Peth 17, Candence Flynn 20, Caridee English 1,, Perry & Doofenshrimtz 9, Star Charm 2 & 4
Guess the Number: Batman 18, Cutie Honey Live 12
Memory: Lady Gaga 13
Slots: Phineas Flynn 14, Eve & Wall-E 7, Star Charm 4
Tic-Tac-Tow: Hillary Duff 13 & Sailor Neptune CM 10
Ali-Di-La: Aphrodite 13, Sly Cooper 1 9
Catchphrase: Donna Noble 7, Cameron Diaz 18
Freezeframe: Sakura Kinomoto 11, Makoto Kino 16, Patrick Wolf 11
Henshin-yo: Sailor Mina Moon 1
Lost: Juliet Burkke 10, Let’s take a Quiz 9
Mixn Mingle: Star Charm 2, We Are Not Amused 1 10, Chuck 9
Golden Age: Star Charm 1, Hotaru Tomoe 9, Haruka Tenou 10
Pop Quiz: Cameron Phillips 3, Jim Halpert 16
On File: Boa 17, Byakuya BWM 13
Abra-Abracadabra: Patrick Wolf 2, Cameron Diaz 15
Citations: Yuki Kenmochi 9, Queen Nehelania 20, Forever Red 11

CCGsI am no expert on CCG’s (collectible card games) or MMO’s (massively multiplayer online) but I do love them, and I dream one day to create my own (here is the site that chronicles my attempt at creating a card game). Upon researching these games, I’ve played pokemon, magic, chaotic, yugioh and a host of other less successful games. I simply cannot afford to play these games at a competitive level. In fact, I think the cost of collecting and playing CCG’s is simply TOO expensive. Something I think is a big problem with CCGs in general.
Online CCGs
After weeks of searching I found the best free online "collectible card game" with no downloads. It is called Urban Rivals. Before I start telling you why it is worth playing (and far better than most online games), I want you to know what I was looking for. I started simply looking for new CCGs that were hitting the market, I found and tried Chaotic where you can get a free generic deck online, and can upgrade your deck by buying packs of cards at stores like walmart or target. Chaotic was decent, but there were many issues with the online play that was not fun, and once again, anyone that had spent 50-200 dollars buying cards would automatically dessimate someone who has only spent 10 dollars or no dollars. This divide made that game feel like you should only play if you have the money. I also hated downloading and constantly updating the battle system, which is the same for magic online and most other online games such as this. But then………

Urban Rivals
You do not need any download to play this game. You get a free deck when you join. It takes only a few seconds to learn and hours to master. The cards are fun and hilarious. Free tournaments every two hours, where you can win rare cards , credit to buy online packs and win money to buy cards in the market. It does cost money to buy online packs of cards, but you can easily create great decks without ever buying a pack. The system is extremely fun, the more you play the more you make the more cards you can buy in the market. Building a deck is really fun, and earning enough credit to buy packs in the store is extremely rewarding. The packs are all done online, so you can buy a pack in seconds and see the new cards withon one moment. You do not need to type in code or wait for packs in the mail. Urban Rivals is almost perfect.

Urban Rivals Gameplay
The actual game is a blast too, I am in a game right now in another browser and I am fighting my 4 gang members against their 4 diverse gang members. I currently have a monotype deck (meaning they are all the same type) with Sentinal gang members. Each card has an attack value and a deck damage value, you assign pills to each card secretly each round to determine how much extra powerful they become (you only get 12 total pills to use and they multiply your attack value). The battles last only a few minutes (3 minutes average) and you watch your cards grow in power upon gained experience and the cards LEVEL UP and turn into new cards the more you play. It is kinda like a RPG card game.
Search for the Best
This is the best free, no download, CCG MMO based online card game I have ever seen. And I have searched for 6 months. You owe it to yourself, if you like RPGs or card games at all, to try this game Urban Rivals.

Magic: The Gathering haunts me.

I’ve quit thrice before, but it’s never left me. Aside from the physical box of cards I’d hate to get rid of without some kind of monetary compensation, something reminds me of the addicting mechanics every few months, forcing me to check out what’s new with the game.

I’ll never play paper Magic again, and the money-trap element keeps me away from Magic Online, but I spent several weeks tapping islands and swinging with drakes into early summer mornings nonetheless thanks to Stainless Games’ Duels of the Planeswalkers.

At first, I was content helping my roommate understand the mechanics of the game as he played the demo, but by the time he was done, I was offering to pay for half. It wasn’t just because it was a cheap, legal way to play Magic again. Duels of the Planeswalkers‘ streamlined execution adds a subtle but unique element to the game I loved to hate.

The seemingly endless amount of cards to buy often left me making budget variations of tournament-worthy Standard decks. My refusal to publicly reveal how much of a nerd I am left another roommate as my only opponent aside from the interesting folks at the occasional pre-release tournaments we went to. I longed to compete against quality, expensive decks with some of my own.

Duels of the Planeswalkers was designed from the ground up to be a streamlined version of Magic that anyone could pick up and play. Some reviewers claim this renders the game obsolete for people who are already familiar with the game, but for poor quitters like me, the game is a ten-dollar nostalgia trip that puts everyone on a level playing field by offering a set number of cards with minimal customization.

This lack of customization forces the eight playable decks to revolve around slight variations of the same win condition: creatures. Of course, white has loads of those creatures and green has big ones while red burns, blue counters, and black does a bit of everything, but none of them do it very well, not when compared to real competitive Magic. That’s not a problem as far as I’m concerned, though, since everyone is playing with the same limitations. These limitations are liberating, but the streamlined process is taken a bit too far, leading to the game’s biggest fault.

You earn new cards as you progress and can choose whether or not to add them, but they’re restricted to individual decks. The original sixty cards can’t be customized, so you can only weigh your deck down with extra cards, reducing your chances to draw more reliable cards early on and preventing you from altering your mana base, which can be a bit heavy at times.

DLC has been released since I stopped playing Duels, adding a few more decks and several extra cards for the original decks, but again, I think I’m done with Magic: The Gathering, this time for good. I haven’t checked out what’s new with the game since the day I first drafted this post back in the summer, but I’m content. The ghost is gone for good.

We are currently half way through the this lists meta and as usual the meta has settled with the consistent showings of the current big 3 decks. Now of course we are getting the odd gladiator beast deck here and the odd chaos deck there but these 3 decks are the ones lording it at the top of the pile with only each other to worry about. (Although as a side note it seems to be a trend in meta decks atm to see a pair of mirror of oaths in the typical non lightsworn side decks for those players still fearing the odd gladiator beast match up).

In part 1 of this article I want to discuss a deck that seems to be the bane of all Yu-G-Oh players existence in this game atm and that deck is the Lightsworn archetype. It’s currently being represented in more non-standard variants but all in all, at the core, the deck is lightsworn in origin and so has that primary function of doing what the deck does best; milling a ton of cards and then dropping that fearful, board clearing menace, Judgment Dragon! (usually for game).

At the moment there are so many variants that it makes it hard to be able to decide on a   defining build in which to write about. Whether it be twilight or the German played volcanic lightsworn or even the standard lightsworn builds there is a lot of room for discussion. With this in mind I have decided for this article to highlight the new ‘kid on the block’ that has been turning a few heads with its tournament winning ways and that is the recent shonen jump winning deck known as French twilight, piloted by the former French Fortune Tour and French national champion, Vincent Ralambomiadana.

… and here is the list, which I’m sure many of you will have already seen.

Vincent Ralambomiadana

Monster Cards -

3 Tragoedia
2 Chaos Sorcerer
1 Dark Armed Dragon
3 Necro Gardna
1 Plaguespreader Zombie
1 Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness
2 Judgment Dragon
2 Celestia, Lightsworn Angel
3 Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
2 Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
1 Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior
1 Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid
1 Jain, Lightsworn Paladin
3 Honest
2 Wulf, Lightsworn Beast

Spell Cards -

3 Charge of the Light Brigade
3 Solar Recharge
2 Allure of Darkness
1 Heavy Storm
1 Monster Reincarnation

Trap Cards -

2 Beckoning Light

Some odd card choices I can hear a few of you guys say. Who ever said odd was bad?

I first heard of this deck on the European forum grapevine a few months back and like every other duelist I was eager to see what the list looked like. Many speculated and many drew up similar deck lists over the course of a few months but I wanted to see the original for myself. So after a long weekend of dueling and waiting we all got to see what we were eager to see in all its shonen jump winning glory!

So lets take a look at some of the cards that were integral to this decks strategy.

First of all, we will take a look at one of the main monster cards in the deck which is a sure fire mvp.

“Tragoedia
Effect Monster
DARK / Fiend / 10 Stars
ATK: ?     DEF: ?

You can Special Summon this card from your hand when you take Battle Damage . This card gains 600 ATK and DEF for each card in your hand. Once per turn, you can send 1 monster from your hand to the Graveyard to take control of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls with the same Level as the sent monster. Once per turn, you can select 1 monster in your Graveyard; this card’s Level becomes the same as that monster’s, until the End Phase.”

A card many people have and are currently using in their zombie builds but in Lightsworn you say? what on earth for? Well for that to become apparent you need to realize that unlike other lightsworn decks that focus on milling through the cards to stick those important cards like Judgment Dragon and the such into the graveyard to become beckoning light targets,  this deck takes a slower path. The strategy involves keeping a big hand which allows you the privilege of having a solid beat stick in Tragoedia. This means you have to be smarter in the choices you make when playing the card in your hand.

So what exactly does Tragoedia help achieve in this deck?

Not only does it provide a powerful force in attacking it can also become a towering wall – especially useful in dodging those ever present otk attempts. The card can also makes up for the lack of defensive trap cards in the deck. It is also gives you another use for Wulf, Lightsworn Beast if you are unlucky enough to draw into your 2 main decked copies by using Tragoedias’ ability to trade a monster in your hand for one of the ones your opponent has on their side of the field providing it’s the same level. Imagine the look on your opponent’s face when you discard your in hand Necro Garnda to take your opponents Lumina or better yet, you discard you own Lumina to take theirs only to discard a card to the pilthered Lumina to get yours back from the graveyard. There are lots of other cool tricks you can do with Tragoedia but this effect alone makes Tragoedia one of the best monsters this format and it’s a card I will elaborate on more in the zombie archetype part of my article.

For the spell lineup I am going to focus more on then selection of spells that Vincent uses as opposed to just one. As you can see, the majority of his spells are draw cards and search cards which for a deck such as this, only helps to dig for those cards he wants in his hand. Looking at the list of spells you can see that he plays the standard Lightsworn lineup but with all those potential hand hogging dark cards that he mains, he is able to bring Allure of Darkness into the fold to help alleviate the possible clogged hands he could draw into. Drawing cards in Yu-Gi-Oh is serious business after all and this deck loves to do that especially with a hungry Tragoedia to feed.

Although Vincent only plays the one singular copy of Monster Reincarnation, I find that this card is one of the most important cards to a Lightsworn deck. It goes without saying that if beckoning light didn’t exist, this card would definitely be played in a set of 3. Some of the lesser known Lightsworn archetypes do in fact play more copies of Monster Reincarnation. For example, Volcanic Lightsworn, currently being piloted to many a top/win presently in Germany by Piran Asci plays 2 to 3 copies of Monster Reincarnation due to the inconsistency between his volcanic engine and beckoning light and we are all more than aware of the consistency issues a Lightsworn deck can suffer. After all, when you ditch a card as a cost to pay for Monster Reincarnation to add back a Judgment Dragon, 1 + 1 doesn’t equal 2, it equals 3000.

The last of this article brings the last of the cards on the list to be discussed. As already mentioned beforehand, the lack of defensive traps is covered by the mained copies of Tragioedia but the deck still plays probably the most important trap card in the Lightsworn deck and that card is Beckoning Light.

Beckoning Light reads, all the cards in your hand to the Graveyard, then select a number of LIGHT monsters from your Graveyard equal to the number of cards you discarded, and add them to your hand.

This card oozes power in a deck such as this and is quite the momentum changer especially when dumping cards such as dead in hand Wulfs and Necro Gardnas to add back such niceties as Judgment Dragon and Honest. I personally have seen many a games momentum completely switched 180 because of this card and having also been on the receiving end of this, it often leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth.

In my opinion, unless there is a specific reason, there should be no reason why this card isn’t the proverbial trap backbone to your Lightsworn deck.

Thank you for reading and hope you pop back soon to the Stratagem Blog!

Rise of Angels….

Bandai recently released the expansion for their popular TCG, Battle Spirits.  The new set is dubbed Rise of Angels and contains 115 all-new cards.  The packs for the set will contain 8 cards per pack & 32 packs per box with an MSRP of only $2.99.

Additionally, Bandai is giving away 2 free demo decks as of this writing.  If you would like to get your 2 free 50 card demo decks here is a link to the form.

Oh yeah.. here are high resolution pictures of all 115 cards from the set:

As we begin to set up and produce content I wanted to gloss over what might be coming from me and a few other contributors.

Video Content – Matches and Casting from my local tournaments and tournaments in the area

Audio Content – Plan for a podcast of some kind, or small bite-sized chunks of commentary.

Written Content – Articles from myself and a few other people bringing you news, reviews, analysis and all that good stuff.

Stratagem TCG will be an informal blog about promoting card games as a competitive and fun genre of gaming. If you want to ask something or find out more information, send a mail over to stratagemtcg@gmail.com! And follow us on twitter at Stratagem TCG to find out when new posts are uploaded. We are also over at TCG Player just search for Stratagem.

Trading card games are a lot of fun but it can be daunting if your not sure how to begin or where to start. Even stepping away from the game for a few months can shake you up when you try to come back, although this blog post presumes you have little to no card pool. So if you want some tips getting into Yu-gi-oh! Or not sure how to go about setting up a decent card pool I have these tips

1) Community, Community, Community.

You need to get involved with your local tournament/hobby shop and trading forums. Most of your cards will be coming from trades if you do not have a big wallet, so getting into the community and meeting some people will pay off in the long run.

This is also a good way of getting staples, good commons or reprints. Yu-gi-oh is heavily reprinted so most people will all sorts of cards en mass and if your courteous enough players wont mind helping you out. If your not sure which commons to look out for I will partially be going over this in part 2.

Note: Please do not go begging for cards. There is a difference between asking and hounding, so if someone refuses, politely accept their response, you do not want to be making enemies.

2) Pre-constructed decks

If you want your own deck and you want it quickly, pre-constructed is one better way to go. Though do not expect a meta stomping tyrant of a deck, it’s going to need some work to get it to be slightly competitive.

Most pre-constructive decks nowadays are built with a strategy/combo inside, and often gives you an information sheet showing you want you need to be aiming for, these will be your key cards. You may need to invest in three copies of your deck of choice to get all the cards you need and to remove some of the more useless ones, but even then it’s going to need cards from other places.

Still its the quickest way of obtaining your own deck and something to start building on, and under £25 (for three of the pre-con decks) is a cheap price.

3) Online

Now if you have the cash and want to be getting in on the tournament scene, you want to be packing something competitive. Now in the past, I have played against people who would buy all the rare cards, the meta decks but not have an inch of knowledge of how to use them. So if your new, try to avoid buying the latest trends straight off the bat.

What buying cards online does offer is a way to fill your pre-constructed deck, or your card pool up with some much needed staples and commons. Sometimes it might be worth buying commons en mass on an e-bay auction to further your choices, but honestly you only need to pick up cards which are universal or can be used in more then one deck (going over this in part 2).

If you have already have some experience and think you can get back into the groove quite rapidly, checking meta decks out and buying them is a fair way to get back into the game. Going into your local hobby shop and watching a tournament can provide some valuable information of what is being played near you. You can even ask around and test spin some other players deck to get a feel of what you might like to play.

4) Boosters packs

Buying booster packs are an effective way of gaining a decent card pool of options but will wreck your wallet in the process. Still getting one or two booster boxes might be beneficial but there are a few things to consider before you drop the cash.

• Are there cards worth money in the set that I am buying?

• How many cards in the set do I truly want or need?

• How many have currently been brought off the counter?

If you’re buying single boosters, sometimes it’s better to wait around for the day and see what people open, and buy if the rare cards have yet to be pulled. This is especially handy when a new box of boosters is freshly opened as you can gauge how many ultra rare or super rare cards are likely to be left.

If you are buying a box of boosters, go for a set which as an overall high demand/value set of cards. Then you will have some good trade bait to carry around to help you acquire harder to get cards for your own deck.
So in conclusion:

• Get involved, make some friends!
• Preconstructed decks are an easy way to get playing quickly.
• Evaluate boosters with possible gains/losses, dont waste your cash.
• Search for deals online!

Stay tuned to other things happening on the StratagemTCG blog very shortly, as we bring you some audio/video coverage of local tournaments, meta analysis and all sorts of other content. Got any tips to share? Post them in the comments or send them to stratagemtcg@googlemail.com along with any questions you may have.

Since I don’t get to play the WoW TCG as often as I like, I’ve decided to consolidate my decks and just focus on maintaining a half dozen or so. I can then focus on getting cards that improve just those decks and avoid having to buy a lot of boxes and rares and the like. Here are the Heroes that I’m going to focus on:

Moala Stonebinder, Draenei Shaman, Enhancement
Ressa Shadeshine, Gnome Rogue, Combat
Kauno Stonehoof, Tauren Druid, Feral
Morn Walks-the-Path, Tauren Hunter, Survival
Erondra Frostmoon, Night Elf Death Knight, Unholy
Exaura the Cryptkeeper, Undead Mage, Arcane

Of the decks, only Prometha (and maybe Erondra) is likely to be competitive in a tournament. The others are for raids and fun formats. As I build each deck I’ll make a post about it and give you an idea of what I included certain cards. Half of what makes a deck appealing is the art, and I like the art on each of these cards. The other half sticks to a theme, and the third half is about being competitive.

Well, its been several days since the Anime Festival Asia 2009 has ended. Many people have posted their various experiences and encounters at the event. Now it’s my turn. What took me so long you say? Well I’ve had a few commitments impede my progress such as completely reworking the image hosting for the site. Instead of my blog using the standard image hosting that wordpress provides (which is slow, sluggish and inconvenient), I now use photobucket which makes uploading images and posting them on the site a lot easier as well as the images happen to load significantly faster. I also have been working on the site’s gallery and videos section which have been significantly updated with images from the AFA 2009 event, feel free to check them out. Now without any further delay I shall report my findings at this years Anime Festival Asia!

Early Arrival

For those that thought arriving early to avoid the hassle of the crowds was that simple, well you were wrong. The 4th level of the Suntec City building was full by 10am (which was the opening time). Thank god I had pre-ordered my tickets and didn’t have to stand in line for one as the queue for tickets was endless. Cosplayers could be seen standing around amongst the crowds.

The crowds on the second day were much lesser compared to the first day. Good thing for me, less people to accidentally bump into.

Danny Choo / Tokyo Figure Show

When the gates finally opened. I went straight to the Danny Choo/ Tokyo Figure Show booth, where I was surprised to find Danny Choo himself to be standing by himself (for the rest of the day people would be crowding around him). I managed to take a quick picture of him, swap name cards and shake his hand. That itself had already made my day. Later on in the day I managed to get him to sign my copy of The Otaku Encyclopedia by Patrick W. Galbraith. Another joyful moment.

The booth itself was amazing as it contained many discontinued figurines of all sorts which I never have been able to lay my hands on. This was a chance for me to see them up close. It also gave me a sneak preview of things to come such as the Black Rock Shooter figure that everyone has their eye on, plus the limited edition Mirai Figma which hopefully will be released soon. The ita-bike made by Kodomut was fantastic. I’ll only show a few pictures here as the rest can be viewed in the gallery.

Cosplay

For those of you who wondered the festival grounds might have noticed the various cosplayers showing off their costumes. I was able to take a few shots throughout the event. A few of my personal favourites are listed below. Once again there are many more pictures in the gallery.

Bandai / Gundam

For those take came, I doubt you would have missed the Bandai and Gundam exhibition that was close to the entrance. Some of them were seen earlier in the month at the BAKUC Exhibition in Orchard Road. Many of the ones seen earlier were placed on display here at the AFA. Looking them up close again allowed me to see the hard work and effort put into these masterpieces. Looking at them makes me feel like purchasing a gunpla kit and start building one. Perhaps I’ll leave that for another day.

Artwork

One of the exhibitions that I feel was underrated and less touched on was the artists corner where it displayed all the talented works of aspiring artists. Some artworks simply blew me away as the detail and colours were astounding. We truly have some talent people in Singapore. If only I could draw as half as good as them, I’d be happy already.

I personally found myself favouring the Saber picture as my she is one of my favourite characters. The picture shows her elegance and beauty in her normal combat attire as well as capturing an emotionless face that could be hiding sorrow and sadness of her past. Another favourite from me would be the Naruto Hearts picture which is a cross series parody of the Naruto and Kingdom Hearts series. Interesting combination that could work in the future. I found it interesting to see artworks from the Warhammer 40,000 series on display, but to me I was glad to see other genres of works there. I personally used to collect, assemble and battle with the model figures a long time ago. Anyway the two pictures below used a different style of painting which successfully captured the chaotic nature of the Marines locked into battle with the xenos.

I found the last two pictures to be very creative and amusing. It seems we have some members of Anonymous lurking around heh. I wonder who drew that Harley Danny Choo picture? Nonetheless it was very amusing. Excellent work.

Assorted Booths:

Moe Moe Kyun Cafe

The day 1 queue was so long I couldn’t even find where the queue ended. It would have been nice if me and my mates had gone inside but once again the queues were too long and I figured it would have been expensive to purchase food inside. I had run out of money by the time the queues had shortened. The queues on the second day were significantly shorter as there was less people at the festival. From the outside it seemed like a good place and sit down though,

Kareshi Kanojyo no Mise (KKnM)

The KKnM stalls was one of the earlier booths I visited at day 1. I figured all the good stuff would be gone at the end of the day, I decided to have a peek to see what exclusives I could bag. With a touch of luck, I was about to bring home a Figma Saber Lily as well as a Good Smile Company 1/8 Saber. The stall was packed all the way from morning to late afternoon. All the good stuff was gone by afternoon. I had managed to catch a glimpse of a Figma Product 01 Konata in a Haruhi Cosplay (for $150) early morning, however I was beaten to it by someone else. Lucky guy, oh well easy come easy go.

There were other figurine stalls also like RoboRobo and La Tendo but were just as full. Each shop had their own different set prices plus exclusives. I saw a discontinued Fate from the Nanoha series going for $500 and above. Jeez I wonder who would buy that.

Tactical Weapons

A small front was setup for these guys. They had their weapons on display. Cool looking weapons, movable and life-like. Pistol chambers would move if fired, foldable handgrips and so on. Of course all their weapons were replicas. Lots of their advertisements were people in an army uniform carrying their weapons, many of them could be seen around the place.

Cospa

Yup, even Cospa is setting up shop in Singapore now. About 1 week before the AFA, they already had started up their website which can be found here. They had all sorts of anime t-shirts, towels, mugs and other accessories. They even had a Jan-Ken-Pon (scissors paper rock) competition give away. The finalist would play against Danny Choo. I was somewhere behind the crowd at that point of time. The lucky guy eventually won a Black Mirai T-shirt. Congrats!

Credit goes to Mike Abundo for the video.

Besides clothing, they had HUGE Litter Buster’s towels at a whopping $150. Tempting but insanely expensive even for me. Adorable designs though.

Did I mention they had a wall scroll for the upcoming Nanoha movie? Well if not here’s the poster for it.

Too bad I ran out of funds to purchase one. Oh well I can still pick one up at the store or hopefully Sunshine Plaza.

Summer Wars

An upcoming anime movie, Summer Wars, had their own booth. I decided to snoop around to see what I could found up this anime. Apparently it was created by Madhouse who also created Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) which is one of my favourite anime movies of all time. Much hype of this movie is to be expected as the studio itself has earned a name for themselves. through their previous masterpieces. As I saw the preview, the artwork and animation seems extremely details and beautiful (like its previous movie), I’ll definitely be watching this movie when it is released. Hopefully I will have time to do a review on the movie when it comes out later on in the year.

Collateral Damage Studios

Mainly the K-ON and Ayanami Rei artwork caught my eye as I walked past it. I few things I managed to spot was a familiar piece of artwork I saw on figure.fm about 1 week before the AFA. I asked if the artist was there, however he was busy looking around the place. Damn I wanted to ask him for his name card. I saw a massive Mio Akiyama wall scroll which I wouldn’t have mind getting, but once again I was out of funds. Their website can be found here.

Takashimaya Store

As expected, they had their own store which was fairly huge compared to the rest. They were selling all kinds of thing, dakimakuras/body pillows, pillow cases, mugs, bags, wall scrolls, pretty much anything with an anime design on it. The place was a bit price but I still managed to pick up a Shakugan no Shana wall scroll for a good $40. Not bad considering the size. The place was packed like a can of tuna from morning to god knows when. Regardless there were people inside throughout the whole day. Something that caught my eyes was the Domo kun plushies they had out front. I couldn’t resist to take a picture as well as giving it a great big hug. Oh just so you know the biggest size of Domo kun costed $300. Big Domo costs big bucks.

Storm Lion Booth

They were advertising for a new movie coming out soon. Didn’t have time to look around there though. I saw a fantastic artist who used photoshop and a drawing tablet to draw a masterpiece throughout the whole day. He just ignored everyone and kept drawing. Absolutely amazing.

Animax Live Dubbing

Near the back of the exhibition was the Animax area which were promoting special deals for Starhub Cable television. Not bad deals but the contract for cable television is too long since I’ll only be here for a few more months. What was unique about the place was the live recording studio they had at the back. You could input your own voice as one of the main characters in the anime of your choice. Quite embarrassing however humourous for those watching like me. I was too shy to give it a try for myself.

Cosplay Weapons Stall

A small stall was setup by a bunch of mainland Chinese guys which sold weapons (mainly swords) from various anime. What I spotted was Uchiha Sasuke’s sword, Saber Alter and normal Saber, some sort of Final Fantasy sword which I think sold out fast, wooden bokkens, various swords from Bleach and many other Katanas. Each were about $40 and were mainly made of wood. Not bad but I’d prefer to make my own. If I had to buy one it would probably be the normal Saber or Saber Alter sword. Quite tempting to buy one though.

Dolfies Stalls

I’m not a Dolfie person but when I came across the stall, I was shock to see how elegant and beautiful these things were when I saw them up close. They truly are a masterpiece. I didn’t bother asking for the price as I already knew it was out of my range. Extremely beautiful dolls.

Weiss Schwarz Booth

Had a quick peek into their booths. They had all kinds of starter decks to choose from. I would have picked up a Fate/Stay Night starter deck but they didn’t have it in stock. The Nanoha deck was also quite tempting. Hopefully when it is released in the retail shops, I’ll be able to pick one up. Seems easy enough to learn. Anyway there were people playing the card game throughout the whole day. There was even a competition from what I was told.

Region Cosplay Championships

Since it was my first time being apart of an audience for a cosplay competition I had assumed the crowds wouldn’t have been so big. I was completely wrong when I had to make my way through the amount of people gathering for the on stage event. Due to the large crowds, awkward position and constant obstruction of view by the media and AFA crew, I was unable to get decent shots the whole time.

Anyway the finalists and anime skit chosen were:

ST Revolutions (Singapore) – Unknown Anime

00 Emotions (Singapore) – Gundam 00

Sekai no Gumi (Malaysia) – Code Geass

Endless Illusion (Indonesia) – Lineage II

Houshin Enqi (Thailand) – Unknown Anime

Witchblade (Philippines) – Witchblade

The skits for each team can be seen below (credit goes to Hexlord for taking these wonderful videos and Zh3us for finding them for his blog!):

Each contestant won a participating prize as well as a big hug from Kaname who was cosplaying as Kamina from Gurren Lagenn. The hug between the Gundam and Kaname was priceless.

Personally, I thought 00 Emotions and Endless Illusions had the best costumes and assume they took the longest to create. The Gundam costume doesn’t need any words to describe their costume. One look will explain everything. The costumes made for the Lineage II skit was simply beautiful especially under the stage lights where the armour and weapons truly shine (literally) with brilliance.

With the skit and their performance Sekai no Gumi have points from me for almost complete originality St Revolutions did provide a very emotional scene with outstanding acting.

Nonetheless congrats to 00 Emotions and their Gundam 00 skit for an excellent performance as well as taking home the Grand Prize for Go Singapore!

Moe Moe Kyun Girls Karoke Performance

On the second day of the festival the Moe Moe Kyun girls did a karoke session. Enjoyable to watch. Video captured below is done by other than yours truly.

Joysound Karoke Booth

Located near the Animax area, near the back of the hall was a karoke machine where people could chose and sing their favourite Japanese songs (not just anime openings and closings). Lots of people gathered waiting for others to try the machine. As for me, I’m generally a crap singer, plus I don’t know fluent Japanese. The more of a reason for me to completely avoid touching the microphone. Anyway a few people were courageous enough and delivered a wonderful performance whether their singing was good or bad. Either way I think they had fun, because I know I enjoyed watching them sing (or attempt to). A few of the singers can be viewed below, sorry for the crap sound quality.

K-ON Experience

Now here comes the highlight for the second day of the AFA. The K-ON stage live dubbing took place a few minutes after the karoke performance by the Moe Moe Kyun maids. I promised myself I’d get a seat just for this so I took the effort to come extra early. I managed to grab a seat near the front which I was content with. They decided to prohibit video and photography taking for the remaining of the onstage events so I was unable to take any photos or videos. I saw a few people get their gear confiscated eek.

For those who are unfamiliar with K-ON, you can find out all you need to know here.

Before the girls came onto the stage, Reiko (one of the MC’s) asked Danny Choo (being the other MC) was asked “What do you like about K-ON?”. He responded with pretty much what 99% of the audience was thinking which was “That they are beautiful little girls” or something along the lines of that. Majority of the people there had a chuckle including myself as we understood what he meant.

As the girls were introduced on stage, a familiar opening song and video played as they came out one by one. Right on cue as their individual characters were displayed on-screen they walked onto the stage. I think I partially lost my hearing due to the crowd cheering.The crowd roars as each of the seiyu’s come on to the stage. They introduce themselves to the audience in English (which wasn’t too shabby).It seems that Mio’s seiyu didn’t show which was a downer however it was still good that the rest had made it to the festival. From what I could recollect, the group of girls were a happy, energetic and lively bunch.

After introducing themselves they proceeded with the live dubbing. They did 3 scenes in total each one being as humorous and well performed as the previous.

Thanks to SP LifeArts for saving me the trouble of going through each episode to find the specific scenes as well as the accurate pictures for each scene.

1st Scene – Episode 9:

Azusa still being new to the club as well as the K-ON scene, comes back to the club house to find the rest of the girls slacking. Yui successfully tempts her weakness, which happens to be cake.

 

Caaakeee!

2nd Scene – Episode 11:

Yui’s guitar (Gitah as Yui has named it) is being sent for a maintenance at their local instrument store. What Yui doesn’t realize is that this is not free, however the shopkeeper see Mugi and weavers off the fee since her family owns the store.

 

Gitah is being sent for repairs

3rd Scene – Episode 13:

The 4 girls as seen walking home in the snow as they discuss where to hold their next club training session.

Overall, it was a wonderful performance I was amazed at how they recited their own lines with utmost precision and timing to the corresponding episode. They did it while enjoy themselves as well as pulling funny faces and poses. It was truly brilliant.

Their Question & Answer session followed shortly after where Danny Choo would pick questions (submitted by fans on the AFA website).

Once again I thank SP LifeArt & j1m0ne, as I couldn’t remember the exact questions and answers from the day itself.

Question 1: How similar are you to your character you voice in K-ON?

Aki Toyosaki (Yui): She is air-headed and prone to daydreaming

Satomi Satō (Ritsu): Before she became a seiyu she mention that she was a shy and quiet girl. When she took the role of Ritsu she became more lively and energetic due to her character’s personality. Similiar to Ritsu she encourages her fellow friends and teammate.

Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): She enjoys bringing gifts of sweet things like cake for her friends and teammate to eat.

Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): She is not as serious as her character but she does enjoy eating sweet things. Thanks to her role, she now likes taiyaki.

Question 2: What are the challenges you face when voicing your character?

Aki Toyosaki (Yui): Since Yui has a high-pitched voice, she tries to prevent straining her voice.

Satomi Satō (Ritsu): Ritsu is known for a tomboyish nature, she triess to balance her voice in sounding like a boy as well as being harsh for certain scenes.

Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): Mugi has a natural slow and peaceful speaking voice so when voicing her, she has to slow down when talking.

Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): She often scolds her seniors, however she herself is still a junior in school, so she has to balance between how harsh she sounds.

Question 3: What is your favourite line from K-ON?

Aki Toyosaki (Yui): “Un-tan Un-tan Un-tan”. Basically she made this sound.

Satomi Satō (Ritsu): “Ano toki no yakusoku wa… uso datta no ka!?” – That promise we made…. was it all a lie!?

Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): “Mo-ichido Moe” seen here in the first few seconds. Amusing video.

Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): “Nya” (Meow) When she puts on the Nekomimi cat ears seen here.

Question 4: What are the similarities of your own schooling life to your characters school life in K-ON?

Aki Toyosaki (Yui): Her clubs during her school days involved gathering and having fun rather than training or normal activities itself.

Satomi Satō (Ritsu): She had a childhood friend, also if her friend befriended someone else or gave her less attention she would become jealous.

Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): If one of her friend in her group are sick, she is the one saying this can or cannot be done with that person.

Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): She was a member of the ‘going home’ club during her school life, similar to K-ON as the group of girls walk home together.

Question 5: If you were not a seiyu (voice actress), what would you be?

Aki Toyosaki (Yui): Someone who uses their voice like a singer.

Satomi Satō (Ritsu): Yet again, someone who uses their voice, a storyteller at the library or pet shop owner or childcare worker. She would probably keep changing jobs.

Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): Her dream was to use her voice and become a seiyu, but if she didn’t it would have been something creative like a stylist or make-up artist.

Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): Someone that catches the bad guys, like a detective. Something like Detective Conan as she read the manga.

It was shortly after they announced that 4 lucky people would be walking away with signed boards of each of the seiyu’s autographs. 4 seats were called out. I-28, H-16, M-35, A-18 however no one was sitting there so C-31 was called again. When ‘H’ in H-16 was called I think I felt my heart stop beating for a few seconds. Sadly it was seat 16 in my row as I was sitting in seat 20. Close but no cigar.

After the Q & A, which proved to be very amusing as well as insightful, it ended off well with the seiyu’s saying their final words as they were all happy to be in Singapore and will be looking forward to coming back. They said their goodbyes and waved to the audience as they left the stage. Overall I found it to be very entertaining as I was very lucky to be there. I shall cherish this moment for the rest of my life.

I wish I knew Japanese so I could have done a better job of translation. I hopefully learn Japanese in the future.

Kaname Cosplay Panel Session – The Basics of Cosplay

The panel session was split into several parts consisting of introduction, character selection, costume selection, sewing and posing. He mainly gave his own tips and know-how on the topics at hand. His own personal life was included in some of the discussion, stuff like what he does when he is not cosplaying, what he does in his spare time, when did he start cosplaying and so on.

Conclusion

Overall, I had a fantastic time I had really enjoyed myself and di majority of the things I had wanted to do. There’s really much else to say other than I’ll be looking forward to next years Anime Festival Asia. There are still similar events remaining this year such as the Comic Fiesta in Sunway Pyramid, Malaysia (on the 19 to 20 December) as well as the End of Year 2009 (on the 26th December).

Now without further a due, I shall depart with none other than Danny Choo and his Tokyo Stormtrooper dance in Singapore to conclude this report. Enjoy.

Source:http://unlimitedotakuworks.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/late-anime-festival-asia-2009-report/

Scourgewar, the 1st of 3 sets from the newest World of Warcraft (WoW) TCG block is finally out and I have information & pictures of the complete set for you to use!

Scourgewar contains 270 cards broken down into 120 commons, 60 uncommon’s, 60 rare’s, 10 epics & 20 heroes.

Additionally, the latest expansion places heavy emphasis on the class of your hero.  Scourgewar is also the first set to fully integrate the Death Knight class!

The new set will have 3 new keywords as well; Mend for the healing classes, Assault for the DPSers & Deathrattle which allows you to interact with the graveyard.

Now on to the image gallery!:

A poco más de una semana de haber salido la expansión en Japón, ya se van perfilando las 20 cartas extra que incluye cada expansión de esta sexta edición del juego. Y “Fuerza Poderosa Absoluta” no podía ser una excepción.Con motivo de que “Fuerza Poderosa Absoluta”, y de que se trata la expansión que finaliza el arco argumentativo de los signos oscuros, como cartas añadidas, así como destacables de la expansión se encuentran las versiones normalizadas de las sincronías oscuras que usaban el hermano de Godwin, así como el malo de relleno que pusieron para entretener a los gemelos.

Sí, estamos hablando de la “Araña del Subsuelo” y del “Rey Mono Zeman”, cuyas cartas habían sido lanzadas en Japón como parte de un libro para coleccionistas en calidad de promocionales hace poco tiempo.

De las dos cartas mencionadas hace poco, la “Araña del subsuelo” tendría algo de coherencia el sacarla en esta expansión, ya que las arañas son un arquetipo en auge, y se necesitan monstruos “poderosos” (Dejando aparte al Inmortal de la Tierra). Su efecto hace que cuando ataca, el rival no puede activar cartas mágicas, ni trampas hasta el final del turno. Además, cada turno esta carta se apropiaría de un monstruo para equiparlo como carta de equipo (Vamos, podríamos decir que es una especie de Renunciado, pero sin quedarse con sus puntos de ataque), y en caso de que se fuera a destruir esta carta, destruir la equipada. Solo puede tener un monstruo equipado a la vez, y cada turno puede llevarse a uno (Siempre y cuando no tenga ninguno).

Por otra parte, el “Rey Mono Zeman” no tiene razón de que aparezca en la expansión (Y de hecho, creo que es de las primeras cartas de Demak que van a aparecer, siendo el Inmortal de la Tierra la otra, puesto que de los primates siervos de este aún no se sabe nada), aunque como sincronía para un mazo de bestias no esta mal. La primera parte del efecto sería exactamente igual que la de la araña de Rudger. La segunda parte dice que puedes enviar al cementerio desde tu mano una carta para negar el ataque de un monstruo enemigo, lo cual vendría a decir que los efectos de las dos sincronías son más o menos parecidos, puesto que se basan en protegerse lo máximo que puedan de los monstruos rivales.

Para su invocación, claro esta, se necesita un cantante de tipo Oscuridad, así como monstruos de su tipo. Se podría decir que el hecho de pedir cantantes oscuros para los anteriormente llamados “Sincronías Oscuras” es lo único que queda del tono oscuro que le dieron a las cartas, y que, quizás por lo tener ganas de incluir más complexidad al juego, decidieron no incluir a los oscuritos dentro del juego original, degradando a simples sincronías los monstruos ya creados, y que, hasta la fecha aún faltan dos sincronías oscuras por aparecer, y que, curiosamente fueron las primeras en aparecer.

La expansión, que saldrá finalmente el 16 de Febrero de 2010 en Europa y América, contará además con cartas que provienen de la primera serie, como lo serían “Berfomet” y “Quimera, la bestia mítica”, que muchos de vosotros recordaréis por ser material de fusión y fusión respectivamente, y que tenían algo que ver con Gazzelle, rey de las bestias míticas. La Sneak Peek se podría decir que para finales de Enero se realizaría, desconociendo aún la carta que vendrá de promocional en ella.

Relacionadas:

• Japón ya disfruta de “Fuerza Poderosa Absoluta”
• Más y más cartas de Fuerza Poderosa Absoluta
• Godwin y las tristes experiencias de Misty. ¡Más información de Fuerza Poderosa Absoluta!
• ¡2010 a la vista! Fechas internacionales de “Fuerza Poderosa Absoluta” y “Sobre de duelista: Yusei 2″
• Fuerza Poderosa Absoluta: No tan solo Signos Oscuros

Esto se dice en la página oficial del juego.

El nuevo Deck de Estructura de Máquinas saldrá en el TCG a finales de Febrero, concretamente el día 23, a un precio que suponemos que será el típico, rondando los 10 euros.

Como imagino que ya sabréis, este nuevo Deck basará su estrategia en el uso de Monstruos de Unión junto al Arquetipo de Machiners, que ahora pasan a llamarse Machina (en inglés, claro está).

La carta cover de este Deck es Machina Fortress, y la tenéis a continuación en una imagen que ojalá fuese más grande, pero no las hay rondando por ahí…xD

Por otro lado decir que el estilo de rarezas y cartas foil seguirá la estela del Deck de Warriors Strike, incluyendo una carta Ultra Rara (Machina Fortress) y otras 2 cartas Súper Raras (una de ellas se llama Machina Gearframe y es un Monstruo de Unión; de la otra no se sabe nada).

Aunque el Deck aún no ha salido ni siquiera en Japón (sale el día 12 de Diciembre), se saben más cartas que aparecerán en el Deck.

Algunas de ellas son viejas conocidas del juego, como Cyber Valley o Blast Sphere, ambas deseadas por muchos jugadores (entre los que me incluyo xD).

Además, se dice por ahí que el Deck incluirá un ‘reprint’ más, llamado Cyber Dragon xD.

Ojalá lo tengamos en este Deck, y a poder ser, en su versión alternativa (por pedir que no quede).

Por último, deciros que incluirá la carta The Big Saturn, un Monstruos que no había salido en el TCG y al cual yo no le veo la menor gracia, puesto que no puede ser invocado de Modo Especial ni del Deck ni de la mano, y tienes que pagar 1000 LP para activar su efecto.

En fin, para dar mi opinión, visto lo visto, sólo me compraré este Deck por los ‘reprints’ y para tener más Máquinas en mi colección, no porque este Deck sea la ‘repera’.

A mi gusto, el Warriors Strike está tropecientas veces mejor que éste.

Y lanzo una pregunta al aire, ¿de qué creéis que será el próximo Structure Deck?

Se aceptan apuestas.

Fuente:

Shriek TCG

PD: Este artículo es de mi blog, pero como es noticia, he pensado en meterlo también en WnT)