Yu Gi Oh! Booster Draft on Saturday, May 12

Yu Gi Oh! players, a reminder that we’re doing a Booster Draft event on Saturday, May 12, using the new Galactic Overlord set. The cost is $20, for which you get four booster packs. There will be additional prize support for the winners.

Basically, you will be formed into “pods” of 8-10 players. When instructed, you will open your first booster pack. You select ONE card from it, and then pass the rest to the player on your left. You will, in turn, get the remaining cards from the booster pack from the player to your right. You will select ONE card, and then pass the remainder to the player on your left…and so on, until all the cards have been taken. You will then open your second booster pack and repeat this, except this time, you will be passing to your RIGHT. The third booster pack gets passed to your left, and the fourth to your right. Now, you’ll have a pile of cards in front of you that you’ve selected from the various cards that have been passed to you. You will use these to build your deck, which you will then play in a tournament! Don’t worry, we’ll make sure this is all thoroughly explained before you begin.

Start time is 1:00 p.m. SHARP; if you haven’t registered and paid by 1:00 p.m., you won’t be able to participate, sorry…there’s no way to start someone in a draft late; please be prompt. If you’d prefer not to play in the draft, no problem – open play is always an option.

Avengers Heroclix Boosters and Yu Gi Oh Starters!

We’ve got new stuff! For fans of the Avengers, we’ve got  the Avengers Movie Heroclix in stock! We’ve got single-figure and three-figure boosters…and, if you want to buy in quantity, we’re offering discounts on “mini-bricks” of six single-figure and one three-figure boosters, or cases of four “mini-bricks”. Wizkids is offering a contest related to the new figures, which you can check out and enter here.

Meanwhile, Yu Gi Oh! fans are going to want to check out the new “XYZ Symphony” starter decks, now on the shelf! You can get more info about this new starter deck here.

Cardfight Vanguard

We’ve had several people anxiously awaiting it, and now it’s here!

Cardfight Vanguard TCG is based on the popular anime series (watch the episodes at Animeseason!), and is hugely popular in Japan. Now, we have it here – you can read all about it at the Cardfight Vanguard wiki, then come on in and choose your decks.

We have two different trial decks in – Blaster Blade and Draconic Overlord, plus Descent of the King of Knights booster packs. Learn to play with the preconstructed decks, then use your boosters to customize the experience!

 

March Break Event – “Dust Tactics” Demo Games on March 14

The year is 1947…but the Second World War isn’t over. The Allied and Axis powers are still at war. And since the discovery of a revolutionary and mysterious ore, VK, which fuels elite troops and massive combat walkers, brutal combat is the only warfare known.

Dust Tactics is a tactical miniatures board game of ruthless engagements in which 2-4 players wage war against each other with the forces of rival factions belonging to one of the world’s superpowers. The Allies and the Axis control the majority of the world and are constantly battling for valuable and rare deposits of VK. Immerse yourself in this alternate 1940s world of revolutionary weaponry and weird science, with engaging scenarios that feature a compelling narrative.  Dust Tactics simulates an entire battle, from deploying your troops, to the final weapon discharged. Played over a series of rounds, you and the opposition roll for initiative, active units, move or attack. Combat is resolved using the included custom dice; target symbols on the dice indicate a success and will be affected by the attacking unit’s weapon abilities and whether the defending unit is in cover. The tense atmosphere that battle brings will influence your every move.

On Wednesday, March 14, we’ll be running demo games of Dust Tactics in the store. There’s no cost; just come and play! We’ll have experts here to show you how to play the game and help you out. And, for everyone who plays a demo game, we’ll enter your name for a chance to win a cool Dust Tactics prize! Start time is 1:00 p.m., with the demo games running most of the day!

New Today

We just had some long-awaited items come in today. First, for the Yu-Gi-Oh! fans, it’s the Ra Yellow Mega Pack.

This set is a selection of 113 of the favourite cards from the Legendary Collection 2 Mega Packs, packed in sets of eleven cards per booster. With additional foil cards and new rarity distributions, it’s never been easier to get the cards you want.

In the “non-collectible” card game category, we have the latest expansion for Nightfall. The Coldest War is a stand-alone expansion that you can on its own or add to your other Nightfall sets. It takes you to Russia and Eastern Europe, the birthplace of legends like werewolves and vampires. This set also introduces Moon Phases, an important mechanic for those of a lupine nature.

For those who prefer their ghoulies and ghosties a little closer to home, we have Locke and Key, the Game. Based on the graphic novel series by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, this card game features  game play that has you walking a line between co-operation and competition. You can help your fellow players, but should you? Resources are limited, and there are decisions to be made…

If you prefer your games a little more on the realistic side, Academy Games’ 1812: The Invasion of Canada is taking the gaming world by storm, already being touted as a strong contender for game of the year. Its innovative mechanics, great custom dice and tense decision making are all getting favourable reviews – and not all from purist wargamers.

For a great overview of the game check out Gameshark’s rave here: http://www.gameshark.com/features/892/Cracked-LCD-236-1812-The-Invasion-of-Canada-Review.htm

Pokémon Updates!

What’s Black and White and Mewtwo all over? New Pokémon releases!

First, it’s the next wave of Black and White – Next Destinies.  This expansion is all about power, with two versions of six (!) different Pokémon-EX cards and over one hundred new cards in total. And you can get a great start with theme decks featuring the Legendaries Reshiram and Zekrom!

Oh, those Pokémon-EX cards? One of them is Mewtwo-EX – but that may not be enough for die-hard Mewtwo fans, so we also have the Mewtwo Collection!

This collection has it all – an oversized Mewtwo-EX card, three Pokémon Black & White Next Destinies booster packs, a special foil Stadium card (Battle City) featuring Mewtwo, and your very own Mewtwo figurine.

These new items are super effective!

Dark Ascension!

It’s that time!

This weekend, we will be holding two separate pre-release events for the the new Magic the Gathering set, Dark Ascension (checklist here). For those who unfamiliar with pre-releases, Wizards has even posted a handy primer! Saturday afternoon’s event will be an individual sealed ($25 per person), while on Sunday evening we’ll be running a Two-headed Giant sealed tournament ($20 per person).

Because there is a limited amount of product and promos available in support of these events, we are going to  be sticking to a fairly strict timetable. On Saturday, we are opening registration at noon, and will be closing it at 12:45. At that time, all registered players will be allowed to open their booster packs (3 Dark Ascension, 3 Innistrad) and will have twenty minutes to build a minimum 40-card deck. (Land Stations will be available to ensure that you have enough mana to power your creation.) The number of rounds (and the prize support) will depend on the number of players we have out, but it’s probably best to plan for six rounds, ending between 6 and 7 PM.

For Sunday, the event will be a pairs sealed tournament (Two-headed Giant), with registration opening at 5 PM and closing at 5:45. Partners will receive 2 Dark Ascension and 2 Innistrad boosters each, and will use the pool of eight packs to build two minimum 40-card decks. We strongly advise that you arrange your partnerships ahead of time, although we will attempt to pair up solo players.

For both events,  participants will receive a double-sided promo card, Ravenous Demon/ArchDemon of Greed (while supplies last) and an achievement card to track their successes.

In other Magic news, Dark Ascension officially releases February 3rd, and we’ll have the “buy a box” promo card, Gravecrawler.

To help you build your Dark Ascension collection , we’ll be holding not one, but two Draft Friday Night Magic events – both February 3rd and 17th! (The FNM promo card is a foil, alternate art version of Despise).

Join us in making Dark Ascension a huge success!

Sneak Peek!

Calling all Yu-Gi-Oh! players… it’s that time again! Our first sneak peek of the year will be happening the weekend of January 14th and 15th, starting at 1 PM each day.

The Konami siteexplains: “Order & Chaos – Polar opposites, slugging it out in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME for years. Now, the feud that never seems to end hits a new zenith in 2012, with Order of Chaos.

As chaos and order collide, Order of Chaos contains all the tools YOU need to forge a Deck and achieve whatever destiny awaits. There are plenty of other cards in this 100-card set, for Decks of all kinds.”

Everyone gets a limited edition, Ultra Rare Inzektor Axe – Zektahawk Spell card as well as five boosters of the new set, plus we’ll be randomly drawing for game mats (pictured below)!

Remember the aim of these events is to play, trade and have fun! We’ll be resuming league play with the new Turbo Pack 7′s next week, and are playing a tournament for January 29th (can’t let Magic players have all the fun).

See you in the store!

Holiday Hours for The GameShelf

Please note our revised hours during the holiday season:

-Christmas Eve: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

-Christmas Day: CLOSED

-Boxing Day: Noon to 4:00 p.m. (remember we’re having our Annual Boxing Day Sale!)

-New Year’s Eve: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

-New Year’s Day: CLOSED

We are otherwise open our normal hours all other days during the Christmas period.

Please, have a happy, safe and healthy holiday season. We look forward to continuing to serve you in 2012!

Super Dungeon Explore!

Every so often, a game comes along that manages to cross standard gamer lines – and this is one of them. Soda Pop Miniatures has released Super Dungeon Explore, which it describes as “the chibi anime strategy battle game”.

First selling point – this game is cute. Not just cute, but “squee”worthy cute. It comes loaded with more than fifty chibi-style minatures, including a huge “level boss” dragon and nine unique adventurers.  These models are just begging for a custom paint job, and the large, flat eye areas allow for some amazing personalization of expression.

Check out this Google Images search for some of the many interpretations of these models, or just hang on until we get some store models painted up.

Here’s a closeup of some of the hero characters in unpainted form:

If you’re immediately sensing an video game vibe, hearkening back to the days of Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy 3,  you’ve discovered the second selling point: nostalgia. Even the adventures reflect this: choose from 8-bit (2 heroes), 16-bit (3 heroes) or super (five heroes)!

And underneath it all, the third selling point – this game is fun. It plays well with two players (bad guys vs. good guys), but you can play more by just having additional players control more heroes. It’s a dungeon crawl that will appeal to people who are fans of either traditional or video game RPGs, with a streamlined rule set designed to play in 60 to 90 minutes. For more opinions, check out these reviews:

If there is a downside to the game, it is that this *is* a miniatures game. The models do need some assembly (and gluing), and the box doesn’t come with instructions for that. Fortunately, Soda Pop has recognized the need, and  produced a visual Assembly Guide. For best results, be prepared to prime and paint them, although it’s not an absolute requirement.

This game is a great introduction to miniatures play (and the large features and anime style are very conducive to learning how to paint miniatures); it appeals to role players, miniatures players, anime fans, and video gamers alike. How can you go wrong?

We currently have two copies of the game – and two copies of the special release edition “Candy and Cola” promotional figure(s). Act now – supplies are limited!

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