Pokemon 'Draft'

For a while I have played around with different ideas for a Pokemon Draft and with us having missed out on a pre-release for the new set tomorrows Gambit Sunday seems like it might be the chance to give one a go!

The idea is that each player will purchase 4 boosters from Sun and Moon Guardians Rising. These packs will then be 'drafted' (Players one the booster, choose one cards and pass the rest to the next player which is repeated until all cards are taken, repeat with the next three packs changing the direction each time)

This will make the deck that you have better than it would with a 'straight' sealed but there will still be a lack of trainer cards. To help balance this each player is allowed to bring 10 trainer cards (from any set) with them to add to their deck if the wish. Each of the trainer cards must be different (no duplicate cards)

Players then add the required energy cards and then play a series of games against each other to find the eventual winner!
 

Like to Draft?

Do you like the idea of an MTG draft but can't really justify buy three boosters? Well what about using just one?

This single booster draft format called "Mini Masters Draft" started at stores in Spain and Italy.

The idea is simple, instead of drafting with 3 boosters simply buy one per play and draft with that. Obviously it makes decks quite small and there are a few rules adjustments to normal MTG to make it work better. It is very similar to a pack wars where players simply add 15 lands to a booster without even looking at it and play a game, except this way you know what is in your deck even it it is not that much!

The extra rules are ...

• You must use all the cards that you draft.
• You can add only 10 basic lands and you must have at least one for every colour in your deck.
• You may have one  free muligan at the beginning of the game.
• You do not lose the game for being unable to draw a card.
• You start with 15 life instead of the usual 20.

Anyone fancy giving it a go this weekend at Gambit Sunday?

MTG Nichol Bolas Archenemy

Due in next month is ...

Nicol Bolas is among the most powerful beings in the Multiverse–don't face him alone! Much like the original Archenemy release, Archenemy: Nicol Bolas pits you and two friends against a single powerful foe where you must work together to survive - or fall to Nicol Bolas himself.

The set contains four 60-card decks (with no new card content), four non-premium planeswalker cards with new art, and a 20-card scheme deck containing 20 all-new, unique schemes. Playable right out of the box without any additions!

Unboxing Video

For those of you that are not entirely sure of what you get in some of the boxed MTG product here are a couple of videos of them being opened for you to view...

MTG Gameday

THIS SATURDAY AT 5PM

Bring your best Standard deck and compete to become the champion of your favorite game store! Top finishers earn special prizes, including full-art promo cards and a playmat for the winner.

WHAT HAPPENS AT GAME DAY?

Game Day events are a great opportunity to test your skills against your local Magic community in a fun, relaxed environment.
You'll be paired up to play multiple rounds of friendly competition. Each round you'll play a best-of-three-games match and report the winner to the organizer.
You'll need:

• Your own Standard deck, which is a minimum of 60 cards and has a sideboard of up to 15 cards.
• A method for tracking life totals, as well as tokens, counters, and card sleeves.

Get more info about Standard

TOURNAMENT PRIZES

Each participant receives a full-art promo card (while supplies last), and the Top 8 finishers receive a premium foil full-art promo card.
The winner receives a special champion playmat to commemorate their victory.

Oligarchy Tournament

On Tuesday as part of our weekly games evening we held our very first competitive Oligarchy event. It was a 8 booster sealed which went really well.

Each round was an hour in length with an addition 5 turns if the games were unable to finish in this time, with the deck building process taking just under an hour and a few practice games before hand gave us over 4 hours of Oligarchy fun!

Oligarchy is a new game and deck building a new game is never easy. Trying to work out what will go well in a sealed format is tricky and can be a bit intense but everyone that played really enjoyed both the process and the games they played.

We had a mix of experience from the game designer himself Gary Wareham, through to players that had played just a couple of games. One card that seem particularily brutal was appropriately named 'Death' a once in a lifetime card. Costing 16 IP and 16 AP, it certainly is not cheap to play but if you can get there, then it is pretty hard to stop and almost impossible in sealed. (for a full list of cards check out the Oligarchy Website Codex : http://www.oligarchygame.com/cardSearch.html)

Now that we have a few players, the next event for us will be a constructed deck tournament on 28th May as part of Gambit Games monthly meeting. More details to come very soon!!!

Rock Event

New Pokémon Go Event starts TODAY!!!

The Adventure Week event will run from 1 p.m. PT May 18 to 1 p.m. PT May 25. During this time, "Buddy Pokémon" will earn candies four times faster than normal, and players will have an increased chance of encountering Rock-type Pokemon, such as Omanyte, Kabuto and their evolutions. This event also includes increased encounter rates for uncommon Rock-type Pokemon like Aerodactyl, Onix and Sudowoodo.

In addition, once this event begins, players will receive a free new avatar item called the Explorer’s Hat, and they’ll be able to purchase Poke Balls for 50 percent off in the game’s store.

Finally, for the duration of this event, players will receive more items from every PokeStop they visit. This may encourage players to visit more PokeStops than normal!