End of Season 5 for Pokemon League

 

Our Junior Pokemon League has just finished its fifth season since the introduction of "Play Pokemon Prize Packs".

Each season we record the amount of games each of our young players takes part in, regardless of the result, win or lose you still get points.

At the end of each season we tally up the points and see who has played the most games. The final
scores for this season are as follows...

The top 5 (each getting an addition two prize packs)
Barnaby 94
George 80
Reuben F. 60
Ren 53
Ivy 53
From 6-12 (each get an addition prize pack)
Oscar 34
Callum 30
Rueben C. 30
Austin 29
Freya 24
Lily 24
Barney 19

Everyone else that played...

Molly 17
Leo 17
Olly 14
Winter 14
Leo 13
Nova 13
Sid 13
Rosie 12
Quinn 9
Edmond 9
Henry 9
Mikey 8
Mabel 7
Jack 7
Victor 6
Maddy 5
Hugo 5
Sophie 5
Woody 5
Lellah 5
Ella 5
Alice 5
Harrison 5
Olivia 4
Will 3
Reggie 3
Poppy 3
Bethany 3
Jackson 3
Riley 2
Tommy 2
Ivy 1
Casper 1
Dylan 1
Bobby 1
Milo 1
Elijah 1
Daniel 1
Sammy 1
Jimmy 1
Bo 1

Keyforge 2LO Format

With the return of Keyforge we will once more be running organised play events for this popular system. These will start on Saturday 8th March at 2pm with a Store Championship. This will give players a chance to win exciting prizes and if popular will be repeated each month.

For this event we will be using the Playstile 2LO format. As this is a new format for the shop I thought I would share the way that it works.

Playstile 2LO Tournaments

Playstile 2LO (aka Playstile Two Loss Out) is a tournament structure for official KeyForge tournaments that combines the best features of Swiss-style pairings and double-elimination. The goal of Playstile 2LO tournaments is to provide a structure where all matches contribute to a player’s chance to win the tournament and reduce round-to-round byes (and associated wait times) to a minimum. In addition to achieving these goals, Playstile 2LO is also very efficient and will usually result in the tournament reaching a top cut one round sooner than other tournament structures.

This tournament structure will be used in all sanctioned KeyForge events starting August 18, 2023.

Summary

KeyForge tournaments consist of two stages: qualifying rounds, and finals. Qualifying rounds are conducted by pairing players within the Playstile 2LO tournament structure until they either lose twice, or qualify for the finals (aka “make the top cut”). In qualifying rounds, a player is eliminated from the tournament after two losses.

There is no bracket like traditional double elimination. Instead, after round one, players are placed within a “pool” of either “Undefeated” or “One-Loss” players and paired within these pools each round (see Pairings, below).

Play continues until the tournament reaches a stage known as the “top cut” which is the stopping point where a certain number of players are qualified to pass to the final stage of the tournament. In KeyForge tournaments, the top cut currently consists of two, four, or eight players who will advance to the final stage (the size of the top cut is dependent on tournament attendance; the final stage uses single-elimination, and then a best-of-three series in the final match).

Playstile 2LO’s top cut is formed when the number of Undefeated players is equal to or less than half the size of the top cut. These players immediately qualify for the top cut, leaving half or more of the remaining slots to be filled by One-Loss players.

Depending on how many One-Loss players remain, pairings will continue in qualifying rounds until an additional round would eliminate too many players to fill the remaining top cut slots. If there are more players than slots available, Strength of Schedule (S.O.S.) is used to rank players, and then players play an additional round called a “Play-In” to determine who wins the remaining top cut slots.

TOURNAMENT ROUNDS

A Playstile 2LO tournament is played over a series of qualifying rounds which continue until every top cut slot has been filled by a qualifying player. The top cut will consist of a combination of undefeated players and one-loss players, with the number of each depending on the total number of players in the tournament. The exact number of qualifying rounds needed to reach a top cut also depends on the total number of players in the tournament.

For example, in a tournament with 128 players, four players will be undefeated after five qualifying rounds (they will each have a 5-0 win/loss record). Those four players will immediately qualify for the top cut. Two additional qualifying rounds will be needed to determine which of the remaining players will qualify for the other four top-cut slots (a more detailed example is found later in this page).

After the top cut is determined, the tournament will proceed into the finals. In KeyForge tournaments, the top cut is comprised of 8 players who will play two single-game elimination rounds, and a final match of best-of-three.

QUALIFYING ROUND PAIRINGS

First round pairings are completely randomized among the entire participant base. After the first round, half of the tournament’s participants will have their first win, creating the initial Undefeated pool of players. The other half of players will have one loss, creating the initial One-Loss pool of players.

Subsequent rounds will randomly pair players within their respective pools. This means that Undefeated players will only play other Undefeated players. The same is true for the One-Loss pool of players. When an undefeated player is defeated for the first time, that player moves into the One-Loss pool for the next round.

Pairings during the qualifying rounds are additionally constrained to opponents that have not previously played each other in the tournament, unless there is no other pairing option available.

BYES

If there are an uneven number of participants in a given round, it will be necessary to assign a “bye” to a player for that round. The bye will be assigned to a randomly determined player who receives a win for that round. A player that has already received a bye cannot receive another bye in the tournament, unless all remaining players have already received one bye each.

UNDEFEATED TOP CUT

After a certain number of qualifying rounds (the exact number depends on the total number of players at the start of the tournament), there will be a number of undefeated players equal to half the number of top cut slots or less. Usually, this will consist of four undefeated players. Rarely, it could be as few as three or two undefeated players. As soon as this situation occurs at the end of a round, the undefeated players immediately qualify for the top cut and no longer play in qualifying rounds.

RUN-OFF ROUNDS

Once the top cut has qualified the undefeated players, if the size of the One-Loss pool is double or more than the slots remaining in the cut, then the One-Loss players will continue to be paired in run-off rounds. Pairings in run-off rounds work the same as qualifying rounds.

When the number of One-Loss players is less than double the number of top cut slots remaining, run-off rounds are finished. A number of One-Loss players immediately qualify. Then, a tiebreaker will determine who will participate in “Play-In” matches to fill the remaining slots in the top cut. Strength of Schedule determines tiebreaker.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

Strength of Schedule (S.O.S.) is a rating of how difficult a player’s opponents were over the course of the tournament (for more information, see the Strength of Schedule Calculation below). This calculation of opponent strength is used as a tiebreaker when there are less slots available in the top cut than players remaining. A higher S.O.S. means that a player is ranked higher in the standings than a player with lower S.O.S.

PLAY-IN ROUND

There is a possibility that 2LO does not resolve into a perfect top cut. When this happens, players are ranked by S.O.S. and then a number of them must play an additional game to secure their place in the top cut. For example, if we reach the end of the run-off rounds and 10 players remain for a cut of eight, two matches must occur to determine who of the bottom four players actually make the cut. Matches are paired starting from the lowest player by S.0.S. who would have “made” the cut, and the highest ranked player who would not have. That means 8th rank will play 9th rank, 7th rank will play 10th rank, and so on.
FINALS

Once the top cut has been determined, the tournament proceeds to the finals stage. The finals consist of of bracketed single-elimination rounds and a final match. In the initial round single-elimination rounds, players are paired by their seed rank from the qualifying rounds, lowest to highest (e.g. 1st will play 8th, 2nd will play 7th, and so on). In KeyForge, the final match is played as a best-of-three series (i.e. the players will play up to three matches, and the first to win twice wins the tournament).

Key information for Final Fantasy and MTG fans

The entire FINAL FANTASY saga is coming o KD Games on June 6 in Shoreham.

Players can experience the unforgettable characters, items, and moments from FINAL FANTASY in Magic: The Gathering!

From powerful spells to classic summons, countless elements from the games are included for players to weave their own story. While we wait for the epic beginning, here are some key dates and what's new and notable below.

Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY Key Dates

• Prerelease: June 6 – June 12
• Release: June 13
• Gift Bundle Release: June 27
• Magic Academy (Learn to Play & Deck Building): June 13 – July 24
• Chocobo Racing Event Series: June 13 – July 24
• Commander Party: June 20 – 26 & July 18 – 24
• Store Championship: June 28 – July 20
• Standard Showdown: June 13 – July 24

New & Notable for Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY

Main Set Cards Will Be Standard-Legal

Starting in 2025, new Universes Beyond sets will be legal in all Constructed formats—including Standard. 

Although the main content of these booster releases will be legal in all formats, they will contain products (like Commander decks) and cards (like Special Guests) that are not part of the main sets and will be Eternal legal (i.e., legal only in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage for new Commander and/or Jumpstart content) or wherever the cards are otherwise legal (for reprint content). This matches the structure of recent sets like Duskmourn: House of Horror and Bloomburrow.

Check Out the New Chocobo Racing Event Series

Chocobo Racing Events are the regular Booster Draft and Sealed event based on the FINAL FANTASY VII mini-game “Chocobo Racing”. Whenever players play Draft or Sealed events with Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY at KD Games they will be earning points to reach special rewards just for this event.

Players will earn points that accumulate with each new event they participate in, bringing them closer to the rewards each time they play. Players will also be able to draft as much as they like, including bringing friends and family along!

Prerelease Repeat Play Incentives Continue

There are special rewards in store for players right from Prerelease if they sign up for your events with a Wizards Account! When players attend a Prerelease event using their Wizards Account, they'll receive a Crystal Counter d10 Spindown die.

For attending two events at KD Games, players will receive a collectable velvet bag to store their dice. A special Crystal d20 Spindown die can be found inside 1 in 10 Prerelease Packs

League returns with Aetherdrift

To celebrate the release of Aetherdrift, we will once again run weekly League events. This is a format that our community at KD Games has been doing after the release of a new set for a while and is a really fun and challenging format that is great for new and experienced players alike.

When joining the League, each player purchases 3 Aetherdrift Play Boosters and will get a box to keep their league cards in (from Lost Caverns of Ixalan). We will also give you some stickers that you can decorate your box with.

Using their sealed pool of 3 Play Boosters, players build a 30-card deck. Players will then battle each other in a best of three games. playing as many opponents as they can each week. 

Each week, players can purchase additional Play booster to add to their deck. After three losses, players can also purchase another one.

The League kicks off on 15th February 2025 at 2pm, the week after the release of Aetherdrift.

Prize packs will be awarded at the end of the league to winning players.

Magic Presents: Spring Flourishes

This Spring we will be running a special draft event. Which set we will be drafting will depend on availability at that time but it will be a standard set. The event will cost £15 and will offer some great promotional cards.

These promo cards will be from the Secret Lair drop Honour Among Thieves.

Each player will get the chance to pick on of these great cards at the end of the event. These are great additions for commander players and a couple would even make good Tiny Leaders.

This will be a normal draft with an additional twist!!!

Here’ the gameplay twist—players begin each game with this emblem in play:

More details on this event will follow closer to the time, for now here is the date for you: Saturday May 3rd at 2pm. 

Catan 6th Edition

A description of Catan‘s 6th edition reveals to us what updates and changes we’ll find in the latest iteration of the beloved game. It shares, “While CATAN’s 6th edition maintains its essential mechanics, many of the game’s creative components have been re-envisioned to provide additional ease and functionality. The game’s rulebook now features more imagery, and easy graphic examples that simplify the learning process. The game also features revamped art, from updated packaging to enhanced game components. The new premium square format box is finished with updated lid art, which paints a richer picture of the settings, immersing the player in the adventure they are about to embark on.”

In addition to the main game’s 6th edition, other popular expansions will release in 2025. These include Seafarers, Cities & Knight, Traders & Barbarians, and Explorers & Pirates. Additionally, 5-6 player extensions for all these games will become available. (Catan typically plays 2-4.)

The Catan Seafarers Expansion: 6th Edition “adds ships, the pirate, new gold hex fields, building wonders, and more” and additionally features 30 hexes, 6 frame pieces, 10 number discs, 94 tokens, 19 Scenario markers, 10 port tokens, 4 player aids, 60 ships, 1 pirate, 5 Wonders of Catan tiles
Meanwhile, the Catan Cities & Knights Expansion: 6th Edition adds “adds knights, barbarian attacks, metropolises, and advancing science, technology, and politics” to the game. It additionally includes 90 cards, 1 event die, 3 metropolis pieces, 1 merchant figure, 36 player pieces, 4 city improvement boards, 12 city improvement cubes, 1 barbarian track, 6 VP tokens, 1 barbarian ship, 2 card trays, and 4 player aids.

Receive Play! Pokémon Prize Pack Series Six at KD GAMES

Participate in events at your local League to earn these special Prize Packs featuring popular Pokémon TCG cards.

You can make new friends (and maybe even some rivals) while putting your Pokémon Trading Card Game skills to the test at local in-store Play! Pokémon events. Not only will you be able to take part in fun and exciting competition, but you can also get a special Pokémon TCG Prize Pack for attending these tournaments. Prize Pack Series Six will be available starting February 28, 2025, at KD Games

Each Prize Pack contains six cards taken from a pool of over 100—all of which are legal in the Standard format. They include everything from popular Pokémon to exclusive foil upgrades of tournament staples, all featuring the Play! Pokémon logo. Here are just some of the exciting cards you can expect to find in Series Six:

• Fezandipiti ex
• Terapagos ex
• Unfair Stamp
• Ogre’s Mask
• Area Zero Underdepths

For both competitive and casual Trainers, Prize Packs offer an exclusive path to build your collection while making the most of Play! Pokémon events at KD Games can be found on our website or pop into the shop and speak with on of our staff.