Oh shi- The Boss is Back from Vegas, look busy!

Alright guys, I waited for Kev to send me photo's of the Duelists Bad-Asses in Vegas. Unfortunately, no pictures arrived, so I'll call it as BS under the Internets' "Pics or It Didn't Happen" rule.

Troy being the Awesome guy Gentleman and Scholar he is, has covered for me while I sired 3/4 of Queensland's generation Z in 2 short weeks. (The "Pics or It Didn't Happen" rule only applies to outlandish claims Like going to Las Vegas for a Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship, not admissions that I've been tom-catting around, which is basically business as Usual.)

Back on topic; The Judgement of the Light out-shone even the Cosmo-blazer pre-release, and the light burns....

Troy was right on all his predictions: Synchro's are Back baby, Star Seraphs, Bujin and Super Defense Robot burned romped in the per-release, and even that the xyz monster Googly-Eyes Drum Dragon would romp in the pre-releases in the favor of whom had him.

I must disagree with Troy on one point though: pre-releases are not "the great equalizers", because if you get a bad card mix, you are stuffed. But they make it just as hard for your opponent, who are also hobbled by the same problem. They are as close as we are going to get without Konami keeping a good bottom line. (Admittedly, I'm a perfect example of no-skill bastards who does well by buying the cards he needs, so pre-releases eat away my one edge.)

On the Pokemon Front: The Plasma Blast has further annoyed Troy, after I got both a "Master Ball" and a "Jirachi-EX" in my pre-release packs... I think he's (rightfully) suspicious that I've been using black-magic to steal his pre-release fortune, better give it back before he can get pics to prove it happened... (I needed to get to the bus, but I'll arrange to get them to Troy, I had my fun.)

Go Forth and play Card-Games! Also, get pics for the blog.

Chad

A Blast of Light

It's that time of the year again, time for another release for not only Yu-Gi-Oh!, but for Pokemon TCG as well! First thing's first, there are still spots for both pre-release events at the time of writing, with Judgment of the Light on this Saturday the 3rd and Plasma Blast on the 11th. I'm gonna be going to both, as there are quite a few cards I'm hoping to get my hands on as early as possible. Don't we all know that feeling.

Synchro monsters are coming back in a big way in Judgment of the Light. Star Eater (I really don't know why they didn't just stick with Celestial Dragon, Konami makes some odd naming choices. Don't even get me started on the name change of Radiant Photon Paradius) is a good example of this, as it's essentially a 3200atk beatstick that doesn't have to worry about traps when it attacks. I figure it'd work best on the field by itself, since a thought out Mirror Force will get rid of it easily enough. Still, it's one big beasty to have on your side of the field.

As far as the pre-release will go, my predictions are that the stars of the day will be amongst the Star Seraphs and Bujin archetypes, with Super Defence Robot sneaking in there thanks to their xyz monster Googly-Eyes Drum Dragon. This is similar to how Battlin' Boxers with Magnum Shield performed well at the Tachyon pre-release and Hazy Flames being the cards to have at Cosmo Blazer. Mind you, I'd be happier getting copies of Starliege Lord Galaxion for my Photon deck (you thought Galaxy-Eyes was annoying before? Watch me summon it straight from my deck) and Number C39: Utopia Ray Victory and Rank-Up-Magic Numeron Force for the Battlin' Boxer deck I'm working on. Although I have a friend in England I'm sure wouldn't object to me pulling a World of Prophecy.

Now I've already covered some of the good stuff for the Plasma Blast set in this post here, but there's nothing quite like actually being able to get the cards. I haven't actually been to a Pokemon pre-release yet, so I'm definitely excited to be able to attend this one.

I figure it'll be similar to a Magic: The Gathering pre-release (Chad, help me out here with how that works?) where we build either a deck or half-deck with what we get and some borrowed energy cards from the Card House. One tip for building a deck that I can give is to try and stick with a maximum of two types so as to limit the possibility of drawing useless energy.

The best things about pre-release events are that they are "the great equalizers." By that, it means you won't have to worry about coming up against decks like my Gardevoir/Gallade, Team Plasma-EX or, Arceus forbid, Machamp from Diamond & Pearl - Stormfront*. So with a little bit of luck (or a nice Pokemon-EX from your boosters), it's anyone's game. (For those of you who can't read Japanese, Kyurem-EX's first attack is 30 damage + 10 more for each damage counter on itself and its second attack is 150 damage that requires you to discard two water energy attached to it. Not a bad card, and something that can slot into Keldeo/Blastoise easily enough).

Remember, there are only three spots left (though by the time I write this they may be all gone) for Judgment of the Light and approximately eight for Plasma Blast, and the race goes to the swift as they say. Kinda like how the duel goes to Dragon Rulers because they usually spawn Dracossack first turn, but enough about that. I'm looking forward to both days, and I hope to see you all there as well!

Your resident Pokemon Professor, Troy

*Okay, I know I really shouldn't say it like that. But from what I've seen on the rest of the internet it would appear that nobody likes that card apart from the people who suppress their conscience enough to use it.

Stand up my Vanguard!!

Welcome back to Cray everyone.

It has been a long while since my last post (Damn work, not letting me post enough), and since then, alot has happened in the world of CF!Vanguard.

There have been a multitude of new releases for both Japanese and English (as we only have english here, that is where i will be staying). Most recently was the release of EB06 Dazzling Divas. With this release, a new recruitment of Bermuda units arrived. Both beautiful and deadly, these ladies will be a perfect addition to any Bermuda players Deck.

<< With Labrador being the forerunner for this set, Getting your hands on more than one is lucky, and you will have all the boys knocking on your door (for those who are into that >.>). Not only does she look amazing on the field, but her abilities are off the chain.

When you have the 4 damage required to Limit Break, place 3 Pr<3ism units onto rear guard and she not only gets a massive 10K boost, but also gets an extra +1 crit.

Now add this ability to Leyte's and you get a 32K column swinging in at the opponents vanguard with a 2 crit before triggers. This is one heck of a force to mess with.

These two units are not only able create a massive 30+K column but help each other Pr<3ism unit as well.

Now i';m not saying that i have already got 3 Labs, but i have 3 Labs :P Was over the moon when i got them. However they are promised to a friend :)

So today i went and got myself a box of set 3 just to see how i could go. Got myself a SP Pellinore to top my amazing day off.

Speaking of amazing days; Last weekend, a friend (Sean) from the GC and at 3am we built 2 decks. The first is my new favorite, the Oracle Think Tank. With CEO Amaterasu and Goddess of the Sun Amaterasu, this deck has a lot of power and the ability to use it. BUT, the pride and joy of the night, was a Nova Grappler deck built around the Perfect Raizer line. This deck has gone 14 and 0 since it has been built and perfected.

Lets just say when Sean and myself get together to make a deck or two, people better watch out ;)

Well that is all from Cray for now. Stay tuned to hear the latest on the upcoming release of the EB07 which revolves around OTT XD

SO EXCITED!!

Alright enough from me. Time to get back to deck building :D

Until next time everyone.

RIDE THE VANGUARD!!

It's Good to be back!

It's been too long since the last post. My PC was fried like a piece of Chicken, so there isn't a lot I can do apart from play card games.

The Blog is Back! The Card-House is in a Brand New Store, we Gamers have more legroom, less windows for prying eyes to peek through, and Kev's got a good food racket us some discounted lunch delivered to Cardhousians between game sessions. All in all, a sweet set-up.

*Puts on his robe and wizard's hat.*

Yes ladies, gentlemen, and weirds/constructs/elementals that pass as the former, the Magic Core 2014 pre-release was an absolute blast!

The skill level was from the grandest Archmage, to New Planeswalkers like myself, Fallon and Blake.

Okay Maybe "Planeswalking isn't the best word for my case, but that's close enough to how I roll.

Anyway, Neophyte Blake and I have more experience since the Dragon's Maze pre-release, so we jumped right in like some drunks at a pub brawl, and got Fallon  to join in against her will, Help me get moar cards on the cheap. to broaden her horizons from Yu-Gi-Oh.

I got some cards I needed to finish my deck. All I need now is for everyone to call me "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named", join my army of Death-Eaters and I'll be halfway to conqering the known world!

*Takes off his robe and wizard's hat, putting them in his invisible bag of holding he stole from Dungeons and Dragons*

Onto The Yu-Gi-Oh front.

ATTENTION DUELISTS!

There are only 12 days until "YuGiOh Judgment of Ligh" sneak-peak! Spots are limited so if you aren't signed up, do it NOW! There is more cards for the "Archfiend", "Duston", "Coach", "Fire Fist", "Fire King" "Flower Princess", "Galaxy", "Mecha Phantom Beast", "Noble Knight", "Number", "Number C", "Photon", "Prophecy", "Shark" and "Trap Hole" archetypes. Introduces the "Bujin", "Star Seraph", "Traptrix", "Super Defense Robot" and "Umbral Horror" archetypes/series.





You don't want to miss out on this!

The Chad Is Out... It's good to be back!

Lord of The Tachyon Galaxy: Who the heck is he?

Alright Gentlemen

I've removed the Mum's Day Post: Recap: My Google Account was hacked, including the associated blogger account. They were obviously doing this to annoy me, but failed more epically then me sending my Hazy Flames to swimming lessons. TIP: If you are trying to destroy the blog: it's far more effective to have some Cialis ads that you copypasta from your inbox. I have tried for several days to track the providence of it, and have pulled it until I can find the authour.

Back to what we are all here for: Card House! The pre-release for Lord of The Tachyon Galaxy has come and gone.

Troy's rejoicing that The Harpies are back! We also saw a few new archtypes come out: Dragon Rulers, Mecha Phantom Beasts and Battling Boxers!

My thoughts on the Archetypes:

Dragon-Rulers are glass cannons: "Mind Drain" can stop the card effects that SS the lvl 7 Dragons from the hand. "Soul Drain" can do the same for all effects that SS them from the Graveyard. Their lower-level dragons are weaker then most equivalent leveled monsters in the game, so all the offensive will require the Level 7 Dragons. This means that if you prevent them from Special Summoning using a monster effect (Archlord Kristya, Evilswarm Ophion, Crimson Blader," and "Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo" for example) you can slow them down, and mop-up the lower level dragons before they can be Tributed for their bigger cousins. You can also slow them down using "Imperial Iron Wall" and "Masoleum of the Emperor" or "Summon Limit": Don't forget "Dragon Capture Jar" that can make things nasty.

"Battlin' Boxers" are nasty in the Battle Phase. Most of their effects deal with preventing their destruction by battle which is nasty. "Battlin' Boxer Glassjaw" + "Battlin' Boxer Headgeared" combo allows you to get your "Battlin' Boxer" monsters from your deck to your Graveyard, then from there to your hand. You then give your opponent a challenging sparring partner.

Overall, the biggest weakness of this archetype is the same as The Mecha-Phantom Beasts: The non-Xyz monsters are weak in comparison to Xyz Monsters of this archetype. Without these, you are dead in the water. "Battlin' Boxer Switchitter" can help you do this by bring back other "Battlin' Boxers" at the cost of only being able to only Summon "Battlin' Boxers" that turn, and "Battlin' Boxer Sparrer" can help you xyz summon at the cost of the turn's Battle Phase. I'd also Chuck in "Solidarity" to help your non-xyz's stand a chance, until you Xyz.

In general, this Deck has a good amount of strength and flexibility to allow it to counter most strategies. Keeping the Graveyard and hand full of "Battlin' Boxer" monsters gives advantage to Summon "Battlin' Boxer Lead Yoke" which is itself a helpful shield and a great offense. Combine with "Magnum Shield" for great effect. "Star Cestus" and its chaos form, "Number C105: Battlin' Boxer Comet Cestus" are both helpful for this Deck as "Star Cestus" provides an offensive defense in the beginning and "Comet Cestus" provides very aggressive offense which can damage your opponent greatly over a short period of time.

Plasma Counterattack

 This morning on Facebook, Pokemon announced the imminent arrival of the latest booster set to be released in the Pokemon Trading Card Game - Plasma Blast. This marks the arrival of another 101+ cards, and for the first time since they were introduced cards designed to counter the onslaught of Team Plasma. The Plasma Storm set introduced Team Plasma into the TCG, followed by Plasma Freeze which greatly improved their arsenal. Plasma Blast further empowers Team Plasma, but also sees the Unova region's champion Iris and member of the Elite 4 Caitlin stand up to their nefarious schemes.

From the official Pokemon website:
"Challenges ring out, Pokémon duel, and the battle for Unova enters the next chapter in the Pokémon TCG: Black & White—Plasma Blast expansion! With Virizion-EX by your side, you must lead the counterattack against the failing forces of Team Plasma as they mount their last stand behind the twinned might of Team Plasma Dialga-EX and Palkia-EX! Victory is within your grasp, when suddenly you face your greatest test...the mighty and mysterious Genesect-EX takes the battlefield, supported by devastating ACE SPEC cards that give it additional attacks! Trainers, it’s time to break the ice!

Pokémon TCG: Black & White—Plasma Blast is the latest expansion to the Pokémon Trading Card Game franchise and will be available in stores on August 14, 2013, bringing over 100 new cards to collect and play."

With that out of the way, let's have a look at some of the new cards that will feature in the upcoming expansion.

Starting with the aforementioned Virizion-EX, this card completes the legendary trio from Unova to join Terrakion-EX and Cobalion-EX. While Virizion-EX lacks the hitting power of its brothers, it comes with two very useful abilities. First of all, Verdant Wind prevents any pokemon you have in play with an attached grass energy from being affected by special conditions. Due to the popularity of Hypnotoxic Laser this ability with certainly come in handy for a grass type deck or any other deck that can make use of grass energy.

Emerald Slash might only hit for a modest 50 damage, but the ability to attach more grass energy from your deck straight onto your benched pokemon is invaluable. For a mere two energy cost, it can quickly pump up your waiting bench before retreating Virizion-EX to bring a heavy hitter out to fight.

The mysterious Genesect-EX has joined the battle under the control of Team Plasma, and it brings some powerful abilities to bear on those who would oppose them. Its Red Signal will allow you to drag out an opponents pokemon when attaching a Plasma Energy to it and let you attack where your opponent may want to be gathering their strength. Megalo Cannon hits for twice as much as Virizion-EX's attack, as well as making one of your opponent's benched pokemon take 20 damage in preparation for Genesect-EX's next strike.

This isn't the end of Genesect-EX's power, as two Ace Spec trainer cards are available for it - G Booster and G Scope. G Booster will hit for a massive 200 damage at the cost of discarding two energy, and G Scope allows Genesect-EX to hit any pokemon your opponent controls for 100 damage. It's also worth noting that those attacks only need the same amount of energy as you would already need to use Megalo Cannon, so you can start boosting up your other benched pokemon while Genesect-EX brings the fight to the foe.

Genesect-EX may be intimidating, but Champion Iris is well prepared with her dragon types. Her Haxorus is set to lead the charge against Team Plasma, and while its Dragonaxe may not seem too great at first but even a single extra energy will hit for 80 damage and put a dent in any pokemon.

Haxorus's true strength lies in it's Strike of the Champion attack. Are an opponent's Team Plasma aligned pokemon causing you some grief? This is for you. If the defending pokemon is a Team Plasma pokemon, Strike of the Champion will allow Haxorus to knock it out directly. From the smallest Durant up to the fearsome Lugia-EX or the previously mentioned Genesect-EX, rest assured that Haxorus can deal with your foe.

Alongside the Ace Spec cards G Booster and G Scope, there is now the option to include a single Master Ball in your deck. I couldn't find an English translated image, but then again I didn't look too hard either. According to Bulbapedia, Master Ball will let you search your deck for any pokemon and add it to your hand. While this may not seem too great at first, consider this:

• Poke Ball will fetch any pokemon, but you must flip a heads.
• Great Ball will fetch any pokemon from the top seven cards of your deck.
• Ultra Ball will fetch any pokemon, at the cost of discarding two cards.
• Heavy Ball will fetch any pokemon, but it must have a retreat cost of three or more.
• Level Ball will fetch any pokemon, but it must have 90HP or less.

Having said that, Master Ball will give you any pokemon in your deck for free. If I can get one, I would most likely swap out the Gold Potion in my Plasma Steel deck to include one.

The last card I'll talk about for now is Jirachi-EX, since Jirachi is one of my favourite pokemon. Now Jirachi-EX isn't a particularly good Pokemon-EX, given that it has only 90HP and its attack will put both itself and the defending pokemon to sleep. What makes it useful is its ability.

When played from your hand onto your bench, Jirachi-EX allows you to take a supporter card from your deck and add it to your hand. At first glance this means you would only be able to do it once, but if you combine it with Super Scoop Up or another Ace Spec card from Plasma Blast known as Scoop Up Cyclone (same effect but no coin flip, much like Master Ball) and you can search multiple supporter cards. With a little luck, Jirachi-EX can increase your search power by quite a bit.



What card am I looking forward to the most? I'd say it's the full art version of Iris. If you were to look on Serebii, you would find that my only weakness is full art trainer cards. Seriously, it's on there. Check it out if you don't believe me! While Iris's effect isn't quite as good as Caitlin's, she has a full art version. That makes it worth wanting, although I would love a full art Jirachi-EX too. Did you see that card just above here? Awesome, innit?

Before I end this session's ramblings, a quick reminder that Tuesday 25th (yes, that's the Tuesday next week) is the first Pokemon TCG tourney for the holidays and the last tournament at the Card House's current location. What better way to spend a final hurrah than by coming in to play some games of Pokemon? The next two scheduled Pokemon events will be at the new location on the 2nd and 7th of July, and I'd love to see you all there! If you don't come though, it would mean that I win by default. Come on down and try to make me work for the prize!

Signing off, Professor Troy (I might fill the new store with traps and change my title to Gym Leader)

The Heart of the Game

I'd say I learned a pretty good lesson yesterday at the Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament, and for once it had nothing to do with Lady Luck's mental unbalance. No, yesterday I learned that there is more than one way to enjoy a game, and just because someone enjoys one particular way it doesn't mean that it's the only way.

You see, yesterday marked the first outing for my Harpies in quite some time and I've been anticipating it for a while. The decks I tend to play aren't considered top tier when compared with archetypes like Dragon Rulers and Prophecy, but I like to think I can play decently well even if I don't expect to win all the time. For me, that is how I enjoy the game. That doesn't mean that someone who plays a top tier deck doesn't enjoy the game any less than I do, just that they do so in their own way.

However the icing on the cake for me at yesterday's tournament was that I got to play against several decks that I normally wouldn't play against. Given that there are thousands of cards in the game, variety in what I play against definitely makes the game even more fun. It means that each opponent plays differently, and that I have to think about my moves even more to suit each situation, which in turn helps to make me a better player.

Because I'm terrible with names, I'm just gonna list off the deck types I played against and say that I enjoyed playing against my opponents regardless of the result because each of them were truly great to play against. The first game of the day was against Elemental HEROes, an archetype I'm all too familiar with as I have a friend in England that plays against me on Dueling Network and the E-HEROes are his favourites. That may have been detrimental to me as I kept fretting about hearing the words "Super Polymerization" - words that have been the bane of anything I can play from Harpie Lady 1 all the way up to Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. Even though I lost, I always enjoy playing against this opponent for his sterling attitude towards the game.

Game 2 saw my Harpies tackling the inedible Gadgets, which I found to be quite an interesting challenge to face. Another loss, but once again another very great opponent to play against. Then, for the first time I can remember I had a bye! De fault! De fault! Game 4 had the lovely ladies stand up to the ancient might of Exodia, and I had to really think about my moves to try and get around the various stalling tactics of the deck. In the end it didn't pay off, Exodia was whole again and I got OBLITERATE-d. Given that this was the first time I can remember facing off against Exodia, it was an interesting game with another great opponent.

The final game carried the threat of fried chicken, with my Harpies taking on the brightly burning Hazy Flames. This opponent was also one I've played against before, and I enjoy each game against him. This round went to me, though I have a feeling next time won't be the same. All in all it was probably one of the best Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments I've attended and I'm glad I got to go this time. By the same token this could be called the spirit of the Card House, and while I haven't played in too many other places the Card House crowd by far demonstrates this attitude the best.

So thanks to everyone who attends these events as well as those who just come in to play from time to time, for making the best of a bad situation The Card House such a great place to go. I hope to have many more games against you all, and also that I start to remember names instead of sounding like an idiot on the blog.

There is one other thing to mention, and that's the upcoming school holidays. Being that I'm not in school I don't remember the exact dates, but given that there are a few upcoming Pokemon tournaments I'm gonna mention it here and say that I hope to see some good attendance for them! While the Plasma Steel deck serves me well, I may opt to play Dragons or even a whole new deck if I can get the cards I need (a psychic deck has my interest, as well as starting up a Team Plasma deck). It would be great to play against more people, and there's also the possibility of more regular tournaments on Sundays if attendance is up. So come on, get out your poke balls and have a go!

Signing off, Professor Troy (I can see you, and you shouldn't be riding your bike there).