Epic Diem Photo Dump

As we know, Epic Diem was truely epic! I promised photo's, and I delivered!

Within the rabble of the geek hordes, great warriors pitted their combat skill in the arena, each vying for martial glory. The doors opened for the markets; joined by the theater showing some of the greatest anime known to man/furry/pony-kind, and a brawling ring where unarmed combatants tested their mettle.

Within the Market district, finest armorers and common traders sold their wares. The markets became a back-drop for a story yet to be told: The epic tale of Theros began...

I am no storyteller, and I spent too much time under the sandal of both the Gods' and Colossus of Akros to weave a tale that does them justice.

I am opening the floor, so if you are willing to recount your Epic saga of the day, I'll give you a booster pack of your choice.

Now I present to you the Epic Diem photo-dump: The photo's all done by Chelsea Manning...

Shame she left the lens cap on when taking the other photo's... Including myself heckling the Scientology stand in a Guy Fawkes Mask, me being beaten by the Infinity Wars demo, and Chelsea's knight in shining Armour...

Our own Aaron cosplaying as Cloud

Our own Aaron cosplaying as Cloud... again.

Heroes in pitched battle. Notice the Guy staring at chelsea's chest.

More of the Struggle. 1

The Greater Battleground.

Notice the ring in the background; the battle their pales in comparison to the epic of Theros!

Vegas Photo's and pre-EPIC DIEM!

Hi Every body.

(A hi Dr Chad would be appreciated.)

Good news for Yugioh! Kev finally sent me the pictures. Unfortunately I can only post a few here because, well "What happens in Vegas..." That and I didn't burn the Place Down with the Hazy flames! We still have a Venue to play at, so Huzzah for that.

Here's the photo's, with witty captions:

The Dueling Grounds, note the Statue of "Utopia Ray"

Here's Kev with Yuma Tsukumo. Obviously Yuma's ego is hugely Inflated.

It's SRS business Guys, check out their Game Faces!

Do they get those shirts there, or do they buy them somewhere?

The Photo's were taken, and a custom token made immortalizing them through the ages is made... Well until the card disintegrates...

Okay, there is no need to mention the regular and random hi-jinx that happened on Saturday: If you don't know what I mean, get in there and experience it firsthand! So now let's Move on to EPIC DIEM!

EPIC DIEM is on Saturday, so Troy's only running the Yugioh tournaments in the Morning at the Card-House. But Constructed Yugioh Tournaments are happening at Epic Diem at 10:30am, and again at 4:30pm. The Vanguard has a constructed tournaments at 1:00

Magic Planeswalkers who heeded my advice and booked in for the Theros Pre-Release already have a free ticket, with only paying to compete. For those who haven't (poor sod), you need to pay for admission and entry, and the tourney times are: 11:00am, 3:00pm and 6:00pm at the times 

A set based on Greek Mythology; details about the set, and the EPIC DIEM day are here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.637577969620801.1073741838.444143605630906&type=1


See ya there :-)

I totally had an awesome title, but I misplaced it like Kev misplaced the Vegas photo's :0D

What's going on?

Good News: I'm starting back to Yugioh! I finally finished ham-fisting a bunch of cards into a deck-box rebuilding my "Hazy Flame BBQ" deck. All going well, this saturday is the day I burn the Card-House Down (figure of speech). How do you want your loss, char grilled or served as raw perfection? Joking aside, I missed the Yugioh, and while the MTG guys are great, it's like comparing a banana to a dog-toy steak... So different.

2ndly I want to get your opinion on something: I'd like to get a mini-series up and running for a "Yugioh IRL" on youtube, and I want to get some idea of how many of you guys want in, who'd you want to play the Protagonist (apart from yourself, popular vote gets it), and any ideas for plot-lines.

Also what skills do you guys have? I mean apart from strategic insight in card-games, encyclopedic knowledge of Anime/Manga and the ability to talk more trash then a politician, without the state-changing fallout?

One things for certain: I'm too sexy asymmetrical for the lens...

Oh! before I forget: As a Planeswalker, you out to get a pass for Epic Diem! I've been cautioned from saying that you'll probably see more Ass there than an Unhinged Pre-Release, so I will just say that Theros is going to be Legendary, and the rest of the convention almost as Mythic!

Later Guys.

Epic Diem

Greetings fellow Cardhousians.

What's everyone been up to? Your Feedback on the new look for the blog would be greatly appreciated.

I was hoping to get back to Yu-Gi-Oh on Saturday, but apparently I need to do something called "Voting" for the "National Election". I Finally finished adapting the deck, So all going well, the Saturday after.

I must admit: There comes a time in every basement dweller's Geeky/Nerdy life where we have to consider facing our worst enemy:

The Sun!

But will I we face it? (I need to remember that despite the consensus in my head, the world does not revolve around me, but my arch nemesis the Sun...)

Anyway the Theros Pre-Release coincides with Epic Diem (Big Moment) Saturday 21st at 9 am. This means that we fellow Planeswalkers have no choice but to leave the Realms of the Basement/the Card House.

Consider it an adventure: Bustling Crowds, Scantily Clad Cosplay Girls vying for our attention, fight sequences with boffers, unique Shinies trinkets to buy, and maybe, just maybe Victory at the Pre-Release!

Get ready by buying tickets from Kev, our friendly neighbourhood spiderman Purveyor of Win, and Book now for Theros!

Chad, fearing Sun's wrath...

NB: Still reading through the Theros Spoilers, I will post more about it when I know more.

KONAMI Is the DOVAKIIN! (How they slew the Dragon Rulers with the September 1st banlist!)

Alright guys, are you all excited as I am right now?

I'll contain myself for a few minutes; and give you a rundown of the changes for the September ban-list.

Ban-List Changes Effective September 1st:

FORBIDDEN:

BURNER, DRAGON RULER OF SPARKS

ELEMENTAL HERO STRATOS
LIGHTNING, DRAGON RULER OF DRAFTS
REACTAN, DRAGON RULER OF PEBBLES
STREAM, DRAGON RULER OF DROPLETS
CARD DESTRUCTION
GATEWAY OF THE SIX
HEAVY STORM
MONSTER REBORN
POT OF AVARICE
SPELLBOOK OF JUDGMENT
SUPER REJUVENATION
SOLEMN JUDGMENT
ULTIMATE OFFERING

LIMITED

ATLANTEAN DRAGOONS
BROTHERHOOD OF THE FIRE FIST - SPIRIT
DEEP SEA DIVA
GENEX ALLY BIRDMAN
RESCUE RABBIT
THUNDER KING RAI-OH
EVIGISHKI MIND AUGUS
DEWLOREN, TIGER KING OF THE ICE BARRIER
DIMENSIONAL FISSURE
GOLD SARCOPHAGUS
ROYAL TRIBUTE
BOTTOMLESS TRAP HOLE
COMPULSORY EVACUATION DEVICE
ERADICATOR EPIDEMIC VIRUS
MAGICAL EXPLOSION
SOUL DRAIN
TORRENTIAL TRIBUTE

SEMI-LIMITED

MEZUKI
PLAGUESPREADER ZOMBIE
T.G. STRIKER
FIRE FORMATION - TENKI
DIMENSIONAL PRISON

UNRESTRICTED

THE AGENT OF MYSTERY -EARTH
TSUKUYOMI
A HERO LIVES
BLACK WHIRLWIND
E - EMERGENCY CALL
HIERATIC SEAL OF CONVOCATION
POT OF DUALITY
SCAPEGOAT

 "Alright Chad, How does this affect me?"

Well, for once, Konami defecated on every major player in the meta-game.

We have lost many former Staples, (CARD DESTRUCTION, HEAVY STORM, MONSTER REBORN,
SOLEMN JUDGEMENT are now Forbidden, THUNDER KING RAI-OH, GOLD SARCOPHAGUS, ROYAL TRIBUTE, BOTTOMLESS TRAP HOLE, COMPULSORY EVACUATION DEVICE limited, and DIMENSIONAL PRISON as semi-limited.) The reduction from 18-22 stap;es down to 12-15 Staples, not just allows us to build more varied and pro-active decks (instead of the March 13's Anti-Everything being the meta), We also have less chance of being shaken down by airport security for carrying our deck in hand-luggage!

Here are my staples? What are your thoughts? Anything I missed?

 3 x Mystical Space Typhoon
3 x Negate Attack
2 x Dimensional Prison
1 x Bottomless Trap Hole
1 x Compulsary Evacuation Device
1 x Mirror Force

Not everyone wins though, and with a mix of sympathy for Dave (he spent a ton of cash on his dragon-ruler deck) and sheer glee, I can say that konami killed Dragon Rulers, and drained the soul from the deck! (losing the lynch-pin BURNER, LIGHTNING, REACTAN, and STREAM renders the deck as impotent as I am without some 'magic pills'. Six samurai players have lost their Gateway. Mermail-atlantians have gone down to one Diva and Dragoon. Also, Macro-Rabbit decks (including evilswarm-Macro-Rabbit) have been killed off, Rescue Rabbit being limited to 1.

At least Blackwings get back their BLACK WHIRLWIND, Heiratic's get their HIERATIC SEAL OF CONVOCATION, and E-Heroes get their A HERO LIVES and E - EMERGENCY CALL (they lose stratos, but shit happens.)

All in all, my only cause to whine about the Ban-List is that LEGENDARY SIX SAMURAII - SHI EN has dodged the ban-list again!

Ahhh... C'est la vie

New Banlist

Well, the latest ban list for Yu-Gi-Oh! has been officially released, and it seems everyone is taking a hit. I imagine it's to slow down some of the nastier decks out at the moment, and while I know I'm gonna miss a couple of cards there are some that most of us will be grateful to see gone.

One big change is that all of the baby Dragon Rulers are now banned completely. I don't think any of us will be surprised by this, what with Dragon Rulers dominating the previous format. By getting rid of the baby dragons, this should slow them down by a significant amount. What may be the killer for them though is the banning of Super Rejuvination and limiting of Gold Sarcophagus. Admittedly, I'd hate to be the guy who bought more than one copy of Dracossack and Number 11: Big Eye at the moment.

Speaking of Xyz monsters, the only new one on the ban list is Number 16: Shock Master. Here's another one who I think we'll be glad to see the last of for a while. I know more than once when I've been playing Harpies and started swarming my opponent has expressed a sigh at the sudden appearance of Shock Master, although I'll admit to not having played one in my deck even before this ban list.

Here's a surprise for me in that Elemental HERO Stratos is now banned. I have a friend in England that I play against on Dueling Network who plays HEROes, and having had experience against him I would've thought that Stratos was fine being limited. I'll assume there was a decent reason for it and move onto the next cards now, so don't worry about that.

However, it's the toolbox cards that took the biggest hit. As of September 1st, we are no longer allowed to have copies of Monster Reborn, Heavy Storm, Pot of Avarice and Solemn Judgment in decks. Card Destruction is also gone, so just about every one of us will have to do some thinking about what we're gonna fill those holes with. Reborn is an easy one for me, as I can substitute Galaxy Zero in my Photon deck and Hysteric Party for my Harpies.

Another couple of banned cards that caught my attention are Gateway of the Six and Spellbook of Judgment. I haven't seen too many Six Samurai decks lately, which I have the feeling that Evilswarm Ophion is responsible for, and this could very well be the final nail in the coffin for them. The banning of Judgment will definitely serve to slow down Prophecy/Spellbook decks, although they might still be able to remain competitive since it looks like none of their other cards got hit.

Onto the limited stuff, and we will no longer be seeing more than one of the Wascaly Wabbits due to being limited. This will hit quite a few decks, slowing down Dino Rabbit, Noble Rabbit, Evilswarm and Fire Fists. I know I won't be sorry to see him at one for a while.

Speaking of limits, I seem to remember Mermails, Fire Fists and Bujin being thought to be the big decks for the upcoming format. It would seem that Konami agrees, limiting several cards that slot in with them. Among those hit are:
 - Atlantean Dragoons
 - Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Spirit
 - Deep Sea Diva
On that topic, it's worth mentioning that Fire Formation - Tenki got the semi-limited treatment, probably in anticipation of Fire Fists and Bujin decks. We shall see if it's enough to keep the balance over the next few months.

The last one I'm going to talk about for now is the complete removal of Black Whirlwind from the list. As someone who has played Blackwings (in the form of Black Harpies), I'm honestly shocked by this. One really good starting hand can result in a massive swarm of the field in a single turn, especially with Heavy Storm gone. Whether or not it will be enough to make Blackwings competitive again is something we'll find out over the next few months, just like how well the fan favourites will be I mention in the last part.

Actually, there is one other really big change to the ban list I want to mention. This ban list will only be in effect for the period of September 1st to December 31st, giving it only half the life span of previous ban lists. I have the feeling that this is to stop cards that come out early into a format from dominating it for extended periods, making this a welcome change in my eyes. Hopefully it will also result in some more diverse decks, and we won't be seeing only a few decks in the top sixteen results for tournaments worldwide. I can dream, can't I?

For the full ban list, see the following link: http://www.yugioh-card.com/en/limited/index.html

The Pokemon Professor, Troy

That was a Blast

Well, the Plasma Blast pre release has come and gone, and apparently my streak of getting useless crap in my pre release boosters continued. I think that one time drawing Pyrorex the Elemental Lord got my hopes and expectations up to the point where fate just doesn't want to deal with them. Maybe it had something to do with getting some Judgment of the Light boosters before the tourney and pulling Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Rooster (I traded it already, so don't molest me over it). Ah well, that didn't stop the day being enjoyable. Getting a full art Iris or a Master Ball wouldn't have hurt though.

I think Kangaskhan got card of the day for this one. Call for Family has featured on many a card stretching back a long time in the TCG, and to have it on a colourless pokemon makes Kangaskhan easily splashable, which  would have accounted for its common appearance during the day. Comet Punch is a little too unpredictable for my liking, but I'd say it was quite the turning point throughout the day.

Probably some of the best news came in the form of reprints of Rare Candy and Pokemon Catcher, both of which seemed to appear fairly easily compared to earlier prints. Given that they're some of the most useful cards to have in a deck at this point in time, this is extremely good news.

For those of you who have an affinity for water types (hooray for fancy speak!), here's something you'll like. Suicune appears in the Plasma Blast set, sporting the anti-EX ability that made Sigilyph infamous. Which means you too can enjoy a measure of protection from Pokemon-EX just like psychic decks and other people who like to throw in a special energy that can count as psychic. The one thing that sets Sigilyph over the top of Suicune however, is that Sigilyph can be searched for with Level Ball which eliminates the possibility of failure Poke Ball comes with or the loss of cards to use Ultra Ball.

If I could remember the awesome line I said on the day, I would write it here. Unfortunately I can't, so I'm gonna end the blog post here. Mostly because I'm out of stuff to say that I haven't already said in a previous blog post. So have a great night everyone, and enjoy Plasma Blast!

The Pokemon Professor, Troy