Saturday, April 2, 2011

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 Promo Cards!

Well the promo cards for the new DotP game are out and already all 3 major platform's promos have been revealed!
For the Xbox 360 Arcade, an alternate art foil Grave Titan.
For PSN, an alternate art foil Inferno Titan.
And for PC users, the Steam promo is an alternate art foil Frost Titan!


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Magic: Tactics Gathering!

Fans of M:tG there is a new (and good!) Magic inspired game available now from Sony Online Entertainment (makers of Star Wars Galaxies and DC Universe Online): Magic: the Gathering Tactics.


For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of tactics games the best way to describe it is essentially a video game version of a miniatures game. The player begins by creating a planeswalker and choosing a color of magic. Using the 40-card preconstructed deck you're given you can play spells and summon creatures to reduce your enemies life total to 0 (sound familiar?!). On each planeswalker's turn they receive an amount of mana to cast spells from their hand before ending their turn with either passing, attacking a unit, or moving. Creatures cast also become figures on the grid which have their own turn order based on that creature's initiative value. Creatures can move, attack planeswalkers or other creatures, defend, or use activated abilities on their turns. Certain mechanics have been altered to fit the tactics system (i.e. unblockable creatures cannot be attacked by other creatures and can move through terrain unhindered). Enchantments and other spells work in a fairly similar fashion to the card game although most require your planeswalker to be in a certain distance from the spells target.

Now probably the best thing is that decks in this game are fully customizable. Since the mana system is kind of automatic, you don't seem to get mana-screwed but since you don't have the choice to play lands at your discretion you could have a creature in your hand for U but only have B in your pool. Other than that the game translates very well. any person with a knowledge of the card game will be able to learn this very quickly, although mastery is based entirely on your ability to adapt your strategies to a fully 3-dimensional environment.

There are several modes such as a single player campaign, casual 1 vs. 1 games against real opponents, and tournament play.

The campaigns feature a condition for winning an usually yield experience and a card, gold, or both. They also follow a story that progresses you from your humble beginnings as a fledgling planeswalker to becoming something a truly epic spell casting badass.

Probably the strangest aspect is that your planeswalker can actually level up. As you gain experience you can actually earn talent points by leveling which you can use to enhance your spells of certain colors or effect your game overall. For instance one talent in the blue tree gives your rogue creatures a chance to gain an extra 1 initiative when cast, with 4% per trait to a total of 5.

You can also participate in player vs. player matches and tournaments which can raise your player rank and net you more gold or other prizes such as cards or "booster packs". The player vs. player aspect is very competitive so its recommended that you stick to the tutorials and campaigns til you get the swing of things (unless your that kind of "baptism by fire" kind of guy).

Booster packs containing random cards to add to your deck can also be obtained through SOE's online store by using "Sony Cash". This "SC" can also be used to purchase single cards, additional campaigns, or other random things. The gold obtained in the game can be used on the games "auction house" for purchasing single cards from other players in a bidding system. I haven't purchased any yet so I can't say for sure how many cards they contain but I'd assume it would be around the 15 area as they cost as much as actual booster packs of Magic. Personally though I think I'm just going to stick to buying from the AH with gold as I for one would much rather have real cards!

Now I do have to say the game doesn't feel rushed at all and if you're a fan a fan of the card game the free.99 price tag warrants it a shot.

Hit up http://www.magicthegatheringtactics.com/ for the client download or screenshots!

Battle for the Maelstrom!

The newest planeswalker duel decks has just been announced and for anyone familiar with the Alara Unbroken novel by Doug Beyer this one should be exciting!

Starting Sept 11th 2011 Ajani Goldmane can pit his spirit avatar against Nicol Bolas in the heart of the maelstrom!


The two full 60-card decks will feature several alternate art cards including their respective planeswalker cards!

Now wether it will be the Ajani Goldmane or Ajani Vengeant card remains to be seen. Either way the duel decks are very well balanced against each other and are a blast to play and I for one am looking forward to this one.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Duels of the Eldrazi?!


For anyone not in the know the third Duels of the Planeswalkers expansion is available for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. This time the horrible shadow that looms over the multiverse is none other than that of the Eldrazi from the Zendikar block.

New features include a new single player and co-op campaign (in which you have to defeat Sarkhan the Mad and his powerful Eldrazi creatures), 3 new decks (Sorin Markov's vampire aggro deck, Gideon Jura's white equipment deck, and Niv-Mizet's ping-tastic Root of the Firemind), 3 new cards for each existing deck, new puzzles, and of course new achievements/trophies.

The expansion is available on XBL Marketplace, PS Network and Steam for $5 (or it's point equivilent).

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Cards for Sale - List in Progress

Lets face it, there is NO way in hell I'm going to finish my Annihilation Sculptor deck without some help. So to help with that I've decided to sell alot of my unused cards in several of the card games I play.

So I'll start with Magic: The Gathering:

Here are some Pokemon cards for sale:

Black Star Promos:
  • DP11 Empoleon LV.X -Foil R-
  • DP31 Heatran LV.X -Foil R-
  • DP33 Dusknoir -Foil R-
  • DP35 Porygon-Z -Foil R-
  • DP37 Dialga LV.X -Foil R-
  • DP38 Giratina LV.X -Foil R-
  • DP39 Shaymin LV.X -Foil R- x2
  • DP43 Probopass Galactic SP -Foil R-
  • HGSS07 Feraligatr Prime -Foil R-
POP9:
  • 4/17 Regigigas -R-
HeartGold SoulSilver:
  • 1/123 Arcanine -Foil R-
  • 6/123 Jumpluff -Foil R-
  • 7/123 Ninetails -Foil R-
  • 11/123 Shuckle -Rev Foil R-
  • 16/123 Butterfree -R-
  • 17/123 Cleffa -R-
  • 23/123 Hypno -R-
  • 29/123 Sandslash -Rev Foil R-
  • 32/123 Typhlosion -Rev Foil R-
  • 34/123 Weezing -R-
  • 34/123 Weezing -Rev Foil R-
  • 105/123 Ampharos Prime -Foil R-
  • 107/123 Donphan Prime -Foil R-
  • 108/123 Feraligatr Prime -Foil R-
  • 113/123 Lugia LEGEND (top half) -Foil R-
  • 123/123 Gyarados (Shiny) -Rev Foil R-
  • ONE Alph Lithograph Trainer -Secret R-
Platinum: Arceus

Platinum: Supreme Victors

Platinum: Rising Rivals

Platinum

Diamond & Pearl: Stormfront

Diamond & Pearl: Legends Awakened

Diamond & Pearl: Majestic Dawn

Diamond & Pearl: Great Encounters

Diamond & Pearl: Secret Wonders

Diamond & Pearl: Mysterious Treasures

Diamond & Pearl

Heres whats up for grabs in the World of Warcraft card game:


Alternately if by chance you have some of the cards I need, like Jace the Mind Sculptor, Emrakul, Ulamog, Kozilek, Summoning Trap, Lotus Cobra, or Liliana Vess let me know because a trade can be arranged.

Other cards I need from Pokemon are: Drifloon (61/100) from Majestic Dawn, Driblim (16/100) from Stormfront, Ampharos (14/123) from HG/SS, Arceus's Metal, Psychic, Fighting, Dark, Water, Grass, and LV.X forms, and Ultimate Zone from Platinum: Arceus.

Cards I need from the WoW TCG are some Kel'Thuzad master hero cards, Stable Master (Hunter Ability), Corpse Explosion (Death Knight Ability), Goldenmoon (Alliance Ally), and others I can't remember at this point.

Duels of the Planeswalkers Decks Comming June 4th

The decks from Duels of the Planeswalkers, the Xbox Live Arcade game, is getting some IRL lovin'. Starting June 4th you can buy the 60-card standard versions of  a few of the decks in the game for some real life DotP action. The decks to be featured first are Chandra Nalaar's Hands of Flame deck, Garruk Wildspeaker's Teeth of the Predator deck, Jace Beleren's Thoughts of the Wind deck, Nissa Revane's Ears of the Elves deck, and Liliana Vess's Eyes of Shadow deck. No word yet wether the rest of the decks will eventually be released also, or if the beefier 80+ card versions of the decks will ever be availible.

On top of the 60-card preconstructed decks these will also be packaged with a 15-card booster pack though the official post by Wizards doesn't say from what set these packs will be. It won't be hard to imagine though, that the boosters will probably be from some core set, possibly M10.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Archenemy Details Released!

Looks like some info on the new Magic multiplayer format, Archenemy is out. It's not much but the synopsis of the game and its 4 preconstructed decks is on the Magic official website in Daily Arcana. The Archenemy player assumes the role of some heinous villian bent on some form of world domination and the opposing players (anywhere from 2-100) are supposed to band together to prevent him from accomplishing it. Personally to me it sounds alot like the Raid format in the WoW TCG, but I like that format so I hope its as good.

The theme decks are described as follows:

Bring About the Undead Apocalypse:
Reanimate zombie horrors, use big creatures to lethal advantage, and hunt down other Planeswalkers with your aberrant army of the undead.

Assemble the Doomsday Machine:
Use machinery incomprehensible to others to build a doomsday device. Its sole purpose: to destroy the world and any Planeswalker foolish enough to oppose you.

Trample Civilization Underfoot.
When you're a Planeswalker possessed by a maniacal desire to obliterate civilization by unleashing the forces of nature upon the world, carnage can be the only result.

Scorch the World with Dragonfire.
When you use your force of dragons to rain down incendiary destruction upon lesser Planeswalkers, how can they hope to stop you?








Notice each one is themed not only after a color but has very strong ties to existing Planeswalker cards. The Undead Apocalypse definatly sounds right up Liliana Vess's (very dark) alley. Tezzeret practically patented the Doomsday Machine idea. Both 'trampling' and 'underfoot' are probably a few of the words used daily in Garruk Wildspeaker's vocabulary. As for Dragonfire... need I say it? I think Sarkahn Vol has that one covered pretty nicely.

And since all those Planeswalkers could easily be seen in one of those senarios I think it's safe to say some new art based around the Planeswalkers will probably be included in the decks.

*crosses fingers*

In any case Archenemy drops June 18th so look for em!