Posts Tagged ‘tournament’

Set 19: The Path of Pain is set to Become Tournament Legal

Huzzah! An article about NARUTO, News posted on October 13th, 2010 by

Many people want to know when different cards and sets will become legal, including the upcoming Path of Pain Set 19. While Bandai tries to be fairly vocal about when different decks are released and ultimately become cleared for tournament play, there is still some occasional confusion. Of course, no one wants to end up bringing an unapproved deck to serious play. After all, even many local tournaments are sticklers about keeping these regulations.

They really should be. While it seems like an unnecessary formality, this prevents players from unfairly acquiring cards and unleashing them on other players who do not possess an appropriate defense. In many cases, it’s impossible for them to mount one without first acquiring other cards from new series that are explicitly designed for this sort of defense. The Path of Pain Set 19 is set to come out on November 5th, and will become legal as of November 26th, 2010. Cards from the Path of Pain shouldn’t be employed in serious play prior to that date.

Granted, for one’s own purposes, it might be interesting to play a bit of a pick up game where one player uses Path of Pain cards, and another doesn’t. The player not using them may very well be able to develop a tighter defense by carefully employing regular cards they already possessed.

November is set to see a number of sets go legal. Most importantly, the following will be considered legal for sanctioned play in the upcoming month: Naruto Uzumaki (Clone) (PR-054), Sasuke Uchiha (PR-055), Kakashi Hatake (PR-056), Itachi Uchiha (PR-058) and Jiraiya (PR-059). Generally, any card is considered legal for sanctioned play when three weeks have passed after the release. However, reprint cards from previous releases are considered to be legal for tournament play as soon as they hit the market. After all, these reprinted cards are technically not new releases.

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The Naruto CCG Shonen Jump Championships

Huzzah! An article about NARUTO, News posted on August 7th, 2010 by

Bandai and Viz joined forces for this year’s Naruto Collectible Card Game Shonen Jump championship tournaments. Today, August 7th, saw the pinnacle event occur at GenCon 2010. Interestingly enough, the events that lead up to today’s finals also carried a number of exhibitions. These tables allowed people to enjoy the Naruto game without being forced into an uncomfortable competition.

With ten different events, the tournament was certainly one of the longer ones in Naruto history. Perhaps this indicates that the game is starting to carry some of the prestige that it’s other esteemed colleagues in the world of collector card games already do.

That’s not to say, of course, that Naruto will ever be Magic the Gathering. However, hosting tournaments at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, Heroes & Fantasies in San Antonio, Coliseum of Comics in Orlando and Superstars Game Center in San Jose certainly speaks volumes about how many more people are now enjoying the game. The large number of prizes that were available also seems to suggest that there is a much larger fan base today.

Though most of the prizes near the bottom ranks were booster packs and the like, the promoters actually defined prize classifications through 64th place. This would suggest that a large number of contestants entered the tournament in the first place. For the first place winner there actually was a Shonen Jump themed trophy specifically made for the festivities. Through fourth place, players received a one-year subscription to Viz Media’s Shonen Jump magazine.

The original press release can be read at the TCG Player webpage. Perhaps most importantly, it mentions the fact that thousands of local tournaments are held at hobby shops across the country. Many of the best players of any trading card game can be found right on the local level.

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Cosplay at Tournaments

Huzzah! An article about NARUTO posted on April 15th, 2010 by

In a lot of what I’ve written, I’ve been giving the impression that it’s a great idea to try and get inside of the head of the characters from the Naruto trading card game. I’ve also mentioned that the cards are derived from an anime and manga series, so they end up sharing a lot of fans with people from that community. However, I found something today that takes that to the next level. I was searching for the Gaara of the Desert card (N-295), which is actually more rare than I thought it was. I wasn’t really able to find anyone who had it for under around $6.

On the other hand, I did find a site that tries to help people who want to look their best for tournaments. Cosplay is the art of wearing character costumes, though it very often extends to learning to act like them as well. It seems to be a fixture at many conventions, but I’ve actually occasionally heard of tournaments that feature it as well. They had an interesting article on that same character, Gaara, and even go into some degree of depth over how to make a costume to be like him.

Well, I guess I should forget about the Gaara of the Desert card! Maybe it would make more of an impact to go into a tournament dressed up with an outfit like this? I really don’t know if I’m ready for that kind of thing yet, but I certainly think it would be interesting. I know I’ve certainly seem some really elaborate ones, especially in relation to Naruto’s fellow Shonen Jump franchise Bleach. Since Bleach has its own collectible trading card game that’s marketed along side of it, I can only imagine what those tournaments would have looked like!

Cosplay at Tournaments

In a lot of what I’ve written, I’ve been giving the impression that it’s a great idea to try and get inside of the head of the characters from the Naruto trading card game. I’ve also mentioned that the cards are derived from an anime and manga series, so they end up sharing a lot of fans with people from that community. However, I found something today that takes that to the next level. I was searching for the Gaara of the Desert card (N-295), which is actually more rare than I thought it was. I wasn’t really able to find anyone who had it for under around $6.

On the other hand, I did find a site that tries to help people who want to look their best for tournaments. Cosplay is the art of wearing character costumes, though it very often extends to learning to act like them as well. It seems to be a fixture at many conventions, but I’ve actually occasionally heard of tournaments that feature it as well. They had an interesting article on that same character, Gaara, and even go into some degree of depth over how to make a costume to be like him.

Well, I guess I should forget about the Gaara of the Desert card! Maybe it would make more of an impact to go into a tournament dressed up with an outfit like this? I really don’t know if I’m ready for that kind of thing yet, but I certainly think it would be interesting. I know I’ve certainly seem some really elaborate ones, especially in relation to Naruto’s fellow Shonen Jump franchise Bleach. Since Bleach has its own collectible trading card game that’s marketed along side of it, I can only imagine what those tournaments would have looked like!

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Tournament basics, Pt. 1

Huzzah! An article about Magic: The Gathering, News posted on March 9th, 2010 by

I’ve always considered myself an advocate of newbies more than most of the magic players in my area. I see a regrettable number of local players who I consider friends doing nothing to provide any incentive for new players to continue coming to FNMs. The more experienced a player becomes, the more it seems they feel no obligation to even acknowledge the existence of players who they don’t consider worth their time, completely forgetting the fact that they were all, at one point, a new player themselves. I feel that this is highly unhealthy for the community as a whole. It’s commonly known that one of the biggest problems for many communities is the inability to get new players to “stick.” I have made this a personal goal of mine in recent years, and as a result many of the things I write in this blog are going to be more directed towards new players, and hints for more experienced players to help the new players in their community.
Now that that’s out of the way, I’m going to address something that’s been bugging me lately. It seems like regardless of what level of tournament I attend lately, whether it be a PTQ, FNM, or even a Grand Prix, players are not coming prepared. I’m not talking about play testing or being familiar with the format or anything conceptual like that. I’m talking about just plain not having the necessary supplies for a magic tournament. Let me begin with an excerpt from the DCI floor rules, which are the rules that all tournaments of all enforcement levels and locations are supposed to conform to.
A player must bring the following items to a tournament in order to participate:
A valid DCI membership number registered in the participant’s name. New players may register for DCI membership when enrolling in the tournament.
Any materials specifically required for a particular tournament format, such as assembled decks and/or deck lists for constructed tournaments.
A physical, visible, and reliable method to maintain and record game information (tokens, score counters, pen and paper, and so on).

The first one is important. If you’re going to be a DCI tournament player you need to either write down your DCI number and keep it with you, or memorize it. It will make everyone’s life much easier when it comes to signing up for tournaments.
The second one isn’t a problem as often. Very few people actually forget their decks, and usually if they do it’s because of a failure to pay attention, not a lack of familiarity with the rules. The important thing to focus on here is the deck list aspect of things. Those of you who have attended a large PTQ or regionals can imagine how much more smoothly things would run if people prepared their decks for registration ahead of time. But it’s not a vital change.
The third rule is so seemingly innocuous, and many people think they have a strong grasp of what it entails, but it’s the most commonly disregarded floor rule in all of magic, and so easy to fix. My thoughts about this topic are going to cover the entirety of my next post, they’re that important, and I really have that much to say about it.

To be continued

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