Saturday, July 30, 2016

My Card Gaming, Week Ending 7/30/16

Games played:
  • Lord of the Rings LCG - 5 games.  Picking up from where we left off, Bobby, Ben, and I finished up the Long Dark (in two tries), Foundations of Stone (first try), and tried Shadow and Flame twice, but failed, meaning we'll try that again next time.  I changed the secrecy deck I was using for a time for a Spirit/Lore draw heavy deck, trying to ensure everyone had a lot of cards, and then using Protector of Lorien to give me a potential outlet to get rid of cards I didn't actually need.
New acquisitions:
  • Dragonball Z - Various singles
  • Magic: The Gathering - Various singles to make my superfriends deck

Monday, July 25, 2016

Back Issues: Inquest Gamer 64

Issue released August 2000.

Magic: The Gathering

Report from the U.S. Nationals, won by Jon Finkel, and his decklist:
2 Phyrexian Negator
2 Skittering Horror
3 Skittering Skirge
1 Stromgald Cabal
1 Thrashing Wumpus
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
1 Engineered Plague
1 Eradicate
1 Massacre
1 Perish
1 Persecute
1 Stupor
2 Unmask
4 Vampiric Tutor
4 Vicious Hunger
4 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Dust Bowl
4 Rishadan Port
2 Spawning Pool
15 Swamp
Sideboard:
2 Engineered Plague
1 Eradicate
1 Massacre
1 Perish
2 Phyrexian Negator
1 Phyrexian Processor
1 Powder Keg
2 Rapid Decay
1 Stromgald Cabal
1 Stupor
1 Thran Lens
1 Unmask

Magic's Top 100 Most Knockout cards was a feature in this issue.  I won't list them all, but the top 10 were, in order, Ancestral Recall, Library of Alexandria, Tolarian Academy, Mind Twist, Yawgmoth's Bargain, Balance, Mana Drain, Demonic Tutor, Force of Will, and Time Spiral.

Killer Decks: Replenish
1 Marble Diamond
1 Sky Diamond
1 Trade Routes
1 Seal of Removal
1 Lilting Refrain
4 Attunement
4 Parallax Tide
4 Frantic Search
2 Counterspell
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Repenish
4 Opalescence
4 Parallax Wave
2 Seal of Cleaning
4 Adarkar Wastes
10 Island
9 Plains
Sideboard:
3 Seal of Removal
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Counterspell
3 Chill
2 Mana Short
1 Back To Basics
1 Arcane Laboratory
1 Energy Flux

Get Enchantments in the Graveyard, cast Replenish, have enough new creatures (with Opalescence) to win the game.

Theme Deck: Beach Blanket Blammo (Deck built around the beach)
The Babes:
1 Argothian Enchantress
1 Caller Of The Hunt
1 Elvish Ranger
1 Fire Elemental
1 Jasmine Boreal
1 Lady Evangela
1 Pixie Queen
1 Rubinia Soulsinger
1 Serra Angel
1 Sivitri Scarzam
1 Verduran Enchantress
1 Vesuvan Doppelganger
The Hunks:
1 Balduvian Horde
1 Craw Giant
1 Ivory Guardians
1 Mijae Djinn
1 Nameless Race
1 Ragnar
1 Sanctum Guardian
1 Serendib Djnn
1 Soldevi Sentry
1 Soldier of Fortune
1 Veteran Bodyguard
1 Zhalfirin Crusader
The Supplies:
1 Chaos Orb (beach ball)
1 Elixir of Vitality (beer!)
1 Soothing Balm (suntan lotion)
1 Sunglasses of Urza
The Elements:
1 Burnout
1 Heat Ray
1 Heat Stroke
1 Heat Wave
1 High Tide
1 Sands of Time
The Critters:
1 Homarid
1 Horseshoe Crab
The Sand & Stuff:
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Plateau
4 Taiga
4 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island

Top 10 Magic Cards
  1.  Masticore
  2. Replenish
  3. Rishadan Port
  4. Morphling
  5. Greel, Mind Raker
  6. Mageta the Lion
  7. Parallax Wave
  8. Parallax Tide
  9. Lin Sivvi
  10. Rootwater Thief
 Top 10 CCGs:
  1. Pokemon
  2. Magic: The Gathering
  3. Star Wars CCCG
  4. Legend of the Five Rings
  5. Young Jedi CCG
  6. 7th Sea
  7. Wheel of Time CCG
  8. Star Trek CCG
  9. Deadlands: Doomtown
  10. Babylon 5 CCG
 Wheel of Time

Killer Deck: Illian Rising!
Starting Villain:
Sammael
Starting Hand:
Lord Brend
King Mattin Stepaneos
Strong Loyalties
Advantages:
1 Charismatic Leader
1 Illian
2 Preemptive Strike
2 The City of Illian
2 The Shadow Rising
Challenges:
3 Confrontation
3 Invasion
3 Request Tribute
2 Stalemate
3 War of Attrition
Characters:
2 Lord Argirin Darelos
2 Lord Ballin Elamri
2 Lord Drapeneos
2 Lord Elris Mancuri
1 Lord Ershin Netari
1 Lord Gregorian Panar
2 Lord Jeordwyn Semaris
1 Lord Spiron Naretin
Events:
3 Overrun
3 Sabotage
3 Strong Loyalties (maybe 2, since this is in the starting hand)
3 The Port of Illian
Troops:
2 Blockade Runners
3 Illian Lancers
2 Illian Volunteers
2 The Companions

Work to get Illian into your hand as soon as possible. Then you can start getting all those Illian characters into play, then play The Port of Illian.

Theme Deck: Let There Be Light!
Staring Hero: Rand al'Thor (1,1,2,1 version, chosen starting allegiance: Children of the Light)
Starting Hand:
Circle of Light
Child of the Light
Half Legion
Advantages:
3 A Second Chance
1 Circle of Light
2 Leader of Nations
3 Momentum
2 Saidin Angreal
Challenges:
3 Confrontation
3 Testing Fate
3 Political Maneuvering
Characters:
3 Child of the Light
2 Jarette Byar
2 Whitecloak Spy
2 Geofram Bornhald
1 Eamon Valda
1 Pedron Niall
2 Dain Bornhald
2 Hired Agents
2 Wandering Nobles
Events:
3 The Light Illumine
3 Blood Tide
3 Twists in the Pattern
Troops:
3 Light Brigade
2 Legion
3 Half Legion
3 Patrol Troop

They mention that this isn't so far away from being a real killer deck, Children of the Light are pretty good, apparently.

Other Things:
They give a review of the Prophecy expansion for Magic (A-), the Sailor Moon CCG (B-), and the Digimon Digi-Battle Card Game (C).

There's some discussion about the X-Men card game- basic training, and a player's guide for the game.  I didn't include those here, as the game is pretty well panned.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

My Card Gaming, Week Ending 7/23/16

Games played:
  • Nothing :(.
New acquisitions:
  • Dragonball Z - Perfection Booster Box
  • Magic: The Gathering - Eldritch Moon Booster Box
Once again, I've just been too busy to play :(.  Upcoming wedding, finishing the project.  Busy times!

This week I should get back into the swing of things :)

Monday, July 18, 2016

Back Issues: Inquest Gamer 56

Issue released in December 1999.

Magic: The Gathering

Top 10 cards from Mercadian Masques
  1. Squee, Goblin Nabob
  2. Scandalmonger
  3. Thwart
  4. Power Matrix
  5. Two-Headed Dragon
  6. Ballista Squad
  7. Mercadian Atlas
  8. Soothsaying
  9. Notorious Assassin
  10. Collective Unconscious
No Rishadan Port, Bribery, Food Chain, or Dust Bowl?

Killer Deck: Green Beatdown
4 Albino Troll
2 Elvish Lyrist
4 Hunted Wumpus
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Pouncing Jaguar
4 River Boa
2 Uktabi Orangutan
4 Wild Dogs
4 Giant Growth
2 Might Of Oaks
4 Rancor
14 Forest
4 Gaea's Cradle
3 Treetop Village
1 Yavimaya Hollows

Mana Acceleration into creatures, then enhancements to deal as much damage as possible.

Non-Killer Theme Deck: Agents of Doom (Computer theme deck)
Hardware:
1 Balance (adjust your view)
1 Cold Storage
1 Elven Cache
2 Memory Crystal
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Phyrexian (17") Monitor
1 Phyrexian Processor
1 Urza's Tower
Software:
4 Benthic Explorer
1 Browse
1 Rank and File
4 Veteran Explorer
Internet:
1 Web
1 Magnetic Web
1 Mana Web
1 Silk Net
1 Soul Net
1 Sunweb
Pre-Installed Games:
1 Booby Trap
1 Gamekeeper
1 Goblin War Buggy
1 Teferi's Puzzle Box
Computer Problems:
1 Back to Basics
2 Memory Lapse
Computer Repair:
1 Jhoira's Toolbox
1 Jhoira's Tools
Power Sources:
4 Forest
6 Island
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Mishra's Workshop
1 Mountain
2 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Urza's Power Plant

Deck Building: Special Lands
Get lands on the table, keep them on the table, and use Wrath of God to clear the board for them to win.
3 Crop Rotation
2 Exploration
2 Hurricane
4 Mulch
4 Rancor
1 Reclaim
2 Symbiosis
3 Disenchant
4 Enlightened Tutor
2 Pacifism
2 Sacred Ground
2 Wrath of God
4 Forbidding Watchtower
7 Forest
6 Plains
4 Stalking Stones
4 Treetop Village
4 Wasteland

Top 10 Cards:
  1. Masticore
  2. Treachery
  3. Squee, Goblin Nabob
  4. Powder Keg
  5. Two-Headed Dragon
  6. Yawgmoth's Bargain
  7. Emperor Crocodile
  8. Ivory Mask
  9. Vampiric Tutor
  10. Delraich

Star Wars CCG

Killer Deck: Blitzkrieg
Locations:
1 Hoth
1 Hoth: Defensive Perimeter
1 Hoth: Echo Command Center (War Room)
1 Hoth: Echo Corridor
1 Hoth: Echo Docking Bay
1 Hoth: Ice Plains
1 Hoth: North Ridge
1 Spaceport Docking Bay
Characters:
1 Admiral Motti
1 Admiral Ozzel
1 Commander Igar
1 DS-61-2
2 Elite Squadron Stormtooper
1 Garindan
1 General Veers
1 IM4-099
1 Lieutenant Watts
1 Major Marquand
1 Quarren
1 Sergeant Major Bursk
1 Sergeant Narthax
4 Snowtrooper
2 Snowtrooper Officer
Vehicles:
1 Blizzard 1
1 Blizzard Scout 1
1 Blizzard Walker
1 Tempest 1
1 Tempest Scout
1 Tempest Scout 1
1 Tempest Scout 2
1 Tempest Scout 4
1 Tempest Scout 6
Starships:
1 Black 2
1 Bossk in Hound's Tooth
1 Dreadnought-Class Heavy Cruiser
1 TIE Avenger
1 Vengeance
Interrupts:
1 Freeze!
3 Trample
1 Twi'lek Advisor
1 Walker Garrison
Effects:
1 Crossfire
1 Empire's New Orders
1 Imperial Academy Training
1 Imperial Arrest Order
1 Rebel Base Occupation
Weapons:
1 AT-AT Cannon
1 AT-ST Dual Cannon
1 Blaster Rifle
1 Blaster Pistol
1 Scout Blaster
Epic Events:
1 Target The Main Generator

Basically, set up on Hoth, and start some serious draining.  If they come to stop you, great.  If not, that's fine- you'll have options.

Non-Killer Theme Deck: "Hair Power"
Locations:
1 Endor: Back Door
1 Endor: Chief Chirpa's Hut
1 Endor: Dense Forest
1 Endor: Great Forest
1 Endor: Hidden Forest Trail
1 Endor: Rebel Landing Site (Forest)
1 Forest
1 Jungle
Characters:
2 Bothan Spy
1 Chewbacca of Kashyyyk
1 Chewbacca
1 Chief Chirpa
1 Daughter of Skywalker
2 Ewok Sentry
2 Ewok Spearman
2 Ewok Tribesman
1 General Solo
1 Graak
2 Ithorian
1 Joh Yowza
1 Kazak
1 Logray
1 Lumat
1 Paploo
1 Rabin
1 Romba
1 Talz
1 Teebo
1 Threepio
1 Wicket
2 Wookiee
1 Wuta
1 Yarkora
Vehicles:
1 Chewie's AT-ST
1 Ewok Glider
Interrupts:
1 Ambush
2 Dash
1 Ewok and Roll
1 Ewok Log Jam
1 Ewok Rescue
1 Here We Go Again
1 Let the Wookie Win
1 Rug Hug
1 Take The Initative
1 Who's Scruffy-Looking?
1 Wookiee Guide
1 Wookiee Strangle
2 Yub Yub!
Effects:
1 Wokling
Weapons:
1 Chewbacca's Bowcaster
1 Ewok Catapult
2 Ewok Spear

Top 10 CCGs:
  1. Pokemon
  2. Magic
  3. Young Jedi
  4. Star Wars
  5. Legend of the Five Rings
  6. Star Trek
  7. Doomtown
  8. Babylon 5
  9. Tomb Raider
  10. Aliens/Predator
I've never managed to snag any Aliens/Predator decks.  And wasn't Young Jedi terrible?  I remember it being terrible.


Other Things
Article with some fake cards for the Star Wars CCG, for humor (for instance, the two part Darth Maul (Top Half) and Darth Maul (Bottom Half) cards).

BabeWatch - an article with various women from gaming/fantasy/sci-fi demonstrating why they'd be attractive to the average man, with the readers able to vote for the sexiest of them, to grace a future cover.  This issue's girls were Radiant, Laurana, Lanfear, Bayushi Kachiko, Wendy Cheng, Lara Croft, Red, Xena, Sonja Blue, and Sally Tsung.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

My Card Gaming, Week Ending 7/16/16

Games played:
  • Nothing :(.
New acquisitions:
  • Android: Netrunner - 23 Seconds
  • Doomtown: Realoaded - A Grand Entrance.  Man, it sucks so bad that the game is ending :(.
  • Dragonball Z - Evolution Booster Box
  • Lord of the Rings LCG - Temple of the Deceived.
  • Star Quest - 7 starters.  Got these for cheap.  Game seems to have bad reviews (apparently a very blatant rip-off of Magic: The Gathering), but meh- it was cheap!
  • Star Trek 1E - Box of The Borg Boosters.  A new affiliation for me (Hirogen) as well as enough cards that I could actually make a Borg deck.  Seems like a win.
  • Star Wars LCG - Redemption and Return
  • Terminator CCG - 2 Starters.  Precedence has done alright by me, so I figured I'd grab some of these and see how the game looks.
  • Warhammer 40K: Conquest - Unforgiven
  • WARS TCG - 2 Boxes of Boosters.  Trying to get a few random rares I need for some deck ideas.  
  • Wyvern CCG - Starter Deck.  Give me a chance to learn the rules.
I haven't had much time to play the past two weeks- I've been working on a final project for the class which has taken up all of my time.  With luck, after next Monday I can begin playing some more games.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Back Issues: Scrye 12

This issue released in January 1996.

Scrye Readership Awards (for 1995):
Here are the results of the first Annual Scrye CCG Awards.

Best Collectible Card Game:
1. Magic: The Gathering
2. Jyhad (Vampire: The Eternal Struggle)
3. Shadowfist

Best Expansion:
1. Ice Age (M:TG), The Umbra (Rage)
2. Legends (M:TG)
3. Homelands (M:TG)

Best Playability:
1. Magic: The Gathering
2. Wyvern
3. Rage, Jyhad, Overpower (tie)

Best Graphic Design:
1. Magic: The Gathering
2. Star Trek: The Next Generation CCG
3. Rage

Best Art:
1. Magic: The Gathering, Guardians (tie)
2. Rage

Best Art for an Expansion:
1. Ice Age
2. Homelands
3 The Umbra (Rage)

Best Card Artist:
1. Anson Maddocks, Melissa Benson, Richard Kane-Ferguson, Quinton Hoover, Douglas Shuler (tie)

Best Rulebook:
1. Magic: The Gathering 4th Edition
2. Wyvern
3. Overpower

Coolest Chase Cards:
1. Ancient Fighting Arts of China
2. Gridiron Fantasy Football

Wildest Cards:
1. Guardians
2. Gridiron Fantasy Football, Illuminati NWO

Best Player's Guide Book:
Illuminati NWO

Most Underrated CCG:
Legend of the Five Rings
Wildstorms
Ultimate Combat
Battlelords
(Tie for all)

There are not many surprises to the winners.  The first, oldest, and best-selling CCG dominates the awards in a fledgling market.

Other Things
These early magazines always have articles on reader submitted card combinations.  Many such combos are dated or less efficient than similar combos are now, but I do find them charming to read.

In addition, I love that many of the standard articles of the time are very multi-game.  The card combo section had combinations for the Star Trek CCG, and the rules questions section had some Shadowfist questions.

According to one of the news articles, Fantasy Adventures was going to have "Robert Jordan's book series" as one of the expansions.  I wonder if that was going to be the Wheel of Time?  Hard to believe, but then again, I do not think Fantasy Adventures ended up having any expansions to begin with.

Back in this era, there were so few CCGs that they actually could, as a "Card Collector Compendium", list all of the expansions for every game in the list.  I will not bore you all with that, but it is interesting seeing which games were listed that never made it out.  Daemonstorm from Caliber Game Systems, for instance- these were the makers of the really crappy Powercardz CCG, so this probably is not a big loss.  Same goes for One-on-One, from Playoff/Cardz... makers of Hyborian Gates, which was probably an even worse CCG.  Donruss had plans to release Fire on Ice, 24 Seconds, and Versus CCGs.  I assume these would have come out had Top of the Order and Red Zone done well enough.

A lot more checklists made these magazines.  Checklists for Gridiron Fantasy Football, Middle-Earth: The Wizards, Battlelords, Kult, Tempest of the Gods, Quest for the Grail, Red Zone, and the Netherworld Expansion from Shadowfist are included.

For Red Zone, an article detailing advice on running tournaments and tips for how to build your first deck are included.  For Quest for the Grail, two variant ways to play the game have an article.  There is another article talking about tournament rules for Shadowfist, and another one talking about some tricks to playing Gridiron effectively.  Finally, Highlander gets an article covering Advanced Rules from the Movie Edition.

That's right- a whole issue without a single deck list.  Good reading overall though.

Monday, July 4, 2016

Back Issues: Inquest Gamer 13

This issue is dated May 1996

Guardians

This was the game highlighted in their basic training article, covering the basics of the game, some gameplay tips, and an example deck.  Let's look at the deck:
Starting Cards:
Guardian: Harkin
Stronghold: Khnumian
Essentials:
7 Normal Brom's Angelics
3 Brom's Angelic Shield/Lands
1 Brom's 13-point Angelic Standard Bearer
5 Spires
Spells:
5 Dispel Magic
1 Force Barrier
2 Gold Bribery
1 Oppressed Slave
1 Pepe's Slow Down
2 Power Lunch
1 Spikey Crenelation
2 Vitales Dark Cloud
1 War
Creatures:
2 Ancient Ogres
1 Angel of Death
1 Captain Hannibal Hawks
1 Caring Guy
3 Cleric
2 Great Black Ri'shar
5 Ice Ogre
2 Lancer
3 Polar Ice Ogre
2 Razor Sliph
3 Rik Sook
2 Schneebolt
3 Smoke Spirit
3 Warty Fiends

I know literally nothing about this game other than that it exists.  It seems to have been decently well received, but I 'm not sure when I'll have time to look into it.

Finally- they mention that 'The Card To Get' is Dragon Wing Lord.  Strong AoE attack and can fly, but vulnerable to bribery by babes and beer.

Magic: The Gathering

Killer Deck: Eggs Over Easy
4 Rukh Eggs
3 Jokulhaups
2 Fireballs
1 Wheel of Fortune
4 Dark Rituals
3 Animate Deads
3 Burnt Offerings
3 Kjeldoran Deads
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Simularcums
2 Will-O'-The-Wisps
4 Tinder Walls
1 Tranquility
1 Regrowth
2 Giant Growths
1 Despotic Scepter
1 Zuran Orb
2 Mana Vaults
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Feldon's Cane
2 Badlands
5 Mountains
6 Forests
8 Swamps
Sideboard:
4 Red Elemental Blasts
1 Tranquility
2 Simulacrum
2 Gloom
2 Blood Moon
2 Flashfire
1 Anarchy
1 Curse of Marit Lage

Basically a lot of tricks to get the Rukh Eggs into play and cracked for their Bird tokens.

Top 10 Hottest Magic Cards:
  1. Dual Lands
  2. Autumn Willow
  3. Baron Sengir
  4. Jester's Cap
  5. Deflection
  6. Icy Manipulator
  7. Primal Order
  8. Shivan Dragon
  9. Mahamoti Djinn
  10. Mind Warp

Middle-Earth Collectible Card Game

A large article with hints and decks to help people out.

Let's at least list the tips:
  1. Don't waste time.
  2. Plan your trip.
  3. Start with Strategy
  4. Choose your minor items wisely.
  5. Key creatures to common terrain
  6. Remember uniqueness
  7. Bluffing
  8. Deal with your weaknesses
  9. Drawing and discarding (basically, do it all the time).
  10. Combat clues (bring combat tricks)
Alright, let's look at some decks.

Ringwraiths' Revenge
Starting Characters & Items:
Bifur
Bofur
Dain II
Eowyn
Peath
Voteli
1 Black-Arrow
1 Star-glass
Characters & Wizards:
1 Alatar
1 Balin
1 Bombur
1 Galva
1 Nori
1 Radagast
1 Thorin II
1 Voteli
Combat Resources & Enhancers:
3 Blocks
3 Dark Quarrels
3 Escapes
1 Favor of the Valar
1 Fellowship
2 A Friend of Threes
2 Risky Blows
Marshalling-Point Resources:
1 The Arkenstone
1 Dunlendings
1 Durin's Axe
1 Glamdring
1 Great-shield of Rohan
1 The Iron Crown
1 Lossoth
1 Men of Anorien
1 Men of Lebennin
1 Men of Northern Rhovanion
1 Orcrist
1 Rangers of Ithilien
1 Riders of Rohan
1 Sword of Gondolin
1 Woodmen
Hazard Creatures:
1 Adunaphel
1 Indur Dawndeath
1 Khamul the Easterling
1 Mouth of Sauron
1 Olog-hai
2 Orc-guards
1 Orc-lieutenant
1 Orc-raiders
1 Orc-warband
2 Orc-watchers
1 Ren the Unclean
1 Uvatha the Horseman
1 Witch-king of Angmar
Hazard Events:
3 Doors of Night
2 Fell Beasts
1 Lure of Nature
2 Minions Stir
1 Morghul-horse
3 Morghul Nights
1 The Nazgul are Abroad
1 Twilight
1 The Will of Sauron
Sites:
1 Blue Mountain Dwarf-hold
1 Dead Marshes
1 Dunnish Clan-hold
1 Edhellond
1 Edoras
1 Henneth Annun
1 Iron Hill Dwarf-hold
1 Lake-town
1 The Lonely Mountain
1 Lorien
1 Lossadan Cairn
1 Lassadan Camp
1 Minas Tirith
1 Moria
1 Mount Gram
1 Pelargir
1 Rhosgobel
1 Rivendell
1 Ruined Signal Tower
1 Sam Goriwing
1 Shrel-kain
1 The Wind Throne
1 Woodmen-town

Oooh, looks fun- lots of Nazgul, and running the characters who have bonuses against Nazgul so your opponent can't use them, plus things to convert icons to Shadow-land.  This would be a fun way to play the game.

The Company Deck
Starting Characters & Items:
Boromir II
Glorfindel II
Legolas
1 Athelas
1 Elven Cloak
Characters & Wizards:
1 Aragorn II
1 Frodo
2 Gandalf
1 Gimli
1 Merry
1 Pippin
1 Sam Gamgee
Combat Resources & Enhancers:
1 Cracks of Doom
2 Dark Quarrels
1 Dodge
1 Favor of the Valar
1 Fellowship
1 A Friend or Three
1 Lucky Strike
2 Ringlore
2 Risky low
1 Test of Form
Marshalling-Point Resources:
2 Beautiful Gold Ring
1 Dwarven Ring of Durin's Tribe
2 Fair Gold Ring
1 Gollum
2 Lesser Ring
1 Magic Ring of Courage
1 Magic Ring of Nature
1 The One Ring
3 Precious Gold Ring
1 Scroll of Isildur
1 Shadowfax
1 Tower Guard of Minas Tirith
Hazard Creatures:
2 Ambusher
1 Assassin
1 Crebain
1 Giant
3 Giant Spider
2 Slayer
3 Wargs
1 Watcher in the Water
3 Wolves
Hazard Events:
1 Clouds
1 Dwar of Waw
2 Lure of Nature
2 Muster Disperses
1 River
1 Shelob
1 Siege
2 Twilight
2 Wake of War
Sites:
1 Amon Hen
1 Bag End
1 Bandit Lair
1 Bree
1 Caves of Ulund
1 Dancing Spire
1 Edhellond
1 Edoras
1 Gladden Fields
1 Goblin-gate
1 Irerock
1 Iron Hill Dwarf-hold
1 Isengard
1 The Lonely Mountain
1 Lorien
1 Minas Tirith
1 Moria
1 Mount Doom
1 Rivendell
1 Thranduil's Halls
1 Weathertop

Build a strong company, get some rings, and have the option of dropping the One Ring off at Mount Doom for the instant-win.  I'll probably throw these two together, and see if I can rouse up an opponent.

Top Five CCGs

They weren't doing top 10s at this point, but their Top Five this issue was as follows:
  1. Star Wars
  2. Magic: The Gathering
  3. Star Trek: Alternate Universe
  4. Middle-Earth: The Wizards
  5. Red Zone (Whaaaa?)

Inquest World Records

I thought this would be fun to include.  Basically, cards from various games that break some sort of CCG record.

Most Powerful Card: Time Vault, from Magic: The Gathering.
Longest Card Name: Malkavian Derangement: Alternate Personality, from Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
Most Doubly Subliminal: Subliminals, from Illuminati: New World Order (it has the word sex hidden in the art, as well as text telling you to go buy more NWO).
Best Two-Part Flavor Text: Jade Statue and Goblin Shrine, from Magic: The Gathering.
Coolest Thematic Card: The One Ring, from Middle-Earth: The Wizards
Scariest Monster Named After a Cosmetic: Rouge Specter, from Guardians
Most Incomprehensible Rules: Amok, from On the Edge (holy crap that's a tough one to read).
Deepest Shag Carpet: Gaps in Normal Space, from Star Trek CCG
Biggest Scrub: Halbarad, from Middle-Earth: The Wizards
Best Depiction of Nothing: Explore Typhone Expanse, from Star Trek CCG
Best Acronym in a Card Name: Dwarven Demolition Team, from Magic: The Gathering
Most Erotic Card: Voice of Pain, from Kult
Most Susceptible to Chest Cold: Super Model, from Guardians
Most 'It's Not Worth It' Card: Army of the Dead, from Middle-Earth: The Wizards
Most Confusing Card: Ice Cauldron, from Magic: The Gathering
Most Disturbing Card: Sensory Deprivation, from Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
Most Redundant (Tie): Shadowfist, from Shadowfist, and Wyvern, from Wyvern
Biggest Abuse of a Mysterious Power: Alter, from Star Wars CCG
Best Dressed Card: Gilbert Duane, from Vampire: The Eternal Struggle

These sort of articles were probably the #1 reason I read Inquest, I hate to say it.  They really were great light, enjoyable reading.

Other things:
A whole FAQ for Quest for the Grail.  That's a game I've never played, and know nothing about.  If someone wants it, I'll definitely type it up though.

There's a multi-page preview of the Star Trek: Original Series CCG (which would be released as Star Trek: The Card Game).  The magazine sounds pretty excited about this, and the designer of this game was critical of the Star Trek CCG released by Decipher... it's kind of unfortunate how poor this game did in comparison.

They reviewed a few games here.  Top of the Order scored a 3 out of 6- it's a baseball CCG by Donruss.  I believe I tried the football game Donruss put out (Red Zone?) and it was terrible.  BGG rates this game a 3.8/10, so Inquest wasn't alone in their opinion.  The Netherworld expansion to Shadowfist was rated a 4/6, and Dark Sovereigns for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle was given a 3/6.

They previewed the Netrunner CCG.  This is one I played and have boxes of cards for, but I likely won't touch again as Android: Netrunner does a great job of remaking it.  I remember enjoying this as a kid though, certainly.

Non-card game things include an interview with the artist, Brom.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

My Card Gaming, Week Ending 7/2/16

Games played:
  • City of Heroes CCG - 1 game.  Once again, played with Regulus and Polar Star starters.  I'm now comfortable enough to start building some of my own decks.
  • VS System 2PCG - 1 game.  Ran my Thanos deck against my Magneto deck.  Why yes, I finally did build my own decks!  Was quite a lot of fun (Magneto won), but gave me experience deck building and playing more than just a starter.
  • Warhammer 40K: Conquest - 2 games.  Played both against Ben, first was using my Anrakyr the Traveler deck against his Salane Morn deck.  I mulliganed into a very very pricey hand, and couldn't actually get enough board presence to be relevant.  Second game I played my Morn deck against his Nahumehk deck.  I managed to get a very strong command presence, and was able to pretty effectively handle him in battle.  I managed to win on planet 5- he ran out of bodies to stop me from taking it.
New acquisitions:
  • 7th Sea - 2 Scarlet Seas starters.  I'll break these out, learn the game, and see how I feel about it (the rules have me excited though).
  • Adventure Time Card Game - For the Glory! Booster.  I'll try this game out this weekend, but it's nice seeing what's potentially available if I decide to build some decks.
  • Dune - 2 Eye of the Storm starters.  Same as above, I'll read the rules, learn the game, see how I feel.
  • Epic - Sage Tyrants Pack.  I think I'm up to two copies of each of the Tyrants packs.  
  • Highlander CCG - 3 Starters.  This was really popular for a time, but I know almost nothing about it.  Figured I could correct that.

Warage Card Game on Kickstarter

Right here.

This is a card game with fixed expansions- the sort of thing I never turn down.  I have seen the first edition of this game in the local game store, but passed at the time.  However, I likely will get in on this kickstarter.  It's already hit its funding point, also!

Anyway, check it out.

My birthday present!

I turned 33 last week (on June 21), and my fiancé bought me a game: Millennium Blades.

I have opened it up and looked at it briefly, but have not read the rules yet.  It's a CCG-simulator!  We play a board game set in a world where the Millennium Blades CCG is the most popular game in the world, with thousands of expansions, etc etc.

Has a game ever been more of a match for me?  Needless to say, I will be trying it as soon as possible, and will post about it as soon as able.