Magic Archives - Page 11 of 14

Avacyn Restored League @ D20 Games

Welcome to the Avacyn Restored League at D20 Games.

What is it: The league is an ongoing opportunity for casual competitive play starting the first week of Avacyn and going until the release of M13 this summer.

When: Formal League days are Weds, but matches may be played any time during the week. Match results for each week must be received by the following Weds.

Cost: League costs $25 to enter (includes 6 packs) and $5 each week, including a pack for that week. (People buying fat-packs or boxes may opt to use 6 packs as long as permission is granted from staff.

Format: Sealed+ event

Start with 6 packs to build decks from, and get to add one pack per week
Packs must be opened in the store and the contents added to a deck list that is kept in the store.

Matches:

Each player can play up to 5 matches with other different members of the league each week. (Matches beyond 5 will not count in that week)
Each player in a match will get 1 point just for playing, and the winner will get 2 bonus points in addition for a total of 3.
It is good sportsmanship to accept a match challenge from anyone in the league provided both players have enough time.
Matches may be continued over more then one day if there is not enough time to complete all the games at once, though an incomplete game is considered a draw game (it can be played over if both players choose.)
As long as one game is completed, both players will get the minimum 1 point.

Standings and Prizes:

Since we are not charging much more then the cost of the packs, prizes will be more in the fun and pride side then high value. Having said that, there are some very cool posters that will be the top prizes at the end as well as a full set of the over-sized Avacyn Legends that were in the Helvault
Standings will be posted each week on the website.
Each player who has competed at least 3 matches in a week will be entered in a drawing on Weds for a bonus pack.
At the end of the time the point totals will be added up and there will be a playoff with the top 8 players. The top 4 players will also get bonus entry’s into the drawing for the rights to buy one of our From the Vault sets this summer.

As with most of our events, the goal is to play and have fun. Everyone has a better time when we help each other out, pointing out missed triggers and plays so that we win by being the better players rather then by catching an opponent doing a dumb mistake or by not knowing how some part of the game works.

About Avacyn Restored…

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Magic

From the Wizards website…

The Innistrad and Dark Ascension sets showed us a world where humanity is beset on all sides by monsters, including vampires, zombies, and werewolves. Avacyn, a living covenant whose angelic powers protected humans, was imprisoned within the Helvault and feared lost forever. But just as humanity’s darkest hour beckons, Avacyn is freed, inspiring hosts of angels to usher in a new dawn. But even though they no longer have the upper hand, the creatures of the night are still a dangerous threat. The eternal struggle on Innistrad continues in this thrilling conclusion.

Don’t confuse this new dawn with a complete victory for humanity. Innistrad’s horrors have suffered a blow, but they still command unspeakable evil and power. If your decks favor the more unsavory denizens of Innistrad, you’ll find plenty of ways to torment the opposition. Will you follow Avacyn’s lead, Planeswalker, and marshal your powers for good? Or will you use the still potent weapons of the night in your quest for supremacy?

Avacyn Restored prerelease events at D20 Games Alameda

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Events, Magic

NEWS: Avacyn will be Stand-alone set! Prerelease will be ALL Avacyn. (preregister here)

We will be having 3 events for Avacyn Restored: Friday at midnight, two-headed giant and Saturday Sealed deck events at 10 and at 5:30

Avacyn Restored Promo Card, Moonsilver Spear — Special Foil Promo for first 40 people in each Saturday Event

Buy Tickets for Avacyn Restored Prerelease

Friday:

After Friday Night Magic: (6:30. $15) we will be doing the very first chance to get ahold of the new set..a midnight Avacyn two headed giant
This will be a sealed event, $18 per player, 8 packs for the team…if you don’t have a buddy to play with, don’t worry, come on down and we’ll match you up with a new buddy to play with. We’ll do fairly fast deck building and play no more then 3 rounds so we can get done by 3 at the latest…we’re doing this for fun, so we’ll spread out the prize rather then having the winning be all that important.

Open the Helvault for the Prerelease — Both Saturday's Events will be Helvault opening events

Saturday: The main pre release Events. These will be fun events, with everyone getting their own packs to build decks and play each other. There will be 4 rounds, with the players continually matching up by win/loss records, so the really competitve players will end up playing with their peers, and the casual players will end up playing with other casual players. Regardless of win and loss, everyone gets their packs, the bonus cards they are entitled to and whatever is hidden as extra bonus in the Helvault. This is a great event not just for the experienced players, but for anybody who just likes to play, and particularly for those who are looking to get back into the game, since everyone is starting from scratch again with the new set.

10am and 5:30 We’ll be doing sealed deck (6 packs and make your best 40 card minimum deck and play.)
$25 entry fee includes the pack, a special bonus card for the first 45 people signed up in each time.
Registration for the first event will start at 9:30 and we will start deck building between 10:15-10:30. First rounds will be played around 11. The early event should go around 4 (a bit later for the top players) The second event will go from 5:30 to about 10 for most players, potentially later for the best players. We will provide packs starting at 5:00 to give people a longer time to build. (This is not a high level event, so we would rather people enjoy themselves then have us need to get as picky about things.)
FOR KIDS>>>there will be two events running side by side at both times, so the kids can play the kids and the adults play the adults. 😉 Both of these will be Helvalut events, so there will be extra prizes for all registered players. We will work to open the Helvault around 8:30-9pm so the kids who might need to leave early will get the Helvault bonus prizes. We will spread out the prizes more for the kids, with more people getting prizes, but the top people not getting as big a top prize. Kids prizes will be more spread out and the adults will have the prizes more loaded to the top. As such, advanced kids will be able to play with the adults if they so choose.
Pizza and a drink for $5 will be offered at 2 and 6

D20 Games is located at 2311 Santa Clara Ave, Alameda email for info at info at d20alameda.com or go to the website at www.d20alameda.com

Magic Grand Prix Trial for Anaheim

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Events, Magic

Where: D20 Games, 2311 Santa Clara Ave.

Pay and register in the store or here.

Sunday April 22nd is our Trial for the Anaheim Grand Prix which will take place May 26-27th at the Anaheim Convention Center. Winner of our event will automatically pass the first 3 rounds of the big event. This is a competitive level event. Bring in your decks during the week to get a chance to practice and tune.

Start time is 10
Format: Standard
Cost is $25 per player.
Winner will receive 3 byes in the Anaheim Grand Prix. Everyone will get 3x planeswalker points for participating, and additional prizes will be awarded based on the attendance pool.

We will do signups, online, before the event at the store, and on the day of the event. Signups will start at 10. Players who are not seated and ready to build by 10:30, will need to wait for additional players to join so they can cross check deck lists, and will have the first round counted as a loss.

Format

The format for this Grand Prix Trial will be Standard, (60 card decks consisting of cards from M12, Scars block and Innistrad Block.) The Anaheim event will be block-constructed(Innistrad, Dark Ascension, and Avaycn).
Deck lists are required

Tournament Length

If over 8 players, Swiss rounds – 50 minutes per round
Playoff matches will have no time limit
Number of Swiss rounds based on attendance according to the following chart:

Attendance	Swiss rounds	Playoff
8	3 Single-Elimination Rounds (No Swiss)	None (run Single Elimination)
~~9 – 16 (If Sealed Deck)~~	~~4 Rounds~~	~~Top 8~~
9 16 (If Constructed)	5 Rounds	Top 4
17 – 32	5 Rounds	Top 8
33 – 64	6 Rounds	Top 8

Advancement

All players may participate in all Swiss rounds.
The top players after the final Swiss round will advance to the single-elimination playoff. The number of players that advanced to the playoff is based on the number of players in the event (see chart above).

Notes

Planeswalker Points Multiplier – 3x

D20 Games Event: Grand Prix Minneapolis Trial, Sat. April 14th

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Events, Magic

Pay and register in the store or here.

This will be our first ever Grand Prix Trial and we’re really looking forward to it. Our space is intimate and friendly, so we will be limiting the event to a max of 40 players.

Start time is 10 for signups and 10:30 for pack opening.
Format is Sealed, 3 Dark Ascension,and 3 Innistrad.
Cost is $30 per player. (Each player attending will get an extra entry into our drawing for rights to buy one of our allocation of From the Vaults: Realms to be held later in the year…)
We will be offering a $6 pizza deal at 2pm (two slices and a drink) for those who want, (as opposed to the standard mad scramble to grab a bite inbetween rounds.)
Winner will receive 3 byes in the Minniapolas Grand Prix. Everyone will get 3x planeswalker points for participating, and additional prizes will be awarded based on the attendance pool.

Format

The format for this Grand Prix Trial will be Sealed Deck,
If event attenence is more then 8, the top 8 will play off using the their sealed decks from the event. The product mix for the event will be 3 Innistrad and 3 Dark Ascension boosters per player
Deck lists are required

Tournament Length

Swiss rounds – 50 minutes per round
Playoff matches will have no time limit
Number of Swiss rounds based on attendance according to the following chart:

Attendance	Swiss rounds	Playoff
8	3 Single-Elimination Rounds (No Swiss)	None (run Single Elimination)
9 – 16 (If Sealed Deck)	4 Rounds	Top 8
9 16 (If Constructed)	5 Rounds	Top 4
17 – 32	5 Rounds	Top 8

Advancement

All players may participate in all Swiss rounds.
The top players after the final Swiss round will advance to the single-elimination playoff. The number of players that advanced to the playoff is based on the number of players in the event (see chart above).

Notes

Planeswalker Points Multiplier – 3x

Stinking Badges & Other Great News–D20 Games is now an Advanced Magic Store ;-)

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Events, Magic, Updates

Coming to the calendar …April 22, our first Grand Prix Trial for LA Grand Prix. $30 entry, Max players will be 40, but most likely smaller. This will be a Standard Format Tournament, 😉

We are also looking at adding two new game tournaments to the store… Legend of the Five Rings

As of the beginning of March , we became an Advanced Level Magic Store with Wizards of the Coast…Whoo Hoo!!

Every regular retailer…signed up and not in someone’s basement.

Run at least 4 full sets of sanctioned (8 or more people) events and bring 30 new players to the games…

Yay…Friday night drafts could become Friday Night Magic with all the cool cards to go with it. We could run pre-release events.

Run at least 20 events, have over 100 different people attending those events, and have a Magic event with at least 32 people.

Double Whoo Hoo!!! Not bad for being open 6 months. 😉

What does this mean? We get to run twice as many of the cool events (including the Avacyn Restored Pre-release), giving us both more cool prize cards to give away, and the flexibility to be able to have the kids have their own mini-events side by side with the big events so they don’t have to go head to head with the older crowd unless they want to. We also will be getting an allocation this summer of the next From the Vault limited edition sets. BTW, we will be allocating these in three different batches, 1/3 to the players who rack up the most points in events between now and then (4 points for a top finish or a 3-0 draft night, 2 for second or third, and 1 for each time you play), 1/3rd to our best magic customers between March 15th and then, and 1/3 among all customers who want to enter, with one entry for each time they come in and buy anything between March 15th and the release.

Buy Tickets for Avacyn Restored Pre-release

Spring Break Events

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Events, Magic

Get your Game on! (Download Flyer Here)
D20 Spring Break Game Boot Camps April. 2-4^th

When:

April 2-4 (Mon-Weds)
Two Sessions Per Day: 9-12:30 and 1-5.

Ages: 9-13

What:

Combination of learning tricks, tips, and tactics to help develop advanced strategic thinking and build confidence, and pure on gameplay (for parents, increase sportsmanship, social skills and meet new kids–For kids…a chance to find other kids who like to play these games as much as you do.)We will be having a Magic The Gathering boot camp and a Yugioh Boot camp. If we have enough kids who express interest, we will also add a D&D set of sessions.

Where:

D20 Games, 2311 Santa Clara, 510-522-2109 [email protected]

Cost:

Each Session is $30 (plus a $10 materials/snack fee.)

Full days get a $10 discount to be $50/day ($15 material/snack fee.)

All three days $40 discount to $140 ($35 materials/snack fee)

Bring a friend for and extra 10% discount for both players

Overview:

Each day kids can bring in their collections (Parents can drop off collections in well labeled (name and phone number) paper bags any open hours before the Boot Camp. Each day will be split into the following areas:

· How it really works (the real rules of the games)

· Collection organization

· Tricks and secrets of the masters

· Deck Building

· Mini-tournament/multiplayer team games

Each day we will have two tracks, on for beginning players and one for more experienced players with lots of help for everyone in getting better and therefore having more fun playing.

Each attendee will get a special box for organizing their cards as well as sleeves and a deck box each day for the decks they will be creating. Snack will be chips, fruit and a drink.

Limited to 14 participants per day. Email, [email protected] to reserve a spot.

Magic The Gathering

Day	Topic		Skills
Monday AM	Standard Decks	Build decks using M12 and the last two sets (Innistrad and the Scars Sets)	True intro to Magic… getting the rules right. Phasing into Phases…getting the orders all right
Monday PM	Drafting	How to pick from what you see..what’s good…going for the smart, not just the shiny. 😉	Stacking in your favor…secrets of what is the Stack and how it worksAggro, Control, weenie, etc…the standard strategies in magic and how to build them or successfully battle against them
Tuesday AM	Pauper Decks	How to make decks built using only commons and uncommons, these decks are meant to be lots of fun without lots of $$$	Combo’s….from infinite mana to infinite life, those two or three card combos to get that win.
Tuesday PM	Weird Magic:	Two-headed Giant, Emperor	Tricks of the Masters, Basic
Weds AMWeds PM	ModernAnything goes-	Going back for the good stuff…how to compete with the big boysBest deck king of the hill	Sideboarding…what to keep in your emergency bag of tricksTune, Tune, Tune

Andre’s special Yugioh Boot Camps

Day	Topic		Skills
Monday	Getting it right…basic Yugioh for beginners and the rules behind the rules for advanced players.Team 2v2 (pro/am)	Huge cool cards vs decks that win	Learning the real rules from a Regional Judge so you can play with confidence. Deck building for winning instead of getting suckered in by huge unplayable cards
Tuesday	Combos, chains and tricks.	Learn how to put together combos that create surprises and just plain win fast.	Understand how cards can work together, and what to look for in deck construction. Tips and tricks from the pros. Group puts their heads together to challenge the master.

March 3rd: Two Headed Giant Returns!! Parent/kid and More!

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Events, Magic

The return of the Magic Two-Headed Giant Event!! This event is a GREAT way for parents to figure out what this thing thing kids are doing , and for the kids to get a chance to be the ones who know what is going on for a change. 😉 (Also works for spouses/significant others, and buddies who you want to introduce to the game and who are nervous about getting started. ) This is open to all players, but know that this is a good-natured tournament, and fun and helping each other out is more important then winning.

Saturday: March 3rd, 12:30-5(ish…First hour is deck building…can join at any time during that period. )

$17.50 per person which includes 3 packs ($20 including sleeves and a deck box-normally $6-7 value) Each team gets a bonus pack.

Frequently asked Questions

What is it?: Two-Headed Giant Magic Tournament. (Two players on the same team, sharing life and playing in parallel against other teams of players)

Do I need to know what I’m doing?: Since both players play at the same time and can show each other their cards, as long as one of the two players knows what they are doing, nothing is required of the other player. It is the best, most fun way to learn the game. …

March 3rd: Two Headed Giant Returns!! Parent/kid and More!Read More »

Special Monday Kids event 12:5

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Events, Magic

Kids playing Date Night Magic at D20 Games of Alameda — Kids playing at D20's weekly Date Night Magic Tournament

Looking for something for the kids to do on President’s day? We’ve got’em (and you) covered. Starts at 12-5 Magic Sealed Deck Event–$35 (Includes 2 drinks, a mid afternoon snack, 6 packs, and an afternoon of safe fun) Decks will be made of the packs opened. Special Bonus: Bring in your decks to have our in-house guys help tune and tweak. Play against store players for extra prizes and advice. Limited to 24 kids, so sign up in advance. For kids from age 9-14. Parents/gardians are welcome to join, and can stay with kids under age 9.

Older players who wish to join, may do so provided they are interested/willing to help the kids sharpen their games.

D20 Games Magic Events: Dark Ascension for sale on the 3rd, Release Party on Sat. the 4th.

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Events, Magic

Thursday 8pm Draft leading up to Midnight Dark Ascension Release Box opening. Open from Midnight to 1 a.m. Draft is $15 or free with the purchase of a DA box.
Box Price: $110 w/$10 event credit or free Thursday draft
Friday

Dark Ascension available for sale!!!

Packs-$4 each..buy 6 get one free
Box/play-mat combo bundle-$~~165~~–$125
Fat Packs!! $40 each…get ’em before they’re gone (Free Deck box, Sleeves or extra pack or $5 credit.

Friday Night Magic

6:15-6:30…$15. Triple DA!!
8 p.m. Double speed drafts till we drop. 😉 (double speed deck building, double speed rounds…don’t just get cards, play with ’em)

Sat 2/4 Dark Ascension Release Party : 3:30-5-deck building, 5:30-10 4 rounds. Entry fee is $25 and is a sealed deck, which means you get 6 packs and get to make the best deck you can. BONUS-Register this deck for the Monday and Weds League play events for free. Registration will require separate $25 purchase.
The Release party will replace Date Night Magic one more time and then back to regular schedule. Kids will play in their own pod in the release party (more fun for them, more fun for the adult players)