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D20 Games 10th Anniversary Events start Aug 6th…

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / D&D, Events, Main Page

Ok, somehow, some way, we not only made it to 10 years of me having the store, but we also managed to survive last year!!! So in August, we are gonna party like it’s… (ok..a little like it was last year, cause we are having to go back to masks indoors).

Big note…we’re gonna keep the events sized nice and small to make sure everyone has plenty of room, so sign up fast, cause these will go quickly once everyone knows they are there. If we have a lot of people who can’t get in, we’ll add more events if we possibly can.

Oh…and one more thing before we move onto the “what are we gonna do for the 10th anniversary month”. We did finally get the bigger loan (eep). But that means that we are really in need of some great people to help us do some major improvements for the store. That includes installing a serious skylight/vent in the place, a great interior design/set design person to help us make the place interesting and gorgeous, and an electrician that can handle a very confusing bit of upgrade on an ancient system. (If you know of any great electricians that also love magic, I’m willing to do some amazing bits of barter so we can make it happen.) We also are looking to do some high quality after-school programs, so we are looking for great people who can run D&D adventures for kids, and someone to potentially run a chess program. These are D20 kids we are talking about, so we are really looking for top notch folks, and we will be doing full livescan/background checks.

So what are we gonna do?

Magic–Every weekend is a prerelease that we missed last year. (we have more than we can stick into only one month, but this’ll get us started. We are gonna do 13+ events, Jr. events, and events that are carefully mixed. Fun, sure…but also keeping safe. And we are gonna do giveaways for just a ton of promo cards…all winners this month.
We are gonna bring back one of our all time fav events, Two Headed Giants. This team version of Magic is perfect for buddies, couples, and parent-kid combos. It is a great way to get to share something that you (or your potential partner) loves in a very low pressure kinda way. These will be Saturdays, Starting at 3 pm. These will be with each of the “Prerelease” events till the last of the month when we do the higher cost Modern Horizons 2 events. For that THG Sat, we are gonna bring back one of our all time most popular events, Fat Pack Wars. (Each team has a member reach into the mystery box and pull out a pack that matches with a Fatpack from up to 7 years ago. We make sure the number of packs reaches 10, and they open all of those to make their two decks to play together. These could be Born of the Gods to Strixhaven…its all up to the fickle fingers of whoever pulls the pack.) (we will be bringing back single sales in the next week or so. We are also looking to start playing modern, commander, and standard as well, but those will start in a bit.)
(Oh yes…in terms of FNM…we are gonna hold on drafts until the safety settles down. In its place will be the sealed events.)
Pokemon…We are just working on getting packs in stock for the kids to buy that aren’t snapped up by the adult collectors. We will bring back the Pokemon league in a month or two when it is safe.
D&D..we will start doing regular events again after this month, but we will do some special events for the anniversary, including a special all day event on the last Sunday of the month. This will have 4 tables of adventurers all working to an epic battle together at the end of the event. We did this once before, but it was back in 2013, so I think we are good to repeat it. 😉 We are also extremely well stocked on dice and D&D goodies that have been sitting there, waiting for people to come back in the store and find them, including full dice made of actual gemstone/semi-precious stone.
Board games... oh my do we have a bunch of games we’ve saved up. We will have some serious quick sales on games from Cover your Assets to Gloomhaven. Keep an eye on Facebook and the D20 Twitter feed for our equivalent to Blue light specials. (if you’re a kid, ask your parents. If you are a parent and don’t get the reference, don’t tell me so I won’t have to admit my age. 😉 We will also be having a used board game mega sale, as well as a return of the mystery game loot bags.

All kidding aside, we are incredibly grateful for people having helped us make it through all this. Now we will really need your business on the regular as much as possible so we can truly survive, and pay off the loans etc that let us make it through. And it really is important to try and keep the family/friend game night as much as you can. For those of us who are fighting the battle of keeping people face to face, not face to screen, it was a tough year. But there were some cracks in families starting to see each other again, so I’m a big advocate for turning the night you toss the cel phones into a basket and play together into a regular habit.

(If you need to make room at home for more games, consider donating them to the women’s shelter or any number of the hospitals, etc.)

I’ve missed the hell out of seeing you all!
Warmly,

Ben (yer store owner dude)

Here are some of the events coming up this Month…

Magic Two-Headed Giant-Prerelease Kits Premium

Two-Headed Giants @ D20

Mystery box prerelease kits from as far back as Return to Ravnica/dragons maze-6 packs plus promo cards per person. $30pp

Classic, Plus, and Premium…how does that sound? Every Saturday (except the first Saturday of the month and rare special events) we do two headed Giants as a team event. The rotating different versions will be:

2nd Sat-Classic: 4 of the current block (newest packs) ($20pp-4packs each)
3rd Sat-THG Plus = Fat Pack Wars. Each team has one member reach into the mystery box and pick out a pack that matches a random Fat Pack (or Bundle) from Born of the Gods to the latest. ($25 pp-6 packs each)
4th Sat: Premium – Master’s Chaos or Mystery box Prerelease kits. Each month we will switch off between 4 pack per person Chaos (mystery sets that include one of the Masters packs) or a mystery box prerelease kits from as far back as Return to Ravnica/dragons maze-6 packs plus promo cards per person

What: Two Headed Giant-two player team event.

Who’s it good for:

Buddies
Sweeties (couples…either where both play, or the significant other is looking for a nice, no-pressure way to share something the other person really likes)
Parent/Kid combos (or big sibling, etc) Kids get to be the smart ones for once, and the parents get to see what this is about (and get a great date with their kid)

About Two Headed Giants

Two-headed giants are a team Magic the Gathering event. Teams usually comprise of buddies, parent/kid combos, and a lot of couples. Both players play together, sharing a life total, showing each other their cards, consulting with each other and playing at the same times. Because of that it is both great social fun, and probably the best way for a new player, or someone who is just curious what their buddy/kid/or SO likes so much about the game to get a chance to try without feeling any pressure to know all (or any) of the rules. Think of it like tandem skydiving…you get all the fun, without having to worry about when to pull the rip-cord.(It is particularly great for Moms or Dads who want to have a really cool date night with their kids. This event is a GREAT way for parents to figure out what this thing the kids are doing is anyway, and for the kids to get a chance to be the ones who know what is going on for a change. ;-)Because you play as a team and can help each other out, the kid gets to be the smart one for a change, and the parent gets to play without needing to worry about “doing it wrong”. Also…kids love having their mom or dad help them try and beat another team.)

Each player (head) gets a set of packs and shares with their partner to make two 40 card decks, one for each player . You’ll have plenty of cards to use to make interesting decks with that number of packs, and the cards you open are yours to keep. Teams play 3 matches against other teams (since the team starts with 30 life instead of twenty, it is a single game…they usually last anywhere from 25-50 minutes.) If you win a round, each team gets two prize packs. If you lost, you will most likely be paired up with someone else who had the same type of night, so it tends to balance itself out.

D20 tends to be a friendly place to play, and the Two-headed Giants are particularly so. We have great players who take pride in making other players feel welcome and remembering that it’s a game, its played for fun. 😉

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.

Battlebond Magic Two-Headed Giant

Two-Headed Giants @ D20

Battlebond is the first set in Magic ever to focus on our most beloved of formats, the team based Two headed Giant. This weekend will be running a team draft on Friday ($15 3-pack per person), and two headed sealed ($20-4 pack sealed) on Sat at 4 and Sun at 2. Sunday is a special Father’s day THG. (Any fathers brought by their sons play for free).
What: Two Headed Giant-two player team event.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-image-gallery/battlebond-2018-05-25
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/announcing-battlebond-2018-02-14
Who’s it good for:

Buddies
Sweeties (couples…either where both play, or the significant other is looking for a nice, no-pressure way to share something the other person really likes)
Parent/Kid combos (or big sibling, etc) Kids get to be the smart ones for once, and the parents get to see what this is about (and get a great date with their kid)

About Two Headed Giants
Parent & Kids playing two-headed Giant
Two-headed giants are a team Magic the Gathering event. Teams usually comprise of buddies, parent/kid combos, and a lot of couples. Both players play together, sharing a life total, showing each other their cards, consulting with each other and playing at the same times. Because of that it is both great social fun, and probably the best way for a new player, or someone who is just curious what their buddy/kid/or SO likes so much about the game to get a chance to try without feeling any pressure to know all (or any) of the rules. Think of it like tandem skydiving…you get all the fun, without having to worry about when to pull the rip-cord.(It is particularly great for Moms or Dads who want to have a really cool date night with their kids. This event is a GREAT way for parents to figure out what this thing the kids are doing is anyway, and for the kids to get a chance to be the ones who know what is going on for a change. ;-)Because you play as a team and can help each other out, the kid gets to be the smart one for a change, and the parent gets to play without needing to worry about “doing it wrong”. Also…kids love having their mom or dad help them try and beat another team.)
Each player (head) gets a set of packs and shares with their partner to make two 40 card decks, one for each player . You’ll have plenty of cards to use to make interesting decks with that number of packs, and the cards you open are yours to keep. Teams play 3 matches against other teams (since the team starts with 30 life instead of twenty, it is a single game…they usually last anywhere from 25-50 minutes.) If you win a round, each team gets two prize packs. If you lost, you will most likely be paired up with someone else who had the same type of night, so it tends to balance itself out.
D20 tends to be a friendly place to play, and the Two-headed Giants are particularly so. We have great players who take pride in making other players feel welcome and remembering that it’s a game, its played for fun.

Battlebond Magic Two-Headed Giant

Two-Headed Giants @ D20

Battlebond Magic Two-Headed Giant

Two-Headed Giants @ D20

Sun 11am Modern Tournament

Due to popular request, the Sunday Magic Standard tournament will be taking a little break to be replaced by a Modern tournament. Same bat time (11am-though we will be changing it to 10 in the next few months), Same Bat Channel.

We are rebuilding after Standard petered out, so I want to reward people for showing up while we get things running again. If the event doesn’t fire, your $10 entry fee turns into $15 off any Modern playable singles. Also, while supplies last, top players get the special Standard Showdown bonus packs, which means that if we don’t have enough to run, the first 3 players that show up will get those packs.

We will run as a casual event if there are between 4-7 players and a normal sanctioned event if there are 8 or more.

Cost is $10 with 2 packs per player going into the prize pool. 4 rounds max.

Modern Rules–Banned list/Restrictions

Modern is a constructed format and therefore adheres to the following constructed rules:

Minimum of sixty cards
No maximum deck size, as long as you can shuffle your deck unassisted
Up to fifteen cards in your sideboard, if used

Modern sets go from the current sets back to Mirrodin block (2003)

Guide to Tabletop Games: #1 TCG/CCG (Trading Card Games)–Magic/Pokemon/Yugioh etc…

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Features, Game Guides, Magic, Main Page, Pokemon

Hey guys…I’ll keep adding to this as time goes on, but I get asked a lot (particularly by parents) about what games like Magic and Pokemon really are. Here’s a shot at doing geek to English translation.

Magic, Yugioh, and Pokemon are what are known as trading card games(TCG) or collectible card games(CCG). Basically imagine a game made up of collectible baseball cards, where the ability of the card actually comes into play in the game. Their big innovation was in creating a game where the cards that are added to the game can have rules or abilities on them that add to the game rules. Magic was the first game of this type and was created by Richard Garfield over 20 years ago in 1993. There have been billions of the cards printed and there currently over 12 million Magic players. When you strip the game down, it is a lot of math, logic and strategy, and tends to attract a fairly intelligent player base. There is even a college scholarship for magic players. 😉

The games are in their simplest form like the old card game War, where players put down two cards and the higher one wins. Each player has a starting amount of life (or in the case of Pokemon, a fixed number of “prize cards” that the players get to collect when they knock out an opponents Pokemon), and they cast cards in attack, defense and response to try and get the other player to zero.

What is interesting about the game is that ability for cards themselves add and modify the rules of the game, creating an evolving set of game play where it is figuring out the cool combinations of different cards that is the most fun part of the game. Once they get past the pre-made starter decks, it’s all about learning the cards and trying to come up with new ideas for decks and seeing how well they do against other players.. (So yes, its normal for the kids to get excited about the new sets of cards as they come out, as each set adds new possibilities that they can puzzle out.)

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From the parents point of view, the positive aspects of the games are encouraging reading, math, and logic skills. It is also good for creating opportunities to learn fair play, though that benefits a lot from our guidance. Some of the rarest cards can end up being valuable ($100 or more), so talk to your kids about keeping them safe at school, as well as being both careful and fair in their trading with others. Keeping their cards in sleeves and in a deck box with their name on it will both keep the value of the cards intact and make it less likely for their cards to get mixed up with other kids by accident.
Common Questions

Big difference between Magic, Yugioh and Pokémon: The way things get into play…Magic uses land that gets reused every turn to put different cards in play, Pokémon has energy that attaches to the Pokémon and let them do what they need to do, and Yugioh lets the player give up some of their smaller creatures to get bigger ones, called tributing . Magic also lends itself to limited play like Drafts and Sealed events where everyone starts out even with new packs of cards and builds decks on the spot.
Do adults play these games too? Yep…there are lots of adults that play each of the games.We get most adults on the magic side, but quite a bit on the and Pokémon as well. For those who play, we see a lot of very nice connecting time with the kids.

For Parents:

Anything for parents to worry about? As a dad of a couple of 13 year olds and an 10 year old, here is my honest answer. There are terrific things about the games, (math, reading, logic, learning to play fair with other people, and in general not having their faces stuck into screens. However, there are a couple of things to that get brought to the surface by having access to things at a younger age that may be of value that provides so really important teachable moments for parents if they are aware of them.

Trading Fair: This is one of the first time that kids will get their hands on portable items that might be worth some money. It can bring out some strong desires that lead to some experiences with theft or making unfair deals on both sides. When this happens, and it likely will, it is a key parenting opportunity to make sure that they understand how that feels and become determined to never make anyone else feel bad, rather then deciding, “well, I got taken advantage of, I’ll do the same thing to the next person I trade with.
—Ben’s Advice—Make sure that they always agree to trade backs being ok (within a week or so and provided the cards are still in as good shape as when they were traded.) The standard thing that I say to kids is “there is no piece of paper that is worth losing a friend over.
One More Pack, just one more Pack… It’s super fun to open the packs…they could be anything until they are opened and the fun of opening and discovering a golden ticket of a card is a great feeling. But when the desire to open the packs completely eclipses the fun of playing the game or even sharing the cards with their friends, it can expose something that we, as parents, don’t usually get to see until much later (and usually when they are in the never listen to us phase.) If they keep wanting to trade all their good cards for a chance to open another pack, that is an impulse very akin to gambling, and one where I’ll have a chat with the kids to make sure they are more interested in playing the games that is an early version of being susceptible to gambling. Though both of these are a little scary, they are a great chance to get to work through these things at an age where the kids may still actually listen. 😉 On the other hand, the math, logic, reading and general sense of using their brains, combined with staying engaged with other people rather then computer or video screens makes it a great thing for kids to get into.

M15 Prerelease Events @ D20 Games

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

Prerelease time!!! M15 is looking full of what I can only term as the Magic Equivalent of Super-Heroes. 😉 (Including SIX planeswalkers, 4 of which are brand new. )

As usual we are running 4 `prerelease events, two on Saturday and Two on Sunday.

What: Sealed Standard event (get 6 packs of the new stuff and build best 40 card deck.) Play either competitive (at least 4 rounds, with bigger fistfuls of prize packs for the winners, but needing to win at least two rounds to get any prize packs.) or casual (play three rounds, win a round, win a pack)

Who: Who’s it good for? Since everyone is starting from scratch from a new set, this is a great event for all players. We run a very friendly shop, so particularly for the casual events, feel free to ask for and get help in figuring out what to make. Regardless of what happens, you get to keep all your cards and have a day worth of fun.

Each of 5 different color prerelease pack comes with 5 M15 boosters and 1 special seeded pack of it’s color, as well as a special promo card that can be used in the deck.

D20 Games Weekly Update 7-16-13

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Events, Updates

—-Coming Thursday August 1st…IN STORE VISIT BY THE CREATORS OF CASTLE PANIC!! 😉 ———-

Special announcement about From the Vault at the bottom of is post…

This weekend–Pokemon and Vanguard Back to Normal, Release Events for M14 (including 2-headed Giant) and Oakland Grand Prix Qualifier on Sunday!

Had a great set of Prerelease events for Magic M14. Some interesting highlights…

Most Busted cards in the set so far….Kalonian Hydra…Comes into play with 4 counters and doubles ALL counters on All your creatures when it attacks! Oh, and did I mention the trample. Remove it in the next 2 turns or that’s game….sheesh. (Found out about this by being on the wrong side of the card…)

Winner--most Busted Card in M14 — Winner–most Busted Card in M14

Magic M14 is Here!!! This week—M14 release events….

Tuesday–Last Modern Masters League Pack week…Come in and find your partner for next week’s League Two-headed Giant!!–Special Bonus Prize cards and goodies for the regular players tonight…We will Draft at 6 if we get 8 (again..) (and full participation credit for league members who show up and don’t wish to draft.)
Weds–Last Dragon’s Maze League before we start M14–come in for special tolkens and other prizes, Also D&D Encounters ($5 fee) LOOKING for another good DM to help run a table…will be compensated in store credit, but must be good enough to represent the store…
Thursday at Midnight…We will open special to sell M14 Boxes and Fat Packs (.. Click here for a draft simulator. Or here to see all the new cards…)

Sat. the 20th
- we will be doing Pokemon again in the morning
- Magic M14 Sealed at 12
- Two-headed Giant at 5:30 (4pm for packs)
Sunday the 21st
- Grand Prix Trial for Grand Prix Oakland!!! Reg at 10 but start will be 11 am on time. Since the packs need to be opened and registered by other players, there will be no ability to show up late for this one. This will be a $35 sealed event using M14 (the same format that the Grand Prix will be) This will be a competitive level event…so much more strict on the rules, though we still aim to keep the D20 Good spirit in place. 😉
- Draft at 3 for those who want to redeem their pride (or luck)

From the Vault Twenty will be coming out on my Birthday, Aug 23rd, and as usual there will be very limited numbers. We will start two sign up lists. The first will be for 6 guaranteed copies at $150 each. The second will be for a price TBD once we see what’s in the thing, but will be about 10% below what the going ebay sold rate is. This will be a lottery, with the entries based on the two things I want to most reward, participation in store events and money spent in the store over ehe last few months. (This year, I’m going to do estimates for both of these so I don’t spend 3 days looking through wizard’s event reporter). ONE BIG CHANGE…

I will be adding extra bonus entries for the following:
- One extra entry for every event participated in from now until the release on the 23rd
- Bonus entry for People who attend more then 2 events a week
- Double entries for people attending Leagues, including participating in M14 league
- 3 Bonus Entries for people who bring in a player to an event who as not ever played with us before
- And I reserve the right to give out extra entries (at my discretion) for players who help teach a new player how to play, or who in general are showing above and beyond kindness and support to new or intimidated/nervous players, or general good Duckishness…

D20 weekly update–7-8-13

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Events, Updates

IMPT….NO Pokemon or Vanguard this weekend, and No Magic Standard…Just a bunch of Magic Sealed events (Big Magic M14 Prerelease)

For a great way to get to know the new set.. Click here for a draft simulator. Or here to see all the new cards…

Say Goodbye to Ravnica Block with the last FNM for it this Friday Night (the 12th)

Magic M14 Prerelease–As usual…we will be doing a Competitive and Casual group side by side for all of the times in question. This is great for all players, adults and kids. Remember…we’re limited to ~50 players for each time slot, so if you want to make sure to get a slot, reserve ahead of time.

Magic M14 Boxes are still on the Preorder price of $105, come and see us…first 3o will get the Promo Ratchet Bomb Card

Next weekend (the 20th and 21st)

Sat. the 20th
- we will be doing Pokemon again in the morning
- Magic M14 Sealed at 12
- Two-headed Giant at 5:30 (4pm for packs)
Sunday the 21st
- Grand Prix Trial for Grand Prix Oakland!!! Reg at 10 but start will be 11 am on time. Since the packs need to be opened and registered by other players, there will be no ability to show up late for this one. This will be a $35 sealed event using M14 (the same format that the Grand Prix will be) This will be a competitive level event…so much more strict on the rules, though we still aim to keep the D20 Good spirit in place. 😉
- Draft at 3 for those who want to redeem their pride (or luck)