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Find Your Fortune in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan at D20 Games!

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Embark on an Uncharted Quest with “The Lost Caverns of Ixalan” at D20 Games!

Prepare to chart a course into the unknown with Magic: The Gathering’s latest set, “The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.” This set beckons players to uncover the secrets of a land where the ancient and the arcane intertwine. With new mechanics like Craft, Descend, and Discover, your journey through the untamed wilds of Ixalan will be fraught with peril and promise.

Prerelease and Release Events at D20 Games in Alameda!

Join the adventure a week early with our Prerelease Events, and continue the excitement with our Release Events:

Prerelease Events:

Release Events:

Cost for each event is $30 in advance and $35 on the day of the event. Secure your spot early and save!

New Game Mechanics to Master:

  • Craft: Forge your path to power by crafting artifacts of immense strength. As you play, you’ll gather components that can be assembled into tools of victory, giving you an edge in the heat of battle.
  • Descend: Venture deeper into the game with Descend, where meeting certain conditions unleashes abilities of mythic proportions. With DESCEND 4 and DESCEND 8, your creatures will gain new abilities as you reach these thresholds, offering a strategic advantage that grows with your gameplay.
  • Fathomless Descent: A mechanic that rewards the bold, Fathomless Descent takes you to new strategic depths, offering rewards that grow with the risks you take. This mechanic encourages daring plays that, if successful, can lead to a cascade of powerful effects.
  • Discover: Continue the legacy of exploration with Discover, a fresh take on the Explore mechanic, leading you to unearth new strategies and hidden strengths. This ability allows you to reveal the top card of your library and make crucial decisions that could alter the course of the game.
  • Map Tokens: Navigate your way to triumph with Map Tokens, which build upon the Discover mechanic, marking your progress as you journey through the game. These tokens serve as milestones, unlocking potential as your exploration advances.
  • Finality Counters: Mark the pivotal moments of your conquest with Finality Counters, a new way to signify the turning points that can lead to ultimate victory. These counters accumulate on certain cards, leading to powerful effects that can end the game in your favor.

Are you ready to forge your destiny with the craft of your hands, descend into the depths of strategy, and discover the untold power within the caverns? Join us at D20 Games and find out!

D20 Games
1530 Park Street,
Alameda, CA 94501
[email protected]
Phone: 510-522-2109

Discover the secrets of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan at D20 Games!

 

Lord of the Rings Tales of Middle Earth -MTG comes home

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(The set releases on 6/23, but preorders are open now and can be picked up at local game stores starting 6/16 when the prereleases begin.)


Lotr Basic landThe Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is a new expansion set for Magic: The Gathering it brings the iconic world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth to life, letting you follow the paths of favorite (or favorite villainous) characters from the Third Age.  Whether you choose to reenact your favorite moments from the series or turn the tales of Middle-earth on their head is entirely up to you​2.

Events (Release and Prerelease) 

For the Love of Hobbits and Rings:There and Back Again Saga
The set was clearly designed by people who knew and loved Tolkien’s world.  The flavor and mechanics of the cards are joyfully amazing.  For example, more often then not, hobbits in the set create food tokens (yes, there is a Second Breakfast card), and there is a saga that not only creates Smaug as a 6/6 flying dragon token, but when it dies, it creates 12 treasure tokens!  There are various versions of main characters that match their different transformations in the journey, such as 4 versions of Frodo, from peaceful hobbit to Sauron’s Bane, or Gandalf as the fireworks laden Friend of the Shire, to the White Rider, swooping down in the light of the dawn sun, with the riders of Rohan at his back.  I’ve been playing the Draftsim practice drafts/sealed simulators just to get a chance to get familiar with the cards, and the kid who fell in love with LOTR is beyond excited to get a chance to play. 

Gandalf Lord of the ShireMasters Set that you don’t need to be a Master to enjoy
This is supposed to be a Universes Away/Masters set, but it feels much more like coming home than going into a new world.  Kind of makes sense since MTG was inspired by D&D, which came from (drumroll….) Tolkien.  (if you don’t believe me…check out the early changes to D&D based on hobbit lawyers.)  Even though the set is in the higher cost Masters slot ($50/55 instead of $30/35 for sealed), don’t take that to mean that the set isn’t friendly for all levels of players.  In fact, the thing that will make the set most fun is how much you like Lord of the Rings. The Balrog

This set is shaping up to be a fantastic journey through the realms of Middle-earth, filled with nostalgia, surprises, and a sprinkle of that unique MTG magic. Whether you’re a fan of the fantasy epic, a dedicated MTG player, or both, this set promises to offer a thrilling new way to experience Tolkien’s world. Can’t wait for the set’s release? Neither can we!

 

 

Alternate Art Fun…

There are some amazing alternate versions of the cards, including some that piece together to create full scenes on their own.  There are a bunch  of cool art treatments to collect. More info here.

Alt art connected Lord of the Rings Magic cards

New Mechanics

The Ring

The Ring (front)

The biggest new mechanic has to do with The Ring, and what happens when it tempts you. I know that tempt sounds like a bad thing, but in this case it is some of the very good stuff.  When the ring tempts you, you attach the ring card to one (and only one at a time) of your creatures.  Every time the ring tempts again it adds another ability to that card. If your ring bearer dies, the ring falls off and you start from the beginning.

Amass Orcs

We’ve seen this mechanic before in building up hordes of zombies.  Basically, you create an “army” that is a token with whatever number of counters that the Amass tells you to add.  Every subsequent Amass just makes the one army token bigger. (It doesn’t create lots of them.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return of Drafting @ D20

By / Leave a Comment / D&D, Events, Magic, Main Page, News

Hey folks….

A few event updates of significance..

  • Return of drafts for FNM
  • Two Headed Giant on Sat moves from 3pm to 4pm start time.
  • D&D is coming back…

 

Return of Drafting for FNM:Starting 10/22 we will experimenting with doing drafts again for Friday Night Magic.  We’ll be pulling out the plastic tablecloths (the ones we used for birthdays) so we can sanitize them in between rounds, and we will have everyone sanitize hands before they start drafting (and have a no drinks or anything that will get hands next to a mouth during the drafting process).  If I think this is going well, this is what we will do from now on.

We have also raised the price of the drafts to $20. (The packs have gotten more expensive and we have a much more limited number of players we can have for the events so we really need every dollar we can to start to clime out of the joy and fun of last year).  But I’m going to do this. For all of our old players, if you also were pushed to the limit from last year or just can’t afford the price increase, tell us at the counter and we’ll let you keep doing the old $15 for at least the next few months.

Two Headed Giants moving from 3-4 on Saturdays:

We’re shifting the time for the two headed giants back to the old time of 4pm, so it returns it to being more of a date night, evening fun activity. This really is one of our favorite events and we will be doing it consistantly to get it back up and running.  (Still have to have the 12+ age limit, but as soon as the vaccination for the younger folks comes in, we’ll happily open the doors to let them back).

D&D in person is starting back up:

This Sunday (10/24) is going to be Dan’s return to DMing events in the store.  The time will be 2-7 and will be limited to 7 players.  This event will be a 4 session run and should be good fun. This is for players with some experience playing, not a first time event. $20 pers session (and if you want to come to all 4, probably best to get tix in advance)

“We will be doing a Dungeon  Crawl into an Abandoned Dwarven Keep . Players Should Create a Level 5 Character using Standard array or the pound buy system in the players hand book.  Players will have standard starting equipment as well as any 1 Uncommon Magic item of their choice.  Any Player resources and books printed by Wizards of the Cost will be allowed including unearthed arcana.”

Starting in about a week we will start doing Weds D&D and after that, late night Saturday

Pokémon:

Pokémon continues to be in extremely short supply.  We are continuing to let 12 and younger kids buy 1 pack a day at the old 3.99 price so they don’t get totally overrun by the adults who are snapping everything up. I’m sorry for not having preorders for all the higher end stuff, but we don’t know until the last minute what will come in.  If you want Pokémon gifts for the holidays, I really reeaally recommend getting them now. The supply chain is truly messed up and hits this stuff hard.

Hope to see you this week and as always…seriously thanks for shopping local.

Ben

P.S.  We will be spreading out sales/offerings over November so we don’t have to get people to waste part of their vacation running around shopping.

D&D Epic One shot, Modern Horizons 2, and return of THG Fat Pack wars!!

By / Leave a Comment / Events, Main Page, News

Hey folks…

This weekend we have 5 most excellent events that we are gonna hold in as safe a way as possible and with all sorts of bonus goodies for those who attend, including a Special D&D event one shot event on Sunday.:

  • Modern Horizons 2 “Prerelease” (Sealed event using the prerelease kits that we’ve been holding since covid started), $60 in advance, $65 at the door.Friday 8/27 @  6:30
  • Two Headed Giant/Fat Pack Wars returns!!!  Sat 8/28 @ 3pm (We bring out the mystery box, and each team has a player reach in and pick a surprise pack for whatever Fat pack/bundle they get to use to build their decks together.) $30 in advance, $35 at the door
  • D&D Epic One shot, Lair of the Dracolich (up to three parties at different tables come from different places to try and survive to defeat something that will take all of them cooperating.)  $60 in advance, $65 at the door.  Extremely limited seating (only 18 max)

 

13+ and Vax cards required for all(and masks still)
As we’ve bemoaned earlier, a whole mess of people who’ve been talked into proving they have the freedom to lemming off of a cliff, have put us back to needing to be ultra careful.  To attend events here safely, you must bring proof of vaccine (and still wear masks).  I don’t mess with this stuff at all, so we will be very strict about this.  And I hate it means that the 12 and under kids can’t participate yet.  Really hate it. (probably why I’m extra grumpy about this.)

I know for me, going out to an event felt fairly nerve wracking, in delta land.  So we really will be extra careful.  Therefore, we’re gonna treat snacking like smoking….need to step outside if you need to breath outside a mask.

The good part…Goodies (10th anniversary style)

So everyone who attends events this weekend (and for as long as I feel like it), will get a ton of bonus goodies, from special promo magic cards for the magic folks, to mystery dice sets for the D&D participants.

 

Kaldheim: the New Magic Set that Thor Would Play

By / Leave a Comment / Magic, Main Page

Prerelease: 1/29/21(prerelease kits/boxes)
Release: 2/05/21 (everything else)

Hammer or Ax?  Set in norse mythology, this is clearly the set that would finally get Thor to join in on the weekly Magic draft.  (Ok, Cap clearly leans to white, Tony goes for a combo of red for blast damage and blue for control, Widow goes for the life stealing of black, and Hulk…well, lets just say Giant growth is right up his ally)

Been playing with the set for a couple of weeks using DraftSim and the set looks like the most fun of the last year.

D20 Webstore (to Buy the stuff)

Here is the good stuff:
Mechanics
Cards

The big chase card is this bad boy (6 mana, trample haste and doubling the number of counters put on any permanent.)

Since we are still in covid land, the best way I can recommend to play to get the most fun/pack is to do an at home sealed league. (Basically, take the 6 packs from a prerelease kit, make a sealed, and then add another pack per person every few days.  You end up keeping things varied since you can build a number of decks before too long, and each pack you open is not just interesting for the rares, but for every card that might help build something else fun.)

 

Preoder Ikoria Online…really…

By / Leave a Comment / Featured Products, Magic, Sale & Deals

[NOTE–All Ikoria product is preorder to be delivered on or after May 15th.]

Oh man, do I hope this works…  I’ve been working all week to get the webstore online so we could do sales for Ikoria in the middle of the duck and cover in place time.* 
So here’s the deal.  We are doing a combo of Curbside and Delivery when the stuff comes out on Friday mostly because we don’t really know what the rules are gonna be on a day to day basis.  A couple of things:

  1. Safety First…REALLY.  We are doing curbside and delivery only…Don’t show up at the store to buy stuff.  I love you guys dearly and do NOT want people hanging out in anything like a line at the store.  The online store is hear so we can either drop the stuff off or come to the curb to the car and bring it to you.  
  2. We aren’t even pretending that we know what we are doing or will be able to pull this off without some sort of major “whoops”.  Please be super patient with us, and if you are not sure if something come through or have a question, email at [email protected] and we’ll get back when we dig ourselves out.
  3. We are doing Ikoria Loot bags, which are combos of stuff.  These are based on the Magic loot bags we have already been doing, but upgraded for Ikoria only.  The Silver is two Prerelease kits at $60, the Platinum is a booster box and two Prerelease kits and bonus older buy a box promos.  We aren’t doing much in the way of discounts, cause frankly, we need every $$ we can get right now.  Instead, I’m tossing in bonus goodies like promo cards and packs.  When we get to some of the more significant loot bags, we are gonna say thanks for supporting us by upping the extra goodies levels appropriately.  We appreciate every bid of business you throw our way, but for those with the means to give the store above and beyond thanks, including some very limited items. Any Diamond level or above bag (and the first 25 orders over $400) will get the exclusive full art foil Godzilla card.  The Utimate Diamond Black Ultimate loot bag, for which there is and will only ever be one, includes, among many other things, the only one of the giant Garruk’s Axe (Nerf) and the 2017 SCDC Promo set with he Nicol Bolos print on a full uncut magic sheet. 

Regardless of what you get, I do have a suggestion to make up for the fact that we don’t get to come play together for the prerelease.  Take your prerelease kits and turn them into an at home sealed league.  Then each day, give each person a new pack to open to add to their card pool.  Each of those packs is gonna end up way more fun that way and you will be able to squeeze a lot more fun per pack.  I want your business, but I also want to be able to give you guys something with some joy in it to do with each other during all this.  

You can do the sealed with buddies over zoom to, but it requires one thing…the honor system for real.  It’s way to easy to cheat without anyone looking at what your are doing so it is a great time to remember that the playing is way more important then the winning and loosing, and that being honorable is not just adding serious power to yer insides, but makes you someone other people like playing with. 

FNM Theros Beyond Death Release Weekend

Theros Beyond Death Release weekend: When someone asks you if you are a god, you say “yes!”

When: Events– Friday Night Magic at 7, Sat, Two Headed Giant at 4, Sun at 11 and a League Starter Sealed, Sunday at 11 pm. 

What Events:

Friday: Draft ($15)–Each player gets 3 packs, opens and picks a card and passes the rest to the person next to them.  Lather, rinse and repeat until all the cards from the packs have been picked.  Take about 23-26 of the 40+ cards you get and add land to make a 40 card minimum deck. Play 3 rounds, win a round, win a pack with an option of a free draft to those who go undefeated.  Since it’s a new set, and none of us know what we are doing yet, it’s a great time for new players to come and join.

Saturday: Two Headed Giant: ($30) Two player team event. Each player gets one of the last of the 6 pack prerelease kits and they build two decks to play together.
About Two Headed Giants

Sunday: Sealed-($25) Everybody gets 6 of the new packs and makes their best 40 card decks.  Packs at 11, play at 12.  3 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.

Here’s what you need to get a head/catch up to the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sun 11 am sealed Theros Beyond Death Release Weekend

Theros Beyond Death Release weekend: When someone asks you if you are a god, you say “yes!”

When: Events– Friday Night Magic at 7, Sat, Two Headed Giant at 4, Sun at 11 and a League Starter Sealed, Sunday at 11 pm. 

What Events:

Friday: Draft ($15)–Each player gets 3 packs, opens and picks a card and passes the rest to the person next to them.  Lather, rinse and repeat until all the cards from the packs have been picked.  Take about 23-26 of the 40+ cards you get and add land to make a 40 card minimum deck. Play 3 rounds, win a round, win a pack with an option of a free draft to those who go undefeated.  Since it’s a new set, and none of us know what we are doing yet, it’s a great time for new players to come and join.

Saturday: Two Headed Giant: ($30) Two player team event. Each player gets one of the last of the 6 pack prerelease kits and they build two decks to play together.
About Two Headed Giants

Sunday: Sealed-($25) Everybody gets 6 of the new packs and makes their best 40 card decks.  Packs at 11, play at 12.  3 rounds, win a round, win a pack.  (If we still have Prerelease packs, we will have them as an option for an extra $5)

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.

Here’s what you need to get a head/catch up to the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat 4pm TGH Theros Beyond Death Release Weekend

Theros Beyond Death Release weekend: When someone asks you if you are a god, you say “yes!”

When: Events– Friday Night Magic at 7, Sat, Two Headed Giant at 4, Sun at 11 and a League Starter Sealed, Sunday at 11 pm. 

What Events:

Friday: Draft ($15)–Each player gets 3 packs, opens and picks a card and passes the rest to the person next to them.  Lather, rinse and repeat until all the cards from the packs have been picked.  Take about 23-26 of the 40+ cards you get and add land to make a 40 card minimum deck. Play 3 rounds, win a round, win a pack with an option of a free draft to those who go undefeated.  Since it’s a new set, and none of us know what we are doing yet, it’s a great time for new players to come and join.

Saturday: Two Headed Giant: ($30) Two player team event. Each player gets one of the last of the 6 pack prerelease kits and they build two decks to play together.
About Two Headed Giants

Sunday: Sealed-($25) Everybody gets 6 of the new packs and makes their best 40 card decks.  Packs at 11, play at 12.  3 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.

Here’s what you need to get a head/catch up to the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Core 2020 Release Sealed

Core 2020 Release weekend: Ok…we’re calling it Prerelease weekend part two. (cause of the 4th of July…we got lots of Prerelease kits left, so those of you who were away for the 4th get a chance to get in on the fun).

When: Events– Friday Night Magic at 7, Sat, Two Headed Giant at 4, Sun at 11 and a League Starter Sealed, Sunday at 11 pm. 

What Events:

Friday: Draft ($15)–Each player gets 3 packs, opens and picks a card and passes the rest to the person next to them.  Lather, rinse and repeat until all the cards from the packs have been picked.  Take about 23-26 of the 40+ cards you get and add land to make a 40 card minimum deck. Play 3 rounds, win a round, win a pack with an option of a free draft to those who go undefeated.  Since it’s a new set, and none of us know what we are doing yet, it’s a great time for new players to come and join.

Saturday: Two Headed Giant: ($35-$30  in advance) Two player team event. Each player gets one of the last of the 6 pack prerelease kits and they build two decks to play together.
About Two Headed Giants

Sunday: Sealed-($35-$30  in advance) Everybody gets a Prerelease kit. and makes their best 40 card decks.  Packs at 11, play at 12.  3 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.

Here’s what you need to get a head/catch up to the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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