D20 Games Alameda Archives - Page 13 of 23

Summer Starts….

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Updates

Going on vacation…store will still be open

UPDATE…Back from Italy…

Magic Two-headed Giant Conspiracy tonight-sat 28th. Price is $23 instead of $30…(we were able tyo get more boxes…) .(sorry it took I’m taking the next couple of weeks off (imagine that) but leaving the store in the capable hands of the affable Ryan and the irascible Thomas. 😉 So a few things:

The store will be running the usual events, including Pokemon, Friday Night Magic, Magic Two-headed Giants, and the Standard events.
We are adding a few extra goodies, including 2 Conspiracy draft times (Tue @ 6 and Sun @ 3). We are also bidding a fun ending to Theros with a Block Constructed Tournament on Thursdays. ($5)
We will be doing less buying of cards while I’m gone, start again after the 28th. (Also, we will be offering a bit less for Ravnica Block cards since the block goes from standard to Modern in October.) Thomas or Ryan will do their best, but if the store is busy, be patient and prepared to wait until another time.

We have LOTS of cool things for filling up the summer with fun stuff that doesn’t go beep, and that might actually have a little bit of smiling at each other…

Some summer Fun Recommendations:

Boss Monster…(Back in Stock…players are the “boss Monster” setting up Dungeons to defeat the heros, with a distinctly 8-bit flavor full of references from everything from Harry Potter to old school Nintendo.)
Love Letter—an amazing game played with only 15 cards…easy to pick up and surprisingly subtle. (works for from 2-6)
Back in stock…Floop that pig! 😉
Adventuretime Card Wars...so they made a (great) game out of a historical lampooning game in an episode of the Adventuretime cartoon that went straight after Magic/Pokemon/etc… The game has been in VERY short supply, but we got a batch in for now.
Also…coming up in July…”Starter boxes for the (finally) new version of D&D.
And don’t forget how much fun the Magic Two-headed Giant’s are…a chance to play with someone that you really like…great for buddies, sweeties and a great parent-kid date..

Have a lovely beginning of summer…see you in a couple of weeks.—More to come when we get back…

Magic Game Day(s) Sat & Sun 24-25th

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

The 9 event Hero’s Path that Wizards started with Theros comes to its conclusion this weekend, with the chance to play against the Defeat a God, starting during the Game Day events. Players can bring a standard deck or can use one of the draft or two-headed Giant decks to play against the third (and final) of the special challenge decks. Bring in any of the hero cards that you may have acquired during the previous prereleases or special events and you can pick two that will help during with your battle with the gods themselves. We are also doing at Journey Into Nyx Two Headed Giant on the 24th, to round out the day…

Foil full art promo for the top 8 each day

Also, starting at 10 am on Sat the 24th and Sun the 25th are the Journey Into Nyx Game Day events. These competitive standard format tournaments will have special full art promo cards for each player, foil full art promo cards for the top 8 of each event, and el numero uno each day gets the special championship playmat.

First place playmat for each days winner.

Release Weekend…

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

Hey folks,
So we have a lot going on this weekend, including the release for Journey Into Nyx, and the Prerelease for Pokemon XY Flashfire.

Journey Into Nyx on sale Fri, May 2nd (on minute after midnight on Thursday)

And this weekend we will be hosting the Prerelease for the newest set for Pokemon, XY Flashfire….

The Screen Free Week Challenge: And finally…This is a big one for me (and I am a Dad, so I know the struggle). Kids….I have a challenge for you. Get your family to go screen free for one whole week! For those who are able to do it, (and get their parents to verify they all did it,) I will be giving away up to 100 free packs for Magic or Pokemon packs (1 per family..two if they do a family game night).

I know this is super hard, but it It’s amazing what happens when you shut the screens off, let boredom take hold for a little bit and then reach out to see what you can find to fill that void. I know I’m the game guy, and I would love to see parents commit to coming home and clearing the space one night next week to do a family game night. But outside of that, just see what it feels like to do some of the things there never seems to be time to do.

To do my part in this…I’m going to have a sheet in the store, and one to print online that is a pledge/verification card that will also include a place to list all the things you got to do during that time, and any family that can make it through the week with no video, computer games, ipad or other non-work related screen time, I will give them a gift of a free pack of either Pokemon or Magic, or a $5 off coupon for any game that is $19.99 or more for the first 100 kids (no more then 1 per family. If there are more then one…I’ll give the parents a chance to by more at 1/2 off.) (Parents, I’m counting on you to make this honest. Parents will need to come in with the kids and the filled out form between May 13th-23rd)

Journey Into Nyx —Last Set in Theros Block…

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Magic

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″ css=”.vc_custom_1398449619935{background-color: #d6dfa4 !important;}”][vc_column_text]Journey To Nyx!!! Prerelease this weekend (4/26-427)[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”http://youtu.be/gTGm-o3OXcA”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/1″][vc_separator color=”grey”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_tabs][vc_tab title=”What’s new” tab_id=”1398447790-1-66″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

LAST WEEK to pre-order boxes and to sign up for the prerelease events…. Remember, these are great fun for beginner and advanced players alike.

Booster Boxes in advance are currently $105, They will go up to $110 next week..

Spoiler Time….the last set in the Theros block, Journey Into Nyx started spoiling this week….

We will be doing our Prereleases on the weekend of April 26th and 27th…

Here is the latest….[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_images_carousel images=”2460,2453,2455,2456,2459,2458,2454,2457″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” mode=”horizontal” speed=”2500″ slides_per_view=”1″ autoplay=”yes” title=”Cool Journey Cards” img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_tab][vc_tab title=”The New Mechanics” tab_id=”1398447790-2-7″][vc_column_text]The new mechanics for the set (Monstrosity, Heroic and Bestow are all back as well)…

Constellation fires off whenever another enchantment hits the field

Constellation —Another Enchantment effect…whenever an enchantment enters the battlefield, it makes this ability fire.

Strive–Sort of like kicker, this lets you pay an extra amount to have the spell get extra targets. (think the old Fireball spells)

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Cool Upcoming Events,Old School Two-Headed Giant, and X-Wing Store Championships…

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Magic, X-Wing

We have a few very special events coming up that are worth checking out…. We’re having two very unusual and special Magic events this month, as well as having our first Store championship for the X-Wing Miniatures game.

Once in a while we get to do something weird and fun, and this is one of those times. We managed to get our hands on a cool collection of old preconstructed decks from Mirage through Odyssey! So this will be a special version of our old favorite the mystery box. Each player will reach in and get a random, preconstructed deck and 2 random packs from M12, M13 or M14 to round the precon’s out. This is a great way to get a taste of old school magic, or get a flash back to when you first got started.

And Finally. we are doing our very first event for the Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures games. This space dogfight game caught my eye at the last GAMA trade show I went to last year. You get to play with squads of really beautifully designed Star Wars Minis, and the mechanics are nice and straight forward. (Not the X hours, hordes of army’s and massive time and energy commitment of War-hammer, but something that was easy to grasp, but had a lot of depth to it.) I particularly love that an X-Wing can be anywhere from a rookie pilot, to Luke with R2 in tow. We’ve been looking for a chance to start regular organized play, and the Store Championships gives us a perfect opportunity.

Game Day Coming…And time for some Horde Battling

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Misc

Foil Full Art Pain Seer for top 8 each day

While the weekend of Feb 22nd will include the return of one of our fav’s, the Mystery Box Two-headed giant, where each payer blindly reaches into the big box of goodness and picks a random intro pack and uses the cards from it’s deck plus the two bonus packs to blend with their partners to make two killer decks to be played side by side, the weekend that follows will bring the challenges up to a whole new level. March 1st and 2nd will be Game Day for the Born of the Gods set. For those who don’t know, Game day is a standard tournament ($5) entry that is unique because it is the only day to get one of 3 special prizes. The first 30 people who enter each day will get a special full art version of Kiora’s Follower. The top 8 players for each day will get a special full art foil version of the Pain Seer, and el numero uno each day will get the special Born of the Gods Game Day Champion playmat. This does tend to be a more competitive event, so while kids can participate, they should both know how to play and to be ok with swimming with the big dogs and learning from playing against some really good decks. (There are some of the kids that not only can give the adults a run for their money, but wouldn’t surprise us in the least to see walking out with the playmat.) Oh, and one more thing, since Channel Fireball has opted to run a PTQ on that weekend, some of our best players may not be here for the event, which opens up that top slot even more. If you want to practice your standard skills, come by for our regular Sunday Tournament at 11ish and see what your deck can do. The new cards are sparking the imagination of players for a lot of interesting home brewed decks.

Born of the Gods Game Day Champion's Playmat — Born of the Gods Game Day Champion’s Playmat

In addition, for that day we will be running the Battle the Hordes Deck as the 6th of 9 challenges in the Theros Hero’s path. Bring in a standard deck to run against this swarming special deck that was built in the mode of the Face the Hydra deck. We will be giving out extra promo cards to those who beat this deck on it’s harder levels and will give extra full art cards to players on Sunday after the final registration for the second Game Day has let us know what is left over.

Happy Valentines Day

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Magic, Updates

Happy Valantine's Day From D20 Games — Happy Valantine’s Day From D20 Games

Happy Valentine’s Day Folks…go out( or stay in) and play with someone you love.

This weekend we are having our Two-Headed Giant with a special twist. Any one who comes with a significant other on a Date (kids, this does include moms) can get a one dollar upgrade on our two dollar sleeve special from regular sleeves to our Valentine’s Nyan cat sleeves.love. 😉

Other goodies…we have some great two person(or more) games that are perfect for playing together. These include Love Letter (click for our game review) and Hanabi, a cooperative Fireworks game with the twist that everyone can see your cards, but you. 😉

Releases-Born of the Gods and Pokemon XY

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Magic, Misc, Pokemon, Updates

OPEN THURS @ 10 for Midnight sales of Born of the Gods….

This week we have major releases for both Pokemon and Magic.

Born of the Gods release events this weekend. We’ll be open at midnight on Thursday night to sell fat packs, Boxes and Packs. Friday we will be doing Triple Born of the Gods as the first release event for Friday Night Magic. This weekend we will do a Two-Headed Giant on Saturday Night, A Sealed on Sunday at noon, where the 6 packs used can also be the beginning of the new League. Everyone playing will get the release promo card of Tromokratis for as long as supplies last.

One of the Cool Cards from Pokemon XY-Source Pokebeach.com

For Pokemon, the new XY set just released. This is the first new set of the XY series after several years of Black & White. The new boosters, boxes, and intro packs are on the way to the store as we write this… And we are doing a release event for XY Sat morning, starting at 10:30 Card list for Pokemon X/Y here.

Friday Night Magic

Cost is $15 and comes with an optional pack of $3.50 ultra pro sleeves for only $2 extra. Format is casual, playing 3 rounds, with a pack for a prize for the winner of each round. Current Drafts will be 1 Born of the Gods and 2 Theros packs.

BTW…GREAT Draft Practice sites

Wizards Site (Simple and limited, but a great place to start)
The last good simulator that Wizards hasn’t shut down (they are out of the country. http://draft.bestiaire.org/

Come on in. Drafts are a great way for everybody to start out on the same footing and have an equal chance to win and an guaranteed chance to have fun. While we have some great competitive players, we take great pride in remembering that playing games is supposed to be fun and focusing on helping everybody have a great time.

Players should know how to play the game, but players who have never tried drafting, new players, and players who haven’t played for a long time will find us a warm and welcoming group, who will help them to get comfortable so we can add new people to our mix.If you want help in getting more comfortable before hand, come on in and we’ll hook you up with one of our regulars to help out. Being a comfortable and fun place to play is our specialty.

We also run kid specific drafts on the first and third Saturday of each month. These alternate between booster drafts and two-headed giant events and start and end earlier to accommodate the kids.

www.alameda.com 510-522-2109.

Born of the Gods is on it’s way!!!

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Events, Magic

The second chapter in the Greek inspired Theros block is on it’s way and we’re starting to get psyched. Prerelease is signing up now (sign up soon to get the color of your choice for the prereleae pack.) Pre-order box prices are starting to go up, but we will do $105 this week, going up to $120 when the set releases, so if you want to order those, let us know. Also only the first 30 orders for boxes get the buy a box promos, and we don’t know what those are yet and that often will raise the box prices if it ends up being awesome.

The first Born of the Gods spoilers from the set, KioraThe spoilers will start for real around Jan 13, but Wizards gave us a holiday peek with the first planeswalker of the set. This will be a 165 card set, designed to be drafted with Theros. They are also continuing the Hero’s path, that gave us the Hydra deck last time around, so look for more opportunities to get the special promo hero cards to help in the next challenge.

Our Prerelease will be the first weekend of the month, with events on:

As usual, we will be doing Kids and Casual (3 round, win a round, win a pack) for all the events, side by side with competitive (4-5 rounds, win at least two round to get a pack, but much bigger numbers of packs for the top winners) for everything except the two-headed Giant (just casual for that one.)