Magic the Gathering Archives - Page 9 of 15

Friday Night Magic

New Location—1530 Park Street

160x600_FNM For the next few weeks after Iconic Masters ships…we will do Regular draft ($15 ) side by side with Iconic Masters ($40/$35 with regular prize packs). Both will run as long as we have enough for standard draft.

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.

The Friday drafts start later, so are recommended for adults (or more advanced kids). We run more kid friendly events on other times

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/)
Bonus new draft simulator–Draft Sim

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 Saturday of each month. We also do Two-headed Giants on most other Saturdays that end by 8:30 and are friendly for almost every age and experience group.

www.alameda.com 510-522-2109.

The Scoop on the Magic 2015 Core Set, M15 Rocks

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Magic

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Magic sets come out every 3 months, and this time each year in July, we get the next Core Set. This year, in addition to the normal bucket of old classic cards, the Magic 2015 Core set is overstuffed with goodies, both great individual cards, and a collection of mini-themes, some of which lay some big hints about what is coming in the fall. Plus, SIX, count ’em six planeswalkers, including 4 brand new ones.

The really cool stuff includes the Souls, a bunch of 6/6 power-spitters for each color. There are 5 new legendary creatures, 6 new slivers, including a 5/5 that makes all slivers indestructible. We also have the return of the pain lands (two-color lands that do one damage every time they are tapped for a color) and one of my favorites, the Paragons. These are 2/2 creatures that give all other creatures of the same color +1/+1 and add an ability to give one fellow critter an ability that is appropriate for the color (flying, death-touch, trample, etc.). And there are a few cards that give a nice little hint about what is going to be in the set that is coming in the fall…. (a card that gives all dragons +3/+3….hmmm, what could that mean. 😉

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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.

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…

Time for a Conspiracy (Magic Conspiracy Drafts)

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Magic

You can’t have a good conspiracy on your own. And that is the secret sauce to the special Magic set , coming out on June 6th. This draft -centric, multi-player set is all about what we can do for, er, to each other. This is a special set, much like Modern Masters, with limited initial qualities, though they say that there will be some reprinting after (we are being wary..squirreling away our boxes to let people play with until we know the score.)

We will be drafting this like crazy on that first weekend, and will do it regularly afterwords. Drafts will be $20 pp, with each player getting at least one prize pack, and the top two players getting a free entry into the next draft (or 3 prize packs.)

Lore Seeker…get to go and add a Worldwake booster to the draft?

Messing with a Draft: Drafting is one of the most fun things you can do in magic. And this set takes the standard “get 3 packs, open 1, pick a card and pass to the left/right” and tosses it in the blender. One of our customers described it beautifully by saying that it “broke the 4th wall” of a draft, and I think that’s true. In this set, there are cards that start the game during the draft itself, letting people mess with each other as the draft is going on. (BTW…all Conspiracy drafts are casual format–will of WOTC.)

King of the Hill: Conspiracy is designed to play very differently. When a 8 (or 6) person draft is done, the players are broken into two random groups, and the winner is the last one standing. Most of the drafts we will do will have everyone getting a single bonus prize pack, and the top player in each of the pods, getting the chance to keep on drafting with a free entry into the next draft ( or 3 prize packs). There is the draft and one big multiplayer game, and then the next draft. Kind of cool…that way you are playing to build up your collection, rather then just buying packs. (Packs will cost minimum of $5, so the draft is a great way to go.)

Democracy and Conspiracy? Sure…these have always been strange and familiar bedfellows. There cards in the set that have effects where the players put what is going to happen next up to a vote!?!?!

More info on the different Mechanics (from the Wizards of the Coast website)

Table of Contents

Conspiracy Draft

How the drafting works (differently) with this set

Draft Abilities

Cards that messes with the drafts

Conspiracies

These are permanents that affect what goes on with the way the game is played (like who goes first or letting everybody draw a whole second hand and then chose which one to play with….)

Hidden Agenda

These are conspiracies that are played in secret (ie face down) revealed whenever the controlling player feels is the right time.

Dethrone

To even things out, this ability triggers whenever someone attacks the player with the most life, or tied with the most life.

Will of the Council

Everybody gets a vote on this one (sometimes more then one….)

Parley

With this ability everybody reveals the top card of their library, then whoever did it gets some benefit from what is revealed, but EVERYBODY gets to draw a card at the end. A good parley is good for everybody.

More as we get it…

-Ben

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)

[/vc_column_text][/vc_tab][vc_tab title=”Buy Tix here…” tab_id=”1398448157909-2-0″][vc_posts_slider type=”flexslider_fade” interval=”3″ link=”link_post” order=”ASC” title=”Journey into Nyx events” posttypes=”tribe_events” posts_in=”2423, 2424, 2425, 2420″][/vc_tab][/vc_tabs][vc_separator color=”grey”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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/

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.)

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Fun, Turkey and Black Friday Sales (as well as Small Business Saturday)

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Misc

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!!! Make sure to do some random act of kindness!! 😉 As always, thanks so much for the business, and more importantly, the intensely cool community. I can’t tell you guys how thankful I am for that.

If you aren’t on the road already, swing on by and pick up a good game for either keeping kids happy in the car or good family fun that doesn’t go beep, beep. 😉 We have a bunch of stuff we can recommend (although, the beloved Cover Your Assets is ALWAYs a great family pick….just trust us on this one.) We will be closed on Thursday because, well, we should be…we’ll be hanging and playing with our family and hope you will be as well.

We WILL be doing a Black Friday Sale (starting at 10) and Small Business Saturday Sale….very good stuff, good prizes and the return of our bonus stocking stuffer (or menorah sitter) freebies.

Monday: Special how to Play Magic class at the Lib @ 1.
Tuesday Night–Modern Masters Draft!!! $40—no,wait…make it $33 this one time!!! (Regular packs as prizes)
Weds, Double prize League tournament starting at 4:30–Maybe Daytime Draft??!!
Thursday…closed for T-day
Friday—BIG Black Friday sale
Saturday–Small Business Sat sales and Two headed Mystery box tournament
Sunday 10AM Start for a $10 Magic Standard with some free Star City Goodies in the mix…!

We had a second record breaking FNM in a month on Friday before last Friday…went from 42 up to 44!! It was VERY good we had the secret clubhouse next door to be able to use for more play space so we aren’t quiet so squished when we get full.

The Good, The Bad, and the Peter (Mohrbacher)….

By Ben Calica / Leave a Comment / Misc

Two bits of news regarding store Friend, Peter Mohrbacher. For those of you who don’t know, Peter is one of the better Magic artists who happens to live in Alameda. He has done a ton of cool cards, including Erebos, God of the Dead, the much maligned (only for abilities, not for lack of great art) and the ever amusing Grimgrin. Some folks have been lucky enough to get one of the custom matts that he has done and brought by the store, and he is always happy to chat and sign cards whenever he comes in. He moved into Alameda a couple of years ago, with a brand new baby in tow, and to no one’s surprise, only popped in a few times for the next number of months. But since then he’s come in a bunch of times, sometimes bringing his increasingly beautiful daughter in tow.

The sad news is that he is leaving town in the beginning of Dec. to move back to his home town of Chicago to bring his daughter to be near her grandparents. Partially this is enabled by the fact that he has left his current full time (non-magic) gig to pursue projects based on his art full time. As sad as we are to see him go, we love his work (and like him) so we’re very excited for him. As part of that, he has started a Kickstarter project for a special collection of his work, both playmats and full art prints, including some amazing canvas style limited framed pieces. In two days he’s at about 40% of what he is looking for, so this is very very cool. He will also leave us with a small gallery worth of stuff for us to sell in the store.

To celebrate having him around, we will be doing a going away party for him on Thursday, Nov. 21st, starting at ~5. He will be here to sign stuff, and we will be doing Pack Wars/Mini Masters using sets that have his work in them (Innistrad block on). Pack wars will just be for fun, and the Mini-masters will be 6 for the current block and 8 for the Innistrad block. But most important is that we have fun and get a chance to give Peter a proper send-off.