Clandestine Contemplations – Bring Your Own Two Teams

 

For the past couple of weeks one thing has been dominating my VS thinking, and that is the upcoming (still some time away actually) UK Nationals. I have decided that at the very least I want to put up a good show defending my title, and that means working out how to deal with a couple of very different formats.

I plan on tackling each in the next couple of weeks and giving my initial thoughts at least before I begin a process of focused testing to see what actually works and what just sounds cool on paper. With that in mind this week I’m going to be thinking about Bring Your Own Two Teams (For anybody that doesn’t know – Golden Age, you pick any two teams who are considered to be crossed-over and can only use cards that reference one of those two teams).

VSA’s 2008 – Location of the Year

Another day, another poll.  Make sure you hop on over to VS-Blog.com because Miguel has posted the latest VSA poll – Location of the Year

the ring Has Chosen Episode 69

Welcome to 2009. Cliff, Squire, and intern Joe discuss the Holidays, Exiles, and the future of VS. Top it off with Weapon X deck talk, and Starjammers review.

VSA’s 2008 – Equipment of the Year

Another day, another category and another blog.  That’s right, over at Lost Hemisphere, you’ll find a poll to vote for the equipment card you feel made the biggest impact in 2008.  Remember, this category isn’t limited to cards printed in 08.  It could be a card from Marvel Origins that tore up the BYOT format for example.  Go check it out now:

http://losthemisphere.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/2008-vsas-equipment/

VSA’s 2008 – Plot Twist of the Year

Just before the holidays kicked in during the tail end of 2008, I suggested that we, the Vs. System community unite around what is and has been, great in our game during 2008.  I welcomed nominations in several catagories for your highlights of the last year and after a flood of responses both here and on VSRealms, I now have all the nominees lined up. 

 

All that remains is for you to decide who walks away with the top prize in the catagory.  Today we’re looking at Plot Twist of the Year. 

 

To clarify, this does not have to be a plot twist that debuted in 2008, but a plot twist that you feel had the biggest impact last year.  The nominees are:

Marvel Evolution set review: Purifiers

Today’s review is the short stack.  The Purifiers team only has six real character cards to choose from, but some of them are pretty interesting.  The team should seem familiar to anyone who saw X2.  The Purifiers weren’t actually in the movie, but one of their head honchos, William Stryker, was the antagonist, so building this deck is as close as you’re going to get to acting out the movie!  Plus, we’ve got some returning powerhouses that you might be interested in.

Read on to see if they’ve aged like fine wine… or like the beer that’s been in the trunk of my car for a year!

Upperdeck KO’s Konami – Pass Priority

While this site is all about the Vs. System trading card game, it would be churlish of us to ignore the current plight of Upperdeck Entertainment in regards of it’s situation with Konami.

For those who missed this saucy little story, lifted straight from some day-time soap opera, Konami decided to announce that it was pulling the Yu Gi Oh rug from underneath Upperdeck’s feet.  The kids TCG is the golden goose for UDE, so many were shocked – apparently UDE were amongst those.  The creators of our beloved Vs. System TCG stood firm and have challenged Konami in the courts.  The following statement was posted on their website on 27th December:

Upper Deck Wins Major Victory in Support of Worldwide Yu-Gi-Oh! Players

U.S. and International courts side with Upper Deck in multiple legal actions involving Konami and the future of Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Games. 

North Las Vegas, NV (December 27, 2008) – A California court has denied Konami’s application for a temporary selling and shipping ban, effectively stopping any restrictions that would have prevented Upper Deck from marketing, selling, distributing and providing game support for the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game.  

The Dutch courts also ruled in favor of Upper Deck, overruling Konami’s alleged termination of its contract with Upper Deck.  Accordingly, Upper Deck will continue its role as the exclusive distributor of the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game in all European territories, plus Australia and New Zealand.   The complete release announcing this decision can be found at http://www.upperdeck-international.com/tabid/56/language/en-US/Default.aspx?AnnouncementID=11

Both victories clear the way for Upper Deck to continue distributing, marketing and selling Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG products in territories outside of Asia.  “Upper Deck is very pleased with today’s rulings”, said Upper Deck executive Bernd Becker.  “We look forward to continuing the superior game support that we’ve been delivering to worldwide Yu-Gi-Oh! players for the last seven years.” 

The unparalleled game support Upper Deck has provided to dedicated Yu-Gi-Oh! players around the world has led to another successful year for the trading card game, as evidenced by the current product sell-out.  “This is as much a victory for the Yu-Gi-Oh! players as it is for Upper Deck,” said Becker.

About Upper Deck

Upper Deck is a premier sports and entertainment publishing company which delivers a portfolio of relevant, innovative and multi-dimensional product experiences to collectors, sports and entertainment enthusiasts. For more information on Upper Deck and its products please visit www.upperdeck.com <http://www.upperdeck.com/> .

The outcome of this situation could have far reaching consequences for the future of our game, so I suggest that we all stay tuned to see exactly how this plays out.  UDE have struck a blow, but now it’s Konami’s initiative, I’m sure they’ve got a few plot twists up their sleeves.

Marvel Evolution set review – Starjammers

The Starjammers are one of the minor teams represented in Marvel Evolution. They are a bunch of Space Pirates who spend their time fighting against various villainous elements within the Shi’Ar (usually involving Deathbird). And of course where the Shi’Ar are involved, so are the X-Men often as not. Even more complicated, Corsair turns out to be Major Christopher Summers, Cyclops long-lost Dad who was actually kidnapped by aliens instead of dying in a plane crash. I love comics sometimes. Their primary card themes turn out to be piracy and sabotage, represented by their various abilities to steal your opponent’s cards, force them to discard and otherwise restrict their ability to put their own game plan into action. Of course the Starjammers don’t have that much of a plan themselves, but they sure will be annoying, and for some people that is more than enough. Not to mention the chance that their semi-random acts of pillage will occasionally wreck their opponents completely.

Marvel Evolution set review: Weapon X

Today’s chunk of the set review will focus on Weapon X.  Weapon X’s featured keyword is Hunter, which reads, “When this card enters play, choose an opposing character. That character becomes hunted by you.”

• Becoming hunted doesn’t do anything by itself, but other cards refer to it.
• Each player may only have one character that is being hunted by them at any one time. If another character becomes hunted by you, all other characters stop being hunted by you.
• A character stays hunted by you until it leaves play or another character becomes hunted by you, even if it becomes stunned or loses its powers.

If you remember the four Weapon X cards from the MUN set, this mechanic may seem oddly familiar.  Before ‘hunter’ was actually a keyword, it was already the theme of Weapon X.  Take Sabretooth, Government Assassin for example.  His text reads:

The Ring has Chosen Episode 68

Cliff, Squire, and special guest Charles (Obsidian3d) close out the year chatting, about VS, blogging, MEV, and why we love this game. To wrap up this epic episode we’ve included lost footage featuring Joe10lo, BigBossMan, and Ludin Romero.

Special Thanks and shout-outs to The Kamiza, and the Lost Hemisphere crew.