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).

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.

Vs. System TCG awards – 2008

As 2008 draws toward an end, there is plenty of doom and gloom in the world. In our everyday lives most of us are effected by the current global economic crisis. In our leisure time, Vs. System is clouded in uncertainty and surrounded by whispers of the worst kind. Instead of focusing on the negative, I think it’s time that we take a look at the positive for the last year. With that in mind, I propose we hold the Vs. System TCG awards – 2008 (VSA’s). Here are the categories I’ve come up with. Please reply with your nominations for each category. Once we have a decent number of nominations, I’ll put up polls for every one to vote for their favourite.

There will be a prize for the person who nominates the most ultimate winners. If there is a tie, then the prize will go to the person who submitted their nominations first.

The categories are:

Marvel Evolution set review: X-Factor

Welcome to the first instalment of The-Kamiza.com’s set review for the latest VS. System TCG expansion – Marvel Evolution. Keep your eyes out for more reviews from our other writers, but today Felix Hughes kicks us off with his thoughts on the X-Factor (the team, not the TV show, although if you ask me Alexandra totally nailed it and deserved the win over everyone else! Now, over to Felix – Steve

X Factor are a team based around controlling the game through exhausting other characters and generally making themselves difficult to attack. They are the main beneficiaries of the new energise mechanic, and the large number of activated powers that go with it. These powers have long been a feature of the X-Men teams, and it is with those that X-Factor have most in common; especially the X-Stall decks that held the game under control until they could build up to some powerful late game characters. They also encourage an interesting playing style. Off-initiative they are great, giving you plenty of things to do (and off-initiative tricks have often been a very powerful element in some very powerful teams). When you have the initiative you have to make the choice between attacking or activating, and that can lead to some interesting decisions, as well as some complicated board situations. While X-Factor are not the X-Men they definitely have this feel, as well as some of the recovery tricks and pacifistic tendencies of the X-Men. The large number of dual affiliated characters also contributes to this.

They also get two legendary characters, each representing different periods in the comic history of X-Factor. Cyclops comes from the first inception of the team – a reunion of the original X-Men. This version of Madrox represents the current series, based around X-Factor Investigations – A Private Investigation firm operating from inside Mutant Town. (Madrox and most of the other X-Factor regulars were also members of the X-Factor team during the 90s.) The one thing that links all these incarnations of X-Factor? They are always on the lookout for new threats to mutants and so far they have always been ready to deal with them.

The Ring has Chosen Episode 68

This Week Cliff and Joe take a crack at the next part of the MEV set review.

Upperdeck Europe officially becomes UD International

I picked up on this a while ago, but now there has been an official press statement stating that Upperdeck Europe has now become Upperdeck International:

Upper Deck Europe is now Upper Deck International

Weesp, Netherlands, October 22, 2008 – Upper Deck Europe, the market leader in Trading Card Games (Yu Gi Oh!^™, World of Warcraft^®), Collectibles and recently also active in Toys and Games, is streamlining its organization and extending its territory responsibility. Upper Deck Europe BV is now Upper Deck International BV.

The new organization is in line with the Upper Deck strategy of being a ‘globally local’ company. In addition to EMEA, Upper Deck International, headquartered in Weesp, The Netherlands, is responsible for Oceania, Japan and Latin America. With offices in Berlin, Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo, Sydney and Sao Paolo the company is optimally organized for distribution across the globe.

In addition to his responsibilities as Managing Director for Southern Europe, Louis Pinto will now also head up the Latin America business.

Upper Deck International is also excited to announce that Hedley Barnes, formerly Managing Director of the Northern & Eastern Europe region is promoted to VP Sales. Mr. Barnes moves to the Weesp headquarters in the coming weeks.

Since October 8^th, Ms. Rachel Clement, who built a promising career at Paramount and Disney, has joined the company to head up the UK Business.

“We’ve built our business with the aim to create and deliver innovative high quality entertainment products that contribute to exciting, interactive social experiences. To reach our goals, we have to be a people-centric company to the core. We are passionate about what we do, we are “smart working” and the new organization is a reflection of our commitment and philosophy” says Nico Blauw, CEO of Upper Deck International BV.

Mr Van Speybroeck, Chief Operating Officer, added:”This new organization is reinforcing the fact that Upper Deck International puts its customers in first place and that it is relentlessly pursuing improvements in its organization to be able to better serve the local markets. “

About UPPER DECK INTERNATIONAL B.V.
UPPER DECK INTERNATIONAL B.V. is a premier entertainment publishing company and the industry leader in trading card games, delivering a portfolio of innovative and multi-dimensional product experiences to collectors, and sports and entertainment enthusiasts. Upper Deck International BV also develops, produces and distributes toys, puzzles, trading cards, stickers, family card games, board games, miniature board games, figurines, coins and various other collectible products.

Ground breaking success has already been realized with products like the Yu-Gi-Oh!^™and World of Warcraft^® Trading Card Games.

Upper Deck’s award-winning games have earned a reputation as the most enjoyable, challenging, and entertaining on the market. With the support of a worldwide Organized Play system, Upper Deck games offer far more than what comes in the box. You can find an opponent and participate on any level of competition, including the local, casual Hobby League, the exciting debut of new sets at Sneak Previews to the international fame and fortune of National, European and World Championships.

Shock horror. No mention of Vs. System and nothing startling in the announcement, but interesting to here it from the horses mouth – so to speak. Be sure to check out their new website which can be found in our link section.