Hey guys, it’s time for your weekend update!
First, Panini has given us an update on the Heroes and Villains release. The official release date is March 6th. They’ll be sending out launch kits, similar to those that came with Set 1, to stores that preordered. These kits will consist of the Trunks’ Sword Slash and Stare Down promos, along with a new playmat.
They’ve also clarified what they suggest for sealed play (noting that each store can mix things up however they like in terms of rules and content), which consists of one starter and 3 booster packs from the newest set. The masteries still work as they always have in sealed, but they specifically stated we can ignore alignment and named card restrictions. Matches would follow the “Best of 1” format with a time limit of 40 minutes.
Apparently they’ll also be giving us Orange Truck Lifts to hand out. I’m sure some people at my store will be happy about that. I handed out the foil versions as a prize one night, though I suspect these will all be non-foil versions. One can hope though!
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DragonBallRadio put up another podcast just a few days ago where they discussed the new Tien cards. I think there seems to be a general consensus in the community- myself included- about how he’s going to play and what he’ll be good in. That said, I’m sure someone will find away to surprise us one the set gets going. They were also kind enough to include decklists, which were read in the podcast and then posted on their forums.
You can check out the podcast here: http://www.spreaker.com/user/7803583/spoilergate-gaston-and-tien
And the decks here: http://www.dragonballradio.com/kunena/deck-discussion
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RetroDBZ posted an article called “Dustin[‘]s Theory Crafting.” I fear some people may have skipped over the article due to the misleading title. Dustin is actually discussing the potential formats for DBZ, and is advocating a rotating format similar to Standard in Magic: The Gathering, and he lays out his argument quite well, in my opinion.
He argues that a rotating format would create more diversity in decks, and the decks themselves will change over time. This allows the designers to get more creative, because you don’t have to compete with, or design around, old cards. It also helps prevent power creep (Professor’s note: a problem in some games and was definitely noticeable in the original Score TCG) and “broken games.” You can view the article on the RetroDBZ website for his complete argument.
Honestly, I can’t say I disagree with him, I’m just stuck in the Old-Z mindset of how they do things. In addition, I suspect that we’d wind up getting both a rotating format and an “eternal” format in DBZ, and I worry that the community is currently too small for that kind of split. Hopefully, it’ll grow over the next few sets.
He also addressed draft and sealed formats at the end of his article. He asked how a draft could work, and I feel I should point out that GT managed it just fine, and I’ve applied the GT deck draft rules to Old-Z starter decks just fine. In New-Z, you’d basically just remove the MP, Mastery, and foils for yourself and shuffle the remaining 50 cards. You then divide them into 3 piles (17, 17, and 16) which are essentially your “booster packs.” You then draft those normally. It’s worked out well for my local so far, and people seemed to have fun. GT went so far as to package the deck itself into 3 packs plus the MP- I have to wonder if Panini will try something like that. As it stands, it sounds like they’re leaning towards making one-color starter decks rather than mixed, which would be counter-productive to drafting.
You can read Dustin’s full article here: http://retrodbzccg.com/2015/02/17/dustins-theory-craftin-an-open-letter-to-panini/
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Two of our big-name communities are DBZTopTier and DBZ Fanatics. And of course, whenever two or more geeks get together, there’s going to a little competition. In this case, the inevitable forum grudge match resulted in, you guessed it, a DBZ match between the two. The match consisted of Jarret McBride of DBZTopTier going up against Brian Valdez (a well-known name in the DBZ World) representing DBZ Fanatics.
I won’t spoil who won, but you can check out the recording at the DBZTopTier Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/dbztoptier/
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On what I consider to be a sadder note, most of the new set has been spoiled. Yes, I know this should make me happy, since we were all looking forward to it, so why’s it sad? Well, it wasn’t an official spoil- the set’s been leaked.
Most games, and the people who play them, have a reputation in the community. I’m sure if you stop and think about it, you have a definite image in your mind of the kind of people who play Magic, Yugioh, Vanguard, etc. That image may vary from person to person and place to place, and it’s not always a positive one.
I feel that much of how we view other games comes from how we view their community. If the players are viewed in a negative light, then people will be put off from wanting to join the community or play. I don’t know how other gaming communities view us yet. Honestly, I’m not sure they care or even know we exist. Regardless, we should always be striving to put our best foot forward.
I feel that the leak shows a certain lack of impropriety on the part of the leakers. I have not seen the initial leak and I don’t know who made it, though I’ve heard plenty about it second-hand. It doesn’t matter who did what or where though, it was unprofessional and unethical. It presents the community in a bad light, even though they may have had the best intentions.
It also harms the community. We may not get spoilers in the future because of this, or if we do, they’ll all be done by Panini rather than fansites. It seems that most sites both upped their game AND got increased traffic from previewing cards. As such, it was beneficial to players on both sides of the preview, and got the community to be more active than it has in several months.
I am thankful, however, that most people seem to be avoiding the leaked cards. Or rather, they’re avoiding talking about specific cards in public and not allowing people to post them in groups and forums. Most of the players seem to agree with this policy as well, and are waiting for cards to be officially spoiled before discussing them. I feel this really shows the character of (most of) the community, and they should be proud of themselves.
DBZProf 