Hey, We're at Pojo Telling Pokemon Pros to Play like Newbies!

Okay, this is really only for when you need to teach a newbie, not to try to be a Pokemon card-shark (and I don't mean Sharpedo). But one thing's for sure - it's always good to get your friends to play, but that's not always as easy as it sounds. So we've come up with 8 Tips for Getting Your Reluctant Friends to play the Pokemon TCG AND even better - we've reduced the price on the Pokemon Black & White Trainer Kit to help you do it.

So take a look over at Pojo.com for our tips, plus tons of great information about Pokemon, YuGiOh and other Trading Card Games.

[caption id="attachment_1676" align="aligncenter" width="275" caption="Reduced Price too!"][/caption]

New YuGiOh Releases at ToyWiz - Gates of the Underworld & Rare Promo

From our release mailer, announcing two great items from YuGiOh! shipping today:

	YUGIOH! GATES OF THE UNDERWORLD STRUCTURE DECK - Releases today, October 18, 2011!
	NEW YuGiOh Structure Deck: In June, the Lost Sanctuary Structure Deck gave Duelists the forces of the heavens to command. Now, in this diabolical companion deck, Duelists can match them with the forces of perdition! The Dark World monsters are the fearsome warlords and armies of the underworld. First debuting in 2005, they've lurked on the edges of the tournament scene ever since. This Structure Deck gives Dark World monsters major refit, to bring them up to modern Dueling standards. The core of this set is comprised of Dark World cards which also includes 5 brand new Dark World cards. 37 Common Cards 2 Super Rare Cards 1 Ultra Rare Card 1 Rulebook 1 Game Mat 1 Dueling Guide SHIPPING OCTOBER 18, 2011 - PRE-ORDERS WILL BE FILLED FIRST! SHOP NOW
	YuGiOh Shonen Jump Promo - Ultra Rare JUMP - EN056 - ENDLESS DECAY is also shipping now! *If you have2000 or less Life Points, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, its ATK becomes equal to half your opponent's Life Points. SHOP NOW

Dragonball Z, by request!

One of our Facebook Fans pointed out yesterday that we don't have nearly enough Dragonball Z going on, and he's right! So I asked Christian to contribute a few words for us to get the ball rolling here! He sent me this very kind writeup:

Thank you for leting me post this on your blog Toy Wiz and to my fellow Dragon Ball Z fans who are reading this. Toy Wiz told me to tell you guys about my Dragon Ball Z collection. Well my Dragon Ball Z is not much. I have Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2, and Dragon Ball Z Brustlimit both for xbox 360. And there both great games but Dragon Ball Z Raging Blast 2 is better. Next I have 13-17 books of Dragon Ball Z. Plus I ordered a Dragon Ball GT Booster set Baby saga. It comes to my house tomarrow! That's really all I have in my Dragon Ball Z collection. Thank you Toy Wiz for letting me post this on your Dragon Ball Z blog. And thank you fellow Dragon Ball Z fans. TOY WIZ IS #1......GO TOY WIZ

Thanks, Christian! We'll try to have more Dragonball Z updates here. We got some new Dragonball Z arrivals yesterday along with Christian's message too, so the timing was perfect

Redakai for All Ages

Redakai: Conquer the Kairu has a lot of engaging factors: unique gameplay, gorgeous cards, and perhaps most importantly: almost anyone can play, right out of the box.

That isn't to say that the game lacks skill or complexity - it will certainly challenge experienced gamers as well. But Redakai can be played with basic rules for the young or inexperienced (we're all newbies sometimes), and an advanced rule-set and strategies to engage more sophisticated players.

This dynamic is going to be fantastic for Redakai and for the entire TCG genre:

• Kids can be introduced to trading card gameplay at an earlier age and transition to the more advanced rule-set whenever they're ready.


• Mixed-age pairings can still have fun - older & younger family members will enjoy playing each other without unfair advantages or disadvantages.


• Younger kids will master quite a few important skills without even realizing it's happening: basic addition and subtraction, greater than/less than comparisons, taking turns, good sportsmanship and reading instructions are all part of the game.

You can probably tell I'm excited about playing this game! I've even made a video that I hope to post soon!

Redakai! First Impressions

Redakai has taken trading cards by storm since it's release a few weeks ago, and it's no wonder. I finally got my hands on a couple of structure decks and a few friends to play against, and got to know all about it!

I'll be writing a series of posts on the game, but just to get the ball rolling,  a few observations:

• Seriously, the cards look amazing. The photos and videos you see online can't do justice to the 3D animated effects, especially with the overlaid attacks. The clear part of the card doesn't muddy or obscure the underlying cards much at all, even when stacked a few cards deep.


• Getting started with the basic game is fast & easy. I recommend playing a hand or two of "basic" style just to get they lay of the cards. You'll switch quickly and smoothly to advanced rules from there.


• You can start with just a couple of structure decks like I did, but if you're planning to play, I recommend the Redakai Hobby Edition Championship Set - not just for the 44 Cards though. The Character Bay, Screen, Counters & Draw Deck really keep things organized nicely on the game table.

And a little pro-tip from me to you: Don't forget to return attack cards to your opponent before you grab them up and shuffle! (Yep, that happened in the first game!)

All in all, I played several games today and enjoyed it immensely. It is easy to learn, but it will take some skill (and a good deck) to master! Please subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch. I'll have more details and tips on Redakai: Conquer the Kairu soon!

Bye Bye, Jace!

Wizards of the Coast made a big announcement this morning:

Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic will both be banned in Standard effective July 1, 2011. Exception: The deck list for the "War of Attrition" Event Deck will be legal in Standard if kept completely intact. That deck, which went on sale on June 10, contains two copies of Stoneforge Mystic.

...and I think I heard the anguished cries of my tourney friends all the way from my house.

At the risk of upsetting a few people, and with the caveat that I'm still a new player to the game, I have to say: I support this move.  First off though, I'm really sorry to all those who spent a lot of cash to get these cards. I know - I'd have done the same if I felt I could afford them and I'd be angry at the loss too.



But from a (newbie) gameplay perspective, these things were monstrous. I got so tired of playing against the same decks week after week, and not feeling I could compete except by luck. And while luck is a factor in MTG, it shouldn't be the only factor that determined whether my red deck could pull through against an opponent! But honestly, unless I drew out high damage early enough, I never felt I stood a chance. I realize that some part of that is due to my inexperience, but still - when virtually every week the same decks win the tourney, something's amiss. Because ultimately, for everyone's enjoyment and the health of the game, variety is key.

So, goodbye, Jace. So long, Stoneforge Mystic...you were fun for those who had you, and a pain for the rest of us. I do hope this move restores some balance to the local tourney and lets us all see some innovative new decks being built. I look forward to seeing what my next opponents come up with!

What do you think of the changes?

Redakai day!

Finally! We've been waiting for this release for months, and at last, Redakai is here! This is your chance to get in on a great new trading card game from day 1 - and that day is TODAY! Be ahead of all the planned expansions to come. Years from now, you'll be telling new players, "yeah...I've been playing since launch!"

Hidden Arsenal 4: This Time It’s Personal!

Jackalope here with a look at the brand new Hidden Arsenal 4 set. I’m deviating from my prior YuGiOh articles as I’m going to crack (open) an entire case of Hidden Arsenal 4 boxes. Let’s take a quick look at the stats on that.

[caption id="attachment_870" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Step 1: Prepare you case for skinning."][/caption]

1 Case of Hidden Arsenal 4 = 12 Boxes = 288 Packs = 1440 Cards.

Now most of you are not opening a case of cards, so why am I going through the trouble of writing this article on this? Simple, my friends: Averages! Yes, when you break a box of cards there is a high degree of randomness to it, but when you break a case you can see trends and averages to better give you an idea of what you can expect out of a box. This might help you decide whether it makes sense for you to buy a box to try for certain cards or to just pony up for the single cards.

[caption id="attachment_871" align="alignnone" width="285" caption="Step 2: Discard the booster skins"][/caption]

Let’s look at some more delicious numbers! In that case of 1440 cards you will get exactly 288 Secret Rare cards and 1152 Super Rare cards. There are 20 different Secret Rare cards in the set and 40 different Super Rare cards in the set so if we go just by averages you should get approximately 14.4 of every Secret Rare and 28.8 of every Super Rare.

Spoiler Alert! It does NOT work out that way.

[caption id="attachment_872" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Step 3: Arrange your card filets in preparation for sorting"][/caption]

“Well Jackalope, how does it work out?” you’re asking, and I am glad you did! Let’s look at a few more numbers, specifically the best and/or most valuable cards in the set and see how many we got:

x7 Dragunity Knight – Trident $ 17.99
x8 Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier $64.99
x8 Dragunity Knight – Barcha $7.99
x8 Naturia Landoise $19.99
x12 The Fabled Unicore $5.99
x12 The Fabled Cerburrel $16.99
x15 Jurrac Meteor $6.99
x16 Neo Flamvell Sabre $5.99
x17 Naturia Exterio $4.99

Note that all these cards are valued at or over 5 dollars to show you what “money*” cards you can expect in your theoretical box purchase.

Looking at the numbers we got you can expect one, possibly two of: Jurrac Meteor, Neo Flamvell Sabre & Naturia Exterio. You can with come certainly assume you’ll get one each of these in your box: The Fabled Cerburrel & The Fabled Unicore. And lastly you have a 2/3rds chance of getting the big three, and almost certainly one of the following in your box: Dragunity Knight – Barcha, Dragunity Knight – Trident, Naturia Landoise & Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.

What does that tell you? Well if you are looking for three Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier cards you would have to buy the equivalent of 5 or 6 boxes to ensure you got them, at a cost of $79.99. That’s quite a hefty price tag as opposed to buying the single cards outright, but in addition you’ll get a whole lot of other cards. You've got lots of options for getting what you want: buying boxes and hoping for lucky pulls will give you lots of extra cards for trading, or you can purchase the individual cards you need.

[caption id="attachment_873" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Step 4: Portion out and serve your collection. Bon Appetit!"][/caption]

Only you can decide whether or not purchasing a box is worthwhile to you, or if buying the few single cards you need to finish your deck fits the bill, but hopefully this shows you the average odds you have of getting the card(s) you’re looking for!

Exit, stage right!

* Money cards refer to the expensive cards out of a set. Those can be valuable due to demand or rarity, oftentimes both.

Please keep in mind all prices are subject to change and these are the prices of the cards as of this writing which was on the day of release for the set.

The Battle of the Box

Jackalope here with another cost/value analysis. This time of an older set. A lot of players and collectors feel that there is less value when you buy an older box and open it. This is for various reasons, but the most commonly held belief is that the longer a set is out, the more of it gets broken (opened) and the more single cards there are in the market. I’m going to do a single box breakdown for you here. This is just one random box that I opened and is not typical of all boxes, but it gives you a good idea what you should expect if you bought a box of YuGiOh 5D's Starstrike Blast.



[caption id="attachment_819" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="So serene, just sitting there…"][/caption] 

[caption id="attachment_820" align="alignnone" width="293" caption="NOM NOM NOM!"][/caption]

Okay, let’s look at what makes up a box:
24 Packs, 9 cards in each pack. Each pack will contain at least 1 Rare card and may contain a foil card.

Newbie in the Magic Tourney, Round 2!

Well I haven't played since last Friday, but I went again to try my hand again. And hey...I'm getting better at this! My deck is too!

[caption id="attachment_807" align="alignnone" width="171" caption="These make all the difference. "][/caption]

I arrived early and bought 7 booster packs to try to build the deck I want. At first, I was a little disappointed - I got some duplicates that weren't needed and 4 cards I'd been hoping to see. That wasn't fantastic, but then I realized why you should always get to the tournament early...

First-ever Friday Night Magic Tournament - a total newbie perspective

I've been intrigued by Magic: The Gathering for many years, but always hesitant to try it. With  no idea how to approach the game as a complete beginner, I was just afraid to jump in. Because seriously - who wants to purchase cards, then walk up to strangers and risk feeling foolish for not knowing how to play?

Well guys, I'm here to tell you, it isn't like that at all. I had a short learning session at  Comic Con in New Orleans back in January and took home a few promo decks, but I still wasn't quite ready. My fellow blogger and good friend Jackalope has been playing a lot lately, though, and encouraging me to try. After his last post, I decided to go for it. Oh, not at our ToyWiz retail location in NY, but down in Albany, LA at a shop called Chuck's Field of Dreams. Yes, a nice anonymous place to go embarass myself, I thought.

Just so you know, I'm a friendly, but cutthroat player in any game I pursue. Maybe I'll post another day about my history with MMORPGs, for example, but suffice it to say that I probably blow away any stereotypes you might have about female gamers! So jumping into something new is a big deal for me  -  There's no way I'm playing anything without making a serious effort to master it and to be a fierce competitor.

YuGiOh 5D's 2011 Duelist Tin

Jackalope here with…Ohhhh New Duelist Tin!

[caption id="attachment_732" align="alignleft" width="120" caption="Just sitting here on my desk, asking to be opened…"][/caption]

I’ve always been a fan of the duelist tin product from both a retailer’s and a consumer’s point of view. Why you ask? Value, this product has solid value to it and what means is you as the consumer get great value for your dollar. Let’s take a look at one of the tins (along with pictures of the tin I’m opening for this post).

 

 

 

As you can see you get several things in the tin: