Preparing for TCG Regionals

So here we are! VGC Nationals are over and our League Members made a great showing, participating in both Seniors and Masters age brackets. There's only one League session left before Cumbernauld Regionals on the 18th and as Regionals are on a Sunday there will be no League session that day.

So, here are some things you need to know about attending Regionals.

First of all, anyone is free to attend the tournament. Registration costs £5, and the format is Modified Constructed. 'Modified' means that only cards from the expansion Heart Gold Soul Silver to the most recently released one (Next Destinies) can be played. The Pokégym Researching Tower is a great place to check if you are unsure if a card is in format. 'Constructed' means that you must have made the deck rather than having purchased a Theme Deck. You should also have card sleeves on your cards (either of a single, solid colour or official Pokémon sleeves). For more detailed guidelines about what sleeves are tournament legal, check article 16 of the Pokémon Tournament Rules.

You will also need to bring a Deck List. This is a precise list of the cards in your deck and the number of each. There are some excellent online sites that can assist you in building and printing this deck list - my favourite is SteveP's Deck List Program but some people prefer to use Bebe's Search, and there is also a program at Pokepedia. If you can't use one of these programs, you can get a deck list form at the Tournament, but you will need to fill it out legibly and quickly.

It doesn't hurt to bring snacks, a DS, a mobile phone, a book, or some cards to trade. There might be a delay between rounds and you might need to occupy yourself while you wait for the next match to begin.



If you are planning to attend Regionals, please let me know, either in the Comments below or via email. I'm going to be getting the train to Cumbernauld along with a few other League members, and it would be great to travel together as a group!

Good Luck at VGC Nationals, League members!

It's been a while since I've had the time or inclination to make a substantial post here - my apologies to all of you for that, but preparing for TCG Regionals and personal issues have taken priority recently.

I just wanted to leave a note wishing luck to everyone from the League attending VGC Nationals in Birmingham this weekend. I hope you have a blast and show the competition what Edinburgh players are made of!

I'll be posting a guide to preparing for TCG Regionals (which are on Sunday, the 18th of March) sometime soon. The League session this weekend will be run by Neil and possibly Lauren, and may end an hour early.

Hope to see you all soon!

Pokémon Black/White International Challenge

Has everybody seen this?

Looks like, similarly to last year's Autumn Friendlies, The Pokémon Company are running a worldwide Wi-fi tournament! Very exciting for those of us likely to be thrown out of the VGC in the first round, and even more exciting for those in our number who have got the Skillz to pay the Billz.

The Tournament will run from March 22nd-26th, and registration begins at Midnight on March 15th. I assume, like the Autumn Friendlies before it, the tournament will consist of players trying to achieve a good standing on the online leaderboards. And of course, being subjected to many, many "Rage Quits"... ;)

Looking forward to seeing you all at League on Sunday! Happy training.

Must-have Trainer Resources

I've got a ton of useful links and resources for you guys that I'm going to link in this post. Some of you will already know about these websites and such, but for those that don't (especially Juniors and Seniors) these tools could give you a big assist when it comes to the Pokémon TCG.

Before we move on to that, two things: First, I just wanted to thank everyone that attended the Next Destinies Prerelease last Sunday. It was a chaotic event, but all told I really enjoyed myself and I believe that most of the people involved did too. I'm happy to say that everything seemed to go very well.  Secondly, I'm posting this video interview I did immediately following the Cumbernauld City Championship - please note Amaya's hand poking me in the arm for the majority of the interview. :)

Okay, so here we go. First of all are the Big Three. These websites are essentially the go-to sites for general Pokémon news and competitive play information. Six Prizes is primarily focused on TCG strategy and advice. Pokébeach gets some interesting information about new sets and scans of them before most other sites, and it has a very useful forum for discussion of the TCG. PokéGym is where most official rulings are handed down, and they have numerous tools and resources that can be an aid.

Tools to search for specific cards that meet certain criteria can be incredibly useful I personally use Bebe's Search for this and decklist creation, and Poképedia is similarly useful, though somewhat less user friendly. The PokéGym Researching Tower is an invaluable resource for finding what cards are currently in the Modified Format. Of course, Bulbapedia is a good source for everything Pokémon, both TCG and VG.

I hope you guys find these links helpful, and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

He's coming...

 

Well folks, it's nearly here: tomorrow is Pre-release at League! I thought I'd share this Mewtwo drawing I did with you all in honour of the game-changing Mewtwo EX card coming out in Next Destinies (see John's post for details of this scary, scary card). Anyone feeling like they might pull a Mewtwo out of a booster tomorrow? I'm confident of getting at least 4 :p

I'd like this post to mark the beginning of a new feature here on our blog- as an animator I sometimes like to draw things, and given that I'm a big Poké-fan too, these interests tend to cross over. I will be posting drawings of Pokémon for you guys to enjoy (and/or critique!) here. The feature is tentatively called "Full Art Nen".

see you all tomorrow,

Neil