The future of Friday Night Magic

So if you have missed the news, I have unfortunately closed the shop, have a read of .... http://kidsdreamstoys.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/is-it-end-of-dream.html

What does this mean for FNM, well put quite simply the FNM you are used to is no more! Wizards of the Coast will not allow me to sanction events until such time (if ever) that I trade from another bricks and mortar retail store!

What does this mean?

You as a player will not get planeswalker points for playing at any future Gambit Games or Kids Dreams Events.

We will not be able to pre-release events.(although I am trying to find solutions to this problem)

We will no longer receive promotional material from Wizards of the Coast.

What is the Future for FNM?

So if that's what we have lost, what if anything will there be for the MTG community in Shoreham?

I am planning a regular MTG event which will happen on Friday's between 6pm and 10pm at the Royal George in Shoreham.

I am not sure if I am allowed to call the Event 'FNM', but if not then I am sure I will think of a new name! I could not get anything sorted out in time for tonight's event but hopefully everything should be in place for next week!

I will create an event on Facebook for each week in advance to let you know what formats are on offer.

As we are no longer tied to Wizards system we can run events in what ever format we like and may even look in team and multi player events!

As I have already said players will no longer get planeswalker points so instead there will be a new point system introduced much the same as the existing Gambit points that you may already be familiar with but with some slight modifications and new calculation method as we had previously relied on information provided by Wizards WER system. More details on this will follow soon.

We normal finalize the Gambit points at the end of November to send out invites to the end of year tournament, so I plan to do this based on the current scores as of last week! I will post sending out more information on this event soon!

Obviously I still have some old promotional cards, but these will run out. I will try and make the prizes for playing interesting and varied.

As for the venue itself it is very nice the facilities are excellent (proper comfortable chairs for everyone - no more stalls!) It is separate from the pub with its own entrance and should provide us with a great gaming and social environment.

I have booked the room for this coming Tuesday and will be creating an event for this later today! This will be a casual MTG evening much like the old 'Skirmish Tuesday' at the shop and will give me an opportunity to show you the new venue and review how much interest there will be for the new Friday events. I also hope to discuss with everyone that attends what will be on offer from Kids Dreams and Gambit in relation to the weekly events.

Please come alone and join me next week and help to formulate our future events!

Gary of Team Gambit and Kids Dreams

Tonight's FNM

Tonight will will have a STANDARD event which willcost £2 as normal and starts at 6:15pm. In addition there will be a draft available for those that are interested which will be ...

A Ravnica Block draft, in other words one booster from each of the Return to Ravnica sets. This will cost £12 and will probably start at about 6:30pm. As normal I will need 8 players for this event to take place. 

Please let me know if you are attending and which event you will be playing.

This Weeks FNM

Tonight's FNM is Legacy which will cost £2 to play and will start at 6:15pm. We will also run a Standard event if there is enough interest. I will need 8 players for each event. (If there are only enough players for one event that event will be legacy!)

This week there is again a lack of Theros boosters so we are selling M14 and Return to Ravnica.

The Hydra deck is released today and is on sale for £9.99, there are only a few of these left in stock (those who pre-ordered this product - yours are ready for collection!)

There will be a Hydra challenge this weekend at Gambit Sunday - details to be posed later!

Next week the commander decks are being released, we have a limited allocation of these and they are likely to sell out fast (several have already gone to pre-order) - if you want one and do not want to be disappointed - please order and pay for one soon!

The 15th sees the release of this years holiday gift box - last year these went very fast and will again be on a limited release. They will be the same price as last year - so again if you want one please order it soon!

Hopefully see you all tonight!

Gary of Team Gambit Games

Tonight's FNM

Tonight the FNM event will be MODERN which will cost £2 and will start at 6:15pm. As we never got FNM cards for October we will be issuing the November ones from tonight for the first and second place players.

I will also run a STANDARD event if there is enough interest in both formats. As normal we need 8 players for each event.

There will be a STANDARD event this weekend to celebrate the release of the new Theros Event decks which are released today. See ... http://kidsdreamstoys.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/game-day-announcement.html for more details.

Tonight's FNM

Tonight there will be two FNM events. There will be 'Standard' which will cost £2 and also a Theros draft if there is enough interest. I would need at least 8 players for this to happen, so please bring along a standard deck to avoid disappointment. The draft would cost £12 per player and includes prizes for the top two!

As per last week, unfortunately we have not received our promo cards for this month so for this week the winner and second place will get a choice from one of these previous promo cards along with the prize boosters!

Tonight's FNM

Tonight's FNM event will be 'Standard' which will cost £2 as normal but unfortunately we have not received our promo cards for this month so for this week the winner and second place will get a choice from one of these previous promo cards ....

There will also be a draft if there is enough interest. I would need at least 6 players for this to happen, so please bring along a standard deck to avoid disappointment. The draft would cost £12 per player and includes prizes for the top two!

Launch Party Weekend

This weekend's events will start with the release of Theros. The FNM will be the first chance for players to use their Theros cards in standard decks.

We will be running both a standard event which will cost £2 as normal and a Theros draft which will cost £12. Both events will start at 6:15pm and the top two players will both get a promo 'Experiment One'.

On Saturday from 11am, we will be running a second draft, same as before.
On Sunday at 'Gambit Sunday' from midday, we will be running a sealed deck event (6 normal Theros boosters) for £20.

As it is the launch weekend everyone that takes part in any of these events will receive a foil, promotional, alternate art Bident of Thassa.

There will be a poster at the back of the shop which is a visual puzzle, that any who solve will receive a gift from the gods.

In the Spotlight - BattleCon : War of Indines

I love finding new games. The kind of games that don't make popular headlines, and don't already have a huge following. Some of them get a few outings with friends and then get put back in its box and bought out now and then when the time is right. Some of them, however, turn out to be real gems. The kind of game that, once you get your teeth into them, and see what they have to offer, you find yourself wanting to introduce everyone you know to it, because you think it will improve their gaming lives.

Good things come in small packages.

BattleCon, is one of those games.

It is essentially a card game interpretation of classic 2D fighting games such as Mortal Kombat or Tekken.

With a rule set that can be explained in 5 minutes, the mechanics of the game are simplicity itself, however there is a huge amount of hidden complexity underneath this streamlined rule set.

The box comes with all the cards to play any combination of the 21 characters, all of which come with their own background and story, and all the fighters have a very unique style of play, and special abilities and finishers. After trying some of the fighters, you will begin to see where their various strengths and weaknesses lie, but more importantly, you will find a fighter whose style and moves you just fall in love with.

Each fighter comes with a character stand up to represent you on the field of battle, along with unique cards, and tokens that you will use to represent your fighters abilities. These then combine with 6 generic "base" cards that every player has access to, and these cards form your hand.

Each fighter comes with their own kit.

Game play essentially comprises multiple rounds of combat where each player picks and plays "attack pairs" of a "base" (blue) and a "style" (red) card from their hand, and lays them face down on the table. Both players then have a chance to "ante" tokens to represent them using abilities before both players simultaneously reveal the attack pairs they have selected. The attacks and their effects are then resolved on the table, and the sequence is repeated for another turn. Each of these "beats" of combat last no more than 15 or 20 seconds to resolve, and the pace of the game is certainly fast and furious. This is a highly simplified explanation of how combat works, and to get a better idea, please follow the link at the end of this post to the quick start rules for the game.

An "attack pair"

The game is very versatile and can be played 1v1, 2v1 or 2v2.

Ive introduced this game to people aged 12-40 and every one of them has had a blast, and I'm constantly surprised to find which fighters people enjoy playing and why.

I got into this game after trying their online Free to Play version (see bottom of post) where you can try out 4 of the characters from the box set for free, as long as you have access to a printer. Within a day I had put in an order for the full game.

In July, the new stand alone expansion is coming out, offering another 30 new characters, and with it a whole host of new options, game modes, bosses and potential.

With more and more people showing an interest in the game, I'm looking to run a tournament with some of the local players soon, and I'll certainly let you all know how it goes. I cant wait.

Andy of Team Gambit.

Link to Print and Play Version (includes rules)
Comic Style Online Rules